Page 68 of The Locker Room

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made them thud into the pillows, breathing heavily. Xander was smiling

tentatively, and Chris was frowning, as though trying to put things into

place.

“Give you time,” he said with a little laugh. “Man, Xander, I gotta

remember that. Sometimes, you just need time, right?”

“It was okay?” Xander asked anxiously.

“It was great, baby. You know. Just… just awesome. Thank you

for trusting me like that.”

Xander flushed, pleased. “Well, you were right, you know. Only

you.”

THEY fell asleep soon after, and the next day they got to the dorms.

Within an hour of their check-in they were moved into the plain room

with two extra long twin beds. They"d ordered them and had them

delivered the week before. They were freshmen, so they had to share a

room, but they knew that if they stayed on the team, eventually they"d be

put in one of the houses, the kind with a small kitchen and where

everyone had their own room. The thought almost frightened Xander. He

had finally gotten to room with Chris; he didn"t want to let that go. When

they had put their stuff in the hampers and drawers and put the sheets on

the bed and tacked the posters on the walls, they looked at the beds in

despair.

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59

“You think we can push them together?” Chris asked unhappily,

and Xander shrugged.

“You think the whole world isn"t going to see that?” he asked, and

their eyes met and locked. They figured out that they could push the beds

together, and they did, every so often, when nobody was there.

Otherwise, they had to settle for furtively making love in one of the beds

(or often,overone of the beds,) sharing a quick kiss, and then cleaning

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