The Day We Met

The Day We Met Part 16

   In the morning, I knew I was supposed to wake up early, so that Aaron could go to the gym to get his workout in, but as usual, I didn't wake up on my own. Aaron ended up having to come into my room to wake me up, which he was so gentle about. He came into my room, sat on the side of my bed, then started to rub my back slowly. I woke up seconds later, instantly wanting to be in Aaron's arms.

   After some quick cuddling, I got out of bed, got dressed, got a quick bite to eat, then Aaron and I were off to the gym. We were on the road for about 30-35 minutes, when we finally pulled into a mini-mall. We pulled up to the gym, which actually looked pretty nice, it wasn't one of those rundown warehouse looking places at all. Aaron helped me from his truck, placed me in my wheelchair, then we headed inside.

   When Aaron opened the door to let me go in first, there was a bell over the door that jingled when the door hit it, so there was no way anyone could sneak in. About two minutes after the bell rang, this giant of a man walked to the front of the gym where we had entered. He was at least 6'8"-6'9", and was easily over 400 pounds, I never imagined I'd see a guy who would make Aaron look small.

   The guy who came to greet us, had a short blonde mohawk, a long beard that he had braided, that rested between his pecs, and blue eyes. Both his arms had a sleeve tattoo on them, with various designs making up the sleeves. He walked up to Aaron, giving him a hug, apparently it had been a while since they had seen each other, because they were very happy to be reunited.

   "Aaron my guy! How have you been man? You haven't been here in a while, school keeping you busy?" the guy asked.

   "Well, not at the moment, there was a suicide at the school, they're closed while the investigation is being done." Aaron replied.

   "Oh man! That sucks!" the guy replied.

   Then, just to make sure I'd be seen by Aaron's friend, I added, "Yeah, and the guy I thought was my friend is blaming me for it!"

   Aaron's friend looked down at me, his eyes widened, "What?! Why?!" he asked.

   "That's just what people like to do to me." I replied, "Whenever something goes down, even if I have nothing to do with it, I'm public enemy number one."

   "That's messed up." the guy said, "Let them try that with me there!"

   Then Aaron stood beside his friend to introduce me.

   "Mikey, this is my buddy Joe, coolest guy you'll ever meet!" Aaron said.

   Joe crouched down to my level, where right away, he looked at me concerned, "We don't tolerate bullying here. If anyone gives you any crap at school again, you be sure and let us know, okay?"

   "Us?" I asked.

   Joe snapped his fingers, "Boys!"

   Just then, ten other guys came out of nowhere it seemed, standing side by side with one another. I couldn't help but feel intimidated, because I was now the smallest person in the room. I moved closer to Aaron, because I wasn't feeling very safe. Aaron crouched next to me, putting his arm around me.

   "Relax Mikey, you're fine." Aaron assured me.

   "Man." Joe said, "You must have been bullied pretty bad if you're that scared."

   "Yeah." Aaron said, "He gets pretty skittish around new people, because right now, myself, and his friend Jamie, we're the only two friends he has."

   Joe then crouched down to the side of me, pointing to the other guys.

   "Mike, I'd like you to meet Paul, Grant, Luke, Phil, Shane, Dave, Brett, Rob, Brian, and Vince. Not one of these guys is here to hurt you. In fact, the only people they would hurt, are the ones who would come in to try to hurt you bud. Since you're a friend of Aaron's, you're a friend of ours now." Joe said.

   I didn't really realize it at first, until I saw him, but then Shane and I spotted each other.

   "Mike?!" Shane suddenly blurted, "Oh my god! Bro! it's me! Remember me from your other school?"

   My eyes WIDENDED when I realized that Shane, was the guy I was friends with at my other school, before I got transferred. Shane rushed over to me, bent down, lifted me out of my wheelchair, then gave me the biggest hug. I hadn't seen him since before he left middle school. I was only in 6th grade when I met him, he was in 8th, he was now in 11th grade, same as Aaron, but going to a different school, due to the new redistricting rule.

   Shane immediately turned to Joe, "Please Joe, let me be the one to watch Mike's back."

   "Go for it dude, you two seem to be pretty close friends." Joe replied.

   As far as Shane goes, he was only about 6'1"-6'2", not the tallest guy, but you put a 320 pound frame of muscle on the guy, he's not someone you want to mess with. I did get to meet and talk to the rest of the guys, who were all really cool, but I stayed mostly with Shane for the majority of our visit at the gym. So Aaron took the workout station next to Shane's. It wasn't because Aaron didn't trust him, he just wanted to be nearby, so that when we were ready to go, he wouldn't have to hunt for me, because the gym was pretty big.

   Shane and Aaron did talk to each other, and got along great. When the time came for us to go, I didn't want to leave, because it had been so long since I had seen Shane. After Aaron lifted me out of my wheelchair to put me in the truck, Shane volunteered to help load my wheelchair in the back of Aaron's truck, to reduce a step in making our trip back home.

   Aaron and Shane shook hands before we left, "Why don't you stop by to visit us sometime?" Aaron asked Shane.

   "You wouldn't mind?" Shane asked, "I don't want to intrude."

   "I don't mind at all man, you and Mikey seem to go back a long way." Aaron said, "I don't want to take that away from you two."

   I was glad that Aaron and Shane were getting along, and I was also glad that Aaron knew better than to think I was going to leave him for Shane, especially when Shane told Aaron he was straight, it wouldn't have mattered to Aaron either way, he wanted me to have my time with Shane too, that was important to him, but to make sure on the way home, I had a talk with Aaron to make sure.

   "You know I would never leave you for anyone else, right Aaron?" I asked.

   Aaron took my hand, "Of course Mikey." he replied.

   "Shane is just a friend." I said.

   Aaron chuckled, "Mikey, I know, it's okay."

   I breathed a sigh of relief, once I knew that Aaron understood that I would never leave him. Shane would call in the morning to get directions to Aaron's house, and it was good he would be there, because trouble would once again rear its ugly head. Things at Aaron's house were about to get MIGHTY UGLY!

TO BE CONTINUED................................................................................................................................