Page 28 of The Locker Room

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dropping his hands back to Xander"s. Xander turned his over and

engulfed Chris"s in them, and then damned anyone watching in the chilly

pre-dawn and pulled them to his chest.

“She was mostly mad because she was worried, you know,” Chris

told him. “She got that I was trying to help you, but—” He shook his

head. “She just didn"t know how we could have known you for so long

and not known.”

The day Chris"s parents had found out that Xander had been living

on his own for two months, they offered to help him move to his foster

home. Chris and Xander hadn"t been able to talk them out of it, even

though, really, Xander didn"t have any more moving out than he had

moving in. Andi and Jed had taken one step into the apartment. That"s all

it had taken. They had looked around at the couch with the battered

blanket and pillow, the empty bags of their bread on the counter, with

their peanut butter and jelly and plastic knives, and the garbage bags

with Xander"s clothes stacked neatly inside, and Andi had burst into

tears and run out the door. Jed had followed her.

Wordlessly, Chris had cleaned up the leftovers of the food, and

Xander had grabbed his blanket, pillow, and garbage bag full of

possessions, and they had left, figuring the couch would end up on the

curb again, just like they had found it.

It was the last time Chris"s parents had spoken to him.

Xander swallowed. “You think I want the world in my business,

Chris?” He yanked his hands away and looked down. “It"s bad enough I

had to pull you into it, you know? I… if I could make it to school, no one

else had to know. I could live like that. That"s all.”

Chris grabbed his hands and yanked on them, pulling Xander right

up flush against him, and taking them to his mouth again. This time he

didn"t blow on them; he kissed them, tenderly.

The Locker Room

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