Chapter 8: JUST OUT
1
Jenny didn't come to classes on Wednesday. In school, Dan stood outside her classrooms and waited for her before and after each class, but she never showed up in any of those classes. Dan even asked some of her girl friends, and nobody had seen her since last night.
When he got home from school, Dan called Jenny's phone number many times. He left several messages on her machine, but she didn't call him back.
Now, after pacing across his dorm room for over an hour, Dan decided to come to Jenny's dorm. When he got there, Jenny wasn't in her room either. Dan was really worried about his friend. He blamed himself for her sadness. And he felt guilty for not talking to her about his sexual orientation sooner.
Until completely disappointed, Dan heard a voice calling out for him:
"Hi there, are you looking for Jenny?"
He turned to the person and asked, "Yes. Do you know where she is now?"
The girl said, "The last time I saw her was this morning. She brought a small pack with her and went back to her parents' place."
Dan said thanks to the stranger and ran to his car. He got to find Jenny, no matter what happened.
2
Jenny's parents lived in Spring City, which located to the north of Houston. Dan drove to their places while thinking about Jenny and her family.
As a second generation Chinese-American, Jenny was not as conservative as her parents were. In contrast, she was very open-minded and easy going. She graduated high school as a valedictorian, above Dan, but she was very simple and unpretentious. Dan and Jenny had dated for four years, but they rarely had a fight.
Dan loved Jenny as a best friend now, although he used to think that he was in love with her. She was the first and only girl he had gone out with. They kissed, they made out, but they never went further than that.
In those four years they dated, Dan used to lie to himself that he loved Jenny so much to have sex with her. He never had any thought about why he never had any sexual attraction toward her. Now, Jack changed everything in him. Now, Dan realized that he didn't want to have sex with Jenny because he was gay. She was not the person he wanted to make love with, Jack was. He was madly in love with the football player, and he wanted to make passionate love to his boyfriend every time they were together.
"But the special moment hasn't come." Dan thought about Jack's words and smiled. "He wanted to wait, so we'll wait. I bet when we actually do it, it will rock us both to the moon."
Still in deep thought, Dan drove his car into Jenny's parents' driveway. The barking of a dog had woke him up from the daydream. Getting out of the car reluctantly, Dan felt nervous. He wanted to run away and never had to face this hard reality, but he could not do that to Jenny. She deserved to know the truth.
Then, he saw an elderly Chinese woman walking out to the front door to greet him.
"Hello Mrs. Wong. Is Jenny home?" said Dan.
The woman looked at him and smiled lightly, "Dan, what is wrong with you and Jenny? Jenny came home early this morning and cried her heart out. She's locked herself in her room for many hours, and refused to come out to eat. What's going on?"
"Jenny and I had a fight, Mrs. Wong. I...I need to talk to her." Dan looked at her, feeling the pain going through his heart. It was his fault that she had been miserable for days. It was all because of his insensitivity toward her feeling.
"She didn't want to talk to anybody. Her father and I have tried to comfort her, and feed her, but she refused everything we've offered."
"Can I please talk to her? It's urgent. Please?" Dan pleaded.
"Ok. Maybe you're the only one who can solve this problem. Come on in." And she opened the door.
Dan walked into the living room, trying not to breathe too much. He had been here for hundreds of time, but today, he felt like this place had become a prison. Too little free space. Not enough fresh air. And the Chinese food from the kitchen had a strong smell; it filled up the room and made him sneeze constantly.
He walked to Jenny's room and knocked twice.
"Mom, I said I'm okay. I don't need anything, please go away." Her trembling voice was rising behind the close door.
"Jenny, this is Dan. Open the door please. We need to talk."
"What're you doing here?" She shouted out angrily.
"Open the door please. I don't want to make a scene out here." Dan pleaded. He looked at the elderly woman behind him and forced a smile. Mrs. Wong was looking at him curiously.
Jenny opened the door. She looked at him intently, and said, "Ok, talk. You have five minutes."
Dan studied her face. She was still beautiful although her hair and make-up were ruined badly. Her eyes were red and bulging from crying for so long.
"Jen, I have something to tell you. I'm..." And he stopped, not knowing what else to say.
"Gay." She finished it.
"Yeah, I'm sorry."
"Sorry? You're sorry for being gay or you're sorry for not telling me the truth before I found it out myself?" Her face turned deep red with anger.
"Jenny, listen to me. I'm sorry to hurt you like that. I'm sorry for not telling you the truth. I'm sorry that you have to find out such important news through a shocking event like last night. I'm sorry...I'm sorry for being such an ass." Dan broke down and cried. He covered his face with both hands, trying to hide the tears coming down from his red eyes. His body was shaking violently.
"Dan, look at me. Danny, please, stop that." Jenny came to him and stroked his back gently.
He looked at her, still sobbing uncontrollably. Droplets of tears had flown out from his beautiful eyes and come down to his cheeks. He didn't care to wipe them away.
Then, he reached out to touch her hands, "Jenny, I'm sorry."
Jenny squeezed his hands on her own, feeling less angry. But, she still had something else to say, "Dan, I was mad at you not because you're gay, although I did cry myself to sleep when I knew the truth... Dan, I was mad because you lied to me...And you...you did a horrible thing last night."
He whispered. "I'm sorry. You're my best friend, I should tell you this earlier, but I was confused."
"I know, Dan. I know what you were going through. But why did you have to do the things you did last night? You didn't call anybody. You made all your friends worry. You made me worry sick, thinking if something bad happened to you. I was so worried last night, I couldn't eat..."
"I didn't know it would make you worry like that. I was just caught up in the moment. I had a fun time last night, but I had neglected other people's feeling. I'm sorry."
She continued, "And then, when I saw you on stage, dressing up as a genie, I couldn't control myself anymore. I was sad and angry at the same time. I thought I would never want to talk to you again." Now, it was her turn to break down and cried.
Dan wrapped his arms around her shoulder, "I can't say sorry enough."
Jenny looked up and wiped the tears away. She asked him softly, "So, Jack is the lucky guy, huh?"
Dan blushed, "Umm...yeah."
"Since when?"
"Umm...I had a feeling for him since the first time I saw him in the football uniform. Then, after that, I just sort of figured it out myself."
"Sweet," said she.
"Jenny?" Dan raised her chin up to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" He said and ran his hand across her face lightly.
"I'm still mad, but not as much as before." She giggled.
"How about I'll say I'm sorry for ten more times?" Dan joked.
"You don't need to do that." She sighed, then held his hands on her own, "I can believe I'd say this, but...now, we're girlfriends. So, tell me everything about Jack. What does he look like naked?"
Dan blushed, "Jen..."
"What? We both like men, so that makes us girlfriends, right? And girlfriends are supposed to tell each other everything. Am I right?"
"You just wanted to make me uncomfortable." Dan smiled and continued, "You'll pay for it."
"Ok, spill, Mister."
They came to the bed, sat down and talked to each other for many hours after that. They were the best of friends again.
3
The next day, Dan had soccer practice in the afternoon. The practice today was to prepare for the game on Sunday against University of Texas, the Longhorn team. This would be the first game of the state championship tournament, and the Cougar team needed a win or at least a draw to go further.
So far this year, the Cougar soccer team had played better than what everybody expected. They led the pre-season games in the Houston area, with three straight wins during their last three games. During these three games, Dan Nguyen and Eric Lopez, the strikers of the team, had scored four goals among the six goals the team made. They were the heroes of the team.
After saying goodbye to Jack at the front door of the gym, Dan walked into the locker room. He took out his soccer uniform and tended to change when a person came to his side. It was Eric Lopez, the other striker of the team. Eric was also the captain since he was a senior and had the most experience among the Cougar soccer players.
"Hi Dan, are you ready for the game on Sunday?" Eric asked the Asian guy friendly.
Dan glanced briefly at the Hispanic hunk and averted his eyes down to the floor. Eric Lopez didn't wear anything; he was naked like the day he was born. His bronze skin was glistening with sweats and droplets of water. By what Dan saw in a quick glance, Eric was hung like a horse.
"Yeah, I can't wait man." Dan said. He held his breath, trying not to exhale too loudly. Since he discovered his sexual orientation, Dan always felt uncomfortable seeing a guy in the nude. He told himself to get over the embarrassing feeling, but it was no use.
"Yeah? I can't wait either. I want to kick the Longhorn's ass so badly, I started to have dreams about it." Eric shouted out, not trying to hide his over-excitement.
Dan smiled at the older guy, who acted like a five-year-old kid. He assured the captain, "We will kick their asses man. We certainly will."
Then they talked about the games on Sunday in details. Eric forgot that he was wearing nothing. He jumped up and down, and took turn to sway his body from left to right. Every time he moved to the left, his cock was swinging to the right, and vice-versa. Like a dancer on the dance floor, the Hispanic hunk was moving across the room, with his muscular legs swirling around the floor, slowly, but skillfully.
In contrast, Dan was in pure hell. He tried not to look at the captain's body, but his eyes wanted to do the opposite things. They constantly went up and down the other guy's well-defined body. Dan felt his cock growing harder and harder inside his shorts. The sexual feeling grew higher every time his eyes stopped on the semi-hard cock of the Hispanic hunk.
Dan had never paid attention to a guy's member before, and Eric's flesh was the first one that he ever had a good look at. The bronze shaft was impressively long even when it was not fully hard. The testicles were like two tennis balls, only in a much darker color. And the pubic hair was so dark and thick it made his groin looked like an Amazon jungle.
Every time Eric had swung his rod and balls with each of his movement, Dan just wanted to grab those tools by the roots and gave them a firm squeeze. Then, he wanted to put them in his hot mouth and give them a hell of a suck. Yes, he was desperate for a cock now.
Dan was still in his erotic dream when Eric stopped talking. The Hispanic hunk looked at his teammate; a smile was formed on his lips:
"Dude, what are you looking at?"
Dan's mind was snapped back into reality. He panicked. What could he say now to cover for the fact that he was drooling for his teammate's cock?
"Umm...nothing," lied Dan.
"Are you looking at my cock?" Eric's voice was louder than usual.
Dan was sweating profusely now. His heart was beaten loudly and soundly like a bomb ready to be exploded. And his head went through all the possibilities to search for a reasonable lie.
"No, what are you saying man?" Dan protested weakly.
"I saw you're looking at my cock, dude." The guy continued his accusation.
He was caught red-handed looking at his teammate's penis. What should he do now? "Deny it, of course," Dan thought to himself.
"I didn't look at your cock, man." The younger striker said and tended to walk away.
A hand grabbed Dan's shoulder and squeezed it fiercely. The grip was strong and firm. Dan felt like all the bones in his shoulder blade were cracked under the other guy's firm grip.
"I saw you at the Halloween party dude," Eric said while still holding Dan's shoulder. Then, he added, "I saw you in a genie dress and you kissed a man. You're gay, right?"
Dan looked at him, nodding his head slightly. He couldn't deny it anymore. Eric had seen everything.
The Hispanic guy suddenly leaned over; he grabbed Dan's body in his strong arms and pulled him into a tight hug. Then, he moved his body closer to Dan until his cock touched the other guy's legs. In one smooth movement, the bigger guy kissed the smaller one the cheek and exclaimed, "Welcome to the club, man."
After a shocking moment, Dan pushed Eric out. He didn't know what to say, except repeating the other guy's statement:
"Welcome to the club?"
Eric looked at him and smiled broadly, "Yeah. I'm gay too."
Dan stared at the big naked guy, surprise written all over his face. The confession from the team's captain was not what he expected to hear at all. He had expected Eric would beat him senselessly for looking at his cock, but now, instead of a fight, he got a sure-to-be-shocked confession from the team captain.
"You're gay?" Dan asked, still bewildered.
"Yeah." Eric nodded and walked forward; now he was inches closer to Dan, "Finally, you can be who you are. You know, I like you so much." And he kissed the Asian guy squarely on the mouth.
Dan closed his eyes for a moment, feeling his lips shivering under a strange sensation. The kiss was sweet, but it was not like his boyfriend's kisses at all.
His boyfriend's lips were much softer and sexier.
Dan's sense came back to his head, "I got a boyfriend, and what am I doing here kissing another guy?" Feeling guilty, he pushed the Hispanic guy out and panted heavily, "Eric, stop that."
Ignoring what he had heard, Eric grabbed the other guy's shoulder again and tended to hug him one more time. Dan used all his strength to push the big guy out. The strong force from Dan's hands made Eric shove back about five feet away. His body was swirling around on the air for a minute before touching the concrete floor. The bronze bubble buttock of the captain was landed on the hard-but-slippery floor of the locker room, which created a loud-sounded, "Bump."
"What are you doing man, trying to kill me?" Eric said while groaning in pain. He got up and massaged his bare buttock constantly to ease the probing pain. Staring back at Dan in confusing, he continued, "I thought you like me."
Dan avoided Eric's questionable eyes and looked down to his feet. He then spoke softly, still not looking up, "Eric, I'm sorry for sending you the wrong signal. I'm gay, but I also have a boyfriend. Yes, I did look at your cock fifteen minutes ago, but it was not me, it was...well, I was hungry for sex, and there you are, naked like the day you was born, I couldn't control myself man. I'm sorry."
"And I thought you like me..." The other guy whimpered and turned away. His face went crimson red when realizing that he just made a scene. And worse, the captain realized that he was naked, with an obvious hard-on down below his legs. Blushing profusely, he cupped his hands over his growing equipment and mumbled, "Sorry..."
The Asian striker laughed, "It's okay." He looked at the older guy, smiling friendly at him. "We're still friends, right?"
"Yeah." Eric said and smiled sheepishly.
Then, they just stood there, not knowing what to do next. Eric still covered his groin with both of his hands and looked down to the floor. He was still embarrassed with what just happened. The Hispanic soccer player wanted to hug Dan again for being such a good friend, but he was afraid that this action might send the wrong signal to the other guy.
Dan broke the silence, "Eric, you know what?" And he looked at the other guy, smiling devilishly. " We're not just friends anymore, we're girlfriends." He laughed hysterically after the statement.
Eric stared back at the younger guy, confused for a second, then understood, "Yeah. We're girlfriends, man. How cool is that?"
They subconsciously moved closer to each other and hugged one another tightly. There was no sexual tension left on the air. They had become good friends again.
At that time, two guys from their team walked pass them. A guy shouted out, "Fags." And a different voice rose up, "Get a room, girls." Then, they laughed and joked to themselves for several long minutes before walking out of the scene.
Dan felt his temper rising rapidly. His face turned red with anger. His eyes were filled with blood vessels. He was mad like he had never been mad before. Without hesitation, the young striker stepped toward the guys, and grabbed them by the shoulders, and growled, "You have a problem with that?"
The bigger guy, Mike, said, "Yeah, you girls make me sick..."
Not waiting for him to finish his absurd sentence, Dan punched Mike on the face. All his anger now was transformed from his hot head and his boiling heart to the fists of his hands. He punched the guy on the head, then down to his chest and his body. In just a few minutes, Dan had changed from the soft-spoken lover to the mean-looking fighter. It was all because of anger.
And pride.
Being smaller than Mike, Dan got his own advantage. He was more flexible when he needed to swing around to avoid the powerful arms of the bigger guy. But, because he was smaller than Mike, Dan got hit many times. Bruises appeared on his face and arms. His eyes had blackened. His red lips were bleeding. Although the injury made him see stars, Dan still went on to fight like a boxer in the ring.
Dan was not the only person who got into the fight. Eric, who was still in the nude, was doing his own fight scene with the other hotheaded guy, Aaron. They circled each other around, hit each other on the face, then growling like two lions fighting for a piece of meat. Nobody wanted to lose of what they thought was right. They fought for their honors, in the case of Eric and Dan, or they fought for the thing they thought as normality, in the case of Mike and Aaron.
While the four players were fighting like animals, the rest of their teammates had formed a circle around them. They didn't know exactly what had happened to those four guys, but they didn't care. They yelled out in excitements, and sometime, they even predicted the winners. The atmosphere in the locker room had risen to a totally chaotic state. Everybody was in the mood for some actions. Then, they all heard an angry voice rising from afar:
"What's the hell happening?"
The crowd looked toward the voice, and they saw Coach Nelson approaching them. His face was dark with anger; his teeth clenched together. And his hands were ready to pull the fighters out from the horrible fights. Because he had only two hands, Coach Nelson grabbed the biggest guy in the crowd and ordered him to separate Eric and Aaron out. He himself pulled Dan out from the firm hold of Mike's strong arms.
"What's the hell happening here?" The coach demanded to know when everybody was away from each other.
Mike Wilson pointed his fingers toward Dan and Eric, and said in his disgusting voice, "I saw these fags were making out in the locker room."
Somebody in the crowd just shrugged their shoulders in disbelieves, while the others laughed and commented on the event like the funniest thing they had ever witnessed. Some sympathetic guys just looked at Dan and Eric and whispered to themselves, "Poor guy. They were busted."
Coach Nelson turned to his favorite players and asked, " Mr. Nguyen, Mr. Lopez, how do you explain Mr. Wilson's accusation?"
Dan Nguyen replied angrily, "We did not make out in the locker room. We just hugged each other..."
Mike pointed his dirty fingers at them again and shouted, "I saw it, Coach. I saw them hugging each other really closely."
Aaron added, "They're faggots, Coach. We shouldn't let them play for our team."
Coach Nelson looked at Dan Eric one more time, "Is it true, guys?"
Dan felt his face hot with anger. He looked at the coach squarely on the eyes and said, "Is it true what, Coach? Is it true that we're fags or is it true that we're homosexual? Because we admit it, we're a couple of homosexual guys, but we're not faggots, we're not sissy. And there is nothing wrong with being gay, you know it, Coach."
The crowd went silence for several minutes. Everybody thought about what Dan just said. Although not all of them were thoughtful, they all understood his words. Dan and Eric had been their friends and teammates for some years. In those years, both of them always treated their teammates friendly but respectfully. And, on the field, they were the best players of the Cougar soccer team. No sissy could play good soccer like they did.
Coach Nelson didn't say anything for a while. Then, he looked at his watch and shouted out, "Time for practice, folks. March your steps out there to the field. I expect all of you to be out there in five second. Go. Now."
After everybody had left the locker room, Coach Nelson held Dan and Eric back; he said, "I need to see the two of you at the end of the practice. Come to my office, okay?"
And he left, not looking back at the two confusing faces behind him.
4
The practice happened unevenly. Dan had a hard time concentrating on what he was doing. He missed lots of opportunity to score goals. He couldn't even catch the ball from his teammates. And even worse, Mike Wilson had played violently against him since the game started. They even caught in another fight, right on the field, in front of everybody. Coach Nelson had to separate them and gave them warnings if they continued to do that next time.
After the practice, Dan and Eric walked out of the field, toward the coach's office. They were worried about what would happen once they were face to face with the coach. Both guys were walking in silence when they heard a voice calling out behind them, "Dan, wait for me."
Dan turned his head back and saw Jack running to his side. There was a shocking expression forming on Jack's face when he saw his boyfriend's bruising face. He ran toward Dan and asked in concern, "Dan, what happened?"
The Asian guy looked at his boyfriend's worrying face, a smile of affection came upon his lips. He was happy to see that his boyfriend really cared for him. He hugged Jack tightly, not caring who was looking at them, and whispered in his ears, "Jack, I'm so happy you're here."
Jack hugged the soccer player affectionately. He, too, had forgotten that they were in public, in front of many curious eyes. All he cared now was his boyfriend, who happened to be physically abused.
"What happened, babe?" Jack whispered in his ears.
"Oh, nothing. It was just a fight. I got into a fight with a guy because he called me a fag." Dan mumbled against Jack's shoulder.
"You poor soul. Let me look at your face." Jack said and lifted Dan's face up to inspect for the bruises. His hands touched those bruises very lightly. Then, he kissed them tenderly, bruise by bruise, scratch by scratch, as if those bruises could somehow vanishing away if he continued kissing them. And he repeated his comments over and over, "You poor baby..."
They stood there, holding each other tightly until they heard Eric's voice rising behind them:
"Ahem...guys...I'm still here."
The lovebirds turned back and blushed at the same time.
"Oh, sorry Eric. I forgot to introduce. Eric, this is Jack, my boyfriend. Jack, this is Eric, my teammate." Dan introduced them.
Jack shook Eric's hands slightly while looking worrying at his boyfriend. He was still embarrassed about the scene they just made.
Dan comforted him, "Don't worry, Jack. Eric's gay too. In fact, we're girlfriends, right Eric?" And he winked his eyes at the Latin hunk.
"Right, Dan." Eric agreed. "But we still have stuff to do now Dan. Remember?"
"Right. The meeting with Coach Nelson." Dan face went pale when thinking about the dreadful meeting. He exclaimed, "I can't believe he had summoned us to his office. What is he going to do with us, anyway?"
Eric didn't answer his question. He was scared too. But, he knew that they were late for the meeting with the coach, so he pulled Dan's hands and walked away, while apologizing to Jack, "Sorry to steal your boyfriend like this, Jack, but we're in a hurry."
Jack ran after them, "Dan, can I come with you and wait for you while you talk to your coach? I mean, I want to walk you home."
Dan turned around and held Jack's hands in his. He said sweetly, "Okay."
Jack's eyes were beamed up with happiness. Then, he joked, "Beside, you need somebody to put ice cubes on those bruised eyes, mister. You're a mess." And he leaned over to kiss his boyfriend's black eyes. The kiss was very tender and full of love.
"Oh, sweet. You guys make me want to find a boyfriend ASAP." Eric sighed and looked away.
They laughed together and headed to the coach's office.
To be continued...
I'm sorry for the delay of this chapter. My life has been changed quite a bit in the last three weeks. And I'm free until Jan. 2nd. So, chapter 9 will come up sometime this week. After that, I can't promise that I will continue with the story since I will be very busy with works and all. But I'll try my best to update it as soon as I can.
Thank you all for your continuing supports.
Until later.