3. Lucas
Lucas
I couldn’t sleep. I kept replaying Cam’s arrival in the locker room in my head and couldn’t remember if he looked at my dick.
Not that it was super important, but I was trying to figure out if I still had a chance.
And then Colton said ‘Cam Cam’ and I just about tackled him to the ground.
I had only ever heard his mom call Cam that.
I hoped they weren’t together, but it certainly confirmed what Ty had said.
At the very least, they were best friends.
To make matters worse, Colton’s rippling back muscles and completely delicious ass were on full display for several minutes, and I could only imagine what Cam was seeing on the other side.
Colton certainly wasn’t shy about nudity, but my mind instead chose to focus on how he had no tan lines.
Somehow, living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere Texas, he was frequently naked?
My thoughts, combined with the body in front of me, had done little to help my erection, so I half-turned to wash my arms and repeated the word 'vagina' over and over, hoping it would go away.
Thankfully, it did, though I still wrapped a towel around myself.
But of course, they were in front of my locker and I had to say, ‘excuse me,’ and it was so awkward.
I hated it. I hated my parents. I hated what they had done to us, to someone I had loved. Still loved. But I had done it to him too, and that’s all I could think about as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
Then I started thinking about seeing Cam in the locker room tomorrow, naked. I got hard immediately, and jerked myself off furiously to the memory of his dick plowing into me, hopeful that it could somehow happen again. And then, finally, I was able to fall asleep.
The banging on my door woke me up.
She never waited until my alarm went off.
It was like she took pleasure in getting me up earlier.
I rolled out of bed, naked, and headed to the bathroom to take a piss.
After Brisbane, I kept up with Cam’s habit.
He wasn’t there with me, but being naked in bed made me feel closer to him somehow.
Like going back to clothes meant giving up on us somehow. I knew how weird it sounded.
Back at my dresser, I slipped on a white jockstrap, my workout shorts, a tank top, and covered up with sweatpants and a hoodie. It was comfortable during the day in London in July, but the mornings were often chilly for me.
Despite the rude wake-up routine, Cassandra always had my usual breakfast ready for me, which was nice.
I managed to mumble, “Morning,” and ate my scrambled eggs.
She kept herself busy doing who knew what, so I took the time to check social media.
My presence there had become more conservative lately because of my parents’ interference.
It wasn’t like they had control of it, but ever since they invaded my privacy in Brisbane, it forced me to be more mindful of what I did and said.
I was still a spokesmodel for Andrew Christian and I had been in contact with a few other companies recently, but nothing had materialized.
It felt silly to be managed by my parents like this, but after I got through the worst of it, it easily became the norm.
Apparently, I only noticed how contrived it all was when Cam was around.
With little fanfare or warning, Cassandra walked in and said, “The car is here, Lucas. Let’s go.”
I finished my juice and grabbed some snacks from the kitchen and we headed out, down to the car that would take us to the gym for practice.
We gathered on the side of the floor. It was almost eight o’clock.
Noah was already there with Coach, Ty and the other assistants.
O and Alex were there as well. Colton and Cam walked in together a few minutes later, which made sense since they were roommates, though I felt the familiar sting of jealousy rise in my throat.
Instead of screaming, I focused on the coin in the pocket of my hoodie.
The platypus coin from the zoo in Brisbane.
I kept it with me ever since Cam won the championship and it had served me well.
I was hoping it would do the same here in London.
Coach gathered us together and gave us his usual pep talk, followed by some announcements.
Being gay was still apparently enough of a story that they wanted to interview the team that afternoon.
There were a record number of out athletes at these games, and they partially credited me with helping it become more accepted.
The reporter was especially interested in O and me, being on the same team.
I was hoping he wouldn’t use that dreaded pun for the title of his article, but only time would tell.
I was focusing on parallel bars today. The sport had come a long way in four years.
It seemed like everyone was making up new combinations and handstands at every meet, and it was tough to keep up.
Increasing the difficulty of one’s routine was a quick way to boost the maximum score, even with slightly poor execution.
While it sucked to have Cassandra around, she knew gymnastics, and it had helped me on the bars.
“Good work, Lucas. Take a break. We’ll come back to this and see if you can add another half turn in a few minutes.”
“Sure thing.” I nodded, and headed to my bag to grab a snack and some water.
O and Cam had finished working on the floor and were heading towards me. Apparently, I sat right next to Cam’s bag without knowing it. He sat on my left and O sat on my right.
“How’s it going?” I asked both of them, but hoped Cam would answer.
“Pretty good, Luke,” O answered. “Second day of practice and you already have nuts in your mouth, huh?”
I coughed, practically choking on the almonds I was eating, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cam smirk.
I took a sip of water, and recovered. “Would you like some nuts in your mouth, O?”
“Oh god, yes, but not yours.”
I rolled my eyes, but watched Cam’s smirk become a throaty chuckle. And then I noticed her. Cassandra was bearing down on us, and she looked pissed.
“What is so funny? Lucas, let’s go. I have already warned you about being near him,” she said, gesturing to Cam with her head.
I sighed, but Noah cut off my reply as he appeared. “What’s going on here?”
“I’m getting my athlete away from yours. No more distractions.”
“I’ll never understand you and his parents. It’s not like Cam has cooties.”
“I’m right here, Noah. I can stick up for myself.” Cam stood up.
“It’s fine. I’ll just go,” I said, dejected.
“What’s all this about?” Coach asked, walking up. Colton practically charged in a few seconds later.
“Nothing. It’s settled,” I said, walking away. I didn’t want Cam to deal with Cassandra any more than he had to. I heard Coach tell her and Noah he wanted to talk to them later. Something about team unity, and letting the past go.
But that was the problem.
I didn’t want to let it go.
The rest of practice was uneventful, though I felt like garbage and Cassandra could tell something was off.
Her yelling increased as time wore on. I kept my mouth shut, knowing she’d eventually realize the yelling didn’t help.
It had happened many times before. I needed time to calm down, but she needed to realize that herself. Telling her had never worked.
“We’ll try again tomorrow,” was all she said as I headed to the locker room. I saw Coach pull her and Noah to the side. I was hopeful that what had happened today wouldn’t happen again. We were teammates. She had to get over it. My parents too. It had been four years. Enough was enough.
“Hey man, that was intense,” O said, as I sat down next to him. I had moved my locker a few over, so hopefully I would have less of Colton’s naked body in my face. “What was that about?”
I had never told O about me and Cam. I tried not to think about it too much, but honestly I didn’t want to be told how foolish I was for making the wrong choice. “Just some stuff from Brisbane.”
O shrugged. “Wanna go explore the city? Do some shopping?”
“Thanks, O. But, I’ll, uh...have to check with my chaperone.”
“Well, let me know. I can try to drag Alex along too.”
“Where y’all draggin’ Alex off to?” Colton asked, swaggering in from the gym. Cam was close behind.
“Thinking about doing some exploring later. Wanna join?”
“Sounds like a party. We’re in. Right, Cam?”
I had to swallow my disappointment. There was no way Cassandra would let me go now. I hurriedly pulled off my tank and my shorts, leaving me in just my jockstrap. I saw it fly out of my pocket before I could catch it.
The coin.
In slow motion, I watched it arch through the air, over the bench and away from my grasp. It hit the floor.
Tink. Tink. Tink tink.
And started rolling until it hit Cam’s foot and fell on its side with a final reverberatory flourish.
“What’s that?” Colton asked, as Cam bent down to pick it up.
Cam turned it over in his hands and I watched as his eyes widened. I awkwardly had my hand already held out, waiting.
“What’s that, a platypus?” Colton asked innocently, leaning over to look.
Cam nodded, then made eye contact with me. He must’ve noticed what I was wearing because his face reddened, and he mumbled something to Colton and handed it back to me.
“Thanks,” I said.
“What is that?” O asked.
I turned away from Cam and Colton to answer, “My lucky charm,” and then shoved it in my locker before stripping. I grabbed a towel and headed to the showers.
I tried to ignore the moment I knew was coming, but soon enough, it was there. Cam, wearing nothing but a towel, walking towards me. If he was a ten before, he was an eleven now. He had added muscle to every visible part of his body, and I wanted to be the one to check the other places, too.