After a few minutes, we walked back through the living room and into the kitchen. Eddie introduced me to every guy in there, too. I tried but failed to keep track of all these new names and faces. Like the guys in the living room and on the deck, they were all handsome and fit. What I found strange was that they all seemed to be expecting me. They'd heard of me. Guys kept saying stuff like, "Oh, so this is Ash... really nice to meet you, pal."

This one guy said, "Oh, you're Ash? We've heard great things, buddy, great things!" He and the three other guys standing with him all laughed. Then he patted me on the back and said, "No, seriously, we're all really glad you could make it. We'll have fun."

What the fuck was going on? Why did they all know who I was? When did Eddie tell them about me, and what did he tell them about me, and why did he tell them anything about me? The vibe I picked up was mysterious and strange, but not unpleasant. Something was up, and sooner or later I'd probably figure out what it was.

After we mingled and chatted in the rec room for a while, Eddie said, "Why don't we go out back for a swim?"

I said, "Sounds great."

I'd come prepared to swim. I had on my blue and teal checkered board shorts. I followed Eddie out the sliding, walkout, basement doors onto a gray and brown flagstone patio that was below the deck we'd been on earlier. The backyard was huge and surrounded by a tall hedge on all sides. Eddie's pal, Ron, clearly had beaucoup bucks, as they say. That was not unusual in Northside Heights, the wealthy neighborhood in our town. Things up there were way different than what they were like in Southbog Flats, where I lived.

We strode along a gray and brown flagstone path across the lush lawn that led to a rectangular area surrounded by a tall chainlink fence, covered on all sides with a green mesh privacy screen. Eddie began to open the gate but paused, turned, and placed a palm on my chest.

"Oh, so, one thing you might find weird, Asher, is that a lot of us guys skinny dip. You can keep your suit on if you're more comfortable with that, but, fair warning, if you're gonna swim here, you're gonna see a lot of swinging dicks. You cool with that?"

"Oh, um, yeah, fine. I'm comfortable with that," I said.
...
And why had Eddie even invited me? Eddie was being all buddy-buddy. Paul called me "pal." Dave called me "buddy." I always got along with these guys, but we were never the greatest of friends or anything. We moved in different circles in school. First of all, they were football dudes, and I was a soccer guy. Second of all, they were two years older and two years ahead of me in school. Third, and most importantly, they were rich kids. I was not. I lived in Southbog Flats, the poor side of town. They were all Northside Heights kids. Although people usually didn't come right out and say so, that was a big dividing line, socially. For the most part, we all managed to get along okay, but a Northie was a Northie, and a Bogger, as they called us Southbog Flats kids, was a Bogger, and everybody knew the difference. None of my scrappy Bogger friends had been invited, only me.