Three Texas Swimmers
By:
Kenneth Kirk
(© 2021 by the author)
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent. Comments are appreciated at...
kkirk@tickiestories.us
Chapter 3
Preliminaries
The preliminary heats were scheduled for Friday morning at 10:00 after a warmup period earlier. The races were held every 10 minutes with diving prelims happening between the races at a different pool next door. It was busy and intense, but we were finished by 12:30. Mom and Dad and Eileen rooted for all the CHS swimmers and made me feel very well-supported.
This
is Mike’s yearbook photo of me entering the pool for the final lap of the relay
in which I gained 1.21 seconds to put us into second place by passing the
swimmer from San Antonio Reagan. Even though we lost to Friendswood by 2-tenths
of a second, we still qualified to swim in the finals!
After everything finished, Randy had made the finals by winning his heat in the 100-yard freestyle but a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle didn’t advance him. I came in 5th in my heat in the 200, so I didn’t advance to the finals. Mike had come in 6th in the butterfly, so he didn’t advance either.
We split up for lunch since there were supporters swelling our ranks to an unmanageable number. Coach encouraged us to eat a hearty lunch since we wouldn’t swim again today. He insisted on a sensible dinner and a bedtime of 9:00 however.
Family Time
Mom and Dad took the family to a nice Italian ristorante for lunch, where I had a huge plate of spectacular lasagna to fill me up after the expenditure of so much energy during the morning. Everyone else enjoyed their meals, too, and the whole meal had a sort of party atmosphere. Of course, I was pleased the relay team had made the cut, but at the same time, disappointed that I wouldn’t be swimming in the 200.
Dad, philosophical as always, put his arm on my shoulder and smiled broadly as he said, “I’m very proud of you, Rick. You’ve worked hard on your swimming for years and you’ve achieved good success. Of course, winning a state championship would be a dream come true, but it’s not the only measure of success. You’ve maintained a strong body, kept your grades at the top of your class, achieved success in your sport, and grown into an outstanding young man. Getting or missing a championship medal makes no difference to what a fine man you are.”
By the time he was finished, I think everyone at the table had tears in their eyes.
I was so pleased by his great endorsement, I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I nodded and mouthed “Thank you” to him.
*******
After lunch, Mom wanted to take us kids to the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library for a few hours, so we headed over to the cavernous building. I found it interesting as did my sister. Mom and Dad were quite into it, even though he was President way before they were born. I didn’t know before that President Johnson had been the main force behind most of the civil rights legislation. At one point we took a break in the cafeteria to get a soda. I took the opportunity to call Melody, since it was actually Valentine’s Day and she would have just finished 6th period.
“Hi, Rick,” she answered enthusiastically. “How did you do?”
I explained the results of the prelims and that the relay team would be in the finals.
“How did the others do?”
“Randy advanced to finals but Mike didn’t.”
“Gosh, Randy is so good!” Hmm. That seemed like a lot of enthusiasm for my swimming rival.
“So, uhm, I’m sorry to miss Valentine’s Day,” I said to change the subject.
“Oh,” she breezed, “that’s okay. You’ll make it up to me at prom.”
Interesting. I expected a little moaning about not being able to take her to the Valentine’s Dance. “How will I make it up to you?”
“You’ll think of something really romantic. Something better than the other guys do for their prom dates.”
What the hell would that be? “Oh, sure, I’ll get right on that Monday.”
There was a moment of silence. “What are you going to do tonight?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m going to the dance, silly.”
This was news to me. Did she have a date? “Uhm, who with?”
“Gretchen and Lila.”
Randy’s girlfriend and Alfred’s sometimes girlfriend. “Oh.”
“It was Gretchen’s idea. She called us the ‘Swimmers’ Widows’. That seemed a little gloomy to me, but it made sense. That stupid UIL scheduled the championship exactly so it ruined Valentine’s Day for us couples, but there isn’t any reason we girls shouldn’t go have some fun.”
Why was I irritated by this? “No, of course not. Go have a good time.”
I saw Eileen waving for me to come with them. I nodded.
“Look, Melody, I have to go now. Have a good time tonight.”
“Bring home the gold tomorrow,” she said and hung up.
Her attitude was unsettling, but I decided not to let that distract me from my concentration and focus until after the meet finished tomorrow.
We stayed at the LBJ Library until it closed, but no one was hungry yet, so we decided to delay supper for a while. I took them over to the park where the swimmers had gone the day before and we walked around, playing on the swings and tossing a frisbee around for a while. We hadn’t just hung out as a family since the Christmas holidays and it was rather nice.
After an hour or so, Mom suggested we find some dinner so I could get to bed early. Using the GPS in the car, Dad found a Chili’s that was near the shortest path between the park and the motel, so that’s where we ate dinner.
Room Service
After we finished dinner and were back at the Holiday Inn, I went to the family’s room for a few minutes before Dad sent me to my school-provided room. Wishing them a good night, I strolled by the motel’s pool on the way to my room. With my thoughts on getting a good night’s sleep and doing my best in the finals the next morning.
I
happened to glance into the pool area only to see this spectacular man coming
out of the pool. Instantly, I glanced at the bulge in his suit, his fine chest
and abs and his extremely handsome face. I got hot all over and actually gasped
out loud. My heartbeat jumped and I stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk. What
the hell’s the matter with me? I thought. Of course, I knew the answer. I was
looking at this man in lust. That had never happened before, at least in my
consciousness. Well, I thought, when I looked at the picture of Coach last
night. Oh, and when I looked at Mike’s fine butt on the bed. And, when I
looked at Randy’s fine butt on the bed. Shit, was this a pattern?
When I entered our room, Randy was in the shower and Mike was lying naked across the bed. He rested the weight of his torso on his elbows as he was reading a magazine lying on the bed in front of him. His narrow butt had a very sexy curve to it in this position. I felt a strange heat in my belly as I stared transfixed at the solid mounds of his assflesh. It was similar to how I felt looking at the man getting out of the pool. Part of my brain screamed at a different part, ‘Stop, you perv! Don’t look at him like that!’
“Hey, man,” Mike called, “close the door. You’re letting the heat out.”
Mike’s complaint snapped me out of my stupor, so I quickly closed and locked the door. By the time I had my shoes off, Randy came out of the bathroom, curly blond hair matted against his skull. Water droplets beaded on his pecs, biceps, abs, handsome face. ‘Stop!’ That part of my brain cried out as the more rebellious part watched him drying off his back with a little shimmy and a resulting dick-flop. Fuck!
I looked down at my feet as I pulled off my socks, then stood and finished stripping so I could shower next. The hot water on my naked body felt good, relaxing and rejuvenating at the same time. Control yourself, I thought. Tomorrow’s finals are too important to screw up with some kind of perverted distraction, no? Of course, I answered. The absurdity of such internal discussions made me laugh at myself. Maybe I have dissociative syndrome or whatever that Sybil thing is called. Multiple personalities? Yeah, that’s it. Bad Rick, who beats off at every opportunity, sees his buddies as sex objects, fantasizing about fucking Randy and Mike and even his Coach (!) split off from Good Rick, who studies, swims, obeys his parents, treats his sibling well, and dates Melody without pushing her to put out. As I took my final rinse I wondered if I need to ask Mom and Dad to send me to a shrink.
When I came out of the bathroom, I kept my eyes away from my teammates because I didn’t want to start anything with my unruly dick, which seems to have a mind of its own these days.
“Something wrong, dude?” Mike asked, looking sexy with his five-o’clock shadow and his thick black hair falling over his forehead.
“Nah, just a little worried about tomorrow.”
“Sorry,” Mike said. “I’m actually a little relieved that my season is over. All I have to do is hang out and celebrate with you guys after you bring home a medal tomorrow.”
“Ha,” Randy laughed. “We’ll see about that!”
I ventured a peak at my friend. “Don’t sell yourself short, Randy,” I chided him. “You could beat any guy here in the 100-yard free-style.”
“He’s right,” Mike added.
“Maybe, but the truth is any of them could beat me, too. Since I’ll be racing seven of them, the odds aren’t exactly in my favor.”
I sat down on the far side of our bed, swiveled so I was facing Randy, opened my mouth to say …. Something. Struck by his angelic beauty, I lost what I was going to say.
Luckily, neither of them noticed my flummoxed-ness. Mike saved my bacon.
“If I had any money and knew a bookie, I’d put it all on you!” gorgeous Mike stated.
Randy chuckled. “Thanks, I guess.”
Recovering, I chuckled, too. “I’d put half on you and a quarter on that redheaded guy from Tyler and a quarter on that Latino from San Antonio.”
“Listen to Rick, Mike. He’s always hedging his bets. No wonder he’s in contention to be valedictorian.”
I laughed at that. “I expect to be in the top 10, but I wouldn’t wager my tuition money on valedictorian.”
“You guys gotta believe in yourselves more, dudes,” Mike protested as he rolled onto his side and I could not help noticing that his dick was very thick, even in its flaccid … uhm, make that semi-flaccid, state.
After a moment of silence, Randy looked over at me, staring into my baby blues for a long minute. I wondered why he was looking at me that way before I realized my dick was reading this all wrong. It was starting to plump just from Randy’s stare. Or, was it from their nudity?
“What?” I finally said, hoping to end the stare-down.
“You know about the Valentine’s dance?”
“You mean the girls going together?”
He nodded. “I’m feeling kinda jealous. You know. Gretchen going without me.”
“What’s up?” Mike asked.
I filled him in on Gretchen, Melody, and Lila going to the dance together.
“Oh,” Mike nodded. “So, Randy, you think they’re going to get into some hot Lesbo action while you guys are here?” He laughed like a fucking sophomore.
“No!” Randy yelled. “It’s the other guys that have me worried. I know Trevor Bryant has a crush on Gretchen. Everybody will notice the girls being there without us. It sends a bad signal. That’s all.”
“At least they’re together,” I said. “That’ll protect them, won’t it?”
“Maybe, if they want to be protected,” Mike needled us.
“Shut up!” I yelled across Randy.
“Yeah,” Randy said. “We need to get to sleep.”
Randy turned out the lamp on the nightstand and we skootched down into the bed. I looked at him, two feet away gazing at me with a kind smile. “It’s okay, Rick. They’re together.”
I reached over and placed my fingers lightly on his bicep. “It’s cool,” I whispered. “Hey, sorry about disturbing your sleep last night.”
“No problemo, dude.”
“Thanks.”
“You can tell me about that hot dream later, okay? When we don’t need to relax and get to sleep.”
Oh, boy! “Well, maybe,” I hedged.
“Good night, Rick.:
“Good night, Randy. Rest for your big moment tomorrow.” It wasn’t until I pulled my hand away and rolled away from him that I realized I was fucking hard. Shit!
To be continued...
Posted: 04/09/2021