Page 71 of The Locker Room

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mouthed, “Thank you,” at him, with gratitude, when there was a sudden

knock at the door.

What followed next was the world"s quietest Abbott and Costello

video, except with two naked college students, trying hard to put their

clothes on and separate their beds, while Chris, who could think better on

his feet, shouted through the door.

“Who is it?”

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“It"s Cliff, guys, let me in!”

“Hell noes!” Chris said playfully, setting his bed down quietly and

throwing the cover over with a whoosh. Xander was doing the same to

his, and struggling into his UNC sleep shorts and dorm shirt, all at the

same time. “Xan sleeps naked, and I wouldn"t want to scare the shit out

of you.”

Xan looked at him indignantly, and Chris slid into his own UNC

sleep shorts and grimaced. It was obviously the first thing that came to

his mind.

“Ohmigod, if he says it"s that big, he"s lying!” Cliff called back in

exasperation. Chris looked at Xander and shook his head negatively,

even as Xander reached for the Febreze and started to hit their beds and

hit them hard. He threw the Febreze under the bed, grabbed his copy of

his English anthology and threw himself on the bed, pretending to study.

Chris unlocked the door and retreated to his bed saying, “Come in,

come in—Jesus, two guys try to sleep in or study, dammit, and the whole

world wants in!”

Cliff came hustling in. He was second-string center for the JV

team, and Xander was the starter, with Chris as his forward. Together,

Chris and Xander had been cutting a swath through their games with

gusto, and although they hadn"t yet had a chance to play an away game,

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