Page 156 - Contrast2012

"Hey Billy:' he said to me in the hallway, about a week after
the tragedy.

"Hey:' I said back.

For a long while, that was essentially the extent of our com-
munication. T-Dave was more of a doom metal person, anyway, so there
was very little that we could talk about with each other.

"What do you think of Asphyx?" Iasked him one day.

"They're too death metal:' he answered. "I wish they were just
a straight-up doom band, but I just can't stand Martin Van Drunens
growls."

Asphyx was another one of my favorites, although to be fair I
preferred the death metal aspects to the doom metal aspects.

Igot a membership at the local gym that Dwight and Seamus
used (at $20 a month, I considered it a good deal), and the two prom-
ised they would teach me how to work out properly: Iwas gaining a
bit of flab around the edges from all the anxiety and depression, and I
figured that the best way to solve all my problems was to do strenuous
physical activity with two people Iconsidered my friends.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we would head over to
the gym after school to work out. They instructed me to start with a
half-hour of moderate cardio each session. My favorite way ofhandling
that was the treadmills-one, because my pants didn't bunch up around
my dick like they did when Irode the bike, and two, because it seemed
like all the best-looking women used the treadmills. As the weeks went
on, Ibegan to forget entirely about the size of the damnable thing, and I
even managed to talk to a few of the girls in the gym.

"Hi;' Isaid to one of them.

"Hi:' she said back.

"My name's Billy."

"I'm Amber. Nice to meet you."

That tended to be the extent of our conversations, but at the
very least Ididn't stammer, so it was somewhat of an improvement.
None of them seemed to be impressed at the moderate jog Ifavored-
Amber in particular was an endurance runner, so her treadmill was

154 I contrast