Tempest by Julie Cross

grumbling about injury prevention and liability.
    “Something nasty happened in the bathroom. Can you check it out?” Mike asked as he breezed past me on his way back to the group he was coaching.
    I groaned to myself and grabbed a pair of rubber gloves. It couldn’t be much different than cleaning a dorm room toilet. I had been assigned bathroom cleaning duties every other week during my one year of college and sharing a bathroom with two other guys.
    When I went into the men’s room and got a quick look at the clogged, overflowing toilet, I walked right back out and over to Mike on the floor.
    “I think you might need a plumber.”
    He laughed. “Wouldn’t that be you?”
    “Yeah … sure. Just joking…” In other words, I was screwed.
    Holly was watching me from over her shoulder. She was sitting on the floor with sheets of paper and a stapler spread out in front of her.
    “You need some help?”
    “No, that’s okay. I got it.”
    She got up and followed me anyway. “I don’t mind.”
    “Okay, but you’re going to need this.” I handed her a surgeon’s mask from the cleaning cart before opening the door.
    We tied them on and stood in front of the clogged toilet.
    “That’s just nasty,” she muttered.
    “Men are pigs, Holly.”
    “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never lived with one.”
    “Then you’re lucky.”
    She pointed to the plunger next to the toilet. “Maybe you should use that?”
    I raised an eyebrow. “Have you done this before?”
    “Many times. Have you?”
    I shrugged. “Sure, every day.”
    She laughed as I attempted to plunge the toilet. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for our longest 2007 conversation thus far, but at least it was something.
    Holly reached over me and lifted the top off the tank, leaning it against the wall. Then she stuck her hand right in—nothing squeamish about this girl. “See this little thingy? I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s supposed to be up and that’s why it won’t flush.”
    She moved her hand from the tank and the toilet flushed immediately.
    “Nice!” I said.
    She pulled her mask down and smiled. “Do you think it’s safe to breathe?”
    I snatched the bottle of disinfectant from the cleaning cart and started spraying every inch of the toilet. “It will be in a minute.”
    Holly grabbed another pair of gloves and a sponge and helped me clean. When the two of us walked out of the bathroom, we ran right into Jana.
    “Diving into boy’s bathrooms with the new guy. I’m impressed,” she teased.
    “You should be. We were doing really nasty things,” Holly said.
    She walked away, leaving me standing next to Jana, who was dressed in a leotard and covered up to her elbows in chalk. “She’s probably not going to go out with you. Just so you know.”
    “We were just cleaning a toilet, I swear.”
    Jana laughed under her breath. “I know. But somebody needed to fill you in before you get too attached.”
    Too late.
    “Does she have a boyfriend?”
    “Nope. What about you, do you have a girlfriend?” Jana asked.
    “Um … kind of … well, no, not really.”
    Toby walked up and stuck his head between the two of us. “Mike’s taking off early tonight and he’ll be gone all weekend. I’m thinking we should do something?”
    “Poker night,” Jana suggested with a devious grin.
    “Exactly. Are you in, Jackson? You’re the key holder now, so we kind of need you here.”
    “You want me to risk the job I just started so you can play poker and screw around?”
    Toby laughed quietly. “All right, what do you want?”
    I nodded toward Holly. “I’ll agree if you convince her to come, but you can’t use me as an excuse.”
    “Are you moving in on my woman?”
    “Toby, it’s called unrequited love. Give it up, man,” Jana said, patting his head like a little dog.
    “I’m just curious, that’s all. Plus, we had a moment,” I said.
    Jana rolled her eyes. “They cleaned a toilet together.”
    “Romantic,”