Ch. 2: Orientation
The first thing he noticed was the smell.
Luke had gotten used to the stale air of the dorms, so when the scent of sweat, beer, and marijuana hit his nose he was jolted out of what had until then been a relaxed, weed-induced sleep. He barely had time to notice that it was 5:00 AM before a hand clapped over his mouth.
He started struggling against the hand that refused to budge, but nothing seemed to move his captor. Dimly, through the haze of weed and early morning grogginess, he heard a voice.
"Congrats, brah. Welcome to your first day on the team."
Luke stopped struggling and looked through bleary eyes at Rex, who grinned at him before tossing his head in a "follow me" gesture, taking his hand off Luke's mouth to put a finger to his lips. Luke nodded and followed Rex, stopping to grab some gym shorts to put on over the compression shorts he wore to sleep—before a paw clamped onto his wrist. Rex locked eyes with him and slowly shook his head, before leaning in to whisper with a smile, "You'll get your uniform at the house."
Luke grinned back and nodded once, yawning slightly but stifling it. Wordlessly, he followed Rex. Out of his dorm room, down the hall. Out the front door and past the commons. Out to the streets, where no one was driving, in nothing but his compression shorts. Eventually Luke found himself on the same street, striding purposefully to what he now knew was his new home—the last house on Fraternity Row. He felt it happening to him, like shrugging off an embryo. This was a new beginning.
As they walked up the pathway and the stairs, he found himself bouncing on his feet behind Rex. He spoke for the first time since his dorm room. "Dude, I am so fucking excited!"
Rex beamed at him as he opened the door. "Same brah. I knew from the second I met you you'd be a killer roommate." He laughed. "First things first, we got a little orientation video for ya. Once that's done I'll give you a tour if you're up for it."
Luke cocked his head as the smell of weed hit him anew. "If I'm up for it?"
Rex nodded. "Yeah bro, it's some intense shit." His grin faded for a second—only a second—before returning as bright as ever. "Lemme get you set up."
The setup ended up not being much. In the room where he'd waited days before for the interview process to start, the TV was waiting on the wall with a video clearly loaded up, waiting to play. Rex pointed to the couch which was empty except for a baseball cap sitting on the armrest. "Alright roomie, just sit back and relax." Luke smiled and looked to the TV as Rex pressed play and left the room—almost too quickly, Luke thought.
The video began with some white words on a black screen. HEY, BRO. Luke smiled; it was kind of cheesy but he found himself mentally responding with a "Sup."
YOU FEELING EXCITED? FIRST DAY AT THE HIMBRO HOUSE.
Luke nodded.
GOOD. YOU SHOULD FEEL EXCITED. BUT FOR RIGHT NOW, I WANT YOU TO JUST RELAX.
Luke nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, the scent of the leather couch filling his nose. He felt his shoulders release tension he hadn't known he was holding.
GOOD, BRO. KEEP BREATHING DEEP.
Luke had one small thought—how does it know I'm breathing deep?—but kept the cycle of breathing going. In, out. In, out. In, out.
THAT'S RIGHT. IN AND OUT. DEEP BREATHS, BRO.
Luke felt himself getting caught up in the cycle of breathing. How it felt to fill his lungs with air and then release it completely. Every release felt better and better.
WELL DONE. NOW, I WANT YOU TO DO SOMETHING FOR ME...
Still breathing deep, Luke waited for the next words to appear on the screen.
I WANT YOU TO FLEX YOUR CALVES AS HARD AS YOU CAN, AND THEN RELAX THEM. LET THEM GO TOTALLY LIMP.
He did so, finding the relaxation easier and easier. His breathing, deeper and deeper. A slow, thrumming, pulsing beat started up almost imperceptibly over the speakers as the video played on.
GOOD WORK, BRO. NOW YOUR QUADS. FLEX THEM HARD... AND RELAX. LET THAT FEELING RUSH THROUGH YOU, THAT DEEP RELAXATION.
When Luke released his quads, a feeling of lassitude swept through his lower body. Between the feeling of relaxation in his legs and his deep breathing, he was almost back asleep again. His eyes fluttered to stay awake and his mouth stayed open just slightly.
GOOD JOB, DUDE. YOUR ABS NEXT. FLEX, AND RELAX.
As his abs relaxed Luke found the outside world slipping away. Nothing else mattered. Nothing but the words on the screen and the throbbing tones underneath.
NICE, BRO. SHOW THOSE GUNS OFF NOW. FLEX BIG, AS HARD AS YOU CAN. PUMP EM UP HUGE... AND THEN RELAX.
Luke pulled into a double bicep before relaxing, his arms falling uselessly at his sides. A small trail of drool started trickling out of the corner of his mouth.
LOOKING FUCKING BIG, BRO.
Without knowing it, Luke smiled.
HOW ABOUT YOU FLEX THOSE PECS NEXT?
He flexed his pecs as hard as he could, but found that feeling of relaxation had overtaken him completely. There was nothing to do anymore but relax. Nothing to do but relax, and listen, and focus on the words on the screen.
