The Summer of 1981, Part 9: Urgent

[Padraig]

For those of you who would like to catch up, here are links to the earlier chapters:

Part 1, The Best of Times: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16216
Part 2, Wasn't That A Party: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16225
Part 3, The Boy From New York City: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16229
Part 4, The Voice: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16235
Part 5, Feels So Right: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16238
Part 6, Sausalito Summernight: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16258
Part 7, The Waiting: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16274
Part 8, All I Have To Do Is Dream: http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/sh...ad.php?t=16283


Any feedback is very much appreciated - I would love to hear from those of you who have been reading. Thanks!!


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Tug woke up late the next morning again. He glanced over at the clock and saw that it was already 9:30am, meaning he had slept for almost 10 hours.

I guess moving all those weights tired me out.

Tug tossed the covers off and let the brisk breeze from the open window envelop him. After a few minutes of laying there, during which he almost fell back asleep, he swung his arms up to finally get up off the mattress and noticed a little stiffness in his joints.

Oh, I am sore. Dang!

He tumbled out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen, then yawned and stretched and tried to come to life. As he did so, he saw a $10 bill and a small note under the big banana magnet on the fridge: “Tug, please get bread, milk, eggs, and peanut butter. XOXO, Mom.”

Tug slipped the bill out from under the magnet and was committing the items to memory when the phone rang. He walked quickly to the counter and picked up the handset. “Hello?”

“Hi Tug. This is Ben.”

“Hi Ben. What can I do you for?”

“Well, I’ve been trying to find the barbell collars from your brother’s weight set. I remember seeing them in your house last night, but I can’t find them with the rest of the stuff.”

“Well, let me look around here. If I find them, I will bring them over.”

“You will?”

“It’s no problem. I have to run to the store for my mom, so I will be out driving anyway.”

“Thanks, buddy.”

Tug smiled. His brother had always called him buddy. And so did Tom in his dream last night.

“You’re welcome. See you soon.”

Tug hung up the phone and grabbed a few Pop Tarts to eat. After practically swallowing them whole, he went back upstairs to shower, shave, and get dressed. Noting the slightly chilly air still coming in from his window, and seeing some dark clouds on the horizon, Tug decided to dress warmly in case it stayed cool for the rest of the day.

Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to be a little dressed up in case I have time to check on some of those job applications while in town.

After cleaning up, Tug went to the section of the basement where Tim’s weights had been to see if the collars were there. He checked around but was unable to find them, so he headed into the garage. He saw a small cardboard box sitting on his dad’s workbench, and when he peered inside, he found the barbell collars.

Tug picked up the box and went back into the house. He then grabbed his keys from the bowl in the foyer and headed out the front door to his car.

Less than a minute later, he pulled up in the driveway of the big house at the end of the lane. Tug stepped out of his car, grabbed the box, and walked up to the porch.

As Tug mounted the last step, the front door swung open and Ben appeared with a big smile on his face. He was wearing a white crewneck t-shirt, white athletic shorts, and white tennis shoes, and as a result of the bright clothes, the tan on his face, arms, and legs looked deeper and darker than Tug had remembered from the previous day. After matting it down for the dinner last night, Ben’s blond hair was almost back to its regular curly style, and both it and his blue eyes shone vibrantly as he stepped into the sunlight.

“You look like summer,” exclaimed Tug before he realized what he was saying.

He looks like summer? Why did I say that?

Ben laughed at the comment and then looked at Tug’s outfit – he was wearing a dark-brown long-sleeved shirt covered with a dark blue windbreaker, jeans, and a pair of brown leather shoes that looked somewhat like low-rise boots. “Thanks. I guess that would make you winter, huh?”

Tug thought about what he was wearing and laughed along with Ben. “Yeah, I do look like I’m ready for November. It was cooler over at my house, I guess.”

Ben then noticed the box in Tug’s hands. “Hey, you found the collars!”

“Yep, they were on the workbench in the garage. One of us must have set them aside when loading the truck.”

“Thanks so much. Hey, I got everything set up this morning. Come and see!”

“Sure.” Tug didn’t care all that much, but as with his friend Jay and baseball, he found that it was always better to agree with people when they are talking about or demonstrating their passions.

Tug followed Ben into the house and down into the basement. All of Tim’s weights had been neatly arranged around the bench in one corner, and the bar had been loaded with two 45 pound plates.

“Looks good,” said Tug, “but I figured a guy your size would be lifting more than 135 pounds.”

“I just did a quick warm-up with that weight. I couldn’t really get started until I had the collars,” Ben said as he took off his shirt and set it on a nearby table, and then spun back toward his guest. He looked down and noticed that the drawstring on his shorts was untied, so he pulled on the ends to tighten them and begin to tie them in a loop.

As he did so, Tug drank in the sight of the now-shirtless hunk and his truly magnificent, tanned, taut, and smooth upper body. Ben had long muscular limbs that looked like they were sculpted from marble, with massive forearms and bulging biceps. His arms connected to his torso courtesy of a pair of cannonball shoulders, which were probably strong enough to hoist a car if they wanted to, and just underneath them were his gigantic, beefy pecs.

But even with all of his well-developed physical attributes, it was Ben’s abdominals that truly stood out to Tug. Each of the eight muscles was clearly visible, with deep ridges running between them, stretching from just below his well-developed chest all the way down to the pair peeking out of the crisp white fabric of Ben’s shorts.

They are so tight!

Tug had seen ripped abs before, especially on some of his brother’s football teammates – Tim had always said that a strong core was essential to playing the sport well. But Ben’s muscles was better defined than any of Tim’s friends, and even better defined than the bodybuilders featured in Tim’s weightlifting magazines. They just oozed a raw masculinity and strength that Tug had never experienced before.

Tug continued to stare as Ben breathed in and out and his abs expanded and contracted, and expanded and contracted. A small bead of sweat fell from Ben’s hairline, dropped onto his left pec, and then slowly slid down along his breastbone. Eventually it reached his abs and continued its downward journey in one of the grooves between Ben's stomach muscles.

Wow! That was…um…what’s the word I’m looking for?

As he became mesmerized by Ben’s mid-section, Tug could feel a strange sensation coming over him. It wasn’t a reaction he could easily identify – an unfamiliar ache from deep within that both excited and saddened him. A yearning perhaps, or maybe a desire…whatever the feeling, it left him a little weak in the knees.

Am I jealous that Ben is so good-looking? Am I embarrassed that I don’t look like him? Or is it something else?

Even though Tug’s mind was a bit scattered at the moment, Ben remained focused on his goal of finding a lifting partner. After he finished tying the drawstring on his shorts, Ben asked the question that he had wanted to pose since the previous evening: “Why don’t you join me in a workout?”

The room remained silent, with Tug lost in his own thoughts and Ben waiting for an answer. He continued to wait as his friend stared right at him, not smiling or frowning, but remaining motionless with a rather curious look on his face.

After about fifteen seconds, Ben spoke again. “Tug?”

Tug snapped out of his spell and blurted out a response to Ben’s second question. “Yes?”

Not knowing that Tug was just responding positively to his own name, Ben’s face lit up with a big smile, thinking he had found himself a partner. “Great! I was really hoping you would want to.”

Tug was confused.

Wait a second. I would want to what?

Before he could say anything, however, Ben was already helping him take off his windbreaker, guide him to the bench, and lay underneath the bar. “OK, we’ll start with the bench press. I’ll spot you first and then you can spot me. How much do you warm up with?

“I – I – I really don’t know.”

“No sweat. Let’s start with 10s on the bar.” Ben quickly took off the 35s and put 10-pound plates on each side. “Okay, now lift it slowly.”

Tug obeyed, and hoisted the bar up off the rack. He lowered it to his chest, hit his chest with the bar, and then extended his arms upward. He was glad that Ben had moved behind the bar to spot him, out of his field of vision, so that his body wouldn’t be a distraction.

“Good, good, Tug. Keep going…only slower. You want to avoid bouncing or jerking the bar,” said his new trainer.

Tug continued, but slowed down his movement considerably. He could definitely feel it getting harder to push up the bar when he didn’t bounce the bar off of his chest. By the fifth rep he was really beginning to strain, and he could feel his body heating up. Tug lowered the bar for the sixth rep, but no amount of effort on his part could get it back up, so Ben helped him finish.

“Great job, man. I’ll let you rest a second before you do your first real set.”

Tug tried to laugh, but it caught in his throat and sounded more like a cough. “That felt pretty ‘real’ to me!”

Ben stuck his handsome face forward and smiled down at his friend. “Trust me, you can do more.”

Tug was about to disagree, but he decided to just continue resting. Ben’s face then disappeared as he went gather up two 35-pound plates for each side of the bar and began swapping out the 10s.

“Here, let’s get a little rock ‘n’ roll playing to motivate you.” Ben crossed over to the small stereo on the wall and turned it on. A new song by the group Foreigner was playing – so new that Tug had never heard it before.

You’re not shy, you get around
You wanna fly, don’t want your feet on the ground
You stay up, you won’t come down
You wanna live, you wanna move to the sound

Got fire in your veins
Burnin’ hot but you don’t feel the pain
Your desire is insane
You can’t stop until you do it again

But sometimes I wonder as I look in your eyes
Maybe you’re thinking of some other guy
But I know, yes I know, how to treat you right
That’s why you call me in the middle of the night

You say it’s urgent
So urgent, so oh oh urgent
Just wait and see
How urgent my love can be

“OK,” commanded Ben as he took his spot behind the weight bench again. “Let’s see some fire in your veins, Tug. Let’s see some insane desire!”

Tug re-lifted the bar and, to his surprise, managed to pump out three more reps. He was able to get one final rep on the next set, and then it was his turn to spot for Ben.

Ben loaded up the bar and quickly laid down on the bench. Tug watched his muscular arms easily hoist the bar of the rack, and then he stared at Ben's mighty pecs as he pushed out 10 reps of 315 pounds.

“That was amazing, Ben! You must have been lifting for a long time.”

“About five years. I started in junior high.”

“I am very impressed. I don’t even know if my brother lifts that much.”

“Well, I hope to get that even higher. Could you please add another 10 pounds to each side?”

“Sure thing.” Tug added the weight while his friend rested on the bench. About 45 seconds later, Ben put his hands up on the bar and lifted it up, this time managing another seven reps.

“Now I am even more impressed – you must be really strong!” exclaimed Tug.

“Well, it sure helps for baseball when you are trying to hit those home runs.” Ben got up off the bench, stretched his arms, and then grabbed a towel from a nearby table to wipe his sweat off the bench. “You ready for some more?”

“I guess. What’s next?” Ben was standing right in front of him again, and Tug tried to resist staring at his abdominals again.

He's going to think I'm a freak if I keep looking at his stomach.

“More chest,” replied Ben, reaching out and punching Tug in his flabby pec, which flailed up and down for a few seconds afterward. “We’re gonna blast these babies and our triceps today.”

Tug smiled outwardly, but inside he was secretly hoping he hadn't bitten off more than he could chew.

[Padraig]

If anyone happens to be in the Spokane area (in Eastern Washington), I would highly recommend heading down to Hoopfest tomorrow to check out the guys - I was there today, and whoo, lots of tall shirtless muscle everywhere!

Hope you are all having as wonderful of weekend as I am!

[Padraig]

If anyone likes to read weight gain stories in addition to muscle growth fantasies, I am now finishing up a series I originally began back in 2003. It's called "Brock's Choice," and it is posted in the stories section of the Bellybuilders message board.

There are six parts there now, and part seven (the ending), will be up soon.

Thanks!!