Page 180 of The Locker Room

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snatch all the spoons, and after like, the kid"s third round, he was so out

of it that all we had to do was say, “Look! Shiny!” and then we"d all go

for the table, right? And he"d be stuck with the greasy appetizer platter

andthe shot of rotgut Scotch, because that"s the shit he drinks

because—”

“He doesn"t know any better.” Neither had Chris or Xander when

they started. But they were good at being quiet, watching other folks,

blending in. They"d had to be, in order to pass for straight for so long. By

their second game, they were ordering Royal Salute without batting an

eye, and comparing the taste to Glenlivet 18 Year without even a flush

for how incredibly fraudulent they"d felt.

But a rookie who was used to being a trendsetter and a star? No.

He"d be pretty easy prey.

“Dayum,” Chris said, chuckling. “I"ve never seen anybody puke

that much. I mean… I thought we"d see his toenails or something, or

pictures from the first grade. Well, that"ll teach him.”

“What did he do?” Whatever it was, Xander had missed it. All he"d

seen was Chris—Chris"s stats, Chris"s highlights. Well, he always knew

he had a one-track mind.

“Fouled out of the game, for one. The kid is brilliant. Not as

brilliant as you, right, but— Fuck. Me. If that didn"t almost cost us the

win. Nope. Next time he"ll listen to Coach, and Cliff, and all the rest of

us shouting at him. I mean, Denver"s doing pretty good this year—he

doesn"t want to get traded.”

Xander whimpered in order to not point out the obvious, and Chris

grimaced and yawned.

“How you feelin" now, Xan? Better?”

Xander nodded. “Yeah, thank you.”

“Anything good happen to you?”

So it was Xander"s turn to tell him about the new roommate, and

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