You didnât believe him when he first approached you in the gym. You thought heâd misspoken. Most of the guy in the gym did, actually, and Marcus was the biggest of the bunch.
âLet me help you,â heâd said. âWork with me, and by the time Iâm done with you, youâll really be bricked.â
âUh, donât you mean ripped?â youâd asked.
Marcus just smiled as he motioned to the weight bench.
It came in little stages. A few reps here, a bit of cardio there. And all the while, Marcus would babble on about his work routine, his diets, the focus it required, the diligence, the ability to be absolutely unyielding in every respect. It got kinda repetitive, so you just sort of grunted and filtered it out as you worked.
For a time, things were pretty cool. Your grades were up, your concentration was better than it had ever been before. Youâd learned how to filter out things you didnât want to listen to or focus on, thanks to all that practice with Marcus in the first place. And it goes without saying that your body was toning nicely. Things were pretty great.
Then he suggested you spend more time in the gym.
And before you knew it, youâd already grunted and nodded along like you always do. His grin was massive, and the workout that day particularly vicious. Your arms felt like they wanted to fall off. You were so tired that night, you didnât even want to so much as think about your homework.
It was the first time you deliberately chose not to work on an assignment you knew was going to be due the next day. It wouldnât be the last.
The workouts were killers, but you couldnât help but smile weakly at Marcus when youâd managed to push through another plateau. The guy was just so enthusiastic and charismatic. Heâd flex whenever he got really excited. You couldnât help but wonder if the muscle was part of it all in the first place. Could it really be that simple to gain such confidence?
It had been so embarrassing the first time he caught you posing in the locker room mirrors. But then he just chuckled and popped a little flex of his own.
âLike this, bro,â heâd said. You spent the next half hour practicing poses in the mirror. The way the light reflected off his skin, the ripple of the raw muscle beneath the flesh, the way the veins accented the primary locations. It was almost a form of poetry.
You practiced those poses every day from then on at home in your closet mirror.
Then came the party. Marcus insisted you attend at his place for a premier football game, just a close gathering, some of the guys hanging out. You were flattered, but you hardly felt prepared for that sort of thing. Sports had never really been your forte. But Marcus insisted. Time and place.
It was inevitable for you to follow.
Youâre still not exactly sure what happened that night. Things are sort of hazy. You arrived on time, but none of the other guys from the gym were there yet. Marcus just chuckled and said theyâd be along soon. Then he wrapped his huge arm around your shoulders and led you to the huge leather couch in front of a gigantic flat screen TV.
One minute you were watching the screen. The next, you were standing at the door with your iphone in hand and the rest of the gym goers smacking you on the back.
âI want you to listen to those tunes, bro,â Marcus said seriously. âNo skimping out. Every day for your warmups, every night when you sleep. Got it?â
You nodded numbly. And for some odd reason, you chose to run home that night, rather than calling a cab.
It got a lot easier to understand the guys at the gym after that. It didnât take all that much, really. You just had to do a little research on football and some of the other sports they liked. If you didnât know about something, youâd ask one of them, and theyâd be able to explain it in perfect detail. You were shocked. The guys werenât dumb. They just specialized. Tony was football, Mikey weights, Alphy diet and nutrition. They became your gurus, all while Marcus continued to push your limits with his routines.
You nearly threw it all away when you got your report card at the end of the year, though. C in almost every course. That wasnât like you. How were you supposed to get into college like this? It hurt to go and tell the news to Marcus, but you knew you had to.
Then came that hazy period again. Youâre not sure what was said. All you knew was you needed to keep going. The gym made you happy now, surprisingly enough. And the guys, well ⊠youâd become sort of like a unit. You couldnât picture doing anything without them around anymore.
You got yourself a tutor, and he helped you to pass. You didnât like that your GPA had dropped so much, but it was better than before.
You hardly pay attention to the teachers now, though. Itâs all just so ⊠boring for you. Youâd pass the time by doing mini-flexes and running through some of the games youâd caught the other night in your head.
You still remember the first time you chuckled. It had been so easy. It just sort of burst out of you like a belch. You flexed. You chuckled. You flexed. You chuckled. You flexedâŠ.
Most of your games moldered in the dust now. Madden, EA Games, sports, those all were used well enough. After all, you had to have something to play with your bros from time to time.
Then they finally invited you here, to this place. The rough stone blocks behind you were a light dull gray. Daylight streamed over it, highlighting the muscles that now stood out from your sleeveless shirt.
The response was automatic. You raised your arms and flexed. You admired the light as it played across the flesh, casting it shadows that flowed over the curves and bends like a work of art.
You were a muscle god, and you liked it that way.
D&D? Bro, you were living that dream. No need to play a barbarian with these guns.
Your future? ⊠Why think about it? Your future was here with your bros.
Class? ⊠Class made your head hurt. Whatever. If you pass, thatâs all that mattered. You couldnât get banned from the gym. Sâwhere you and the bros hung out.
You stare into Marcusâ face as he grins triumphantly at you.
âSo, how does it feel to be bricked?â
The words flow out of you as easily as if youâd been cursing your whole life. âHuhuh. Fucking sweet, bro.â
And it was. The gym is your life now. The gym and your bros. And you wouldnât have it any other way.
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