Page 53 of The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

Just as he promised, Peter is waiting for Eli near the entrance.

“So, what do you want to do first? Bouldering? Rope climbing?”

“Which one doesn’t involve the harness?” Eli asks, showing Peter the straps that he can already imagine causing the wedgie of the century.

Peter smiles. “Bouldering it is, then.”

And as Peter leads Eli through the gym, past the cardio machines and weight benches, past the front desk, Eli notices a very odd phenomenon.

Peter greets almost everyone.

Sometimes it’s just a wave, or, to someone like Helen, it’s an entire conversation where he asks about her cat’s vet appointment before Eli returns the harness and she tells them to have a good climb. It’s almost like there’s a different man in front of Eli, a Peter that he doesn’t entirely recognize.

“You seem very . . . comfortable here,” Eli offers, stepping next to Peter as they walk past more machines.

“I guess you could say that,” Peter replies. “I’ve been climbing every Wednesday since I moved into the city.”

“So, you do have hobbies outside of work. Impressive.”

“Huh . . .” Peter stares like he’d never actually considered it. “I guess I do?”

“When’d you start?”

“After I moved here for college. My first weeks were rough, to say the least. I went through a pretty bad depressive episode. I tried to tell my mom, but she didn’t get it and just mailed food.”

“But the rock climbing?”

“One of my classmates, a friend, I guess . . . he’d suggested that I do my best to be active again. So I went to the school’s gym; they had a whole bouldering section, and I just fell in love with it.”

Eli follows Peter, stepping up onto an elevated part of the floor and nearly falling again. It’s only Peter who saves him from dropping to the floor.

“That’s what you meant by cushioned floor?” Eli stares down at his feet, marveling at the way they sink in like he’s five years old in a moon bounce. He even rocks up and down, grinning as Peter stares at him.

“As you can see, your chances of an untimely death are low.”

“But not impossible,” Eli corrects.

He follows Peter up a short flight of stairs, each step decorated with the colors of the Pride flag, right next to a steep cushioned incline meant to catch climbers who dared to take on the task of climbing upside down on the wall hovering above it.

“I think the newbie wall should be up here.”

“Newbie wall?” Eli challenges. “What makes you think I’m new at this?”

Peter gives Eli a quick glance from head to toe and moves on without another word.

“I resent that.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Peter argues.

“You didn’t have to.” Eli laughs.

They come to the top of the stairs, an area that looks out onto the rest of the gym, giving Eli his first look at the entire building. Along with the novice wall, various other skill-level walls wrap their way around the gym, along with a tall tower situated in the middle. And that’s only half of it; the other side of the gym is entirely dedicated to the rope-climbing mechanics with walls that seem so impossibly tall that Eli is confused as to how they actually fit in the converted warehouse.

“Here should be good.” Peter stops in front of a set of bright yellow bricks marked N-0. “Try these out first.”

“N-0?” Eli ponders.

“Novice zero. This is the most beginner wall you can climb.”