Page 7 of Best Friends

Chapter One

Present day…

“So I was thinking,” Jesse said as he whipped into the gym parking lot. “We all need a guy’s night out.”

“No can do, man,” Clay said through the car’s hand’s free speaker. “I’m busy.”

“I haven’t even told you when, dude.”

Clay was silent a moment. “I’ve got a lot of things going on right now… I’m sure I can’t make it.”

“This have anything to do with Adam?” The pair sometimes acted more like brothers than friends, and the arguments sometimes got heated. At times they seemed like oil and water, and Jesse wondered how they could be friends at all. But more often, they were like peas and carrots and it made you forget those times when they were butting heads.

Clay was silent again. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“I got the suspicion last time I talked to him that you two had pissed each other off,” Jesse said, pulling into a spot and throwing it into park.

“Man, I don’t have time for this,” Clay said.

“Take care of your shit… find some time to come hang out with your friends,” Jesse said firmly. “We all haven’t been out together in a long time.”

“I said I was busy,” Clay said. “Next time. I’ll catch ya later.”

Jesse heard the tell-tale click, and the line went dead. After turning off the car and grabbing his gym bag, he headed inside and searched the interior of the gym. As he passed, he smiled and winked at a couple of hot girls on the elliptical machines. Both were dressed in skin-tight spandex that didn’t leave much to the imagination. Jesse tried not to be that guy, but it was hard not to. When he ran into a piece of equipment and nearly busted his ass, he learned a valuable lesson.

Don’t be that guy.

Face flaming, he climbed off the floor and walked away, hearing their twittering laughter behind him. In the past six years, he’d shot up five inches, bulked up a bit, grew into his ears and nose, and he’d even been called hot by a few girls he’d dated. He knew he wasn’t a Hayden-level god, but he wasn’t half bad. Yet that loser he’d been still liked to slip out and remind him of one patent fact. That inside, he was still the same guy he’d always been. There was no getting away from him.

I just want to get away from everyone who just saw me take a dive.

Luckily, he saw Benji on the leg press not far away. He walked closer and jumped on a machine nearby. “Hey, man.”

“What’s up?”

“Same shit, different day.”

Benji chuckled before pushing the heavy weight higher, his face twisting into a grimace. It was too much weight. Benji wasn’t a big guy, but he tried to force it.

“I don’t know what’s up with Adam and Clay, but it appears they’re not on speaking terms at the moment.” Jesse twisted on the seat and turned to look at Benji.

“They get into another argument?” Benji asked.

Jesse hopped to his feet, the clanking of metal upon metal and grunting of lifting gym patrons ringing in his ears. “No idea. I can’t get either one of them to talk about it. Adam completely shut me down yesterday when I asked. And Clay—well, he pretty much did the same just now.”

Benji extended his legs, another grimace on his face. As he held the weights for a moment, he turned to Jesse. “I’m sure they’ll work it out. They typically do.”

Jesse shook his head. “I get the feeling that’s not going to happen this time around. The vibe I got… it was just weird.”

He walked closer and lifted a hand, forcing Benji to stop. After pulling out the pin, he reset the machine for a better weight. “I keep telling you less is more. It’s about the repetition, not the amount of weight. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“I need to build muscle mass,” Benji said.

Benji wasn’t a big guy. He just wasn’t built that way.

“Why?”

Benji frowned. “I just do.”

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