by P W Steele
He turned the key to start the ignition and made his way out of the parking lot, the tyres screeching as he turned the corner. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw the neon blue AMAZING FITNESS sign getting smaller and smaller as he sped away.
There was no way in hell he was ever going back there again.
Chapter 5 - One Year, Four Months and Twelve Days
There was a silence on the other end of the line. “Em, you still there?” Andy asked, his eyes narrowing as he waited for a response. Silence.
“Then what happened?” Emily finally asked. Andy couldn’t tell if she was in shock or trying not to laugh. He figured it was probably a bit of both.
“I don’t really remember. The next thing I know, I’m lying on the floor and all the guys are standing over me.”
“How long were you out for?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t exactly feel like doing a deep dive into it with them. I just got dressed and got the hell out of there as fast as I could. There is no waaaay I am ever going back there again Em. This is beyond mortifying, even for me.”
More silence.
“You don’t think that maybe you’re….overreacting, just slightly? I mean, yes it’s not a great thing, but it’s not like, I don’t know, you threw up on anyone.”
Andy smiled, instantly knowing what his best friend since childhood was referring to. “Hey, if I didn’t almost drown, need to get rescued by a hunky Aussie lifesaver and then proceed to throw up on the aforementioned hunky Aussie lifesaver, you wouldn’t have a husband.”
They both laughed. “You have a point,” Emily admitted. Andy's endearing clumsiness set off a chain of fateful events that led her to finding her perfect guy (who funnily enough, was called Guy) on their first stop in Australia of their ten-week, round-the-world adventure to celebrate graduating from college.
“Alright, now I want to hear all the details about this Jack guy. You kinda skipped over that part to get to your sauna fail story.”
Andy sunk back further into his bed and smiled as the thought of Jack entered into his mind again. “Uhhh, Jack,” he sighed. “Hands down Em, the most amazingly good looking guy I have ever seen.”
“Okay, wow,” Emily replied, impressed. "What does he look like?"
Andy sighed again. "Just...perfect, Em. His eyes. His face. His skin. His body, oh my god, his body."
"So let me see here...He's got eyes, a face, skin and a body. Wow, I can see him so clearly in my mind. Use better words Andy," Emily teased him.
"Oh Em, I can't even…" Andy said dreamily, his mind drifting back to the locker room. To the sight of Jack’s glistening, wet body. To his warm and inviting blue eyes that he could stare into forever. To the touch of his silky soft hand pressed into his.
"It's not just his looks though," Andy continued, slowly re-entering back into reality. “There’s something about him Em. I can’t...I don’t know how to describe it."
"Yeah, I'm noticing you're not very good at describing things at the moment," she ribbed him.
"It was just this...this feeling I got when I was standing near him, you know?"
“Lust?” Emily offered. “Love?”
“What, no! Love? Em, I don’t believe in that love at first sight crap. That's not real, it doesn't actually happen."
“Uh, excuse me. Yes it does. Remember my hunky Aussie life saving husband?” Emily countered with a satisfied smugness in her voice.
“That was different. And besides, it wasn’t love at first sight, missy. It was actually love after the first date, if we're going to get all specific about it. Remember?” Andy shot back with a smile in his voice.
“Technically, you’re right. Yes.” Emily conceded.
“Besides, you can’t fall in love with someone if you don’t know them. I don’t even know his last name, so how can I be in love with him?”
More silence on the line, then something that sounded like a distorted giggle.
Andy cleared his throat. “Are you laughing at me?”
The giggle escaped Emily’s lips. “It’s just so cute. I love it when you get so riled up, and I love it even more when you can’t even see it.”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Can’t see what exactly?” he asked.
“Andy,” Emily began as she took a deep breath, “Love isn’t a thought, it’s a feeling. That’s why it’s irrational and it drives people crazy. I’m not saying you’re in love with this guy. You’re right, you’ve only met him once, and you don’t know anything about him. But what I am saying is, trust your feelings. That’s it. Just let yourself feel whatever it is you're feeling. Okay? You’ve got good instincts. Trust them.”
Andy let her words sink in. There was no one in the world who knew exactly what to say to him at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way. A heavy pang hit his chest as he realized just how much he missed seeing his best friend every day.
“You know what your problem is? You doubt yourself. You doubt your judgement. You never used to until…” Emily paused, not knowing if she should open the can of worms, “Until...him.”
“He has a name. Peter.” Andy said, with his jaw tightening and a familiar feeling of pressure building up in his chest. Just saying his name out loud still triggered a physical response in his body. Or it could have been the searing pain he’d felt all over his body from the moment he woke up, following his first ever workout. Every muscle in his body hurt.
Emily shuddered. “But Peter was like, over a year ago now. You have to move on Andy.”
“Actually it was one year, four months and twelve days ago.”
“Oh...my...god. Andy!” Emily's voice was a mixture of disbelief and horror. "Please don't tell me you've been…"
“Not that I’m counting,” Andy jumped in, trying to salvage the situation. He instinctively knew what Emily was thinking. “I’m just keeping track for the first year and a half, that’s all.”
“Oh of course you are. That's totally fine and normal behavior,” she said, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. “How can I put this nicely...Why the fuck are you doing that?" She was starting to get fired up.
“Because I read this article…” Andy began.
“I’d like it to be noted that I should be stopping you at this point, but I’m not,” Emily interjected.
“And this article said...” Andy continued, a little defensively but also a little defiantly, “That when a relationship ends, you basically need half the time of the relationship to process the breakup. So, Peter and I were together for three years, well just a month under, so I am giving myself a year and a half to get over it.”
Silence.
“Em, come on,” Andy pleaded. He knew what her response would be, and he even already kind of agreed with it, he just didn’t need to get called out on it.
Even though a fair chunk of time had passed, Andy still hadn’t gotten over his break up with Peter. It came as a complete surprise, at least to him. He thought their relationship was going well.
They had good chemistry, shared many of the same interests and the time they spent together always felt fun and easy. But for Peter, it turned out that ‘fun’ and ‘easy’ was actually ‘boring’ and ‘routine’.
Andy returned home from work one evening and the apartment they shared was eerily quiet. His heart sank when he saw an envelope addressed to him, sitting on the otherwise empty kitchen counter. He'd seen this kind of thing in movies and on TV shows, but it never occurred to him that people actually did this type of thing in real life.
It was the sudden shock of the breakup and the brutal, uncaring way it was done - a fucking letter - rather than the actual breakup itself, that really rocked Andy to his core. It completely undermined his faith in himself to judge people and situations. How could he be so wrong about someone he let get so close to him?
“I’m not going to say what you think I’m going to say,” Emily began softly, breaking the silence. “Take all the time you need to heal and to process, Andy. Just please,
please, please stop second guessing yourself. You have good instincts. Don’t let one bad thing that happened to you stop you from seeing that,” she pleaded.
Andy found a tuft of hair near the side of his head and twirled it around between his fingers.
“And this gym thing,” Emily continued, “Allow yourself to enjoy it. You’re meeting new people, you’re working towards your goals. Have fun for a change. You can still have fun while you heal, you know?”
“I know,” Andy said as he stopped playing with his hair and rubbed his eyes, “You’re right...as usual...I miss you Em,” he said with a heaviness in his voice.
“I miss you too...Look, I'm sorry, I need to get going Andy, I think Jess is stirring. She’ll be up soon. Don’t overthink this okay? Get your ass back to the gym. Don’t fucking faint again. And don’t be a chicken shit with this Jack guy.”
“Hmmm...I’ll think about it. Alright, I know you gotta go. Give Jess and Guy a big hug from me. Love you, bye.”
“I will. Love you, bye.”
Andy tossed the phone beside his pillow. He had woken up to a phone call from Australia and pain stretching across the entire right side of his body, the left side of his body, basically across his whole body. His muscles ached and made even small movements, like reaching for the phone on his bedside drawer, a painful reminder of the previous day’s events.
He remembered Michael telling him to expect to be sore for the next day or two. Andy just didn’t realize it would be this bad.
He knew he needed to get showered and ready for work, but he just couldn’t muster the energy to get his body out of bed. Everything ached. He tried to lift his leg to kick the sheet down the bed and his thigh almost seized up. He wrapped his hands around his right thigh and slowly placed it back down on the bed. He stared at the ceiling and let out a big sigh.
“Fuck. My. Life,” he said, feeling sorry for himself.
Chapter 6 - Falling in Lust
A few moments later, Andy heard the buzzing of his phone near his head. He turned to try and find it. As he lifted his left arm to reach for it, he felt a pinch of searing pain from his shoulder. He fumbled around on the sheets until his fingers finally reached his phone.
An unknown number lit up the screen. He tried to think who it could be.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hey, is this Andy?” It was a man’s voice. It sounded familiar, but had a nervous undertone.
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“It’s Michael, from Amazing Fitness. I’m...I’m just calling to see how you’re feeling today. I feel so bad about what happened.”
Andy closed his eyes and winced. “I’m good Michael,” he said, trying to not allow his embarrassment come through in his tone. “I mean, I’m sore as hell from the workout and can barely move, but other than that, I’m fine.”
“Andy,” Michael said seriously, “I want to apologize for what happened yesterday. We should have...I should have,” he corrected himself, “Kept a closer eye on you. I feel like what happened was my fault, and I want you to know that I’m really sorry.”
Andy was taken aback. He never for a minute thought it was anyone else’s fault but his own dumb ass. He was genuinely struck by the gesture and the effort Michael was making to check in with him and make sure he was okay.
At the same time though, Andy had reservations. Not just because he had fainted and made a complete fool of himself, he was kind of used to that. It was the realization that came to him, as he was ordering drive-through on his way home from the gym no less, that spending time with guys like Michael, Scotty, Sean and Jack, heck even Mark, who all had amazing bodies, inadvertently made Andy feel even worse about his body.
It was one thing to know your own body wasn't that crash hot by society's unrealistic standards, it was another thing entirely to have it rubbed in your face by seeing a bunch of super jacked personal trainers and gym goers parading their sweaty, ridiculously fit bodies all around you. It was enough to drive a person straight into a fast food drive-through.
“Thank you for calling Michael, I really appreciate it. I’ve been doing some thinking and I just don’t...”
“There’s one more thing,” Michael interrupted. “From now on, Jack will be your personal trainer.”
Andy’s mouth gaped open. “Uh…okay…why?” The words dribbled out of his mouth.
“Well, you have one more free workout session with us, and Jack has a lot more experience than I do. He said he wants to keep a close eye on you and he’s confident he can help you achieve your goals.” Michael paused. “He um, insisted.”
“He insisted?” Andy realized at that moment that there was one muscle in his body that wasn’t sore from his workout yesterday, as he looked down at the tentpole forming in his bed sheets.
“Sorry, I interrupted you Andy. What were you about to say?” Michael asked.
“I was going to say that I’ve been doing some thinking and...that yes, I’d love to keep going. I mean, I’m a little, okay a lot, embarrassed about what happened, but it could have been worse, right? At least I didn’t throw up on anyone!”
“Uh, yeah sure,” Michael said, sounding relieved and slightly confused at the same time. “So you’ll be in tomorrow for your wellness session with Sean?”
“Yes, definitely. And hey Michael, thanks again for calling. It means a lot.”
“Don’t mention it. See you tomorrow.”
And with that, Andy dropped the phone beside his pillow. He ran his hand through his hair, mindful to be gentle with his shoulder, and found a tuft of hair to play with, the way he always did whenever he was deep in thought.
Jack will be your personal trainer. He insisted.
The words swirled around in his head and warmed his achy chest. Holy shit, could that possibly mean anything? Was there even the slightest of chances that Jack could be interested in him? Or was it a business decision, one aimed at perhaps not getting slapped with a lawsuit? Andy had an innate ability to go from being a hopeless romantic, to a hardened cynic, in the blink of an eye.
But he didn’t care because ultimately, it meant he’d get to spend more time, and more one-on-one time at that, with Jack.
His cock stirred again. He looked down at his semi-hardon. He reached down for it, hungrily wrapping both hands around it. He closed his eyes and imagined kissing Jack and running his hands all over his beautiful body. His grip tightened as he began to work both hands up and down his long, meaty shaft.
Kissing was without a doubt, Andy’s favorite sex act. Due to his massive size, there were many aspects of sex that just weren’t practical. Most guys could never take all of him in, and even though some did their best and tried, Andy was always mindful of making them uncomfortable, or worse, hurting them. It reduced his enjoyment of sex immeasurably, but over the years, it was something he had simply gotten used to.
But with kissing, there was no holding back. It didn’t involve the constraints of his cock, so Andy was free to explore and go crazy. He loved deep, passionate kissing. He loved the connection and the feeling of closeness that came with kissing someone so deeply, so intensely, that you could still feel and taste them on your lips long after the kiss had finished.
He imagined Jack’s lips, how soft they’d feel, what they’d taste like. His rhythm sped up as he imagined pulling Jack close to him, their lips smashing into each other and then the taste of his mouth, the warmth, the pressure, the closeness...
Andy let out a massive groan as his cock erupted in a torrent of white, ropey release. “Fuuuuck,” he exclaimed, the intensity of his orgasm shuddering through his whole body as he covered his entire torso, and parts of the bed, with his massive, creamy load.
He opened his eyes and let out a loud, deep exhalation. He looked down at the mess he’d made on his sheets and all over himself, all a product of just thinking about kissing Jack. While he still wasn’t sure about love at first, Andy was starting to realize that he was definitely falling in lust with Jack.
Chapter 7 - Mind Right
Andy walked into Amazing Fitness right on time for his wellness appointment with Sean the next day. Scotty was leaning over the front counter, looking out into space. He was wearing a tight blue top that clung to his beefy chest and arms. His eyes sparkled as he watched Andy approach. “Hey handsome, good to see you again.” A massive smile filled his face.
“Hey Scotty, thanks. I figured I can’t do any worse than last time, right?” Andy joked. If there was no way to avoid it, he planned on using humor to take some of the sting out of it.
Scotty cocked his head to the side and lifted up his left arm. “This is Sean,” he said as Sean appeared right on cue from behind Scotty. “Have you guys met?” Scotty asked.
“Yeah, we met briefly yesterday. Hey Sean.”
“Good to see you again Andy. Glad to see you feeling better,” Sean said, his voice welcoming and reassuring.
“So, how many gym owners are there?” Andy asked, forgetting Michael had already told him that during his first workout.
“Four.” Sean replied. “There’s me, Scotty, Jack and Michael.”
“Yeah they call us the quad squad.” Scotty said taking a few steps back from the counter with a devilish look in his eyes.
“Makes sense” Andy replied, nodding. “There are four of you.”
“And we all have amazing quads,” Scotty replied, cheekily lifting up his left leg and showing off his massive, hairy thigh. Sean looked over at Scotty and rolled his eyes, laughter escaping out of his mouth.
But Andy’s gaze was stuck on the muscular thigh Scotty was holding up in mid-air. He was also wearing super short shorts, so with the way his leg was positioned, it pushed the outline of his cock to the front of his shorts, clearly revealing a thick, meaty package.
Scotty returned Andy’s gaze as he dropped his leg back to the floor. “I’ll leave you boys to it,” he said, before winking at Andy and returning back to his desk.