Buddy

Buddy looked good in his running shorts. He had thick thighs and calves and a solid arse from all his training.  The red shorts had a split up each side of each leg allowing the material to flap open and his toned hips to be seen. He was always running, he had an inexhaustible amount of energy to burn.

Buddy's mum, Ange, could see her boy was all grown up. She wondered if the shorts were a little small for him and wondered about the politics of buying your 18 year old son new clothes? She was proud of her strapping boy and she knew he had got to that age when others would be finding him attractive.

So, she wanted him to look good.

They already did, of course. Zeak, Buddy's training partner, was always joining Buddy in the showers after cross country running; talking, assessing, horsing around, skylarking, washing Buddy's back, as Buddy claimed.

"Is that all that Zeak's wanting to do?" Ange asked.

"Oh mum!" Buddy blushed furiously and Ange knew that Zeak was probably not only wanting to do, but was probably actually doing more than washing Buddy's back, by the intense glow of colour in her son's cheeks.

"I mean," Ange started to retracted, she knew it, she could hear it in her own voice. "It's good to have a mate, a friend... um... er, someone like Zeak in your life."

"I know mum, he's my best friend."

"It's good to have a best friend."

"He's good with a loofha." Buddy smiled.

"I thought you were going with Rachel? I think that's what she thinks, anyway."

"Sure mum, I'm going with Rachel." Buddy tried to smile but it didn't materialise. "But mama, ah, mama, Zeako's bigger and stronger and he's got a much much more stamina." Buddy shrugged. "He can last the distance way better than a girl... with my needs."

"Well, don't you go breaking that girl's heart. If you'd rather play quoits with Zeak, that's okay, but you go tellin' Rachel first."

"Yes mama, I'll tell her the first thing I do."

"You make sure ya do!"

"I'll tell her that I'd prefer Zeak's quoit to hers."

"That's my boy."