Disclaimer: This story contains love between two teenage males. If it is illegal to read this in your community, or if you are below the legal age, leave now. No responsibility is accepted by the author for any effects of this story , directly or indirectly. By continuing to read this, you accept that you are accessing this of your own free will, and indemnify the author against all cases.
Love On Campus by theHaydster Copyright 2006, theHaydster. All rights reserved
Chapter 1
G'day all. My name's David Andrews, and I'm a fresher at uni (1st year). I'm doing a degree in science, and not finding it too bad. I live on campus at St. Mark's College, an all guys college, and it's pretty cool. I'm knows around college as Davo (said dave-oh), but I don't think the name fits me. I'm about 1.7m tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. I like to read, debate and do other things like that. Oh, I also like photography, I should have mentioned that, you'll see why later.
So, I guess it sounds like life's going pretty well, hey? Well, you're only sort of right there. You see, I'm gay. It's a big secret, and therefore I don't have a boyfriend (and I obviously don't have a girlfriend). Apart from that, life is going well. The problem is that I have no one to belong to, no one to kiss, no one to love. I feel really empty without someone to love. The big problem is, I'm not ready to come out. Even if I was, my college is really sport-oriented (you know the type), and they'd make my life hell. So, here I am, a closeted gay looking for a boyfriend. I'm in a bit of a catch 22 here. Anyway, enough about me, on with the story.
Well, life was going along pretty well, and I was hanging out with a few people. Luckily I'm accepted by most people, as I take photos at all the events and parties (help them remember what they forget while they're drunk). I also spent some time with my best friend at uni. Her name's Kate Cartwright, and I've known her since we were in preschool together. Kate is fairly tall, with long brown hair. Your typical airhead look, but that is where the similarity ends. She is sharper than a tack, and is able to read situations like a book. She is also the only one that I have trusted to tell that I am gay. She is fine with it (obviously, as we're still best friends) and seems to make it her life's mission to get me hooked up with another boy. Her only problem is that she seems unable to grasp a few facts, such as the fact that I'm not actually out, the fact that you can't just hit on a guy without risking a punch, and the fact that they only need rumours, not proof for you to be labelled as gay. She is also not exactly subtle. Kate's motto is "Nothing ventured, nothing gained", which annoys me no end when she starts pointing out cute guys to me.
Tension was heightening at college, because the inter-college swimming championships were coming up. The swimming carnival, for me, involved running round between the colleges, getting a few snaps, and not being obviously a St. Mark's boy. The last bit is because quite a few guys have usually had a few drinks, and we usually win the swimming, so they're looking for a fight. Luckily, the colleges have photographers to cover the races, so I don't have to be anywhere at any time, unless something major happens that I have to get on camera.
As the sun started to set, all of St. Mark's got together and started to walk over to the uni's pool. I went ahead on my bike so I could get photos of the group. Nearly everyone was decked out in our colleges blue & gold. Eventually we reached the pool, where I tied my bike up, and raced in to get photos before everyone else arrived. I was happily getting photos, until someone grabbed my arm and shrieked "Dave!" in my ear. "Kate! I nearly died! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" I told her in an exasperated voice. We've been over this a hundred times. Kate immediately apologised, but she will no doubt do it again sometime soon.
I got some good snaps as the evening wore on. My best photo was far and away the one of someone falling into the pool while yelling at one of the officials. It was priceless. It was getting pretty late & my camera's memory card was nearly full, so I put it with my bag up the back of the enclosure (it won't get stood on there), and went down to watch a major race. I was in the Burke college section, and I was watching the race start when I saw this hot guy further along. I leaned out for a closer look, and someone stumbled into me, with the net result of me going directly into the pool.
As soon as I got my head back above the water, my ankle registered major pain. "OW!" came out of my mouth before I could stop it. A pair of arms grasped me from behind and lifted my by my armpits gently out of the pool and started to put me on my feet. "Yeow! Ouch! Ow!" as my left foot made contact with the ground. I closed my eyes and bit my lip with the pain. As soon as a cried out these strong arms picked me up and cradled me, as I was taken to the back of the pool enclosure. A boy's voice said "Ok guys, I'll take care of this, I'm responsible" and I heard some feet leave. The arms lay me down gently on the grass, and a voice said "Are you all right?" I opened my eyes into one of the most beautiful faces I have seen in all my 19 years.
This face was incredible, but all I could notice was the eyes, I was caught by his gaze from his blue eyes. "Davo, are you all right man?" hs face showed strong concern. "Uhh, sorta, my ankle's really sore"
"I'm soo sorry, I tripped and pushed you in."
"It's ok, you didn't do it on purpose"
"Can you get up? You'll catch something in your wet stuff." He was right too, a breeze was getting up.
"I can get OW!" Ok, trying to stand on my bad foot was a majorly bad idea.
"Why didn't you say that you couldn't get up" Before I could respond he lifted me by the armpits and placed me on my good leg, and got one of my arms around his shoulder. "Let's get you back to college Davo"
"Thanks" I wasn't going to argue, as I couldn't even stand by myself. "Hey! Stan!" he yelled out, and this guy turned up. "Can you get Davo's bag, I'll take him back to college." "Ok Alex" was the prompt reply and he dashed off. Ok, his name is Alex. Stan soon came back with my bag and Alex threw it over his shoulder with his bag (the one that wasn't supporting me). We hobbled out of the pool and started off to college.
On the way Alex and I chatted, it helped take my mind off the pain. His name was Alex Scott. It turned out he was your typical sporto in the way he played sports, but that was where the similarity ended. He was truly concerned about hurting me, and was interested in me. Then it occurred to me, how had he known my name before I told him? "Alex, how did you know my name?"
"Davo, everyone knows your name, and everyone knows your photos"
"What?"
"How did you think you were travelling around all the colleges without anyone ever objecting?"
"I thought no one noticed"
"Only the blind people didn't. Your photos are one of the most downloaded items on DC (we've got a file sharing network using DC++)"
"Oh, come on"
"Don't believe me, we'll check the logs when we get you back"
It didn't take as long as I expected to get back when we chatted. I directed us to my room, and Alex lay me down on the bed. He asked how my ankle was, and it was still sore, but it was recovering. He was pleased that he hadn't hurt me badly. "We'd still better strap it up. Whats the duty res' number?" "7010"
I'd better explain something, at all the colleges we have one person on call who is there in case someone gets hurt. At St. Mark's it's a student, and the job rotates. 7010 is the extension that calls their mobile. All the colleges are on their own system, but are linked to the other colleges and the uni (i.e. we get free calls to the other colleges and to the uni). Ok, back to the story.
So Alex called the duty res, a guy called Mark, and he gave Alex a bandage & stuff from the first aid kit. He wanted to stay and keep an eye on the bandaging, but Alex told him he had also done a first aid course, and he can take care of it. With that the duty res left.
Alex strapped up my foot really tightly, and it didn't hurt as much any more. Then, at his insistence, we did look at the DC logs, and my photos were indeed one of the most downloaded items. That came as a big surprise to me.
"Alex, you're right"
"Of course I am" he replied, grinning. My heart melted with that smile. I wanted to kiss him so badly, but I also didn't want a punch in the face. Sportos are not gay, they bash up gays. I want to be friends with him, so he can never know that I'm gay. We chatted for a while, and found out that we were taking quite a few subjects together; well actually we took all of the same subjects. We were both freshers doing a BSc (Bachelor of Science). He suggested that we study together sometimes, as some topics he just couldn't get I found easy, and he understood some stuff I couldn't get (English was never my strong point, but maths was not his).
We lost track of time, and heard the rest of the St. Mark's guys arriving, so Alex decided he'd better go. After swapping phone numbers he left. College guys seem to harass guys from any other college after they win an event. I have no idea why, I see it as adding insult to injury personally. After he had left, I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, grinning from ear to ear. I had a goofy grin plastered on my face for the entire evening, while hearing about the swimming.
It was also proven how popular my photos were that evening. 2 hours after the swimming had ended; I had about 50 messages on DC asking for the photos. I uploaded the photos, and went to bed. That night I dreamed of Alex's beautiful face, his tender care, his caring heart, and imagined what it would be like to have him as a boyfriend, what his tender lips would be like to kiss. In my dreams, anything is possible, even though in the real world I knew we could never be together. In my dreams, we were together. I knew I was in love, in love with Alex Scott, a sporto, and likely a homophobe. What am I going to do?
Chapter 2
The next morning I woke up feeling really weird. I was happy that I would see Alex again, and sad for the same reason. Happy because I would be with him, but sad because we could never be together. I was really confused, so I did what I normally do when I am confused. I go and see Kate.
I arrived at her college (St. Andrew's College), and was stopped at the front door by the security guard. Guys aren't allowed inside the college unaccompanied. What do they think we're going to do, rape the girls or something? Anyway, that's just the way it is, so they called Kate and she came out the front and collected me. We went through the maze of corridors to her room, and I swear that the place is a labyrinth in every meaning of the word. Once we were in her room, she sat down next to me on her bed, and started with "Ok, now tell me what happened yesterday at the pool. I couldn't get through the crowd, and by the time I got there you were gone." I told her the whole tale (omitting the fact about how beautiful Alex was, and that stuff). When I mentioned Alex she shrieked "Alex, as in Alex Scott, the sporto hunk?", looking really excited. Trying not to blush, I replied in the affirmative, and told her about how he got me home and everything. I finished with "So we agreed to get together and help each other with our subjects".
"I can't believe it. Alex! You are so lucky, half the girls here would kill to spend time like that with him. He is such a hottie!"
"Kate, there are more pleasant ways to meet people than by falling into a pool and hurting your ankle"
"I know, but Alex! He is so hot, all the girls are too afraid to ask him for a date, because he's so busy with everything else that they're afraid of rejection. They all want him so badly." I blushed bright red with this comment. She immediately picked up on it and screeched "So do you!" "Kate, shut up!" I yelled, and then added in a quieter tone, "I don't really want to be outed to the entire world yet". She apologised, and then made me blush even more by telling me that I have great taste in guys and to go for it. She is so dense about relationships between guys sometimes.
"Kate, what do you mean, go for it? In case you haven't noticed, he is a sporto"
"So, your point is?"
"You're telling me to admit to Alex that I'm gay and like him, so he can out me and beat me to a pulp."
"I didn't say that, I said go for it"
"What did you mean then?"
"Ok, I did mean that, but test the waters first"
"What? There's no chance that he'd be interested, and a high chance that he's a homophobe."
"He's turns down a lot of dates because he's too busy, and he doesn't try for action on the dates he does go on!"
"Maybe he doesn't, but he's a sporto, no chance of him being gay."
"Ever heard of Brokeback Mountain?" (A movie about 2 gay cowboys)
"Kate, that is a movie"
"But it could happen, anyway, we'll talk about this later, I've got a lecture in half an hour"
I sat through all my lectures today taking absolutely nothing in. I was too busy staring at Alex. He looked so hot when he was concentrating. I just sat there watching his beautiful chestnut hair, mesmerised by his body, and knowing that the inside matched the outside. I don't remember a thing from my lectures that day, except how beautiful Alex is.
Just as I got back from dinner (I swear they feed us what we haven't eaten other nights), the phone in my room rang. When I answered the phone, it was Alex. He wanted to get together, as he didn't understand something in the lectures today. I stammered out an invitation to come over to my room, and he said he'd come right over. After he hung up I remembered that I hadn't listened at all today!
Alex turned up at my door, looking as gorgeous as I remembered him last night. We sat down at my desk, and I asked him where he was having trouble. It turned out that he just couldn't seem to work out the differentiation and integration that they had covered today (or at least he said they did, I had no idea). I was able to talk him through it, thanking my lucky stars that I did advanced maths in year 12.
After that we sat down on my bed and chatted. I zoned out while looking at him, and was brought back to earth by him saying "Well, do you?". Having no idea at all what he had said before I replied "Yeah, of course" which made him laugh so hard he fell off my bed and was rolling around on the floor laughing his head off. "I-I asked you if you like to have sex with goats" he managed to choke out between laughs. My entire face went bright red, which made him laugh even harder. Eventually he calmed down and sat next to me again. "You were so zoned out Davo. What were you thinking about?" Ok, I'm not going to tell him that one. "Err, nothing in particular". He mentioned that he'd better go, and thanked me for the help. I saw him out the door. "Bye Davo" he said as we parted. "Bye Alex. I l.. I'll see you later." I couldn't believe it. I nearly told him that I loved him. I've got to be more careful, or I will blurt it out with the net result of him killing me. Over the next few weeks we helped each other with our studies every few days. I had fallen so badly for him, and kept falling more in love with him the more that I knew him.
Kate called me up, and asked if I wanted to catch a movie with her. We both find this amusing, because it sounds like she's asking me out. It's just one of the weird things that we laugh about. She picked me up, and guess who was sitting in the back seat? She had picked up Alex as well! As if that wasn't bad enough, she had a massive pile of junk on the passenger seat, forcing me to sit in the back next to Alex. Alex caught the stunned look on my face and grinned. "Can I assume that Kate forgot to mention that she invited me too?" "I didn't forget, just I can't afford the calls" Kate told him. That's a total lie, calls between colleges are free. She's trying to matchmake, does she have any idea how embarrassing this is?
We turn up at the movies, and Kate gets tickets for Strange Bedfellows. I swear I am going to kill her for this. Strange Bedfellows is a movie about two guys who share a flat but submit their tax as a couple. Then they discover they are going to be audited, so they have to pretend to be a gay couple. As if this wasn't bad enough, she picks a space where there are only three seats, and takes an end one, forcing me to sit next to Alex for the entire movie. I am going to kill her for this.
Eventually the movie ended, and Kate dropped Alex off at his college, then rounded on me "Davo, you idiot! This was a perfect time for you to at least find out how he felt about gays."
"Kate, I can't believe that you did this, I have no hope at all with him, none at all" I shot back.
"Dave, just listen to me. You will never find happiness if you are too scared to try for it. I know that you're terrified about being outed, but if you stay like this, you will never find a boyfriend. Next time you two meet, ask him about the movie. Gather some information"
The next day Alex came over to chat. We had a talk about the movie, and he found it funny and not disgusting about the gay part. This brought us onto the topic of Brokeback Mountain. He disagreed with the censorship of it, but I was too scared to push the issue about the gay part of it. We had a good time and watched the second Shrek movie on my computer.
I told Kate about it, and she told me that he would definitely be fine with it. He is a sporto, he can't be fine with someone being gay, much less being in love with him. That's what it is, I am madly in love with him. This friendship is going to kill me someday, I need to break it now.
I started avoiding Alex, hanging out alone, being too busy. It hurt, but I had to do it, it was the only way. Eventually Alex cornered me one day after lectures.
"Davo, why are you avoiding me?"
"I'm not avoiding you."
"Yeah, right. For the last fortnight you have been "too busy" for us to meet, but I know that you've been doing nothing. What's going on?"
"I can't explain now, bye" with that I ran off.
The next morning Kate came over to my room, and we chatted, I told her what happened and she told me that it was tearing Alex apart too. "David, you are hurting Alex too, do you really want to do this?" "Kate, I have to, if I don't it will kill me" "Tell him, and it will be out in the open" "He will kill me if I do" I had to leave for a minute, and came back to find not Kate, but Alex in my room.
"Alex,.what are you doing here?" He turned around and his face broke my heart. "Dave, what did I do? You've been my only true friend and you seem to hate me now."
"Alex I don't hate you, but I have to keep a distance from you. It's nothing to do with you. It's me"
"Please, let me help, I need you as a friend"
I ran.
I ran down to the pontoon on the river, what was I going to do? Alex said he needs my friendship, but he'll hate me if I tell him I'm gay. I'll just swear him to secrecy and tell him the story. I've got no choice. I walked slowly back to my room, and found Alex, looking like he had cried.
"Alex" "What?" he said in the most hurt voice I've heard. "I'm going to explain this to you, but you must swear never to tell anyone, and not hurt me." "I promise". I took a deep breath and said "Alex. I'm gay and I love you, that's why we can't be friends" He looked at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I started to run, but he caught me. I tried to pull away. He kicked my door shut, and pulled my lips to his. I remember feeling shock, and then everything went black as I fainted.
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thehaydster@yahoo.com.au