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The door swung closed behind Neil. He took a step toward the center of the locker room but paused when he heard his own name. Hidden behind a line of shelves.
“I’m telling you. Josten has a secret girlfriend. I saw them.”
“Jack, you are the dumbest person I have ever met.”
“AND, I know you all saw the hickeys he was rocking last week at practice.” Neil rolled his eyes at that. “Sure, he doesn't change in front of us but jerseys are loose enough to show collarbones.”
“Okay, then who is this ‘secret girlfriend’ you saw?”
“Uhhh, okay well maybe I didn't see her exactly, but, you guys, Neil was in a pretty damn compromising position.” Neil frowned. The hickeys he couldn't defend, but he couldn't think of anything that would be considered ‘compromising,’ especially not if it involved a girl. Neil rarely interacted with anyone outside of the team if it didn't occur during class, much less any women, and seeing as all the female Foxes were currently taken, it couldn't be any of them.
Neil heard the door behind him click open and he knew Andrew and the rest of the Monsters would fall through it soon. Neil had left for practice early, riding with Matt so he could meet with Wymack about a new recruit they had been looking at. Neil felt Andrew come up behind him and smiled.
“Why are you lurking?”
“They were talking about me.” Neil felt Andrew tense against his back.
“What did they say?” Andrew had never paid any particular amount of attention to the new Foxes, but Neil knew his protection still ran deep and true. He let Neil fight his own battles, but he had no qualms with flashing a knife here and there to get his point across. Regardless, Neil knew this was not a situation Andrew needed to worry about. Jack's theory was baseless and asinine. Secret relationship? Kinda. Secret girlfriend? Never.
“Apparently I was in a ‘compromising position’ with a girl and now Jack is convinced I have a secret girlfriend.” Neil rolled his eyes, even though he knew no one could see it.
“You're an idiot.” With that Andrew stepped into view of the rest of the team, tugging Neil into view with him.
“FINALLY. Someone who might know something.” Jack continued, ignoring Neil's presence as all of the Monsters settled into the locker room. “All of you must know who Neil's secret girlfriend is!” Aarons brow furrowed. Kevin looked like he physically couldn't care less about what Jack was saying. And Nicky's eyes lit up as he'd just found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
“I'll bet you that he doesn't have one,” Nicky told Jack, ah, pot of gold located. Jack paused like he was actually considering it, even though Nicky would know more about Neil's relationship than he would. Neil remained confused about how on earth Jack could be so convinced he was in a secret relationship, even though, technically speaking, he was.
“Why do you even think he has one?” Aaron grunted, having missed the initial conversation that Neil had been eavesdropping on. Jack's eyes lit up, his evidence once again about to be center stage.
“I saw someone giving him head on the roof this morning!” Neil choked on air. His head whipped to look at Andrew. Andrew looked entirely unbothered if you ignored the air of humor in his eyes. Matt shook his head and rubbed his hand along his jaw. Aaron appeared to be trying to disappear from this plane of existence and refused to look anywhere near where Andrew and Neil were standing.
“I repeat: Jack, you are the dumbest person I have ever met,” Matt said, horror and awe at the level of stupidity displayed pouring out of him in equal measure.
“You guys can't seriously ignore that!” Jack shouted, throwing his arms into the air to demonstrate his point.
Even though Neil was in the room, nobody seemed to want to look to him for any form of an answer. Neil was still staring, eyes glued to Andrew. They had never consciously decided not to tell the freshman about their something, but their general disdain for anyone digging into their secrets led it to remain an unsaid thing. Neil couldn't disagree with Matt that the freshmen were remarkably dense when it came to the interpersonal dynamics on the team. The Foxes had simply gone through too much together for anyone else to ever truly understand it.
In his shock and confusion, Neil didn't process fast enough to dispute anything. I mean, he and Andrew had spent the morning on the roof.
“The roof?” Neil nearly choked again at Andrews' question. He obviously already knew the answer but voiced it anyway. Neil could almost see the gears in his head turning. Of course, this was interesting enough to get Andrew engaged.
“Yes! The roof! You can barely see it from the ground, but when someone is standing, you can see enough.” Jack shivered, clearly remembering what he had witnessed.
“God. Shut up!” Aaron glared at Jack. “No one wants to hear about Josten’s sexual exploits,” his voice seemed to be getting pushed through barbed wire with the amount of disdain Aaron was able to lace into it.
“Not good enough.” Andrew interrupted, ignoring his twins' spluttering. “Details,” he demanded.
“Okay, so like, it was clearly Josten. No one else in the building has hair quite like his,” Neil scoffed. “And I could see someone else, and Neils hands I think were buried in her hair.” At this, Neil saw a smirk ghost across Andrew's face. Neil did in fact like to bury his hands into the soft golden waves whenever Andrew would let him and today had been no exception. “And she was face first to, ya know.” Jack used a hand gesture, generally circling around his own groin. Neil sighed. Jack was trying to describe the view he apparently had of today's exploits and he couldn't even really describe it.
“What did she look like?” Andrew asked, still pushing for information. While Jack seemed thrilled that someone was taking his theory seriously, everyone else seemed to range from deep-ceited confusion to potentially unbridled discomfort and anger.
“Well okay, see, I was still far away, I couldn't see that much. But I think.” Jack paused and seemed to think deeply. “Maybe she was blonde?” Andrew's smirk seemed to become more permanent.
“Hmmm. Nope. I don’t believe it.” Andrew replied, shutting down the sense of hope that had lifted Jack's frame. Even though Andrew had shut down Jack, Neil felt a vague sense of dread fill his chest as he looked at Andrew. Neil didn't care if the freshmen knew about their dynamic, and he was uncomfortable with the idea that he had been watched by Jack with no idea it was happening, but he was more concerned by the gleam still present in Andrew's eye. He was clearly not done with Jack yet. Neil secretly hoped Andrew wouldn't pull his knives. Jack was a problem through and through, but Neil didn't want to have to bench him for a slicing-related injury. His lineup would be messed up and that just wouldn't do.
“Well Jack, good news for you, Neil was on the roof this morning. But I didn't see anyone else up there with us.” Jack seemed to buffer for a moment. Neil finally broke his lock on Andrew to roll his eyes.
“Did you really have to say it like that Andrew?” Neil questioned, his hand running through his hair as the new Foxes seemed to piece together the puzzle in front of them. Jack looked around, trying to see whether anyone was surprised about the news. Aaron still refused to look at them, but the other Foxes remained unphased, used to Andrews dramatics.
“Wait. You're joking.”
“Hmm. Don't think I am. And Josten,” Andrew turned to look at Neil. “Remind me to wash the dirt out of these jeans.” Everyone's eyes shifted to look at Andrew's jeans. Clearly visible on the knees of the material were two patches of wear, and rubbed into the denim like someone's body weight had been resting on them was an abnormal amount of dirt and dust.
“Andrew!”