Ryan looked up from his book. "A what?"
"A lockout," Seth said, and sat down in one of the chairs. The pool house was always so clean, he thought. It was like Ryan had a cleaning lady all to himself, except that he didn't. Maybe he was obsessive compulsive. "You know, it's like a strike. Except that--"
"Yeah," said Ryan. "I know what it is. It's just, why?"
"Because," Seth said. He stood up, took a walk around Ryan's bed, then sat down in the other chair. The room looked just as clean and sterile as it did from the first one. "Because girls are crazy and I've had it up to here with them. I mean, first of all, my girlfriend totally just hooked up with your ex-girlfriend, which, thanks but no-- or wait, is that second of all? Maybe first of all is that my ex-girlfriend is just insane, even though I'm mostly over that, and third of all is that your girlfriend is trying to be just like your ex-girlfriend because she thinks--"
"Seth," Ryan said, probably a little more loudly than necessary.
"Yes?"
"I get the picture," he said. He'd apparently given up on his book, because he'd marked and closed it and put it on the floor next to his bed. Seth stared at it, sitting there out of place, far from its rightful home in the bookcase with all the rest of Ryan's books. It just looked wrong.
"Seth," Ryan repeated.
"Yes," said Seth, jerking his attention back to Ryan.
"Where'd this lockout thing come from?"
"Oh," Seth said, waving his hand dismissively. "You know. The hockey lockout."
Ryan looked at him blankly. "Hockey lockout? Since when did you know anything about hockey?"
Seth made a shocked, choking kind of noise. "Since when do I--. Man. Ryan," he said. "I'm insulted. What kind of person do you take me for?"
"One who doesn't know anything about hockey?"
"Come on. I know plenty about hockey."
Ryan made a disbelieving noise. "Seth, we live in California."
"Yeah," Seth said. He stood up and walked around Ryan's bed again, but this time ended up sitting down on it with Ryan. "Still. No girls."
Ryan patted his knee. "Sure thing."