One for the Team

11| before

Ruth kisses me when no one is watching. Usually, she doesn't care enough for volleyball to come watch us play, especially not when the game's out of town, but this time she's hitting the road with us. Says she's making a trip out of it with her friends. I just smile and kiss her back. She throws her hands around my neck, and I do the same with her waist. We pull each other closer. I think this is nice the way a nap in the middle of a hot day is nice.

"I finally met the new kid," she says against my mouth.

"Levi?" I pull away.

"Yeah," she says. "Do you like him?"

"Yeah, do you?"

She smiles, "What do you think?"

I've known Ruth for a while. She wears t-shirts with the words fuck the patriarchy in them, and starts fights in class, even with teachers, and she doesn't care if it makes her cry in front of everyone.

"I think you love him," is my conclusion.

She smiles and kisses my neck. Then my phone starts ringing in my pocket.

"What's up, Milo?"

"Your dick, I bet," he says and laughs. "Where are you? We're about to leave."

I check the time, "I'm on my way."

Ruth kisses my one last time and disappears behind the cars in the parking lot. I grab my gym bag from where I dropped it on the floor and then make my way to the bus on the other end. Milo's still on the phone with me.

"How was Archie's first sleepover?" he asks.

"Great," I say. I don't mean it. "The other kid's mom called at half past one saying Archie wouldn't stop crying. I had to go get him."

"What about your mom?"

She had been sleeping on the couch, too tired to even make it upstairs. I didn't have it in me to wake her up. Instead, I helped her up to her bedroom, looked at the empty side of her bed, pulled the covers over her, and turned on her alarm for her morning shift.

"She was too tired," I tell Milo.

"Did you take a bus?" he asks.

"Yeah, Archie had cried himself out by the time I got there. He slept all the way back," I say. I can already see them standing by the bus, Milo on the phone, waving at me, and Ace smoking next to him. They're talking to Roman.

Roman wears a cap backwards everywhere he goes and at only seventeen he's already somehow managed to cover his arms with tattoos that look like the drawings of kindergarten kids. He stops talking when I reach them.

"What's up, dog?" he says, punching my shoulder. I hate that he calls me a dog.

"What were you guys talking about?" I ask. I don't even care how awkward this is.

Ace eyes me up. I'm wearing the team's sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and a black jacket with my number in the back and the words Northwoods Volleyball Team. He's wearing the same thing except his t-shirt has never seen an iron and the end of his jacket's sleeves are all worn out.

"Roman wants to leave the gay kid behind in one of the gas stations we'll be stopping at to take a piss," he tells me, blowing out the smoke of his cigarette. He doesn't say it like it's a bad idea.

"Dude," Roman complains.

I send him a look, "We're not doing that."

"You don't have to do anything," Roman spits out. "We've got it all covered. Right, Ace?" Ace shrugs. Milo has a shit-eating grin on his face.