Hi everyone! Thank you SO much for your patience as I worked through this next chapter! I really appreciate all the kind words sent to me in my absence, and I am so incredibly sorry that I have not posted in a while! I have had an absolutely horrendous couple of months, but my life is finally getting back on track. I was crazy busy with school, but back in January, my brother Joey suffered from a condition called myasthenia gravis, where you randomly become paralyzed starting from the feet and working up. They still have no idea what caused it, but he luckily caught it when only his legs were affected. His recovery has gone really well though, and after some intense rehab, he is finally getting back to his baseline. He and his hubby are living happily ever after, and my fiancé and I packed up our bags and moved to Texas to be closer to them once I graduated. I took a job in Austin as a nurse practitioner working with HIV and transgender patients, which I am really excited to start. Anyway, long story short, I felt everyone deserved an explanation for my absence. I made this chapter nice and long for you with a little bit of sex and a little bit of drama, and plan to update more frequently while I wait to start my new job. Thank you so much for your continued support, it means the world <3
"Push, Hulk, come on! Push harder!"
Barry's encouraging voice rang through the gym as I struggled to finish the last three reps of the set from hell. Practice was cancelled due to a torrential downpour, so most of us were in the gym. And let me tell you—there is no place I would rather be less than the school gym at 6:00 am on a Monday morning. The remnants of the weekend had worn down quite a bit of my resolve, and the last thing I wanted to do was sweat out my annoyance in a smelly gym.
Unfortunately for me, Barry dragged me here, and then decided it was a good day to obliterate me. He came up with a work out that pushed any reasonable limits I had and I was pretty sure that I was three seconds away from dropping weights on my chest. He had added ten pounds to my normal weight, and it was enough to make my muscles scream out in agony.
"Okay, one more! You can do it!" He exclaimed. Once the bar was safely in place, I sat up with a struggle and gladly took the water bottle he offered me. "Awesome job!" He patted me on the back. "You completely crushed it today." He took a seat facing me on the bench, our knees brushing in the small confines. His honey colored eyes bore into mine, almost as if he was trying to read my mind or something. "You're awfully quiet today." He mentioned. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine." I muttered, taking another gulp of water. "Just tired."
"You seem off." He was persistent this morning.
"Don't worry about it." I told him, scooting back so I could climb off the bench. His normally happy face dropped a bit at my actions, but I just wasn't in the mood today. The truth was, I'm not actually okay.
Sunday kicked my ass. Not only was I hungover, but I was dumb enough to believe Andrew--again. I woke up to find he had snuck out—again. He didn't answer any texts yesterday—again. And when Lindsey and I went to dinner the night before, we saw him eating with Greg—again. He was being a douchebag—again, and I was dumb enough to fall for it—again. So no, I was not okay, and being at the gym in the shitty weather was not helping anything. All I wanted was to climb into bed and sleep until the skies cleared, but unfortunately, Barry wasn't going to let me wallow today. Without even knowing what was wrong, he burst into my room like a ray of sunshine at 6 am and dragged me out of bed. It ended up being a good call since I was the only freshman there with all the seniors on the team, but still. It was time to start locking my door at night. There are far too many people walking in and out whenever they want.
I felt bad for being annoyed with Barry, when he actually had no idea what was wrong. It also didn't help that Adam had sent me another email asking me to talk to him. He keeps insisting that he wants to make things right, but I just don't have the brain space to entertain the thought of a friendship with someone who treated me so poorly. And I know I'm being hypocritical, since I continue to let Andrew treat me like shit, but I keep thinking that maybe one of these times, it will stick. He promised me a date, after all, and that was worth something to me. I could always reevaluate the situation once I see how he actually treats me when we aren't sneaking around. Either way, I don't think that getting involved with Adam for a second time was a good call. I know I'll have to see him when I go to the election party with Matt and Jason since his father is a huge financial supporter of Matt's dad like my father is, but I still had a couple more weeks before I had to worry about that. Hopefully, Andrew and I will have straightened things out by then and I won't have to worry about Adam even bothering me. I could bring Andrew as my plus one, and we can enjoy our first formal event together.
"Josh." Barry called after me as I walked away, not even saying goodbye. He caught up with me in a couple strides and grabbed my arm. "What's the problem? Seriously. Don't bullshit me. I can tell you're upset about something."
"Nothing." I sighed. "Just having a bad week."
He blinked at me, those warm eyes filled with confusion. "It's Monday morning." He pointed out, calling me on the fact that nothing could have gone that horribly wrong since I last saw him on Saturday. I hadn't told Barry anything about my secret relationship, but I'm sure he had picked up that something shady was going on. He was in the same program as Andrew, so they knew each other, and I definitely couldn't confide in him. I'm not 100% sure that they aren't friends, since they certainly have some mutual ones.
"I know." I chuckled. "But let's just say it's not off to a great start."
"Because of the workout? You crushed it. You're seriously bulking up since you started working out with us. You should be proud."
"It's not the work out." I told him. "Just some personal drama. I'll survive."
He gave me an understanding nod. "Do you have class today?"
"Yeah, I have a couple. Why?"
"Anything that involves participation points?"
"No, just a couple large lectures." I answered. "Why?"
"We're playing hooky today." He told me with a grin. "Go home and get changed, and meet me at the gate in an hour."
"Where are we going?" I had learned by now that there is no saying no to Barry, so it was easier to just roll with it and agree. He would convince me eventually, so it was easier not to resist.
"It's a surprise!" He told me. "It'll be fun. I promise, it will make your day."
"You're not even going to give me a hint?" I whined, but secretly excited that he would go out of his way to make me feel better. He had been a really good friend, and I have never been more pleased with a decision I have made than I am for deciding to go to that first crew tryout.
"Nope." He grinned. I followed him into the locker room to grab our stuff. There were a couple guys changing in there, so we said hi and talked to them for a bit. I was packing up my bag when I overheard a conversation between Barry and one of our other teammates, Brian, that piqued my interest.
"So Mikey told me that Casey is in town this weekend." Brian said with a suggestive undertone that was not so under. In fact, it was the most innuendo-laced version of a simple sentence I had ever heard.
"Yeah, just Friday night though." Barry told him. "Anniversary dinner and all, but I have an exam and a paper due Monday so it won't be a whole ordeal or anything."
Brian let out a loud whoop. "Anniversary dinner, huh? Is that code for 'We aren't leaving the bedroom all night so doesn't even try to reach me'?"
Barry flushed, but let out a good natured laugh. "Naw, we are actually going to dinner. There are also a couple good parties to hit up, so we will probably do that."
