Careless

The next day during Lunch, Shea sat next to Garrett, and not another word was spoken on the matter. It was an uneasy peace, where it felt as though the entire team was watching him. Shea felt like the team made it their mission to see that he was never out of sight. Mostly that fell to Garrett, who took to walking Shea to all of his classes, and holding him up after any practice until the students were all gone. In all honesty Shea found he enjoyed Garrett's company, but he didn't understand why anyone cared who he chose to be friends with, yet they did. Shea was no longer permitted to speak to Simon at all, so he merely had to sit from afar and watch Simon sit alone, brushing off any waves or gestures of affection.

"New boy." Garrett came up beside Shea as he always did. "How're we doing today?"

"Fine." Shea rolled his eyes. He had been hoping for a moment alone. "Listen, I'm not going to break Asher's rules, you don't have to babysit me." Shea rolled his eyes. "You can go sit with your real friends."

"I'm not babysitting you. I wanted to talk to you." Garrett's brows furrowed. "I feel like you don't like me."

"I mean...I don't." Shea stated plainly. "I really don't like Asher, and you're just one of his sycophants."

"I-" Garrett began, then stopped. "I don't know what that word means."

"It means you're a follower." Shea spat.

"But you don't even know me."

"Well-" Shea began.

"So does that make you judgmental?" Garrett prodded back.

"Garrett, I'm..." Shea turned, but couldn't bring himself to apologize. "I suppose we both kinda suck then, don't we."

"It's not so bad. You get used to it." Garrett smiled numbly. "See that girl?" Garrett pointed to a girl in a grey sweater.

"Yeah?"

"Asked her out yesterday." Garrett grinned.

"Really? And did you get shot down." Shea asked, noticing the pattern.

"Naw, I got her number." Garrett's smile grew impossibly wider. "We're going out, Saturday."

"That's amazing, Garrett... how come you told me first?"

"I'm nervous to tell the rest of the guys, in case it doesn't go well." Garrett rubbed the back of his neck with his massive hand. Asher was taller than Garrett, but Garrett was bigger. He had more meat on his bones, and was more muscular as well. "Besides, I like you."

"But I just called you a syco... a follower."

"I've been called worse. Besides, most people just call me stupid, at least you thought of a good word to use." Garrett chuckled.

"Who calls you stupid?"

"Asher, and all the guys. I think that's why they laugh at my stories so much.. you know, 'poor stupid Garrett always messing shit up' I guess I just roll with it most of the time, though." Garrett explained.

"You're surprising, Garrett." Shea's brows furrowed.

"Thanks. You're not."

....

"Asher?" Shea worked up the courage to ask during practice, as the two boys worked on push ups together. They'd become unlikely partners, being that Shea was one of the only boys that could match Asher's speed.

"Grh?" Asher grunted as he went down into his push up.

"What is it about...about Simon that makes you so..." Shea struggled to catch his breath.

"Makes me so what?" Asher stopped to focus on Shea's words, and Shea took that as invitation to sit for a moment.

"So possessive."

"I'm not possessive." Asher's brows furrowed as he sat in the grass.

"Yes you are!" Garrett called as he ran by during his laps.

"Shut up, dude." Asher chuckled to himself. "I dunno. I guess it probably has to do with my home life. I wish I could let the little stuff not bother me so much, or that I could learn to be nice enough to talk to people like Simon, but I'm not... and that's life."

"Do you.. do you like him?" Shea asked quietly.

"You mean am I gay?" Asher interpreted, "No I'm not gay."

"That's not what I asked..." Shea mumbled to himself too quiet for Asher to hear, not that it would have mattered, because the coach called them back anyway, and they had to move on to the next exercise. Shea didn't want to press things, and he especially shied away from using the 'G' word in front of the type of boy that he classified Asher and the rest of the guys on the team as. Having problems was the last thing he wanted, but problems seemed to follow him.

....

Asher almost never approached Simon or made any attempts to speak to the boy whatsoever, but everyday, he did make the effort to sit in the chair behind Simon. It wasn't much, but it was a degree of closeness that Simon wasn't offered in any of his other classes, so Simon slowly began to warm up to the idea of Asher. It became a tradition; Asher would ask to borrow something of Simon's, be it a pencil or notes, and Simon would ask Asher about whatever the athletic thing he had going on was.

"Did you uh.... do the homework?" Asher tapped Simon lightly on the shoulder.

"Yes." Simon stated with large unblinking eyes, "Did you forget?"

"I did it." Asher assured him. "But I didn't understand number twenty six."

"Oh?" One of the girl's in the class encroached upon their conversation, "I can help you with that if you wanted?"

"You know what, I just got it, thank you though." Asher slid the assignment back into his folder with a frown.

"Did you.. Did you have practice last night?" Simon asked after another moment of silence.

"Oh yes. We did. We scrimmaged... O'Connor and I were captains, and-"

"Shea O'Connor?" Simon interrupted.

"Um... yes. Shea O'Connor."

"Did he play well?" Simon prodded.

"Oh.." Asher was taken aback by Simon's reaction. Simon never added very much to the conversation, but his curiosity about Shea was concerning. Asher decided he had to choose his words carefully. "He played alright, I guess... my group won, though."

"Good." Simon nodded to himself. "I'm mad at him."

"Why?"

"Because he promised he wasn't going to ditch me when he met the football boys, but all of the sudden he's completely ignoring me." Simon ranted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's... awful." Asher felt bad that Simon was upset, but he knew he was making the right decision so he tried not to let it bother him much. "Do you.. if you wanted.. I could sit next to, so then you wouldn't have to sit alone."

Simon stared at Asher for a moment, as if examining his intentions. "I'd like that." He said finally after a suffocating moment.

"Me too." Asher smiled to himself. "Do you have gym next?"

"Yes."

"Cool. Me too." Asher began to lean back, then pressed forward, his connected chair and desk rising at the back. "We're going to the track today. Do you run?"

"Yes." Simon hated gym, but running was his favorite of all the activities they did. He certainly was no cross country champion, but he ran every once in a while for fun. Gym class summed up almost every awful thing about school. It was too sweaty, too athletic, and too social.

"Gonna shower after?" Asher asked then internally facepalmed.

"No?" Simon stared un-assuredly, "Does anyone? I don't think.. I don't think we're even supposed to."

"Yeah no.. that was a stupid thing to say."

"Are you trying to tell me that I smell?" Simon raised an eyebrow.

"No.. I'm not.. You don't smell.. if anything you smell good.. wow, that's a weird thing to say. I'm sorry. I made this super awkward, didn't I?" Asher chuckled to himself, resolving it might just be better for him to not bother speaking.

"It's alright." Simon smiled in an open manner, unlike their previous conversations. "I think Shea's in that class too." Simon turned back around and shut back down once again. Asher visibly deflated at the second mention of Shea, though he wasn't totally sure why.

"Great." Asher lied.

....

For Gym class the boys filed into the locker room to change for the upcoming hell they were about to embark upon. Asher always liked Gym, but he found his stomach was doing flips at the thought that Shea was going to be sharing the class with him. Every thing he had to share with that boy, the angrier he became. Simon opted to change far away from both boys, though, so Asher didn't need to worry so much.

On the field the coach began to line up the boys, and urged them to begin running. Shea took off first, being sure to look back and see that both Simon and Asher had seen his actions. Asher was faster than Shea, he knew from practice, so Asher picked up his pace to match Shea. The dark haired boy was surprised when Asher pulled up beside him, but just kept his pace going, determined not to lose. Asher quickened again as well, and they remained together. Shea then gave a final burst, and pulled ahead, but Asher had more stamina from a longer time on the football team, so he picked up as well, and blasted past the other boy pulling into the lead. Shea slowed almost immediately after, and went to a walking pace. Asher pumped his fist in victory internally, but settled for nothing more than a smirk on the outside.

Behind him Asher turned to check to see if Simon had been watching. He assumed the boy would be, as the entire class seemed to be tuned in, but when he looked to see, he saw that Simon was crouching down beside Shea as he sat in the turf. Asher's smile vanished, and was replaced with a snarl. Shea had made a genius move, opting for the sad pathetic loser, and Asher supposed it had to do with knowing the target audience. Still, Asher was sure he could beat Shea in the next activity so he tried not to sweat it.

The coach next instructed them to do push ups and sit ups, which Asher was superb at. He'd never minded showing off before, and to know somebody could be paying attention was a nice little bonus. Asher chose a spot away from Shea, so as to not be too obvious, but he faced him, so he could gauge his reaction to Asher's impending victory. Sure enough the two boys began doing push ups, easily keeping up with the other's pace. Asher's blonde hair flopped lazily in his face, but he simply pushed it back up out of the way and continued going.

Shea seemed to have gained a stamina boost since their last practice and remained in step with Asher the further they pushed on. More and more it was angering the competitive boy who just wanted to win something. Asher wanted to beat Shea again in front of Simon, so their was no question over who was stronger.

"Just loose already..." Asher mumbled to himself as he began to feel the pressure of his extreme physical activity pressing down, and burning in his biceps. Shea must have felt it too, because he dropped to the ground after a few more seconds. Asher internally cheered in his own glory then stood up to make a triumphant muscle pose, only after checking to see that Simon was watching him rather than Shea; and he was.

Asher jogged off over to Simon after he finished. "Hey." He said casually, and Simon turned to look at him. The boy was a little red and out of breath, but no worse for wear. "You look like you had a rough time with that."

"Thanks." Simon chuckled, then rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet. "You did really well."

"What? Nah." Asher brushed off. "That was nothing. You should come see the game if you wanna see me really in action."

"Maybe." Simon stated, before averting his gaze.

"I uh.. saw you talking with Shea, are things all better between you too?" Asher held his breath. For some reason he felt threatened by Shea and wanted the boy as far away from Simon as possible.

"No. He told me to shove off." Simon shrugged. "I guess after a while you see people's true colors."

"Do you?" Asher cleared his throat, trying not to let that scare him. Whenever people saw his true colors they usually tried to run for the hills.

"That's what my brother says. But he says that I'm not careful enough to actually notice them, so he usually tells me what they are." Simon shrugged. "I think I can tell, though."

"Like with Shea?"

"Like with Shea."

"We should get going." Asher gestured to the rest of the class, which was making their way towards the door, and off the field.

"We should." Simon repeated, and took off with everyone else leaving Asher alone with his thoughts. If Simon saw people's true colors, sooner or later he would leave Asher behind for someone better. So all Asher had to do was make sure that Simon's brother liked him, and then he would be all set.

Back in the locker room, the boys began to change back into their regular clothes. This time Asher chose a spot that was closer to Simon, and would allow him to keep an eye on the smaller boy. Shea hadn't tried anything earlier, though that didn't mean he wouldn't. Asher sat down on the bench, and lazily tossed his shirt to the side. One of Asher's biggest points of pride was his body, he was well built and sturdy with defined abs from time on the field. He liked that football made him big, it made him more powerful, which made him less defenseless. Asher had been defenseless before, and he never wanted to be again.

Asher's eye's picked up and he flashed to Simon, who was already eyeing him, but looked away the instant Asher caught him. It was a new sensation, and Asher looked back down at his chiseled stomach. Usually catching someone looking at him like that would have made Asher uncomfortable, but for whatever reason Simon looking at him filled him with an innate sense of pride. At least he's not looking at Shea, Asher found himself thinking.

Slowly, Asher slid down his shorts as well, revealing his boxers underneath. He felt both excited and exposed all at once, knowing just a thin layer of fabric separated him from the outside world. Asher's legs were muscular as well, and they stretched at the bottoms of his boxers, pulling the fabric tight. In a straight line down the bottom of his stomach thickening out down his legs was a smattering of blonde body hair that wasn't present on his chest, and Asher was strangely proud of it. Asher was strangely proud of a lot of things, as he stood half naked, hesitating to put his school clothing back on.

His eyes flicked to Simon again, but this time he was met with something different; Simon had his back turned to Asher and was seemingly about to change himself. Asher allowed his eyes to stay put watching, not sure what he was looking for, but watching nonetheless. Simon pulled his shirt off quickly, and had his new one on in an instant, but Asher watched the whole time. He hadn't seen anything, and he hadn't wanted to see anything, but he wanted to be watching, and he had no idea why. Asher sighed to himself and begrudgingly pulled on the rest of his clothes. Something about the locker room made him want to show off and be the biggest man, a feeling Asher never got in the classroom, but he knew it was time to go to his next class. Time to move on with the day.