Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2013 13:05:07 -0700
From: Charles Wolfe <c.sportswolfe@gmail.com>
Subject: The Ultimate Man- Challenge Ch5

Hey everyone sorry for the late chapter. I hope you all have been doing
well. Enjoy :D

============================================================================

	Was this what college was going to be like? Lying in my bed before
my classes, I stared up at the empty ceiling. If it weren't for Kyle and
Frisbee, I would be a complete waste of space, another mindless student
wandering the halls of Long Beach. Ever since that afternoon spent with
Kyle I have had limited contact with him, the both of us falling deep into
our studies and heavy rush of school activities.

	Pulling myself from my bed I move around my room to get dressed. It
didn't take me too long to get myself together, leaving the room shortly to
brush and clean myself up enough to look presentable. This could be a long
college career if every day was like this. My legs felt like lead as I
wanted for Bryan and Kyle to get dressed as well, the three of us falling
back into our old routine of grabbing breakfast together at the dining
hall.

	The menu was slightly changed now as we had entered into
September. There was a fall feeling about it but I couldn't care less as I
grabbed a cup of bland coffee, something to hopefully wake me up. It was
almost as if the three of us were zombies, barely grunting at each other as
we moved back and forth between the halls. Leaving for my early morning
class, I grunted out a wave to them as we passed the United Student Union.

	Entering into my English class, I sat down and rested my head onto
my arms and closed my eyes. With the sound of the professor starting to
talk, I silently groaned and lifted up my head. Fluttering my eyes open, I
glanced around the room to see that most to all of the other students were
in the same boat as me, trying desperately not to fall back asleep. Looking
behind me, I continued my scan of the room, glancing over the blank faces
strewn about. For a second I thought I saw Michael in the room but it was
my imagination playing games with me.

	Doing a double take to make sure I wasn't seeing things, I rubbed
my eyes for a second then looked back. Much to my surprise, it was actually
Dustin, his slender arm subtly waving over to me. He was in the back of the
room, his laptop adding a slight glow to his auburn hair. I couldn't help
but notice how cute he actually was, his headphones hanging loosely under
his lengthy hair.

	Waving shortly back at him, I look back ahead to the teacher before
he catches my drifting. Paying attention to the teacher didn't help too
much as I started to drift off into my own dreamland. Winter break was
still so far away but I was already looking forward to what I was going to
be doing for Christmas, the possibility of spending it Kyle an open option
at the moment. Thanksgiving break was just as open, the short week
seemingly so close yet so far way.

	Closing my eyes for a quick second passed the minutes by quickly,
the class ending before I had actually noticed it. The only way I had
noticed was the shuffling of papers into open backpacks and the presence of
Dustin next to me. He had said something to me but I was still in my
morning daze enough to miss his comment, "Hum? What?"

	Laughing a little, he leaned back up against the neighboring desk
as I collected my stuff together. "Zoning out on the class as well? It can
be a little bit of a bore, hence the laptop." He patted his messenger bag
and continued. "I didn't know you were taking this class."

	Putting on a weak smile, I collected my composure and lifted my
backpack. "Sorry, it's just an early morning for me. Yea I need it for GE
but also maybe for my major, I haven't decided on English yet." We move out
of the building and into the steady flow students towards our next
class. Dustin was very animated in his walking, slightly dancing to his
muffled music vibrating from his headphones.

	"Hey you ready for the tournament next week?" He looked at me
eagerly, as if my wisdom of playing could rub off on him. Was this what I
was like last year, so eager to play that the dull of school life hadn't
penetrated yet?

	Chuckling at the thought of playing professionally again, I laughed
out, "Yea it'll be great to get back into the competitive spirit. Plus I am
looking forward to going against my boyfriend and seeing how Fullerton
does." The thought of challenging Kyle on the field was entertaining to me,
especially my wanting to see how much he might have improved over me.

	Dustin stopped slightly, "You're gay? Wow I didn't know that." I
was slightly confused because I thought I had made it kind of known when
Kyle came to the practice. Maybe Dustin had left by then. "Hanson's the
only one that knows but I am too." Dustin seemed a little shy about telling
me he was gay but not scared like I had normally seen out of other players.

	"Don't worry Dustin; no one cares on the team. As long as you can
play, which you can, that's all that matters." Man, here I was hoping I
could have been the only gay on the team. Really? I couldn't help but
chuckle at the thought of having to compete for supreme gay. Dustin noticed
my out of place chuckle and raised his eyebrow in the process. Having to
now clarify myself, I smile genuinely to him. "It's good to know that I am
not the only one on the team anymore. Whenever you want to tell the team,
you'll have support behind you, trust me." It was unfortunate that we had
to break off when we did because I now suddenly wanted to talk with him
more. It's said that the gay community is very small in Long Beach so to
have this new character slip under my radar was new to me. Who was he? What
was his story?

	Making my goodbyes, I move off to my next class, wondering what
else the day had in store. In the end though, not much was to entertain
me. Practice was dull, even though we were starting to shift gears into
competitive mode. For some reason Dustin was absent, even though Hanson was
there. He and I threw together and I had a feeling Dustin had told him that
I now knew but he didn't say anything to me.

	The rest of the week was a mix of spending time with Kyle and vice
versa. With the game coming up, we wanted to enjoy the time we had together
before the teams tore us apart. Since I had no class on Thursday I spent
the morning with him, walking around the campus to his classes. Fullerton
was a really nice campus, though a different style of atmosphere from Long
Beach.

	Darren was slowly warming up to me as I began to hang out with them
from time to time, Leon and Monty having no problems with me at all, or so
it seemed. At times, I could tell Darren was watching me, the overcautious
eye of Kyle's friend hawking over my movements. I did learn however that he
was in the Army ROTC, which explained his crew cut and formulated
movements. He did look really good in his uniform, the attire fitting him
well as a man of the forces. I too was beginning to respect him more as I
got to know how much he cared for Kyle. Out of all of Kyle's friends, even
those on the Fullerton and Irvine teams, these three were there for him on
a different level. They were supportive of him, especially with him
allowing me to hang around.

	During our nights at each other's dorms, we could feel the tension
starting to rise in the teams, the discomfort that we were dating a rival
team member. It was almost childish as we snuggled together; the heavy
problems hanging over us as we tried to enjoy the simple things. What was
even worse was when I tried to go down to watch his team practice that
Saturday morning.

	After waking up to an empty bed, I had the gut feeling that he was
at practice. His post it note was a good enough clue to me as well as I
moved around the room gathering my stuff. I wasn't going to just leave him
in the cold but I did need to get back to Long Beach soon.  Heading outside
into the brisk fall air, I wandered over to the playing fields and just sat
down. From what I could tell his practice was about the middle as they were
working on complex drills, their movements very limber and fluid.

	Between twiddling with my phone and watching Kyle, the time seemed
to pass relatively quickly. Ellie had changed her hair again, a deep orange
streak flying down her bangs contrasting deeply with her now brown hair. I
swear she changes her hair to the seasons. Waving back from my seated
position in the moist grass, I looked to the other players as well with my
wave, getting a few interesting glances back from them. This was the first
time they had seen me since last Spring and from the looks of it quite a
few new players. The new players gave me a few glares, something that made
me do a double take to see if that expression was still there, which much
to my surprise, was.

	Kyle ended his practice at about ten, which was nice. I knew that
Pike and the team were probably going to give me shit for missing my own
practice, especially since the tournament was next weekend. Here I was at
the oppositions practice watching them instead of practicing with my own
team. As I contemplated these issues, Ellie ran up to me and hugged me, the
sweaty smell enveloping my senses.

	Victoria as well came over, a hard glance on her face. "Shouldn't
you be at Long Beach practicing?" It was almost accusatory how she phrased
that question, as if she were my captain or even worse going to report to
Pike. Kyle thankfully interrupted to pull her away, telling her that I
stayed at his place last night. With a stark face, she and Kyle walked
towards the gear bag to collect the items.

	As they talked, the new players moved in to see who I was, either
their interest perked or their defensive nature heightened. I stuck out my
hand to shake with each of them, trying to get the introductions out of the
way and start off on nice footing. The grips however from each player was
almost a death vice, each one stronger than the previous. "Hey Chris, we've
heard all about you." I still had yet to get their names.

	Realizing this was not turning out to be a good situation for me to
be in, I tried to lighten the mood, "Only the good things I hope." I
chuckle at the typical joke but none of them join in. "Tough crowd." I
mutter under my breath.

	"Besides the fact that you play for Long Beach? Yea, only good
things." This was from a different player.

	Looking around for Kyle, I find him walking over to me to join
in. "Ahh.... ok.... Umm... KYLE?" I heightened my voice at the call of his
name, making the note of urgency very clear to him as he squeezed in
between the players.

	I was lucky that he pulled me aside, taking away from what was
looking to be a threatening situation. As he walked me back to my car, he
held my hand and in a concerned tone, stated flatly, "It probably wasn't
the best idea to bring you around here right now. My team is really getting
into this game and Victoria doesn't want any unneeded distractions."

	"But Kyle..." I wasn't able to say anymore as he leaned in to kiss
me and cut me off.

	Kyle pulled back and with heartbreaking eyes, peeped out, "We'll
work this out. We need to Chris. Your team is just as protective of
you... and your plays."

	I could feel myself getting frustrated. Was this what it was all
about? Stupid plays? Not wanting to fight about it at the moment, I leaned
back in and kissed him more passionately this time, making more of an
effort than before. Leaving the parking lot, it hurt to feel like I was
being forced to leave my boyfriend. Even worse was watching him watch me
drive off, the fallen leaves flying up behind me as I left his view.

*****

	It was finally the week before the tournament and I finally began
to feel a bit excited about it. This was the first tournament so I needed
to get excited. With the last few practices happening, Pike was pushing us
harder. He wanted to make sure that any issues we had would be cleared up
now before the games so that when we did play there would be no problems. I
could tell he was avoiding me for a reason, my biggest guess being the Kyle
topic.

	On a special Tuesday night practice, it finally crashed down, him
pulling me aside to give me the talk I knew was coming. His courtesy was at
first nice but then it went to annoying. "Chris before I start I want to
tell you, I'm glad for you and Kyle for being a boyfriends. You know I
support you and him but I am concerned about your commitments to this
team. We need you. Long Beach needs you." I really almost wanted to say,
'No, YOU need me.'

	Feigning confusion, I raised my eyebrow, "Do you really see Kyle as
a problem?" Crossing my arms, I made it well known that I was going to
defend Kyle's right to come by and hang with me.

	Pike paused for a few seconds at the issue at hand then took the
weak way out, giving an answer I was not expecting, "I don't want him to
become one..."

	Really? That's it Pike? I had become annoyed, firmly standing my
ground over Kyle. "He won't." Pike actually seemed to cower down at that
statement, backing of to go back to the practice. I don't think it had gone
the way he had wanted but I wasn't going to throw away my relationship with
Kyle for this team. It did plant the seed in my head making me wonder if he
really was worth it all; I was placing a lot of trust in him after all.

	Looking around the rest of the team, they all seemed to back Pike
but didn't want to say anything. They didn't have to, their faces said it
all. Brushing off the controversy, I picked up a nearby disk and looked for
an open player, the only one being Dustin. Looking at him, I get his eye
contact and throw the disk to him. He and Hanson didn't fully know what was
going on and at this point I was preferring that it stayed that way. The
rest of the practice, I practiced with Dustin, occasionally working with
the others before drifting back to the newbies.

	I thought the week was going to progress quickly, how wrong I
was. Ever since that practice it seemed to grind to a halt, me trying to
hold nightly talks with Kyle and we both venting our frustrations to each
other. It didn't help our situations any further as we always seemed to
fall onto the same problem; we had to choose between our teams and our
relationship.

	To lighten the mood from time to time, we would pass texts during
the day trashing each other, stating how each team was worse than the
other. Given that we had been watching the others team, we knew who to
target and who to push the buttons on. Our playful gestures, while with a
grain of truth behind them, did help us look at our teams more critically,
helping us to fix what mistakes needed to be corrected.

	After our practice on Thursday the team was pumped up. If we could
hold the tournament tomorrow instead of Saturday we would have been ready
to go. Moving to the dorm with Bryan and Zach, we all talked of how much we
were looking forward to seeing the other teams. Pulling out my phone, I
shot Kyle a simple "How was your day?" text and put it away. The simple
gesture seemed to silence the other two as we rode up the elevator to our
hall. I hadn't really noticed it the conversation had stopped abruptly,
thinking that it had just died out due to lack of paths to go on.

	Entering into the dorm, I was quickly corrected. Before I could
move to my own room, Bryan and Zach locked the main door and called out my
name in a loud commanding voice. This was the voice I had expected from
Pike. My key was right at the hole, my hand on the doorknob. 'Ahh come on
guys really?' I thought to myself as I slammed my head against the
door. "Yea guys?" I knew what was coming.

	Bryan moved towards me and reached around my shoulders to pull me
back to our living room. "We need to talk about Kyle." Zach had already
pulled out a chair for me to sit in, himself and Bryan sitting down in the
couch.

	"Guys really?" I groaned out. Plopping down into the armchair, I
kick my feet up onto the little coffee table. "Fine, what?"

	Zach said it first, and it stung as he stated it in his view. "We
both love Kyle. He is a great guy." This is feeling like a Pike
repeat. "But we think he is taking you away from the team. It's not fair
for us."

	This was bullshit. I was not going to choose between the teams. "Do
you really think Kyle is going to "STEAL" me away from you guys? Come on
guys. I love it here. It's better when Kyle and I compete against each
other. It allows for us to build our relationship and improve. Plus, his
team feels the same way."

	That caught them by surprise, the fact that, yea for once, they
weren't doing this alone. I wanted to show them that he was feeling the
same stress to choose that I was. "We are trying to work it out. I'll
always be here for you guys but he is my boyfriend. I mean come on Bryan,
you have Christine. You know what it's like right?" It was a far stretch
comparing his early relationship to my troubled one but I wanted to prove
that this wasn't just me going through this.

	They seemed unfazed as they looked at each other, then back at
me. "You really have us for 100%? Cause it feels like 50%, at times 30. I
mean come on Chris, you missed last weekend's session. You knew Pike wanted
you there. He wanted us all there. Just because Kyle goes to Fullerton
doesn't give you an excuse to miss the practice."

	Sighing, I leaned back in submission. I wasn't going to win this
battle tonight. I needed to show them this weekend. Raising my hands up, I
just muttered, "Fine. Fine". If there was ever a time to be saved by the
bell, now was the time. A soft knock rapped at the door, forcing Bryan to
get up and move to the door.

	He opened it slightly enough to show Skyler standing out there,
"Hey what's up?" Bryan was visibly annoyed for having been interrupted but
dropped it when he noticed how distressed Skyler was.

	Skyler peaked in and looked at me, "You mind if I steal him for a
little bit?" Bryan opened the door enough for him to step inside. Looking
at Zach then me, Bryan only shrugged his shoulders as Skyler stood in the
doorway waiting for me to leave with him.

	Getting up from the seat, I made my way to him and exited
quietly. "Hey what's up?"

	As we went down the hallway slowly, Skyler looked down at the floor
ashamed, "I'm ready to tell Michael. But I want you there. Please."

=============================================================================

I know it was a dull chapter overall but this is starting to layout the
framework for this season, if you were able to catch it. Let me know what
you thought and I will get back to you as soon as I can.