A thrashing rain poured down onto the bodies of eight exhausted rowers, pulling their minds out for their last remaining piece of the day. The rain had come quickly onto the rowers practice, and their coach called them to sprint to the docks to finish off their hard practice. They always had to end in power. The weather had been beautiful only minutes before, but all the athletes were used to the sudden weather changes that came along with living on the east side of Michigan. The rowers shivered as the sweat that once covered their bare strong chests and stomachs was replaced with drops of icy rain. It was cold, but they pushed on towards the docks.
The boys attended Saint Mary's Prep school on Orchard Lake in Michigan and I was one of them. I sat five seat, the power position in the boat, and I could feel my chest and arms buckle and tear with each pull on my oar. Saint Mary's was one of the most dominant crew programs in the country, but our dominance is constantly vulnerable to the taking by other emerging crew programs from the other areas of the state, particularly Grand Rapids' Forest Hills Central and Detroit's Huron. Finally our coxswain called to let the boat run, and we all collapsed over our oars gulping for air. We would have put our shirts back on, but they lay soaked in the bottom of the boat and would probably only make us colder. We slid in parallel to the dock, removed our shell from the water, and trudged off to our cars.
"God dammit!," Our captain Ryan yelled, whipping his shirt toward the ground, but not letting it hit, "Two days away from the damn Midwest Championships and we get cut short by rain!"
"Relax, dude." I coaxed slapping him on the back, secretly enjoying the feel of his chiseled body. "The only crew we've got to worry about is Central- and we've beat 'em before too." Some of my team mates mumbled, all agreeing with me.
"I know we've beat them, but don't get too cocky guys." Ryan retorted. The group stopped as he did, many of them grumbling, preparing for a long speech. "One thing on Saturday, one mistake can ruin our chances, so stay focused and don't fuck it up, got it?" Ryan was always worrying too much. "Eat right and get to bed early tonight, don't stay out screwing your girlfriends... I want everyone ready for this weekend, we've got to-"
"Can you wrap this the hell up Ryan? You're like a windbag, and I'm friggin frozen." Tim never wanted to hear what Ryan had to say.
Ryan whipped his wet shirt into Tim's bare chest, turning it red. Tim yelped in pain, but he didn't say anything. "Shut up for a minute." Ryan said.
"Ryan, they know already. We're as prepared as we can be, let's go." I said. Though I was usually one to talk and get the team pumped up for races, it was really cold tonight and the wind and rain were picking up. Ryan agreed and dismissed everyone. Ryan and I walked to his car, climbed in, and began driving towards our dorm. The first part of the drive we rode in silence. We were both still shirtless in an attempt to keep warm, and the heat was blasting through the car. I tried not to stare, but Ryan was damn hot. Rowing had sculpted most of our team into hot young studs, all of us 16 and juniors at the school, we were in peak performance shape. Ryan's beautiful face melted down into a powerful, tan chest, and a hard six pack stomach. None of his muscles were over-defined, they were just right. They were enough to make a presence, but not bulging like he was on steroids. A little bit of his arm hair showed as he gripped the steering wheel with his strong arms. He looked over at me and I shot my eyes out the windshield, pretending to have been looking at something else the whole time. He didn't seem to notice... dammit, I came too close to getting caught so many times.
"Shea," he said to me, "If we don't do good this weekend...." he trailed off and continued driving, making a turn into the parking lot. This was all way too important to him.
"Just relax, man." I said again as we climbed out of the car and headed into the dorms. "You've done a good job preparing us. Get some sleep tonight, and don't worry about it. I stopped, having arrived at my dorm.
"I'll see ya in the morning." He said, continuing down the hall to his dorm.
My room was empty. My roommate Alex was still at lacrosse practice. Alex was my best friend. He was about as tall as me, around 6'1". He had dark brown hair, and blue eyes that shone like the ocean in the tropics. I didn't only want Alex for a friend though. I wanted Alex as a partner, as my love. We just met this year, when we were randomly made room mates. We quickly bonded and became the best of friends. Alex was athletic like me. He trained for lacrosse all year. He was strong and built. His tan chest and legs were as strong as any rowers, and he had a smooth body, with no hair but a little under his arms and on his legs. Alex was the epitome of gorgeous and if he went to a school with girls he'd be sure to win whoever he pleased.
Over the months of the school year until now, late March, I became more and more fond of Alex. He made me laugh, but he was one I could talk to and confide in. He had an element about him that was so hot I could hardly stand next to him. It wasn't just his looks; it was his personality, his confidence. But he wasn't at all cocky either. He was the perfect friend, and I couldn't imagine what kind of lover he'd be. I had truly grown to love Alex in the short months I had known him, and I knew he loved me too, even if it wasn't in the same way.
I removed my sweaty shorts and jock and put on the boxers I was wearing before practice. I fell back on my bed, really too tired to take a shower, but I knew I'd have to get up and take one eventually. I stared up at the ceiling and my thoughts drifted to the regatta that weekend. Winning Midwest Championships would be tough. The high schools we rowed against had co-ed teams and therefore had more boats competing, and since you got points for your team for each finish in the top three, we were at a huge disadvantage with our lacking of women's boats. But we'd done it before, and we could do it again. In the past we'd gained so many top three finished with our men's boats that it didn't matter that we had no women, for we trounced the other teams. But Central and Huron had great women's teams, Central's were top in the state and Huron's were third. My thoughts were interrupted when Alex came pounding through the door.
"What's up Shea?" He asked coming over and playfully slapping my chest a few times. It hurt and I threw his hands away. "You ladies gonna win Midwest again... you've been beat two years in a row and I'd like to see someone bringing in trophies for this school." Alex quipped, laughing at me. He knew damn well we were as good as was his lacrosse team.
"Why do you guys even put in the effort of practicing just to get your asses kicked up and down the field by your competition?" I rebutted, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"Cocky rowers..." He muttered playfully, taking off his sweaty tee shirt. He stood before me in only athletic shorts. Luckily I'd been around him this close to naked many times, or the presence his body had could have knocked me out.
I gave him a punch on the arm, which was a mistake. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me against the wall. We were both laughing.
"You shithead." He laughed, trying to pretend to be serious. "I need that arm to win us states this year."
"In your dreams, Alex."
I pushed back against him, but it was futile. He had me against the wall. He was now holding my wrists high and up over my head, against the wall. He jerked me towards him and then spun around behind be and wrapped his arms around my chest. Time froze, and for that second I could feel his warm, slightly sweaty chest pushing against my back, and his soft cock against my leg. I didn't let this distract me though, I was determine to beat him. I let myself slide to the floor, out from his grasp and pulled him down onto his back. I sat on his chest and used my knees to pin his shoulders to the ground. One thing I loved about Alex was his playfulness. At no other time would I be able to get this close to him, with this little on. I was so close to his face. I gripped his wrists with my hands, holding them to the floor, and slid my butt back onto his lower stomach. I lowered my face close to his, and now the whole length of our bodies were so close it would appear they were touching. We both heaved deep breaths and I could feel the heat coming off of his body.
"I thought you were a big strong lacrosse player." I said laughing.
He smiled up at me. "I let you win." He said. "If we don't all let you cocky rowers think you're the best, your world will come crashing down."
"Keep telling yourself that." I said. I grinned and squeezed his wrists a little tighter, then got up and sat on my bed.
Alex got up and walked towards the bathroom door. Before he went in, he dropped his boxers giving me a view of his muscular ass. He grabbed his towel off a nearby chair and took his time putting it on.
"I'm going to shower." He said.
"No shit?" I asked wondering if he realized how obvious this already was to me.
He flipped me off and stepped into the bathroom. I went to my dresser and pulled out some clothes I'd wear down to dinner after my turn in the shower. Then I fell back onto the bed and closed my eyes. I knew Alex would be in the bathroom awhile, making himself beautiful, not that he wasn't already beautiful without the hours in the bathroom.