The More Boys I Meet

“Shut it you guys!” I shouted, pulling the blankets, further over my head. It was a mere seven in the morning in early June and Pat and Johnny were banging around downstairs, talking running plans for that morning.

“You should come with,” Pat leaned against the door.

I scoffed. “Yes Patrick Kane. Why don’t I, barely in shape Ellie Reese, come running with you two, tip top shape hockey players? Pass my dear.”

“We could slow down the pace,” he offered.

I waved him off. “Not today. You and Johnny go have bromance time. I’m going to move my sleeping patterns out into the sun.”

He chuckled. “What did you do in Wisconsin in the wintertime when you couldn’t just go lay out on the porch, sleeping?”

“Grabbed five blankets and cuddled. Duh,” I added. “What else is there to do in Wisconsin in wintertime?”

“Obviously not much. We’ll be back in a little while.”

They both left, slamming doors of course and I stumbled out of bed and into my black bikini, grabbing my tanning lotion and sunglasses.

“So you moved from one sleeping area to another?” a voice startled me as I slathered on my tanning lotion.

“The faux Swede!” I greeted sarcastically. “What are you doing, creeping at our house? Ha, I love saying our house,” I smiled to myself.

“I brought the whole Swede gang actually. And a Canadian, but we can pretend he’s Swedish for the time being.”

“Well Pattycake and Johnny Two Toes went running about five minutes ago.”

“Well then I guess you can entertain us,” the voice of Crow made me sigh.

“Entertainment? Fine. Viktor, run to the convenience store around the corner and grab an assortment of magazines. The rest of you, strip your shirts and grab some towels from the closet. We’re tanning today.”

“You’re kidding me,” Hammer said.

“Does this bikini look like I’m kidding?” I pointed at my black suit.

“You heard the lady,” Corey said, taking off his shirt. “If they come back and make fun of us, it’s all your fault and you threatened us.”

I shrugged. “Works for me.”

I laid down on my towel, sighing out of satisfaction. After a minute, my sun was blocked and I opened my eyes, irritated with the body who decided to interrupt my lovely tanning time.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust but I could finally make out the scrawny body of none other than Marcus Kruger. “Marcus Kruger,” I smiled. “I’m surprised you came back after last week’s fiesta.”

He laid down next to me on his stomach, letting his pale back get a glimpse of the hot summer sun. “I didn’t really have a choice actually,” he muttered into the towel. “I live with two Swedes who seem to get bored rather easily.”

I laughed. “I remember the first time I met them. Everyone actually. I felt like I was the babysitter.”

“Yeah?”

“Gave that job up pretty damn quick. Well sometimes I still find myself watching them. Especially when alcohol is involved. Watch out when the defense men get drunk. They’re a riot.”

“Thanks for the tip,” he said. “I’ll have to remember that next time they invite me to go out.”

“You look like a lightweight,” I commented. “Are you?”

He shrugged. “I’m only twenty years old. I technically can’t drink in this country.”

I raised an eyebrow. “But back in Sweden?”

He smiled slightly. “I still didn’t drink much back home. I was always. . . the designated driver,” he struggled to come up with the word in English.

“Ah yeah me too. I don’t turn twenty one until the end of summer. When’s your birthday?”

“Next May.”

“So you just turned twenty, eh?”

He nodded. “Yup.”

“So you really are baby Swede. Scrawny and young,” I hid my smile in the crook of my arm, watching him carefully.

No reaction whatsoever. “I’m not that scrawny,” was all he responded before falling asleep under the sun.

Marcus Kruger was different, I decided right there. He wasn’t loud, crazy, or anything like any of the guys I was used to hanging out with. If only I could decide whether it was a good or bad thing.