Swimming to Freedom

by Robbie Michaels

  “Yes, you could very easily make me all hot and bothered. I work very hard to not look at you when you’re naked. I try to not stare at any guy in the locker room.” Brandon felt humiliated to be having this particular conversation, especially coming completely out of the blue like it was. He’d had no time to prepare himself.

  “But you do check out the other guys, right? I mean, I know I do. So I hope you are.”

  “Why are you checking out naked guys in the locker room?” Brandon asked. He followed up with a question he’d already asked. “Are you absolutely sure you’re straight?”

  “Yes, Brandon, I am absolutely sure that I am one hundred percent straight,” Joel assured him. “Everybody checks out the other guys in the locker room. We all look to see how we compare to the other naked dudes. We all want to know how we measure up to the competition. Admit it, you do it too. It’s just a guy thing. All guys do it. Doesn’t matter if you’re straight or gay or somewhere in between, all guys do it. Period.”

  “Yeah, of course. But I try not to stare, just glance quick and look away. I can’t get caught looking at dicks, dude.”

  “Okay, I can see that for some guys that might be a problem.”

  “But not for you, it seems.”

  “No,” Joel said, “not for me. I’m more highly evolved on such matters than the average man. And I don’t have a shy bone in my body.”

  “Or in your pants apparently,” Brandon muttered.

  Their conversation had to draw to a close because they had arrived at their destination, but Brandon was not disappointed to see that happen. This had been an absolutely unanticipated turn of events. Never had he even dared think about telling another living being that he was gay, and especially not a teammate.

  From the time they entered the pool door, Brandon ran completely on autopilot. The smell of the chlorine immediately registered in his brain, and he shifted into training mode. His mind started to clear as he changed into his swimsuit, wet his goggles before fitting them into place and slipping into the warm embrace of the water.

  For the next two hours, Brandon focused on the simple, repetitive routine. Swim a lap, turn around, and do it again… and again and again and again. It was only by partially turning off his mind and by getting into the zone that he was able to do the training required.

  When they crawled out of the pool, Brandon’s mind was still partly disconnected and his body exhausted from extended exertion. Still moving mostly on autopilot, Brandon grabbed his towel and stepped into the shared shower space still wearing his swimsuit.

  As the hot water started to cascade from the showerhead, Brandon closed his eyes and simply relished the feel of the water as it soothed his tired muscles and rinsed some of the chlorine from his body. As he did still mostly by rote, Brandon slipped his swimsuit off when it had been rinsed, and started to soap up and actually wash.

  It was only when he had rinsed the shampoo from his hair that he opened his eyes and noticed Joel wasn’t across the shower from him like he usually was, but was standing at the shower immediately beside his showerhead.

  “I don’t know about you,” Joel began, “but for me that was one hell of a good workout.”

  Joel seemed especially pleased about something. His face was filled with the excitement of a youngster on Christmas morning. Brandon watched Joel thrust his arms out to each side as if he was about to wrap his arms around something huge.

  And yes, Brandon couldn’t help but instinctively glance down at Joel’s crotch—it was kind of hard not to. He couldn’t swear to it from such a quick glance, but Brandon thought it was ever so slightly larger than usual. He wondered just how good the workout had been for his friend. Swimming did many things for Brandon, but it had never made him erect. In fact, he didn’t know of that happening to anyone ever.

  Joel babbled as the two of them finished showering. He continued talking excitedly as they each grabbed their towel and dried themselves before heading back to their lockers. As Brandon pulled his clothes from his locker and started re-dressing, Joel continued.

  “Man, that water felt so good this morning. I don’t know about you, but I was like a machine, slicing through the water.”

  Joel tossed his towel down to step on and dry his feet but never stopped talking. “I was in the zone, man. My heart rate was precisely where it needed to be. I don’t think I ever got winded. My timing was good, and I had no slipups. I was like a penguin flying through the water. On land they’re so awkward, but in the water they’re like ballerinas, able to maneuver and practically fly.”

  Joel thrust his arms out to his side once again. His head dropped back as if basking in the adulation of an unseen crowd. Brandon couldn’t help but look again. It was like his eyes and Joel’s dick were magnetically attracted to one another.

  Joel slowly twirled around in a 360-degree turn, arms still extended. Joel’s butt wasn’t too shabby either.

  Brandon thought Joel might wear down and come back to earth soon. He couldn’t remember a time when his friend had been quite so wired after a workout. But rather than lose steam, he only cranked up the intensity. For whatever reason Joel seemed to be drawing energy from somewhere as he babbled on, and for some equally mysterious reason, Joel appeared determined to show off his body to Brandon.

  And that was when it hit him.

  “Oh, please, tell me you’re not….”

  “Not what?” Joel asked with a smile.

  Brandon quickly turned to verify that they were the only two guys in the locker room before he continued. “Please tell me you are not doing this to tease me, to flash your, your, your goodies at me, to get me to check you out.”

  Joel’s smile only got bigger. He now stopped directly in front of Brandon, beaming with pride or excitement or both. He crossed his arms over his chest and just stood studying his friend.

  “Bran, you are too suspicious. I’m just a poor, dumb country boy. I would never dream about doing something like trying to show my good buddy that I am one awesome example of manhood that should turn any red-blooded American gay guy on nearly uncontrollably.”

  Brandon grabbed his underwear and thrust his legs through the holes. It was only when he had some cloth over his genitals that he was willing to turn back and continue their conversation.

  “Fine,” Brandon admitted. “You have a great body.”

  “A great body with a nice package,” he said, gesturing with both hands toward his crotch.

  “Yep. Sure. Anything you say.”

  He spun around again, showing Brandon his ass. Brandon thought he was prepared for just about anything by that point, but he was not at all prepared for Joel raising one of his hands and slapping his own ass sharply. He most definitely wasn’t prepared for the way Joel practically purred with excitement and satisfaction from the slap. Brandon knew he had to get dressed quick or the evidence of how much this whole thing was affecting him was going to be impossible to conceal.

  He grabbed his pants and quickly got himself dressed. All the while, though, Joel was still naked and talking at Brandon.

  “You are crazy,” Brandon told him. “You do know that, right?”

  “Crazy hot, you mean, right?” Joel asked with a smirk.

  “Yep, sure. Hot, why not?” Brandon tossed back at him.

  “And not just hot, but smokin’ hot.”

  Brandon turned to Joel and glared at him, taking a step toward him and dropping his voice so no one else could overhear their conversation, not that there was anyone else around.

  “You’re not going to be happy until you’ve got me fully hard, are you? You do know, don’t you, that that makes you a big old gay cock tease? You know what they are—someone who teases and toys with you until you’re all worked up, but won’t put out for you. Someone who gets you all worked up and then leaves you high and dry.”

  “With blue balls,” Joel added with a smile. “Yes, actually, now that you mention it, I do believe I have experienced that a few times.”

>   With Brandon staring, Joel dropped one of his hands to his crotch and casually scratched his balls, in the process, pushing his penis aside with his wrist. When he finished, he gave his penis a gentle and quick tug before putting his hand back on one hip. Brandon practically whimpered.

  “I hate you, you do know that, right?”

  “No, buddy. You don’t hate me. Quite the opposite.”

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “I just wanted to be sure you had a chance to check out what perfection looks like in the male form.” He held his hands up so Brandon could have a full, unencumbered view of Joel and all of his assets.

  “You are the worst cock tease ever. Now I’m going home with blue balls.”

  “Been there,” Joel commiserated. He finally started to get dressed.

  In the car on the way home, Brandon finally asked, “Why did you do that to me? Deliberately show me your body and try to get me all worked up? I don’t understand. Were you mocking me? You can get laid, but I can’t. I don’t have anyone else to help me out. So when you get me all wired, it’s… it’s just cruel. What did I ever do to you to make you think you needed to mock me like that? I don’t understand, Joel. I don’t understand.”

  “No, not at all. We’re friends. I’ve got no problem with you being gay. I told you my sister is a lesbian. That’s not all. I’ve also got an uncle who is gay, one of my cousins is gay, and another one who’s a lesbian. I’ve been around gay folks my whole life.”

  “Wow. Wish I could say that. What I wouldn’t give to have another gay guy to talk with, someone who could help me sort out everything that’s going on inside my head.”

  Brandon was quiet for a moment before he asked, “Your cousin, the gay one—is he good-looking?”

  “Sure, but I’m not fixing you up with him.”

  “Why not?” Brandon asked, knowing and hating that he sounded a bit pitiful and plaintive.

  “Well, for one, he’s like ten years older than you. But mostly because his husband would be pissed off with me if I did that, and he wouldn’t take it well at all.”

  “Oh. So he’s already got someone.”

  Brandon dropped his head toward the passenger side window, bumping it against the glass. “I’m destined to die a virgin. Will you slow down,” he implored Joel. “I’d rather I not die today.”

  “All right. I was just trying to give you one rush since you’ve never been able to walk in the Promised Land.”

  “Huh?”

  “Sex, dude. You’ve never fucked somebody. Or, I suppose been fucked by somebody. I don’t know what your tastes are. Sex, my man, is the most exciting, roller coaster ride. It’s such a total rush, an absolutely incredible experience. To slide inside the body of the person you’re with, to merge, to become one, to share your body with someone else is just awesome, man. It feels like a thousand tiny hands are all gently stroking your dick, and then your very soul.”

  Brandon whimpered at that point.

  “Please, dude, I’m begging you, unless you’re planning to pull over and have sex with me right now, for the love of God, please just shut up.”

  Seeming to realize how his words were impacting his friend, Joel apologized.

  “Hey, Brandon, I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. I just sometimes get carried away. Sorry about that.” Joel looked serious for once, which seemed to hint that he understood what Brandon had told him.

  Brandon remained silent, his head resting against the window and his eyes closed until they stopped in the driveway to his house. Brandon was in a hurry to get out of the car, so Joel called out, “See you in the morning.” Brandon just waved and rushed toward the house.

  When he was finally inside with the door closed and locked, the very first thing Brandon did was to pull out his still hard dick and quickly jerk off. It wasn’t a lot of work since he was partially there already. Had it been warmer than fifteen degrees outside, he would have done it out there. It was a good thing his dad was away the rest of the day because Brandon did something he rarely if ever got to do—he got naked and wanked himself more times than he could count. Since he was naked, it was kind of always easily accessible, close at hand, so without even realizing he was doing it, he spent a lot of time just holding his dick. And of course one thing led to another, and what came up, had to be helped to go back down. It was only when he started to chafe that he had to stop, but he had a good run-up until that point.

  Chapter 5—What Other Teens Do

  THE FOLLOWING morning Joel picked Brandon up right on time for once, which meant they didn’t have to make a death-defying drive to get to the pool on time.

  Brandon, usually mostly asleep on the drive to the pool, was wide-awake. He’d woken early, worried about what fresh hell Joel had in store for him. Would he taunt and tease Brandon with something more he couldn’t have? That was just cruel, and he couldn’t believe Joel had done that to him the previous day.

  But Joel was quieter in the car that morning, seeming somewhat withdrawn, just as Brandon was. Even the music was turned lower than usual. When Joel turned the music off, Brandon’s heart started pounding so hard he was afraid it was trying to make an escape from his chest to run away and hide somewhere.

  Not knowing what to say, Brandon just closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “Um, dude,” Joel said hesitantly. “About yesterday… you see…. I’m sorry I did those things to you. I thought about it all night last night and I tried to put myself in your position. Not the position of sucking a dick or something like that. I tried to put myself in your position of having to watch a Greek god of a man like myself flaunt his hypermasculinity at me while knowing I could never have it and that the mere sight of it would wind me up so tight I could barely breathe.”

  “You have a mighty high opinion of yourself,” Brandon observed drily without looking at Joel.

  “Hey, I’ve seen myself in my mirror. I’ve spent hours studying what I look like. Sometimes I even jerk off in the front of the mirror.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that you jerk off to the image of a hot man. Interesting. Dude, are you sure you’re not gay? Because really, jerking off to the sight, sound, image of a hot, naked guy pretty much clenches it—it means you’re gay.”

  Brandon had clearly winged him.

  “Shut up,” Joel growled at him. After a moment of silence, the only sound that of the tires on the bare pavement, Joel continued. “I’m sorry for what I did yesterday. I see now that I was being a real dick, and I’m really sorry I did that to you.”

  Brandon looked at Joel for the longest time without saying a word. “Thank you.”

  “I’m really sorry, man. I heard what you said, you know, about you not having anyone else to help you out when your dick gets hard. And then I thought about what you said after that about really wanting to have someone, another gay guy, to talk to about stuff.”

  “Yeah,” Brandon said softly.

  “I feel for you, man. And I want you to know that I did a lot of thinking about you and your situation last night.”

  Brandon wanted to joke, but he quite honestly didn’t have any clue what to say, witty, funny, or otherwise, to what Joel had just told him, so he remained silent.

  “Thanks, Joel,” Brandon finally said, extending a hand toward his friend for a quick fist bump.

  The day’s practice wasn’t a chore so much as a relief. Both guys worked hard, making up for some of what they should have been doing for the last few days while they took it easy. Both were quite pleased with their performance, against their own internal measures as well as against one another the few times they competed.

  In the locker room afterward, Joel behaved himself and almost acted a bit chaste, never once flashing Brandon. In fact, Joel kept his back turned almost the entire time and took a relatively quick rinse, and was practically dressed before Brandon was finished with his shower.

  It was only after Brandon was dressed and they were sitting in
Joel’s car, the heater working to warm things up, that Joel sprung an idea on Brandon.

  “So, Bran, I’ve got a request. I need a favor from you.”

  “Sure, man. What can I do?”

  “You’re not going to like it,” Joel prefaced his request, looking appropriately embarrassed.

  “No, Joel, I am not sucking your dick,” Brandon said.

  “No. Don’t even suggest that. Jeez,” Joel said. “No, I want you to come with me to the city this afternoon.”

  “I wish I could, but I can’t. You know that. And you know why too.”

  “Because of your dad. Yeah, I know. But I need you to come with me. I promise that I’ll deal with your dad afterward, but I really want you to come with me today. It’s important.”

  Brandon so wanted to believe he could do this, behave like other teenagers did and do something spontaneous, impetuous, and frivolous. He was so torn in two directions that he was afraid he might rip in two. “Okay,” he said softly. He very nearly hyperventilated after saying that single word, but Brandon gave his consent.

  “All right, dude,” Joel shouted. Putting on a great pair of sunglasses and cranking the music up high, Joel directed the car onto the freeway for the half-hour drive to the big city. They hadn’t gone ten feet before Brandon was second-guessing himself.

  “Stop that,” Joel ordered harshly.

  “Stop what?” Brandon asked, confused.

  “Stop it. You’re doing something good.”

  “How did you know what I was thinking?”

  “Because I can read you like one of my grandmother’s large print books, that’s how.”

  Brandon shuffled down in his seat a little, embarrassed. The only thing that stopped him from disappearing completely was his seat belt, which stopped him.

  “You’re not doing anything wrong,” Joel said. “I know it’s hard, but you need to trust me that this is a good thing. You’ll see. I promise.”

  “I… know. I mean, I… I hope so.”

  “You are, trust me,” Joel said.

  “But my dad is gonna give me such grief for this. You have no idea. When he calls and I’m not right there to answer immediately, he’s gonna be pissed. He doesn’t ever cut me any slack. He calls at the same exact time every morning and every evening. No matter what I’m doing, no matter what chores he’s given me, I have to be right there to answer the phone.” Brandon was starting to talk himself into a panic.