Still Here

The locker room wasn’t busy—just a handful of guys finishing their workouts, grabbing showers, heading out. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Eli pulled off his shirt, grabbed his towel, and turned toward the showers. That’s when he noticed James—still in his gym clothes, sitting on the bench, tying and retying his shoe like he had nowhere to be.

Something in Eli told him to wait.

He sat down across from him, stretching out his legs. “You hitting the showers?”

James glanced up, shrugged. “Might just rinse off at home.”

Eli nodded, pretending not to notice the hesitation. He’d seen this before. A guy trying to decide if it was okay to just be a guy.

The showers here were open—an old-school setup that hadn’t been remodeled like most places. Nothing weird about it. At least, there shouldn’t have been. But these days? It was different.

Eli leaned back against the lockers. “You ever play sports?”

James shook his head. “Nah. Never really into that scene.”

Eli smirked. “Yeah, me neither. But I grew up around guys who were. And you know what I remember? They didn’t think twice about this kind of thing.” He gestured toward the showers. “Back then, no one was worried about being seen. It was just part of life.”

James chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah… guess I never really thought about it.”

But Eli could tell—he had thought about it.

“I get it,” Eli said. “Somewhere along the way, we lost something. Got told to be careful, got trained to keep space between us. And now? Guys don’t even know what they’re missing.”

James looked up. “What do you mean?”

Eli exhaled, thinking. “Man, it’s hard to explain. It’s not about the showers. It’s about how normal it used to be—being unguarded around each other, not second-guessing every move.

There was a kind of joy in it—the ease of just being, the trust that no one was watching, judging, or measuring. You don’t even realize how much you took it for granted… until it’s gone.”

James nodded, quiet for a moment. “Yeah… I guess I do feel that. Like, I don’t even know why it feels weird. It just does.”

Eli gave him a half-smile. “Yeah. But you know what? It doesn’t have to.”

He stood up, grabbed his towel, and nodded toward the showers. “Still here, man. Ain’t going anywhere.”

James hesitated, then smirked. “Yeah… guess I could use a rinse.”

Eli clapped his shoulder, and together, they walked toward what had always been normal—what was still normal, underneath all the noise.

Some things get lost.

But not everything stays lost forever.