Gym Buddies II: Part Three
#3 of Gym Buddies II
Gym Buddies II: Part Three
Al's eyes caught mine and his face dropped to the floor. Dan gave an exasperated sigh and frowned as he folded his arms. I wasn't sure if it was in my mind or not, but I'm sure his tail curled tightly enough to creak.
"Is he following me or something?" my brother hissed under his breath. From what I could see of the coyote's face, it didn't look like he'd been caught in the act. He looked more like he was willing the Earth to swallow him whole. "You know what, I'm just gonna go," he said, but I patted his shoulder to stop him.
"No, you won't," I whispered, making sure Tom wouldn't hear us talking. "The best thing you can do is not let him get to you, okay?" Dan nodded and glared at the floor as if he was trying to burn holes through something. "Hey, cheer up." It didn't work, which made me feel bad for Dan and a certain something against Al. Not long after, Tom had given us all of our instructions and informed us that each one would be called upon during the day. He told us to stay in the gym, use the facilities and get an all-round feel for the place. When we dispersed, I immediately turned to see the coyote. He was heading towards Dan and I, so I made sure Dan didn't see.
"Pup, I'm kinda thirsty," I explained, shoving a heap of jingling coins into his paw, "could you get me a drink and buy yourself something?"
"Okay, Luke," he said, careful not to slip up and call me something else. He smiled and practically ran to the vending machines. It didn't take me long to work out that he was headed straight for the chocolate. The coyote walked straight up to me, looking in the direction that I'd sent Dan. I put a paw out so that he'd walk into me and stop.
"Hello, Al," I purred quietly. He looked up at me, his cheeks flushed scarlet.
"Hi, Luke," he responded.
"Going to see Dan, were you?" I asked. The coyote looked ashamed of himself and started to walk away, so I grabbed the scruff of his clothes and pulled him back. "Al, I think we need to talk about this." He nodded.
"I think so, too." I led him over to the seating area in the corner of the gym, which had large leather sofas dotted around a coffee table. We sat down opposite each other, him staring at the floor and me staring daggers into him. "Please don't look at me like that," he begged.
"Like what?"
"Like you want to beat the crap out of me," he said. "You seemed much more relaxed before you knew I was here." He wasn't entirely wrong. If he went near Dan, I'd be more than happy to put him in his place - all I'd need is my brother's word. But at this moment in time, Al was in need of a friend. I got up and sat next to him, holding on to his shoulders.
"I'm just worried for my brother, that's all."
"I know, I understand that," he insisted. "It just kills me that we aren't together anymore." A long silence fell between us and I wondered where Dan was with my drink and his chocolate. I wondered for a moment if he was emptying the vending machine as I glanced around for him. "Erm, Luke..." Al started uneasily.
"What's up?"
"Does he, er... well, does he talk about me?"
"No," I lied. After all, Dan did talk about Al constantly. 'Why can't he leave me alone?' 'When will he get the message?' If I told Al about these times, though, he would burst into tears. I could see them building up in his eyes already.
"Are you sure? Because when I was walking up to you two before, I could smell that he was... excited about something. About someone." We weren't discreet enough. I made a mental note to tell Dan that we each had to cool off a little more.
"Well," I fumbled for an answer, not daring to tell the truth. "He's found someone else." His eyes went wide and his face dropped.
"Oh. So soon?" His lip trembled and his body jerked as he held back a sob. He leant into the arm of the sofa and wept quietly into his paw. I felt horrible for doing this, so placed my paw on his shoulder.
"Hey, mate, it's okay," I said comfortingly.
"He didn't love me," Al cried. I had no idea what to say in response to this, so just rubbed his shoulder. "Is he happy?" he asked after a moment. His tears had made his eyes bloodshot, and his eyes were a dull olive - not the emerald Dan had told me about after he met the coyote.
"I think so," I answered. "He's always smiling and..." I stopped when I saw Al playing with his fingers. This was really hurting the poor guy. "I'm sorry," I said honestly.
"That's okay, it's just... it's just something I need to get over, I guess." He turned to smile at me, though tears were still streaming from him as he shook. I smiled back to help boost his confidence a little, which seemed to work. "Say, would it be okay if I could apologise to him?"
"You mean face to face?" I asked apprehensively. He nodded.
"If that's okay? I just want to say sorry to him."
"Wait here," I said. I got up and started looking around for Dan. I was wasting my time asking him - he was avoiding Al like the plague - but I still felt like I should let Dan know what was going on. It took me a minute to find the husky, who was standing by the treadmills with our stuff. He was holding multiple bars of chocolate in his arms and clutching a sports drink in his paw.
"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you," he shouted. I glanced at the food he was holding and took the drink from him.
"That's a Hell of a lot of chocolate there, pup," I said, "you're not gonna eat that all by yourself, are you?"
"Not right now," he said with a whimper. I glared at him. "If I work really hard, can I have one when I get home?"
"Tell you what, pup - you can have two of those tonight if you do one thing for me." The husky raised his eyebrows, interested but not quite hooked. I nodded over to the coyote sitting in the corner. "I want us to talk to him," I explained.
"What? Why?"
"Listen, he just wants to apologise for pestering you. That's fair enough, right?" Dan looked at the floor and mumbled something to himself. I didn't hear exactly what he said, but I know he wouldn't have said it in front of our mother for fear of a thick ear. "So? Can we give him a chance?" He picked up his gym bag with a huff and threw the candy inside before we made our way to Al, who beamed when he saw Dan coming.
"Hey, Dan!" It didn't take super-sensitive hearing to catch his heart suddenly race. Dan smiled politely at him.
"Hey, Al. How've you been?" he asked conversationally.
"Good! I've been good. And you?"
"I've been good, too," my brother chuckled. Al smiled and nodded.
"Listen, I just wanted to apolo-"
"You don't have to," Dan insisted. "I've just been... well, I've had my eye on someone else." Al smiled knowingly.
"You don't have to beat around the bush, you know. Luke told me that you were dating." Dan shot me a surprised look and I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't realise that he wanted to hide that. Actually, I thought it might have helped the coyote to back off for a while.
"Well, erm... yeah, we are." A pause sat between the three of us as Al tried to work something out.
"We? I meant you - Dan."
I closed my eyes when I realised what Dan thought Al had said. The husky's entire face twitched nervously as he tried to conjure an answer from the air. Before he could say anything, Al confirmed his suspicions.
"You mean... you two?!"
I sat down next to him and spoke in a low tone, encouraging him to do the same. "Listen, we're trying to keep it quiet. We don't want anyone to find out, so..."
"I'm not surprised!" His volume caught the attention of Tom, who was assessing Pippa's test subject. I smiled at him, which was greeted with another sneer from his lip. I had no chance of getting this job, I was sure of it. Al had finally started to use a quieter voice. "You can't be together, it... it's not right!" This stung me, because being with Dan felt perfect. Dan obviously felt the same way when he looked at the floor and sniffled.
"It is right. I know it's right. Please don't say anything," Dan pleaded. "We're just trying to start anew, you know?"
"You know, I don't approve of this," Al said. Dan responded with a loud scoff.
"That's rich coming from you! After what you suggested to me, how dare you--"
"What did he suggest?" I interrupted. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as Al looked at the floor.
"Well?" Dan pushed. "I'll tell you what, Al. Either you accept it and move on or I'll tell Luke what you said."
"What did he say?" I asked, still getting no answer. The coyote looked up, wiping another tear from his face and looking horribly distraught.
"You're using emotional blackmail on me?"
"Al Mason," the tiger shouted out. Instinctively, Al got up and started walking towards him. Before he got away, I was able to grab hold of his wrist.
"Al, please... can we please keep this a secret?" The coyote shook his arm to make me let go then shot a nasty look at Dan.
"I thought you'd have known me better than that." Dan looked ashamed of himself, and I couldn't help but share the same look. The coyote walked away and I switched seats to sit next to my brother.
"Right, now that he's gone, you can tell me." The husky sighed before looking into my eyes.
"He said that he wanted a threesome with you," he said. A huge amount of confusion struck me.
"But, I thought you were attracted to him?"
"Yeah," he replied.
"And you were attracted to me?"
"Yeah."
"And you said no?" I couldn't understand why he'd say no to something like that. If I was in his position, I was quite sure we'd be enjoying an around-the-world. He shifted uncomfortably, and for a moment I thought he was trying to hide a tent. His mood, however, told me that he just found the whole situation awkward.
"Yeah, I said no. Look, can we talk about it later?"
I nodded and smiled warmly at him. "Of course we can." After a second, I picked up his gym bag, took out one of the chocolate bars and passed it to him. "Here, kid." He took it from me, unwrapped it and bit into it. I didn't see a hint of a smile cross his face, and I realised that I was missing something. Something that Dan would be telling me tonight. I looked over at Tom, who was answering some of Al's questions.
"You don't think he's talking about us, do you?" Dan asked, swallowing the chocolate. I shook my head.
"Try not to think about it." But that was much easier said than done.
Especially from the way that Tom kept looking at me with his trademark sneer.