Worked Out

Worked Out





    “Ben, toss me the keys!” Jonny shouted from across the kitchen. The two brothers had planned to visit the gym all day, yet the television had turned these noble attempts into futile gestures. Ben’s face was glued to the screen and didn’t seem to hear a word out of his brother’s mouth. Jonny quickly lobbed the salt shaker at Ben’s head, awakening him from his technological daze. “Hey ass wipe, I heard you the first time,” Ben lied. He pulled his body off of the couch and both young men began to walk towards the front door.

    Before they made it out of the home, Ben quickly halted and reversed his direction. “What the hell are you doing now?” Jonny yelled at the back of his brother’s head. “I forgot my creatine powder, chill out.” Ben grabbed the container of his favorite supplement, and the two brothers rushed out the front door. “Whose car are we taking?” Jonny asked, hopeful that his brother would volunteer. “Why don’t we take yours?” Ben asked, “I am low on gas and we always take mine.” Jonny’s eyes began to roll up into his head as he let out an obnoxious sigh. “We still have to pick up Eddie from his house,” Jonny blurted, “But……since he’s my friend and you have none, I guess I’ll drive this time.” Ben was annoyed by the comment, but relieved he didn’t have to drive. The two boys hopped into Jonny’s SUV and drove away.

    The drive was tedious and took longer than expected due to the high school letting out. The three boys sat and waited in the traffic, checking out the barely legal teens as they passed by. “So Ben, what time does middle school get out?” Eddie asked. “How should I know?” Ben replied with a highly confused tone. Jonny, already aware of the joke that Eddie had started, chimed in, “Won’t your girlfriend need a ride after recess lets out?” Eddie and Jonny laughed wildly at the immature joke while Ben simply shrugged it off as always. The car approached the gym, and to the three boys’ dismay it was more crowded than usual. “I can’t believe it’s this packed!” Jonny exclaimed furiously. Eddie, who was always very optimistic, replied back, “Maybe it’s the soccer moms who always wear those really tight spandex shorts….or maybe it’s your mother!” The three laughed together and made their way into the gym.

    Upon entering the gym, which was filled with a vast array of free weights and cardiovascular equipment, the three boys spread out in a tactical manner in order to pick out their favorite workout machinery and scout out any potential female candidates. As the three of them began to workout they all noticed the same thing from the corner of the gym. Two pretty young ladies of whom the two brothers recognized were jogging on the treadmills. Since it was a gym located inside the neighborhood there was always a familiar face or two passing by, and luckily for the boys they were faces that they happened to sexually intrigue them. The only problem was there were two girls and three of them. The boys began to workout hard and try to show off as much as possible in order to get the girls’ attention. Jonny pumped out reps on the bench press while Eddie blasted curls and kissed his biceps slowly. Ben on the other hand was never good at the free weights, so he did reps on the hip abductor and kept to himself.

    The two groups finished their workouts around the same time, and headed towards the locker rooms. Jonny saw his chance to engage in conversation, and quickly tripped his brother onto the floor. Ben landed with a loud thud and held his knee in pain. The two girls ran over and hovered over top of him with a nurturing aura. “Are you ok?” The blonde girl asked as she examined Ben’s knee. “Yea I’m fine,” Ben said angrily as he hobbled up onto his feet. He beamed at Jonny with the classic ‘I hate you’ eyes. Jonny and Eddie quickly slapped hands behind each other’s backs, and Jonny butted into the conversation. “Thanks for looking out ladies; he can be so utterly clumsy at times.” Eddie joined in as well with, “Yea its times like these we really wish he would wear a helmet.” The two girls began to giggle and they introduced themselves. Ben automatically knew he was going to be a third wheel so he followed behind the two pairs as they headed towards the front door. A man happened to be behind the group of kids, and instead of holding the door for him as well, Jonny slammed it in his face in an attempt to make the girls laugh again. The man hit his face and glared angrily at him. Jonny, who paid no attention, laughed with the group as they headed towards their cars.

    “So, do you guys wanna grab something to eat?” Jonny asked hopefully. The two girls shot looks at each other, which seemed to be hesitant. “We kinda have plans already,” The blonde girl said sweetly. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Eddie said in rebuttal. “How often do you meet guys as attractive as us anyways?” The two girls laughed to themselves and walked away from the three boys, quickly jumping into their Volkswagen Beetle. Jonny, being the hot head that he was, shouted at the car, “WHATEVER, YOU SLUTS ARE BUSTED ANYWAYS!”

    Ben laughed hysterically at the defeat of the two; so much that he became teary eyed. Jonny gave him a hard slap on the neck, which immediately put him and Eddie in a better mood. The three boys jumped in the large SUV and pulled in reverse. As they trudged forward to the front of the gated community they were unaware that the man whose face Jonny had injured happened to be the car sitting in front of them at the stop sign. The stranger came to a complete stop which angered Jonny immensely. “Hey fag, drive your car!” Jonny yelled as he held the horn down. He made an attempt to pass the man in front of him, but the lane merged from two into one, causing Jonny to become cut off and have to veer behind the man into the single lane. This infuriated the two boys in the front seat and slightly frightened Ben who was sitting diligently in the rear. The boys only had one lane option, so Jonny decided to swerve off the road onto the grassy median and pull right in front of the man, cutting him off abruptly. The already upset man began to spin out on the road and hit the side of the curb, sending his car to an immediate halt. The three boys looked back, Eddie and Jonny laughing hysterically, and Ben cursing a storm in the back. He was highly worried about getting in trouble and was also concerned about the man’s well being. “You idiots!!!” Ben shouted from behind them. “That guy goes to our gym he’s going to see us again. What if he’s injured or dead?” Jonny and Eddie continued to laugh, and Eddie replied, “Stop crying back there you puss. The guy is clearly ok, and maybe he needed to learn his lesson.” Ben stuck his head up into the front so both Eddie and Jonny could see him and shot back, “A lesson??? What lesson would that be? To stay away from assholes like you two!!! You guys are so stupid you are gonna get us in trouble or worse, get our asses kicked!” Jonny laughed and turned his head to face his brother’s while still driving, “The only person that is going to get his ass kicked is you if you don’t stop bitching. Besides, the guy is like a hundred years old, if he tried to fight us he would probably explode into dust.” Ben sat back down, slightly calmer than he was. The boys continued to drive down the road as the sun began to set over the trees in the distance. The road that the three were driving on happened to be very desolate due to the rural/suburban area that they were living in. Aside from the fancy gated communities there really existed nothing of intrinsic value within a rather large radius. As they pressed forward towards their favorite restaurant, Jonny noticed headlights shoot up over the hill behind them. They seemed to be approaching rather quickly, and as soon as he mentioned something after checking his rear view Ben spun his head around faster than the girl from the Exorcist. “I knew something bad was going to happen!” Ben shouted angrily at his brother and friend. “Shut up dude, do you really think that guy could make it up here this quickly? His car hit the side of the curb, it probably isn’t even functional.” Eddie barked back. Ben sat nervously as he waited for the car’s approach. The strange car came within inches of Jonny’s and tailed him dangerously close. “Ok, now this asshole is starting to piss me off.” Jonny said as he checked his rear view again. The combination of the overhead tree shade, the setting sun, and the car’s high beams made it dark enough for the three of them to be unable to tell what kind of car it was.

    After the car followed closely behind for some time, it went off the road and passed the three boys. Ben sighed in relief, and the other two were somewhat shaken. “Yea, that’s what I thought dick,” Eddie shouted out the window towards the car. It sped past the boys and was swallowed by the darkness ahead. The boys continued to drive a few miles, cracking jokes back and forth, (mainly about Ben), when suddenly a large BANG let out. The car started to wobble back and forth as the three boys held the handles on the doors. Jonny couldn’t keep control of the large SUV, and it continued to jerk back and forth as it proceeded forwards. The brakes weren’t enough, and with the last attempt to stop the vehicle, it turned to the side and began to barrel roll down the road. Ben had been the only one to put his seat belt on, so he remained in the seat while the other two flipped and rolled throughout the vehicle as it turned over and over. It finally came to a stop right side up, and it was silent. Eddie and Jonny lied in the front of the car, both beginning to moan violently. Ben noticed that they were injured terribly, but before he could make an effort to aid either one he noticed a figure in the headlights approaching the vehicle. Ben knew that his brother kept a knife inside of the console, so he quickly grabbed it. At this point the strange man was very close, and Ben cracked the back door and slid underneath the car. He lied as quietly as possible, trying not to have a panic attack. The driver side door opened, and Ben heard a louder moan come from above him. He was hoping that it was someone coming to assist them with the accident, but to his utter dismay a loud BANG erupted from above him, followed by a second. It sounded eerily similar to the bang that caused their vehicle to spin out in the first place. Ben was terrified, and as he rolled his body over to view the other side of the road he saw the man’s legs along with a pistol that hung in his hand. Smoke was protruding off of the barrel. He tried to process what had just happened and went into shock. His brother and friend had just been murdered by the man they had just recently cut off in their SUV. Out of nowhere a rage built up within Ben that had never taken place within him. As the man hovered over Jonny’s dead body Ben grabbed the cold blade and began to crawl towards the enemy. When he was close enough to taste the stranger’s boot, he lifted his arm and thrusted the combat knife into the assailant’s boot. The man dropped his firearm and fell to the ground, wailing in pain. Ben grabbed the pistol and crawled out from underneath the vehicle. He slowly aimed the pistol at the face of the man who was just recently lifting weights next to him. The man stared blankly into Ben’s eyes as the SUV headlights began to dim out from the damaged battery. As Ben began to squeeze his finger against the trigger a loud blare let out from behind him, and without a moment’s notice another driver that had trouble seeing on the road plowed right into his body. It sent him flying into a ditch, and it immediately knocked him unconscious. Ben awoken to another loud BANG, and from his daze he noticed the murderer limping away from the second crashed car in the ditch across from him. The man approached Ben, aimed the pistol at his head and pulled the trigger. “Click Click Click,” The pistol mocked. He was out of ammo. Ben attempted to crawl away from the man, but he wasn’t fast enough. The man pulled out a plastic bag from his back pocket and wrapped it around Ben’s head. He began to suffocate as the air dissipated. As Ben choked and fought, the killer behind him laughed wildly, and all Ben could think about was how big of an asshole his older brother was.