Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 08:11:39 -0700 From: Charles Wolfe Subject: The Ultimate Man Challenge Chapter 19 Hey everyone, sorry if I haven't gotten to your emails yet. I hope you all are staying cool during this summer as I know it's been kinda hot in parts of the country/world. Take care and stay well. ===================================================================== With everything that had happened at the beginning of the Thanksgiving Break, the latter part of it seemed to fly by. When Black Friday came around, Kyle and I avoided them like the plague. Neither of us saw any point in rushing out to get gifts when it would have just been easier on Cyber Monday. So we did what we had been doing for the last few days- we went to the beach. It had been a while since I had practiced my trick shots so we brought along a Frisbee to toss around. Subconsciously I was also doing this to please Pike, the fact that I knew he was going to push us hard for our last tournament before the break. Warming up with the simple forehand and backhand tosses, Kyle and I bantered about, discussing our classes and how the university life was going. Switching to a different throw, I practiced the hammer, placing my fingers into a flick position but throwing it over my head. It wobbled a little but completed its trajectory to Kyle. Kyle repeated the throw but it didn't flatten out as much as it should have, ending up turning into a knife. Instead of clapping my hands horizontally like we are supposed to, I clapped vertically, catching the disk a few inches above the ground. Repeating the process, with one foot planted, I took a step with the other and threw, this time with more velocity. The disk didn't wobble this time, instead arching into the beautiful hammer it was supposed to be. Changing throws, I shifted my hold into a thumber, gripping the topside of the disk with my fingers and the inside with my thumb. I had to work hard to toss the disk, putting in extra effort when I flicked my wrist. This throw verged on horrific. Not only was it way off but the disk teetered in the air, unsure of which way it wanted to balance out. Kyle made a great effort to try and catch it but it was futile as it landed 15 feet from where he was running. Grimacing at the blunder, I wait for Kyle to shake off the sand and then toss it back to me. He repeats my throw but with much more perfection. Trying the throw again, I aimed the disk at Kyle and attempted to keep the Frisbee flat. It flew a little better this time, though it was still a little wobbly. We went about these throws for the next hour or so, then moved on to do other stuff like relax in the sand or walk the promenade. We didn't have much time left before school started up again so we wanted to enjoy what time we did have. Haley slowly began to grow on me and vice versa, the two of us beginning to trust each other more. Sunday rolled around and like when I went to Sacramento, I was kind of bummed to leave Kyle's house. Driving back through the freeways, Kyle did his best to avoid the traffic but as was to be expected, we hit a few pockets here and there. Pulling outside my dorm around 6, Kyle parked the car and paused for a second. "This is it. The final few weeks before winter break and then our semester abroad. I'm kinda nervous." Grabbing my bag from the backseat, I lean over to kiss him softly and murmur, "It's the final countdown. Duh nah nah nah, Duh na na na na. Sorry I couldn't resist." Stepping out of the car, I look at Kyle smiling. Kyle rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "You're such a spaz. I love you." I close the door and watch as he starts to drive off. Heading into my dorm, I noticed that it was more lively than usual, the aura of returning student and high hopes of the upcoming break, even though this one hadn't completely finished. Entering into my room, I wasn't at all surprised to see that Bryan and Zach weren't around, with any luck they would return tomorrow morning right as their classes start. Falling onto my bed, I start to doze off, the long break a drag on me. After sleeping for an hour or so, I got up and tried to be productive, looking for things to do for my classes. Feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket, I pulled it out thinking, hoping it was Kyle. 'Please give me something to do.' I thought desperately as I looked at the text. It was from Parker. Shaking my head, I wondered what he wanted. "Hey I'm in Long Beach. Wanna hang out?" Disgusted he would want to hang with me, I quickly shot back "No." Simple, straightforward, and hopefully to the point. Apparently it wasn't as he texted back less than a minute later. "Too late, I'm outside." What the fuck? I moved away from my phone as if it were toxic and moved to my window. Sure as the shit he was, Parker stood outside my hall, his body illuminated by a lamppost. Furious he would even THINK of showing up here, I grabbed my phone and stormed out of my room. Bursting out of my hall into the bitter night, I snip out at him, grabbing his attention. "What are you doing here?" Parker looked over to me and then cooed annoyingly, "I wanted to hang out with you. Come on it'll be fun." He started to take a step towards me but I backed up to keep an equal distance from him. "Go home Parker." I commanded, tired of having to deal with his annoying advances. Earlier on it might have been cute or adorable but this was just pathetic. Turning around, I start to head towards the door. Parker cried out right as I approached the entrance. "So I came all the way down here for nothing? Don't leave me hanging like this." That was the most desperate guilt trip I had ever heard, and the whine from his voice didn't help his cause too much. Reaching through my wallet for my key card, I barked out, "Fuck off Parker." The sooner I got in the better. I wanted nothing to do with him. I just realized I didn't know what he was wearing. All I knew was that he was right behind me and still trying for my attention. Then he hit my nerve. "Screw you Chris. I see how it is. I thought we were friends." Friends? FRIENDS? Oh fuck no. That died out a long time ago. Turning around with a fire in my eyes, I rush up to him, forcing HIM to take a few steps back. "NO SCREW YOURSELF! You've got some nerve showing up here acting all innocent. I thought for a moment you were a decent guy but you're a grade A douchebag. Kyle warned me about you but I wanted to see if you had any good in you. You can rot in hell for all I care." Having said all I wanted to, though to be honest I could have said more, I turned back and went to the door, leaving him stunned. Right as I opened it I saw he was going to open his mouth so I shot him down some more. "Not used to getting turned down? Well newsflash, you just lost. HARD!" Damn it felt good to leave him in the cold like that. Slamming the door behind me, I didn't look back as I walked up my stairs to my room. Shuddering as I looked at my phone, I went through and started to delete any connection to the guy; his phone number, his texts, anything. That night I slept so well, my dreams consisting of Kyle and I relaxing on the beach alone. ***** It was the final week of November and Pike was pushing us hard. Our last tournament was this upcoming weekend so he wanted us set and prepped for the major battle that was about to unfold. We all knew it was coming and we did our best to stay in mentally fit as well. Breaking us from our usual partners, he mixed and matched the players with those that they normally didn't play with. Mine was Hanson and my battle was against Bryan and Rachel. They were a great pair, the two of them working well on their trick shots and flick throws. I made Hanson cover Bryan as I covered Rachel, knowing he wasn't ready for her level of experience. I wasn't ready either but I did my best to read her, calculating her jabs left and cuts right. As the week progressed, so did the intensity of the workouts, adding stress to my system. I was beginning to get the end of the semester burnout, the itch to just be free and relax. Finals were being discussed in classes and professors that were nice to us gave us our projects to work on, them not choosing to be the horror story of professors giving the projects a week before the semester ends. This was just three weeks before the semester ends. Adding further excitement was the fact that my study abroad trip was just over the horizon, the lure of England calling out to me in a seductive English accent. When Thursday came around, I was burnt out. It had been a long week and I was ready to relax and just sleep. I knew Friday would be a restless night so I needed to take this chance while I could. Crashing into my bed at 8, I welcomed the coma that was starting to envelope me. Instead I was cut off by the ring of my phone. Not even looking to see who it was, I reached over for it and groggily answered, "Hello?" My eardrums were almost blasted out as Kyle barked into the phone, "How the hell did Parker get my number?! The little ass-wipe just called me telling me to stay away from you. What the hell did you do Chris?!" Kyle's voice vibrated the speakers of my phone, echoing all over my room. Shooting straight out of my bed, I didn't back down from the fight, instead challenging him for more information. "What the hell did he say to you? I told the little prick I was done with him. He wanted to hang out on Sunday but I was tired of his bull." Moving to my computer, an alarm goes off in my head as to where he might have seen Kyle's number. Opening Facebook, I log out of my account and then type in Kyle's username. Sure as shit his contact information popped up. "Kyle he got your number from Facebook. You need to lock it down completely." Moving to mine, I type in my username and find the same problem. "Fuck." I could hear Kyle typing furiously into his computer, the anger hitting each key as if it were Parker's face. "He's been cyber stalking us Chris. This is unacceptable. I feel so violated." He was on the verge of breaking down, his emotions trying to figure out fight or flight, anger or cry. Locking mine down, I look up Parkers account and see he is no smarter than us, all of his contact information out in the open. Even better the moron gave away what hall he lived in. "So lets do something about it." I had probably been stalked for a while now but unlike Kyle who felt violated, I felt pissed. Even still I was not so much pissed at Parker for coming after me, I was furious he went after my boyfriend. It is one thing to try and hurt me but when you go after the people I love and care about, that crosses the line. Grabbing my keys, I answer Kyle's upcoming "what?" with a quick response. "I'm coming to get you. I want to make sure you are alright. Then I am going to Parker and I am going to force him to stop." Kyle's tone changed when he heard that, becoming stronger. "I'll be ready." ***** Arriving at Kyle's dorm, I didn't even have the chance to get out and check on him. He was waiting by the curb, a heavy leather jacket on adding to his intimidation. What normally would have looked very sexy on him was actually very imposing, the black hide giving a menacing appearance. Sheepishly saying "Hi," I pull out of the lot and start to head towards Fullerton. The ride over was silent, both of us lost in our thoughts. Being that it was now nearing 9pm in almost December, the freeways were flowing smoothly, very little traffic interrupting our journey. As I approached Fullerton, I pulled off to the side and put the car in neutral. Kyle gave me a questioned look. "Kyle, before we get there, please don't do anything rash. I am just as mad as you are but that doesn't give us the right to hurt him." Speaking in a soft but firm voice, Kyle looked out the window then to me, "I told you he was trouble. I wish you had seen it when I did. I want to be disappointed in you but I think he might have still come after us. Talking with him though... It only aggrevated things." "Yea I am to blame. I just didn't want to think he was bad." I shifted back into drive and continued on our way, entering to where the dorms were on campus. Thankfully since it was after 7, parking was not enforced so I parked in the first spot I found. Moving through the small courtyard, we approached his hall and as a student came out we went in. We weren't wearing our university shirts, it probably being best that this didn't get back to our respective schools. He was smart to live on a higher floor, making us traverse throughout the hall to get to him. Occasionally a student would pass us but they didn't do anything about it, instead thinking we were just another student of the campus. After asking around Parker's floor for his room, Kyle and I were lucky enough to have a student direct us to the right room. Arriving outside his door, I put my ear against it to hear if there was any activity inside. There was. Flashing a thumbs up to Kyle, I moved back as he knocked on the door. The look on Parker's face as he opened the door was one of shock, then complete fear. Trying to shut the door quickly, I jammed my foot to stop it as Kyle forced it open. Stepping back into his room Parker started to open his mouth to scream for help. Kyle quickly stopped him quickly by lashing out his hand and grabbing his throat and squeezing tightly. "You utter one peep and I will report you for stalking. Do you understand?" I was caught off guard by the motion but at this point didn't care too much for Parker's well being to step in. Parker nodded his head as Kyle unclenched his fingers. The fear turned to anger as Parker tried to go on the defensive. "You've got some nerve coming here and threatening me." I slammed the door behind me and took a step forward, "We've got nerve? You're the one in the hot seat, cyber stalking us and threatening Kyle." His room was small and cramped, a typical dorm room. The fact that there were three guys all standing up at the same time made it hard to navigate. Parker was lucky his roommate was out at the moment as this would have been very awkward for him. Parker sneered at us as he retorted, "You've got no proof." "Really? I'm willing to bet if we searched your computer, there would be plenty of links to our profiles. You're not as smart as you think you are. But we are. We're smarter, stronger, and faster in every way." I nodded at his computer then to his smart-phone to emphasize the logging history. Then I looked at him deep and hard, the anger radiating off my skin. Kyle then took a step forward to reinstate his dominancy over Parker, trying his best to make the cretin cower. "You WILL leave us alone or so help me I will get a restraining order against you." He clenched his fist, growing more frustrated with each moment we stayed here. Parker scoffed at the threat, pissing Kyle off more. "Fine, I'll leave the two of you alone. But you can't stop me from playing Frisbee. And I'll revile in the pleasure of making it a horrible experience for you." The spite in his voice was my last straw. I moved forward to try and punch him but Kyle quickly turned and grabbed my shoulders, holding me back. Glaring at Parker he challenged, "No but we will beat you." Parker just wouldn't let up. Every time he opened his mouth I tried feverishly to bypass Kyle to close it with a good knuckle-sandwich. Laughing stupidly, Parker took a step forward and met Kyle's challenge, "We've beaten you twice. Maybe a third time will force you and your pathetic team to realize how bad you actually are." Through all my anger, I was actually kind of impressed with how calm Kyle was. He was maintaining his emotional control a whole lot better than I was. Granted the flames were spewing out of his eyes and his words were laced with acid but his form was tall and firm, not eratic as I had become. Calming myself down a little, I took a step back to breathe. Well... Kyle was calm. But not anymore. He grabbed Parker on his throat again but this time shoved him against the wall right next to the window. Exerting his strength he started to lift Parker off the ground, or at least to the point where the tips of his toes were barely touching the ground. "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. YOU WILL NOT GET A THIRD CHANCE TO FOOL US. This is not a challenge. This is not a threat. This is a promise- WE WILL BEAT YOU." I had heard that cold dark tone before but it was such a long time it took me a second to comprehend it. It was the same tone he had when we got into our epic fight, though this time I was not on the receiving end of it. Shivers slithered down my back as I saw Parker's eyes go wide with the comprehension of the situation he was finally in. Kyle lowered him slowly, though not decreasing his grip a single bit. Once Parker was completely on the ground, Kyle released his grip and turned towards me, "Let's go." I didn't need any further enticement since our work here was done. As I opened the door, I noticed the hall was abnormally quiet, a whole lot quieter than when we arrived. Getting one last look at Parker, I saw him slowly slide down the wall; his plans and dreams crumbling down with him too. ===================================================================== Finally we see Parker getting taken care of. How sweet it felt. But is this the last of him?