Every week after football practice, Wolf went to the men's locker room. It was on the far side of the main building, nowhere near any of his classes. He wasn't on the team and he didn't know anyone who was, except for Perry Brown.
Perry was 6.1" with cropped hair and a tan so deep it made his teeth glow. He was strong, not like a big lumpy boulder, like Wolf, but like a chiseled statue come to life. Everything from his shoulders to his calves seemed sculpted to a point. He was sitting on the changing room bench when Wolf arrived, hunched over casually, with a sheen of dried sweat making his long legs and arms look like polished bronze.
"Hey, man. How you doing."
This was the extent of most of their conversations. Wolf kneeled on the wet tiles and pried off his friend's size 17 cleat, then lifted it slowly to his face. The smell was strong: a salty musk competing with the fresh earth on the shoe's spikes. It made Wolf's head swim.
Perry was 6.1" with cropped hair and a tan so deep it made his teeth glow. He was strong, not like a big lumpy boulder, like Wolf, but like a chiseled statue come to life. Everything from his shoulders to his calves seemed sculpted to a point. He was sitting on the changing room bench when Wolf arrived, hunched over casually, with a sheen of dried sweat making his long legs and arms look like polished bronze.
"Hey, man. How you doing."
This was the extent of most of their conversations. Wolf kneeled on the wet tiles and pried off his friend's size 17 cleat, then lifted it slowly to his face. The smell was strong: a salty musk competing with the fresh earth on the shoe's spikes. It made Wolf's head swim.