It's on Us

by Matthew Burkey-Gilchrist

  “Have you seen Cole yet?”

  Cole Himmer was another kid my age. Unlike myself and Ryan, Cole was a skinny, long-haired, freckle-faced kid that had been with us for almost as long as I had. His footwork and coordination weren’t awful, but his skills handling the blade were abysmal. I hadn’t seen him since he left six months ago to visit family in Germany.

  “He’s back?” I asked.

  Ryan nodded. “Oh yeah, he’s back.”

  I arched an eyebrow at my instructor, not knowing how to take that comment. I shook my head and knelt down, unlatching my saber case and pulling the cloth off the blade. When I stood up again, I glanced toward the door just in time to see Cole walk in.

  And I am fairly certain that was when my jaw became totally unhinged and gaped wide enough to swallow the entirety of the Titanic. The guy walking in did not look anything like the Cole Himmer that I had seen all those months ago. In fact, I was waiting for time to slow down, you know, like you see in all those movies where some girl miraculously gets a makeover and shows up drop dead gorgeous. Only this time it wasn’t a girl.

  Cole Himmer got hot.

  His dark blonde hair was cut short and spiked up. His skin, which had been pale, was tanned and healthy looking, and his body… okay, well, he wasn’t as big as me, Rory, or Tab, but damn! That boy put on some serious muscle, his frame was more lean and defined then hulking and muscular. It looked good on him. Really, really, really good on him.

  I looked away quickly, realizing that I was dangerously close staring and outing myself. After a deep breath, I turned back around just as Cole came walking over.

  “Henry, it’s good to see you, man!” Cole said, extending his hand.

  I shook it. “Good to see you again, too. How was Germany?”

  “Awesome,” Cole said. He had a broad grin plastered on his face. “We got to see a ton of historical places! They have amazing food over there.”

  “Cool. You weren’t gone the whole time, were you?”

  “Naw,” Cole said. “But when we got back things got busy for a while. My brother came home from his overseas post and is staying with us until he gets settled at Offutt. He and I spent a lot of time together. He even started taking me to the gym with him.”

  “Yeah, I noticed.”

  Oh, shit. I winced inwardly and tried my best not to cringe. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

  “I mean, I’m nowhere as jacked as you are,” Cole said. “But then again, I can’t do all that flipping, spinning, and fancy stuff that you can do.”

  “I’ve been doing it for a while,” I said. I let out a silent sigh of relief. At least, if Cole had noticed, he decided he wasn’t going to say anything.

  “So, you got bigger,” Ryan said, coming up to us. “Does that mean that your sword work got better, too?”

  “I never stopped studying that either,” Cole said with a grin. “And I got myself a new toy.”

  Cole set down his case and took out two sabers, both of which were slightly shy of the standard length. That was a surprise to me, mostly because last time I had seen Cole he could barely handle one saber let alone two. I arched an eyebrow in his direction.

  “What?” Cole said in response. “Look, I know that the last time you saw me, I wasn’t THAT great at it, but I’ve gotten better. I promise!”

  “Let’s see,” Ryan said. “Henry, why don’t you and Cole go a few rounds?”

  “Um, now?” I asked.

  “Yeah, unless you think that you are way too good for him,” said Ryan. He smiled when he said it, making me aware, once again, of just how attractive he was. “What do you say, Henry?”

  “Um, sure,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “That sounds okay.”

  “I don’t want you to hold back,” Cole said as we started walking towards the mat. The rest of the group had started gathering around the outsides, like we usually did when we watched people dueling. “I know you’re good, so don’t try and take it easy on me.”

  Again, all I could do was nod. I whirled my blade around a few times before activating it. Ryan had turned the lights down slightly in the large space, making it more visually cool looking when you moved your weapon through the air. Cole grinned at me and activated his blades, which lit up in a bright blue color.

  “Okay, no holding back,” I said with a nod.

  “Promise?” Cole asked.

  “I promise.”

  “Good.”

  And then he lunged forward, both blades extended. It was beginner’s opening move, one that we learned after just a few lessons. I swept my blade down and deflected both aside. He whirled them around, switching to a reverse-handed grip, a much more advanced technique. And then he charged forward.

  One very cool thing about our sabers was that they had been created with the ability to flash when they connected with something. It made the experience all that more satisfying. I deflected a series of slashes from the left, and then launched myself sideways in a flip, causing Cole’s blades to slice through thin air.

  He spun around, blocking several slashes and thrusts from my sword.

  “You’re holding back,” Cole said. “You promised you wouldn’t.”

  I grinned. “Just getting warmed up.”

  I surged forward, attacking with a series of overhead blows designed to overwhelm his defenses. Cole backed up, blocking most of the blows. Next, I swept my glowing orange blade low, aiming for his ribs. A hit scored against an opponent's ribs was worth a considerable amount of points. But Cole moved faster than I had seen him move before, shoving my blade aside with one of his own before spearing the other one forward toward my chest.

  I reacted on instinct and flipped backwards, landing so that I held my own saber in front of me.

  “Told you I got better,” Cole said.

  He wore a grin that made him look hella sexy as he stalked toward me, slowly whirling his blue blades around. I shook my head and refocused myself. I did not need my dick taking over at this precise moment and blundering into an otherwise rookie mistake.

  Cole charged again and I dropped a foot back, bringing my saber around in a guard position. Cole battered my defenses with fast and precise strikes. I parried, deflected, and had to dodge a good number of them. And then we started dancing across the mat, trading blows with each other. He had improved. A lot. Our blades whirled through the air, flashing when they connected and sending the sound echoing off the large space.

  I wasn’t sure how long we dueled, but as time wore on, Cole became increasingly sloppy. He left openings in his defenses, allowing me to get in some glancing blows. I dodged several stabs toward my midsection and unleashed a series of overhead slashes that brought Cole down to his knees. He dropped his blades to the side and bowed his head. It was the gesture that we all used to signal we were done with the match.

  “I yield,” he said, breathing heavy. Sweat was running down his face, giving his tanned skin an even healthier glow. I tried my best not to stare. I turned off my weapon and reached down to help Cole back to his feet.

  “Very good,” Ryan said, walking over to us. “And damn, Cole, you did get better. Who have you been practicing with?”

  “My brother knows a guy,” Cole said. He lifted the edge of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. I was treated with a view of his defined and lean stomach and chest. I looked away and started thinking of dead puppies. “He gave me a lot of lessons. I guess I still have a lot to learn.”

  “Wait, your brother knows that you do this?” I asked. “He doesn’t make fun of you for it?”

  “Nope,” Cole replied. “He thinks it’s hella cool.”

  “Mine thinks that it's the dumbest thing in the world.”

  “Then he clearly hasn’t see how cool it actually looks,” Cole said.

  Truthfully, I would love it if Davis showed any interest in my activities. But, ever since I came out, he had done nothing but shut me out. We were never super close, but there was a part of me that felt like he had walled himsel
f off to me to the point that we might as well be strangers. It totally sucked.

  “You got stronger, too,” I said, switching the subject away from our siblings. “I mean, physically stronger, and faster, and more flexible.”

  “Yoga,” Cole said as we walked off the mat. “My brother uses it for stretching and to help his PTSD. And weights. I lifted a lot of weights.”

  “They did you good,” I said as I grabbed a towel from my bag. “Really good. You need to work on your stamina, though.”

  “No shit,” Cole agreed with a laugh. “Clearly, you don’t.”

  I shrugged. “We work a lot on stamina in gymnastics.”

  “Yeah, those moves are pretty badass. I mean, one moment you’re there and the next you’re like flipping yourself sideways and shit.”

  “Keeps people on their toes,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

  “Well, it looks badass,” Cole insisted.

  I smiled and tried to keep my brain from visualizing Cole’s naked torso.

  What the hell is wrong with me? I thought. It was like my dick had taken total control of my brain. Then again, I am a sixteen year old boy. My dick takes over control more times than I’d care to admit.

  “Did you start back at school yet?”

  Cole shook his head in response to my question. “We have another week off before we go back, what about you?”

  “First day was today,” I answered.

  “Well, it can’t be that bad,” Cole said. “Has to be hella easier at a public school than at my private school. We have so many rules and shit it makes my head spin.”

  “Oh, gotcha,” I said.

  “Alright, guys. It’s time to get to work,” Ryan said, walking to the center of the mat. “First positions, everyone.”

  Ryan led us through the rest of practice and for most of that time I couldn’t keep my mind off Cole. I even messed up a series of attack moves and ended up on my ass due to my distraction. Both Ryan and Cole gave me a weird look. I shook it off and by the time we were done, I was a sweaty mess. We started packing our stuff up to go when Cole jogged back over to me.

  “Good work today,” he said. “Maybe we could practice together sometime? I mean you’re pretty good and I could use the pointers.”

  “Sure,” I said. “That sounds like fun.”

  We exchanged phone numbers and I jogged out of the room. I found my mom waiting in front of the gym.

  “How as it?” she asked as I placed my case in the backseat. “Did you have the high ground?”

  “Ha ha, mom,” I replied as I climbed into the front seat. “Rory and Tab want to come over for a while tonight, is that cool?”

  “For a little bit, that’s fine,” she said. “But they can’t stay for too long. It is a school night, after all.”

  “Sure.”

  We headed back home and arrived just as Rory was walking up the driveway. He flashed my mom a wide grin as we climbed out of the car.

  “Hello, Rory,” she said. “I hear that you are thinking about running for student council?”

  “Yeah,” Rory answered. “I’m actually hoping that Henry and Tab can help me come up with a slogan. You know, something that really sticks out in the minds of students.”

  “I’m sure you guys won’t have a problem with it,” she said as we stepped into the house.

  We jogged upstairs and I made a beeline for the bathroom to take a quick shower. After getting cleaned off and ensuring that I didn’t smell completely awful, I headed for my room. By the time that I got back there, Rory was sitting on the bed messing with his phone and Tab was sitting in my desk chair, idly twirling around.

  “Finally!” Tab said as I shut my door. “What were you doing? Jerking off in there?”

  “Dude, he wasn’t gone long enough to be jerking off,” Rory said.

  “I dunno, I can jerk off pretty fast,” Tab said. “When you have eight people in your house you learn to be pretty fast about rubbing one out.”

  “I wasn’t jerking off!” I snapped. “Now, can we please move onto another topic of conversation?”

  “You mean like the top that Jenny Gillette was wearing today?” said Tab. He waggled his eyebrows in a creepy kind of way. “I thought she was going to pop out of her shirt during study period.”

  “Like you’d know what to do with them if they did pop out,” Rory said, rolling his eyes. “How was practice?”

  “It was okay,” I said.

  I decided not to tell them all about Cole Himmer. Mostly because there wasn’t a lot to tell. I found another straight guy incredibly attractive, which was apparently a thing I was going to do. I really hoped that I wouldn’t be that guy, you know, the one that falls for straight guys that are entirely unobtainable.

  “It’s not like you’ve touched boobs!” Tab shot back.

  “I’ve at least kissed a girl,” Rory retorted.

  “Enough!” I said, loud enough that I even surprised myself. “I don’t care whose boobs are popping out or who touched boobs, can we please talk about something else? Anything else but girls and sex?”

  “There are other things to talk about than girls and sex?” Tab asked.

  “Again, you know nothing about sex,” Rory said. “But Henry is right, we have other things to talk about. Like, what brilliant slogan you two are going to come up with so that I win this election.”

  “I think you need a platform,” Tab said, stopping his twirling around on my desk chair. “You know, what you stand for and everything.”

  “Um, being a decent guy,” replied Rory. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “I don’t think anyone ever won on the merits of just being a decent guy,” Tab said.

  “Maybe the should have,” I said. “But really, how cutthroat is this election going to get? We’re only talking about sophomore class president.”

  “That’s not the point,” said Rory. “The point is that I want to do this and I really think that I can make a difference, you know, stand up for the little guy and all that.”

  “And what little guys are you talking about?” asked Tab. “We don’t really know any little guys?”

  “Some of our classmates that are less popular,” answered Rory.

  “Are we popular?” I pondered out loud.

  “I don’t think we are unpopular,” Rory said. “I mean, we aren’t your typical jocks, but face it, with our builds, no one really messes with us. I mean, not physically.”

  Rory was right about that. Despite the occasional comment that was hurled our way, most people weren’t stupid enough to lay a hand on us. And he was also right about there being a few kids that weren’t that lucky. My mind flashed back to seeing Noah earlier that day. I shook those thoughts away and turned back to our current conversation.

  “Alright, so you’re for the little guy. That could work,” Tab said. He pulled out his tablet and started to type some notes. “We need to create hashtags. Also, you should probably just go ahead and give me access to your twitter account. I’m going to need it.”

  “You are not getting access to my twitter,” Rory said, folding his arms over his chest. “I found those pictures on my phone.”

  “I was just mooning you,” said Tab, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like I took a picture of my junk or anything.”

  “That escalated quickly.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can we please get back to talking about Rory and his run for class president and NOT Tab’s junk.”

  “Yeah, totally,” Rory agreed. “I vote we never discuss Tab’s junk again.”

  I nodded vigorously in agreement.

  “Fine,” Tab said with a heavy sigh. “You don’t have to give me your twitter password. At least let people know that I will be posting on your behalf.”

  “Will you be?” asked Rory.

  “I’m your campaign manager. Of course I will.”

  Rory gave me a questioning look and all I could do was hold up my hands. “Hey, you’re the one that wanted to try and do some
thing meaningful and different. Whatever he does, I’m pretty sure it’s now your fault.”

  “I love how you two are talking about me like I’m not even here,” Tab said, rolling his eyes.

  Well, he wasn’t wrong about that.

  “Given any more thought to telling the team?” asked Rory.

  I glared at him. “I thought we’ve been through this. I don’t want any of them to freak out.”

  “We didn’t freak out,” Rory said.

  “You’re different,” I protested. “You’re my best friends.”

  “And they’ve known you a long time,” said Rory. “They’ll be okay with it.”

  “And what if their parents aren’t?”

  Both myself and Rory looked over at Tab.

  “I mean, yeah we’re cool with it and all, but what about some of the parents on the team? Dexter’s parents are crazy religious, he says so himself. And to be honest, um, well, I’m not really sure how my parents are going to feel about it either.”

  Rory shook his head. “Who gives a fuck what Dexter’s parents say. Or yours for that matter. Henry is our friend.”

  “I give a fuck what my parents say,” Tab said, shaking his head. “They still pretty much control most of my life.”

  To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of me coming out. I was entirely too worried about what my friends were going to say, let alone what my friends’ parents were going to think. I had spent the better part of my life around Rory and Tab’s parents. They regarded me as a member of their family.

  Rory must have realized what I was thinking. “Don’t worry about it, Henry,” he said. “It won’t make it difference to my parents and it won’t to Debbie and Mark, either,” he said, shooting a glance at Tab.

  “Um, yeah. Sure it won’t,” Tab replied, looking down at his watch. “Look, I need to get going. Write down anything brilliant that you come up with and we can work on it tomorrow.”

  He grabbed his backpack and walked out of the room. I turned back toward Rory with a questioning look on my face.

  “What?” Rory asked. “It probably won’t. Besides, he needs to learn to be a little more supportive of you and me.”