I was not openly gay; I had only come out to the few people I 100% trusted and JP was not yet one of those people. I mean, we were very good friends, almost best friends, but he was a guy and telling him might send a cloud of awkwardness over us. Plus, the fact that he was from a military family might hurt our friendship, too. I didn’t think his parents would look kindly on their son’s best friend being gay. I hated when this happened. I hated it when I had a crush on a straight guy. I’m sure you’re thinking that I liked him because he had an amazing body, but that was only part of the attraction. JP was one of those extremely rare guys. Yeah, he had the body of a god and was hauntingly cute too. His piercing blue eyes would make you melt when he looked at you a certain way. But that wasn’t all. JP had a brilliant mind to go along with his beautiful body. With an IQ of 145 and straight A’s, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t figure out. Everyone knew how athletic he was, but he was also very talented musically. He was always a decent trumpet player, but now that he had confidence, his playing started to get as strong as his muscles. So strong, in fact, that I was beginning to worry about losing my first chair to him. However, the thing I admired the most about him was his maturity and his modesty. He was confident on the wrestling mat and just about everywhere else and had an ego, but it was a healthy one. JP would still do things for you without being asked, like carrying groceries to your car or offering to get you a drink from the soda machine. He was amazing. He was unlike any 16-year-old I had ever met in my life.

“Hey, Matt!” I broke out of my trance to see JP bounding up the bleacher steps toward me. He had taken a shower and changed and was now wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans. “You know, I really appreciate you coming to see me wrestle,” he said, sitting down next to me, “It pumps me up for my matches.” “You’re welcome,” I responded, trying to sound nonchalant. “It’s a little tough figuring out how they score it, but I got the hang of it.” JP nudged me in the shoulder. “Hey, how would you like to come over tonight?” “Tonight?” I answered, getting excited. “Sure,” JP said. “My mom wants to thank you for driving me all over the place this past year since I don’t have a car yet.” I thought for a moment. “Ok, I don’t think I have anything else to do tonight.”

A few hours later, I found myself in JP’s foyer. His mom walked in from the kitchen to greet me. She was a broad, almost overbearing Irish woman, but still had a sense of sweetness. “Hello, Matt,” she said in a rough, sweet voice. “Welcome. I’ve heard so much about you.” JP had already made his way into the kitchen and was gone. His mom continued: “JP just always talks about how much he looks up to you.” “Really?” I said with a slight disbelief. JP looked up to me? Wow! The woman motioned me into the kitchen where JP was busying himself making sandwiches. “You’re welcome to make yourself some turkey sandwiches. I’d make them for you, but it seems JP’s got a bit of a head start. He must be starving.” I walked into the bright light of the kitchen as JP was bringing a plate with four large sandwiches out to the dinette area. “Go help yourself,” he said to me. “You mean,” I said with disbelief, “all those are for you?” “Oh yeah!” JP answered back with a slight grin. “I always get really hungry after a wrestling match.” I declined his mom’s offer to make me some sandwiches on account of the fact that I had already eaten dinner. The three of us just sat at the kitchen table talking. Well, JP’s mom and I were doing the talking; JP was busy devouring the huge sandwiches. I couldn’t believe how much this kid could eat. I guess that was another reason why he had gotten so big. “Yeah,” JP’s mom explained. “I can barely keep up with him anymore. As soon as I buy him clothes, he grows out of them in a month or so and I have to buy him a bigger size.” She laughed. “Have you ever tried finding pants that are long with a narrow waist? They’re hard to find. I keep telling JP to stop working out so much and put some fat on that body but this little demon doesn’t listen to me.” “Mom,” JP had just finished his third sandwich and was about to start his fourth. “Will you stop talking about me.” I couldn’t tell but I think he was blushing. Nonetheless, his mom continued. “You’re brother never used that weight bench down there nearly as much.” “JP!” A deep voice bellowed down from the second floor. “That would be Ryan, JP’s older brother,” his mom said. “I don’t know if you’ve ever met him.” I hadn’t. A loud rumble was heard as Ryan came bounding down the stairs. Suddenly, the door swung open and the hulking mass that was JP’s brother burst through. A giant had just entered the room and he was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He had a neck that actually bowed away from his cheekbones ending at his shoulders which were incredibly broad, at least twice the size of my own. His massive pecs hung menacingly over a set of six-pack abs made faint by layers of fat. Ryan’s upper arms were nearly the size of my legs and his forearms exhibited writhing snakelike veins. “JP, did you use my shampoo.” “No, I didn’t,” JP answered back, calmly taking a bit out of the sandwich. “Yeah, you did, you punk.” “Ryan!” His mom spoke up. “Don’t treat your brother like that. Your father ran out of his own shampoo and didn’t have time to go to the store before he went to work, so he used yours instead.” “Oh, sorry bro.” Ryan was immediately quiet. Then he looked at me, as if just seeing me there for the first time. “Whose he?” “That’s my friend Matt.” JP answered the question without even looking away from his meal. “You mean,” Ryan smirked. “You have friends?” “RYAN!” JP’s mom was starting to get furious. “Go back upstairs and take your shower, now!” “Whatever,” Ryan said as he turned his gigantic back toward us and walked out of the room. It’s a wonder how he even fit through the door, he was so bulky. JP finished his meal and gulped down the last of his milk. “Sorry about that,” his mom apologized. “Ryan can be so offensive. I hope to God JP doesn’t turn out like him.” With that, she turned away and walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Matt,” JP stepped over to me. “You wanna how I go big?” He grabbed my arm and led me toward the basement door.

JP flicked on the light switch to reveal a well-stocked workout room, containing nearly every sort of exercise machine you could think of. JP didn’t have a weight bench, he had a whole fucking gym! “This is where it all happened.” JP said to me, sounding very proud of himself. Who wouldn’t be. He showed me around the room, explaining how each machine operated and what muscles it worked. He suddenly stopped at the bench press and looked down at the weights on the barbell. After a few seconds hesitation, JP shook his head and said, “Ryan’s been upping his poundages again. That son of a bitch.” He took off his shirt and moved toward the bench to sit down. His chiseled upper body seemed even more impressive in the dim light; his pecs cast shadows over the crevices of his abs. He lay down on the bench, grabbed the bar with his hands and said, “Spot me.” I still remembered how to spot from my crew days so I obeyed. JP lifted the bar from its rack and lowered it to his chest. With a slight grunt, the bar slowly moved up until his arms were straight. Then, he lowered the bar and started pushing up again. This time, JP had a little more trouble with it. He let out a slightly louder grunt, arched his upper body a little more and raised the bar. His arms started shaking a bit as they neared the straightening position. Finally, he reached the top and took a few quick breaths. I re-positioned my hands to prepare for putting the bar in the rack, but JP jerked his head no and signaled for one more rep. This kid really pushed himself! He lowered the bar to his chest one more time. Then, after a moment’s pause, begin pushing once more. Eyes squeezed shut, body shaking, veins pulsing, JP let out a loud grunt and the bar slowly moved up. My eyes were bulging out of their sockets in amazement at his determination. After what seemed like an interminably long time, JP finally straightened his arms and jerked his head yes. I helped him guide the bar back into the rack. JP immediately dropped his arms to his sides and breathed heavily. He sat up and motioned toward the squat machine “Get me that towel over there.” I grabbed the towel and gave it to him. He wiped his face and slid the towel down his upper body and along his arms, which were red and glistening with sweat. “You alright, man?” I asked him. “Never felt better,” he assured me, smiling. “How much weight was that?“ It looked like more than I had ever benched. “210 pounds,“ JP answered. My mouth dropped open. This 135-pound kid had just benched 210 pounds three times in a row! “Ryan used to bench 200 regularly,“ he said in between breaths. “But apparently, he’s gotten stronger.“ Then, he looked up at me and gave me that look that made me melt. “Well, I have to.“ He got up and walked over to a mirror on the wall. He still was breathing pretty heavily so his arms were moving up and down and his inflated chest was heaving along. He did a most-muscular pose in the mirror and I almost wet my pants. JP was HUGE! He must’ve caught my expression in the mirror because he turned around and, with a smirk, jerked his head toward a door at the other end of the room. “You wanna see something kinda cool?” He once again grabbed my arm and pulled toward the door. “Are you prepared?” I nodded my head yes, still a little shocked at my best friend’s strength. What was in that room? JP opened the door, turned on the light and led me in. "Check it out," he said. I gasped. It was the most unbelievable sight I had ever seen. •