Fortunately, Dexter let the topic drop pretty quickly. I was glad - it made me feel a little awkward and guilty to hear him bragging (actually, outright lying) about something I had personally witnessed.

Distraction came in the form of Ryan, another member of our crew, who let it drop in conversation that he liked to jack himself off six times a day. Dexter of course seized on this piece of information and loudly proclaimed it to all who could hear, which meant Ryan was basically getting teased by everyone in the school. Why somebody'd open themselves up to that amount of abuse I don't know, but some guys are just gluttons for punishment I guess.

One hot Saturday afternoon a few weeks later, a bunch of us were at Dexter's house, swimming in their pool. His parents had gone for the weekend and he really wasn't supposed to have anyone over but we came over anyway. Ryan was there and Dexter made several loud and really oafish comments about him not clogging the pool filter.

Time went on, everyone else drifted away to go home or to other parties, and it was just Dexter and I in the afternoon sun. "Do you think it's true?" he asked? "What?" "You know, about Ryan." I made a pretense of being lost in thought - I already knew the answer - and eventually said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it must be. Why would he say something like that if it weren't true." "Geez. Damn." said Dexter and drifted into silence.

Eventually we went into the house and up to his room, still in our bathing suits. I'm not sure what came over me, but I asked him, "Say, did you ever see that girl again, the one you said came over here?" He paused, and shook his head ruefully. "Naw, she said she'd come back, but she never did. I haven't heard from her since." Ah, truth, or something approaching it.

"Well, I suppose that's not that surprising," I said. "After all, you're pretty hot for a high school guy, but you've got an awful lot to learn." It took several seconds for that to sink in, and Dexter blushed beet red. "How could you possibly know about that." he said in a quiet, low tone of voice.

I gestured towards the closet and said, simply, "I was in there watching you the entire time."