The Mentors (6,7)

[florida20]

Chapters 1 & 2
Chapter 3
Chapters 4&5

CHAPTER 6: THAT LITTLE EXTRA

They didn’t take measurements the next morning. Hayden had Cody’s attitude of being really excited about getting to the gym every morning and administration tended to take a back seat to working out. Weeks went by and both Matt and Hayden continued to improve. Every pound Matt gained swelled his ego by a greater margin. As promised by Reece, he put Matt on periodic short and insanely intense cardio routines which helped bring down the body fat. By the end of the summer, he gained only an additional three pounds but lost a substantial amount of body fat. “As long as you keep to the diet I give you, you shouldn’t suffer in the muscle gains category,” Reece told him.

True to their word, just as the eight week summer semester ended and the rest of the freshman class prepared to show up on campus en mass, Matt’s parents gave him his black BMW convertible back. The last Friday of summer classes, Matt picked the brothers up. He was wearing sunglasses even though the horizon had barely begun to show the light of dawn. He hung his arm out the side of the car and flexed his increasingly defined bicep at the brothers as they walked out of their apartment.

“Dude, are your classes at the pool? You get any more tan,” Reece warned as they got in the car, “and I’m signing you up for Jersey Shore.”

“Deal, bro. I love that show,” Matt said as he made a testosterone fueled show of peeling out of the parking lot.

“Hey, Matt, does your dad happen to give a lot of money to the university?” Cody called from the back seat.

“Yeah. Buckets,” Matt said. “I’m what you call a legacy.”

“Sounds about right,” Cody said as he watched the landscape pass by. Matt either didn’t hear or didn’t understand the jab.

“Reece, look at these fuckin’ striations,” Cody said as he flexed his pecs, their increased size and definition clearly visible above the low-hanging collar of his muscle shirt. “Those weren’t there yesterday.”

“Nice, now look at the road.”

As he had without fail, Hayden met them at the door. Over the last eight weeks, Hayden’s intimidation of the three others had slowly diminished. He practically worshipped Cody for getting him into this and was comfortable talking with Reece. Matt continued to jab him here and there but Hayden was no longer bothered by it for some reason. Although still too big for him, he was definitely wearing those shirts a little better. Having a wide frame and tall body did require large shirts, but Hayden’s clothes exceeded that need by a fair margin

“That reminds me,” Cody said, pulling out a tape measure. “We’re taping today. We’re officially a fifth way through the bet. Progress report time.”

Hayden shrugged, taking it in stride, while Matt took the opportunity as yet another way to show off. They made their way to the locker room, where Matt took his shirt off before the door even closed behind him. He was definitely growing a tight physique. Nowhere near bodybuilder status, he looked more like a model. His bodyfat had dropped enough to show off his back muscles but there wasn’t much thickness there yet. His pecs were probably his best feature since, like most guys, he tended to focus extra on his bench presses. They formed definite shadows beneath them, and he bounced them on occasion, enjoying the fact he could do it. He also held his arms a little further out than he used to. Cody was curious if that were due more to “invisible lat syndrome” rather than legitimate mass increases.

The brothers put their bags away while Matt started flexing his muscles in a probably vain attempt to get them pumped for the measurements. He stood with his back towards Hayden, facing the twins, with a shit eating grin on his face as the competition slowly put his bag in his own locker.

“Allright, Matt, we’ll do you first so just walk-“ Reece cut himself off as he looked passed Matt. Cody, noticing the sudden silence, took his attention away from the tape measure and looked at what was taking his brothers attention so abruptly.

“Wow, someone’s been working out,” Cody said with a smile.

Matt, absorbed in his own body and oblivious to the scene, smiled, “Yeah, impressive isn’t-“ He stopped as he noticed their eyes weren’t on him. He turned around and looked at Hayden. “Shit fuckers!”

Hayden had taken his shirt off and revealed a body no one expected at this stage of the game. He was ripped. Although low body fat does wonders for making people look more muscular than they actually were, there was no doubt Hayden was well on his way to becoming a bodybuilder. He wasn’t trailing anywhere. His pecs were already showing striations and his delts bulged from his shoulders, about the size of baseballs. His un-flexed arms had a couple visibly prominent veins cascading down his biceps. His lats made a bulge from his back and his traps had made significant progress. What really separated him, however, were his abs. Hands down they were the most defined in the room. He had an eight pack that looked like it could grate cheese. He wasn’t huge by a long shot; most of his apparent size was an illusion created by his low body fat but…

“Damn,” Cody said as he pulled out the tape measure. “Arms, 16, Chest 44, Waste 29, Thighs 26, and weight…192 pounds.”

“Looks like I may need a new set of goals,” Hayden said, flexing his new arm muscles.

“How come Hayden doesn’t need to get fat?” Matt asked, using Hayden’s name instead of a diminutive nickname for the first time.

Cody just smiled as he finished writing the stats down and doing some number crunching in his head. “Hayden, you gained over twenty pounds and lost bodyfat? You need to start eating more.”

“Big deal,” Matt said. “I gained twenty three pounds in eight weeks and I’m not as tall. Besides, my arms are just as big.”

Matt was right, being shorter meant, pound-for-inch, he may still a slight edge on Hayden but there was no doubt who looked better. And Hayden had made much more progress; every one of those 21 pounds gained was muscle.

“All right, big shot,” Reece said as he took control of the tape. Lets see what you got…Arms 16, Chest 43, Waist 33, Thighs 28, weight 184.”

“Excuse me, twenty-four pound gain,” Matt said with a grin. He turned to Hayden. “And there’s more where that came from.”

Hayden was apparently done taking the high road. He looked down at Matt, who stood less than a foot away. “Dude, do you get your eyebrows waxed?...and,” he added as he looked further down at Matt’s hands, “get your fingernails manicured?

Matt tried to laugh and deny the accusation but under Hayden’s unwavering stare his face reddened immediately and his eyes began to dart away. “Uh…yeah. I mean, so what if I do? Girls never complained. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re obviously embarrassed about it.” And with that he left.

Cody was torn between shock and pride, but managed to hide his smile. Feeling somewhat mischievous, he turned to his brother and Matt and said, “Well, you know what they say: the only thing between ordinary and extraordinary…is just that little extra.” As he turned to leave, a smile involuntarily exploded on his face. Meanwhile, Matt, fuming and face still red, put his shirt back on.

“Can I start taking supplements yet?” he asked as he slammed his locker. He was now alone with his trainer.

“Sure thing,” Reece said, giving him a reassuring pat on the back. “I’ve got some products that work wonders.”

CHAPTER 7: KARMA

“Well, I guess I can’t be mad at you,” Cody began. “I mean…you didn’t have to be sneaky about it.

Hayden looked apologetic but stood his ground. Workout completed and feeling great about himself, he had just told his mentor about how he’d been working out almost twice as much as he was supposed to. “You told me to listen to my body and I did. It wanted to be pushed harder. You wouldn’t have let me work out more often unless I had results to prove it.”

Cody knew he was right. He knew a lot about how his own body worked but admitted Hayden’s was different. “There aren’t many people who can work out seven days a week without eventually getting injured or losing steam. You’ll know it when it happens. You feel tired all the time, strength gains become losses, you may even start to lose definition no matter how hard you’re working out. Don’t get to that point Hayden. I’ll force you to take a week off even if I have to put a shock collar around your neck.” He paused. “Have you been taking supplements behind my back, too?” Hayden shook his head. “Good,” Cody continued. “But I guess it’s time to start using them if you’re going to be putting all this extra stress on your body. Buy everything on that list I gave you.

Cody turned to leave but stopped short of walking away. “Hey, great workout today. Even I’m going to be hurting tomorrow. Do what you want over the weekend, I guess. Next week is the beginning of fall semester so you may not have the time to push yourself like you have been.”

“I’ll find time. You’re winning this bet of yours.”

Cody beamed; Hayden was always surprised how seriously the brothers took these competitions of theirs. Hayden was beaming himself; he had never felt better and, regardless of Cody’s warning, his body was giving no indication of being over-trained. He couldn’t wait to see George and Kent.

However, ten minutes after he said goodbye to Cody, his friends hadn’t arrived. That was strange; they’d been completely reliable until now. He never brought his cell phone to the gym so he had no choice but to take the campus bus back to his dorm, where he shared a room with the two other boys.

The large university gym was located in a less than residential part of the sprawling campus. Once he got back into the center part to the university, traffic increased tenfold from normal. Cars were everywhere. The honors dorms were bustling with life he’d not seen before. Only about a quarter of the school’s 55,000 students took summer classes which meant it was about to get four times more crowded on campus. New students were everywhere, doing their best to move in the dorms and distance themselves from stressed parents. That group wasn’t much help at assisting with the students’ desire; they would relish these last few minutes with their sons and daughters before they had to say goodbye.

After a morning workout feeling like a muscle god, he suddenly felt like his old self again. His oversized t-shirts, although easy to workout in, made him look skinny and awkward. He definitely filled it out more than he used to but maybe he should start wearing the sleeveless shirts Cody preferred. At least he’d get a glance from a girl here and there. Maybe he needed a whole new wardrobe.

He made his way up the stairs to the third floor. New students of both genders crowded the halls, making new friends while their parents conversed with each other. Hayden and his friends had enjoyed living in a nearly empty hall. Sharing it would take getting used to.

As he and his gym bag passed through the organized chaos, he couldn’t help but notice that most didn’t even notice he was there. The only recognition would be as someone avoided running into his sweaty body. As per usual, he thought. It’s amazing how a person taller than most could still be nearly invisible. When he made it to his triple-occupancy corner dorm suite, he opened the door and found his roommates still in bed and unsuccessfully trying to ignore all the hallway noise. Neither one looked up as he closed the door behind him.

“What the hell, guys?” he said.

“We’re sleeping in today,” Kent said.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Hayden answered. “Instead of wasting time in bed you could have been improving yourself at the gym."

George groaned and, as if rehearsed in his head a dozen times, took the pillow off his face and said, “We just don’t want to go to the gym today, Hayden. It’s not how I want to spend every morning. I’d rather play video games or throw a Frisbee around or…anything besides lifting something only to put it down again.”

Shocked, Hayden collapsed on the chair in front of his desk. Kent, more calmly, yet every bit as serious continued. “We tried it, man. You seem to be able to bloom muscle by thinking about. But we just end up hurting all the time.”

“How long have you guys felt like this?” Hayden asked from the chair.

There was a pause. “Ever since we started spending more time spotting you and helping you put weights on the bar instead of exercising ourselves.”

“Four weeks,” Kent added bluntly.

Hayden was hurt but understood. Ever so slowly, their workouts had transformed from three guys working out to two guys working for the third. He’d only just now realized it. Suddenly he wondered how much they talked behind his back over the last month.

“We’re not like you, Hayden,” Kent said. “We tried but…”

George filled in. “Why don’t you just join a frat and get it over with?”

He said the only thing he could think of: “I’m sorry guys.”

The other two looked at each other as if they expected him to say something else. Suddenly he realized the two thought he would only make fun of them. What have I done to make them feel that? Then he remembered all the hints the other two had dropped along the way. Almost on a daily basis one or the other would offer up another activity besides working out only to have Hayden crush it with barely a though. Working out consumed his world and he only thought it natural that it would consume theirs too.

“No problem, buddy,” Kent said, looking a bit relieved. “So, you going to lay off the jock thing for a little while?”

Hayden could only laugh. “Hell no,” he said as he took off his shirt and flexed his arms. “I even intimidated Matt today with these guns. Pretty soon, I’m going to-“ He cut himself off and put down his arms. “Sorry, its easy to forget that you guys don’t care.”

The two others laughed. “Don’t care?” Kent said. “Hell yeah we care. We want you to kick the shit out of that prick. You don’t need to stop working out. Hell, we still want to go with you every now and then. Just don’t expect it to be on a daily basis.”

George nodded. “You look like a fucking stud, Hayden! Don’t stop now.”

Hayden was relieved. “Good, cause I won’t,” he said with a grin as he took off his shorts and wrapped a towel around his waist. “I’m going to take a shower and go to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. If you want, I may have time for a game of halo before I go to work.”

The two others nodded in unanimous agreement as Hayden took his shower caddy and walked out of the room towards the men’s bathroom. It wasn’t until he was about five feet from his door that he snapped out of his own thoughts and remembered the hallway was full of new students…and their parents. Hayden could feel his face redden as he stood, wearing only a towel and flip-flops, amongst a hundred fully dressed observers.

The old Hayden would have about-faced and raced back into his dorm room but that just didn’t feel like the right thing to do. So, instead, this new Hayden just acted as natural as he could and weaved through the masses on his way to the restroom on the other side of the floor.

Suddenly, he could feel the eyes on him. Even though most people continued doing what they were doing, almost everyone did some form of double-take. Unused to EVER being the center of attention, at first Hayden thought it was just because he was a naked guy in a sea of the clothed. But he caught some eyes lingering, dancing up and down his body. The invisible guy who walked by them not two minutes earlier was suddenly worth a first AND second look. He grinned internally when he saw fathers’ lips tighten, having second thoughts about letting their daughters convince them co-ed dorms were standards of college life.

“Hi, my name’s Carla,” a particularly bold co-ed said as he tried to squeeze by her. Although she wouldn’t have been a ‘ten’ on Matt’s grading chart, she was far more attractive than the girls Hayden usually conversed with.

“Hayden,” he responded. “I live down the hall in-“

“Carla, let the guy take his shower,” her father said as he and her mother came out of her room. “Come in here and tell me where you want all this stuff.”

“Nice meeting you, Hayden,” she said as she brushed her hands across his bulging abs and let her father usher her back into her room. It took a little while for her mom to follow. She liked what she saw too.

When he finally made it to the bathroom, Hayden let out a laugh. He would be throwing his oversized shirts away as soon as he could.

[theseventhwave]

Love this story! Looking forward to the development in the next chapters.

[philat99]

I'm enjoying this very much!

[debate1]

Great story, keep it up!

[TemptationIV]

I must have forgotten to comment when this was first posted, but I seriously cannot wait for more!!

[Pigatti]

Just keeps getting better. Keep 'em coming!