I Woke Up 160 by M.P. Arsent
Copyright to this story remain strictly that of the author. No other publication or use of this story is allowed without the consent of the author. This story contains male on male sexual content both implied and explicit. If this offends you please do not continue. All characters and implied situations are strictly those of the author and are not based on any real life events or characters. If you are under 18 years of age please exit this story now. I welcome all responses to my stories. Please make sure that you list the name of the story in the email line. If your email is to alert me of misspelled words or improper punctuation or grammar save your time because it will be deleted. I hope you enjoy my vivid imagination. Please let me know what you think at mparsent@gmail.com and don't forget to donate to Nifty as they do an amazing job.
And that it seemed was easier said than done tonight. First it was a flat tire that cost us an hour and then there was an accident that turned the highway into a parking lot for another hour and a half.
What had been expected to be a 2 hour drive turned into almost 5 hours. We came damn close to violating the travel restrictions for competition.
We finally got to Dresmire at about 9:30. As far as I was concerned it was far to late to even worry about seeing the venue tonight. Coach agreed and we simply got to our rooms and tried to relax. I gave Karl a call and told all that had gone on.
"Do you think any of it was deliberate?"
"What so we'd be forced to foreit? Possible but highly unlikely."
"Really? After all of the other shit that has happened?"
"Is it possible? Sure, but shit does happen lover."
"Yeah I suppose. Get some sleep lover. I'll see you after the meet."
"You take it easy getting over here tomorrow."
"Yeah yeah. Good night lover."
I hung up with Karl and Dana was looking at me from his bed.
"So I hear you guys are finally tying the knot."
"Yeah August 1st at home and then we'll be getting an apartment next year."
"Hope you've got that lined up already otherwise you aren't going to find anything worth having."
"All taken care of, just a couple of blocks from campus. Now let's get some sleep."
I don't think either one of us dropped off right away,but eventually my phone went off to wake me up and Dana was right there across from me.
There wasn't a shower for each room here so Dana and I trooped on down to the showers and were shortly joined by the rest of the team. We were out front of the building at the appointed hour and taken to the cafeteria for breakfast. We got our first look at the other team at this point. It wasn't to difficult to know who the two "shit hot freshman" were simply by the amount of attention they were getting.
Breakfast was had and we were shown over to the venue. We did a brief inspection of the place before we went into change. Damn good thing we did to before anybody got on any of the equipment. Several loose fittings were found, which could have resulted in an injury if the equipment had been used.
Coach made notes for the judges and he stayed there and watched to see that every single one was taken care of. By the time that was done we only had about a half hour to warm up.
We went into the locker room and did what we could to stay warmed up.
Coach called us together.
"Ok listen up you guys. I can't prove it but it looks like these yoyos are going to do whatever it takes to win. So stay focused. Shut out whatever is going on around you. Anything seems off to you give me a reason to come to you and then we can see what if anything can be done."
One of the arena runners came in and handed coach a note.
"Dennis, this is for you."
I went and took the note.
Heads up lover. A.T. in the crowd. Karl
I showed it to coach.
"Not entirely unexpected."
"Not at all. We just go for it."
It was soon enough time for us to take the floor and our fans were just as loud in their appreciation as the the Dresmire students.
We were soon paired off and I ended up being against one of the "shit hot freshman".
Before we got started I looked over the crowd and found Karl and the guys and Andros as well. And then I put them all out of my mind. The only thing that mattered now was what was in front of my to do.
My first station was the Pommel horse. I was up and into my swing and moving through my routine without any problems. I remembered to point my toes during my flair work and landed my dismount solidly.
My opponent was no less intent on his routine. He seemed solid as well. As usual I didn't look to the scoreboard. There would be time enough for that at the end of the meet.
It was on to the vaults. I was up and in the air and into my second somersault when an air horn went off. Luckily for me I had already spotted my landing and I came down with only a minor wobble. I didn't even bother to look around to see if I could spot the moron who had pulled that stunt. I was sure that whomever it was would be escorted from the premises in short order. It was likely a preview of things to come. What remained to be seen was whether it was going to be a general harrassment or if I was being targeted.
My opposite number did his first vault and landed it solidly. It was time for my second vault and just before I started my run up a baby started screaming in the stands. One of the officials gave me a wait signal and I stepped back from the run up area. Every thing had stopped for the time it took for the baby to be removed from the hall. It had broken the rythmn of the meet and that could be just as bad as missing a move in one of the routines.
I focused on my next vault. When I was given the go ahead I made my run up and was in the air completeing my rotations and I spotted my landing and "stuck" it.
We moved on to the parallel bars. I was single minded in that I had blocked out as much of what was going on around me as I could. The only thing I was concerned with was my routine. I mounted the bars and swung up to my first hand stand, worked through my release moves and continued on as smoothly as I could to my dismount. I paid no attention to if I was getting any recognition or not.
I was watching my opponent. He seemed very confident and I wasn't enitrely sure that it wasn't justified. He was doing pretty damn good today.
He went through his bars routine and he was as smooth as anyone I had ever watched before, right up until his dismount which he stepped out of. Did it happen? Sure it did. It had happened to me more than once. Was it any reason to get shook up? Not really,not as far as I was concerned. This guy looked as if he had just commited a captial crime or something. He was shaking when he sat down to wait until we moved to the next piece.
I did something I never did during competiton. I looked to the crowd and specifically at Andros,who had a most disgusted look on his face. Personally I didn't need any more proof that he was trying to influence the outcome of things, but there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
We moved on to the rings. I took my brace and then started my swing up through my first moves and worked as smoothly as I could. I swung up into my release and did my somersault in tuck and landed solidly.
Now it was time to watch my opposite. He seemed very nervous now as if his confidence had been shot by that one misstep. His performance on the rings was lackluster at best though he did manage to stick his landing.
It was on to the floor excercise. I set up and did my opening moves and then went into my first tumbling run and I thought I did it pretty smoothly. More floor and flair work and set up for my second tumbling run which I had a bit of a wobble on the last move. Forget it move on. More floor moves and a little more flair work and setup for my final run. It was on across the floor and finally into my last somersault and then my landing. A few more final moves and I was done.
Once again it was time to watch the other guy. He seemed stiff as he did his first floor moves and when he setup for his first tumbling run he ended up doing the very simplest of moves across the floor. They were stiff and showed no elegance or enthusiasm whatsoever. I didn't look, but I could well imagine the look on Andros' face at this point.
We were finally off to the last piece of equipment, the high bar. I looked to coach and I saw him studying the board. He finally shook his head no. The triple dismount was to be held in reserve for the all states.
I was up first and I chalked up and grabbed the bar. I swung up and did some basic work and then up into a handstand, swung through and did my release moves and then up into another handstand,my first reverse move to another release and my final swing through to the double somersault and a solid landing.
I was done for the meet. I could now look up to the scoreboard. No matter how my opposite did here on the bar, it was going to be mighty damn close.
Every eye in the place was on the guy now. He seemed to have finally gotten his focus back. He chaulked up and grabbed the bar and swung up into his first moves. He was solid once again and was showing the confidence that he had started with. He worked through his program as solidly as he had started the meet. His moves were crisp and almost perfectly executed. He was to his final dismount of the meet, and he stuck it.
Everybody in the place was silent as they waited for his score to be posted. I wasn't even watching. I knew we had been hustled, but had no way to prove it.
When I finally did look up as the crowd went crazy, Dresmire had beaten us by mere tenths of a point. It had been a calculated risk that maybe had lulled us just enough. Could I prove that there had been anything going on? Of course not. This was going to affect the betting on the all states, no doubt about that at all.
Closing ceremonies were held and awards presented. We showered up and made our way back to our rooms to gather our things for the trip back to campus.
"I guess I got cocky guys. I thought we had it in the bag. I should have let you throw the triple Dennis."
"It was a judgement call coach. We were played simple as that."
After that it was a rather quiet trip and the only ones there to greet us were Karl and the guys.
"Hey Den it wasn't for lack of trying."
"I know that love, but that was damn close. If my guy hadn't lost it for a couple of rotations we would have been beat by a hell of a lot worse. I wonder how this will affect the betting on the all states?"
"Hell if I know lover and it still doesn't give us any idea of what the end game is."
"Or whose game it is. Something for us to worry about in a month. Now we have to concentrate on finals."