A Secret Between Friends - Part 2

[wbjason]

Part 1

[COLOR=white]A Secret Between Friends - 2[/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]A month had passed since that evening in the cafe, and our work outs were progressing well. I had finally started to see some improvements in my lifts and muscle tone. Leo continued pushing hard and maintained his already nice physique, but was growing impatient with his lack of growth. "Not a single pound!" he proclaimed from the scale one night. "I can't even gain a pound, this sucks!" But I was quick to remind him to go look in the mirror, he had nothing to complain about. And if anything, he had gained a bit more definition than he was willing to recognize as actual progress. That was our last workout together for a few weeks, since I had several meetings to attend around the country. He was also planning to return home during that time to see his family. He made me promise to keep up the pace in the hotel gyms, which usually means nothing more than treadmills and an ill equipped weight machine. Nevertheless, I would try my hardest![/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]I exchanged a few text messages with him while he was back in the bay area. Mostly, he was checking up on me and making sure I was working out on the road. Minus a few drunken client dinner evenings, I'd managed to find my way to the gym nearly every day. He texted me excitedly one morning to tell me he was going to see his uncle and find that secret Chinese herb that would solve all his problems. I had quite honestly forgotten about that until he brought it up. I wished him luck and quickly put it out of my mind. Seriously, I thought, got to love that guy, but he's looking for a golden ticket that just does not exist! I didn't hear anything back from him after that day, so I assumed he must have struck out. Surely he would have told me if his uncle actually came up with something.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]Finally after 3 weeks, I was back in town and it appeared for a decent stretch of time again. I've really got a chance to focus and put some real work into the gym, I told myself. Leo would have been home for over a week now, I wondered what he was up to and if he'd managed to keep himself motivated. I shot him a text and said I was home. I asked if he wanted to get together or hit the gym. He responded almost immediately, saying he was busy tonight but was glad to have me back and was ready to get started again tomorrow. I asked how SF went and if he'd found anything with his uncle. Nothing. Not a single response for what felt like hours! Was I really expecting him to come across some magical potion that would transform us into muscular alpha males? The knots in my stomach would have said yes, but the logically scientific side of me quickly overrode that.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]In reality it had only been a few minutes and his response was as expected. Not really, just some weird script in old an language that his uncle could only half decipher. So basically nothing. He promised to tell me more about it tomorrow. Tonight he had stuff to do, he said, and that was that. I decided to kill the rest of my day with laundry, catching up on bills and a few recorded TV shows. I didn't have to work tomorrow, so I wasn't concerned with getting to bed at a decent time. Plus, I had a few beers with my name on them in the fridge. As such, I dosed off on the couch and didn't wake up until the morning with someone at my door. What time was it anyway?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]I opened the front door to a smiling familiar face. "Leo!" I said, still slightly in a haze from just waking up. "Good to see you buddy, you could have called me. I didn't think we were working out until later." "You overslept," he said, pointing at his watch-less wrist. "Besides your phone is dead, I'm guessing. Go get dressed so we can hit the gym, man!" I scratched my head. "Good morning to you too," I mumbled, and headed to my bedroom to change. "Well, make yourself at home, I'll be ready in a minute." Geez, he's more fired up that usual. At least someone missed me! [/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]"Oh, so tell me about this script, or whatever it was you found. Any potential there?" I yelled from the back of the house. "I'm not entirely sure," he responded. "It has some mention of strength, but based on what my uncle could read, it sounded more like obtaining strength as a leader. Like a political struggle or something. I tried to read it last night too, but it doesn't make much sense and the internet wasn't very helpful. My Uncle is still working on it, though." [/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]"Well, that?s kind of disappointing," I said, entering the room. "Ready to go?" I asked, as I walked toward Leo. I went to punch him on the shoulder as it had become our normal sign of friendship. This time, however, he dodged me and quickly moved out of reach as he said he was ready. That?s weird, I thought, he's never done that before. In seconds we were on our way and I was happy to be back in our routine. We decided on biceps today and cardio to start.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]After we did a short bit of cardio on the treadmills, we started out bicep exercises. Not surprisingly, I was feeling like I had fallen back a little with my limited hotel facilities. Leo, however, was pushing through it with vigor, like he'd never left the gym. And in reality, he pretty much hadn't. We were on our last set, and decided to go for failure with some preacher curls. For our workout, we did this by stacking a 25, 10 and 5 pound plate on each side and taking off the 5 and then the 10 pound plates after 10 reps for a total of 30. I finished mine, but just barely, and proceeded to reload the weights for Leo's turn. He said he needed some water and made a beeline for the fountain. On his way back, he stopped and talked to one of the resident meat heads, as I called them. He was one of those that I'd admired for so long, dreaming of having muscles like his. But I never dared talk to them, for fear of making a fool of myself, I supposed. Leo appeared to say a few things, then shook the guys hand and walked back. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]"New friend?" I asked. "Not really," Leo responded "I just told him how much I admired his dedication to the gym and that he inspires me to keep pushing harder." Hmm, he doesn't know a stranger; I thought and said "OK, cool man. Maybe you can get him to give us some pointers next time." Leo gave me a smile and simply said, "I doubt we'll need that before long." And with that he sat back down to complete his last set. He ripped through the first 10 with no problem and I started to remove the 5 pound plates but he more or less barked at me to leave them. "Ok fine, man," I said. He pushed out another 15 reps before starting to fatigue. Damn, his biceps were really pumped like crazy too. He slammed the bar back down on to the bench and stood up quickly. "Wow, Leo that was amazing! Look at those biceps!" I said and gave them a slight squeeze. "NO!" he yelped and surprised me a bit. "Sorry," I said, "I just..." He interrupted, "No, you don't understand." But in that brief moment, something happened. Leo shifted on his feet then straightened up. I thought he was on his toes for some reason, until I looked down. No he was standing flat footed and straight. Leo had grown. Not much, but I could tell. He'd gotten taller by about an inch and every muscle visible bulged slightly larger.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=white]We gave each other a look before I blurted out, "What the hell just happened, Leo?!"[/COLOR]

[GTlifter]

Nice this should be very interesting can't wait for more man

[darkblad01]

I can already tell that this is going to be awesome! I can't wait for the next part!

[sexiscriptor]

very nice start looking forward to more soon!

[wbjason]

Thanks guys! I've got to get this thing in my head outlined before I go any further... I think it could easily go a few more chapters before we really find out what's going on with Leo and why it's happening.
Looking forward to writing more. In the meantime, Helliot, ahem... Your turn!

[dartagnan]

Nice story!!! I hope they will become more than friends...

[fwee]

I like it! Well done. Wonder where you'll take us on this journey

[Xyggurat]

Like it. Love it. Want more of it.

-X-

Oh my gosh. This is the perfect pace for a story. Take it slow, make it suspenseful, man!

[philat99]

Great story! Just enough of a cliffhanger to want MORE!!!

[wbjason]

@dartagnan I can't imagine they wouldn't I'm not entirely sure how that will progress either but I'm a total sucker for dramatic climactic passion scenes!

@bigbearman Thanks dude, I'll try to keep the pace going but I feel like the intensity is going to be picking up...

@philat99 I'd expect a couple more cliffhangers! I do love the intensity of a strong build up

@xyg may have to tag you for coffee sometime soon!