Standing By

Decoding and Creating

All of us, straight, gay, and in between, chortled at that. Granted, we all knew it had to be perfectly innocent—Adam's one hundred percent faithful to Ericha—but guys' minds are gonna go where guys' minds go.

He finally came back around the corner with the blonde a few minutes later, hands firmly holding a large pair of surgical scrubs around his waist. "Thank you so much, Diana, I really appreciate it. I was not looking forward to sitting around in soaking wet pants."

"No problem," she assured him. "Can't say that I blame you one bit. I'll keep an eye on your jeans and things and make sure to let you know when they're wearable."

"What're they doing with your jeans?" Chance asked absently.

"We're going to try to dry them," she explained. "Can't have him sitting around in wet clothes; it'd be a liability."

"Don't care how they dry 'em as long as they get dry," Adam muttered. "You know how uncomfortable and heavy wet jeans are?"

"Uh-huh," Scott said as Rob ran a finger into my ribs.

"Lookit the size of the rock on her finger!"

"Yeah, that's the last place I been looking," I had to admit, watching her still working with him on getting the pants tied. Apparently, the elastic was subpar and the ties were too short. Or too long. Or something like that. I was looking less at him and more at her and the way her neatly-shaped ass was moving.

"Rock? What rock?" Chance had to agree, the Linzi girl coming back around to help with the pants issue.

"I don't see no rock," Austin murmured, his attention moving back to Linzi.

"Hmm. Nice. Whatever." Scott refocused on other parts.

"Psst, Diana, what's the problem?" Linzi hissed.

"Elastic's shot, tie won't move, there's like a foot over here..." She waggled a tie in her right hand. "...and two inches over here." She wiggled the other. "And he's got a small waist."

"He could just hold 'em," Rob suggested halfheartedly.

"Nah," Scott disagreed.

Adam glanced over his shoulder at us, grinned, and gave us a shrug. Yeah. He wasn't minding this one bit.

"Take it to the bathroom, Diana, or a lounge or something," Linzi advised, glancing around. "You're fiddling with his pants in a public hallway. I know you're doing a legitimate thing, but people are starting to talk. And apparently, all eight of these guys are in the music industry."

"Yeah, I know." She winked at her. "Singer fell in a mop bucket."

"Well, take it somewhere!" Linzi looked flushed.

"Yeah, Adam, get a room," I teased, making all three of them blush, but the rest of us laugh.

Linzi and Diana both glanced at us. By some unspoken agreement, the five of us guys (minus Adam) swung our heads towards each other.

"So, um, what—," Scott tried to flub.

"When's, err, Rick coming over tonight?" Rob managed to improvise.

"Lord, I barely know what time it is now," Chance mumbled, glancing down at a wrist without a watch.

"12:47," I reported, watching the second hand on mine click-click-click by.

"We gonna do this by the skin of our teeth again?" Austin groaned.

"Hell, it worked last time," I grunted, still watching Adam and Diana out of the corner of my eye.