Page 193 of The Locker Room

Xander looked at Penny with narrowed eyes. “I hate you. A lot.

You know that, right?”

Penny was actually wincing away from the other two women, and

for a moment, Xander wanted to smack her with a pillow and howl with

a little bit of glee. Meddling woman—see? See what happened when the

world was up in your business?

“Ewww, you guys!” she groaned. “That"s mybrotheryou"re

talking about! So. Not. Hot!”

Oh Christ!

“Lucia?” Xander begged pitifully. “Lucia, you wouldn"t know

where my—”

The little bottle clinked next to his plate, and Xander had never

been so happy to see drugs in his life.

“Thank you,” he groaned, taking two pills and washing them down

with milk. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you….”

There was a sweet little pat on his back. “No worries, Mr. Karcek.

At least this time you"re taking them on a full stomach.”

Xander looked up from his life-giving drugs, and realized that the

girls had all moved on to Adam Lambert (who was not attractive at all to

Xander"s point of view, so he didn"t really see the fascination) and

settled in to finishing his dinner, since everybody seemed to want a full

stomach for him with such passion.

He was halfway through his second bite when he saw Penny

looking at him and nodding with a “See? I was right!” sort of look, and

he fervently wished for that pillow again.

“You are just as obnoxious now as you were in junior high,” he

muttered, and Penny grinned like she"d won something. The chatter

continued, and Xander realized that he had actual honest friendships

without the confidentiality agreements, and something in his back

loosened to the point where his headache faded away. It might have been