~Solby~

Chapter 4: Working Out

     Sam Golbach opened up his Spotify workout playlist on his phone and popped his earbuds as he walked into the gym.  Do Re Mi by Blackbear blared and Sam remembered that Colby said it was his favorite song in an old video. Usually, he'd go and give Colby a bud so they could listen together. Doing that now, though, didn't seem right.
     "Hey Colb," Sam said as he turned around.
    Colby looked up from his rummaging through his gym bag and Sam held up his phone screen that showed what song was playing. It took Colby a second to respond because he's gone into a mini-shock that Sam was talking to him. They made eye contact for the first time that morning and Sam felt oddly weak at the knees. 
     "Niceeee," Colby said, cracking a smile.
     Corey was looking over this whole scene and even he could sense a change of tension in the air. That brief second their eyes met, that tiny moment, made a current of  electricity run through the air. Corey ignored that odd moment and focused on the fact that they were at least talking. If he was going to do anything today, he was going to figure out exactly what was bothering them.
     "Ok, so", Corey began, "I think I'm gonna go work on my dancing in the studio for twenty-ish minutes. After that we'll lift some weights and we'll spot each other?"
     "Sounds good. I'm gonna go use the treadmill." Sam responded.
     "And I need to work on my calves so I'll try the stair climber. I haven't used it before but it looks pretty self-explanatory." Colby explained.
     "Oh, yeah, I should work on my calves too. I'll see you in a bit," Corey said as he walked into the studio.
     All three of them went their separate ways and Sam headed to the main floor of the gym that had all of the equipment. He had his music running as he started up the treadmill at a low pace, gradually increasing his speed until it was around a seven minute mile. Colby put on his bluetooth earbud strap and scanned the room for the stair climber. It wasn't too hard to find, it was definitely the largest machine.  Colby walked up and saw that Sam was two rows in front of him. Because of the height that the stair climb reached, he could easily see over the lines of ellipticals in front of him to the treadmills.
     You're not going to look, Colby thought, It's not a big deal, you've worked out with him before and you've seen him get hot and flustered and then jump into the laned swimming pool...shirtless...with those tiny nipples that he hates but I just love...Stop it! You're not going to think about him.
     Colby started up the machine and realized that the stairs where steeper than he expected. Every step up hurt a little bit more, but when he got to the top, he could see Sam running in front of him. He quickened the pace that the stairs were moving around him and straightened his posture. His Pandora played All Time Low and he stepped to the beat. Every time he took another step up and climbed the stairs, he could see Sam running.
     Damn, Colby thought, Look at his ass shaking as he runs...I just love those shorts that are just a bit shorter than they should be...and the way he runs his hands through his hair to push it out of the way, I wish I could stroke that silky hair forever...
     He didn't have the mental energy to push away his thoughts and try to run up never-ending stairs, so he let himself think about Sam. Somehow, the fact that he knew it was wrong to be thinking it, made it ten times sexier.
     He felt like he'd woken up from a dream. After last night, something clicked, a light bulb went on, and everything thing was different. A scary kind of different, but it was definitely good.
      Eighteen minutes passed of Colby sneaking peeks at Sam as he climbed up the machine and he clicked the button that said "cool down". The gears slowed and Colby got to see Sam for longer periods of time. Colby couldn't stop thinking about him, and at this point, he didn't try to push the thoughts away. Sam moved into a cool down too and he subtly run/danced to the music in his head.
     Sam spotted Corey coming out of the dance studio and did a little wave. He stopped the machine and walked over to the bench press. He fist bumped Corey and Colby started walking over. All three of them were glistening with sweat.
     "Alright...just got a move nailed down, so I'm satisfied," Corey said, doing a little wiggle of his arms, "Are you guys gonna spot each other while you bench press like usual? Cause I think I'm gonna do some box jumps."
     "Yeah, sounds good," Sam said, oddly confident, not daring to meet Colby's confused eyes.
     Colby loaded the bar with 110 pounds and sat down on the bench. Sam stepped up to the raised platform behind the bench.
     "How many reps are you going for, dude?" Sam said.
     "I'll do 15." Colby responded as he laid his back down.
      When he looked up, he saw Sam looking right back down at him. This was about to get awkward.
     Ok, Colby thought, All I'm gonna do is workout. Sam is just spotting me and we've done this millions of times before. It's no biggie. Focus and use your energy to build muscle, not to obsess about him.
     Colby wrapped his fingers around the bar and took a quick breath in and out.  As he prepared to lift the bar, he clenched his teeth and pursed his lips.
     "Ready?" he asked.
     "Whenever you are." Sam replied.
     "One.." Sam started as Colby pushed the bar up, flexing his exposed muscles.
Whoa, I forgot how toned he is. His hair is a little damp with sweat, it would be so hot if I could mess it up and get him mad..he always gets mad when I mess up his hair, it's so adorable...Okkk, never use that word in association with Colby. Say literally any other adjective, but it's so weird that I think he's adorable. Don't think stuff like that.
     "...three...," He continued to count each time Colby brought the bar up.
      His eyes are flaring up..he's so passionate. I wonder if that's the face that's the face he makes during sex..WHAT! No, no, you cannot think weird shit like that. Just keeping counting.
      A couple seconds passed and Sam kept counting, "...seven...,"
     God dang, he's so strong, he used to be so skinny and tiny but look at him now...I remember when we did our Grind on Me vid we thought we were muscular...but I wonder how grinds now..I wish he'd grind on me...Alright, you're losing focus. Keep counting and don't think too much.
     "...twelve..."
     How can I not think about him, though? Everything he does is sexy, it's like he's trying to tease me. It's creepy, though, to think about my best friend like this. Oh, shit...do I have a crush on him?
     "...fifteen."
     "Aghhhhh," Colby groaned as he sat up from the bench. He stretched his arms behind his back and looked at Sam, who looked like he's recently been hit in the head with a football, "You good?"
     Sam took a second to register that Colby was talking to him, "Yeah," He responded, but he was lying. In reality, his head was spinning and he felt dizzy.
     Shit. I have feelings for Colby.
     Then he felt himself helplessly falling into darkness.