Andrew Chapter 20: Andrew’s First Workout With Mike

[sl97aq]

When Steve got Andrew home, Andrew said, “Thanks man, you’ve been great. You saved my life, getting me to the hospital today.”
“What do you mean?” Steve asked him, looking confused. “You weren’t in any physical danger, were you?”
“Actually, yes I was," Andrew replied. "Dr. Johnson said that I would have had a heart attack soon, if he had not given me the medication to slow down my racing heart beat. And since you are the one who got me to the hospital, you saved my life today. So thanks man.”
“Anything to help the Tank,” Steve said with a grin, covering up his shock at what Andrew had just told him. “Glad I could help.”
“Why do you keep calling me the Tank?” Andrew asked him.
“It’s just a nickname,” Steve replied. “You’ve grown too big and strong to be just plain Andrew anymore. So I use that nickname instead. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Actually, I just told Carrie that name, as a joke,” Andrew informed Steve.
“She must have let it slip and then it caught on,” Steve realized.
“Let’s just get it uncaught, shall we?” Andrew asked.
“Or what?” Steve goaded him. “You’ll hit me?”
“You don’t want to test your strength against mine,” Andrew warned him.
Oh no! he thought. Did Dr. Johnson tell him about his awesome strength while I cleaned up the chains? Is that why he's challenging me now?
“Why shouldn't I test my strength against yours?” Steve asked Andrew. “I can take you Big Man!”
“So you can now bench-press a car like I can?” Andrew asked him sarcastically. He decided to see if Steve would slip up and reveal how strong he really was now. “If you think you can do it, why don't you try it right now?”
“You must be joking!” Steve yelled in amazement. “Only the Muscle Freak can bench-press a car! I’m just an ordinary football player!”
Smart, he’s not taking the bait, Andrew realized. I’ll have to trick him into revealing his true strength somehow.
“Don’t call me the Muscle Freak,” Andrew warned Steve. “Leave out the other three names you used earlier as well. Can’t anyone just call me Andrew anymore?”
“I'm sorry man!” Steve apologized. “I’m just scared that you almost had a heart attack today! I don’t want to even think about losing my best friend! Also, singing your praises keeps my jealousy at bay.”
He’s really trying to convince me he does not know his true strength, Andrew thought to himself. Is it possible that he doesn’t? Or is he just trying to get me to think that?
“I don’t want you to be jealous of me,” Andrew stated. “Maybe Commander Marge can enhance you like she did me, so that you can match my great strength. Maybe this time, she can do it without any emotional side effects occurring.”
Steve hesitated for just a few seconds. Does he know? Did Dr. Johnson break Medical Confidentiality and tell him?
“You’re so far beyond me that it’s hard not to get jealous,” he stated, hoping that Andrew had not noticed his brief pause. “I do my best, but I can’t match your superhuman strength!”
“As today proved, look at what my superhuman strength almost cost me,” Andrew reminded Steve. “It almost cost me my life, and my emotional well-being! Remember, it’s not a contest man.”
“That’s easy to say when you’re on top!” Steve snapped. “You’re so far ahead of everyone else!”
“Even you?” asked Andrew. “Are you absolutely sure about that? When is the last time you tested your strength against mine?”
“What would be the point?” Steve yelled in exasperation. “You’re Andrew, the future Provincial Football Champion and the future University of Miami Football Star! How can any mere mortal match you?”
“I'm a 'mere mortal' as well and I just want to be one of the guys!” Andrew begged him. “Not the Football Star or the Provincial Football Champion!”
“You will be the Provincial High School Football Champion and you are a football star!” Steve reminded him. “You will probably single-handedly win the championship game for us!”
“Even if we do make it that far, I won’t win it all by myself!” Andrew yelled in exasperation. “The whole team will work together to make it happen! You'll be there; you’ll see that for yourself!”
“Who needs a team with the Genetic Experiment around?” Steve yelled in fury, totally losing control of himself. “You don’t need anyone! You can take on anyone all by yourself, or even ten people, like you did in Miami!”
“What did I do to earn such jealousy from you?” Andrew asked in amazement. He realized that Steve was showing the same symptoms of emotional instability that he himself had demonstrated earlier that day. “Have I been a bully; using my strength to dominate others? Have I basked in the media frenzy that seems to follow me everywhere I go? I just need to get away from it all.”
“You can’t just hide and hope the attention fades!” Steve reminded him. “Face it, you’re the Town Hero, and the media attention is here to stay!”
“I don’t want the attention!” Andrew screamed in frustration. “I just want to be left alone! Is that too much to ask?”
“If you’d been left alone today, you might have died,” Steve stated, calming down as he realized how insensitive he was being to Andrew in light of that fact. He got out of Andrew's car and added, “But it looks like you won’t be happy until we settle this once and for all. So come on, Big Man! If you think you can take me on, take your best shot!”
“I don’t want to fight you man,” Andrew informed his best friend, getting out of his side of the car. He noticed the crowd gathering around them, and added, “I don’t think you want that either.” He thought for a moment and then realized that he knew the perfect bait that would reveal Steve’s true strength. “Besides, you’d have to move the car to get me, since I’m not coming over to your side.”
“I can’t move the car!” Steve snapped in frustration. “How many times do I have to say it?”
“Don’t just say it; prove it,” Andrew goaded him. “I want you to show me your true strength right now.” He bent down and lifted the right side of the car with both hands. Once he had it stabilized, he let his left hand fall to his side, and kept tilting the car towards Steve with his right hand. “See, I can tilt it with one hand,” Andrew gloated, breathing heavily. “So you should be able to tilt it back towards me with two hands.”
Steve had no choice but to hold his arms out, to keep the car from rolling over onto him. When he saw Andrew grinning, he realized that he had been tricked into revealing his true strength. So he decided to push the car back to horizontal, to see if he could shock Andrew with his strength. Andrew still used just his right arm, and that’s why Steve overpowered him. Andrew’s arm was bent backwards, and the car slowly settled down onto its wheels again, despite Andrew’s resistance.
“See I told you!” Andrew informed Steve with a big grin. “You can tilt the car after all! I knew you could do it Steve!”
“You tricked me!” Steve shouted in fury. “Why I’ll…”
“Wave to the cameras?” Andrew asked, pointing to the crowd that had gathered behind Steve.
Steve looked around wildly and then took off running down the street. The crowd ran after him, trying to take his picture. Andrew grinned hugely, relieved that the cameras were focused on someone else for a change.
“Excuse me sir,” he heard someone say from behind him.
“The name’s Andrew,” Andrew corrected the speaker, turning around to look behind him.
“I know that Andrew,” stated the guy who was standing behind Andrew. “It's me: Mike Stevenson!"
“Hey, where've you been man?" Andrew asked him. "I haven't seen you all week!"
"I had some family stuff to attend to this week," Mike replied. "But everything's all sorted out now."
"Is everything okay Big Guy?" Andrew asked him, putting a gentle hand on Mike's shoulder.
"Yeah everything's fine now," Mike replied. "And it certainly looks like everything's fine with you as well! Look at your physique!” he shouted in amazement, staring at Andrew’s sculpted muscles.
Andrew looked down and realized that he did not have his t-shirt on.
“Pretty impressive aren’t they?” he bragged, flexing his biceps and grinning. “Come on; try to dent my right one!”
Mike reached out tentatively and then hesitated.
“Come on man,” Andrew urged him gently. “I don’t bite. It’s okay, you can touch it.” When Mike still hesitated, Andrew stepped a bit closer. “Let’s try this then,” he added, holding out his right hand.
Mike shook it and Andrew held on gently.
“What a soft handshake!” Mike marveled. “Especially for such a big guy!”
“I’m trying not to crush other people’s hands when I shake them,” Andrew informed him.
“Good job,” Mike approved. “I think you have control of your great strength now.”
“Thanks man,” Andrew acknowledged, patting Mike on the shoulder. “Hey, you’re as thin as a rail! Now that you're back, I can show you how to eat more, so that you'll pack on lots of muscle.”
"Thanks a lot Andrew," Mike said gratefully. "I'm tired of being the small kid at school."
"No problem man,” Andrew assured him. “I also know what it’s like to be the small kid in school.”
"You must be joking!” Mike laughed in disbelief. “You’re the biggest teenager I’ve ever seen! How could you have ever been the small kid?”
“You should have seen me when I was 10,” Andrew informed him. “I was rather small for my age then. When I started working out, however, I guess my father’s genes kicked in and helped me put on lots of muscle.”
“Do you think we could go inside and see those pictures?” Mike asked. “You said you would show me them on Tuesday, but since I wasn't here all week, how about now? I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing out here!”
“I get the strangest feeling I should be too,” Andrew realized. “But I can’t understand why that would be.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re not even wearing a shirt!” Mike reminded him.
“Oh yeah,” Andrew agreed, looking down at his massively muscled torso. He casually flexed his pecs and then looked at Mike again. Mike’s eyes widened. You love it when I flex my muscles, don’t you Mike?” Andrew asked him with a cocky grin. Mike nodded enthusiastically, so Andrew stepped forward and loomed over him. Mike’s eyes widened as he realized that Andrew dwarfed him by 14 inches and 200 pounds, at least. Andrew grinned when he realized that Mike worshipped him and he knew that Mike would do whatever he wanted. “Feel those pecs,” he ordered Mike. “Do it now!” Mike reached out slowly, staring way up into Andrew’s face as he did so. “Come on man!” Andrew snapped. “The Tank doesn’t have all day! Hurry up!” Mike reached out and rubbed Andrew’s pecs gently, marveling at how rock-hard they were. “You’ll have pecs like this if you work hard enough,” Andrew predicted. “Now feel my bicep.” Mike rubbed Andrew’s bicep gently, trying to fit both hands around it, but he couldn’t. Andrew flexed and then lifted his arm up to eye level, lifting Mike effortlessly off the ground. “Don’t worry man,” Andrew assured him. “With my help, you’ll soon have rock-hard arms as well. I’ll make sure you get them, in the ten months we have left before I go away to school in Miami.”
“We’ll have more than ten months Andrew,” Mike corrected him, realizing that Andrew had forgotten that Mike wanted to go to U of Miami as well.
“What do you mean?” Andrew asked, bringing his arm closer so that he and Mike were just inches apart. “Explain yourself Little Man,” he growled menacingly. “Now!”
“Yes sir!” Mike gulped without thinking. “I’m-I’m going to Miami as well, on an Academic Scholarship. Just-just like you. Don't you remember me telling you that eight days ago?”
“Hey you're right; I must have forgotten about that,” Andrew realized, holding Mike out at arm’s length. “You know that's really something: two guys from the same Canadian high school going to the same American university. I wonder what the odds are on something like that happening.”
“I can tell you,” Mike offered. “They are about one in…”
“Don’t tell me!” Andrew shouted. “It was just a rhetorical question!”
“Rhetorical is a pretty big word for a Jock,” Mike blurted out without thinking. Then he saw Andrew frown and realized his mistake, remembering their conversation about jocks from eight days before. “I’m sorry man; I didn’t mean to say that! I meant to say Smart Jock!”
“Yeah, don't forget that I’m no ordinary Jock," Andrew bragged, trying not to take offense. “I’ve got an IQ of 150! So don’t worry about it. Just don’t say forget to say 'Smart Jock' next time.” He dragged Mike in front of his face again and snarled, “You got that, punk?”
“Yes sir, I’ve got it!” Mike yelled in fear. “Don’t hurt me man! You’re really scary when you’re mad! I guess I should watch what I say from now on. It's just that I'm still so nervous being around someone of your size and strength!”
“I’ll try not to have such a quick temper,” Andrew decided. “That would help you be less nervous, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes it would,” Mike agreed. “Of course it would also help if you put me down now.”
“Of course it would,” Andrew realized, lowering his arm until Mike’s feet touched the ground. “You’re so light that I forgot that you were still hanging onto my arm.” He saw the sad look on Mike’s face, and added, “Sorry about that man. I didn’t mean to say that. You can give me a shot for that if you want.” He pointed at his chin and decided, “We might as well see if you can hurt me by punching me in the face.”
“Okay,” Mike agreed reluctantly, balling up his fist. “Get ready.” He slugged Andrew in the face as hard as he could, but then yelled, “Oww! I hurt myself, not you!”
Andrew grinned and said, “I barely felt that. Are you sure you hit me as hard as you could?”
“Not quite,” Mike replied. “I just didn’t want to hurt my own hand. But it still got hurt!”
“Is your hand okay?” Andrew asked, taking Mike’s hand and turning it over. “I don’t see any bruises.”
“My hand feels fine now,” Mike replied. “I guess I should be more careful from now on.”
“I guess it's true what I told Anthony in Miami,” Andrew said. “Punching someone in the face is the best way to hurt your own hand.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Mike agreed. “Can we go inside now?”
“Yes, let’s go,” Andrew decided. “It looks like we have a long way to go until you're strong enough to hurt me,” he realized. “It would be great if you got strong enough to actually hurt me with a single punch. Then you’d be one of the big guys, able to easily defend yourself if anyone tried to bully you.”
“Good idea,” Mike realized. “Not that anyone has bullied me at school. All the football players must be Smart Jocks like you or maybe they know that I'm Mark's brother and they've left me alone because of that! Now, what did you say your IQ was? With that diversion, I forgot how high you said it was.”
“My IQ is 150,” Andrew replied, grinning quietly. “Not bad for a Jock, is it?”
“No it sure isn’t,” Mike agreed. “That is higher than anyone in the Math, Science or Chess Clubs! It looks like we could learn more from you than Weight Training.”
“There are others who want to learn how to weight train as well?” Andrew asked.
“Yes,” agreed Mike. “A lot of my friends hope to get Academic Scholarships to the big football schools in the States. If they had something in common with the football players, they would fit in better at those schools.”
“That's a very good idea,” Andrew agreed. “It would apply to you as well, when we both get to Miami. Now, are you ready to come in and meet my father?”
“Is he as big as you are?” Mike asked.
“Not anymore!” Andrew bragged with a big grin. “I outweigh the Old Man by over 100 pounds!”
“But the ‘Old Man’ still puts the roof over your head,” Mr. Pearson reminded him, walking down the front steps. “So you’d better mind your place, Mister or you won't have my roof to live under anymore!” He grinned to let Andrew know he was kidding. “Come inside now and put a shirt on before you freeze to death. Bring Mike along too.”
“Coming Dad,” Andrew said. “You can go right up to my room Mike. But don’t touch the weights until I get there!”
“I understand,” Mike assured him. “Don’t worry about a thing Andrew.”
Andrew and Mike came inside, and Mike went upstairs. Chad closed the front door and then motioned Andrew into the living room.
“Sit down son,” he advised Andrew. “I’d like to talk to you for a minute.”
“Sure,” Andrew said agreeably. “So, what’s up?”
“What’s up is that everyone is worried about you,” Chad replied. “Margaret, Carrie, Steve and Dr. Johnson told me everything that happened today. Are you feeling better now son?”
“I still don’t feel like myself,” Andrew realized. “But Doctor Johnson gave me some pills to help calm me down. I guess I’d better take some more.” While he stood up and dug the bottle of pills out of his pocket, Chad went into the kitchen to get him a glass of water. Andrew took the pills and drank the water. “Thanks Dad,” Andrew said gratefully. “I feel better already.”
“So do I,” Chad admitted. “If your anger towards the others this afternoon was anything like your anger towards me this morning, that would explain why everyone is so worried about you.”
“I guess you're right,” Andrew realized. “I'll have a lot of apologizing to do when I see them again. But I am not sorry that I tricked Steve into a strength test. Did you see how he tilted my car with his bare hands?”
“Yes I did,” Chad replied. “I also saw how you tilted that same car with just one hand. I got that amazing feat of strength on tape. With your permission, I’ll send it to Mr. Malcolm to show him how your strength has improved in only one week. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes it is,” Andrew agreed. “I guess we should watch the six o’clock news tonight, and tape the footage of me shoving the tree across the road. Then we can add that footage to the tape you send Mr. Malcolm.”
“Good idea,” Chad agreed. “Now go upstairs and show Mike your weight room. I’ll call you both down when supper’s ready. You should ask him if he wants to stay for supper.”
“Okay Dad,” Andrew said, towards the stairs. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes: put a shirt on,” Chad replied with a chuckle. “Wasn’t it cold outside without one on?”
“I flexed it apart at Margaret’s cottage,” Andrew remembered, grinning hugely. “I guess I was so excited that I barely felt the cold. I also warmed up running all the way to the Zellars Bridge from her cottage.”
“Weren’t you cold at all?” Chad asked his son in astonishment.
“I was cold once I got out of the car,” Andrew admitted. “But because Mike looks up to me so much, I had to keep up the image of an invincible jock for his benefit.”
“Good man," Chad approved. “Feels good to be a superhuman jock, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah man!” Andrew agreed. “It’s a rush being a huge football star! I love it!”
“This is just the beginning,” Chad reminded him. “Wait until all the recruiting letters arrive!”
“I won’t have to wait much longer for that!” Andrew stated, as he headed for the stairs. “But I will have to remind the schools who send the letters that I've already committed myself to University of Miami.”
Andrew headed upstairs and walked down the hall to his room at the end. He went to push open the door, but it felt blocked. So he pushed harder, and then he heard a crash from inside his room. Andrew finally got the door open, which was no longer blocked, and looked inside his room. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Mike lying on top of the overturned weight rack, stunned and holding his head. Andrew's barbells were rolling all over the floor.
“Hey man, are you okay?” Andrew asked him, concerned that Mike had been hurt when Andrew had accidentally hit him with the door. Andrew realized that the force of his push had knocked Mike into the weight rack, which had then fallen over because of Mike’s weight. Andrew extended Mike a massive hand, and pulled him back up to his feet effortlessly. “I didn’t mean to knock you down when I opened the door. I didn’t know that you were standing behind it.” He put an arm around Mike’s thin shoulders and asked him: “Are you bleeding or bruised?”
“No Andrew; I’m fine,” Mike assured his big friend. “It was like bouncing off a brick wall when the door hit me though! I’ll feel that tomorrow.”
“Yes and that weight rack is pretty hard as well,” Andrew agreed, picking it up off the floor and standing it up again.
Then he squatted down and began putting the barbells back on the shelves.
“I’m glad I didn’t fall into you!” Mike shouted in relief. “You are also as hard as a brick wall!”
“Oh yeah!” Andrew realized, grinning and rubbing a hand absently over his rock-hard abs. “I forgot about that. But why don’t you try punching me on purpose again and find out if you're right?”
He finished putting the weights away and stood up.
“Are you sure?” Mike asked uncertainly, raising his fist. “You won’t mind?”
“No I won't mind, because it will be a good way to see how far you have to go,” Andrew decided. “Go ahead, try to dent these!” He pointed at his 10-pack and roared, “NOW!”
Mike punched Andrew in the abs as hard as he could.
Andrew tried to unflex his abs, but Mike still yelled: “OWWW!!! I think I broke my hand!”
“Let me see it,” Andrew ordered him, taking his hand gently and slowly straightening out his fingers. “Is that the same hand that you punched me with before?” When Mike nodded, Andrew warned him, “You’ve got to be more careful Mike, or you will break your hand the next time you punch me! You’re lucky Mike: you just bruised your hand again, but not badly enough to keep us from working out now.”
“What’s the point in working out now?” Mike asked sadly, holding up his bruised hand, and sitting down with his head on his knees. "I'm just a skinny little runt who has no chance of becoming a huge muscle god like you!"
“Hey, hey, don't put yourself down Mike!” Andrew advised him, wondering why Mike was taking it so hard. Could it have anything to do with that family business that kept him away from school all last week? he asked himself. It totally escaped Andrew’s notice that Mike had called him a muscle god; he was too concerned with helping Mike get over his self-esteem issues. Andrew squatted down until he was at eye level with Mike. He grabbed Mike’s chin gently and forced his head up. Mike still kept his eyes lowered, so Andrew urged him gently: “Look at me, man!” Mike slowly lifted his eyes to meet Andrew’s reassuring gaze. “That’s better,” Andrew said, smiling at Mike gently. “Don’t let my size and strength discourage you. You should have seen how bruised my hand was the first time my Dad had me perform that test.”
“You bruised your hand when you punched your dad’s abs?” Mike asked Andrew in astonishment.
“Oh yeah; I couldn’t write with my right hand for a week!” Andrew remembered. “It made me feel much better a few years later when I could actually punch his abs without hurting my own hand. But then of course I had to make sure that I didn’t hurt him!”
“Yeah I can see how that would have been a good idea,” Mike agreed, looking up more than a foot at Andrew's massive frame. “So, how big do you think I have to get before I have muscular definition that matches yours? Would another 50 pounds do it?”
“I think that would be a good starting point to aim for,” Andrew agreed. “Are you ready to start now, Mike?”
“Sure I am,” Mike agreed. “Where do we start?”
“We start with the barbells,” Andrew decided. He picked up the 20 pound ones and set them down in front of Mike. “Start with those ones Mike.”
“What if they’re too heavy for me?” Mike asked.
“If you want to grow, you have to make your muscles work beyond their limits,” Andrew reminded him. “Then you’ll get stronger and be able to lift more. Just make sure to rest a day or two between workout sessions, since you’re just starting out.”
“Okay, I’m ready,” Mike stated, picking up a barbell in each hand. “How do I start?”
“Just watch me,” Andrew ordered him, picking up the 100 pound barbells. They were way too light for him, but he didn’t want to discourage Mike by using the heaviest weights. “I have been lifting weights for more than seven years now, so I know what I’m doing. You just copy my movements exactly and you won’t get hurt.”
He started lifting the barbells slowly, keeping his elbows at his sides as he did so. Mike copied Andrew’s movements slowly, making sure his form was right.
For the next hour, Andrew showed Mike how to use all the machines he had in his room.
When they got to the chin-up bar, Andrew lifted Mike up so he could reach the bar. Mike managed to do ten chin-ups, before he had to let go of the bar.
“Good job man,” Andrew commended him. “It was a good workout, wasn’t it?”
“Yes it was,” Mike agreed. “So, what do I do now?”
“Now you try some pushups while I see how many chin-ups I can do,” Andrew replied.
Mike managed to do 30 pushups in a row, before he had to stop. He looked up to see Andrew passing 60 chin-ups. He stood up and watched in amazement as Andrew passed 100 without even slowing down. Andrew started to slow down when he reached 150, and the sweat started pouring off him. But Andrew just gritted his teeth in fury and kept going, until he had forced himself up to 200. Andrew finally let go of the bar, and crouched as he landed. He stood up, and rubbed his chest, which was red and heaving.
“Oh yeah!” he yelled. “I finally broke 200! Wait until I tell the guys!”
“Hey man, your biceps are even bigger than before!” Mike yelled, pointing at Andrew’s swollen biceps.
“Oh yeah,” Andrew realized, flexing his rock-hard left bicep. “Go get the measuring tape on the dresser. I want to see if my biceps have passed 32 inches yet.”
Mike picked up the tape and wrapped it around Andrew’s left bicep.
“It says 33 inches,” he reported.
“Yeah, I finally got past 32 inches!” Andrew yelled in triumph, lifting his arms up high. He was so excited that he didn’t notice he had lifted Mike up high as well. He looked to his left, to see Mike hanging off his bicep, his head almost touching the ceiling. “What are you doing way up there?” Andrew asked Mike, with a huge grin. He lowered his arms and set Mike down again. “Did you like the ride man?”
“Yeah, that was fun!” Mike replied. “But it was still a little scary. You’re so strong that you didn’t even notice my extra weight?”
“I guess I am that strong,” Andrew realized, his grin turning into a cocky smirk. “But if you want to see something even more amazing: watch this!” He lay down on the carpet and started doing pushups. “Keep a good count man!” he ordered Mike.
Mike counted as Andrew got to 50 without stopping. Then Andrew switched to one-handed pushups without even breaking his rhythm. He cranked out another 50, before he stopped.
“Climb on,” Andrew ordered Mike.
“What?” Mike asked him, confused by Andrew's orders.
“Sit on my back,” Andrew ordered him. “Come on man, I need more weight. Don’t worry, I can take it.” He grinned at Mike to put him at ease and Mike slowly came over. “That’s it,” Andrew reassured him, “Just climb on and hold on.”
Mike reluctantly sat on Andrew’s back and stayed there as Andrew slowly cranked out 50 more two-handed push-ups. Then Andrew shocked him completely, as he started doing one-handed pushups, with Mike still on his back. Andrew moved slowly after that, and only managed to do 40 one-handed pushups.
“Come on man, do 10 more!” Mike urged him. “Don’t stop!”
Andrew gritted his teeth and forced himself to 50, before he collapsed. Mike rolled off Andrew and stood up. Andrew wheezed and tried to stand up.
“I guess there’s no better time to try again than right now,” Mike decided, balling up his fist again. “Are you ready?”
“Go ahead,” Andrew sneered at him. “Let's see if your puny punches can keep me from standing up.”
Mike began punching Andrew in the face, softly, so that he wouldn’t hurt his own hand. But Andrew still managed to stand up slowly, though Mike thought he saw him flinch once or twice.
“Good job man,” Andrew commended him. “It took me a long time to stand up that time. You actually made me flinch a time or two, as well. That’s good. You’re stronger already.”
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Mike apologized. “I didn’t mean to.”
“That’s okay man,” Andrew assured him. “I will teach you how to control your strength. Just don't tell anyone else that you managed to make me flinch: got that?" He waited for Mike to nod hastily before he added, "I’m glad I can trust you to keep your mouth shut man. Now, it's time to go downstairs for supper.”
“Aren’t you going to put a shirt on before we go downstairs?” Mike asked his new personal trainer.
“What’s the matter?” Andrew asked him. “Don’t you like it when I flex my muscles Mike?” He flexed his pecs slowly one at a time, and Mike’s jaw dropped as he stared at Andrew in awe. Andrew grinned at his look of amazement and said, “I guess I can’t trust you to keep your mouth shut after all Mike!” Andrew’s grin faded as he realized that Mike's look of awe wasn't going away, despite his joke. “Earth to Mike, come in Mike,” Andrew said as he waved a huge hand in front of Mike’s face. Mike didn’t move, so Andrew yelled, “Snap out of it man!” and gave Mike a light shove to get his attention.
Mike stumbled back and then looked up at Andrew and said, “Sorry about that man! I was just so mesmerized by your muscles that I couldn’t help staring at them!”
“Well, you'd get used to seeing amazing displays of strength from me,” Andrew reminded him. "But try not to stare at me like that again; it creeps me out Mike! And don't tell anyone about that either!" He tossed Mike a towel and said, “Now, you go downstairs and take a shower. I’ll take a shower up here, and then we’ll meet downstairs for supper.”
Mike nodded obediently and then headed downstairs for his shower.
Andrew realized that he shouldn’t get mad at Mike for staring at his muscles.
“My three former trainees did the same thing at first,” Andrew said to himself. “Once Mike gets used to having me around, his amazement should fade into friendship and he’ll stop staring at my muscles so much! I never realize how big and muscular I am until the admiration from other people makes me aware of it!”
Andrew smiled quietly to himself and thought: Mike will become one of the big guys in no time. I’ll see to that. Andrew realized that he was beginning to look on Mike as a little brother, just as he had with Mark, Ralph and Connor when he had trained them.
"It's too bad I never had a little brother," Andrew said to himself. "Given how well I've helped my three protégés, I would have been a great big brother!"
Andrew consoled himself with the knowledge that he was a good personal trainer and he was glad that he worked in that field to save up for college.