[Dooley67]

Jimmy had grabbed his breakfast and then dashed out the door for the first morning of the two-a-day practices. Bryan, who was already 16, had his driver's license and Jimmy waited outside to be picked up. Bryan showed up a couple of minutes later and Jimmy hopped into the car.

"Morning dude," said Bryan, "you look either like you're half asleep or you've got something on your mind." Jimmy didn't think that his expression was so transparent, but he knew that Bryan could read him like a book all the time, well, most of the time.

"I'm really tired, didn't get a good night's sleep and I'm trying to figure something out."

"Well, buddy, spill it, you know you can always rely on me to help you out."

"Thanks, but not this time Bry, I have to do this one myself and right now I just want to concentrate on practice and not be distracted."

"Suit yourself, Jimmy. We just have to stop and pick Nick up and then we're off to practice, but you know you can always count on me."

"Thanks, man, I know that."

Earlier, Nick had showered, dressed, wolfed down a granola bar, and then as he always did, checked his phone for texts. He read the text from Jimmy, "Nick, we need to talk, I have something I want to ask you and something I need to tell you."

Nick had a feeling that he knew what Jimmy wanted to talk to him about, the same thing he had on his mind. Suddenly, he felt really worried about what he was going to say, about losing Jimmy's friendship if Jimmy didn't feel the same and was going to be mad at him, and about how he would act when he saw Jimmy. He didn't have to wait very long to find out because Bryan drove up with Jimmy in the car.

Nick jumped in the back seat said "hi guys" to Jimmy and Bryan, and then started complaining about how early it was, how tired he was, and wondering out loud "do you think coach is going to make this a really tough practice?"

Bryan answered, "I don't think so, he was a little annoyed, but not really massively pissed off, I think that maybe he even thought it was kind of funny."

"Man, I hope you're right," said Jimmy, "two practices a day is going to be really hard and I don't want to have a sh..ty start on the first day."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Nick, "let's just hope for the best."

A few minutes later the guys arrived at school, Bryan parked in the student parking lot and they headed for the locker room to change into their suits for practice. On the way, Jimmy and Nick lagged behind (Bryan was always in a hurry so it seemed natural for the two of them to be bringing up the rear).

Jimmy broke the ice and asked, "Nick, did you get my second text this morning?"

"Yeah, I heard my phone beeping just as I got in the shower so I didn't pick it up until later. What do you want to ask me and tell me?"

Jimmy answered quickly, "there isn't enough time to talk about it now and I need to talk with nobody else around, let's do it later after school and second practice."

"What's it about?" Nick asked, knowing full well what it was about but wanted to hear it from Jimmy just in case he was wrong."

"Well dude, it's about what I said at the meet yesterday and what you said about you also looking at the tall blonde guy and some other things too. It's not easy for me to talk about because I'm really confused, but I want us both to promise that we won't let anything affect our friendship."

Nick was very relieved as he said, "You know Jimmy, I want to talk about all of that too - I'm also confused, and I promise to not let it affect our friendship."

Jimmy heaved a sigh of relief after hearing what Nick said. And then the two guys headed into the locker room knowing that they were heading into uncharted territory and feeling both eager and terrified at the same time.