Chapter 15
LOGAN
“Something’s different with you, man. I’m telling you.”
I grunt as I lift another rep of the barbell. “Not... now... Kai,” I grind out.
I lower the bar back to my chest, sucking in a breath and furrowing my eyebrows in concentration as I try to lift it again. I can feel the weakness building in my shoulders and triceps, knowing this rep will probably be my last.
My arms tremble as I press the barbell upward.
“Lightweight,” Craig says, trying to motivate me not to fail the rep.
“Come on, Lo. You got this,” Callum says from my left.
My arms shake.
It almost feels like old times.
The last time the four of us were together like this was when I was still on the team, and we used to work out together.
I finally manage to press the barbell high enough to re-rack it. It lands with a loud metallic clang, and I swing myself upright on the bench.
Craig smacks me on the back. “You’re yoked, man. Two hundred and fifty pounds? You’re a beast.”
I take a swig of water. “I guess,” I mumble.
I get up from the bench, making room for Craig to take his turn.
“You got your mojo back,” Kai says.
I frown. “I do not.”
Kai gives me an incredulous look. “Uh, yeah, you do, man. You couldn’t bench that much when you were still on the team.”
I try to think back to earlier this year and how much I was benching. I’m not sure what the number was, but if Kai thinks it’s more, then it probably is.
Especially since it’s been harder for me to progress with my leg lifts after a couple of months without training them, I’ve been focusing much more on the upper body over the past six months.
“It’s probably just having more time to rest,” I mumble.
“You’re so modest, Lo. You could give Cal a run for his money,” Craig says, lying down on the bench and getting his hands on the barbell.
“Hey,” Callum retorts.
“Screw that. He could probably outlift Joel and Travis’s bench press weight combined,” Craig offers.
I take a swig from my water bottle as I watch Callum and Kai react to the mention of their teammates.
“I wish someone would make them shut up already,” Callum mumbles.
“Are they still giving you a hard time over Mason?” I ask.
He tilts his head from side to side. “Not as bad as before, but only because they don’t want to lose games, I think. If they get in my head, they know we’ll slip up.”
“Doesn’t stop them from making little comments all the time,” Kai grumbles.
I clench my hand around my water bottle, anger prickling through me at the thought that I’m not there to defend my friends.
“Just ignore them. They’re trying to get a rise out of me, too,” I grumble.
Callum, Kai, and Craig exchange glances. I take another sip from my water bottle and catch Callum shaking his head at Kai, like he’s warning him not to say something.
Craig claps a hand on my shoulder. “That’s what I try to do, man. If they want to make enemies of their teammates with rumors and shit-talking, they won’t get very far.”
It’s a more naive perspective than Craig realizes.
Shit talk and rumors have a way of getting into your head.
When I was a senior in high school, I was admiring one of my teammates in the locker room because he’d put on so much muscle over the summer.
The team captain, Greg, caught me staring and started a rumor that I was checking out all the guys.
Half the team ended up believing I was a creep, but worse, in the eyes of teenage guys, they believed I was gay.
After that, I made a more concerted effort to date women. I stopped admiring my teammates. I kept my eyes above their necklines at all times. I still wanted to admire them, but I stopped letting myself.
I always liked girls, and I had the pick of the lot since plenty of them liked me, so it wasn’t hard to dispel the rumors. It did exactly what I wanted it to do, because the comments stopped not long after I started seeing a new girl every few months.
None of the girls stuck until Mikayla.
“Talking about me is one thing, and I can handle that. Them talking shit about Mason makes me livid,” Callum says, his fists clenched like he’s squaring up for a fight.
I feel terrible for Callum because his talent is obvious, and yet some people still can’t see past the fact that he likes girls and guys, just like Kai.
Craig settles onto the bench, and Callum steps behind him to spot.
“How much are you going for?” Callum asks.
“Let’s try two twenty-five,” Craig says.
Callum starts re-racking the weights, and Kai nudges my arm.
“Don’t think I’m gonna forget about your mojo. There’s something different about you, man,” he says.
I shrug. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
I think maybe it’s my new caffeine addiction that’s contributing. I have a lot more energy than I did before, and I certainly have more motivation. Without it, I’d probably be getting nothing done.
But where there’s caffeine, there’s Alex, and he’s been the one mostly supplying me with it. So technically, I have him to thank for my newfound lust for life.
“What’s Kai going on about?” Callum asks, brushing a stray dark wave of hair out of his eye so he can focus on Craig.
“He thinks I’m suddenly hulking out.”
Callum snorts. “Well, you’re benching more than all of us still, so maybe he has a point.”
A sense of confidence flutters through me. I know I have the unfair advantage of having more time to rest and focus on my lifts without having to practice all the time, but knowing I’m lifting more than the team gives me a sense of hope.
Maybe I do still belong with my old teammates.
Just like Alex said, I’m not necessarily letting the team down by hanging on to what I used to have with them. The relationship has just changed from teammate to something more like a cheerleader.
“Also, I’m coming to the game on Friday,” I say.
Kai’s eyes widen, and Callum claps his hands.
“Let’s go!” Kai bellows.
“You’re our lucky charm. I swear, we’re going to pummel the Ravens with you there,” Callum says, smiling at me as Craig grunts through each rep of the barbell.
“Yeah, you guys better put on a good show, or else Alex and I are going to be disappointed.”
Kai elbows me in the side. “Wow, this guy thinks he can start telling us how to act now that he’s all high and mighty in the crowd.”
I grunt and try to shove him off. “You guys are going to kill it either way. That’s what the Hornets do.”
“Damn straight,” Callum and Kai say at the same time.
I watch as Craig’s arms tremble while he lifts the barbell. I notice he doesn’t fully lock out his arms at the top of each rep.
Craig finishes his set, and Callum slams his hands against Craig’s back in congratulations.
“Hey, Craig, how’s your tricep training going?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I don’t focus too much on them. I prefer focusing on chest and shoulders.”
“Have you been going up in weight every week on bench press?”
Craig gives me a sheepish grin. “Not really.”
I put a hand on his tricep and give it a squeeze to get his attention.
“You’re not able to lock out when you lift the barbell. Your triceps are probably lagging behind. You might need to focus on them more if you want to bench more weight.”
Craig rubs his other tricep. “Thanks, man. You’re probably right.”
I smack his arm lightly. “No trouble.”
I feel a sense of pride swell in my chest. I really like the idea of helping other people with their workouts.
Maybe I should try to do more personal training.
“Can you spot me, Craig? I don’t trust Cal not to let the weight fall on me,” Kai says.
Callum scoffs. “If you keep saying things like that, then I just might.”
Kai and Craig switch places.
Callum turns to me and takes a sip from his water bottle. “So is there any truth to what Kai’s saying? About your ‘mojo?’”
I shrug. “Maybe. I’ve been going to the cafe right off campus a lot. I started drinking coffee. Maybe it’s the caffeine.”
Callum raises his eyebrows. “Oh, so it’s the caffeine, is it?”
“Yeah, there’s a new barista there, Alex. He pretty much got me addicted to it. First, it was the lemon squares. Now I’m having coffee…”
Callum raises an eyebrow. “Are you talking about Alex Fields?”
I nod.
Callum smiles. “He’s Mason’s friend. They work on—”
“The Goldberg together, yeah. Alex told me.”
Callum gives me a look that I can’t quite decipher. “So it’s someone that’s making you outlift us and come back to watch the games, then?”
I cough, frowning at the thought. “Not really. I mean, Alex is nice and all, but I think the coffee is what’s making me feel a bit better about everything. Making me motivated to do better and not mope around after…”
Callum nods. He has this knowing look on his face.
Then he claps a hand on my shoulder. “Well, whatever it is that’s helping you get your mojo back, I’m all for it. Mason’s what did it for me, and if it’s Alex, or caffeine, or whatever else is doing it for you, I’m glad.”
I laugh. “Thanks, Cal.”
Callum nods, his eye twinkling, but since he doesn’t want to say anything, I’m not going to ask him about it.
I’m just glad my teammates still want to hang out with me.
The last time rumors spread through my high school team, half the guys distanced themselves from me. This time, most of my good friends still have my back.
I was starting to get scared they’d eventually forget about me, but now it feels like old times.
Kai gets up from the bench. “Your turn, Lo. But you gotta put the weights on yourself.”
I roll my eyes. “I have to do everything myself, don’t I?”