Standard disclaimers apply to this story. All rights reserved by the Author.

This story is mostly fiction. Some of the situations and characters are based off people that I know or experiences I've had. However names, & locations have all been change to better suit the story. That being said this story is mostly fictional and any likenesses to any other situations are strictly coincidential.

All events that happen are completely consensual between people involved in the story. If you are not of legal age, reside in an area where viewing such material is illegal, or are offended by homosexuality and/or homosexual themes, leave this site now. The author retains all rights to this story. No reproductions or links to other sites are allowed without the permission of the author.

 

Half in, Half out

"The Life of a Collegiate Gymnast"

 

- Chapter 1 -

To A New Semester

 

"Man it feels good to be back." I said to myself. But damn my body was sore as all hell.

Walking outside the training gym and feeling the cool air hit me felt amazing. I love the weather in late August it's not too hot and not too cold. I was happy to be back in Midwest after being away back at home in Southern California for the summer. I had just moved back for my junior year at a big University in the Midwest where I compete competitively on their gymnastic team. Getting back into the swing of things here hasn't been too bad. We still had a week before classes started.

"I'm right behind you Tyler. I'll be out in a minute." I heard my teammate and roommate Jake yell from the doors. I threw my bag in the trunk of my car and left it open for Jake. I walked around to the front of the car and laid back on the hood of the car.

This summer was amazing. Jake came and visited for a month in July. It was one of the more relaxing summers I've had in a long time. For the past 3 summers when I'd be home I would help out and coach during summer camp at my home gym. I've been training there since I was 7 so it's nice to go back there and help out. My coaches there are like a second family to me. Not only that but, it allows me to go into the gym and train. If I ever needed help my old coaches were always there to help me out and give me tips. This summer I used to rest up my body and recover from nagging injuries I've had from last season. It worked too because I'm feeling pretty well rested and not beat up. Now that I'm back at school I'm ready to ease back into my program here and make sure I have a healthy season.

"Man conditioning has been kicking my ass and we've only been back for a week now." Jake joined me laying next to me.

"Maybe you should've trained just a bit harder this summer?" Jake jokingly said to me.

"I didn't hear any complaints from you when you came to visit for a month bitch." I nudged him back.

Jake had become one my closest friends since I've moved all the way across country to compete for Ohio. Originally Jake and me were in the same dorm hall just different floors with different roommates. After our first semester we decided to ask our roommates if they minded up switching up our rooming situation because it would accommodate our schedules for training, classes, and competing during the weekends better. My other roommate wasn't horrible, but he would make the off comment about the odd hours I would sometimes keep. I tried to be as accommodating as possible though. He was a good guy, just the living situation wasn't ideal.

"Well that's because you live in freakin SoCal! As much as I love Boston, and I do. Having a chance to stay out in sunny California was too hard to pass up!" It was nice having Jake around. My parents & Kyle (my brother) like him a lot. Going to school all the way across the country combined with training and competing I've lost touch with some of my friends from home.

"Oh so that's the only reason you liked being out there? Sun, fun, and chicks huh?" I mocked like I was angry at him.

"Oh Ty, don't act like that. Of course hanging out with my best buddy was the icing on the cake! Just too bad we couldn't get you any action this summer." Jake nuddged me on the arm, I sighed.

That part did suck. Besides our roommate Jessica, our friend Summer, and my brother Kyle, Jake was the only other person to know that I was gay. I'm sure my parents might have an idea since I'm 21 and never had a girlfriend before. But then again when you're an elite gymnast I didn't really have the time for that. I did have friends at school and from my gym club. But we trained 5 days a week so it's not an idea situation for having any type of high school relationship. I've accepted the fact that I'm gay it's just I'm in a tough situation. Being on major universities athletic team, and on scholarship I didn't want to risk any potential turmoil for my team, athletic department, or school. Sure my parents could afford to send me to school without a problem but that wasn't the issue. I also had my brother who just got recruited in the spring for my team and who would be starting next year. It's a difficult situation to be in and I'm sure, scratch that, positive I'm not the only person to go through this. I however made it a point to not act like something I'm not. I did not date girls nor in the locker room would I fake it like I'm banging this chick or that chick. I'm sure also at this point the other guys on the team have maybe figured it out. They don't treat me any differently than any other guys. We go out, we have fun, we compete, and occasionally like to party and get crazy. We're brothers pretty much. However keeping this secret is something that is beginning to wear on me a bit. I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to deal with it.

"One day buddy. When life isn't so crazy. Besides we got so much going on as it is. Training, school, and a social life is hard enough. I don't even wanna think about adding any more stress to that." I sat back and let the air breeze past me. "But when we find me a guy, it better be a good one!" I laughed at that last comment.

"That or I'll kick his ass!" I laughed at Jake. I have to admit he's pretty protective over me. "I mean. We're catches. People need to understand that." Jake said with a half serious face.

"Agreed." I laughed at the thought and started the car.

As we drove home we discussed practice and conditioning. We both do the all around at meets so we compete in every event. Even though we do all around my strengths are floor, vault, high bar, and parallel bars. The season doesn't really start until the new year. We have a few intersquad & exhibitions in December but it's January when we start competing against other schools at home and on the road. In reality however there is never really an off season. We train daily, 5 - 6 times a week sometimes twice a week. It's a commitment that you have to be absolutely dedicated to. I love the sport and I love the team so I think it's all worth it.

We pulled into the driveway of our house. Jake and me lived together with our roommate Jessica. We met Jessica in our first year here at State. I had a class with her and we became instant friends. She's from Chicago but her parents both went to State here in Columbus so she followed in their footsteps. Jake and her used to hook up but decided it's best if their just friends. I'm happy because I don't have to worry about anything happening and disrupting the otherwise good start we're off to living together. This is our first year all living together. Jake and me lived together in an apartment last year and decided to rent a house out this year. Jess was on the short list of potential roommates. Our house has 4 bedrooms so we may still rent out the other bedroom as the year goes on. We'll see.

"Looks like Jess is home. I thought she had to work tonight though." I asked Jake as we pulled into the garage.

"No she's off tonight."

"We should go out tonight then. Get into a little bit of trouble. Maybe we'll do dinner first."

"Now you're talking!" I grabbed my bag and handed Jake his. We headed inside and saw Jess sitting on the couch with her friend Summer.

"Hey ladies." Jake said to them and headed up to his room to drop his stuff off.

"Hey boys." The girls said in unison.

"How was practice?" Jess asked me.

"It was exhausting as usual. Mostly doing conditioning and everything right now. I'm redoing all my routines this year like I told you a few days ago so I'm going through the drills right now."

"Poor Ty. I'm sure in a few weeks you'll be talking about how easy practice was again." I laughed at the thought.

"Yeah I bet. Until then I'll just suffer. Hey, I'm going to go throw my bag upstairs and laydown for a few. You guys doing anything tonight?"

"No plans yet. We were thinking we were going to wait and see if you guys wanted to do anything and then decide." Jess said.

"Yeah, Jake and me were thinking we'd go out for dinner and then go out for a bit. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds great! Let us know what time and we'll get ready. Summer you could borrow something of mine if you want?"

"Yeah that sounds cool." Summer was flipping through some celebrity magazine.

"Sounds good. I'm going to head up and take a nap for like an hour. We'll say we head out around 8:30 - 8:45ish or so?"

"Yeah. We're going finish watching this show and we'll figure out where. See ya then Ty."

I headed upstairs to Jakes room to tell him the plans. I stopped and dropped my bag off in my room first. Then headed down the hall to Jakes room. I really love our house this year. The landlord gave us a sweet deal. It's in the historical district of campus but newly remodeled which is rare for college housing. Once we walked in I knew we had to live here. We told him how Jake and me were both athletes for State so I think that might've helped out a bit. The house itself is close to 100 yrs old I think. Being newly renovated we had a pretty sweet setup. We had four bedrooms in the house. Upstairs was Jake & my room as well as the third bedroom we're using as a computer/study room. The three bedrooms share a bathroom which works for us. Jess' room is on the main floor. We let her have the master so that way she could have her own bathroom.

"Hey Jake?" I called him from my door.

"Yeah Ty? I'm in the computer room right now. What's up?" I walked over to the room. Jake was sitting there in room wearing only a pair of shorts sitting on his laptop. Jake had a nice body I had to admit it. But I could never look at him as anything other than Jake. Well that and the fact that he's straight too.

Some people think that we look like we could be related it's funny really. Jake is 5'8" and very muscular like you would expect us gymnast to be. His abs were a bit more defined than mine though. Normally he has dark brown hair which is styles it a bit messy. However he decided he wanted to try a different look now so he buzzed his hair a few days ago. I like it. He kinda looks like Channing Tatum I think with it buzzed. It's funny we sent a picture to his mom and she flipped out. He has brown eyes and a bright white smile that you can't help but smile back at when he turns on the charm. He's got a pretty good tan too. I like to take full responsibility for that. That southern California sun did him some good.

I walked in the room with my laptop and sat down next to him. I decided I'll check my email and my facebook before I headed for a nap. He was listening to, "You Found Me" by the Fray. I loved that song.

"Hey I told the girls about tonight. They're down."

"Sounds good. Nate texted me asking me if we were going to do anything tonight. I told him I'd text him back." Jake looked over at me.

Nate was our team captain. He's a senior and a year old than us but he calls us his little brother. I look up to him. He's coming back from a shoulder injury he got a week after nationals in May so he's been rehabbing like a crazy man trying to get back and healthy for the season in January. I look up to him. He also does All Around but is worried he might be limited this season as to what he could compete.

"Yeah invite him. Should be fun. I know he's been stressed lately. He could use some relief."

"Yeah I bet. Man Tyler, I don't know what I'd do if I got injured before my senior year. I mean we've been banged up before but my worst injury was my junior year in high school when I hurt my back." Jake had been competing in a Junior Nationals qualifier that year when his hand slipped on the high bar after a release and he peeled off the bar straight to the floor. He landed half on the mat half off it. It was a pretty nasty fall I've seen the video.

"Yeah I would freak out Jake. We've been pretty lucky injury wise."

I had a few minor injuries here and there. The worst was freshman year here at State when I was warming up on floor during our 30 second touch (before the rotation starts we're allowed 30 seconds to warm up and get a feel for the equipment while a meet is going on) and I was warming up a new tumbling pass I had been working on. It was a round off, whip back, into a double twist in a laid out position immediately into a one and a half twist in a laid out position. As soon as I took off I knew something felt off. When I took off for the double I was off center and landed wrong and felt a pop in my right knee. By instinct I tried to rebound off into the 1.5 twist and ended up getting a half twist around before I came crashing down on the mat. I just laid there holding my knee hoping I had only twisted it. Luckily it turned out to be just a dislocation but that meant the end of my season since the meet we were at was regional's. It sucked but I came back from it and was happy it wasn't anything worst than a dislocation. However that meant for the next year and a half I had to wear this huge knee brace during practice and meets. I finally got the okay to stop wearing it in May so it's good to be pretty much tape free.

"I heard that. We just gotta keep it safe, train smart, and compete smarter. Work smarter not harder as Sasha used to tell me all the time." Sasha was Jakes club coach back at home in Boston.

"Exactly." I finished checking everything I needed to and decided to go take that nap. "I'm going to head out and take a nap. Wake me up in an hour."

"Got it bud."

I headed back into my room. Man I was tired. I took my shirt off and threw it on the bed. I walked over to my mirror and checked myself out for a second. Jake always teases me because he said I have the as he calls it, 'southern California surfer body'. I'm 5'9" myself and weight 150 lbs. I've got sandy blonde hair that is straight. Depending on my mood I always mess around with the way I style it. Sometimes I leave it down other times I just make it messy, other days I'll spike it or do it in a faux hawk. It really depends on how much time I want to put into it. The guys on the team always say they can tell if I'm having a bad day if I come into the gym with my hair one way and leave with it flat and down. I have some body hair, most of which I trim or shave off, especially during the season. I have one tattoo on the left side of my torso. It's of 4 stars that represent my mom, dad, brother, and me. Each star is outlined and black and then filled in with our favorite colors.

I rubbed my hand down my torso. I flexed a bit in the mirror checking out my flat stomach feeling my abs. Being in gymnastics most people assume I weight lift but in reality just going through drills and practice gives me my physique. My skin was nice and perfectly tanned. My summers at home are spent mostly at the beach, the gym, or in my back yard laying out relaxing by the pool. Being outdoors as much as allows me to get a tan most people would be jealous of. Looking further down a light trail of hair headed from my belly button into my boxers. Alright enough of that I thought. I tussled my sandy blond hair and fell back into my bed. I set my alarm to wake me up in an hour and passed out within minutes.

 

....

 

"Hey Ty, it's been an hour wake up." I heard Jake call from the other side of my door. "I'm going to jump in the shower. The girls are getting ready right now." Man that hour went by fast I thought.

I rolled out of bed and headed for my closet. We didn't really decide where we're going so I'm going simple. I grabbed a pair jeans, a solid dark blue V-Neck, and white button up and threw them my bed.

"Jake you in the shower yet?" I yelled from the other side of the door.

"Yeah."

"I gotta piss. I'm coming in." I've always shared a bathroom with my brother so being here with Jake is no different.

"TYLER!" Shit. I just flushed the toilet and the water either went extremely cold or extremely hot. I laughed.

"Sorry bud. I forgot!" Jake turned off the water. I didn't feel too bad if he was finished.

"Yeah, yeah. You're lucky I just finished. Hand me my towel will ya?" I threw Jake his towel. We've seen each other naked plenty of times in the gym showers after practice and at meets so it was nothing unusual. Jake had a similar body to mine. Not quite as tan but we're built pretty similar.

"What are you wearing tonight?" I asked him while I dug through our cabinet in the bathroom for a towel for myself.

"Jeans, T-shirt, & some flip flops." Good we were thinking the same thing I thought.

"What Tee?"

"Does it matter Ty? All that matters is that you know, and I know that it's Ttttttttt-shirt time! So hurry and get ready so you don't get left when the Cabs are here!" I laughed. As much as I shouldn't like the show since I'm Italian and now most people think we're fist pumping juice heads, I love it. Snooks is my favorite. The newest thing on the team had become Pauly's famous 'Oh YEAH!' or 'T-shirt time!'.

"Oh YEAH!" I said. I turned on the water. Brushing his teeth in the mirror. I threw my towel on the rack and felt the water. Felt warm enough. I dropped my shorts on the floor and jumped in the shower.

"Geez buddy. I know we're close and all but did you really have to flash me right there?" Jake laughed at me.

"Shut up. Not like it's nothing you've never seen before anyways."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jake spit out the last of his tooth paste as I started soaping up.

"All I'm saying is that..." Then I heard the toilet flushing and felt the water go from warm to freezing.

"JAKE!" I yelled from behind the curtain. I stuck my head out of the curtains and saw Jake there smiling with his bright smile.

"Paybacks a bitch baby boy." Jake gave my face a tap on the left side and headed out of the bathroom.

"I'm going to cut you!" I said back to him playfully.

"Not as much as your dicks going to cut you due to shrinkage." Jake said as he closed door.

The water had finally headed back to normal as I finished showering. Yeah I had showered after practice but that's not a real shower. Certainly wasn't a get ready to go out shower. I turned out the water and dried myself off. As I was drying myself off I checked myself out in the mirror again. This time completely naked. The water was dripping down my torso towards my trimmed pubes and down to my dick that hung there back to its normal state after the cold water interruption. I started to dry off and wrapped a towel around my waist and headed out of the bathroom.

"Hey big guy." Jess whistled at me." You guys almost ready? Summer and me just have to put on our makeup and we'll be ready so I came to check on you guys."

"Yeah I will be in like 20 minutes. Jake should be almost ready now."

"Alright just come down when you're ready. Where we going?"

"I don't know. How about we just head down High St. and see what we find?" I told Jess.

She was looking cute today herself. She was wearing a white top and some short shorts. Jess was a catch I thought. If I was straight I would date her. She takes care of herself and works out a few times a week. She has the same color blonde hair I have that she styles differently all the time too.

"Sounds good to me. I was thinking maybe Mexican food?"

"Mmm... the sounds of a Poco Loco Margarita sounds delish!" I said.

"Uh-oh. You and tequila. Remember what happened on Cinco in Chicago last year?" Jess asked me.

"That was a fluke!" I said back at her as I walked into my room.

"20 minutes boys!" Jess said as she walked down the stairs.

I closed the door and finished drying off. I grabbed a pair of boxer briefs out of my dresser and put them on. I dried my hair with my towel and draped it on my hook.

"Hey Ty. You got clothes on?" Jake said from the other side of the door.

"Ish... You can come in." Jake walked in. I smiled he was wearing the tshirt I got him for his birthday last year. He calls it his lucky shirt because he wore it the first night we went out back at home in SoCal and he met as he calls it, "My SoCal 1 month Summer Fling".

"I see you're wearing your 'lucky' shirt."

"Well yeah. It's our first night going out since we've all been back here. Who knows what could happen!" He laid back on my bed.

"Yeah. Yeah..." I put on my shirt. I had decided I wanted to enjoy the end of summer and switched my pants for a pair of shorts.

"Can I borrow some of your cologne? I left mine in Boston and the parentals haven't sent the box yet."

"Yeah sure. Just put it back. Jess said to head downstairs when we're ready. I just gotta throw some stuff in my hair and I'll be ready. How about you head down and see how they're coming along." Jake had sprayed a few shots of the cologne on him.

"Yeah sure. Hurry up though pretty boy. I'm starving. How about we go to, Little Havana's on High St for dinner. I heard Jess mention something about Mexican food while I was changing. That way we can just bar hop right there."

"Sounds good. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes." I walked into the bathroom to finish my hair. I decided messy was the way I felt like going tonight. I took one last glance in my mirror to make sure I was looking alright and headed downstairs.

"Finally Tyler! I'm getting bored waiting for the ladies to finish up."

"LADIES!" I called out trying to make them finish. "Jake did you tell Nate what we're doing?"

"Yeah. He said he'd meet us at Little Havana's since he's going to walk from his apartment." Jake lived in the area we call south campus in an apartment with our teammate Brandon & their friend Chase. "I called the cab too"

"Sounds good." I heard Jess coming down the hall.

"Alright I'm ready. Sum is almost finished too. Anyone call a cab?" Jess asked.

"Yeah should be here in a sec." Almost on cue the cab pulled up to our house.

"CABS ARE HERE!" Jake yelled out trying to use his best Pauly D imitation. Jess & me did one final check in the mirror. Summer was still in Jess' room.

"I thought you said she was almost done?" Jess and me walked out the house to the cab.

"She was."

"SUMMER!!! CABS ARE HERE!" I heard Jake yell to Summer. Second later Summer was rushing out the house & Jake had a big smile on his face.

"Sorry guys I couldn't find my clutch!"

The cab drove us to Little Havana's. You could tell it was almost time for school to start. High St. was starting to get more and more busy. The ride was a 10 minute ride, mostly because of traffic. Jake was giving us all serious bitch face because he got stuck up front with the driver. We pulled up to the restaurant and Nate was waiting out front for us.

"Hey buddy." I gave Nate a handshake/half hug. Nate is a very cute guy. He's from Texas so he's quite the southern gentleman. He doesn't really have an accent though. He's been an all around stand up guy.

I still remember my first day of training with the team. I was nervous as hell. I didn't know anyone and wasn't having the best day of practice. He took all of us freshmen under his wing and introduced us to everyone and helped us feel comfortable. He was our captain this year on the team and a lot of the guys, myself included look up to him.

"Took you guys long enough." He had a smile on his face so I could tell he was joking.

"Sorry man. SUMMER was taking awhile." Jake said.

"Whatever. I couldn't find my clutch. Sorry Nate, hope we didn't keep you waiting too long." Summer reached up to give him a hug.

"Nah, I'm just messing with ya. I got here like a minute before you guys did." Nate said and gave me a wink.

Nate looks like the perfect boy next door. He has a nice smile the brightens up his face when he smiles. He had dark brown hair that he kept really short. He had just barely enough hair to spike. Nate is definitely one of the taller gymnast I knew standing at 6ft tall. He was wearing a dark green solid polo that laid on his chest perfectly. It definitely showed off his gymnast body. He was sporting a nice summer tan as well. It looked like he was wearing the same pair of plaid shorts from Express that I have & flip flops to finish off the outfit. I thought he was looking pretty hot actually.

We walked into Little Havana and was greeted by hostess. We got lucky and were able to get seats on the patio pretty quickly. Little Havana's is one of the busier restaurants on High St. It's located in a plaza with a movie theatre and a few bars/eateries. Across from the movie theatre was a bar we frequented called, "The Fish Bowl". It's a unique name. The drink the bar is named after is not to be taken lightly. I've seen many people become wasted from just one fishbowl. I like it because it overlooks the plaza and the street from above. Well that and the fact the music and drinks aren't too bad also.

"God I need a margarita." Jess said. "How about we get a few pitchers?"

"Uh oh... Tyler and tequila. I've heard stories!" Nate laughed and nudged me. We were sat at a round table. Nate was to my right and Jess was to my left with Jake and Summer next to her.

"Oh god. You guys." I felt like I was starting to blush. "It's not that serious. It was one time."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure buddy." Nate laughed at me. Our waiter came to our table and we ordered 2 pitchers of Margaritas to start the night off.

"So are you guys are already for school to start?" Summer had asked us. Behind her I saw a guy who kept looking over at our table. I was trying to figure out if I knew him or something.

"Hell yeah I am! I'm ready to get this year over with." Nate said. "I've got senioritis and we haven't even started the school year yet."

Our waiter came back with 5 margarita glasses & 2 pitchers. Nate started pouring the drinks while the waiter took our orders. The guy kept looking over here at our table. I went to tell Jess that some guy kept looking over at us but as soon as I did he had got up and started walking towards our table.

"Jayden!" Jess said.

So I guess he wasn't looking over at me.

"Hey Jess. I thought that was you. I wasn't sure if it was or not. I kept looking over here at the table and couldn't tell if it was you or not. Sorry if I creeped you out buddy." Jayden said in my direction.

"Nah. No problem. I just thought you looked like someone from back at home."

"Oh yeah man, where you from?"

"He's from California." Jessica said before I got a chance to say anything.

"That's pretty sweet man. What brings you here?"

"He's on the schools gymnastics team. Actually all the guys here are." Jess had again cut me off before I had a chance to say anything.

"That's awesome. Ten point O!" Jayden said.

The three of us shot him a look to see if he was trying to mock us. I think he saw us cause he said he was sorry and playing around right after that. Either way the rest of us were still confused as to how Jess had knew him. I glanced at her with a 'who is this' look to see if she'd introduce him to us.

"Oh man guys. Sorry! Everyone this is Jayden! " We all smiled up at him and said hi. "We work together. Jayden this is Jake, Summer, Nate, & Tyler." Talon stuck his hand out to shake each of our hands.

"Nice to meet you guys."

"Yeah you too bro." Jake said dipping a chip into salsa & eating it.

"Who are you here with?" Jess asked him

"Oh it's just me and few of my brothers."

"That's cool are they visiting you?" Summer asked.

"No, sorry I mean my frat brothers." Jayden said with a smile.

"Ahh, I see." Summer said and glanced over at the guys with a big smile on her face.

"You guys going out tonight?" Jayden asked.

"Yeah. We're going to catch some dinner and drinks down here and then head upstairs to the Fish Bowl." Jess told him between sips on her margarita.

"Sounds good. We're going to finish up here and then head back to the house to play a few rounds of beer pong before we head out to the bars. Don't know where we're going though. I wanted to just stay here and go to the Fish Bowl. Brothers wanted to go somewhere else so we'll see."

"That's cool. Maybe we'll hit somewhere else up too. We'll see. Here let me give you my number Jayden. We should me up tonight if you guys come back this way." Jayden handed his phone over to Jess so she could put her number in his phone.

"Alright I'll let you guys get back to your drinks. I'll text ya when we figure out what we're going to do. Maybe you guys could stop over for some pong later?"

"Sounds good. I'll let you know." Jess said.

"Alright have fun guys. Nice meeting you guys." Jayden said to us. He smiled at me and turned and walked away. God he was cute I thought.

We continued eating and drinking while we waited for dinner to come. We just exchanged in casual talk catching up with each other and talking about the upcoming year. Soon our food came and we were eating.

"So Jess. Jayden was pretty cute. Is he taken?" Summer asked Jess. I shot Jake a quick look cause I know he thought Summer was hot. He rolled his eyes. Nate saw this too and looked back at me. He smiled at us putting it together pretty quickly.

"I think we may need another pitcher." Nate said and waved down our waitress.

"Um. I know he doesn't have a girlfriend. But I don't know if he's looking either." Jess said.

"Hmm.. maybe we'll hang out with him later and I can find out." Summer said.

"Nah, didn't he say they were going somewhere else?" Jake tried to change the subject. "Besides you're with 3 attractive and built guys we aren't enough for you?" I started to laugh knowing he was half serious but didn't wanna make it obvious so I grabbed my margarita and started drinking.

We had finished our food and were just sitting around enjoying each other's company. The conversation kinda splint into two groups. Us guys started talking about conditioning and our training. The girls started talking about something else. We were on our fourth pitcher of margs and I was feeling pretty good. Judging by the way everyone else was acting I would say the same. I checked my phone to see what time it was. I saw it was 10:45. I realized we had been there for close to two hours now eating and drinking and man did I feel full. I was going to have to take a break when we got upstairs.

"I'm feeling pretty good right about now. I'm going to take a piss I'll be right back." Nate got up from the table and headed to the bathroom.

"Oh looks like you're breaking the seal first buddy." Summer mocked him.

"Shut it. I can't help it. I tried to hold it but I feel like I might explode." Nate was standing up stretching.

"Well good. Now I don't have to be the one who broke it first. I'm going to piss too." I got up and followed Nate to the bathroom.

"We're going to get the check you're in there." Jake said.

I headed to the bathroom. As I started walking I realized I might be more than just a little buzzed right now. We went to the bathroom and went back to the table Jess and Summer had ran to the bathroom to check themselves out.

"Hey so Jayden sent me a text saying we should stop by for a game of pong to pregame." Jess said.

"Uh, was this not pregame enough for you?" Jake said jokingly.

"How far away does he live?" I asked.

"We could walk, he's just a few blocks over." Jess said to us.

"How about we go upstairs take a quick look around and see what's going on. It's about to be 11 so TECHNICALLY bar thirty isn't for a half hour." Nate said as we all got up to head out.

"Sounds like a plan to me." I said. I didn't really care what we did though.

"Thanks bud. I didn't really want to go over there." Jake whispered in as we walked out of the restaurant.

"Alright I'll text him back and let him know what we're going to do. Let's go." Jess started texting him back.

We left Havana and heading out into the courtyard area to go to the Fish Bowl. The Fish Bowl and Little Havana are both in the same building but you have to go out and up to get up there. The Fish Bowl while often is overcrowded at times is a decent enough bar. It's a pretty big place so the pack a lot of people in there. They also have a patio that overlooks the plaza we're at. How no drunk frat brother or drunken girl have fallen over yet is beyond me. As we walked in it was starting to get pretty busy.

"I think we'll just stay here." I called back to them.

"Yeah sounds good." Jess said.

We walked in and found a table near the dance floor and by the patio. The girls set up camp and us guys went to the bar to get a few beers. Nate got our first round of drinks. We headed back over to the table.

"Aw thanks Nate." Summer gave Nate a little hug.

"I aim to please." Nate smiled back.

As we were there a few guys from the team and a few of the girls showed up. We were all having a good time chatting. There were lots of hot guys there, all straight I'm assuming though. Jake noticed me checking people out and said we should take a quick round and look for potential. We left the table and started to take a walk on the lookout for a guy for me and girl for him. Apparently he was over Summer already. As we walked around we saw an opening at the bar and decided to stop to get another beer.

"Lets do I shot Jake." I figured we might as well get this year off to a real good start.

"Yeah! That's my boy!" Jake got excited with the mention of doing shots.

The bartender came over to us. "Let me get 2 Vegas Bomb shots, chilled."

"Uh oh... Vegas Bombs, Ty? We are going to go hard aren't we?" Bartender came back with our shots and beers.

"Go big or go home! And I've gotta get you in bed with Summer tonight." I teased Jake.

"Now you're talking. Best wingman I could ask for." Always the Wingman I thought. We took the shot and man it went down smooth. We grabbed our beers and headed back to our table.

"You guys find anything?" Nate asked.

"Nah we just got a drink and came back."

"Yeah, a few of the guys heard Jess telling Summer she thinks you want her Jake."

"Well yeah, she's hot." Jake said matter of fact like.

"She was like she didn't want it to be awkward if you two hook up but Jess was like go for it." Jake nodded trying to act all cool about it.

"Quit acting like you don't want to be all cheesy bud. Gotta take her out there and dance." I put my arm around his neck playfully.

"Shut up you guys. Tonight we have it out and start this year off good." Jake said and we clicked our beers together and took a swig.

As we continued to drink and have fun everyone was laughing and having a great time with each other. I checked my phone to see what time it was. I saw it was 12:15 and thought we still had a way to go. I was thinking I was going a little past the buzzed stage so I was going to slow down. Almost as I put my phone away I heard the DJ starting to mix in a song that got everyone going excited. Took me a second to realize what it was then I figured it out by everyone starting to fist pump and I realized it was 'I Like It'. Jess grabbed Nate and my arm and started pulling us towards the dance floor. I looked back and Jake was getting close to Summer who were both laughing at us. Then I saw them start to walk towards the dance floor together. The three of us started to dance with Jess in the middle of us. Jake and Summer had made their way towards us as the song was changing. Next on was 'Say Ahh'. Some random girl started dancing with Nate who didn't seem to mind. Jess and me were dancing with each other.

"Watch out Tyler you're going to get everyone jealous of us." Jess said in my ear as we danced on the floor together. We kept dancing to the next song that came on. I looked over at Jake and him and Summer were dancing pretty close.

"You think those two are going to hook up tonight?" I asked Jess.

"Hell yea..." Before she even finished they started to kiss. "Ahhhh!!!!" Jess started to yell. We both started cracking up. They must've heard us because stopped looked as us and Jake gave us the finger and Summer was just laughing.

"Hey lets go get another beer then we can call it a night on drinks"

"Sounds good Jess." We headed over to the bar. I wondered where Nate was. We lost him on the dance floor somewhere. We ordered or drinks and were checking our phones while we waited.

"Jayden texted me. He said he was here and wanted to know where I was."

"Text him back Jess. He seems like a cool guy.. Well almost cool. I didn't like his 10.0 comment."

"He's a jokester Ty. Since when did you become so serious?" Jess said to me. "He's a good guy though. But I just don't wanna give him the wrong message. I want to enjoy this year being single."

"Oh gawd. Jess gimme your phone." I grabbed the phone from her to text him back. But before I could I heard someone call for Jess in the distance. We stopped playing around and turned around. It was Jayden.

"Jaden! Hey!" Jayden walked through the crowd and over to us.

"Hey guys what's up?" He gave Jess a half hug and shook my hand.

We talked for a bit. He told us they played a few games of beer pong while they killed sometime. But 11:30 they were feeling pretty good so they decided to just call it a simple night and head over to the Fish Bowl since it was close to them.

I noticed he had changed since leaving the restaurant with his friends. Jayden was wearing a pair of destroyed light blue jeans and a solid grey Abercrombie polo that clung to him nicely and looked good with his darker tanned skin. His hair brown hair was mostly combed forward then flipped up at the front. He was wearing a pair of flip flops and had a brown necklace on too. I thought he was looking pretty hot. If only he was gay I thought to myself.

We talked for a little bit. It was getting close to 1:30 and I still wanted to dance a little bit more before they do last call at 2. I sent Nate a text asking where he was. Luckily the next song came on and Jess wanted to go back out the floor.

"Hey we're going to go out to the floor if you wanna come with us." Jess said to him.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys out there. I have to take my buddy a beer really quick." Jayden grabbed his beers from the bar and walked them back.

"Aright we'll be towards the middle. Come find us."

"He's cute." I said to Jess.

"He is isn't he?! But I'm sticking to my word, no boys!"

"Well move over than Jess!" I teased her. We made our way through the crowd and started to dance. Summer and Jake were still dancing.

"Hey buddy, you've seen Nate?" I asked Jake.

"Yeah he's over by the table with some of the guys I think."

"Jaydens here, he's looking pretty hot."

"Make your move!"

"I can't tell if he's gay. I doubt it he's in a frat. He's coming out here to dance with us."

"I'll figure it out for ya then." Jake laughed as we danced with the girls. I saw Jayden heading our way with a smile on his face. I was dancing behind Jess and Jayden stared to dance with Jess in the front. He tapped my beer as we were dancing.

"Well he can sure dance at least. I'm going to head to the bathroom. Keep an eye on Summer." Jake said in my ear as he walked away.

Summer cut in between Jess and Jayden and started dancing between them. We danced for a few more songs before the DJ said over the music it's last call. With that 'Billionaire' came on and everyone started to sing along with the music. We made our way towards our table with Jayden. Nate and Jake were sitting at the table saying bye to some of the guys from the team. They came to say bye to me and headed out.

"You guys ready to go?" Jess asked them.

"Hey Nate you remember Jayden right" I reintroduced them.

"Yeah, hey man what's up?"

"Feeling pretty drunk actually." Jayden joked back at Nate.

"Yeah me too." They high fived.

"Alright lets go guys. You want to walk back or take a cab?" Jake led the way out holding Summers hand.

"Lets walk so we walk this drunk off." I joked. I looked over at Jayden to say bye.

"Hey man you coming with us back to the apartment?" Nate asked him.

"I can if it's cool."

"Yeah it's cool. We can have our wind down beer and pizza." Jess said to him. I was wondering where we're going to put all these people now. I'm sure we'll figure out something though. I'm sleeping on my bed so that's all that matters I thought.

"Sounds good. I'll text my buddy and let him know what's up."

As we walked out I headed up towards Jake who was with Summer. He smiled and me and nodded back at Jayden who was walking with Nate and Jess. I just shook my head. As we walked back towards our house High St. was packed with everyone getting out of the bars right now. We all talked about the night we just had as we got close to our street. We turned towards our block that was right off of High St. and headed towards the house.

"So what do you think?" I asked Jake.

"Think what?" Summer cut in.

"Trying to see if Jayden is gay or not." Jake said and I shot him a 'Dude not cool!' look.

"Oh eh what's it matter? Ohhhh you interested Ty?"

"I could be." We got to our house. I unlocked the door and let everyone in. Once we got in we all sorta spread out. I ran upstairs to take a piss. I wasn't the only one with that idea cause when I got out Jake and Nate were both waiting to use the bathroom when I got out.

"Throw in a pizza Tyler. I'm hungry." Jake said as I walked back downstairs. Jayden was sitting on the couch with Summer. "You guys want some pizza too?"

"Hell yea man I could go for some pizza." Jayden said to me. He had a smile on his face. His arm was on the top of the couch and Summer was close to him. I gave her a 'What ya doing face' and walked towards the kitchen.

"So Summer is wasted." Jess said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Haha yeah." I threw the pizza in the oven and grabbed a few bottles of water. Nate and Jake and both come back down and met us in the kitchen.

We went back into the living room while we waiting for the pizza to cook. Nate and Jayden both grabbed a beer. We were sitting around talking while watching some random music videos on MTV2. Once the pizza was finished it was gone in pretty much two seconds. Jake and Summer headed up to his room. Jess just shook her head as they walked upstairs. Jess was the next one to head to her room. Nate said he wanted to check facebook on my laptop so he headed upstairs. Jayden and me were left downstairs.

"You have a good night tonight?" Jayden asked me.

"Yeah, had a blast. It was fun to go out and get a little crazy before the semester starts. We try not to go out too hard once school starts with training and studying we have to do."

"Yeah I bet that could take up a lot of your life. The frat is the same during rush week. There's so much to do. Plus this year I'm a Co-Rush Chair with this other guy in our frat. So once that starts I'm going to be busy."

"I bet. Don't you work with Jess too?"

"Yup. Pretty much the night time is my time." Jayden laughed, " But at least it's only part time at my job so it works out."

"I wish I could be a part time gymnast sometimes. Don't get me wrong. I love it just sometimes it'd be great to not wake up sore."

"Oh the price we pay. I wish I could do that stuff. Looks pretty intense all the flipping and such."

"Yeah it is. But since I've been doing it for all these years it's become secondary."

"Maybe I'll come with Jess to a meet this year. I've never been to one." I tried to hold back from getting a big smile on my face.

"That'd be pretty cool. I think you'd like it. You do that and I'll come to one of your parties." I said back to Jayden.

"You've got yourself a deal." Jayden reached out to shake my hand to that.

We continued to talk just about the frat and gymnastics. I found out he was minoring in what Jess and me were majoring in. I thought it was interesting because I had never seen him before. But it doesn't surprise me since our major was pretty packed and there were so many students. I took a quick look at my phone.

"Shit. It's 4:15. You care if I crash here?"

"Nah. Make yourself at home." I stood up from the couch and he swung his legs around to lay down. "Lemme go grab you a pillow and a blanket from our spare room."

"Thanks." I headed upstairs to see where Nate had gone. I checked in our spare room and he wasn't in there. I saw the light to my room on so I figured he was just using the computer in there since I heard music coming from somewhere upstairs.

"Hey Nate" I said as I opened my door. And there Nate was laying across my bed with just his shorts on. His shirt and shoes were kicked off at the edge of my bed. Great I thought. "Nate move over." I said trying to get him to move over.

It was no use. So I changed out of my clothes from the bar and into a pair of my navy blue under armor shorts. I grabbed the extra cover and pillow we had in the spare bedroom and took them downstairs.

"Here ya go Jayden. Fresh and clean from California." My mom bought me these extra covers and pillows in case we just keep that room as a spare room.

"Nice. A little bit of home never hurt anyone. Where'd your friend Nate go?" Crap I thought. I didn't want to say, 'Oh he passed out in my bed.' Like it's something that happens regularly cause it isn't and Nate isn't gay nor my type.

"Oh he passed out on the floor in the spare. I grabbed a sheet from my bed and a pillow for him." Jayden just laughed.

"Alright man. I'm going to head up to bed."

"Alright Tyler. Thanks for letting me crash here. You're a nice guy, all of you guys seem pretty nice. I mean Jess is a doll. It's good to see she's got good friends around her."

"Thanks Jayden. It's not a problem." I stood there for a second.

"Also sorry about that little 10.0 comment I made earlier. Sometimes I can speak before thinking about what I'm saying." Jayden said apologitically.

"Yeah..." Still kinda unsure about that. "It's no problem. Better 3 of us then a whole team of us around when you said it." I said back at him.

"I feel like we should hug it out to a start of a new friendship." Jayden stood up and walked towards me.

"What.." I laughed, "You're pretty drunk still aren't you... ?"

"A bit. But it's cool." He came and pulled me into an embrace. We sat there in a hug for like at least a half minute before he let go. "Alright. Night bud." Jayden let go and fell back on to the couch.

"Night to you too." I headed upstairs and turned off the lights.

I just laughed to myself as I walked upstairs. I figured random drunk straight guys sometimes. I walked back in and Nate was still laying on my bed. I sighed and closed the door.

"Nate move over." I said to him again as I nudged him.

He scooted over a bit and I got under the covers. I just shook my head and ran my hand through my hair. I turned on my side to pass out. As I was trying to fall asleep my laptop was playing 'Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry as the events of the night passed through my head. It was a good night I thought. Just as I was about to fall asleep I felt Nate move in my bed. He turned in my direction and I then I felt him throw his arm over me and rubbed on my chest.

"Come here Heath.." I heard him whisper in his sleep. I pushed his arm aside.

"Who is Heath?" I said Nate. He threw his arm around me again and murmured something about Heath again. I sighed and just left it as be. He's drunk I figured and probably doesn't know what he's saying. Either way he's going to have some explaining to do I thought. I drifted off to sleep with Nate rubbing his hand on my chest. If anything it felt nice to sleep next to someone I thought and with that I passed out.

 

To Be Continued....

 

Thank you for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the story! This is my first story I've ever written and I wanted to use a subject matter that I like (gymnastics) & what it'd be like to experience going through college as an athlete who is not out and attends a major college in the midwest. Please bare with me as I get started if it's a little rough at first. I gotta get into my groove. Yes, there will be sex and other subjects in later chapters. But for now I wanted to start off with meeting and getting a feeling of Tyler's life. Chapter 2 to come soon hope you all will continue reading.

Any questions, comments, or feedback would be greatly appreciated! Email me at HalfIn.HalfOut7@gmail.com