Coach Assistant

By: Tim
(© 2015-2016 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 40  

A cushion on my head is not the way I prefer to wake up, so I slowly opened my eyes and threw the cushion aside.

“Morning sleepy heads, time to wake up for the big day”.

I felt Francis stir beside me and I knew that he had also still been sleeping.

“Good morning”. I said to no one in particular.

“Are you two getting up or do you think you can win today by sleeping in bed?  I already used the bathroom so now it’s free for either of you”.

“Thanks David”.

I had seen him like this before. It was his way of reacting to his nervousness. He probably had been awake for quite some time now and couldn’t wait any longer.

“You have about 15 minutes before breakfast. Dad called us because he wanted to go in early to the venue so we could take a look around and get adjusted to it, see it as make up time for yesterday”.

I looked at Francis who had opened his eyes now completely. “You first or are we going together?”

“Hmm I think we better go separately”.

Damn! He was still acting strange.  We really need to talk.

“Ok, I’ll go first”.

I walked into the shower and made sure I was done quickly. When I got out Francis was just sitting on the edge of the bed. I walked towards him and give him a soft kiss on his forehead. A slight smile appeared on his lips. “Now go,” I said.  He stood up and walked into the bathroom area.

I let out a big sigh.

“Your ok Nick?” David asked.

“Yea sorry just… well Francis… you know he is …” but before I could finish the sentence David continued.

“You need to give him time Nick. He was very scared yesterday. He was worried that something had happened to you”.

“Hmm thought so. We just need to talk I guess”.

“Yea, we don’t want any of that in the way today. I will go for breakfast then you have some privacy to talk”.

I got dressed and waited until Francis appeared from the bathroom. He walked to his side of the bed and sat down. I walked around the bed until I was beside him.

“We need to talk Francis”.

He looked at me a bit sad and just nodded.

“I know I scared the hell out of you yesterday. I didn’t want that, for sure, but it seems I was in some kind of loop that I couldn’t get out of at the Moment. And then when I did I forgot the time and didn’t realize that I had to call you”.

“So you are better now Nick?”

“I don’t think that better is the right word Francis but at least I have an idea of working with it all. So I know I will be ok today; it just seems that everything that happened lately fired back at me. I have been coping with it extremely well and the doc already warned me of the possibility of a thing like yesterday, so when I realized that I think I started to work on coping with it”.

“Good, you still want to have that talk with him together?”

“Yes, I think that would be a good step at least for me, in dealing with things better. I know I should be able to talk about anything with you, but sometimes I hardly understand about things myself, so someone else there to help me with it might be a good idea. This way I learn to talk about my feelings and be more open with you. I realized yesterday that that was very, very important to being able to deal with problems in life. The last two weeks that’s just what I wasn’t doing so I hope if I start doing that I can deal with the problems of life”.

“Well you know I want to do anything to help you and us to move on, but I guess I will always worry about you.  That’s something that I probably can’t change”.

“I know and I have no problems with that, just make sure we talk and be open to each other”.

“So where did you go yesterday”.

“Nowhere I guess until I stopped and saw that there was a little coffee shop at the end of a mall. I had some coffee there”.

“So what made you realize you needed to open up more?”

“There was a waitress, Jenny, who broke through my shield last evening. She was worried, as I had been sitting there for quite a while. So she came over to see if I was ok”.

“Ah, well next time come to me, ok?”

“I will” our faces were now almost touching and a kiss followed.

Wow!  My mind was working now.  Who said that make up sex was good?  So slowly I started to let my hands wander down over his chest.

“Hmm, Nick, not a good idea I guess, we need all the energy today for just one thing”.

“Are you sure Francis”?

“Well you pressed me into being the responsible one this week so yea we better go downstairs”.

Another kiss was shared before we left the room.

For the next hour we ate a stout breakfast as from now we would eat only very rich food in small portions, making sure we would be at our best. Then we left for the venue. Dad didn’t ask anything but I saw the concern on his face. Other team members were less easy on me and I had to tell them what happened. But it seems that my story of running away mad and not knowing in which hotel we were was enough.

I had packed my sketchbook, as I knew that that would be the best way to prepare myself for today. We arrived about 1,5 hours before the meet would start. There had been a draw and I was in the second group to perform, together with David and Francis.  I was happy about that but it seems that the results in our local championships had decided that. So knowing we would be in the second half of the day I really was glad that I had brought the sketch book since I would not be able to sit still and just watch the others perform.

So the first 1,5 hour passed fast as there was stuff to do, registration, getting ourselves settled in our part of the locker room, and get on the floor to see where everything was placed. The first group was able to do some warming up just like we would have before lunch. When the start of the meet came closer, we (Francis, David and I) started to look around to see if we could find our friends. First we found Peter and Andrew sitting on the front row. They had checked in at the same hotel we were in, but as they checked in, we already had left. Then I saw that Brian and Andy together with James came walking in. Cameramen had seen Andy so he was filmed straight away. I tried to see if Randy was there but I didn’t see him.

“Didn’t Randy come with you?” I asked them.

“Yea he should be here soon, he saw Alexei in the hallway, so he wanted to say Hi before joining us”.

“Ah good!  Alexei is here as well”.

“Yea he is, I just had a little chat with him” James said with a big smile on his face.

“Good that means we will all be together tonight”.

“Well we have to go and cheer on the others so see you later”.

We walked toward the coach and the other team members.

“So you guys, this is where we end it for this year. What ever the outcome will be, do your best and you can be proud of yourself. Remember not to go over the top and if you are not secure with any of the routines just fall back to the secure one we talked about. Taking risks is ok, but only if you feel like you can handle it. So are we ready?”

The yell we had been doing since the beginning of the season was done now.

“Ok, Francis, Nick and David, you can’t stay with us on the floor.  They don’t approve of that because there would be too many people around, so you can go and sit on the special stands over there”.

He pointed to the near right corner where a half empty bit of the stands was. We wished the others good luck and walked away. We knew that if they didn’t put a solid performance on the floor we would have no chance to end up in the top 3, but if they could, lets say, keep it close to the top 3 we would have a chance to go high.

“Are you going to stay here to watch the others?” I asked David and Francis.

“Yes, are you not staying”? Francis replied.

“No, don’t think I can sit still that long guys. I think I would be eating myself up”.

“Ok, well you can always go back to the locker room. Just make sure we know where you are Nick”.  David said.

I could see that Francis was not happy with this, but I knew I just had to have my own preparations.

“I will.  When I found a spot I will tell you ok?” I said smiling at Francis.

I guess that made him feel a bit better as he smiled back at me and said: “Secure a spot and I might join you”.

“Guys, please that is not what we are here for” David interrupted.

“See you in a Moment, guys”

I walked outside of the venue and saw the park that was beside it. I had noticed it when we arrived. I found a bench beside a pond and decided that would be the best, so I walked back in and told David and Francis where I was. The first routines just started and cheers went up when I left the place.

Good!  Not sure I could deal with seeing all that. It would only make me more and more nervous.

“Hey Nick, you’re not going to watch?” the voice of Alexei came from the other side of the hallway.

I turned around and smiled as Alexei came walking to me and pulled me into a hug. When he let go of me I answered his question. “No, too nerve wracking Alexei. I need another kind of preparation, not the adrenaline build up”.

I showed him the sketchbook.

‘Ah good!  That just might work for you. Remember the things I taught you to focus and you will be ok”.

“Probably yea” I answered less convinced than normal.

“No need for that.  I know you can do it, Nick”.

“Well let’s just say that with everything that has been happening I’m a bit less convinced than I was last time Alexei”.

“I know, but you seem to be dealing with it quite well”.

I hesitated for a Moment. “Well I’m not sure about that Alexei, not after last night. That’s why I decided to go out and draw a bit, to make me as focused as I can get”.

“You want to talk about it Nick?”

“No, not now, I think drawing will just do the trick for me this time but there might be a change. I do want to chat with you later today or tomorrow”.

“Fine, you know I am always there for you”.

“I know.  Are you going to watch it?”

“Yea I will join James and watch the morning around. Just after lunch I will give some demonstrations of 3 or 4 apparatus and then I think it’s your turn”.

We went our separate ways and I ended up on the bench in the park.

I looked around, not sure what I wanted to sketch, but my mind got the picture in my head that I had when I fell asleep last night that of us sleeping together, my hand just over his back and his hand in mine just below his nipple. I tried to see how it would have been to look at the both of us and slowly I started to draw.

For the next hour or even more I just enjoyed myself with putting the image on paper. I must say that I was really focused on it. I knew it would do my concentration a lot of good.

“I know you might not like me to disturb you young man, but if you would have a few minutes”.

That voice, my god I knew it. Then I realized who it was and I looked up from the sketchbook. It was Francis’ Mom.

“I’m, sorry I didn’t hear you sitting down”.

“I know, I have been here for about 5 minutes now I guess”.

I looked at her. She looked nervous just like she did when she was not sure about the things she did.

‘What are you doing here”.

“I think you know that Nick. I couldn’t let this go without having a chance to meet him out of town. And so far I have missed only one meeting with him and I promised myself then it would be the last. So I told my husband I was going to see my sister and went out here”.

“You want to see him?” 

“I don’t know, did you talk with him about it?”

It had been a few weeks since I talked with him about it, but I had no idea how he would respond to it now.  “Yea we have talked about it after I met you in the mall the last time. But like I said I left him free in his choice”.

“I know.  I don’t want you to push him or anything just to bring my message”.

“Well I did that”.

“So you think he might want to see me later today?”

“To be honest I have no idea. If we win he might be in a good enough mood to do that yea, but I’m not sure”.

“Can you ask him?”

“Well, I could tell him that you want to see him and that you are here”. She smiled when I said that.

“I think” I continued,” that will make some difference as it is a sign on your part that you had to do some things to be able to be here”.

“Well I won’t push you into doing anything Nick, as you think it is a good idea.  I will be more than happy to meet him but I will leave it up to him.

“What if he says no”.

“Then I think I won’t chase after him anymore Nick. Although my heart will never stop loving him, I know then that I have done too much damage in the past by not opening my mouth and standing up for him”.

“Ok I will ask him”.

“Thanks Nick. He is really lucky to have you as a friend”.

I made a mental note on the friend bit.

“He might see you already when you are in there. He might get upset when he does”.

“Ah you are afraid that my appearance will make him too nervous to perform?”

“Well could be.  Not sure about it but it will put him off guard for at least some time”.

“Well I will make sure he won’t see me nor recognize me”.

“Good”.

“Thanks Nick”.

“Hmm what for?”

“Just being his friend. Being there for him while we let him drop as a.  . Well you know what I mean”.

“No problem. I know he would have done the same for me”.

“Well I will better leave you to it. When he wants to see me ask the hotel reception for my room. I left notice that it could be given to him if he would ask for it”.

“Ok I will tell him”.

“Good luck Nick and remember to have fun out there”.

“Thanks”.

She was right. Damn I was so uptight these last days. Not only about what had happened but also with looking at the meet to come, but she was right. It was not about winning; well not only, it was about having fun. Oh yea and I was going to make sure I had fun.

I looked at the drawing; it was almost finished.  I could see that but when I looked how long I still had I saw that it was only about 15 minutes before the first round would be finished so I decided to go back and see what the others had done so far.

When I walked in I saw they were sitting on the first row of the team’s area. I saw they were talking very busily. I watched the scoreboard to see where we were. They were competing in the last round and I saw that our team was in the fourth place so they where doing very well. With not too big of a gap between the numbers 1 to 3 we could make it work or at least have a go at it. I walked downstairs until I reached them.

Without saying anything I walked up to where Francis was sitting and there in front of every body I kissed him. Not a ‘hi I am here’ kiss but a kiss to let him know I still love him. I started to hear some comments in the background and I knew I had to let him go.

“Come on guys be careful or do you want your thing to become public knowledge?” David said.

“Sorry Francis but I just couldn’t resist”.

“I don’t mind but David is right we don’t want us to become known yet and we have other things to keep our minds on. How are you? Are you ready for this?”.

“Hmm worried as ever Francis, but I think I’m ok, just going to try to keep focused on things and not let myself get pressured”.

“I know you will, but just think!  The first group did ok; we are close enough to have a chance to win this thing”.

“Down Francis” my brother said. “ We’re just going to try and do our best out there and whatever place we get will be good enough for us as long as we know we all did our best, and I’m sure that’s what the three of us are going to try to do”.

“He is right you know Francis. I think I might even not look at the scoreboard at all.  That worked the last time as well”.

“Sorry guys but I’ve never been so close to any thing like this”.

The face he made with that line made both David and me start laughing at the same time.

“Never mind Francis, I think we all know what you mean”.

Our attention was then drawn to the main area again as the demonstration of Alexei would be starting soon. I think he was going to do three of four exercises in the next forty-five minutes. He would explain a bit about it before he started and again afterwards. Then if there was time there would be some questions answered by him as well.

The time flew by as we enjoyed every single thing Alexei was doing. I knew this was a very good way to prepare us, as there was no time to get nervous about it at all. When he was finished we had about another 20 minutes before we had to start to do our exercises. We went back to our locker room where we tried to focus ourselves on what was coming. The three who had done the morning session for us were gone back into the hall so they wouldn’t disturb us. I could tell they had been pleased with what they had accomplished and also were happy that they weren’t in the afternoon session with all the tension.

I know my Dad was talking to us but none of his information entered my mind. I had taken my drawing book with me to the hall where we needed to perform. I saw that my Dad noticed the strange look on my face, but before he could say anything Francis had dragged me out of there.

We would start with the pommel horse. Not my best thing to start with as I just didn’t have enough power for it, but I knew my flexibility was enough to put out a good performance.

I would go first then Francis and then David. I was just like in the first competition - very focused. I knew what I wanted or needed to do and performed, I guess, exactly as planned. I got a big round of applause when I did the exercise and the judges felt it was a good performance as well. I knew it had been my safety routine but I wanted to start with some building of self-confidence.

The best routines were for the last when we had a good draw for me, if you look at it from that point.

Now the waiting would start.  Francis and then David would perform and then three of one of the other teams. I had packed my drawing book just for that reason. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the look from my Dad when I started to open up my bag and got the sketchbook out of it. He didn’t come any closer to me so I continued and started to draw.

I continued with the picture I was working on outside on the bench. My attention was brought back to the present when Francis ticked me on the shoulder and moved me up for the next round. I smiled at him and got my things and walked on.

The next round were the rings, again an element of force was needed so not really my type of competition, but I had built up a solid routine and knew that if I performed without fault it would give us enough points to keep up.

Again in between the exercises I took my sketchbook. I saw my Dad getting closer, but David held him off.

(Conversation between David and his Dad)

“Stop it Dad. He knows what he’s doing”.

“But he’s just doing his normal safety routines he didn’t even try anything and you can’t say that sketching is a good preparation for it”.

“Well it might be just for him. He has made more progress then I’ve ever seen before with someone and it seems that his training techniques are sometimes a bit unusual, but they get him where we want him.  Right?”

“Probably, yea, but still it looks so strange and I know he can do better then he did in the first two rounds. He will be so disappointed if he didn’t even try”.

“We will see his best routines are still to come and we are still not far behind on the others. I think we even closed the gap a bit”.

“Yea that could be, but we could have been a lot closer, or even overtook them if he had taken some risks there”.

“You know I think that we just need to give him a chance.   He’s doing ok so far”.

“Well I hope he will shape up if we are going to have a chance to win today”.

“Winning Dad?  I thought you told us to have fun today”.

“Oops!  Got me there David.  But to be honest I think this year we have the best chance to win ever”.

“Well we still might, so just make sure to keep us on the edge”.

I didn’t pay too much attention to that conversation as my attention was drawn back to my sketching book. Again it was Francis who got my attention that it was time to move on to the next apparatus, which would be the bars. Now this was more of an apparatus that fit my skills. It’s not the best performance around, but still better then the two I had done so far. I felt secure enough to make sure to set out to perform the highest level of exercises I had practiced. I knew there would be a chance I would fail, but if I slipped up just a bit it would still bring me more points than doing my safety routine.

This time I was the last one of our team to perform so I started to concentrate again on my sketchbook instead of watching the other team members. I knew that that would give me the best concentration possible. I was not even sure that I did a lot of drawing, as I started more and more to focus on the exercises, but it made me focus my concentration. So with the routine in my head I started to perform it. I saw that both Francis and David got the approval of my Dad that probably meant they had done a good job on their performances.

Describing the feeling of standing before the apparatus and doing the exercise is a bit strange and difficult. It is only about 1 minute that you are out there and it is gone by before you know it. I hadn’t talked with others about it so far but when I start the exercise I am more or less given to the order of the routine and it either happens or it doesn’t. I am not able to control it when I am busy. But it felt for sure that good concentration preparations seem to be 70% or more of the task done well.

It also gets my adrenaline shot up as I know that I am finished, but applause or the points given to it are almost never brought to my attention during the first few minutes. I knew that I probably would have done well, as Dad and Francis and David were hugging me when I finished, which is something they hadn’t done before. But I knew I had three more rounds to go and I wanted to keep myself focused as much as I could. I sensed that my Dad was talking to me but he didn’t get through to me as I walked back to my seat, sat down and started drawing again.

Well that is what I think I was doing but more and more I think I was just concentrating on the next exercise. It would be the jump. Now this was a good exercise of me. This time I would be the first one to perform so I knew I had to get ready soon. Again I performed my exercise but this time when I walked away from it there were strange looks on the faces of my team members. I could hear the people in the background applauding, so I knew that it must have been a good performance so I asked.

“Something wrong guys?”

It was silent for a bit longer, then the three of them jumped at me and hugged me, almost squeezed the air out of me.

“Nothing wrong Nick, just going with your preparation for your next exercise”.

I sighed in relief and walked back to my chair. I got out my sketchbook again when I was finished changing for the next round.

I looked up to see how far along they were a few times, and I saw strange and funny looks on the face of the others from time to time, but I was not going to let that disturb me so I went on with focusing myself. I knew I had the next round, the parallel bars, in my head and the routine that I needed to do.

Not a lot happened from then on.  Again Francis made sure that I did the transfer on time with the others to the new apparatus, but I kept on focusing on my drawing most of the time.

This was an apparatus I knew I could do well on if I wanted to, so I decided to do my most difficult exercise. Again it went by in a jiffy.  This time I could hear the crowed making an even more incredible noise, so I started to look around a bit more when I walked down the stairs to the others and my chair.

“My god, they are acting like I have done something exceptional, but it was just the best I could”. I said to the others who were standing there with great smiles on there face.

“He’s doing it again.”  David said.

“What?” I asked.

“You really have no idea do you Nick?” Francis asked this time.

“No.  I’m just doing the best I can”.

“Well so far that is more than enough Nick” my Dad said.

“Well I’m having fun and that’s what you told us to do so”.

“I know Nick so just go on with your preparations for the last bit, the floor has always been your best”.

I walked towards my chair and noticed that Francis followed me.

So when I was dressed for the last bit and before taking the sketchbook up in my hand, I looked sideways to Francis. “ So what kind of points did I got on that last one?”

I started to get a bit more interested in the results now we are getting to the latest round.

“Well you got a 5.8 Nick.  That’s the highest score on that apparatus until now”.

“Can’t be!  The routine I did got me a 5.5 maximum if I performed it correctly”.

“Well you got more so that was good.”

I decided I’d better concentrate on the next and last apparatus instead of wondering how that was possible. I felt that Francis did the same and just sat beside me. We walked to the last round a bit later as we were now the last three that would perform with me on the end doing the last bit for our team.

I looked at the scoreboard and I was a bit startled to see the individual ranking.  I was up there on the top 5 together with Francis and three others. ‘This couldn’t be true,’ I thought. Then the team results came in and there we were on top of the scoreboard.  I looked at Francis.

“How is that possible?”

“Well to be honest Nick, you just have to see what you’ve been doing, and I guess neither David nor me has made a mistake yet, so I guess we are doing really well”.

“Do you think we have a chance to win Francis?”

“It all depends on the last round.  You can see that there isn’t a lot of difference between the first three. If we just are a bit under score we will end up 3^rd or we could end up 1^st if we compete as good as we have been doing”.

‘Wow!  And I am the last to perform”.

“Well normally yes, as the floor takes up the most time of the exercises and you are the last one up so I guess that would mean that you would be the last”.

“Just let me prepare then, and don’t say anything before I have to go up there or I will lose it completely”.

“Ok, you got it Nick, whatever works for you”.

I got my drawing book again and for the next minutes I concentrated on the picture rather then on me going to perform. I could sense that there was a lot going on around me, as it seems that the level of noise got louder by the minute. I saw every body cheering after David had finished, but I got my look back on my sketch before my attention was drawn to Francis’ performance. A Moment later I got a tap on my shoulder. When I looked up I saw that Dad was looking at me.

“Are you ready Nick?”

“Yea, guess so”.

“Well you better go out there then”.

 I saw in the corner of my eye that they were congratulating Francis, so I knew I better not fuck up. I walked up to the platform and I waited until I could start. I closed my eyes and made sure that the whole routine was in front of me. I knew I could do it, there was no question about it, but I just needed to get it in the right time. I felt the tension starting to grow around me but at the same time my level of concentration was reaching an incredible level. I opened my eyes and looked at the judges. I nodded, got their approval to start my exercise. I stepped into one of the corners of the floor.

One more time I closed my eyes and started to do the exercise in my mind. I knew I hadn’t much time up here, but I wanted to use as much as I could. When I finished the routine in my head I opened my eyes and felt energy swirling throughout my complete body. I started my ……….

Well I must admit, looking back at what I did there, that there is little in my memory left of the live action. When I look at the videotape of it I still can’t believe that I did what I did. But the excitement afterwards is something I didn’t need to look at the videotape for. Within seconds after I finished, I felt David, Francis and Dad around me, hugging me, followed by the other team members who had come down on the floor. I ended up sitting on the floor, still not realizing what I had done, but with the others close around me. I could hear my name so I looked up.

“Incredible Nick!  How did you do that?”

I saw it was Francis who was almost sitting beside me. He took his hand and threw it over my shoulder on the other side giving me a big hug and before I knew it even a kiss on my cheek. I just smiled at him. I could feel that I was tired and I also started to feel muscles I didn’t know that I had.

“So we won?”

“What a question do you think we would be here hugging you if we hadn’t?”

“No, I guess not. But my god I am feeling tired, and my muscles Francis!  I really need to get up”.

He helped me to stand up and we slowly started to make our way out of the human gathering on the floor platform. I saw that besides the teammates, also a lot of kids from our school who had come with us to cheer us on were there now. When we came to the edge I saw Alexei standing there with an incredible smile on his face.

“If I would have known you would do that Nick I would have tried to make it a bit easier for you. I’m sure you are feeling muscles you have never used before”.

“Yea, you can say that again. It is strange I have done these exercises now for a few weeks but they never hurt me like they did today”.

“Are you sure Nick?”

“Sure about what Alexei?”

“He really doesn’t know does he Francis?”

“No I guess not.  Did you see what he got for a score on that last part?”

“Yea, are you afraid he overtook you overall?”

“No I already knew he couldn’t after my own performance Alexei”.

“So what did I get?” I asked them.

“You really have no idea do you Nick?”

“Idea about what Alexei?  If you mean can I remember that I have been up there doing my exercise I must say no, I hardly can remember, but I nailed it perfectly I should say to get every one so enthusiastic”.

“My god you are incredible Nick”.

“What? I just did the routine that we practiced when you were last down”.

Both Francis and Alexei had started to laugh and I saw from the corner of my eye that Dad had joined us and was laughing too.

“I think Nick, it’s time you turned around. They are going to show the highest score exercise of the last round again on the scoreboard and I think it will be you”.

I looked from one to the other and then decided to turn around. On the scoreboard there was no score, just the words “high score last round exercise” and then there was the picture of me standing on the corner of the floor. I turned around and said: “So what? I nailed it perfectly. What more do you want?”

“Just look Nick” my Dad said.

Then I started to notice that everyone in there started to look at the screen too and most of the noise seemed to start to ebb away. I looked again at the screen where I just started to make some speed for the first tumbling sequence. I saw that I finished perfectly just like I said I had, but then when I landed on my two feet stable, I started to realize that the sequence I just had done was not the one from my routine but a more difficult one.

“What?”  I said as I looked at the others. “Just watch” Alexei said. “ and enjoy”.

I turned back to the screen to see new tumbling sequences there done perfectly, but again not the ones that I had learned.

This couldn’t be true!  Where did I see those tumbles? I never had practiced them and I nailed  them. I watched me standing in the Position. The last bit before the closing tumble. Again I watched with great surprise what happened next. I tried this one once just for fun landing on my bum halfway through, and now, incredibly I just did them all, all the tumbles, twists and salto’s. When I stood on my feet again there started a round of applause through the audience. First I thought it was from the screen, but then it started to become clear to me that again the audience was going wild. I looked back this time and had only one question.

“What happened?”

Francis was beside me again and whispered in my ear. “Not sure Nick, but it seems you just copied Alexei’s demonstration on the last three exercises”.

“No!” I yelled a bit harder then I meant to, but when I looked up to Alexei’s face I could tell that Francis was right.

‘Impossible!’  I thought. ‘This could not be happening.’ Then I realized that Francis backed off a bit. It took me a while to understand why, but then I saw that it had gone darker in the hall and the main spotlight was directed at our group. The speaker called Alexei’s name and something else that I couldn’t get through to my brain but before I knew it I was pushed by Alexei back on the main platform.

I walked beside him towards the speaker who had positioned himself on the other side. I saw that Alexei was waving at the audience and slowly I started to look around more. People were standing and still applauding. I looked up at Alexei.

“You did it Nick. Incredible I must say but you just did it. I always knew you had it in you but that it would come along so fast is incredible. You should know how many hours I had to put into that routine to do it”.

“Sorry Alexei”.

“No don’t be Nick, enjoy your performance and try to get the most out of the talent you have, although I don’t know which talent it is that made you do this”.

We arrived at the speaker and the audience got quiet. I looked around. I saw my team members standing at the side of the platform all smiling. I saw our friends at the other side cheering when they saw I was looking at them. I smiled back a bit. Then just before I returned my attention to the speaker and Alexei, I saw Francis’ Mom sitting at the back on the right hand side. My god I had to tell him later. I almost forgot it. How could I? Well we had won, that might make it a bit easier to understand. My thoughts were overruled then bye the fact that Alexei mentioned my name. I looked at him and saw that the microphone was held under my nose. Hmm, now what had been the question? But then Alexei repeated.

“Oh, hi I’m Nick”.

“Hi Nick, how did you manage to do that?” the speaker asked.

“I have no idea to be honest but I’m sure that my friends and our coach should be here with me. I would have never been able to do this without them”.

“I can see that. Alexei just mentioned that you were the biggest talent he had seen for a few years in America, does that mean you are going to go on and try to qualify for the national team Nick?”

‘Wow!’ I thought. I looked at Alexei who only smiled. “Well to be honest I never thought about that, I just wanted to make sure I had a good time out there today and see if I could show the audience what I could do”.

“Well I’m sure you managed to do that. I don’t think you realized what you did on that floor a Moment ago young man.  As far as I can tell there has not been any state final where the perfect score has been handed out ever. But then again congratulations for this Nick and people out there let’s give him a great round of applause as I am sure we will see more of him around”.

Applause started to roll through the place and I shyly waved around. Then I winked at the others to join us in the middle and without any hesitation they came running toward me. I must say it ended up in another big team celebration.

A few minutes later the coach calmed us down, although I could see that he was looking very happy as well. He calmed us down when the teams on the second and third place joined us on the platform for the medal presentation. We applauded when they walked up there with us. Praises were made and I even did see the big guy from one of our first meets. He smiled and winked at me. But with Francis beside me I knew I had all that I wanted.

Prizes where handed out by some state figures as well as Alexei. Like I said our team won the team competition and Francis won the individual competition with me on the third place and David was 7^th. So all in all, not a bad result.

I have no idea how long all this took before we were able to get back to our locker room. Our friends had tried to get there too but even Alexei didn’t manage to get them through.

“May I say something?”  Dad asked when we were all sitting but still talking about the day.

“Shhhh” Francis helped him.

“Thanks Francis. I must say guys that I still can’t believe we did it. I hoped for it, I dreamed for it, but I must say ‘thanks’ to all of you for doing exactly what we hoped for. Each of you made this possible”.

“Well we could not have done it without you and Alexei, Sir” one of the team members said.

This was cheered by the others.

“Ok, so now I think you all are tired, so I guess an early night is in order don’t you think?”

Some of the guys looked at him to see if he really meant that, but David and I knew better than that.

“Yea I think that’s a good idea Dad?” David said.

Now my Dad looked curious.

“In my dreams”  David added then.

“Lets get ourselves cleaned up and go partyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

“Ok guys, get cleaned up and I’ll see you in the bus in half an hour”.

The guys got undressed and walked towards the shower. Francis got a hold of me and we were the last ones going in that direction.

“Wait a second Nick”.

I looked at him, wanting to ask what he wanted but I could see what it was at that Moment right there.

“Here Francis?”

“Well, I want to celebrate this with you Nick. I think we did something amazing today. So I checked the place a bit just before we came in here”.

“Oh?  And now what?”

“Well we have half an hour”.

“Yea, but we need to shower too”.

“Yep, that’s why this is such a good idea. Just come with me”.

He turned away to the other side of the locker room. There was a door with a sign on it maintenance. Now what was he planning to do there?  Not a place we could shower I guess.

The door was open and we entered. It was a bigger room then I expected.

“Look what I found” Francis said while he pushed a curtain open.

A nice big shower area was shown together with some strange looking devices.

“There is no one that can enter this Francis?”

“I tried the other doors Nick, and they are locked, so I think we’re safe as long as we don’t stay too long. Come on let’s get under it”.

I dropped the towel and followed Francis into the stall.

“You know you were incredible today Nick”.

“Hmm you didn’t do too bad yourself Francis”.

“Yea but I practiced, practiced a lot.  For you this seems just like it is something you can do without effort”.

“Sorry”.

“Don’t be!  Just enjoy it”.

“Come here Francis”.  We embraced each other while the water started to run from several places of the device. It was a massage shower with streams from several area’s. One I felt on my left bum and another one on my back.

“Great! I love you Francis”.

A slow but intense kiss stopped him from answering. I slowly started to discover the inside of his mouth with my tongue. Slow but keeping the suction at a high level. The warm feeling of that was just so good. I slowly started to move my hands through his hairs and then slowly over his back.

I felt his hands almost copying my movements. I got a bit of shower gel and started to wash his beautiful body with it. Wow!  Incredible how I could enjoy that soft touch of his hands on my body and at the same time still enjoy every bit of his body just like it was the first time I touched him.

I went down on my knees to do his legs. He rested himself against the wall. I went down to his foot leaving his crotch for later. I could feel the heat of his hot organ just a few inches from my face but I tried to ignore it for the Moment. When I had done his feet I moved a bit higher and I could feel Francis shiver with anticipation. I got more shower gel on my hands then started to move my hands from his balls slowly up to the top of his dick.

Some moans left his lips while I moved my hand up and down. Taking some more soap I slowly started to rub on his bum, slicing with one finger around and up his love whole too.

“Oh yea Nick”.    I knew that he wanted to continue there, but I was not sure I wanted to, so I just brought my hand back to his dick, stroking it faster and faster. I wanted to kiss him so I slowly stood up without changing the position of my hands. He had his eyes closed so I just put my lips on his and with a bit of pressure I opened his mouth.

I felt his hands take hold of my dick and start to jack it slowly. When we came up for air I saw that he had opened his eyes.

“Will you fuck me Nick?”

Now did I hear that correctly? We had never spoken about it before. Where did this come from? Did he really want to do that now and here?

“What Francis?”

“Will you fuck me Nick?”

“Now?  Here?”

“Mm...well… mm yea, maybe, if you want to”.

I hugged him instead of giving him a reply as I felt flattered by it. So far we hadn’t done that and I know that he was waiting for me to get that far along.  But here?  And now?

“Oh I want to Francis you just took me a bit by surprise”.

I now took his dick and mine in my hands and was rubbing them together. Wow!  This felt really great.  We never did this before.

“I know we didn’t talk about this my love. But I just want to feel that amazing tool of yours inside me”.

“You don’t know how good this make me feel Francis but I am not sure about the time and the place. I don’t want to do this in a hurry, and we don’t have a lot of time”.

“Hmm yea you’re probably right”.

“But I promise soon ok?”

“Yea, fine, it’s just I am so in love with you Nick. I just.“

“I know Francis. I can feel it right in my hands at the Moment”.

I kissed him again, before he could say anything. At the same time I moved my hands rhythmically over our dicks. His hands were there too but then I could feel his hand going over my balls starting to massage them softly. An idea came to my mind. With one hand I got one of his hands and brought it back up to our dicks. He understood what I wanted and while we kissed even more passionately, we made a fist each with one hand around our dicks. With the other hand we were massaging each other balls. My god this was hot!

Then I could feel his balls tighten and a Moment later he started to shake and a moan left his mouth to enter mine. Well if you ever have felt something like that, then you know that was enough to trigger me as well and soon his spurts of cum were followed by mine.

I wanted to let go of our dicks, but Francis kept it steady. I couldn’t get away while Francis kept moving our fists over our dicks. First it was a bit unpleasant but he continued in the same rhythm, which made me horny again. I opened my eyes and saw that Francis was looking at me. My god how I loved him!  Those incredible eyes!  But before I could think any further he had his mouth over mine once more and thinking became impossible.

It didn’t took me long to feel another orgasm getting nearer. I could tell that my moans were almost simultaneous with his. But then I felt spurts of cum getting closer and I stopped kissing him to shout out a very loud moan. I opened my eyes and saw that Francis was almost in the same state, then he let out a loud moan and both our dicks started to shoot again. I never had felt a second orgasm so fast after the first but it was wonderful.

We looked into each other’s eyes. I wanted to say something but I knew that what I had just felt could not be described at this Moment. I just moved a bit closer to him and this time softly touched his lips with mine.

“Thanks Francis, that was great. I love you so much,” I whispered softly between our lips. I knew he heard it when a smile appeared on his face.

‘I know Nick and I think that I know how much you love me as I love you very much too”.

The water of the shower was still pouring over our heads and jetting our bodies. When I stepped back I could see that the last of our cum had found it’s way to the drain.

“We better get back don’t you think?”

“I guess so, but I just needed this to get me through the rest of the celebration”.

We stepped out of the shower and dried each other off. Then Francis slowly opened the door to the locker room. No one was in the locker room. There were fewer bags than there had been before so some of them were already gone to the bus, but others were still inside somewhere.  Well at least we were lucky and there was nobody around to see us sneaking back.

A Moment later David came walking from the shower area, but he already had his clothes on.

“Mmm hmm?  Where did you two sneak off to?  I was looking for you in the shower but you weren’t there”.

I knew that once again our faces said it all as we started to blush big time.

“It’s good that I offered to stay here and check the shower area while others went outside. Nobody could remember that you walked with us into the shower and now here you are, so I think I better lie and say you were in the showers. But you should be careful guys”.

We just nodded. “Hmm speechless.  Well at least that is something I managed, now get on with it; we want to start the celebrations”.

Giggling like two schoolgirls, we started to get dressed. David had left to warn the others we would be out soon. Well not out but well, you know what I mean. It was good that my Dad and David think about these things otherwise we would have been out already.

“Ah there you are guys.  What took you so long?” One of our team members asked.

“We just wanted to relax and make sure we were clean”.  Francis answered.

I saw that David was making a face like ‘yea I know’.

“Well Coach just told us that we are going to have a dinner first at the hotel as a team, then our family and friends that are here are going to join us and we can see what we want to do”.

“Sounds like a plan” I answered him.

When I wanted to step into the bus my Dad took me aside.

“Nick, whatever you were doing, you were lucky that David was there.  I’m sure that otherwise someone else would have found you wherever you were hiding out”.

“Sorry Dad, we just wanted to celebrate this together as well”.

“Well just be careful.  Tonight some of the guys might otherwise start to have idea’s about you two”.

“I think we’ll be ok now and we will have our party with friends later on tonight after dinner if I’m right”.

“Yea but some of them might not be able to sneak away so soon Nick, like Alexei. I think the others want to talk with him too”.

“Well we will see. I think we can manage to get away with some kind of excuse”.

“Just let me know when you are off, where too and with who ok?”.

“Yep, I can give you David’s cell phone number so you know where we are and how to reach us if necessary”.

“Is he going along with you?

“He said he was. I think that Kathy is here somewhere too so I guess they will go”.

“Yea it seems like every one from school is here today”.

He was right about that.  It looked indeed like a lot of people from school had turned up to watch us. I didn’t realize that so many people knew we were going to go for the state finals. I had seen some announcements on the boards but I guess that was all at that time. I just had been too preoccupied with other stuff I guess.

We got on the buss and sat down somewhere in the middle. The guys were still chatting all excited about what had happened. I guess they were right; it was some kind of thing to pull off. Who had ever thought that we would win (well perhaps you who are following this story did as there was no way as a writer I could not let them win I guess).

We arrived at the hotel and were directed to one of the corners of the dining room. I guess they wanted us a bit out of the way. We were all sitting around a big table, my Dad sitting on one side beside me and Francis on the other. I guess every one on the team knew we were at least starting to be good friends.

We had a nice and not so quiet dinner. I was asked to explain again what I did that afternoon that got me so incredibly concentrated.

“And then memorizing Alexei’s exercises!  How did you do that Nick?”

“I have no idea although, well perhaps. You all have seen me drawing lately. I have done that in the past a lot. One of the things I do when I’m drawing is taking the image of what I want to draw into my mind and keep focusing on it. I guess that the concentration exercises Alexei taught us made me do it even better than I always was able to do. When I was drawing and needed to finish it another time, I just pictured the image in my mind the Moment I want to go on with the drawing. It seems that I did that with Alexei’s exercises as well”.

“Could be part of the reason Nick”.  David said.

“Still, doing them almost perfectly, that’s something else” one of the team members more or less mumbled”.

“I know. And I guess I have very little explanation for that.  It just seems like I have this incredible natural talent or something. That’s the only reason I can give for it to be honest”.

“Well what ever it was, you helped us get there at the end Nick”.

“Oh but it was a team effort guys. If you had not been there with me practicing and all I am not sure I would have ever gotten this far at all”.

“So you will stay on the team then Nick?”

“Yea why not? As long as you want me there”.

“Of course!  Better you than that asshole Mike”.

I looked closer to the one who had said that. There was a dark cloud passing over his face the Moment he mentioned Mike. What was happening here?  How did Mike get to be known as an asshole?  I thought that when I started on the team, Mike was appreciate and a good member of the team. I guess I had been wrong in that at the end.

Around 7 I think it was, there was a big group of people entered the dining room, making lots of noise and making the other guest look kind of disturbed by it all.

“Follow me gentlemen they should be right here”.  That was Alexei I thought, and I looked over my shoulder to see who he was bringing with him. I saw there was a big crowd of people following Alexei and a few people with cameras on their shoulders.

When they came closer one of them stepped out of the group holding a microphone in the middle of the table.

“So this is the great bunch of our city that made us proud today, becoming the first state champions in a college sports match”.

‘Wow!’  I thought, had never ever a team won the state final in anything? I knew we had a lousy football team but I thought that the swim and basketball teams were up to a higher level as well.

“Yea, I guess these are the ones”.  My Dad said.

“And you are the coach?” The guy with the mic asked.

“Yep, I am”.

“How did this all happen sir? The team has never ever made it to the state finals and now they just won it”.

“I guess we are having a tremendous group of new, talented guys around”.

“So we were told. Would you introduce them to us?”

We were then interrupted by one of the waiters. “Sir, I ask you to please keep a bit quiet in the dining room. There are some people complaining about it all”.

“You want to have an interview with the guys” my Dad asked the guy with the mic.

“Yea that’s the reason I drove all the way up when news came over the internet that you had won the state finals. If I had known, we would have been here this afternoon”.

“Do you have a small room where this can take place?”  Dad asked the waiter.

“Yes, there is one just along the lobby of the hotel which is used for such things”.

“Can we use it?”

“Let me check with the front desk; I’ll be right back”.  The waiter left the table and the cameras had been turned off in the meantime.

I looked around and saw that James was close by where Alexei was; also Brian, Andy, Peter and Andrew were not too far away. But other people were around there too. We were lead by someone from the hotel to one of the rooms that was just off the hotel entrance.  There was no door for it so a lot of people came walking in after us, making it a pretty good crowd.

“Ok lets continue.  You were going to introduce us to the team members and more particularly to the talented ones that made this possible”.

“Let start me by saying that talented or not this was a team effort. They couldn’t have done this without any of them”.

“Ok but what has made the difference with them this year coach? You are new with the team are you not?’

“Yes, I just started this year but it was not me that did this. We had some new team members as well”.

“Ok, so who are they?”

He started by introducing the old members first, giving them the credit for being on the team more then just one year.

“So that brings us to the new members I guess” the reporter said.

It seems that someone had been giving him a lot of information about us already and when I looked at Alexei I saw a big smile on his face. I knew somehow that he was behind all of this.

“Well first of all, there is David. He just joined the team this year but has been doing gymnastics for several years now”.

“Ah!  And he is also your son isn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s right. Then we have Francis, who moved to this city this year and has been doing gymnastics on a high level for more than a few years now”.

“That leaves only one I guess”.

“Yes that’s another son of mine, to be honest. His name is Nick and he started gymnastics only this year”.

Damn!  Why did he have to tell the reporter that. I sensed the way his voice sounded there was a lot of pride there as well.

“Ah!  So this is the young man that did the incredible stuff. I saw some of your performances just before we came to the hotel but you where incredibly good Nick. How did you manage that?”

“Well with help of a lot of people I guess”.

“That’s easy to say Nick, but you must have some secret to have done this all in one year. I think that a lot of your team members would have loved to be so good in just one year”.

“Maybe I am just a natural, but still, if it hadn’t been for the coach, all the guys, the school facilities or Alexei we would not have been able to do this”.

“Now it’s funny you mention him. Can you come over here Mr. Nemov?”

“Of course.” Alexei came closer and the reporter continued now with him.

“So here we have a former world and Olympic champion, Alexei Nemov. May we ask what you have been doing here today?”

“To be honest, I am part of a youth encouragement program in which known gymnasts go and train for a few weeks at a local club. I have had the honor to give the guys here some pointers during a few weeks this last season”.

“So what do you think of this team?  Is there more to it then just state champions?”

“To be honest yes, I think there are 2 or 3 who can make it up to the national level if they have the guts for it”.

“So you think that our town is going to have some very good athletes with these guys then?”

“Like I said” Alexei continued now, “ there’s some incredible talent around, some natural, some technical, so indeed I think if they get a break they can get very far”.

Then I knew why he had done it. The request for subsidizing the trip to Europe. Alexei was not doing thisfor us alone but also for himself and the chance to get James with him on the trip.

“Well I guess that is good news.  Can I ask you one thing; is it really true that Nick here copied your demonstrations of early this afternoon and then performed them almost as well as you did, in the competition a little while later?”

Wow!  I saw that the camera had moved from Alexei to me and back during this question. Blood started to pulse hard through my veins.

“Yes, on the last three routines he just seemed to copy them and I must say that there needs to be a bit more work done to come to my level, but for a guy his age he did them marvelously”.

“How do you think that this is possible Alexei?”

“I have no idea. I think you have to ask the coach or Nick”.

The reporter turned himself now towards me “ And Nick how do you think you pulled this little stunt of yours today?”

“To be honest I have no idea Sir. I seem to have an incredibly good way of concentrating just before a meet, but that’s all as far as I know”.

“Do you agree with that?” the reporter now asked my Dad.

I knew this was my chance and I stepped back so I was not in the middle of all this anymore. I was not sure I liked being in the spotlight like that. Happily for me the reporter didn’t seem to mind either as he moved to the other team members with questions. I looked around more now to see who all was there. I spotted Kathy as well as several of our friends from school. Then suddenly toward the back I saw Francis’ Mom.

Oh no she was here and there had been no opportunity to let Francis know she was here. Now what?  I concentrated on her and Francis. Then suddenly the reporter had asked the last question and the room filled with even more people. I got hugged by several and kissed by Kathy for what we had done. I wanted to get away from it. I didn’t like to be in such a crowded room. I had never felt like this before, but somehow I was not comfortable with it all.

“Hey there you are. Congratulations Nick, you were incredible”. I turned around and saw Andrew’s two arms held open to hug me.

“Thanks Andrew, I just did my best” I replied but not moving my arms to receive the hugs. This was not the place and time for it I thought. There were just too many people around.

“Not so modest Nick, if it hadn’t been for your performance they would never have won the title”.

“Maybe they would; it’s something you never know Andrew”.

“That’s true Nick, so when are we going to party”.

“I don’t know. I want to see if we can get away soon. Maybe you can go around and let every body know. Lets say in about 45 minutes in the lobby. By that time the reporter should have gone and the crowd a bit dispersed”.

“Good idea. Will you stay here all the time?”

“No, I think I want to go up to the room and change before going out”.

“Ok, I’ll let the others know”.

I looked around to see if I could find Francis to ask him if he was ready to go upstairs. I saw him with some friends almost at the entrance of the room. I walked towards them but just as I was doing that I saw his Mom moving closer from the other side. I knew then that I would be too late.

“Francis” I heard her say. I looked at Francis and I saw that he had heard her as well although he had his right backside towards her.

“Francis” she said again.

I saw that all the color left his face. Happily for me I had reached him by that time and I put my hand on his shoulder when he turned around.

“You!  What the hell are you doing here?”

‘Oh no!’ I thought, ‘this is going totally wrong. Now what?’ I thought.

“Francis” There was a lot of plea in that voice.

The people around us were moving back as they wanted to give us some privacy. I guess some of them knew that Francis was not living at home, and realized that this was his Mom.

“Incredible that you have the guts to turn up here after ..” his voice broke and he looked down to the ground”.

“ Francis please, I just wanted to congratulate you with your and your teams performance”. She had her hand out but he didn’t move. I knew he must have seen it from the corner of his eyes.

He didn’t take it.  Instead he turned towards me and said: “I’m going to my room.  Are you joining me?”

Without even giving any sign that he acknowledged his Mom’s presence he left to walk to the elevator. I moved a bit slower and went after him. I was stopped by Francis’ Mom’s voice: “Nick, please”.

I knew there was nothing I could do at that Moment. When I turned I saw tears in her eyes and a lot of people behind her watching us. “I will see what I can do” I replied softly to her and turned around just in time to reach Francis as he stepped into the elevator.

“Oh Nick, what now?” and with that he started to cry and threw himself in my arms.

I had no idea but this looks like a breakdown of some sort. So I just held him for a while. He cried all the way up to our floor. I got him out of the elevator and we went into our room.

{Ok keep track of these brackets now guys, as they will say where we are in the hotel during the rest of the story}.

{Meanwhile downstairs in the lobby}

“Madam, can I help you?”

“What?  Who are you?  Leave me alone. I am doomed”. She answered.

“No you’re not, just let us get out of the crowd a bit”.

They moved to the other side of the lobby.

“Don’t I know you?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure if you remember me but I visited your house once”.

{Still in the back of the room where the interview was held}

“Hey guys I just talked with Nick and he wants us to meet him in 45 minutes and then see if we can find a place to celebrate, but I’m just not sure anymore”.

“He will be able to cool down Francis, Andrew, don’t worry they will be down later”.

“Do you think so David?  Maybe we should give them a bit more time lets meet in 90 minutes; that will give them time to sort out the mess and we can refresh ourselves in the meantime”.

“Good, but I don’t think I want to go back to my room now Kathy, they need their privacy”.

“Well you can come to mine. I have to talk with you anyway”.

“Thanks for letting us know Andrew will you tell the others?”

“Ok, I will.  We have rooms in a row so I will slip a not under their doors as I think that Brian and Andy already left. They were a bit afraid the reporter might recognize Andy”.

{In another corner of the room}

“I’m glad you are here Alexei”.

“I just couldn’t stand not to see. It just seems that I am starting to fall more and more for you”.

“Hmm I know what you mean but not here James, the reporter is still around”.

“So what? You are known to be bi you said”.

“Yea but I don’t think that you want your Mom to find out you are gay like this”.

“Oops!  No she better not. It is so hard to keep my hands off of you, you know”.

“Well in that case James, I think we better go back to my room. I think we are supposed to meet the others in 45 minutes downstairs in the lobby so just enough time to .……”.

{Back in the bedroom of Francis and Nick}.

He continued to sob instead of crying when we sat down on the edge of the bed. I just rubbed his back.

“Sorry you had to find out like this that she was here Francis. If there had been time I would have liked to prepare you for this”.

He shot up when I said this and while he looked at me he said: “You knew she was in town?”

“Yes. She came up to me while I was drawing in the park”.

“Sucked up to you I suppose” he replied.

“No she just wanted to know if I had talked with you and if there was any chance you might want to see her”.

“Yea, sucked up to you like I said”.

“Why are you like this Francis?  You knew she talked with me before and would probably do it again to find out the answer”.

“So what did you tell her?”

“Nothing Francis, nothing.  Just that we talked about it after I last saw her, but that I had no idea if you wanted to see her”.

“Yea she should have stayed away”.

“Are you sure about that Francis?”

“I haven’t given it much though since our last conversation about it Nick, so I still have no idea”.

“Well she said she would try one more time to talk with you and if you didn’t want to she would agree with it and never try to contact you again”.

“Well I guess that says enough”.

“What do you mean Francis?”

“Well if that’s all the effort that she wants to put into this, after what they have done to me then I don’t want to talk with her”.

“Oh shit!  I think my last words came out wrong. what she meant was that she would respect your wishes if you decided you wouldn’t want to see her anymore”.

“Oh!  So I guess I just told her that didn’t I”.

“Maybe, I guess she’s still around downstairs.  If you would want to talk with her I could go down to get her”.

He was silent for a Moment, staring into my eyes.

“What did she tell you this afternoon Nick?”

‘Ah!’ I thought, ‘some interest awakened.  That might be the start of things.’ 

Although I wanted it to be, it was Francis’ own decision.  I knew what life without a Mom was. I missed her even after she left without a word. I was just hoping that there was a way that they could get back together again.

“Well she told me that she was here to see you perform. She said that the last match was the only one she ever missed and she could not live with that so she came to town today to at least see you in action and maybe have a chance to talk with you”.

“Oh. Does my Dad know she’s here?”

“No, she said that she told him she was visiting her sister and she didn’t want him to find out either”.

“So are you ready to let her out of your life or do you want me to go downstairs and say that you are willing to talk with her?”

I knew this was a major decision for him. I felt guilty for putting him through this but I had to try. On the other hand, I was willing to accept his Mom’s point of view that she would not pursue if he didn’t want to.

He looked into my eyes I stared back at him, but I couldn’t predict what his answer would be.

{Back in the lobby}

“Yes, I think you know me madam. I visited your house once”.

“Ah then you must be Nick’s Dad”.

“Yes, that’s me. And Francis’ Coach”.

“You have a remarkable son Sir”.

“Because what he did this afternoon”.

“No, well maybe that too, but more in the way he’s standing up for Francis”.

“You talked with Nick?”

“Yes. Twice.  A few weeks back at the mall and this afternoon at the meet. I wanted to find out how Francis reacted to me”.

“Oh”.

“And I guess we just found out” she said with a big sigh.

“Well let’s just wait and sit here I think Nick could turn him around”.

“You think so? I don’t know.  Francis can be as stubborn as his father sometimes can be”.

“I know, but I think that Nick will have a shot at this”.

“Are you sure?  He said he would not try to convince Francis, that he needed to make up his own mind about it”.

“Yes, that’s what he told you, but I think that in this situation Nick will do a bit more than that”.

“Why do you think so Sir?”

“I’m not sure if it is up to me to tell you this, but well, it could help you to understand Nick and maybe Francis a bit better. You know Nick has changed a lot lately.  He has never been as self confident as he has been lately, or well, not in a long time I guess. After ………..

{In the meantime back in Alexei’s  room}

“Come here baby, I can hardly wait to feel that hard shape of yours in my mouth”. 

“Wow calm down James, some of us had to perform today.  I think I am one smelly bitch”.

“Maybe that’s just the way I like you Alexei”.

“Hmm, lets gets undressed and …”

“Yea good idea.”  And with that James started to rip clothes off Alexei.

“I was not finished James, I wanted to say lets get undressed and shower first”.

“Oh even better.” he said with an evil grin on his face.

“Yea, yea tell me about it”.

{In the meantime in Kathy’s room}

“You wanted to talk with me Kathy?”

“Yes David.  How long have we been going together?”

“About 2,5 years I think”.

“Yes, that’s about right. Do you ever think of the future?”

“Future of us you mean?”

“Yes”.

“Mmm yea well, I guess”.

“And what do you see then?”

“Well I guess we will finish college, go to the uni, and then marry at some point”.

“Yes, that is the general view of it, but ever though about when to marry or have children?”

“Well not exactly Kathy, no need to rush into things”.

Kathy turned away from David and looked the other way.

“What Kathy?  What?”

{In the meantime back in the bedroom of Nick and Francis}.

“You know Francis, I said I would never pursue it and that it would be your own decision”.

“Yea I know Nicky, but still I don’t know what to do”.

“Well just something to maybe help you Francis. I never told you about my Mom did I?”

“No you didn’t Nick”.

“I never talked about her I guess”.

“Why is that Nicky?”

“I miss her Francis, more then anything in the world”.

“Oh” he said waiting for me to continue.

“You know she was always there for as far as I could remember and then suddenly she was gone. We never found out where she went or why she left. But it was not until then that I knew what kind of role she played in my life Francis. The drawing that I do, the way I care for things. Most of it is her doing. I never would have been the Nick I am today were it not for her and it took me a long time after she went away to be able to do once again those things that I did with her.”

“That’s why you stopped drawing”.

“Guess so. It just felt like I couldn’t do it anymore; as if she had taken that with her. And there is more but … “.

“You don’t have to tell me Nick. I think you have said enough. It would be stupid to leave her downstairs without even listening to here wouldn’t it?”

“Yes I think so, but it must be your own decision Francis, not one you made because of what I said”.

“It isn’t Nick, part of me was already thinking that, but another maybe bigger parts is mad at her”.

“Oh I know the anger Francis.  You think I don’t have any?”

We fell into each other’s arms and hugged for a while.

“So now what?”  Francis asked me.

{In the meantime down in the lobby}.

“Thanks for telling me that sir. I had no right to it, but at least I know now why you think that Nick will be able to help Francis to decide”.

“Well the only thing that we can do is wait and see”.

“You really managed to raise him up fine didn’t you?  Even when your wife left you”.

“Yea well, I must admit that I do my best, but with Nick I know sometimes that’s just not enough.  There’s so much of him to go around. Sometimes Im not sure I can find all that is in him. I think he knows not even himself the things that he is capable of doing. He keeps surprising me more and more.  That’s something I never have to think about with David. With him it is just if I see myself,  that makes talking to him so much easier”.

“Well you are doing a great job so far”.

“Thanks.  I must admit that despite what happened you did a great job with Francis too.  He is a great kid to be around and I think that he’s just what Nick needs”.

Nick’s Dad saw the face of the lady turn white. “Oops!  Maybe that was not the best thing I could have said. Me with my big mouth!”

“No it’s me. It’s just something that I’m trying to get used to, but I can tell you it isn’t easy”.

“You will get used to it after seeing them together for some time you will understand that there is no difference. It’s love and that’s the only thing that is important”.

“You think so?”

“Yes, I know it is”.

Nick’s Dad looked around after he said that, coming to a conclusion of his own. Love!  How could he have been so stupid? He knew that was what he had been feeling this last few weeks. ‘It was right there all along in front of my own eyes and I didn’t want to see it’ he thought. Damn but no longer; he would act on it. He knew that Nick and David would understand and he hated to be alone. Keith had been right.  There was no way he could spend the rest of his life alone.

{In the meantime, hmm where shall we go?  I think back to the bedroom with Francis and Nick}.

“Do you want me to go and get your Mom Francis?”

“Yea I guess so. Although I must admit Nick, I have no idea what I’m going to say or if I’m going to say anything to her. I feel so much anger Nick.  What if I lose it when I see her?”.

“I know you can do this Francis, just be yourself and what ever you want to say to her say it, as long as you keep listening to her as well”.

“You think?”

“Yes, she has to know how you felt as well and she has to hear that from you but you should give her a chance. If you get angry don’t throw her out or anything, just try to cool down for a minute or so”.

“Wow!  You know it all don’t you Nick?y”

“No Francis, I guess that the doc just got me thinking a bit like he does”.

“Well I will see what I can do, but yea, go and bring her.  That sounds like the best idea at the Moment”.

I gave him a big long kiss.

“Are you going to stay here?”

“You want me to?”

“Yea well I’m not sure Nick. Maybe this is a thing I need to do on my own”.

“I hoped you would say that, and I know you are strong enough to do it so as well”.

I stood up and walked to the door. I will bring her here and then go and tell the others you will be downstairs in about 1 hour. That should give you enough time to chat with her.

“Are you coming back after you see the others?”

“If that’s ok with you. I will make sure I will be out for at least 15 to 30 minutes”.

“Ok, now you better go and see if she is still there”.

“I think so Francis don’t worry”.

“It’s strange but after making up my mind that I want to see her I find it would seem very strange if she would have left”.

“Ok I better go then” I kissed him and left the room.

{LOL!  That will have to move us somewhere else I guess, so lets go to Alexei and James’s room)

Alexei and James had spent the time in the shower and were just enjoying each other while drying themselves.

“You think that you were able to get the grant by getting the reporter down here?”

“Ah you saw right through me I guess”.

“Well nothing wrong with it Alexei don’t get me wrong.  And you were right; a good performance and a little publicity never did any harm”.

“I was not sure we would get the grant. It was a bit of a try and I think that Nick’s Dad really needs the money to be able to get them on tour with me and I guess that I could do with a bit of company”.

“Well let’s just hope that the performance this afternoon was enough to give them the grant so they can join you for some time in Europe”.

“I just hope that you are with me there too, James. I can move around much more easily in Europe then I can in the USA.  With the big sponsors here I always have to look out for negative publicity. I wouldn’t mind but I think I am losing lots and lots of money for the youth program if I were to come out like that down here”.

“We will see and there is still Mom to convince”.

“I know honey”.

“You know you really smell nice even after a shower” James said with a smile.

“Oh you think so?  Well maybe then we should go on to the bedroom and see if we can do something about that. I wouldn’t want to be the one that is responsible for you not enjoying it completely”.

“Ah well I’m up for it”.

“Yea you can say that again,” Alexei said while rubbing James’ hard dick with one hand.

“On your knees then, we will go doggie style back in there”.

Slowly they moved toward the door of the bedroom. James was on his knees shuffling backwards while Alexei was pushing him with his legs in that direction. James was licking Alexei’s dick and sniffing his scent all over his crotch and legs at the same time.

Alexei opened the door slowly with his eyes on James. Then James started to crawl over into the bedroom, not taking his face more than an inch away from Alexei.

They moved a bit further, the door opened up completely now. Then a sudden gasp got both their attention.

“What! My god! Oh no”.

Both Alexei and James got red in the face, but that didn’t last too long as they both realized in what kind position they were.

{Yea, yea leaving you at that point.  Sorry guys, we are going back to David and Kathy now}

‘My god’ David thought ‘where is this coming from?’  They never really had discussed the future but more or less took things as they came. He had thought that Kathy was happy with that too.

“You know Kate, that I have no idea where this gymnastic thing is taking me, but I need to try to see how good I can get”.

“I know David and until now I never thought to bring this subject up.  But after 2,5 years it’s something we need to discuss.”

“Yea I guess so”.

“So have you ever thought about having kids for example?”

She still was not looking straight at him, so he had no idea if she was serious or just trying to fool around with him a bit.

“You know seeing Francis and his Mom like that made me realize it is’nt easy to be a parent”.

“Yea but then we are not Francis’ Mom Kathy”.

“I know, it just got me thinking I guess”.

‘Ah was that where this was coming from?’  David wondered.

“I never really think about being a Dad yet. That’s something for later, but I will say that I want children with you, to raise together”.

“But then I see that Francis was born while his Mom was still very young and that must not have been easy either”.

“Well we are careful enough not to worry about that for some time Kathy. We just need to make sure that we continue to be careful too.  There are  just so many things we need to do before we are ready for them”.

Damn!  There she did it again. She turned away from him. What did I do?  What did I say?

{In the meantime down in the lobby}

“See?  There is Nick coming already. I think you are going to have a chance to talk with Francis”.

Francis’s Mom turned around and saw Nick coming towards them.

“Dad, ma’m, Can I talk with her alone for a Moment Dad?”

“You don’t want me to stay around Nick?”

“No, well you know what this is about and I want to chat alone with her I think”.

“Ok I’m going up to my room and then out for a drink maybe”.

“Ok see you later, we’ll let you  know where we will go tonight”.

“Good!  Thanks Nick, be gentle with her”.

“I will”.

Dad walked away and I saw that his pace got faster as he reached the elevator.

‘Good!’  I thought ‘he deserves to be without worries for an evening as well.’

“Nick, can I go up with you?”

“We’ll wait a minute ma’m.  I talked with him and he is willing to listen to you, but I want to warn you”.

“He is angry with me isn’t he?”

“Yes, and I have no idea how angry. I tried to make sure he would listen to you as well”

“Good!  Will you stay as well?”

“No, I am going to leave you two alone, but I just wanted to make sure you are not going to hurt him in any way. I would not forgive myself ever if I would leave you alone with him if you were planning that”.

“Don’t worry I have no pain in store for him, only the hope for happiness, that we can at least talk with each other again”.

“That would be good ma’m”.

We walked to the elevator now more or less silent and when we stopped at our floor I took her to the door. Before she opened it she turned around.

“Thanks Nick.  I hope to see you later on as well or if that is not possible, then sometime in the future. You seem like a nice young man making Francis very happy”.

I blushed a bit with that and didn’t know what to say, so I just knocked and turned around.

I heard her open the door and close it again.

{In the meantime back in Kathy’s bedroom)

“Kathy please don’t shut me out like this.  What’s going on?”

“It doesn’t matter; I know what to do now”.

“Kathy please!  What are you talking about?”

“Damn it, David.  I didn’t want to tell you; you have enough to cope with”.

“What Kathy?” I said a bit louder.

“Don’t push David. It was a surprise to me too”.

“What was Kathy?”

“Well …us becoming parents”.

“What you mean how what …” David’s voice trembled then came to a stop leaving his mouth open.

“No way!  How is that possible?”

“I have no idea David”.

“Are you really sure you are PREGNANT? “ he said a bit louder this time.

“WHAT?” said a third voice. They hadn’t heard the door open.

They turned their faces now and saw ………………….

{So shall I leave it with this or is this too hard on you all?  Well what shall I do?  

Hmm maybe a bit more then if you really want …

{Well where are we going now?  We follow Nick on his way to his friends}

I really hoped that everything was going to go ok.  I didn’t want to leave them, but I knew that Francis would have some harsh words for his Mom and I wasn’t sure I could stand hearing them. Not that I didn’t understand him, because I did. In the past I had long, long talks with my Mom, which were not nice at all, but I was lucky in that she was not there for real.

I decided I would take the elevator to the lobby to get something for Francis and then would go back up to tell the others we would be there a bit later.

I walked to the little shop that was still open and I entered it. There were all kind of things from little stupid gifts to very expensive watches and jewelry.

I looked around until I found some nice stuffed bears.  Now there was a nice idea, just something small and nice to give to him. I had a look at the more expensive stuff as well.  I really wanted him to have a ring or something similar from me, but that was way to expensive down here. I better look in a normal shop.

I got myself the bear and had them wrap it, then paid for it. Just as I was doing that I looked out the shop window into the lobby. There were some people around, but then one in particular came into my sight. I felt a shiver go down my spine. ‘Oh no!  That was impossible I thought’. I saw him walking to the elevator. Now I had a chance. If the elevator was not there straight away I could get to it.

But then when I just had left the door of the shop, I saw the elevator door open and the men stepping inside. I let out a loud scream getting the attention of a lot of people except the men inside. The doors closed.

I could feel that I started to panic.  Not a little, but really panic. I just took a deep breath. I looked at the elevator when I got there. It was going up. The others were all at the top half of the hotel, not making it down very fast. I followed the one that the men had gotten into and saw it stopped at our floor, the 9^th.

Now there was only one way I could get there and hope to stop the worst. I had to take the stairs. I looked and found them at the right hand side. I walked there and opened it, then started to walk the stairs. The first I ran as well as the second. The third was way too far for me as I started to slow down. Nine stairs are a lot I guess, so I better make sure I could get there in one piece.

When I turned around to start the fourth I was held back.

“Don’t think it Nick, you have gone far enough. We need to talk now”.

I looked up.  This could not be true.

He started to pin me to the wall with one hand and the other found its way to my trousers.

I wanted to scream but I couldn’t.  I tried again, but still my words seemed to be stuck in the back of my throat.

To be continued...

Posted: 04/08/16