Swimmer's Delight

I dated a guy in college who was training to become an Olympic swimmer, so when I came across Nico Jaye's gay romance Different Strokes, I just had to read it for review.  In the novella, Tomas, like my college friend Frank, is tall and lean with huge upper body muscles and strong legs and arms.  I could relate to his body type immediately.

Frank also was the strong silent type and a little socially inept like Tomas, but once people got to know Frank, they found he was absolutely charming, a true gentleman.  He wanted to become a brain surgeon, which given his level of concentration and his intelligence seemed doable.  I've always wondered what happened to him, but since he has a common last name and since we lost touch so many years ago, he would be almost impossible to find, even with the miracle of the Internet.

Jaye's novella brought all of this back to me, including all the happy days we spent hanging around the pool during the summers and watching him swim in competitions.  In the world of reviewing reliving these happy memories was wonderful, considering how so many of the gay romances I review wallow in angst and horrible situations that the characters must overcome.

Was Frank gay?  Not that I know of, but having read so many M/M romances in which one or both of the characters finally admits his sexuality, who knows.  All I know is that Frank, like Tomas, was a good friend and someone I wish in retrospect I'd kept in touch with.