G-rowing Pains - 2. Chapter 2 - Darts and confessions

When Jasper and Jeremy finally emerged from the locker room, they discovered that they were indeed the last people left in the rowing club. They had only recently received their keys after being a member for a year with no reported issues. That was a club rule for getting a key. When they were officially handed their very own keys to the rowing club, it had felt like a rite of passage to the boys. A special kind of trust.

Jeremy was not in the mood to go home just yet. His head was still swimming with thoughts, his heart fluttering with all kinds of feelings. Going home to face his parents and his older sister was not something he was looking forward to doing right now. What if they were able to see, or sense, what had just transpired?

"So, you want to, perhaps, hang around here a while longer?" He ventured, looking at Jasper with a hopeful look.

Jasper took a look around; being the only two people here seemed strange. But he didn't really have any plans. It was early afternoon on a Saturday. When he got home, the only thing he had to look forward to was homework. He would not mind postponing that, he absolutely hated math. "Yeah sure, why not? Do you want to throw some darts?"

Jeremy's face brightened; that was a brilliant idea. The club had a large darts board in the back, as well as a table tennis table and a few worn-out, but extremely comfortable, couches. It was a popular hangout for the club's younger members. Though some 'old' men didn't mind throwing a dart occasionally either.

They both grabbed a can of soda from behind the bar, dropped some coins into the box reserved for when people served themselves, and went over to the darts board. They popped their soda cans open and took a few big gulps, they were so thirsty! Jeremy placed his Fanta on the table-tennis table, and Jasper placed his Coke next to his.

They each got a set of darts from the box beneath the darts board, and they cleared the whiteboard of the previous players' scores. Apparently, Nathalie had seriously defeated Kris in the last game.

"Okay, who's gonna go first?" Jeremy asked.

"Let's throw for it," Jasper replied, and he quickly threw a dart, trying to get it as close to the bullseye as possible.

Jeremy pretended to be a pro, weighing one of the darts in his hand before getting a good grip and throwing his own.

The darts on the board collided with a THWACK, and a metallic sound rang out. However, Jeremy's blue dart had ended up being the closest to the bullseye.

"It's mine, I'll go first". Jeremy said as he walked over to the darts board and pulled out both darts simultaneously. He walked over to the throwing line, a bit of tape on the floor, and gently brushed Jasper's hand as he handed him back his dart. You'd think it must have been the softest touch, but you'd be wrong because rowers have pretty coarse hands. All the rowing often results in blisters and tough skin. As a result, Jeremy's touch on Jasper's hand felt a little like pulling two pieces of sanding paper over each other. Even if it was only for a split second, it felt electric.

Taking a deep breath, Jeremy took a good throwing stance and threw his darts in quick succession. He heard Jasper snickering.

"That's bloody rubbish," Jasper said, with a huge grin.

Jeremy took a look at the board. One of his darts had managed to miss the board completely, and it had become lodged stuck in the wall. Adding to the ever-increasing number of tiny holes already in the wall. He'd gotten three points for the other two darts. Jasper was correct; that was rubbish.

Muttering to himself, he took his darts from the board and moved himself out of the line of fire, as Jasper had already taken his place behind the line.

Three thuds were heard in quick succession, and Jasper yelled in delight. All three had landed on the board, giving him a nice score of forty-three. He took out his darts and marked the score on the board, smiling gleefully.

The game went on a little longer and Jeremy's aim was consistently off. Which was strange because he was usually pretty good at darts. Jasper, as could now be expected, won the game… and the next.

After two games, they had both finished their sodas, and they got two new ones. They returned to the couch and sank themselves into the fluffy embrace of their favorite three-person couch. Because it was so run-down, they actually sank quite a bit into it. To them, a couch was far superior to any new and fresh furniture their parents were always raving about. Who would give up a perfectly well-tenderized couch? That's how most of the seats and couches in the hangout came to be there, as leftovers from the kid's parents' so-called 'furniture upgrades'.

They were seated next to each other. Nothing out of the ordinary for the two of them. They'd been pretty much tied to the hips at the club since their first few practices. Only young boys could quickly become friends like this and feel completely at ease with each other. But that had been over a year ago, both had still been eleven then. Now, Jasper was thirteen and Jeremy had just turned fourteen. And, after the entire episode in the shower just now, things felt a little strange for both of them all of a sudden.

Jasper became acutely aware of the heat that Jeremy was emitting right next to him. He'd never noticed how you could feel someone's warmth when they sat next to you. It was like a warm aura. Not visible, but still there. He was acutely aware of it right now, though. "Jeremy…? Are we still friends?" Jasper inquired nervously.

Jeremy looked over at Jasper, his brows furrowed in concern. "I hope so," he said softly. "Are you having… doubts?" he questioned. He could feel his heart beating like a taut drum through being hammered through his entire body. This was what he had been terrified of. He knew it. Jasper had figured out that he liked guys. Oh god, and he had just basically forced himself upon his friend! Jasper must truly hate him now! Jeremy began to panic.

Jasper was, in fact, much more laid back about it than Jeremy realized. He was completely unaware of his friend's impending panic attack. This was mostly because it was all just so new to him. Liking someone, anyone, had never really been something big in his mind. Sure, he 'liked' his friends, just like he liked his parents. Or grandmother. But, like-like someone, nah, it had never genuinely happened. And his family was not really hung up on the whole gay thing. His father's brother, his uncle, was gay. His uncle had a great boyfriend actually, he loved hanging out with both of his uncles. They had a wonderful carefree attitude toward life. In his mind, it had never become a thing or a concern, what or whom he would like.

He turned his head and stared into Jeremy's wide-open, panicked eyes. He looked like a frightened deer staring into a pair of bright headlights coming straight at it. "Jeez, dude, chill it," he told Jeremy. He moved closer and swung his arm around Jeremy's shoulders to show that everything was fine.

This helped Jeremy relax, a little. Perhaps Jasper didn't despise his guts entirely? He began to feel a glimmer of hope. "You… don't hate me, do you?" Jeremy questioned, very cautiously.

"HATE YOU?" Jasper yelled. But he quickly backed down after spooking Jeremy yet again. "No, dude! Of course, I don't hate you. I just never saw this coming. I don't really know what to think of it. Or at least how I feel about it. It's just so weird and new," he said.

"So, you like guys?" Jeremy carefully asked. "… too?" he added, throwing all caution to the wind.

That actually had caught Jasper off guard. He hadn't given any thought to how Jeremy might feel about guys or girls. Sure, they had talked about things like that. But Jeremy had never given any indication that he might actually like guys instead of girls. Hadn't he had a girlfriend when he began rowing? And he always told everyone that he didn't have anyone special in his life. And that he wasn't looking for someone, either.

"Jasper?" Jeremy continued probing. Jasper had zoned out a little, following his train of thought.

"I don't know," Jasper revealed, "it never really mattered."

Jeremy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had been worried almost every day for the past year since he had first noticed he was looking at other guys at school. And when he joined the rowing club, he was terrified of having to shower alongside the other members. He realized puberty had really hit him, when he started losing control of his erections and breaking out in pimples, at the most inconvenient times. He'd gotten fewer pimples as he spent more time showering and training. The erections, had not diminished so much. And here Jasper was telling him that it never mattered much who gave you a boner!? How could this not be massive and life-changing?

"You're kidding, right? Doesn't really matter?" Jeremy gasped. "It's been the most important thing on my mind for ages, and to you, it doesn't really matter?"

"Wait, you've been worried about this for a long time? Why didn't you say anything?" Jasper was stunned. "I mean, we're like friends. Best friends. Right?" He couldn't believe Jasper had had this on his mind for so long and hadn't told him. He'd mentioned their family pet dying, and he'd even cried on his shoulder about it. But this, he had not told!? He had unconsciously pushed himself back on the couch to be in a better position to stare in at Jeremy in astonishment.

Jeremy was unable to speak. Jasper's words had hit him like a ton of bricks. He had wanted to tell… but he was too afraid of ruining everything. Even contemplating telling Jasper had resulted in a slew of doom scenarios, with everyone finding out and hating him. His parents wanting him to move out. And he'd never live it down in school. His throat tightened, and his shoulders began to shake. The stress was getting the better of him and a small sob escaped.

Jasper noticed how his friend had almost crawled into the couch's corner, his shoulders shaking, and… was that a sob? Was Jeremy crying? A giant wave of concern washed over him. No, no, that was not what he had wanted to happen. He wanted to be there for his friend. He was not angered. Perhaps confused, but certainly not mad. On a whim, he threw himself on Jeremy and hugged him tight.

"Duuude!" he exclaimed, really stretching it for all it was worth. 'Dude' was something he said all the time. It was such an all-encompassing word. It could be someone, something, or don't be silly. Like apple sauce, he used it for everything.

He felt Jeremy move beneath him and how he began to hug him back. His head was now resting on Jeremy's shoulder, the opposite of how it had been in the showers, and he could feel his friend heaving, sobbing, and crying. "Dude…", he said again, as in, everything would be alright.

Jeremy could not help but let everything out. He had not realized how big of a deal this had been for him. He had thought he had handled everything calmly and considerately up to this point. But this massive outpouring of emotions also told him that it had, in fact, been a big deal. A huge deal. And all he could do now was, go with the flow, trusting Jasper to have his back.

They sat like that for a while, and Jeremy gradually began to calm down again. The sobbing subsided, and he was able to wipe away a single last and lost tear. Oh, god, he had totally drenched Jasper's shoulder. His shirt was completely soaked. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

Jasper pushed back a little and looked Jeremy in the eyes, "Don't be." And, unsure of what to do or how far he could go, he settled on kissing Jeremy on the forehead.

Jeremy smiled. "Silly!" he exclaimed, planting a big kiss on Jasper's lips. Nothing hot or sexual, just a big grateful kiss. Okay, and he had also wanted to show where kisses were supposed to be planted. Just a little, at least.