Biker's Virgin

“Hanging out does not mean you’re going to get laid,” I said.

“But sometimes it does. You really want my sloppy seconds?”

“Fuck no, but I don’t think that just because you hang out with her means that you’re going to get laid. Call me skeptical, but I just don’t.”

“Should we make another bet about it?”

I twisted the cap onto the water bottle. “I think I’m all set making bets with you. Maybe we should let this first one play out before we get on to any others.”

“Suit yourself,” he said. He slapped the table and then stood up. “You ready? I’ve had like five coffees so far today. I need to burn off some of this energy.”

“Picture of health,” I said. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Out on the trails, I let Ben go first because I knew he’d burn himself out halfway through. He set a pretty blazing pace, which I mostly kept up with, though I wasn’t doing all the jumps, drops, and hucks that he was, and therefore conserving more energy. I felt tired, but I knew if I kept pushing myself, I’d push through the tiredness, get that fabled second wind, and somehow end up feeling like I was on top of the world. All the while, Ben would be feeling like his legs had turned to jelly.

And that was exactly how it happened. I didn’t even go all out because I would’ve just left him in the fucking dust, so as we made our way back, I pedaled just fast enough to stay ahead of him, but not so much that I was out of sight.

“You’re killin’ it,” he panted when we got back. “Jesus Christ, you’re a fucking animal.”

“Must be the chamois,” I said, though I couldn’t deny that it felt good to still be able to smoke him like this, even though I was riding so much less than I used to.

I was about to wheel my bike into the garage when I saw Allie come out of her house.

“Hey,” I said, waving. As I did so, I caught a whiff of myself and hoped that she wouldn’t come over here, which, of course, she did.

“Hey guys,” she said. “How’s it going?”

“Just back from a ride,” Ben said. “My man here put the hurt on me, big time.” Ben grinned. “There are some things he can win at.”

Allie smiled. “Is everything a big competition between you two?”

“Something like that,” Ben said mildly.

“So what are you up to?” I asked.

“I’ve just got some errands to run. I was thinking I might go check out bikes, actually.”

“Ben works at a bike shop,” I said.

“Backwoods Bikes,” Ben said. “Obviously, I’m not in there today, but if you let them know you know me, they’ll give you a discount. Or if you want to wait until I’m working, I’ll be there tomorrow, 10 to 6.”

“Maybe I will wait,” Allie said. “I could swing by after work.”

“Sounds good,” Ben said.

Allie smiled. “Well, you guys have a good rest of your day.”

We both watched her go, that ass of hers looking more than delicious in those shorts she was wearing. When she turned to get in her car, though, I looked away quickly, waved once more, then pushed my bike into the garage.

Time for a nice cold shower.

Chapter Seven

Allie

In high school, there had been this girl, Gemma, that everyone liked. She was definitely tall and gorgeous enough to be a model, but she’d been way more interested in getting good grades and going to an Ivy League school, so she had basically sworn off dating. We sat next to each other in chemistry class junior year, so I was a firsthand witness sometimes to the ways guys would more or less throw themselves at her feet, only to be rebuked. Mostly, she was nice, if not a little cool about it; it wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the guys who were interested in her, she just didn’t have any desire to do the dating thing whatsoever.

Though I didn’t use Facebook much, I knew that Gemma was now in grad school at Columbia, and she did have a boyfriend. She seemed happy, or as happy as someone could seem based on their curated social media page. But what I remembered most about her was not her perfect ski slope nose or how clothes just seemed designed to fit her body, but the way she was so completely detached about every single guy that had shown interest in her.