Milked

Meghranush | hazed, dazed, and horrified.

It had been three weeks since I'd seen Richard, since that kiss I was sure I would forever associate with the taste of cilantro. He'd been texting and calling, asking when he would see me again, and I kept replying that I was very busy with school, so not this week but maybe the next. It seemed to be working for the moment.

In the meantime, I'd begun texting Shane, and with each text, I fell further into friendship with him. I'd forgotten what it was like to have a friend like him, a friend who I wanted to text about the little things, a friend who actually texted me back because he actually cared. I think he might have cared more than my past best friends. He would ask me about things like my classes and juicing recipes. I found it surprising that these little things we had in common—a genuine care for our GPAs and our health—brought us together so much. I'd bought a juicer upon his recommendation (and I tried to forget the money I'd used for the purchase had been put into my bank account by Richard).

Thursday night, he invited me to Hazed and Dazed. "Loren and I are going out."

"You two are hanging out?" I knew things had been tense between them, from brief and abruptly-ended conversations I'd had with Shane.

"A little. Want to join?"

I did, and since Skylar was hanging out with Phil, I didn't invite her.

When I got there, everything seemed like it was fine. The three of us found a booth, and they sat across from me, and we ordered drinks. I had sparkling water, and Shane and Loren were drinking beer. Shane offered to put some vodka from a flask in my sparkling water, and against my better judgment, I accepted.

Even though I didn't like Loren, the two of us were getting along. I think he was glad I hadn't told Skylar about him and Shane, and I felt pretty proud of myself for the same thing. Many times, I had wanted to tell her, but I must have been maturing, because my promise helped me overcome my urges to see whatever her reaction to their secret might be.

It did seem like a secret. The two of them didn't act affectionately towards each other at all in public. No, they just acted like college boys, taking up more of the table than they needed to, drinking beer, and eating half their weight in chips.

Our conversation right then turned to ASU's funderwear run for colon cancer, a half marathon that was traditionally done in one's underwear, which Shane planned to run.

"Do people really wear underwear?" I asked.

Shane replied, "Well, a few years ago, a ton of students wore scandalous lingerie, so now underwear is now only allowed over your regular running attire."

Loren rolled his eyes. "Ridiculous."

"Agreed," Shane said.

"Who's to say that your regular running attire isn't your underwear?" asked Loren, and I actually found myself laughing at him.

"Are you talking about yourself?" Shane said to him. "Because I've never seen you run so much as a few feet."

Loren flipped him off. So much like Skylar.

"If you run with me, I'll stay with you," Shane told him. "We can take it as slow and steady as you need."

"Yeah right," said Loren. "I'd rather sit in a lawn chair and watch. Except with that new dress code, I don't even know if it'll be worth it to watch. Underwear over shorts? Kind of impedes the imagination."

"I don't know," Shane said. "A bunch of guys wearing thongs over their running shorts sounds like it will enhance the imagination to me."

Loren smiled for a second, then glanced at me uncomfortably. He probably thought I judged him for liking other men, but right then, I wasn't judging, not at all, despite my upbringing.