Knock Me Down - [COMPLETE]

39 - Talk to Me

"Come on, inhale on the way down. Down, and breathe" I inhale with him, "There you go, touch your chest, meet the bar"

His face his red as he's reaching his limit, "Dude, I can't go on, take it"

"No, keep going. You got more in you. It's hiding in your chest. Imagine it in there and hold it. Push " I touch the underneath of the bar with the tips of my fingers, "Keep your feet down, don't roll your shoulders"

Holden strains, hair sticking to his forehead, and grunts loudly as he presses a hundred and fifteen pounds.

"Yeah, yeah, good. Lock it" He successfully gets one more rep in and I help him rack the bar before he gives out.

He breathes loudly and rolls over to crawl onto the ground, "How much was that?"

"I didn't want to scare you by busting out the forty-fives, but 115. Little more work you could reach a whole plate"

He lays like a starfish on the floor of my grandmas basement. This was my Uncles old stuff. He didn't have everything we did at home but he had enough equipment to cover the basics.

"Shit, I'm out of shape. I've let myself go. How much can you bench?"

I grin, "Your body weight and more. But I've been active since I was a toddler, man. You've been doing this for a week"

"Did you know Connor's kinda shredded? Underneath the baggy clothes, the man's not as much of a twink as I thought. All I have is some height on him"

"Bro he plays tennis"

"But I thought..." He doesn't finish his sentence because he already knows how I feel.

"What? Because it's tennis? Don't underestimate unpopular sports bro, we'll kick your ass. I could crush your skull with my thighs alone. Serena Williams? Could smack your ass and shatter all 206 of your bones"

He rolls his eyes, "Yeah, yeah"

I chuckle, "But Connor doesn't even have to do that. All he has to do is bat his eyes and you're putty in his hand"

He becomes red again and he covers it with his small towel.

I laugh harder at him and he throws the sweaty towel in my direction hitting my open mouth.

"Just for that I'm making you come on Saturday" He complains.

I roll up the towel and whip him in the stomach making him wince and cover his abdomen, "Fuck no. I'm not going"

He rubs the sore area, "Please, dude. You haven't gone out in awhile"

"Uh, I don't know if you haven't noticed but, uh, maybe because I can't?" I gesture to my new home to show him my current status.

"Sneak out. Uber"

"Sneaking out is part of what got me here"

He wipes himself down, still recovering from the whole upper body session I planned for him, "You decided not to give a shit, so sneak out"

"I don't know. I still have guilt about all this, so doing it again just feels juvenile. Disrespectful even"

He semi-frowns, sympathizing, "How do you feel?"

"Better than I was a few days ago. I don't know if she knows or not. She's quieter than usual, always focused on doing something in front of her. Embroidery, reading, whatever. I've never been around her long enough to know how she is normally at home but she hasn't said anything about it? She treats me pretty much the same" I rest my hand on my chest feeling my heartbeat through my shirt, "I might even like it better here. I get silence and minimal people to worry about"