by Trina Lane
“Yeah, when you’re inside it seems as though you could touch the water, but in reality we’re about fifteen feet up from the slope of the hillside and the lake”—Gabe pointed down to the dock—“is actually about fifty feet away.”
Nick moved behind Gabe and bracketed him by leaning his hands on the rail on either side of Gabe’s body. “I’ve had a wonderful Christmas, Gabriel. Thank you.”
Gabe leaned back against Nick’s chest. “I’m glad I was able to reward my knight’s loyal service.”
Gabe tilted his head back as Nick leaned down, and they shared a kiss as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Chapter 12
GABE sat at his desk in his and Phil’s room, working on his senior thesis. His topic was Royalism, Resistance, and Religion in Restoration Scotland. It was a good thing he’d jumped right into the research at the beginning of the semester because it took about three weeks for him to stop feeling like Nemo’s dad, sent on a great adventure but lost in a massive sea beyond his comprehension.
Once he’d gotten past the initial hurdle, Gabe really started to enjoy the research. He’d known the basics of the time period from his classes over the past three and half years, but this thesis allowed him to really get down into the nitty-gritty of the event. He’d already completed his introduction, explaining how Charles II’s restoration to the crown in 1660 brought the monarchy back to England, Scotland, and Ireland. Now Gabe was getting into the details of how the Rescissory Act of 1661 took any legislation that had been forced into act post-1633 and voided it. Gabe’s plan for the next chapter was to address how Charles II took on the religious establishment by restoring the Church of Scotland as the national church and how he dealt with resistance from supporters of the Presbyterian movement.
The entire work would end up being around forty to fifty pages, by far the longest paper Gabe had ever written. However, he knew this process was only a ripple compared to what researching, writing, and defending his dissertation would entail. He took off his glasses, set them on the keyboard for his laptop, and rubbed his eyes. He’d been working for six hours straight without a break, and the tiny clock at the bottom of his screen hazily read 1:00 a.m. He was so tired it felt as though he had sand beneath his eyelids, and each rub scraped across his swollen eyeballs. Maybe it was time for a break. Then again, maybe he should pack it in for the night. Tomorrow was Saturday, and Gabe had a meet against Stanford. At least it was a home meet so he would be able to report to the pool for warm-ups at 11:00 a.m., giving him time to sleep in.
“Hey, Nemo! Come out here a second.”
Gabe leaned back on the legs of his chair and tilted his head toward the open door of the bedroom. “What?” he hollered back at Phil.
“Just get out here. You’re gonna miss it.”
Gabe sighed as the chair made a thunk when it hit the floor. He walked down the short hallway to the kitchen and pseudo-living room of their apartment. Dan and Dom were sprawled on the couch, and Phil had taken up residence in one of the chairs, leaving Gabe to collapse into the other.
“Now what’s all the fuss about?”
Phil shrugged. “Just thought you might want to see your boyfriend on TV, that’s all.”
Gabe instantly woke up and stared at the set. “What? Where?”
Phil chuckled. “Wait for it. They said they’d be doing an interview after the break.”
Nick was currently in Missouri for another Grand Prix event. Before he’d left, the two of them had shared a quiet Valentine’s Day together at Nick’s apartment. Nick had made them dinner, and they spent the night watching their favorite movies. It was one of the few times Gabe had slept in Nick’s arms since their Christmas vacation, and their time only reinforced Gabe’s certainty in his love for Nick and desire to build a life together.
The commercial ended, and one of the sports correspondents for the Swim Network came on. Nick stood next to her, still dripping from the pool. He looked so studly. There was simply no other word in Gabe’s mind. The rivulets of water running down Nick’s chest made Gabe wish he was there to lick each one of them from Nick’s firm skin.
He had talked to Nick a few hours ago so he knew the outcome of today’s events, but Nick hadn’t said anything about being interviewed, the dirty rat. Gabe stopped his daydreaming and focused on what the lady in the blue suit was saying.
“I’M HERE with Nick Jackson, winner of the two hundred freestyle earlier and just now the four hundred individual medley. Congratulations, Nick.”
Nick was still breathing hard, and Gabe felt like yelling at the lady to give him a chance to catch his breath, for Pete’s sake. He smiled as Nick’s deep voice came over the airwaves.
“Thank you.”
“You seem to have really dialed in during the last two Grand Prix events both here and in Austin back in January. What’s your secret?”
“Oh, well, now I can’t tell you that, Kathy. It’d take away my advantage. But what it really comes down to is solid preparation with my coach, I’m in good health right now and having fun every time I get in the pool.”
Gabe rolled his eyes as the blonde interviewer gave Nick a little smile. So not happening, honey.
“You also came away with some wins at the short course world’s back in December. How do you so effortlessly switch tactics between short and long course events?”
“Well, thank you for thinking that it’s effortless, but in reality, it takes a lot of practice swimming both courses over and over so I know the feel for my race before I ever arrive at the venue. My coach and I have strategic plans for both scenarios and my job is to go out there and see that they come through.”
“You have five more events before the end of this meet. How will you conserve enough energy?”
Nick accepted a towel from someone off screen and wiped his chest dry. “Constant refueling and lots of sleep at the end of the day.”
“Anything you want to say to the viewers at home?”
“Yes, I’d like to say ‘Hi’ to Nemo and Squirt back at CAL. Good luck tomorrow, guys.”
Nick had waved at the camera, and Gabe couldn’t stop the little wiggle of his fingers back.
“Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Nick. Best of luck on the rest of the meet.”
Nick nodded at the correspondent and gave his trademark salute to the camera. Gabe’s eyes stayed on the TV till the camera cut, and the network announcers appeared behind the desk.
“How cool was that? He mentioned us on national TV!”
Gabe looked over at Phil, who was bouncing around the living room.
“That was pretty cool, you guys. You got yourself a good man there, Gabe,” Dom said.
Gabe nodded. “I know.” He looked over at Phil, who was pushing buttons on his phone. “What are you doing?”
“Texting Josh, Ken, and Ryan to see if they caught the broadcast.”
Gabe stood up quickly and took Phil’s phone away from him. “You can’t do that!”
Phil’s eyes bugged out, and he stared at his phone in Gabe’s hand. “Why not? What’s the big deal?”
“Phil, think about it. Nick just mentioned our names, our secret names for each other on national TV. If you tell the guys on the team that his message was intended for us then they’re going to correctly assume that we have a special relationship with Nick. Once that snowball starts there’s no stopping the avalanche. Next thing you know somebody is going to start questioning how we know Nick so well, and what the nature of his relationship with us is.”
“Umm, Gabe?” Dan interrupted.
Gabe looked over at the twins sitting calmly on the other side of the room. “What?”
“I understand that you’re trying to protect Nick, but maybe you’re making a bigger deal out of this than you need to.”
Phil nodded. “See, the double Ds agree with me. Now can I have my phone back?”
Gabe looked down at the phone. The partial message still lit up on the screen. He looked up at Phil. “P
lease, don’t do this. For me. Our names… they’re… they’re special… between you and me. If everyone knows, then―” He pointed at the TV screen. “That message from Nick was meant for us, only us. That was my partner, your friend saying from a thousand miles away that he’s thinking about us… wishing us luck. I understand that you’re excited. It was cool, but you don’t need to broadcast it in HD to everyone. We know. Isn’t that enough?”
Phil didn’t say anything for several minutes. In fact, you could have heard a mouse squeak, the room was so silent. Phil held out his hand and Gabe silently relinquished the phone.
“Okay, Nemo. For you, because I know you love him and you want to protect him, and because… well, because you’re right. About the names. They are ours. It wouldn’t be the same if everyone knew.”
Gabe let out the breath he’d been holding for the last minute. “Thank you, Squirt.”
Phil came over and drew Gabe into a hug. Gabe squeezed his best friend hard and let go. The broadcast went back to the pool. Phil went wide-eyed and dropped to his knees. Gabe turned to see what was happening and nearly busted a gut when he saw Phil staring at Will Archer standing in front of the starting blocks, getting ready for his final heat in the one hundred butterfly.
“Phil? Something you want to share with the class?” Dom teased.
Gabe knew that Phil and Will had spent the night together back in December at the Short Course Nationals in Ohio. While normally Phil was never shy about sharing the details of his exploits, he’d been nearly silent about his time with Will. Which told Gabe that something more than Phil’s normal “love them and leave them” must have occurred.
He watched his best friend as he quietly cheered Will on, and then let out a shout when Will won, placing him right behind Nick in the overall standings for the meet at the end of the first day. The high point scorers for both male and female would win a special award at the end of each meet, and at the completion of the Grand Prix series in June, there would be a purse of twenty thousand dollars awarded to the overall winner.
Phil stood and looked at each of them before his face flushed in embarrassment. Gabe so desperately wanted to tease his best friend, but didn’t have the heart to make light of the first intimate relationship Phil had that might become something more than a one-night stand.
Gabe smiled at Phil and gave him a wink. “I’m going to take a shower and then hit the sack. Don’t forget warm-ups start at eleven.” He looked over at Dan and Dom. “What are the two of you up to tomorrow?”
Dan stood and went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. “Since our season is over, we’re going to do everything we can to be as unproductive as possible. It is Saturday, after all.”
Gabe chuckled. “Well good luck with that. Don’t work too hard.”
Gabe quickly showered and climbed into bed. The cool sheets felt heavenly against his skin and it took no time at all before he slid into sleep.
GABE felt as though he weighed two tons less than he had that morning. He passed under the sycamores to the north of the clock and bell tower. Gabe looked up at the tower of granite, which served as an orientation point for most of the surrounding campus. He loved hearing the bells play their song. Sometimes on a foggy morning when the spire would be hidden in the clouds, the musical sounds would almost seem as though they echoed down from the heavens. The observation deck of the campanile was one of Gabe’s favorite thinking spots, other than underwater. He could go up there and scream or cry if necessary. Sometimes he went there simply to appreciate the beauty of the city he lived in, looking out at the bay and watching the lights of San Francisco come alive.
Gabe looked down at the red-bricked walkway and noticed that the bare branches of the sycamores left shadows on the stones. He started to walk in the tiny mazes, enjoying the freedom of an entire week of no academic responsibilities. Twenty minutes ago he’d completed his last midterm. His Armenian history class covered over three millennia, leading from the birth of the culture to the fifteenth century, and the all-essay midterm was as intense as Gabe had heard. It was a good thing he’d spent the last week preparing.
Now that exams were over, Gabe could concentrate on getting ready for the NCAA championships. He’d done well at the Pac-10 championships last week, but the Pac-10 consisted of only ten schools in the western region of the states. The NCAA championships CAL participated in were open to any Division 1 university in the country. The depth of field was much more expansive, and Gabe would be going up against some incredibly talented swimmers. He’d set his goals at the beginning of the year, and thought that maybe, just maybe, they were within reach.
“Hey, sexy!”
Gabe spun around and looked into the shadows at the base of the campanile. Nick stood with a presence as big as the structure behind him. The difference was that Nick was living and warm and waving at him with a huge smile. While the bell tower held its own secrets, Nick’s openness and zest for life had Gabe racing toward him.
He reached Nick, and while he wanted to leap into the man’s arms and kiss till they both wanted to find a secluded corner, Gabe restrained himself with a hearty one-armed hug.
“When did you get home?”
Nick had been in Washington State the past several days competing in one of the Speedo Champions series events. While Gabe had missed Nick with a vengeance, it was probably a good thing his lover had been gone, because his absence meant Gabe could focus on preparing and completing his midterms.
“A couple of hours ago. How were your exams? Did the Armenians kick your ass?”
Gabe leaned back against the base of the tower. “I think I did okay. I hope I did okay.”
Nick leaned forward, bracing his hand on the stone near Gabe’s head. “I’m sure you did fine.”
Gabe’s eyes widened as Nick leaned down and kissed him softly. The fleeting touch was over almost as soon as it began, but had been a huge risk. While many of the students had evacuated the campus for spring break, the area wasn’t exactly a ghost town.
“Nick,” Gabe whispered with a gasp. “What are you―”
He didn’t get to finish as Nick captured Gabe’s lips again. Gabe’s tongue was sucked into the warm cavern of Nick’s mouth. With a pitiful amount of resistance, Gabe succumbed to Nick and his desire. They explored each other’s mouths. The strength of Nick’s arms around him, and the thrust of their tongues together conquered any lingering reluctance on Gabe’s part. The kiss was consuming and passionate. Nick demanded Gabe’s love, and he was only too happy in this instance to become subservient to his knight. The kiss sought out the very vestiges of Gabe’s soul and demanded with infinite gentleness that Gabe share everything of himself with his partner.
When they finally parted, both men breathed heavily, and Nick’s blue eyes glowed with love. His hands moved slowly all over Gabe’s torso, petting Gabe’s heated skin beneath his T-shirt. The touches both soothed and aroused simultaneously.
“I haven’t seen you all week. I missed my sweet prince,” Nick said softly.
Gabe caressed Nick’s cheek. “I’ve missed you too.” He looked around and was happy to see that the area seemed to still be deserted. Part of Gabe had expected to open his eyes and find he and Nick surrounded by students all starring and snapping pics on their camera phones. “But this area doesn’t exactly lend itself to privacy.”
“I don’t care. I thought we talked about this months ago?”
Gabe nodded and rested against the strong column of Nick’s neck. “I worry that if you are outed, it won’t go as congenially as you think.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not naive. I don’t expect there to be an absence of fallout, but I know that I have strong people in my corner. I’ll always have the water, and I’ll always have you.” Nick stepped away from Gabe, and they walked around the tower and headed south toward the student union. “I suggest we grab some lunch. You have practice in a couple hours, and Coach Meran has asked me to come by and give the team some tips for the champions
hips. It’s hard to believe that they’re only a few days away.”
When they reached the food court in the lower level of the union, he and Nick each picked out what they wanted for lunch and then struck out to find a table. Gabe took a big bite of his apple. Snaking his tongue out he captured the juice that ran over his lips.
Nick’s eyes stared at Gabe’s lips. “You are temptation incarnate, you know that?”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “It’s not my fault you have a licentious mind.”
Nick growled low. “I’ll show you exactly how wanton I can be.”
Gabe hummed in expectation and squirmed in his seat as his cock filled inside his cargo shorts.
“Good lord, it sounds as if there are a couple of wild animals over here.”
Gabe hadn’t even seen Phil approach their table. He looked up at his best friend and snickered. “You’ve been in the studio again, haven’t you?”
Phil looked down at his hands and legs and turned around to try and see his ass. “How did you know? What’d I miss?”
Gabe pointed to his own left cheek. “You have a smear of blue.”
Phil rubbed at his cheek. “Damn it.”
“How’s the work for your show going?” Nick asked.
Phil groaned. “Long. I have to complete this canvas in the next two weeks. Did Gabe tell you what I was working on?”
Nick set down his apple juice. “He said something about it being a panoramic view of some harbor in Italy?”
Phil pulled up a chair and sat down. “Portofino, to be exact. And genius that I am, I decided to make the canvas five feet by six feet. It’s taken me months, and I still have so many details to fill in. The candle will definitely be burning low on this one.”
Nick squeezed Phil’s shoulder. “Well, I can’t wait to see everything. The show is the second week in April, right?”
Phil moaned low. “Yes, and I’ll pay you a hundred dollars to not stop doing that for the next ten minutes.”