Carter and the Biker Boy

The following story is purely fiction involving fictional individuals of different ages being engaged in sexual acts. Please do not read any further if you believe that this topic may offend you. If you are under the age of 18 or reside in a location where it is not legal to read these stories, then please hit the back button and leave now.

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Carter and the biker boy

Chapter 32

It's been two weeks since the first swim practice took place, and I must say that I've survived almost every aspect of the lap swims and the workouts. I can honestly say that even though it's only been fourteen days I already feel stronger from lifting weights and definitely feel better in the pool when swimming laps.

I had hoped that Parker and I would be back together again, but that's not the case. Since he replied to my text with the "Hmmm." text, I haven't received any more texts from him. In all honesty I do really miss him, but I've decided to just hope that one day soon he'll be like he was before we parted for Christmas break.

So once again it is Friday, and as practice wrapped up in the pool, I was happy with what I'd accomplished to this point. Spence and Angelo had been making great strides in the pool as well. Out of all the freshmen swimmers, all of us who had tried out were almost certain that we'd made the team; however, one kid named Caleb was afraid that he wasn't going to make the team.

Caleb is really quiet and for the most part a decent swimmer, but he is having a hard time perfecting the backstroke, which is rather odd, but I suppose we can't all be perfectionists in the strokes. Not much taller than me, Caleb is quite thin, and is not at all muscular. Not that I have a lot of muscles either, but I'm certain that he's skinnier and has less muscles than me. I know when we are in the weight room doing our strength training, he cannot lift as much as the rest of us. I have to say that despite him being really thin and not as strong, he is, well, you know, attractive in a skinny kid sort of way. And there is something about him.

Coach had told us that in one more week he was going to make the final cuts on the team. Those who could not keep up, or those who could not do the strokes correctly were going to be cut from the team. I thought that seemed kind of odd, because it most other sports at this level, first year, almost everyone made the team and at some point or another got a chance to play unless they were really, really bad.

Practice was over, and as most of the team had left the locker room, I was about the last one to leave. I gathered my towel and Speedo, put them in my gym bag, grabbed my backpack and was on the way out of the locker room when I saw Chase. He asked me how I was doing and all, and how Javy was doing. We talked for a few minutes about Javy, and I asked him how Noah was. Oddly enough he didn't ask me about Parker. It seemed like a good time to ask him about the cuts coming up. So I asked Chase if that indeed was going to happen.

"Don't worry Carter, you're going to be safe and have already made the team. Like I told you that afternoon over at Dylan's party when you were swimming laps in the pool, you'll make a great swimmer and if you grow a little, put on some muscle, you'll have a chance at doing really well by the time you're a senior. In fact, I can see some of me in your work ethic and swimming abilities. It's like you're a natural, buddy!"

"Thanks Chase. I'm not really too worried about me, Spence, or Angelo. I am though, worried about Caleb. He's really nervous that he's not going to make it." I tried to be as low key about it as possible, but I was concerned. Caleb is a nice kid.

"You know I can't really say anything, Carter-man, but Caleb, he, um, practices well, but he just needs to grow a bit. You know? He's gotta perfect that backstroke. That's about all I can really say." He then told me he had to get going, as his new girlfriend, Alicia was waiting for him.

"Thanks, Chase. Have a great weekend and have fun with Alicia. She's a lucky girl." I winked at him and then he smiled and winked back.

"You know it!" he proclaimed as he smiled and walked out of the swimming locker room.

Talking with Chase had put me in a great frame of mind. Practice was good, really good. In fact, I'd already gained a couple of pounds from doing the weightlifting thing, and for once in my life, I felt like I'd gained muscles in my arms and legs. And what made me feel even happier was Chase calling me Carter-man. I hadn't been called that since one of the last times I'd seen Dylan.

Dylan. I sighed, thinking about him and everything that surrounded his demise. As I walked out of the locker room and down the hallway to the exit of the school, I walked past the gym and looked up from the gray tiled floor just in time to look through the door to where the wrestling mats were, only to see Parker and some other guy about his size talking to each other. I paused momentarily to see who he was talking with, and it looked like this kid from my English class named Rhonin, but I wasn't sure. They were standing close to each other and were both smiling. I felt a twinge of jealousy course through me, but I quickly dismissed it by seeing him smile, and recalled seeing Rhonin hanging out with several hot girls during lunch.

As I got closer to the door, I noticed Caleb sitting on the cold tile floor, his back against the black cement block wall beneath one of the bulletin boards that had posters about upcoming school events. His full burgundy Adidas backpack was next to him, as was his blue Adidas gym bag. Combined they looked almost as big as him. He looked like he had been crying. I couldn't help but sit on the floor next to him and ask him if he was okay.

"Oh, you know, I'm, well, not doing good." His voice was wavering, and he was on the verge of tears again.

"Sorry to hear that man. I'm a good listener if you..."

"Nah, it's okay. Thanks, but I don't think you'll understand." He interrupted. "I'm pretty sure I won't be on the team after next week." A tear began a stream that ran down his smooth cheek and dripped onto his heavy winter coat. I had to say something to him, since I did know how he felt.

"Hey man, look, I know you don't know me that well, but I'm not exactly as muscular and big like Chase or some of the other guys on the varsity team or even on our team. But if it is about swimming, like with the strokes, I'd be happy to help you, if you give me a chance." I quietly told him, and I meant it.

"Seriously, you'd do that?" he looked up into my eyes and as our eyes met, I saw a glimmer of hope appear in those hazel green eyes of his.

"Yeah, and if you have a membership to the Y, we can go practice there like tomorrow if you'd like, or even Sunday. I bet in an hour or so, I'll help you get that backstroke right." I felt kind of bad saying the backstroke, because I knew that was what he was having problems with.

"Well, cool. we do have a membership. I'll ask my mom if I can go tomorrow, and I'll text you if I can have your number?" I nodded my head and texted him with my name a smiley face, so he'd have my number. We talked for a few more minutes and then within seconds we both got texts that our moms were there to pick us up. As we both stood up and turned to go to the door, we both nearly ran right into Parker and Rhonin as they approached the double glass doors.

"Hey, watch it, Freshman!" Rhonin laughingly blurted out as he somewhat forcefully bumped into me. Parker never looked over at me or Caleb, but instead seemed to be focused on the door and just getting out of the building.

"Sorry man, my mistake." I said, in an apologetic tone of voice.

"No worries, dude." Rhonin just laughed and continued on his way out of the double doors into the cold early evening air. Caleb and I walked out together. He seemed to be a bit happier now and told me he'd text me later when he got the okay from his mom. He even smiled at me and told me he'd see me tomorrow. I told him the same.

As I got in the warm car with Mom, I felt happier than I'd felt in the weeks since Parker and I had last talked to each other. "Hola mi amor, how was swim practice?" Mom greeted me as she always does.

"It was good, mama!" Then before I gave her a chance to ask me more questions about my day, I quickly asked her if I could meet Caleb at the Y Saturday morning or Sunday to practice our strokes.

"Do I know this Caleb boy, and is he...?" I quickly interrupted her before she could ask me embarrassing questions about Caleb.

"No mama, he is a new friend, a guy on the team who is struggling to learn one of the strokes. He's in danger of getting cut from the team and I'd like to help him. He seems like he'd be a cool straight (I put emphasis on the word straight) friend."

"That is fine, mi amor. As long as you can find a ride with him, since I have to work the weekend shift this weekend, and you know how that goes."

The weekend shift meant she'd be working from six at night until six in the morning starting tonight and ending Monday morning. It also meant I'd have to spend another weekend alone at home. Since mom was already dressed for work, I knew that as soon as we ate, she'd be on her way to work.

And that's how my Friday night began. Mom left as soon as we ate a simple dinner of macaroni and cheese with cottage cheese and tuna fish sandwiches on fresh Italian bread. Just as many Friday nights like this before, we talked briefly about our days, and I promised her I'd clean up the kitchen. She then told me that John, er, Mr. Olsen and her were planning to go out to dinner Sunday afternoon before she went to work. I then jokingly asked her if their relationship was getting serious.

"So mama, soon he is going to ask you to marry him?"

"Carter Angel Michaels! No es cierto!" she smiled and blushed at the same time, almost choking on the food in her mouth. "He is a nice man and is very understanding, but we're just friends todavia, mi amor."

"I know mama, I was just joking. He's an awesome teacher and a great listener. But I know it's not true and it's good that you're still just friends.

You can't go fast in these relationship things, you know!"

"And Senor Sabe Todo, just what makes you the expert on relationships?" she shot back at me.

"I'm not Mr. Know Everything, mama!" I laughingly responded as she quickly brought me back to earth and asked about Parker.

"Have you heard from Parker yet, mi amor?" I just nodded that I had not as the smile left my face.

"I am sorry mi amor, cheer up. I have a feeling soon he will come around. Necesites paciencia."

I told her thanks, and that I was being patient.

Moments later she finished getting ready for work, and after we said our good nights and good byes, she left, and I was alone.

I finished my homework around nine pm and was about to start watching a new anime show on Netflix when I got a text from Caleb.

< Hey Carter, it's me Caleb. Can we still do the Y thing tomorrow?

< Hey Caleb, yeah, as long as I can get a ride? My mom works nights at the hospital and will be sleeping.

< Sure, my brother Brennan will be home tomorrow. He can take us.

< Okay, great. I checked the pool schedule, and we can get in the warm pool at eleven. OK w/U?

< Perfecto. C U tomorrow. Thanks Carter. This means a lot to me.

< Sure. Have a good night amigo (smiley face emoji).

I decided to shower, even though I'd showered after practice. As I kicked off my CK boxer briefs, I looked down at myself and liked what I saw. My lean chest and abs kind of formed a bit of definition, which got me excited. My pubes now formed a nice, dark bush. My dick sure looked like it'd grown in the past couple of weeks, as did my balls. I now backed up against the wall and put one of my books on my head, making it as level as I could. As I backed away from the wall, turned around and looked at the underside of the book, I noticed that the last mark on the wall now appeared to be at least two inches down from the current line that I drew under the book. I'd grown that much since last summer! Stepping on the scale I noticed that I'd even gained a few pounds as well. Wow! The shower felt good. Oddly enough though, I resisted the urge to jack off in the shower. I'm not sure why -- but did realize that I'd not had any release since swimming practice started, and hadn't done anything since I was in Mexico, nearly a month ago. Maybe the break is what I needed?

Either way, my shower finished without shooting my cum against the wall in the tub. I threw a clean pair of boxer briefs, a pair of sweats, t shirt, socks and my slippers and went back to my room. I put on some pop music station on my phone which I blue toothed to my speaker, then sat down on my bed to start reading.

Time went by quickly while I was reading and before I realized it, the midnight hour was approaching. I read a few more chapters and must have fallen asleep because I woke up to some very strange song playing, and it was nearly two am. I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth, crawled in bed, and fell back asleep right away.

Mom woke me up when she got home from work. She'd had a good night and asked how my night went. She was fine with Caleb's brother picking me up. We talked briefly before she showered and ate some breakfast. Shortly after breakfast, she went to sleep.

What I failed to notice was that I'd received four texts around one am, when I must have dozed off while reading. The first three were from Caleb:

< Hey Carter, R U up?

< Um, do u want to sleep over?

< Only if u want to.

And the fourth one was from...

Parker.

< Hi.

First I quickly asked Mom if I could sleep over at Caleb's house. She wasn't asleep yet, so she said that'd be fine, but they'd have to pick me up and bring me home. She said to check in with her at some point during the night, like before we went to bed. I promised I would. So I texted Caleb back first.

< Hey Caleb, yeah, I can spend the night, as long as you can bring me home too.

< Yay! So cool! (big smiley face emoji) My brother and I will pick you up 10:30, K?

< Cool! What should I bring to your house?

< just yourself and your clothes. Oh and video games?

I was excited, but a bit nervous as well. I really didn't know Caleb that well, so hopefully he wouldn't turn out to be weird. Suddenly my super quiet stay at home and be lonely weekend was going away and I'd have fun.

My nerves started creeping in as I stared at the one word text from Parker. Hi. A simple word of reaching out. Perhaps a peace offering; were my prayers being answered? He sent it at 1:08 AM. Half awake, half asleep, did he mistake me for someone else, or did he mean to reach out to me and be ready to forgive me for what I'd done? Only one way to find out. With my heart racing and my fingers desperately thinking what to write back, I started writing a long sentence, something like "Hey babe, finally my prayers have been answered! Thanks so much for texting me! I just want this to be over and we can be together again..." I then realized that was too much, so I backspaced over the entire sentence and wrote the first thing that made the most sense:

< Hi.

Fifteen minutes passed and he still had not responded. It was now almost nine o'clock. It then dawned on me that he was probably at his wrestling meet, which I think was somewhere in by the suburbs of Chicago.

Crap.

Hopefully he'd text me later. So I got my clothes together, including my swimsuit that wasn't the Speedo from school.

I laid back on my bed looking through the pictures of Parker and me on my phone while I waited for Caleb and his brother to show up. There must have been well over two hundred pictures of us being silly together, being serious, kissing, hugging, selfies of us with the sun setting in the background. Pictures of us on the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio, which out of all the pictures on my phone had to be my favorite. Then I found one of us with just our black CK briefs on, in his basement on the wrestling mat. We'd been wrestling and were obviously hard. That of course made my cock jump in my briefs and get hard as a rock instantly.

Moments later I got a text from Caleb saying they'd be here in a few minutes, so I got my coat on and sure enough, a Toyota Camry that eerily looked just like Dylan's pulled into the driveway. His brother Brennan was nice. He seemed genuinely interested in asking me about how I liked Harlem and all, and how I knew I could help Caleb. Of course Caleb told him to shut up and they began bantering back and forth like I've seen other brothers do. I just smiled and listened to them. A few minutes later we were at the Y that's located along the river just north of downtown Rockford. It looked like it was busy, but Brennan dropped us off by the entry and asked us when we wanted to be picked up. I shrugged my shoulders and then both of us said maybe around two pm? Ultimately, Caleb said he'd text him when we were done.

We quickly changed into our swimsuits and put our clothes in lockers next to each other. It was then that Caleb realized he'd forgotten to bring a lock with him. Fortunately for me, I'd used my gym bag from school, which had my combination lock. So I told Caleb we could share the locker. I watched as he put his pants, his plaid boxers, t shirt and sweatshirt in the locker, along with his shoes and jacket. We both sort of laughed and the headed to the pool after I locked the locker.

Nearly an hour later, I detected the problem with Caleb's backstroke, and was able to show him what he needed to do to fix it. From the side of the pool I watched him and made sure he didn't revert back to his old ways. He swam nearly four laps perfectly and when I told him he was doing great, he got a huge smile on his face. We gave each other high fives with each hands and he quickly gave me a hug, patting my shoulders and thanking me for helping him. For a brief moment our swimsuits touched. We both knew it, but he did not apologize.

Just like at school, we took our suits off in the shower. As the warm water cascaded down on us, I glanced over to see that Caleb's dick, which looked to be smaller than mine, was plastered against his scant dark patch of pubes. Neither of us thought much about it, as it happened a lot in the shower at school. I felt mine starting to grow, so I shut the water off, grabbed my suit and towel and dried off in the small room that was connected to the shower area. After drying off, we went to the locker and while I was dialing in the combination, Caleb had already dropped his towel and was standing naked in front of me, still hard. I tried not to look, but when he looked to his right at some other kids coming in to the locker room, I glanced down and got a good look at him. Now under my towel that was wrapped around my waist, my cock was rock hard too. Daringly, I dropped my towel too, and waited for Caleb to get his clothes out of the locker. It was just like at school, he kept talking about finally learning the backstroke and we talked on about school and such. Then he asked if I wanted to shoot some baskets or play racquetball instead of going home to his house right away. Since I'd brought my gym shorts I agreed to play racquetball. Honestly I needed to do something to get my extremely hard cock to go down and make me forget how long it'd been since I'd jacked off.

We played racquetball for nearly an hour and were then both tired, sweaty, and hungry. He was actually a good racquetball player and beat me three out of five games. We wound up showering again, but this time neither of us was hard. The energy we'd expended took care of that I suppose.

Brennan picked us up a few minutes later and then took us to one of the sub shops for sub sandwiches, chips, a cookie, and something to drink. Five years older than Caleb, he was studying business at Northern Illinois University. He was hoping to open his own business someday doing something in the social media world. Since he was nearly a foot and a half taller than me, I suspected that Caleb would someday be as tall as well. I thanked him for lunch, and he thanked me for helping Caleb. He knew nothing about swimming, and it was actually his oldest brother Andrew who was the swimmer in the family. Andrew was two years older than Brennan and was studying Spanish in Spain for the winter semester. That concept seemed so cool to me.

Brennan dropped us off at their house and then took off for his friend's house. I met Caleb's parents, and they were nice to me as well. Caleb had a pretty cool room. Like me, he had a queen sized bed. But he had something like a fifty inch flat screen tv, and a lizard in an aquarium near the window that faced the south, overlooking a huge backyard with a trampoline, a small pool, and a shed in the back of the lot near the trees. The rest of the afternoon we just played video games. I was surprised to know that we had a lot in common as far as like games that we played, subjects at school and he also liked hiking and biking just like me. Another surprise, he lived only a few blocks away from the bike path that runs into Rock Cut State Park!

His parents bought us a big pepperoni pizza and told us to go ahead and watch a movie or two while we ate or to do whatever we wanted. They were going out to play cards with some of their friends and wouldn't be back until after midnight. So first we watched a couple of movies, then we raided the refrigerator for some of the leftover pepperoni pizza that we didn't eat for dinner. We then went into Caleb's room, changed into sweats, and decided to play Mario Kart and then some Minecraft.

The next thing we knew after playing for what seemed like only an hour turned out to be close to three hours. During that time, Caleb's parents came home, said good night to us, went into their room, shut the door, and presumably fell asleep. Around two o'clock in the morning we began to feel like zombies and decided that it was time to crawl into bed. We brushed our teeth and said hello to Brennan when he came home just as we were ready to crawl into bed.

Before crawling in bed, Caleb asked me if it was okay if I slept in his bed with him. I told him I didn't have a problem with it, as Javy and I had slept over at each other's house in that same manner, as did Parker and me. My eyelids were getting quite heavy, and I felt like as soon as my head would hit the pillow, I'd fall asleep. I watched as Caleb removed his sweatpants and was dressed in only his plaid boxers. He did the same as I took my sweats off and only had on my CK briefs.

"So you're a briefs guy, eh?" he asked as my sweats now on the floor revealed my briefs. "And Calvin Klein briefs at that. Dang Carter, I pictured you as being a boxer briefs guy." His remark kind of caught me off guard, but I responded as a matter of fact type response as I could.

"Yeah, I change it up sometimes. I used to wear boxers, but then when I was on vacation I bought these, and it turns out I really like them. And it kind of keeps me `under control' if you know what I mean." And now that we were talking about underwear, my little friend was being anything but kept under control.

"Turn around so I can see your butt. Maybe I'll start wearing them too. So you like the Calvin's, huh?" I turned around so he could see my butt, for whatever reason as I was kind of confused now.

"Yes, they feel great." And as I said the word `great' I couldn't help but feel a massive boner coming on. Before it got completely hard, I crawled under the covers.

"Well I still like my boxers. I like the feel the freedom if you know what I mean. My brothers both wear boxers too, so of course Mom thought I'd like them too. And I do."

Yawning, I told him that it was all good, and we were now under the covers in his bed, not saying much. I wasn't sure what to say. I mean in one sense of the word, I liked what I saw in Caleb, He's definitely cute and he is nice to me, but I doubt that he's like me, and the last thing that I'd want to do is to make a move on him. Even if he made a move on me, I'd refuse him, since I vowed to not do anything to ruin my chances to get back with Parker. We began talking about some of the girls in our classes and I could tell that he was getting tired. Sure enough a minute or two later, Caleb told me goodnight and turned to face away from me. Within moments he was asleep. I followed him and soon I was sound asleep as well.

My sleep was dreamless, thankfully. I was worried that I'd probably have a wet dream, which would have been really uncomfortable trying to explain to my friend why it appeared that I wet his bed.

We both woke up at the same time, around ten-thirty in the morning. Caleb's mom knocked on the door and asked us if we were hungry, and if pancakes sounded good. We both told her that would be great, and fifteen minutes later, we were looking at a stack of freshly made pancakes on the table in front of us. Between the pancakes, syrup, bacon, and orange juice, we had a great breakfast. After breakfast, we went back to his room to play some more Minecraft and wait for his brother to get up so he could take me home. Honestly, I was having so much fun hanging out with Caleb that I forgot to check my phone until Brennan dropped me off at home. At one thirty last night I had received one text, that I thought was from my mom. But it wasn't.

< WYD?

< ?

Of course it was from Parker, and I missed it. Damnit. He wanted to know what I was doing. And that waited nearly a half an hour before sending me the second text, just a simple question mark. So as soon as I realized that I missed his text, I sent him a response.

< Sorry I missed your text. I was asleep.

Then I waited for his response. A half hour turned into an hour, and then three hours. Three hours more passed, and soon after having dinner with Mom, she left for work and I was so tired after getting my clothes and lunch ready for school, I went to bed without getting a response back from Parker.

The new week started and before I knew it, the week was almost over. I never did hear back from Parker but did see him at school. I tried talking to him before and after Mr. Olsen's class, but he just ignored me. So I decided to just back off and give him space. I returned to praying at night that God would let him come back in my life soon.

The cool thing is that Caleb and I were becoming really good friends. We did have lunch at the same time, so I did invite him to sit with us at lunch, and now that Parker wasn't eating with us, I thought I'd introduce him to Big T and some of the other guys. Of course they accepted him and when Parker did happen to glance across the lunch room to see Caleb eating with us, he just glared at me and Caleb.

It did bother me a lot that Parker would not respond to me again. I began to believe that he suspected that Caleb was like us and that he and I were dating. Honestly, the last thing that I wanted to do was to make Parker jealous of my new friend. I know that I'd hurt him enough by doing what I did in Mexico with Cristian, and there was no way I would make the same mistake with Caleb. I thought it would be obvious that since we were on the swim team, that we wouldn't be interested in each other even if Caleb was gay. The voice of reasoning in my head told me that it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that Parker and Rhonin were dating, but the logical part of my brain didn't want me to believe that notion for one instant. Either way, sooner or later Parker would have to talk to me, and we'd have to deal our emotions for each other once and for all.

As important as clearing the air between Parker and me was, getting through the last two weeks of swim practice was more important. It felt really great knowing that Caleb was gaining a lot more confidence with the backstroke. In fact, even Chase had noticed that he was doing better, which now improved his chances of making the team. Before the last week of practice began prior to getting the final team roster set, Caleb and I went to the Y again to work on our strokes. This time we just practiced like we do at school, swimming the same number of laps of each stroke. Once again Caleb invited me to spend the night at his house, and once again his parents bought us pizza before they left to go to their friends' house to play some trivia game. We did just about the same things as we did last weekend, but we spent more time playing video games than we did watching movies. This time too, Brennan was home, so he played with us. He is a cool and kind of reminded me of Chase in the way that he was a good `big brother' to both Caleb and me. We all went to bed around the same time, two o' clock in the morning. Once again we stripped down to our underwear, me in my CK's, Caleb in his boxers.

For some reason, even though we should have been tired, we were not. After crawling under the covers of his queen sized bed, Caleb spoke. "Carter, I just want to let you know how much I appreciate what you've done for me, helping me with the backstroke and perfecting the other strokes as well. I'm not sure what I'd do if I got cut from the swim team. I really enjoy swimming with you and the other guys. So I just want to say Thank You for helping me and all that you've done. I'm not sure how I can repay you, and I just wanted to say that you're one of the nicest guys I've known, and you're becoming my best friend too."

I was extremely flattered. Almost speechless! So I just said the first thing that came to my mind, and no it was not to ask him for a hand or blow job.

"Hey, you're welcome. It's been my pleasure helping you out. I just hated to see you so down that day when we first started talking. And yes, you're becoming one of my best friends too." Caleb then continued.

"I always thought that you were pretty cool before I met you. During class I always wondered how you'd be as a friend and figured you were pretty smart because you got good grades. And I was right. In fact, I have a confession of sorts to make about myself, and I hope you don't think of me any different." He paused shortly, as if he didn't want to continue, or was afraid to talk, as if he was unsure if the ice was safe to walk on, for fear of falling into the deep cold water and drowning. So as my heart beat faster, unsure of what he was going to say, I calmly and slowly told him it was okay, that he could tell me anything he wanted to tell me and that I wouldn't judge him or not be his friend.

"Please don't think I'm weird, because it's just who I am, I guess. I've tried to change and all, but it's not that easy." He paused again, and I thought for sure he was going to tell me that he was like me, into guys. I was almost so sure of it that I felt my dick start to swell.

"It's just that, um, believe it or not, I have a hard time making and keeping friends. I'm just different that way. Despite having my older brothers around, I just really have a hard time making friends. I know I'm different than other guys my age, and it is hard, especially being my size, like you. I tend to be really shy sometimes and I guess I just don't believe in myself. My brothers have tried to help but they make it worse sometimes." He sat up in bed, almost turning away from me, almost ashamed of what he had just told me.

He was almost in tears now, just like he was when he was afraid of getting cut from the swim team. I didn't know what to do, so I sat up in bed as well, and just reached out to his bare shoulder, and put my hand there to calm him down. Then I just said the first words that came to my mind. "Look Caleb, I know where you're coming from. I've been where you've been and it's not fun. I'm different than a lot of guys too, and I've had trouble making friends before this school year. But I've found that I just have to be myself and try to help others when I can. The thing is man, is that we're all different, created to be who we are. That's not a bad thing. Your uniqueness is what makes you a cool friend, okay? And trust me if I didn't like you or thought that you're weird, then I might not have been willing to help you. But you're not, you're a cool guy, and I'm so excited that I could help you learn the backstroke and I hope we're together on the swim team for all four years."

He turned to face me now, and in the ambient light in the room from the light in his lizard aquarium, I could see a single tear trickle down from his right eye. I then said the thing that made sense to say.

"Can I give you a hug?" He thought for a second, then smiled and nodded his head. As we moved to each other and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, we embraced for a moment. He quickly broke the embrace, and sheepishly turned to face the foot of the bed. With his head now down, he thanked me again and then whispered that we should probably get some sleep.

I laid down on my back, with my now fully erect dick poking at my briefs, giving me a tent under the sheets. Once again, I repeated my sentiments to him, in case he needed reassurance of me being there for him.

"Man, just remember, I'll be there for you whenever you need someone to talk to, okay?"

He nodded his head and then in a half asleep voice he muttered, "Thanks Carter. Good night."

Moments later we both fell asleep.

****** The last week of practice finally arrived. We put in a good week of swimming and a good week of working out. Chase shared our beginning times from when we initially started practice five weeks ago to now. I was surprised to see that in all of my strokes, my times had gone down, gaining at least a half a minute with each stroke. And the super cool thing was that with the weight lifting part of practice also saw gains in muscle and in weights used to work out. I'd gone from using ten pounds for arm curls to fifteen. I went from barely bench pressing fifty pounds to now pressing sixty. Not big gains, but gains, nonetheless. Best of all was the leg work. I'd jumped ten pounds in all of the leg lifting. For once in my life I felt physically great and felt like I was quickly getting in the best shape of my life.

Everyone on the team had made strides as well. Spence and Angelo looked like they were adding muscle, which was evident in the pool and when we showered. Caleb looked like perhaps he'd made some gains, but not like the rest of us. Needless to say, as Friday after school finally arrived, I could tell that Caleb was super nervous. On the way to the locker room after school we'd met up in the hallway outside of the gym locker room where we dressed for gym. I reassured him that he'd be fine, to just trust in the work he'd done and to just focus on making sure he did the backstroke correctly and then all would be good. As we stopped outside of the door to the swimming pool locker room, not really thinking, I gave him a hug for good luck. Little did I know that just as I embraced him, Parker and Rhonin walked past us on the way to the wrestling mats. Parker just glared at us, while Rhonin made a snide remark under his breath that surely sounded like he called us something like "fucking homos" or "f'ing fags". All I heard was Parker making a sound like "heh" or something like that. Caleb didn't think anything of it because he was so nervous about making the team. I tried to blow it off, and for the most part I did, but just put it in the back of mind to deal with later.

Finally we were in the water, doing our usual laps. Today's practice would be abbreviated in the sense that there would be no weight training. Once laps were done, the names of those of us making the team would be posted outside of the coach's office. Then of course, the best part would be when Chase would come around the locker room and hand out the black and orange team swimsuits with the Harlem Huskie logo on the side, and no more would we have to wear Speedos in practice.

We got our laps out of the way quickly. One by one we got out of the pool, grabbed our towels and started drying our faces as we walked towards the coach's office, our swim goggles on our foreheads.

The moment of truth had arrived. Caleb was almost shaking. But as we approached the bulletin board where the team roster was posted, his fears and the fears of a couple other guys were all for nothing -- we'd all made the team!!!

Caleb was so happy. Guys were giving him high fives, patting him on the back, and doing the same to the other two guys: Reece and Riley. When the group broke up and headed to their respective lockers, Caleb was all smiles, and gave me a huge hug. He had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. When Chase came around with our team swimsuits, we were all clapping and cheering for each other's accomplishments. It was a tremendous feeling, and for once in my young life, I was so happy with my own accomplishments. The best feeling of all though, was knowing that I'd helped Caleb make the team.

We all showered and got dressed quickly. Being a Friday night, we all couldn't wait to get home and tell our parents. For some reason, I was the last person to get in the shower, so of course I was the last one to get dressed. Everyone else had left the locker room except Caleb and me. Even though his brother Brennan was there waiting to pick him up, he still waited to walk out with me. As we left the locker room and started walking toward the exit door and were about halfway, I realized that I'd left my cell phone in my locker. Caleb was already late, so he couldn't walk back with me. But once again, he thanked me.

"Carter, I don't know how to thank you enough. I know I couldn't have made the team without your help. So maybe we can like go out to get dinner and catch a movie or something to kind a celebrate both of us making the team. Does tomorrow work for you?"

"Aw, thanks man! Yeah, it should. Look it's the least thing I can do for a friend. Sure I'd love to do that tomorrow. I'll just make sure and check with my mom and let you know tonight or tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Sure that'd be great. Thanks again, man." He gave me another hug, this time the embrace lasted like twenty seconds before he broke away and started walking away. "See you tomorrow, Michaels!"

I couldn't erase the smile from my face. I was so happy. Quickly, I ran back to the locker room to get my phone. There was no one else in the locker room but me, or so I thought.

I didn't realize I had been followed into the locker room.

As I opened the door to the locker I'd used, I found my cell phone sitting safely on the top shelf in the locker, I was just about to grab my phone when seemingly out of nowhere a strong left hand grabbed my left hand and quickly pinned it to my back.

At the same time, I let out a loud scream in fear of what was going to happen next. The right hand of my captor quickly covered my mouth, muting my scream instantly.

A stern, angry voice nearly shouted in my right ear, the words echoed through the empty locker room.

"SO who's your new boyfriend?