Getting in Shape for the Reunion

[longform commission]

Glen cringed when he saw the e-mail from Terrence pop up on his phone. He took another swig of bourbon and tapped the screen with his thumb. Up popped Terrence’s progress pics: a skinny nerd doing muscleman poses. Terrence’s expression was so earnest it almost broken Glen’s heart, but the silliness of the pale, scrawny man trying to flex what look like shrink-wrapped chicken bones irritated him.

“What else can I do to make progress, Coach?” read the attached message. Glen sighed and tossed the phone at his couch, heading into his bedroom. He would get back to Terrence in a moment.

Glen reached under his bed and grabbed the shoebox hidden there. He opened it and snatched a fistfull of old photos. He sipped more bourbon and relaxed as he flipped through the faded high school memories. There was a photo of him with his football buddies in their uniforms at homecoming. Glen chuckled as he saw Elena Bryant, his highschool girlfriend, clutching his arm. Standing on his other side in the photo was his best buddy Wes, the only other guy in high school as big as Glen--and his secret high school crush. If only either of them knew how he’d felt about them then!

The next photo was an action shot of Glen at a track meet, mid-spin as he was about to hurl the heavy metal shot. Seconds after the photo was taken, Glen broke a state record. He marveled at how young he was in that pic. Sure, he was big, but the softness of his body made him look like an overgrown child, despite being 18. He chuckled at the chubby cheeks coupled with the determined grimace of his younger self. Man, if only that guy knew what lay ahead!

At the bottom of the shoebox, Glen found the photo he’d been looking for: a candid photo taken at prom. Big hunky Dirk wore the homecoming crown, his tie loosened as he danced by himself, too drunk to realize his date had left with someone else. Elena was looking down, lips pursed, a spot of misery in an otherwise mirthful scene. They broke up that night, but Glen couldn’t remember if it was before or after.

Glen stood dead center in the photo, which had snapped at the perfect time to catch a single moment of eye-contact between himself, looking uncomfortable in his tuxedo (which he’d gotten slightly too large for between getting sized and putting it on) and James Van Oss, the class president. James wore a white tux and was there alone.

Glen thought back to that prom night, a silly dance with too many trappings that they all sank far too much money and energy into. He remembered trying to rein in Dirk’s drunken cavorting, trying to appease Elena’s shrewish nagging, and wishing beyond it all that he could be holding hands with the man in the white tuxedo.

Glen covered the photo with his hands, cropping out everyone but James and himself. He sighed heavily, then hopped to his feet and headed back to his living room. He needed more bourbon.

The next day was their twenty-year reunion. James had opened the lines of communication with a brief e-mail: “Just wanted to make sure you were going to be there. Looking forward to seeing you again.” They hadn’t spoken a word since graduation day, but Glen had looked James up. James was single (recently divorced, it looked like), still beautiful, his blue eyes shining as brightly in the photos as they did in Glen’s memories.

Comparing himself to James’ stunning features, which had only become more striking with age, Glen felt like an ogre. The years had packed muscle on Glen’s already big frame, injuries and surgeries had piled on scars, and years of competitive powerlifting had left Glen’s hands weathered and worn. Was James even going to be interested in a 260 pound personal trainer? After another gulp of bourbon, he picked up his phone again.

Dammit. Terrence.

Six months before the reunion, Terrence had hired Glen to get him into shape. “I don’t want everyone to think I’m still the scrawny nerd I was!” Terrence had pleaded. Sadly, Glen knew that there wasn’t much he could do to help the little guy, who had been rail-thin since they were kids. Terrence did everything Glen asked, working hard at the gym and following every detail of the diet routine, but you couldn’t build an athletic build in half a yet. Plus, Terrence’s body stubbornly refused to put on any weight.

Glen felt like he’d let his friend down--again. Before Terrence tutored Glen in French (a class he had to pass to stay on the football team), they’d never spoken. Outside of their tutoring sessions, Glen still refused to acknowledge the socially awkward teen in school. Then one night, after getting blasted on FourLokos with Dirk, Glen was stumbling home alone when a beat-up Saturn pulled over. Glen clearly remembered the relief he felt when he saw Terrence, eager to give him a ride home. His memories of the ride were blurry, but at one point had reached over and grabbed Terrence’s hand, pulling the nerdy guy into a kiss.

When Glen woke, he and Terrence were spooning in the back seat of Terrence’s car, parked just outside their town’s country club. Glen was sickened at himself, still in denial of his identity as a gay man (which alcohol had inadvertently loosed). Though they never discussed the occurrence, Terrence seemed to understand his role in it all. While they passed each other silently in the halls, Glen would call Terrence on nights when he found himself drunk and alone.

Since high school, Terrence had been the only person other than Dirk to keep in touch with Glen. They both came out of the closet separately, and while Glen had cycled through a dozen emotionally unavailable sociopaths, Terrence had remained single.

And with less than a day left before the reunion, big Glen regretted taking Terrence on as a client in the first place. His skinny friend had more definition in his arms and chest, slightly more defined abs, but to the people from their hometown Terrence would just look like a skinny programmer.

“That’s great,” Glen typed back. “Just do 10,000 pushups, 10,000 air squats, and 10,000 pull-ups before you go to bed tonight and you’ll look perfect. Finish up with thirty rare steaks and you’ll be golden.” After he sent the e-mail, Glen immediately regretted it. He’d meant it playfully, but did it sound too much like the years of  teasing that had fueled Terrence’s desire to get fit?

Glen finally set down his bourbon glass and hopped in the shower, soaping up his big hairy body and trying to let the cold water clear his head. His heart burst with anxieties about seeing James, and to a lesser degree Elena, and having to face his football buddies as an openly gay man, and, worse than all that, watching Terrence trying to save face in front of a whole crowd of people who never respected him.

With his towel wrapped around his waist, he lay down on his still made bed. His phone vibrated on the night stand, but he the bourbon in his blood was making his eyes heavy. He lay his head down and passed out as his phone vibrated off the edge and down to the floor.

Glen woke to the sound of pounding on his front door. He cursed his impulse to drink the night before. As an athlete, he was mostly a teetotaller, which made the occasions he decided to drink hit especially hard. He pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants and hustled to his front door, wondering who the fuck was bothering him without calling first.

He stared at the man on his front porch for a moment, confused by his friendly smile and look of recognition. His pounding headache wasn’t helping him interpret the situation any more easily.

“Glen! Buddy! Did you just wake up? It’s 10 AM!” said the man--a fit, muscular guy whose clothes seemed a little too small for him. His broad shoulders and thick chest seemed to be stretching his polo shirt to their limit. Glen glanced down to see that his nicely muscled legs filled his cargo-shorts to capacity. The center part of his greasy blonde hair and his wire-rimmed glasses were the only things familiar about this otherwise complete stranger.

“Uh… Yeah, I… did we have an appointment?” Glen said, rubbing his eyes. Was this a new client he had forgotten about?

“No, sorry, friend,” the muscled gentleman said, giving Glen’s beefy shoulder a playful shove. “I was just on my way to the gym and checking to see if you were coming too. Just want to look good for the reunion tonight, y’know?” The stranger smiled and bounced his pecs. Glen heard fibers of the yellow polo shirt shredding with each flex.

Glen just stared, blinking. His head was foggy, and the facts before him weren’t adding up. Maybe with a little caffeine--or more sleep--he could solve this puzzle.

“I did the workout you gave me last night,” the athletic man said with a grin, flexing his rippling arms. “Wasn’t easy! But I got in every last rep. The tough part was finding that many steaks that late at night, but…”

Realization hit Glen like a truck. He thought he might throw up. That couldn’t be possible--but the glasses, the haircut, the clothes… even the reedy, nasally voice. Could this fit man be--Terrence?

“Oh, I…” Glen began. His first impulse was to apologize for the absurd request, but he couldn’t get over the fact that Terrence had blown up with what looked like sixty pounds of muscle. He looked like a brand new--although, still someone nerdy-looking--man. “I mean, uh… good job?”

“Yeah, well, y’know, not like a guy like YOU needs to work out to look good,” Terrence said, followed up with his wheezing laugh and a puff on his inhaler. “You said you’re getting lunch with Dirk today, right?”

Glen was still processing. He just nodded.

“Cool. Well, I’ll catch you later then!” Terrence hustled off the porch with an energy level he’d never displayed in the time Glen had known him. Glen couldn’t help but notice his two sizable glutes bouncing as he jogged away. The last time Terrence had worn those shorts, they’d hung loose over his flat rear end.

*

“You think Tina Bateman hogged up at all?” Dirk asked as he chomped a bite of burger. “Or you think she’s still fuckable?”

Glen shrugged. “She looks okay, from what I’ve seen. Married though.”

Dirk nodded as he swallowed, grabbing his broad chin as he considered it. “Eh, if she’s nice enough I’ll just wait until she’s drunk. Who knows? Maybe her marriage sucks.”

In the twenty years since high school, Dirk remained as big and sturdy as he’d always been, built like a viking, but two marriages and three kids had added many pounds of dad weight to his frame. In Glen’s opinion, that made him even sexier, although the fact that Dirk was straight-as-an-arrow made that a point Glen would never state aloud. Every so often, Dirk would ask Glen to hit the gym with him, and despite his lackadaisical training, Dirk remained as strong as ever.

“What about that nerdy guy you know,” Dirk said after swilling his IPA. The waiter passed by their outdoor table and asked if they needed anything, but Dirk dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

“Terrence,” Glen stated firmly. Something about Dirk’s tone reminded Glen of the acts of casual cruelty his buddy had inflicted on poor Terrence years before. It rubbed him the wrong way. “He’s…” Glen took a moment, flashing back on the scene of the man who left his house looking like a built Crossfit athlete earlier that morning.

“Still a fucking rail?” Dirk chuckled. “That guy always seemed to be part rodent. Small and weaselly. I bet he’s either a software developer and loaded, or he’s assistant manager at Wal-mart.”

“He’s a programmer, and he does pretty well,” Glen said. “Actually, to be honest… he’s put on some serious size. You wouldn’t believe it. He looks like he guzzles eggs by the gallon and pulls buses for fun while pumping himself full of roids on the side.” Glen failed to add that the sudden change in Terrence’s physique had been nearly instantaneous--he was still trying to process that fact.

“Yeah, no shit?” Dirk said, fascinated by this new information. “Well, fuck me. What’s he like, 5’8”, 160?”

Before Glen could respond, he saw a massive man approaching them on the sidewalk. As a large man, Glen always took time to note others with big physiques, and this guy--wearing nothing but compression shorts, lats so big his arms hung down at an angle, big pecs bouncing with every step--absolutely caught Glen’s eye. Glen shielded his eyes to see who this behemoth was--he looked like a competitive bodybuilder, maybe even a pro! Any guy that size in this town would have had to run in the same circles as Glen, and while there was something familiar about him, he was shocked to see that he didn’t recognize him.

“The fuck you looking at?” Dirk said, turning around. “Holy shit, who’s this monster?”

The monster stopped and looked down at the two seated me, hands on his hips, sweat glistening down his broad pec shelf. He smiled, bouncing his left pec absentmindedly. A single droplet of warm sweat flicked from the massive pec to Glen’s face. “Hey there, look here!” the big man said. “Like a mini reunion before the reunion!”

Glen’s jaw hung open as he noticed the bodybuilder’s center-parted, greasy hair and his wire-frame glasses. He searched the cut, angular features of the rippling man’s face. He could vaguely make out similarities--but how could this massive man, easily weighing as much as Glen now (but with much more muscle packed on his shorter frame) be Terrence?

“Dirk, good to see you!” Terrence said, extended a massive hand. Dirk seemed taken aback, obviously threatened by this man in peak physical condition. While Dirk was still taller, this pile of muscle was a far more massive and impressive specimen, and Dirk had clearly noticed--and was bristling about it.

“Oh, fuck,” Dirk said. “Jesus, I woudln’t even have recognized you…” Dirk seemed to fumble after the handshake. Terrence’s massive form had truly shaken him. “Oh, god, Glen was just telling me you do like, strongman-style shit and a ton of steroids!”

The pile of hard, glistening mass chuckled and shrugged his huge delts. “Well, I’ve never been shy about my use of PEDs,” he said. “What can I say? They work?” He flexed his arms. Glen’s jaw hung open--Terrence’s arms had to be 26 inches now… at least three inches larger than Glen’s! “And to be honest, yeah, I just finished a competition. I know it’s the day of the reunion, but I didn’t want to cancel. Couldn’t let my fans down.”

“You have FANS?” Dirk and Glen both remarked in unison.

“Just, y’know, hardcore strongman fanatics,” Terrence said. As he spoke, Glen’s eyes sank to his impressive quads, as well as the sizable bulge filling out his compression shorts--and those calves! Each bigger than a normal man’s arm. “Once you break a few world records you start to get a following. Glen here knows what I’m talking about!”

The big man gave Glen a surprisingly forceful shove.

“Aren’t strongman guys kinda, y’know… chunky?” Dirk asked.

“Well, yeah, a lot of guys are,” Glen said. A woman walking a dog and a teen with headphones in each passed behind Terrence walking opposite directions, each of their gazes locked on the pile of overgrown human anatomy shedding sweat in the sun. “But thanks to Glen here, keeping my diet and training in check, I’ve been growing like crazy. Just lots of egg and steak protein, keeps me ripped to shreds while I stay big and strong.”

“You’re not going to the reunion dressed like that, are ya?” Dirk said, an eyebrow raised. “Cuz, I mean, if you do, damn… I’m gonna feel mighty inadequate!”

Terrence chuckled. The massive man’s voice was far deeper than Terrence’s ever had been, but when he laughed, Glen could detect Terrence’s signature wheeze. “Oh, no, no, I just got an outfit specially made for tonight. Glen knows--being as big as we are, it’s tough to find clothes that fit.”

Glen suddenly felt uncomfortable being compared to a man who was so clearly bigger than he was--a feeling Glen had only rarely encountered in his life.

“Anyway, gotta get showered and ready. See you tonight guys!”

“Jesus,” Dirk said as Terrence walked away. “Feels like the fucking earth shakes with every footstep that guy takes.”

“He didn’t look like that this morning!” Glen exclaimed, still having a hard time processing what was happening.

“Well, yeah, he just pulled a fucking bus,” Dirk said. “Probably gives you a hell of a pump. Glen, you don’t think I was too mean to him when we were younger, right? No way he wants to, y’know, fold me in half and stuff me in a trash can or anything, right?”

Glen had no idea how to respond. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “You were cruel as fuck to him, Dirk.”

His hunky buddy blushed. “Yeah, well, let’s hope Mr. Behemoth over there is feeling forgiving later on! Hey, how do you suppose a guy like that programs? Big fucking clunky fingers like that. You think he needs a special keyboard?”

*

“Looking forward to tonight!”

Glen read the text from Terrence and struggled to think of how to respond. “What do you look like now? Are you planet-sized?” he wanted to respond, but instead he just tapped the text and attached a heart.

“Are you getting there on time or early? I’m here already setting up!”

Glen rolled his eyes at Elena’s text. Between the pit in his stomach about seeing James again, and the confusion over Terrence’s ballooning body (and the fact that nobody seemed to think Terrence Black breaking strongman world records at 10% bodyfat was unusual), he’d forgotten about his ex-girlfriend.

“Almost there,” Glen texted back. He pulled into the parking lot of the country club where the reunion was held, shocked to realize he was only feet from the spot where he first woke up spooning with Terrence in the little guy’s car. Damn, Glen thought, if we did that now we’d have to do it in the back of a flatbed truck! It gave him a chill to realize that he, too, was beginning to accept Terrence’s size as normal, although he kept waiting to find out it was all part of an elaborate practical joke for a viral video or something.

Glen had to steel his nerves before heading into the old country club, a place he’d only ever been for football awards banquets before. It seemed so much smaller and chintzier to him now. He vaguely recognized a few faces as he walked in, giving friendly head nods to old classmates whose names he struggled to remember. Elena was on him almost immediately, slapping a name tag to his chest.

“Oh my gosh it’s good to see you!” Elena said. She was still blonde, still cute, although her face had more lines, her body showing the wear of creating and raising three kids. “Wow,” she said as she affixed the nametag, “you sure got big!” She blushed. “I mean, you were always big, but… man, your chest.”

Glen kindly removed her hand. “It’s nice to see you,” he said, giving her a friendly hug.”

“Oh, by the way, I heard about you being gay--and I think it is AWESOME!” She clapped her hands together, her eyes wide with excitement. “I have about a million questions for you. You and I will be playing, ‘Who Would You Do?’ pretty much all night tonight.”

Glen felt relieved. He had expected a dramatic conversation with his ex about how sorry he felt for being dishonest with her, of making her part of his ruse, but it seemed she was over it. “The answer to most of those questions is going to be no,” he said as he watched a few schlubby male classmates passing by.

“Oh my gosh, have you seen Terry Black?” Elena said, a hand over her mouth. “I mean, I had no idea a human being could even LOOK like that. I mean, YOU’VE always been big, but he looks… inhuman!”

“Yeah, I half expected him to be stuck outside, too big to get through the doors,” Glen said as he walked with Elena to the country club’s banquet hall.

“It’s funny you say that,” Elena said, “because we actually did have to open up the rear fire exits. I mean, he’s wider than the front door, by a lot! What have you been doing to him?”

Glen wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but his attention was caught by some blown up yearbook photos displayed around the entrance to the banquet hall. He stopped at one, a black and white photo of the football team, and froze when he saw an unfamiliar face standing in front.

It was Terrence--at least, the center-parted hair and glasses signified that--but he was stocky, muscled and, just like the rest of the team, wearing eye-blacks. Glen paused, wondering if it was photoshop or a joke. “The fuck…” he said, leaning in, wondering if he just wasn’t seeing things correctly.

“Yeah, I know,” Elena said. “He was big even back then!” Her hand went to the picture, gently grazing the spot where the bulked-up version of teen Terrence stood. “But I didn’t realize he’d just keep GROWING all these years!”

“It hasn’t been all these years,” Glen started to say, but as his eyes rose, he saw a gargantuan man wearing a nearly skin-tight suit. He was well over six feet tall, and nearly as wide. In all of his years of bodybuilding and strength competitions Glen had NEVER seen someone that big--and yet perched atop that massively muscled body was a comically small head with center-parted, greasy blonde hair and little wire-rim glasses. Glen’s knees went weak.

Surrounding the giant were all of Glen’s football buddies--Terry’s football buddies too, Glen suddenly realized--joking with the monster as if the years of bullying had never happened. Dirk was standing to the monster’s right. Glen was shocked to see that Terry’s enormous leg was about as wide around as husky Dirk’s waist.

“I can’t… I mean, how is that even…” Glen began.

“What do you have him on, horse steroids?” Elena said shrilly. “What a fucking freak. You know, it’s a good thing Terry’s gay--because no woman would EVER want to be with a guy like that!”

Enormous Terry suddenly noticed Glen and started walking toward him. The mammoth man’s legs were so enormous that he could only waddle with a slow, unwieldy gait, swinging redwood-sized arms clumsily around his gargantuan torso. Glen could actually feel a light tremor every time the beast stepped down. The small crew of former football players revolved around the big man like satellites as he made his way across the hall.

“Buddy guy!” Terry said as he slapped a big hand on Glen’s back with so much force Glen was literally knocked off his feet. Somehow the big man had enough dexterity to snatch the back of Terry’s shirt in his big, meaty hands, hoisting him back on his feet with ease. In Terry’s grip, Glen felt like nothing more than a rag doll.

Elena, intimidated by Terry’s size, backed away and disappeared into the crowd. Terry put a huge arm around Glen, pulling him in. Glen couldn’t believe the rock-hard mass of Terry’s torso as he felt himself pressed into it. Heat radiated off all that solid muscle, sweat stains forming all over Terry’s about-to-burst suit. “What do you think, big man, are you and I in the best shape of anyone here?”

The comment was kind-hearted but with a slightly patronizing tone. Sure, it was true, but Glen estimated Terry’s weight to be well over 500 pounds now--more than twice Glen’s mass. Glen suddenly felt horribly inadequate next to the mountainous man, yet when the big guy looked down on him, he still beamed with adoration as he always had.

“You fucking gay guys,” Dirk commented, rolling his eyes. “No wife and no kids, so you just keep getting bigger and stronger. Try having a family, that’ll suck the life outta ya!” Dirk, along with all of the other over-the-hill athletes, all chuckled, making their way to the bar.

“Terrence,” Glen said, the long version of his name suddenly sounding unwieldy. “I’m really confused, I think we need to… I dunno, talk…”

Suddenly a familiar pair of blue eyes flashed at Glen from across the hall. Despite his confusion, Glen felt his heart skip a beat as James, standing at the bar, finished his martini, ran a hand through his cropped blonde hair, and started walking toward them. Glen was so overwhelmed, he felt like he might weep.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” James said as he approached, looking nearly angelic after all these years. “Honestly, I didn’t think you were coming and… you’re just as unbelievable as I always thought.”

Glen summoned all his strength to pull himself away from Terry’s firm grip, then took a step toward the man of his dreams with his arms outstretched.

But James walked right past him, reaching up to put his small hand in Terry’s massive paw.

Glen looked at James, who hadn’t even seemed to notice him, then up at Terry, who gave him a pitying look. “Glen, buddy, me and James have to go… talk. We’ll chat later, okay?”

Glen had no words as he watched the comparatively tiny beauty walk away with the lumbering giant, hand-in-hand as they headed for the double-door fire exit, the only way enormous Terry could even get out of the building without crashing through the wall. Glen turned and surveyed the room, struggling to hold in his tears, before deciding he had to get out of there. He felt sick. He wanted to get drunk. He felt like the whole world was changing, and that it all revolved around Terry now.

“Fucking freaks, right?” Elena said, intercepting Glen at the front door.

“Uh---excuse me?” Glen said with a tremor to his voice. “I um, sorry Elena… I have to, uh… go…”

“I mean, who would even want to be with a guy like Terry Black?” Elena said, putting a comforting hand on Glen’s shoulder. “I mean, he looks like a lab accident gone wrong.”

“Elena, I really don’t want to talk about this,” Glen said, pulling away.

“I know about your little crush on James,” Elena said. Her reductive words felt like a punch in Glen’s gut. “Honestly, it was pretty obvious, even back in high school. But he’s just a pretty face, honestly! He’s not even that great a guy.”

Glen steeled himself and looked down at the floor. “I guess… I guess things are just different since Terry got so big he can hardly move.” What an understatement, he thought, glancing around at pictures of a muscled young Terry that didn’t exist in Glen’s memories.

“I mean, you and Terry have always been good buddies,” Elena said. “I’m shocked he’d even entertain James’ little advances. Where’s the loyalty?”

Glen flashed back on years of Terrence faithfully doting on him. “The loyalty has… always been there…” he said, regretting the way he’d always treated Terrence like a pet. “I guess I just never respected him… and all of a sudden he outgrew me…” Unfamiliar memories swirled into Glen’s mind, replacing what was already there: going to the gym with Terry, feeling intimidated as his buddy outgrew him, struggling to keep up with Terry’s incredible ability to put on muscle. Glen looked down to see his own physique starting to balloon up even more, stretching his clothes to their limit. Elena seemed unphased by the change, as if it had always been that way.

“Really, Elena, it’s been good, but I’ve got to go,” Glen finally said, pulling away from her. He stumbled out the front door, heading to his car. Where it had been was a huge pickup truck. Terry, so big he could pick it up and carry it under his arm if he wanted to, leaned against it.

“I figured you’d be mad,” the massive man rumbled. “Just so you know, I was polite but firm. I blew him off respectfully. I just didn’t want to do it in front of you.”

Glen stared at the massive beast, so unfamiliar to him and yet still, at his core, the nerdy little guy who had kept in touch with him for years. “I thought… I mean, I thought you’d…”

“He’s not my type,” Terry said. “He’s just a size queen--likes big muscles, and, y’know… I kind of have some of those…” Terrence chuckled, then scooped Glen up in his big arms. He pulled Glen into his chest crevice and then flexed his pecs, holding him there.

Memories flooded into Glen’s mind. The last twenty years rewrote themselves. For years, as Terry swelled with size, the two of them had flirted with the idea of being together. If not for the candle Glen still held for prettyboy James, they would have gotten together much earlier.

They had agreed, before the reunion, not to be open about their relationship. It was nobody’s business. But behind them, dozens of their classmates pressed their faces against the windows, watching the big man being cradled like a teddy bear in the arms of the massive man.

“We should leave,” Terry said. “We gave them their show. And I’m horny as hell. Bring me home and fuck my pecs,” he said, scratching Glen’s big glutes with an oversized finger.

“You got it, big guy,” Glen said, finally sliding down Terry’s muscled torso--savoring every bump as he passed Terry’s cobbled abdomen--and finally landed on the ground. Glen gave Terry’s oversized bulge a nudge, not caring that half of their classmates saw the act.

Terry clumsily hoisted his big body into the bed of the truck--the only way a man his size could travel--while Glen hopped into the driver’s seat. As they drove off, Glen glanced back to see James, Dirk and Elena gawking as they left. Suddenly Glen wondered why he had ever wanted anything more than the man in the back of his truck. Decades before, he’d found all he needed in the world. All it took for him to realize was a shift in a few details.