Down Low

"Welcome, boys-"

Archer hopped onto a tree stump. His blonde hair fell in front of his face, but he moved it so we could get a good view of his icy blue eyes.

"-to the monthly Pow Wow!"

Johnson reached up and handed him a champagne bottle, and like any other frat boy, Archer popped the top off, and suds exploded into the air. Unfortunately for me, I was in the splash zone. Champagne splooshed on my face. Archer laughed, making the other boys join in.

"Quiet, men!" Johnson yelled as he joined Archer on the stump. "Now, this month has been hard on us all. With finals, bitch ex-girlfriends, and plans for after college- I'm sure somewhere along the way we've all fucked up!"

I scanned the circle. With the amount of blush that filled everyone's faces, we could've packaged it up and sold it for millions. But for now, the red coloring shined bright like fireflies in the night.

"Mackintire!" Archer yelled to a red-headed boy to my right. I had only ever seen this kid in my Physics class, but this guy is frickin weird from what I heard.

Mackintire crossed his arms, but he held his head high and stood tall. It was a weird kind of confidence that I've ever seen in action films.

"Y'all can't handle my sauce," he replied.

"Oo's" and "Ahh's" flew through the group. He nodded his head and smirked.

"C'mon, Mack," Archer said, "don't try to play it cool. Admit to one thing you fucked up on this month. You know the rules."

Archer and I made eye contact as he said that, but he quickly looked away.

"Okay," Mackintire started, "I got caught masturbating in the living room." He hung his head in shame while everyone laughed at him.

"Dude, that's too PG! I thought you did something completely horrible," Archer said as he climbed down the stump.

"Dunphy!"

Johnson spat out my name like it was hot water. He pointed at me, and the most devious smile lifted amongst his cheeks.

"Tell us," he said as he shifted to make himself look taller. "Did you uh...make any mistakes this month?"

Johnson twisted a strand of brown hair in his fingers. All eyes were on me, so no one noticed Archer backing away from the group and walking behind the cabin.

"Uh- I ate my dog's food!" I had to come up with something quick to get out of there. Boo's roared throughout the boys as I. followed behind Archer.

"Hey," I whispered as I grabbed his arm, forcing him to face me.

"Let me go!"

He pulled his arm away but stayed in front of me.

"What's good with you, man?"

"Can we talk about what happened?"

"We don't need to talk about it."

He leaned his back against the cabin and stayed silent. I thought about walking closer to him, but I figured leaving space between us was the best idea.

"Look, man," he whispered, "I didn't mean for this for the escalate. It was just one kiss-"

"One kiss that turned into way more than that." I stepped closer to him, and he tensed up.

"Let's just keep it friendly, man."

Footsteps came from behind, and we both turned around. Johnson crouched his way closer to us.

"Everything alright?" Johnson asked. His eyes drifted from mine to Archer's. "You okay, dude?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Archer responded without making eye contact. Jonhson slowly turned back around and went back to the group.

"Archer," I said. "I'm sorry, but I can't ignore what happened."

"We were drunk, dude! Let it go!"

A shushing noise caused me to turn back around. The boys were all crowded together, watching Archer and me. Mackintire had his phone out with the camera pointed at us.

"Honestly, I don't feel so bad about what I did now," Mackintire said as he and the rest of the group snickered.

Archer dropped his head in his hands; any last bit of dignity he had fell right along with it.