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Encouraged by his friend, Jacob asks out the hottest, buffest guy in the gym, Patrick, for Valentine’s Day. But after hearing Patrick’s dating history, Jacob thinks he might need some help bulking up to meet his standards. “Ask him out!” Jacob was at the gym pretending to do some bicep curls, but he hadn’t even gotten one in. He was too busy staring at the hunk of the gym, Patrick. “You’ve been staring at him all day. And tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! Just do it. You know you want to,” said Jacob’s lifting buddy, Connor. “Dude no. I’m not asking him out,” said Jacob as he got up from the bench to put the weights back on the rack. “Especially not for Valentine’s Day. Do you see how hot he is? He’s eye candy for everyone at this gym. He probably has a line out the door of dates for Valentine’s Day.” “That’s not what I heard,” said Connor. “Rumor has it that he’s turned down every guy that’s asked him out. Maybe he’s waiting for that special someone to ask him.” Connor nudged Jacob in the ribs and pushed against his back to go towards Patrick. “Connor! Stop pushing me!” said Jacob in a harsh whisper. “I don’t want to ask him out!” “Oh come on, what’s the worse thing that can happen? He’ll say no?” said Connor as he continued to push Jacob towards Patrick. “You clearly have never been rejected by a muscle gay. Some of those guys can cut to your core for even looking at them.” Jacob tried to push back against Connor, but he couldn’t get a good footing. “Oof!” said Jacob as he was pushed again. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you.” Jacob turned his head to see Patrick smiling back at him. “Oh, no worries. The fault is all mine. Well not mine. My friend’s fault actually. He thought it would be funny to push me,” said Jacob as he awkwardly laughed and started to turn bright red. “What friend?” Jacob turned around to see Connor nowhere to be seen. You could practically see the fumes coming out of Jacob’s ears. “Nevermind. But I am sorry I ran into you. It won’t happen again,” said Jacob. He was getting really embarrassed now. “Not a problem Jacob,” said Patrick as he started gathering up his things to leave. “You know my name?” asked Jacob. Both confused and elated now. “Do I know your name? Ha! Of course I know your name. We’ve both been coming to this gym for years. You’ve spotted me many times. I know your name Jacob.” Jacob was still red from embarrassment, but now he was blushing too. “Oh uh, well then, good. I’m glad you know me.” Words were just fumbling out of Jacob’s mouth now. “Me too. I’ll see you later.” Patrick threw his gym bag over his shoulder and started walking to the door. Jacob panicked a bit as his chance for getting a date was leaving. Then suddenly, Jacob felt himself getting pushed again. “Connor! Where do you keep going and coming from with this pushing!” whispered Jacob. “You were doing so good! He’s not getting away this time.” Connor kept pushing Jacob towards the door that Patrick was walking to. “How’d you get strong enough to push me like this?” asked Jacob as he continued to resist. “Because, unlike you, I go to the gym to actually workout. Not ogle at beefcakes all day.” Connor kept pushing, but they weren’t getting to Patrick in time. “Wait! Patrick!” Connor made his voice higher to sound like Jacob’s and then immediately ran away again. Patrick turned around to see Jacob standing close to him. “What’s up?” asked Patrick. Jacob walked up to his side as he was walking out the door. “If it’s not too much to ask, and you’re not busy tomorrow, and if you don’t already have a date, and if you like Valentine’s Day, I know some people hate it, which is understandable, it’s really only meant for couples and we’re barely just friends, I found out that you know my name today so it would be a lot asking someone out for Valentine’s Day of all day’s so I’d understand if-“ Patrick put his fingers to Jacob’s lips. “I’d love to go on a date with you for Valentine’s Day. Here, give me your phone.” Jacob was on cloud 9 now. He practically had hearts in his eyes. He reached into his pocket and handed Patrick his phone. “There, this is my number. I’ll text you later and we can plan out the details,” said Patrick as he handed Jacob back his phone. “O-o-okay. Sure. Sounds great,” said Jacob still riding the high of Patrick saying yes. “Cool. And Jacob,” Patrick started walking out the door, “there’s no need to be so nervous. I’m probably more nervous than you.” Patrick leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek then walked off to his car. Jacob’s knees went weak when the door shut, but he felt two arms go under his and pick him up. “So that went a lot better than I thought it would,” said Connor as he started dragging Jacob back inside. “I have a Valentine’s Day date with the hottest guy in the gym,” said Jacob with not a care in the world. “Yeah you do. And Patrick is so picky. He must have a sweet spot for you,” said Connor as they started getting their stuff. “He is…” Jacob started thinking. “What if this is a charity date? What if I’m gonna get pranked by him and all of his buff friends? What if we get to the date and I’m not the man that he thought I was? What if he only likes me when I’m looking pumped in the gym?” Jacob’s mind started crashing after the love bug high of Patrick saying yes. All of the bad scenarios flooding his head. “Woah woah woah there. Nothing like that is gonna happen. Patrick even said that he was just as nervous as you.” Connor tried to bring him back down to Earth. “This is just the predate jitters. Everybody gets them.” “Yeah, but everybody doesn’t go on dates with Patrick. He reserves his dates for giant men. All big and look like they are competitive bodybuilders. While I’m…not that,” said Jacob as he looked in the mirror. “And? Size isn’t everything. Maybe he’s trying something different with you. Being less superficial and dating for what’s on the inside,” said Connor as they started walking out of the gym. “Maybe, but I don’t want to risk it. I’ll see you later,” said Jacob as he ran to his car. When Jacob got home, he got on his phone and searched through Patrick’s Instagram. He saw pic after pic of studs with Patrick. All of them having big meaty pecs. Despite what Connor said, Jacob did workout at the gym, but he wasn’t even in the same realm as these guys. Especially in the pecs department. Jacob barely had any muscle on his chest. He had consistently had a hard time growing his pecs at the gym. He needed a plan. He went through his phone and found his old friend Sam. He pulled up his contact info and opened a text with him. “Hey Sam, long time no see. Listen, this may sound weird, but I need a favor.” Jacob sat on his couch and saw the three dots appear on his screen “Hey buddy. It has. And sure. I’ll do anything I can. Just name it.” “I remember in college that your parents had that store for people with certain problems. I think I might have one of those problems.” “Oh, well I inherited the store when they retired. I should be able to help you with whatever problem you might have. Come by the store tomorrow and I’ll get it all straightened out.” Jacob put his phone down and breathed a sigh of relief. Sam would fix it. Sam can fix anything.