Orange Shirts at the Pool

The orange rash guard hung loose on my frame, a hand-me-down from my cousin who'd actually filled out. I stood at the edge of the pool party, clutching my towel like it could save me from social suicide.

"Yo, you gonna swim or what?" Jason called out, splashing water toward my feet. Everyone laughed. I forced a smile, my stomach doing that terrible knot thing it always did when I was the center of attention.

Then I saw him.

Bear — everyone called him that because he was built like a tank, shoulders for days, zero neck — sat alone on a lounge chair. Everyone assumed he was tough, maybe dangerous. Definitely not the type to be avoided by half the party.

I drifted over, partly because I felt awkward standing alone, partly because something about him seemed off. Up close, I noticed his hands were shaking.

"You good?" I asked, then immediately regretted it. Smooth, Miles. Real smooth.

Bear looked up, and his eyes were red-rimmed. "Yeah. Just... my little sister's in the hospital. She's got that thing going around."

The bull of the school, the guy everyone crossed the hallway to avoid, was scared.

"That sucks," I said, because what else could I say? "My cousin had that last year. She's fine now."

Bear actually smiled, just a little. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. But she complained the whole time about how the hospital food tasted like." I paused. "Like orange Gatorade that's been sitting in the sun for a week."

He huffed out a laugh. "That sounds about right."

We sat there for twenty minutes while the pool party raged around us. I learned about his sister's obsession with unicorns. He learned about my cousin's rash guard that I'd never wanted to wear anyway.

"You should take it off," Bear said suddenly. "The shirt. Pool's warm enough."

I looked down at the orange fabric that had felt like armor all day. "Yeah. Maybe."

"We could both use some cooling off," he said, standing up. "Race you to the deep end?"

I grinned. "You're on, Bear."

Sometimes the scariest-looking people are just the ones who need someone to sit beside them the most.