Trent had an entrepreneurial spirit, seeing the potential to make some serious money in the process. Saving his cash over the years, he was finally able to take over the lease and renovate the space, Wilkerson sure to milk him for as much as he could in the process. All of it was a risk, but using his charm (and Jonny was quite sure Jared forgot to say his dick) Trent pulled a few favors for used, old-school equipment. That lured some of the bigger guys in town and along with an affordable membership fee, Swole proved just what the north side of town needed. Within a year, Trent was expanding into the space next door and setting up the different rooms that had become so familiar to Jonny over the past week.
But back to the grand opening. It was about three o’clock that afternoon when a beastly nineteen-year-old walked in through the doors, catching Trent’s wandering eye immediately. The boy wasn’t hard to miss by any means; he’d been the size of a bull since his early teens.
“Meat and potatoes never fail the Hughes’ boys,” Jared’s dad used to say, and still did when they met over holidays. He wasn’t exaggerating, all four of his boys having good genes while looking great in tight ones all the same.
Three brothers? Jonny thought as Jared rattled off their names. Oh my God…
Trent worked his moves on Jared, who was receptive to those advances but aware of what was going on. Trent had a reputation (everyone in town knows him well, remember?) but still, Jared couldn’t deny that the man had talent with respect to his craft.
Over time and many workouts, both during and after hours, something seemed to blossom between them like a garden at the end of winter’s final frost. Trent didn’t like living by himself on the west side of town so much anymore, and Jared, who was trapped in campus housing until the end of his first year, pined for more time alone with this man he was starting to care more about. He didn’t want to say love, because he wasn’t sure that was what it was nor if Trent could live up to what that word really meant. Regardless, Jared wanted to spend more time around Trent (Jonny knew exactly how he felt) and perhaps learn to change that in him.
“Some things take small steps,” Jared’s Mom used to tell him, “and though you may feel like progress is slow, any step you can take that moves you forward is a success.”
Changing Trent was no easy task, but Jared kept those words in mind and the time eventually came when the two decided to rent a house together. They both signed onto the lease to be able to afford the hillside home. It offered privacy from town and college life, but wasn’t so far removed that they’d feel isolated, and others could visit without driving an eternity. The truth was Jared could have signed on by himself, his parents were wealthy enough, but it was a symbolic gesture to him, one that promised happiness for years to come.
Yet, instead of the dream the move should have been, it was more like a bright, fluorescent light shining down on all their imperfections. Nothing could hide and every crack was exposed, seeming to widen as arguments increased over time. Then, after seven months with no alternatives other than to explode at each other even more, something snapped. The two grew to hate being around each other and Jared poured all his attention on school, moving himself into the upstairs bedroom while Trent, staying in the master suite, focused on running his gym and training his clients.
“Thinking back,” Jared said, “I think it was sometime during that first year, waiting on my sentence in the dorms to be over, that I realized Trent wouldn’t change. Maybe he couldn’t, but overall I was just fooling myself that it was possible.”
“I wouldn’t beat yourself up too hard over it. Wasn’t that around the same time we met?” Jonny asked.
“Yeah, when I was visiting Bonnie,” Jared answered, a sparkle in his eyes. “You were there at her birthday party and we started talking.”
“If you call talking to the wallpaper a conversation. God, I was such a wallflower.”
“Yup, I remember,” Jared replied lightly. “It was like you’d been superglued right there and nothing was going to move you. Got you away from the wall eventually, though, didn’t I. Jesus, you were sweating buckets on the couch.”
“So much that it looked like I’d pissed on the cushions.”
“Haha! Yeah, Bonnie asked me later if you were that drunk. I told her no, you were just nervous… and you were extremely cute.” Jared found himself looking out across the table. “Wow, I guess that’s when I first redirected my lost affections toward you.”
Jonny returned the stare, wrapped in gentle affection.
“I think that’s why I was sweating so much,” he said. “Hindsight twenty-twenty and all. I liked you, Jared. A lot.”
“Liked?”
“Still do,” Jonny clarified, then looked down to his plate.
He hadn’t eaten much food at all, already admitting that he wasn’t too hungry before they’d even started cooking. Still, he felt bad about it.
On the other hand, Jared had been shoveling food as he went; he was a meat and potatoes kind of boy after all. Setting down his fork with a clatter, the back of it smeared some golden drops of runny yolk. Jared placed an elbow on the edge of the table, made a fist which caused his forearm to bulge, and rested his cheek against his knuckles.
“Well, there you have it,” he said. “The sordid tale of Cassidy and Hughes.”
Jonny was using his fork to repeatedly stab the yolk of his over-easy egg.
“So, I need to ask, are you both using me now?”
“Yes.” The word came out of Jared’s mouth quickly and effortlessly. “J, I think we’ve been ‘using’ you to fill the gaps in our personal lives. I also think you’ve been doing the same, using us to fill the one left in your chest by that bastard Fred.”
Fred, Jonny thought bitterly; the name was repugnant. Now there’s someone I hope’s been hit by a train and put out of our misery.
“I suppose you’re right,” Jonny said, lifting a strip of bacon between his fingers. He dipped it into the opaque yellow pool, swished it around a little, then took a crispy bite. “You should call this The Sordid Tale of Cassidy, Hughes, and Cameron.”
“Trent would want it named something like Trent’s Big Swole Package,” Jared said and they both laughed.
“It’s always all about him, isn’t it?” Jonny said jokingly. “Hell, it’d probably leap off the shelves with a name like that, though.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Some guys have all the luck.”
“Oh, he’d be sharing those royalties…”
“… else I’d beat the change right out of his coin purse,” Jared said and the two erupted into howls of laughter. If Trent had been home, they’d surely have woken him.
The chuckles continued for a while, then faded into silence. Eventually, Jared got up to take his plate to the sink. Rinsing it, he placed it into the dishwasher.
“You finished my man?”
“Huh? Oh!” Jonny said, slumping over his plate. “No, not yet. I’m still picking at it.”
“Okay, let me know if you want me to finish it off,” Jared said, returning to his chair with a glass of water. “I need to eat a lot today if I’m going to be working out with the two of you.”
Coupled with the loud thud Jared’s ass made as he dropped into the chair, those words felt like a sudden punch in the gut. Jonny jolted himself upright.
“W-what was that?”
“Um, you need plenty of energy when you lift,” Jared said coolly. “That comes from eating, unless you’re a walking stimulant like Trent.”
“I… I know that.” Jonny said, unavoidably considering his smaller arms. “But, I’m confused by what you just said.”
“With the two of you?”
“Yes.”
“It was an invitation earlier, right?”
“So, you’re saying that you’re in?” Jonny asked, feeling queasy.
Jared nodded, but this time it was a bit hesitant.
“In for all of it?”
“Yes!” Jared snapped, breath sputtering after. �
��Unless you keep asking me damn questions. Look, I’ll do it, but only if what you said about Trent doing anything to make you happy is true.”
“I think it is,” Jonny said. “He seemed genuine about it. As much as Trent can seem genuine about anything that’s not in his best interest.”
That was enough for Jared; he knew Trent well enough.
“Okay then,” Jared said. “I’m in this for you, Jonny. As such, Trent is going to have to play second fiddle if this is going to work.”
Oh boy, he’s not going to like that at all, Jonny thought.
“You think he’s going to go along with that?”
“He has to, doesn’t he?” Jared replied. “What was it he told you to say to me? ‘We need to make sacrifices?’”
“Yeah, he did say that, but his sacrifice was apparently inviting you to Swole in the first place. I don’t know if he’s going to want to follow your lead.”
Jared notched his shoulders back, then jerked his head to the left. There was a soft pop in his neck and a look of relief fell across his face.
“Oh, that’s not what I meant at all,” he replied. “You see, if I’m going to do this then Casanova Cassidy is going to play second fiddle to the both of us.”
“What are you talking about?” Jonny asked, a little confused.
“A proposition of my own,” Jared said, smiling. “I’m talking about the man in the middle…”
Three’s Company
SURPRISINGLY, WHEN JONNY MESSAGED TRENT over social media later that morning, he was agreeable about the conditions Jared placed on the night. For some reason, Jonny was expecting more of a protest, but the only question Trent had for him was: “Will that make you happy?”
Jonny wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, quickly telling Trent yes. A few seconds later, a single thumbs-up emoji popped up on the screen, along with instructions to meet at Sir Mixalot at eight thirty.
Looks like things are definitely a go then, Jonny thought, though he couldn’t really believe it.
He sent the confirmation to Jared, who would be away until just after noon visiting his friend Greg (the same guy who had told them about the overlook where they’d picnicked earlier in the week). Apparently, Greg lived in one of the fraternity houses on campus and wasn’t feeling well after the weekend. With the other fraternity brothers out doing their own thing, Jared agreed to run by the pharmacy to get him some medication.
Jonny was impressed by Jared’s willingness to help those who needed it, wishing he was there to massage his aching shoulder. Turning, he looked over to his right one, rubbing it as if to apologize.
“Well my friend,” he told it softly before wincing from a sudden lick of pain. “I have no idea what’s about to happen, but if this week has been anything to go by, you’re in for a brutal session.”
IT WAS TWENTY PAST EIGHT and Jared’s Maserati glided into the parking lot of the Summerset Center, avoiding the potholes Trent seemed to target with ease.
Jonny was in the passenger seat, perched as far forward as he could get. Trying to stave off a torrent of sweat, he was sure the leather seat beneath his gym shorts was already suffering.
Ahead and to the left of the windshield, speckled with drops from a brief evening shower, Swole’s red neon light burned brightly, calling as it always did the closer Jonny got to the strip mall.
This time, Jared veered right, cutting diagonally across the parking lot.
Jonny looked further down the line of stores. Past the clothing store which bordered Swole on the right, there were a few mom and pop eateries, then a comic book store named Heroes Never Die, then a nail salon, and at the very end, in a colorful kaleidoscope of colors, was Sir Mixalot.
“What exactly is that place?” Jonny asked, pondering their sign. It was a smiling unicorn holding a large cup in one neon configuration, switching to one that was vomiting a rainbow in the other.
“It’s a smoothie joint,” Jared replied. “Can’t you tell?”
“No, not right off,” Jonny said, peeking inside where he saw a gaudy arrangement of menus mounted on bright orange walls.
There were swirls of slushies –green, blue, red, purple, and yellow – behind banks of fresh ingredients that could make a wide variety of flavors when thrown into the blender. There was also a single, large man wearing the smallest black tank and shorts that the kids section of any good clothing store could stock.
“There’s Trent, looking douchey as ever,” Jared said as the car stopped. He switched it off and opened the door. “The place’s décor could be toned down a notch, but I used to come here all the time when I worked out at Swole. Greg does too after work; he’s at the comic book store just down there past the nail salon. The drinks here are actually really good.”
“Where do you work out now?” Jonny asked as he got out of the car. It just dawned on him that he’d never seen Jared lift a single weight.
“I just use the campus gym now.”
“Isn’t that place shitty?”
“Yes, if you’re comparing it to Swole, but it gets the job done,” Jared said. Both car doors slammed and the duo made their way for the store. “All I have to do is move heavy things and eat. My body responds well enough.”
“That’s nice…” Jonny said, his teeth clamped tight in a smile. What he was really thinking was: Fuck off, you lucky bastard.
Jared was first to reach the door, his outstretched arm awash in color as it grabbed the handle. He held it open, letting Jonny go in first.
“Oh lord, all the studs are coming tonight,” said the wisp of a man behind the counter.
He was fanning his flushed face with both hands and his uniform was splattered with colors. At first Jonny thought they were stains, but upon closer inspection they were there by design. The bright and vulgar look was topped off by a tiny purple hat with an even tinier unicorn horn jutting from the top.
“That’ll be later,” Trent said smugly, turning toward Jared and Jonny. The former was in his old gym gear; non-stylish, black and white, but functional. The latter was wearing the same outfit he’d worn on chest day, recently washed. Trent could smell the fabric softener as he got close.
“Whatever you say, T-bag,” Jared scoffed, talking to the menu instead of Trent.
Jonny giggled, but stopped short when he heard when Trent grunt.
“I can definitely tea bag ya too, J-rod,” Trent snipped. “Just like old times.”
The worker coughed lightly as if to let them know he was still there. His face had grown even more red from the recent exchange. His eyes were bulging, but Jonny couldn’t tell if they were due to fear or lust.
“C-can I h-help you gentlemen?”
“Yeah,” Trent said, still looking at Jared. “I’ll take a large banana cream, plus one whole banana to go. I’ll also buy whatever these two want.”
“Oh my,” said the clerk.
Jonny shot his eyes sideways toward Trent. A banana? What the hell does he have…
“I’ll take a cucumber mint,” said Jared suddenly, “along with one whole cucumber to go.”
“Ohhhhh my,” the clerk repeated, hands flapping wildly. They sounded like bird wings beating the air. “What size?”
“Large,” Jared said, giving the clerk a brief wink.
Trent chuckled, swiping a hand through his hair. Jared did the same and they both looked in Jonny’s direction.
So many options, and colors, and flavors.
“I… think…” Jared stammered. “I’m just going to stick with vanilla. M-medium, please.”
“Well, okay then,” said the clerk, mildly disappointed but after looking toward Trent he performed a monstrous gulp and shot his eyes right back at Jonny. “No extra long fruits or vegetables for you tonight?”
Jonny shook his head, afraid to look. His back was dripping with sweat and his ears burned red like the gym’s sign.
“Alrighty, I’ll get started on these right away. It should all be ready in about five minutes or so minu
tes.”
With that, the clerk sped away, returning a short time later with a banana and cucumber in hand. He set them down gingerly on the counter, then left again. Jonny could hear him muttering about muscles and being close to fainting, but the sound of blades crushing ice soon took over when things got really interesting and he could no longer make out what was being said.
Jonny risked a peek at his companions. Both Trent and Jared had already made it to the counter, grabbing hold of their respective items. Then, they looked at him with smiles so huge they were almost predatory.
“What do you plan to do with those?” Jonny asked.
“You’ll find out,” Trent told him.
“Yes, you will,” said Jared, but he was not looking toward Jonny at all.
“Vanilla,” said the clerk, resting a Styrofoam cup on the counter. The smiling unicorn was on it. “Cucumber Mint and Banana Cream,” he said a minute later, setting down two huge cups. The vomiting unicorn was on these.
“Hey that’s not fair,” Jonny said, snatching his cup off the counter. “Those are so much bigger.”
Trent shrugged, grabbing his smoothie before plunging a red plastic straw into it. Cream rose around the hole, frothy and light. Grabbing the tip of it, Trent raised it up and down slowly and it made a subtle squeaking noise like old springs on a worn mattress.
“Smallest cup for the smallest dude,” he said. “Be back, I’m going to pay for these.”
Jared was the last to get his drink. He took a sip and found it was light and refreshing.
“Wanna sip?” he asked Jonny, who was chugging away on his but looked like he needed something more refreshing.
“No thanks,” Jonny said, waving him off. He almost got brain freeze. “I’m just fine with this, because I’m sure tonight is going to be the furthest thing from vanilla I can expect.”
Swole: Triple Drop Sets Page 2