Page 31 of Dickathlon

“Morning, Ty.” He paused slightly on his way into the kitchen and his eyes went wide. I could tell he was surprised.

“There’s eggs on the stove and I made the cheesy popovers you like.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

Pierce grabbed a plate, served himself and sat next to me. I could feel his eyes on me. He put his hand on my thigh.

“Don’t say it, bro.”

Pierce scoffed. “Fine. I won’t.” He smiled and took a bite. “Mmm. So, what do you want to do today?”

* * *

“You all packed, bro?”

I nodded, bringing my bag into the hall. Pierce was taking me on his Nines trip.

Every year, around the ninth of September, he and his friends took a trip somewhere. It had started in college since he and his roommate, Neill, both had the same birthday. Nine also happened to be their favorite number - it was on every sports jersey they both had growing up, so it became a thing and had been going on for over a decade. The guys were different every year, depending on who was still in touch with Pierce and Neill, and was available to come.

This year, Pierce convinced them to stay in California, so he could take me with them. I felt like I was a little baby bear venturing out from hibernation with my mama bear, Pierce, but I didn’t care. I was looking forward to it.

I was excited to get out of San Jose. Despite my slightly more optimistic attitude, I stayed in my comfort zone most of the time. The only excitement all summer was at the very beginning, when I watched the last day of Cam and Luke competing at Nationals in Sacramento, and the family had come up for my graduation.

The tension was high at the meet. I watched Cassandra, Luke's new coach, almost maul Cam before Noah stepped in. Luke didn't do great, but Cam came away with the title. I didn't see either of them for very long. It was my first overnight since the accident and I was pretty wiped.

As for graduation, I didn’t want the family to make a big deal out of it, but I didn’t have much of a say. To me, I had earned a degree and that was that.

I had recovered enough to start lifting weights. Nothing over five pounds yet - my physiotherapist and I were taking things slow, and the Nines trip would be the same. After all, it’s not like I could go cliff-diving in Mallorca or climb up to Machu Picchu or anything. Instead, we were heading to Santa Cruz to hit the beach, surf, and relax.

Neill lived in San Francisco and was swinging by on the way down to pick us up. One of their friend’s parents had a beach house Airbnb they were letting us stay in for a week since it wasn’t rented.

I was still constantly nervous about my shoulder. I really didn’t want to fuck it up any more than I had already. My physiotherapist was hopeful since I had made so much progress, but I struggled to match her optimism. While I could see a gradual increase in my range of motion over time, it was still really tight. It felt lightyears away from normal.

Because of my worries, I would be partaking more in the relaxing activities Santa Cruz had to offer as opposed to surfing or rock climbing. I was fine with that. I had downloaded a few new books on my Kindle app. One of which was possibly a bisexual romance.

Yes, my libido had awakened slightly. Both hands still worked, so that was a plus, but I was starting to think about exploring again. Dating, even. Maybe I could find someone that wasn’t interested in sex right away?

Pierce and Neill were busy filling each other in on their lives since their last bro-down, so I popped my earbuds in, threw on some classic rock, and texted the guys to see what they had been up to lately. Of course, I didn’t use the group text.

Cam seemed okay, if a little distant. He probably guessed Luke and I had hung out and was avoiding the topic. Luke was excited to see me soon and happy I was going on an outing. I told him he sounded like my mom before my fifth grade sleepover camp. Grant was apparently skipping class and at an audition in LA for a new TV show. And Graham didn’t answer because he was probably still asleep in Australia.

Staring out the window, I watched as the mountains thinned out. We were approaching the coast. I could hear Pierce ask Neill about the house. Apparently, the place was huge. Six bedrooms, eight baths, a ten-person jacuzzi and a rooftop deck. I zoned out a little when they started talking about the other guys. I wasn’t planning on hanging out with them much, other than at the house and maybe watching them surf. They were all Pierce’s age anyway.

* * *

SANTA CRUZ

Neill wasn’t lying about the house. It looked like a Spanish villa, white stucco with curved, red roof tiles, and it was enormous and right across the road from the beach. I wasn’t even on the rooftop deck and I could see the pier from the front alcove. A few cars were already in the driveway. I grabbed my bag and headed inside. It’s not like I’d be much help with the trunk full of other stuff, and now that I was on vacation, I wasn’t making seven trips to the car to help Neill and Pierce with their bro-visions, i.e. beer and liquor. Apparently, we didn’t need to go grocery shopping either since the kitchen was already filled with bags of food and supplies. There were two guys working to put it away.

“Hey, I’m Ty. Pierce’s bro.”

“‘Sup, dude. I’m Harris. That’s Gio.”

“Nice place.”

“Thanks, man. It’s one of my dad’s client’s properties,” Gio said.

“Oh, so you’re who I have to thank for this week?”