Alex and I walked down to dinner together that night, but upon arriving at the cafeteria we found that the menu was something neither of us liked.
"Let's just go out." I suggested, seeing that there was plenty of time before curfew.
"Sounds good to me." Alex replied, "Where should we go?... How 'bout Olga's?"
"I'll drive" I said already turning around and heading toward the exit. We walked outside and headed towards the student parking lot. I pulled on a sweatshirt that I brought, because it was starting to get pretty cold. Alex didn't have one, and began to shiver very quickly.
"Damn weather sucks today." He said crossing his arms across his chest.
"Maybe you shoulda worn a jacket." I said in a baby voice, but I really did feel sorry for him.
"If I didn't know you were joking, I'd think you were a real ass." He said knocking into my side.
"We're almost there," I said, "But you can have my sweatshirt if you can't handle the cold." I said ready to pull it off.
"I'm fine. We're almost there." He replied. I looked at him and his teeth chattered.
"You're so damn stubborn." I said pulling off my sweatshirt. "Just take it... I know you're cold... Whassa matter Alex?" I cooed, "Trying to impress me?"
"That's exactly it." He said sarcastically, refusing to take my shirt.
"No," I said, this time seriously, "You can take it... go on. I'm not cold."
He grabbed it and pulled it over himself quickly. He shoved his hands deep inside the pocket on the front and pulled up the fleece hood. We arrived at the car in short time and we climbed inside. I pulled out onto the road and headed towards the restaurant.
"Are you nervous for this weekend?" Alex asked referring to the regatta.
"Not really..." I answered, "We're really well prepared, I think we can do it this year. We need the senior boats to step up, but we're in good shape."
"Well I hope you guys do awesome." He said leaning back into his seat.
I waited a second or two for a cocky comment, but none came. Good. Tonight we'd talk seriously. "So that's it... we're not doomed because we're pansies? We're not screwed because rowers are wusses?" I asked, laughing.
"You know I love seeing you guys kick ass, Shea." He said. "Just because we kid around doesn't mean I don't want you to do well. Maybe someday you'll be as good as us." He grinned and slapped his hand on my knee and squeezed it tight.
"So are you coming to the regatta?" I asked.
"Hell yeah." He said quickly. "I wouldn't miss it. I hear there's no one out on the water who can beat you guys."
"Well," I replied, "We can't get too cocky, there's competition this weekend. There are a couple boats that'll be tough to beat."
"I'm sure you can handle it." Alex said as we pulled into the restaurant.
"I hope so."
We pulled into the restaurant lot, walked in, and were seated in silence. We were in the back of the restaurant in a small booth. We both ordered our drinks and sat in silence for a bit. I looked into Alex's eyes. He had gorgeous eyes. I watched him for a moment, and then he looked up at me. Our gaze was held for a moment and then he looked beyond me, to something in the back. It seemed that there was something really pressing on his mind, but I didn't know what it was.
"Do we need to talk about something, Alex?" I asked, but got no reply. "Alex... Alex..."
"Sorry." He said snapping his eyes from whatever held his attention in the back. He kept gazing at something all night. But then again, it seemed like he was looking at me a lot too. Not talking, just sitting there watching me. Our food came and we talked about lacrosse and my upcoming regatta. He was still wearing my sweathirt all through dinner.
After our meal we left quietly and headed back to the school. When I got up I glanced behind me to see what Alex could have been staring at. I didn't see what he could have been looking at, so I dismissed it passively. There was only a mirror in the wall behind my booth seat.
Once in the car again I drove back to the school, but instead of turning into the parking lot I continued along the road to the lake.
"Where're we going?" Alex asked
"Swimming." I said keeping my eyes on the road in front of me.
"Swimming? Are you frickin' joking? It's freezing out... we don't even have bathing suits." He answered.
"We'll swim in our boxers... we've done it before. Now it's just dark... and cold... but it'll be fun. Relax." I said seeing the worried look on his face. "Are you scawed?" I asked in a baby voice.
Alex punched my arm as we pulled up to the water. I backed my truck onto the sand and right to the waters edge. I put on the emergency brake, but didn't worry about it going anywhere. It's a Ford F-150 Supercrew XLT. It was pretty big.
"This is insane." Alex said laughing. We walked to the back of the truck and dropped the bed gate.
"No shit..." I said looking out on the water. We hopped up onto the gate and removed our shoes and socks. I pulled off my pants before Alex and hopped off and removed my shirt. He followed and we began to tread out into the water.
"Oh shit." He moaned. The water was freezing. We walked out to about our wastes and stopped. I came from behind Alex, grabbed his hard shoulders and pulled him down into the water. He struggled, but we were both soaked in a few seconds.
"You're done, Shea." He said gasping for air as our heads resurfaced. He came at me and I plunged under the water and began to swim. I felt him follow me, and soon his arm was around my chest pulling me up. He stood me up, swam under my legs, and stood heaving me onto his shoulders. I wobbled as I felt him trying to maintain his balance. Suddenly, he flung me down towards the water. I hit hard and struggled to stand up. Once I did I ran at him. I grabbed him around the waste and pulled him out of the water over my shoulder. I began walking with him towards shore. Once we were in water only a few inches deep, I gently dropped him down into the water, keeping my hand behind his head so he wouldn't hit it on the bottom. I didn't get on him quickly enough, though and he sprang up and pinned me down. He sat on my lower stomach and pinned my arms down.
"Hmmmm..." He said laughing, "Seems like we were just sitting like this a little while ago. But what's this? I'm pinning you down. Huh..." He grinned at me. Then something very weird happened. Alex lowered his mouth right to my ear and the lengths of our bodies were once again almost touching. I felt myself getting aroused and tried to adjust so he wouldn't feel it, but he held me tight. If it wasn't just wishful thinking, I though I felt him rising in his boxers. He whispered into my ear almost inaudibly:
"Get used to being on bottom of me."
He stood up, walked back to the truck, and jumped inside without grabbing his clothes. I was a little bit dumbfounded, but decided to continue as if it didn't happen. I got them, and walked to the truck. I climbed in and threw his stuff at him.
"I let you win." I said laughing. He smiled. "You know lacrosse players."
I said. "If you don't let them win their whole world comes crashing down around them."
"Ha-ha," He laughed sarcastically, "You're so original, Shea. You should do standup."
"What can I say?" I said cockily as we drove off back to the dorm.
I almost drove off the road on the way back to the dorms. Alex looked so hot with his brown hair wet and matted to his head. His body was covered with water from the lake and his chest was covered in goose bumps. His pecks and nipples drew up tight with the shivering skin. He looked so hot. There was little movement inside the dorm. When we got back it was past curfew, 10:30, so we had to sneak in as not to be seen. Most everyone was in their rooms as it was so late. We got to our room and opened the door when I heard my name down the hall.
"Shea, what the hell are you doing up, let alone out right now?" It was Ryan.
"Ryan, what the hell are you doing up right now?" I said, mocking his serious tone.
"I don't want anyone screwing up our chances this weekend." He said. "Didn't I make that clear?" He took a threatening step towards me, but Alex stepped in front and put his hand out onto Ryan's chest. Alex always hated Ryan and I had a feeling the hate was equally held up on Ryan's side.
"Relax Ryan." Alex said, coolly. "Wouldn't want to hurt one of your star rowers right before Midwest, would you? I'd hate to see you guys loose because you lost your temper."
Ryan stepped back and looked disgusted. Alex was wearing my rowing sweatshirt again.
"Look," I said, "It's not a big deal, I'll go right in and go to bed."
"When I said not to stay out screwing your girlfriends," Ryan said heaving with anger and looking at us both, "I didn't think I had to include 'boyfriends' for you."
"What?!?" I said. What the hell was he talking about? I guess we did look a little as if we were sneaking around together though. We were both soaked and only wearing shorts and Alex was wearing my sweatshirt.
"You better get to bed." Alex said. He looked pretty pissed. "I'll try not to wear Shea out too much tonight. We'll keep our sex calm until after the regatta." I laughed and blushed a little bit. Alex shouldn't have mocked Ryan's authority on the team, though. Ryan threw a hard punch into Alex's cheek. Alex fell back against the wall and grabbed his face. I grabbed Ryan by the shoulders and threw him hard into the wall.
"Just go to bed." I said. "That's what I'm doing. You can be sure Alex won't cock off anymore, but you sure as hell better not hit him again either."
Ryan left down the hall and I pulled Alex up. We walked into our room. A little blood trickled from his cheek. I sat him down in his desk chair and went to the bathroom and got a wet towel. I dabbed at his face until the bleeding stopped. He grabbed the towel and threw it into the corner.
"That piece of shit." He said.
"Alex, you shouldn't have mocked him or pissed him off. You know he has a temper."
"I was only defending you!" He said almost at a yell. His face was turning red. "When are you gonna stop letting that asshole walk all over you?"
"Alex, he wasn't walking all over me." I said staying calm. "I just have respect for him. He's my captain; he's like a coach, so I do what he tells me."
"Well I don't have to respect him." He answered, a little calmer this time.
"I know you don't." I said giving Alex an aspirin for his cheek. "I'm getting in the shower to clean up." I looked down at the sand on my legs. "You might want to take one too." He only looked out the window.
I decided to shower in my bathing suit so Alex could some into the bathroom and shower if he wanted. The showers in the bathrooms here are pretty large and two or three people can fit in comfortably. They also had a bench and if you turned on the hot water you could easily make it a steam sauna. As I showered I faced away from the door. Alex came in and brushed his teeth, and then he opened the shower door.
"I'm going to bed." He said, still sounding a little upset from what happened. I felt his hand run across my back several times. "You missed some sand." He said finally taking his hand off my back. The whole time he touched me I could feel some kind of current running through me. "Thanks for the aspirin, 'night."
"Thanks for sticking up for me," I said turning to him and ruffling his hair, "Sleep good."
I found it really hard to sleep that night. I felt like I was getting some really strong signs from Alex that maybe he was interested in me, but I was still afraid to act on these emotions. When the clock on the dresser turned to 2:00 I finally decided I'd confront Alex before the regatta. I was afraid our friendship would end if he didn't feel the same for me, but I had to tell him how I felt. What love we might share was well worth the risk. I turned over and looked at him. He was still wearing my sweathsirt.
Let me know what you think so far. JimiThingx06x@hotmail.com