Page 24 of Dire Straights

“But I saw you on the boardwalk,” Ahmet pointed out. “You were hanging out with that lanky nerd kid. Ron?”

“Ren,” I corrected him automatically.

“Just you guys on the boardwalk?” O’Conner asked, looking smugly incredulous. “Couldn’t you get dates? There’s a lot of girls at this school that’ll fuck any guy on a sports team, you know.”

“Good for them,” I responded.

“Wait, that’s not who gave you this hickey, is it?” Garrison asked, giving my neck another poke. This time I batted his hand away.

“Fuck you,” I spit out at him. He raised his palms up in a submissive gesture, looking shocked by my response.

“Just messin’ with you, dude. Relax.”

“We know you’re not like that,” O’Conner added. “But you need to chill. You’re on edge all the time, bro.”

He had no fucking idea how on edge I was. But I forced a small smile on my face, giving a slight nod.

“You’re right. Just a lot going on with classes and everything.”

“Well, tell your girlfriend she needs to help you relax,” Ahmet suggested. They all looked so smug and condescending, it made me want to puke.

Biting down on my tongue so hard I thought it might break through, I nodded again.

“Yeah, I’ll tell her.” I hoped that response would be enough for them to leave me alone for the rest of the day.

When it was time for freestyle, I had to wait for a bunch of other heats before it was time for mine. We were grouped by time, and according to my sheet, the best times were saved for last. I was in the second-to-last group, which meant I was better than most of the other people competing in my style.

When it was time for my heat, I tried to remember all the practicing I’d done for a racing dive. As I climbed up onto the diving block, my mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts. Positioning one foot and one foot in the back, I stayed as perfectly still as I could. I kind of felt like I was going to tip over and belly flop into the pool, but I’d suffered enough humiliation for the week.

When I heard the shot from the starting gun, I dove in. My form felt pretty good, but the water was fucking cold. I didn’t pay too much attention to the guys in the lanes beside me, just focusing on my strokes and kicking off against the wall when I got to it. Before I knew it, I was slapping the wall after the fourth lap and springing up out of the water, breathing heavy. The muscles in my arms were burning like hell.

I’d come in first, but I leaned against the wall, waiting until everyone was finished before making a move to exit the pool. Coach had drilled some story into our heads about a guy who’d slipped back into the water trying to lift out and was DQ’d for interfering with swimmers still racing by making unnecessary waves in the water. Man was seriously paranoid about any of us being disqualified.

My time in the heat qualified me for the final race. Coach and some of the other guys on the team raved about my time and congratulated me. Only three of us had qualified for the final in our events, so it seemed like kind of a big deal. I forced myself to act excited along with them, trying to remember that they didn’t know how miserable I was, or how empty their congratulations felt to me.

When it was time for the final race, my nerves were shot to hell. The pressure of doing well at the meet mixed with all the bullshit going on in my life to create a sickly tar of stress inside me. Still, I pushed myself as hard as I could for the time I was in the pool. Not because I really cared about winning, but because I could hear my dad’s voice in my head reminding me that I wasn’t a loser, that he wouldn’t have a son that was a loser.

I came in second, just a hair after a guy from a rival school. When I shook his hand after, he looked incredibly ecstatic, almost like he was going to cry. If he wanted it that much, he could have it. Even though I lost, my team and Coach were still pretty hyped over a silver placement. I wasn’t sure how my dad would feel.

I clutched my phone in my hand on the bus ride home, trying again to block out all the chatter about which girl had sucked whose dick, and who was going to get wasted tonight, and every other stupid thing I didn’t care about. My texts with Ren glowed on my screen. There hadn’t been a new one since Monday. My fingers ached to message him, to tell him how the meet went. Totell himanything. But I only clicked it off and turned it to face downward in my lap for the rest of the ride.

MADDOX

ARE YOU BIif you only like one guy?

My question to Google in the incognito setting of my web browser taunted me at the top of the screen. The results were a resounding yes. Most bi people preferred one gender over another, and it was very rarely a perfectly split attraction to both. I inhaled a deep breath, squeezing my eyes closed. Imagine only liking one guy out of the billions of guys on Earth, and he’s a socially awkward dweeb who prints out date itineraries and eats sushi pizza.

But what if it wasn’t just Ren? Was it like breaking a seal? If I was hot for one, would I suddenly start noticing all of them? No, that couldn’t be right, because I’d been surrounded by barely-clothed guys pretty much the entire day before at the swim meet. And not just the moron Neaderthals from my school, either. And I hadn’t felt anything about any of them.

There was one way to test the theory. In my desk chair, I glanced over at the knob on my bedroom door, visually checking again that it was locked.

Navigating to a familiar porn site on my phone, I went to the categories and clicked on gay. Scrolling past what felt like a million thumbnails of videos, I finally stopped when I got to one that had two guys that looked to be close to my age. They were both fit and good looking, and the title didn’t mention anything intimidating or concerning likedestroyorobliterate.

My heartbeat quickened a little as my finger hovered over it. Did I really want to do this? I shook my head at my own nerves.So stupid. It’s not like anyone would know anything either way. There was no reason not to. So I clicked it, and the video started.

They were obviously a couple, or at least familiar enough with each other that they definitely weren’t nervous or unsure. They were already naked on a mattress, completely absorbed in each other as they made out. My dick twitched in my boxers, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of them or if what they were doing reminded me of Ren on top of me, grinding our cocks together.

By the time the dark-haired one on top had made his way down the blonde, twinkier one’s body to tease his cock, I was completely hard, with a damp spot soaking the front of my boxers where precome was leaking from the tip of my dick. The blonde was moaning and arching his back, stroking his fingers through the other guy’s hair. And the way the one on top was sucking him off was so eager, like he really couldn’t get enough. It was so hot. I’d definitely never had any girl go at me like that.

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