Eleven-and-a-half: A Fantasy Of Great Length by Ray Wilder

Chapter 19: Arnold

This is a work of fiction. All the characters, events and locations
portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons,
events or locations is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 1996. All rights, implicit or implied, except for
distribution by this archive and personal use by the individual downloading
the file, are reserved. Inquiries regarding publishing rights for this book
should be directed to: raywild@aol.com

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	Arnold immediately saw the effect he was having on the young man
with Patty. He had seen it many times before. There was the initial
reaction to his physique followed by the uncontrollable urge to stare at
his crotch. The boy was probably gay, though he didn't seem to have that
self-assured sexual presence which most of Arnold's gay friends had. He
probably wasn't sexually active yet. He was a handsome youth, obviously
beginning to do some serious body building. Arnold knew there would come a
time very soon, if it hadn't happened already, when the young man was going
to have to deal with other people's advances as Arnold had several times
today. Including this young man's. Arnold knew lust when he saw it. This
kid lusted.
	Patty thanked him for dropping off the gym bag that she'd forgotten
in the parking lot. He got the feeling she was uneasy about him having to
bring it over. He thought she might be the type who didn't like to be in
other people's debt so he assured her he would probably have done the same
thing, forgotten his bag, considering the conditions under which she had
departed. He certainly hoped she wasn't having second thoughts about having
shown her appreciation for his cock. The last thing he wanted was this
beautiful, muscular woman to go shy on him. He had begun to develop high
hopes about what would take place in her apartment the following night.
	The young man with Patty was still staring at him, and although he
knew the lad meant no offense it was becoming a bit uncomfortable. Arnold
asked Patty who he was. Patty introduced him as "the kid" and seemed to be
a little insensitive about the boy's reaction to Arnold. There appeared to
be a bond of some sort between them, though, so he figured everything was
fine. However, when she made a point of his staring, the kid's reaction was
one of almost hatred. He obviously did not like the fact that Patty was
taking him so lightly. There was definitely something going on here.
	Patty backed off and let the young man deal with Arnold in his own
way. It was obvious that Patty had a rather maternal attitude towards him
and this seemed to be the first time she had encountered any resentment
from him on the subject. Arnold wondered if there might be any question in
the kid's mind as to his relationship with Patty. He made sure he indicated
that they were friends. What was perplexing, though, was that when the boy
introduced himself as "Peter" Patty seemed completely taken by
surprise. Hadn't she just told him that Peter was going to be closing the
gym for her tonight? He obviously worked here. How was it she didn't know
his name? Patty mentioned that "the secret was out." Was it that Peter had
just allowed everyone to call him "the kid". It seemed rather
self-deprecating. Perhaps he had a rather low self-image. Arnold decided to
test those waters to see if there was anything he could do to help Peter
see himself in a better light.
	As they shook hands Arnold felt a flood of warmth emanate from the
young man in a mish-mash of emotions. It would have been easy to refer to
it as puppy-love, lust, infatuation. But Arnold sensed something deeper. He
thought back to his life before Mr. Ridell, before the world had been shown
to him in a new light. This was the feeling he got from Peter. The boy was
on the edge of something. It was possible that today was, for any number of
reasons, a cusp for him. If handled poorly, the whole thing could go sour,
and he would look forward to a life like Arnold had before meeting
Mr. Ridell and Sam; without a prayer for making anything of himself, just
for lack of the self-confidence that someone had in their power to give
him.
	Arnold knew about that cusp. He knew about the moment when all of
it became clear, when the whole world fell into place and he saw how he
might fit into it, making both himself and his world a better place to
live. Should this boy not come to that moment properly prepared then his
future, and the future of the world, would be greatly diminished. The whole
is indeed equal to the sum of every part. Every single part, no matter how
seemingly insignificant.
	Peter was quite concerned about Arnold's connection with
Patty. Looking at Patty he sensed that she was also a bit concerned about
her connection with her new neighbor. He wasn't sure what either expected,
so kept the description as simple as possible. He had just moved in. They
were neighbors. Just friends. Since this morning. This seemed to delight
Peter but Patty became unusually upset. Both Arnold and Peter stared at her
as she began pounding her fist on the reception desk. Perhaps she was
jealous of Peter's attentions towards him. Or she was jealous of his
attentions towards Peter. Or she was just plain angry about being left out
of the interaction between the two men.
	Arnold really had intended to simply drop off the bag and head on
back to his apartment, begging off on the tour until he had a chance to get
settled in. But it was obvious that Patty had set her heart on showing him
around the place. Disappointing her now might mean complicating things for
tomorrow night.
	There was also Peter to consider. If Arnold were to walk out of
here right now the boy would not be able to get what he perceived he needed
from him. Arnold would do well to direct Peter's attentions away from the
purely sexual need that he was sure the kid felt would fill his gap.
	He asked if Patty could take the time to show him around but Peter
immediately jumped in and asked if he could do the honors. He was caught
between a rock and hard place. The name Solomon came to mind, but he didn't
see any babies he could chop in half so he suggested that Peter could do
the demonstrating. He wondered just how much the young man knew about gym
equipment, but figured no harm would be done if he let the boy "show him
the ropes." Although it seemed rather obvious that, given Arnold's physical
development, there was probably little the boy could tell him which he
hadn't already experienced, Arnold had learned the best way to hamper his
growth in life was to deny a source of information. By the end of the tour
he was rewarded yet again with affirmation of this point.
	The first thing Arnold noticed, and the thing that continued to
draw his attention, was the plant life. Everywhere you looked there was
greenery. The whole place was supercharged with the energy and oxygen these
wonderful living things were giving off. Had the equipment been a set of
plastic, sand filled bar bells and a pull up bar he would still have jumped
at the chance to work-out here.
	They began with the stations nearest the stairs and Arnold asked
Peter questions about them, at first just to be polite. As they continued
the tour, though, Arnold realized the boy was a veritable storehouse of
knowledge regarding the equipment and the ways in which to get the most out
of each exercise. It would be quite a coup if he could get Peter to be his
work-out partner. Arnold wondered what his duties were here and whether
they included enough time to run through a session with him once a day.
	Occasionally Arnold would ask a question that required Peter to
actually demonstrate the gear. This he did with great pride. Arnold thought
he sometimes put a bit too much weight on to show off but the determination
on Peter's face as he pushed himself through the reps only increased
Arnold's respect for him. Peter's body was just at that point when the
various parts were starting to come together. Each muscle group was
beginning to be defined and Arnold could tell he had learned how to isolate
the different groups to get the most out the exercise and bring definition
to his body.
	He saw that Peter could concentrate on the effort of each rep,
being less concerned with finishing a set than making the movement he was
presently involved in count for as much as possible. His chest was already
becoming broad and deep. The pecs were starting to stand up off his chest
and come together to form that great, deep divide which did so much to
express their shape. His abdominals had the beginnings of the striations
which would soon take on the appearance of being iron clad. The deltoids
which capped his shoulders had already begun to define themselves as
separate entities from his biceps and triceps. His lats needed some work,
but a little coaching in that direction would soon have them up to speed
with the rest of his upper torso.
	Arnold had trouble discerning the condition of his legs because he
was wearing sweats. They seemed to be a bit on the spindly side, but this
was normal for the beginner. Most kids wanted to get the huge, ornamental
muscles of the upper torso going first. It wasn't until they looked in the
mirror one day with all their clothes off that they would realize how top
heavy and odd they looked. If there was a chance that Arnold would be
working with him, the first thing he would do would be to take him through
the same self-evaluation session which Mr. Ridell had taken him
through. Nude, in front of a full-length mirror. Nothing but honesty to
protect him. It had been a sobering experience for Arnold, showing him how
much work he had before him. But it had allowed him to set realistic goals
by viewing what he had to work with and realizing how they could be
developed to their best advantage.
	Occasionally they would come to a station where some of the other
members of the gym were working. Arnold enjoyed just standing back and
watching these people go. Their attitudes about their work, their
dedication, their determination was an inspiration which he constantly fed
off of. He could feel each rep that the other person was going through. As
they pumped the huge plates of iron up in the air his own muscles could
feel the growth and burn they were experiencing. Some of these people
seemed to have their own ideas about how to use these machines that didn't
match up to what Arnold knew about them. He asked them about this or that
technique and tried to find a way to incorporate the information into what
his experience had been. Almost without fail the person was able to add
substantially to Arnold's cache of information, either by showing him some
detail that had been previously unknown to him or by making some statement
or assumption which seemed to Arnold to be erroneous.
	Throughout the tour Peter continued to impress him as being a great
asset to the gym. He hoped that this fact was appreciated by the rest of
the staff, though he suspected that, in light of Peter's rather
self-deprecating manner, the staff probably picked-up on his own attitude
and helped sustain it.
	After they had made the circuit of the floor and returned to the
reception area Arnold remarked about Peter's knowledge, saying that he
really appreciated the young man's insights into the use of the gear and
hoped that he would be able to tap that information on a regular
basis. There was still the boy's physical lust to deal with, but if it came
to that, well, he certainly had done his share of hopping the fence. There
was no doubt the young man was good looking, and it never ceased to please
Arnold when anyone took such an interest in him. Peter was definitely hot
for Arnold. In his eagerness, Peter put Arnold on the spot. Would he be
joining? Yes, of course he would. He thought Peter would have an orgasm
right then and there.
	When he asked about an annual fee he thought Patty was the one who
would cream her jeans. This was going to be interesting.