"What do you mean the door's locked! There are regs that prevent that sort of thing!" Pete yells.
"Look, the door is locked. Try for yourself." Rick replies.
Pete desperately tugs at the door while the lightning and thunder start to become almost constant.
"Maybe you got the wrong door?" I ask.
Rick shines his phone up a the dim sign over the door marked "STAIRS."
Although I can't see his face, I'm sure he's smirking.
A flash of light fills the hall from the doorway, with a clap of thunder roaring almost immediately after.
"Okay, new plan." I take a quick look around and spot what I'm looking just down the hall.
"Restroom. That should provide enough cover. Move out!"
We run just down the hall to the mens' room. The door wasn't locked, just like I thought it would be. We cut around the privacy wall, the dim emergency lights barely guiding us. The ammonia fumes hit me as I round the corner. I ignore the line of sinks on my left and duck down along the other side of the security wall. A line of urinals stretches up to my right, ending at the first of the stalls on the right side facing a similar row just past the sinks.
"We're going to sit on the floor by the urinals?" Will asks. "That can't be sanitary."
Another rumble of thunder shakes the building as Will sits down beside me. Rick and Pete join us a second later.
"The plumbing and extra walls should provide a little bit more safety," my face just barely seen in the glow of my phone.
"I can't believe I'm sitting on a restroom floor. This hasn't happened to me since third grade." Pete says.
"Well, I can't believe my brother is missing all of this. Why did Sam do that to him, Chris?" Will asks.
"He's mad at Dad and me for saying we are selling the house. If he only knew the reasons, but Dad wanted to wait. He still thinks Sam is too young, but he's been through so much. I knew he could handle everything, if we just told him. Damn, I hate keeping secrets like this."
"Secrets aren't always bad. Sometimes, they have to be kept." Rick adds. Well, he is a lawyer.
"But not with family or friends. Not like this." More thunder. Maybe a little bit too ominous.
"I mean, we never kept secrets from each other. Okay, maybe I didn't tell you guys about me having sex, but that was more about my partner's privacy than mine. Pretty much everything else was in the open. I've told you three things I haven't even told Addie yet. Nor Dad, or Sam. That's how much you guys have meant to me."
The other three men are quiet for a few seconds, as another wave of thunder rolls through the building.
"That's not true, Chris. I've been keeping something from the three of you since we first met. I should have told you, but I just ..." Pete gets interrupted.
"Pete, we knew you were held back a year. It doesn't matter. Such things happen." Will says
"I mean, it was obvious. Not many freshmen are 6' 3"' and packing that much muscle." Rick adds.
"Or shave daily. Look, we figured out that out years ago. And we decided it didn't matter. Sure, we could've gotten egged you on the get your license and drive us around. Or sneak us beer a year early, but that wouldn't be right or fair to you.
"Guys, I wasn't held back. I had to repeat my freshmen year because I got suspended. The reason is what I've been keeping secret." Pete says.
"What reason do you mean?"
More thunder. Every few seconds.
"I accidentally exposed myself to my girlfriend. And her father."
That drop deserved another roll of thunder.
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