The Childhood Friend

Six Years Ago

Victor was not having a good day. It felt like most days weren’t all that great to him anymore. Ever since he dropped out of college, this feeling of guilt and dread seemed to follow him everywhere he went. He was never one to have great ambition in life, and college just seemed to be a waste for someone like him, at least in his eyes. But the Whitakers provided him the opportunity after his family fell apart. They gave him a chance at a life he could never have had. Yet he just failed. All that time and money went down the drain, leaving him feeling like such a waste of space. Even finding a job seemed fruitless after being rejected at every corner. And yet again, his best friend came to his rescue.

“Yo, Vick! I just saw a job posting at the gym for a lifeguard position.” Dan randomly tossed out as the two made dinner at the Whitaker Family household. “Whatcha think? I know you were hunting for something close to home.”

Victor's eyes widened as he began to scratch his head. “I-I don’t know, bro. Not sure I’d be all that good at the rescuing part.”

“The hell you aren’t? You’ve been swimming for years! Hell, you saved my drowning ass back when we were kids.” He commented as he diced the vegetables for the pasta dish.

Victor rolled his eyes. “Bro, I didn’t even know how to swim yet. I just screamed and jumped in after you.”

“Which got the adult’s attention, which they should’ve been paying attention to from the start with two 5-year-olds prancing around a pool. Tch… Dumbasses.” He ended with a scoff. “But yeah, I think you should give it a shot. Sure beats doing nothing.”

“Yeah… I guess so…” Victor could only provide a leery answer. Dan's bro-sense began tingling.

“Okay. Bro-Talk. Sam!” Dan yelled out to the living room toward his younger brother. “Come watch the pasta for a second.

“Aight.” a voice sounded back.

Dan turned back towards his blonde friend and spoke again. “And you’re coming with me.”

Dan led the two outside onto his parent’s porch and sat down on the bench they kept out there. He patted the seat next to him, and Victor could only comply.

“I remember when we were kids, we would come out here and play on our Game-Kids till we couldn’t even see the screen anymore. We’d complain about how bullshit the difficulty was, and we’d have to calm each other down before we tossed them into the street.” He chuckled before he continued. “So… What’s eating you, bro. You can talk to me, and you know that.”

Words failed to leave Victor's mouth as his friend looked at him with pure care.

“I-I…” Victor had dozens of things he wanted to say. About how useless he felt and how much of a disappointment he viewed himself as. But as he even thought about saying those things, he realized the truth. Dan would refute every single one, no matter what demeaning or self-deprecating words he used. Dan would never agree with how he thought of himself because he was none of those things to him. He was his best friend. His Bro.

Moments passed in silence until Victor's voice broke as he muttered. “I’m sorry…”

Dan threw his arm around his friend's neck and smiled at him. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. This is what bros are for, right?”

That night would be a night the two would never forget, as it would cement their friendship for the rest of their lives.

**********

Present Time

Another long day at the pool had finally come to a close for the twenty-five-year-old Victor Chapman. Lifeguarding at a gym's pool may have been one of the easiest gigs he could have in the profession. Apart from the occasional dumb kid taking a dip without knowing how to swim, most of his time was spent watching over the near Olympic-tier swimmer that frequented his gym. And maybe he took an occasional dip in the pool himself for a couple of laps. Hey, the man loved swimming.

It wasn't long before the man made his quick commute home and discovered that his childhood friend of a roommate had yet to come home.

“Bro, you here?” Victor called out into the two-bedroom apartment that they shared.

Victor then remembered. ‘Oh yeah, he has that date with Jess tonight. Wonder how that’s going…’

Jess had been a semi-paramour of Dan’s over the past few years, ever since they met in college. Victor recalled that it was pretty awkward when Dan found out she was the daughter of one of Dan’s professors. But the two stuck together even though they never really claimed to be dating, just on and off again flings. On the surface, the two seemed to at least sort of like each other. However, Victor didn’t buy it.

‘That bitch only reaches out when she’s lonely and drops Dan like a sack of shit when she’s done with him. Why can’t he see that?! He can’t be that blind!’ Victor tends to get fairly pissed when he thinks of the “bitch” or when he thinks someone is taking advantage of his bro.

Eventually, Victor calmed down enough in the shower and whipped up something simple to eat. After turning on the Vbox, he realized just what time it was.

‘Damn, 8:30 already?’ He looked over at his phone. ‘Let's check in on him just in case.’

‘Ring Ring’

“Hey bro, what’s up?” Victor’s best friend spoke on the line.

Victor smiled. “Dude! Where you at? It’s like, practically nine. Figured your date would have skipped out on you by now.”.

As the conversation went on, Victor's dark thoughts were practically confirmed. ‘That bitch ditched him again…’

“Listen Bro, what do I always say? If she doesn’t respect your time, then you don’t gotta respect hers. Forget about her; We’ll find you someone worth a damn.” Victor was truly heated in this exchange, and he’d never live it down if he weren’t there for the man who was for him.

After accepting his bro-speech, the conversation continued as Dan announced the potential arrival of food. As a simple man, Victor was never one to turn down a taco.

“Aight, See ya, man.” The call ended, and Victor felt pretty good about himself. He had made it one of his life's goals to always be there for his Bro, and be there he shall. Content with himself, he put his feet back on the coffee table and picked up his Vbox controller.

Victor was having a good day.

At least until he was hit with a strong sense of nausea.

**********

“Let’s bring them out! Please welcome Victor Chapman!” Vanessa announced as applause and theme music came from seemingly nowhere.

Sure enough, from the same elevator Dan arrived in, a tall man with shaggy blonde hair in a man-bun, a lean yet muscular body for the swimmer that he is, dressed in his customary board shorts and a graphic tee. His lifelong best friend stepped out, looking as bewildered as he imagined him to be.

“Uhm, Vanessa?” Dan began to speak.

Vanessa looked back at her Master. “Yes, Darlin’?

“You said this was a show about girls loving a guy, right?” His hands folded over his mouth.

“That’s right.” She nodded along.

“Well, I am 100% positive that this is a man.” Dan pointed right at his friend and then spoke to him. “You are a man, right!?”

Victor began to stroll up to the set as he answered. “Last time I checked, I was bro. How’d I get here?”

“Now, now, those kinds of questions for later. Why don’t you come take a seat, hun? Plenty of room for ya.” Her voice was laced with some sort of compulsion that carried the lifeguard over to the couch next to the occupied loveseat. Meanwhile, Dan himself felt he couldn’t ask the pressing questions on his mind.

“Alrighty then, Hun. First and foremost, welcome to Harem Hotel!” She smiled and waved at the newcomer. “Would you like a taco?”

Victor was never one to turn down a taco. He leaned over to the bag that the redhead was offering and answered. “Well, if you’re offering.”

Vanessa sat back up straight and continued with her hosting. “Our next contestant is an Application Developer who tends to be a bit shy but can be quite the talker when it’s with the right person. Which so happens to be our beloved Master. Let’s welcome our new cutie, Gabriel Hidalgo!”

Dan could only sit there and nurse his growing headache.