This story contains sexual situations if you are under the age of 18 please do not read. None of the characters are to be used without consent of the author.
Three Roads Part 11 - Valentines & Birthdays
Eric walked as quickly as he could into the eating area of the cafeteria. He kept eyeballing the cup full of orange juice that was on his tray that seemed to be a small bump away from spilling all over him. He finally arrived at the table where Toby and Cooper were sitting and as he attempted to lightly set his tray down, the orange juice spilled over the sides of the tray and drenched his bagel.
"Damn it," he said out loud.
"That's an omen, you know." Cooper said.
"Ok," Eric exhaled, "Sorry I'm late...how did it go last night?"
"How did what go?" Toby said smiling.
"You know...how were the parents?" Eric said.
"It went fine." Toby said simply.
"No no no," Cooper started, "None of that PC bullshit. Seriously how was it? I want the dirt."
"It really was fine. They were very nice people and we had a great conversation over dinner. I just...never noticed that Tim was a little strange."
"Meaning what?" Eric asked.
"The strangest thing had to be that he had a Christmas tree in his room that he never takes down. He just puts different decorations on it. Like this one had party favors because January is about New Years or something like that." Both Eric and Cooper stared back at Toby trying not to laugh.
"I know, I know. And I don't know he was just being kind of cryptic and stuff. The stuff he was saying just seemed strange."
"Well you are his first boyfriend right?" Eric inquired.
"Yeah."
"Well maybe he's just dealing with the feelings of that, this is a new experience for him."
"Could be. By the way where were you last night? I heard you come in at like one or two in the morning."
Cooper's left eyebrow went up, "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"Ok, no." Eric said a bit annoyed, "I was in Ryan's room."
"Who's Ryan?" Toby asked.
"He lives like right next to us on our floor, can we talk about something else please?" Eric finished.
" I've seen Tim's picture in the newspaper, and I'm a little surprised you're going out with him." Cooper said, honoring Eric's request.
"Why?"
"He's kind of plain looking. I would think of you with some kind of jock or some really hot guy...sort of like Richard."
"Speaking of which," Eric interrupted glaring at Cooper, "when are we going to meet Tim?"
"My birthday is on Valentine's day and I want to go dancing at Club 21 or something so we can all hang out there."
"That's like another month." Cooper complained.
"Wait a minute, isn't Club 21 the gay club downtown?"
"Yeah it is." Toby said.
"I'm not going." Eric said simply.
"Oh come on you have to!"
"I'm not much of a dancer anyway, plus it's at a gay club."
"Do you have something against gay clubs?" Toby asked aggressively.
"Look, this whole thing is new for me ok. I'm not gung ho about being judged."
"Guys, we got to go." Cooper interjected, "It's almost time for classes."
The three boys got up from their table and walked out into the cold January weather. Cooper could tell that the silence between Toby and Eric was an uneasy one and he wished that he could think of something funny or distracting to say to ease the tension a little bit. Luckily for him, as they kept walking he saw the distraction he wanted.
"Oh my God," Cooper said laughing, "Look!"
Eric and Toby's eyes followed Cooper`s outstretched arm. Eric laughed as well, but Toby's mouth stayed wide open.
"What the fuck is that?" Toby said in disbelief.
Hanging on the five story library in front of them was a huge banner with Toby on it, dressed in his tennis attire. His fist was clenched, and his face was contorted with intensity. Next to his body, in large bold black letters was inscribed," You're either with him or against him."
"You're either with him or against him...isn't that a bushism?" Cooper said laughing hysterically.
"Oh my God, who did this?" Toby said in disbelief.
"Haven't you been paying attention? You're like the school's best hope at getting any recognition, at least as far as athletics are concerned." Eric stated.
"Huh?" Toby said confused.
"He's right," Cooper interjected, "You're hot, gay, and the kicker is you also play sports, you're like a freak. People are interested in you."
Toby continued to stare at the banner in disbelief.
"You're going to tennis right now anyway," Eric started, "Why don't you just ask about it?
Toby walked through the gates and immediately began to be taunted by Kyle, "I saw that banner of yours this morning. Congratulations, your dick is no longer small."
"The only reason they didn't give you a banner is because your ginormous head wouldn't fit on it." Toby retorted.
Toby sat his tennis bag down and looked around for the coach. He saw him in the corner talking to Tim and he began to walk over quickly, "Coach can I talk to you?"
"Yeah, just a minute." Toby stepped back and waited for the coach to finish his talk with Tim before he came over. "What`s up?"
"I saw the banner this morning on the library and I wanted to know how it got up there."
"The athletics department did some talking and we agreed that all of our sports could use more exposure, especially tennis. You're by far our best shot to win the state championships, so we want to market you for the school's benefit, but also for your own benefit."
"My own?" said Toby smirking.
"Yeah, Toby you're an excellent tennis player, but more importantly you've got brains. You have excellent grades, if you do as well as you should this season, you could get offers from some of the best schools in the state."
"I never thought of it that way." Toby said being honest.
"This is off the record but why did you pick this school out of everywhere else?"
"I don't know. It's a beautiful campus. It's far enough away from home for me to have my own life, but still close enough to get home quickly if I need too."
"I need to get the guys started, but come by my office one of these days and we can talk. And I'm sorry about the banner, I should have given you a heads up. So I'm letting you know now that tomorrow instead of practice, you're going to go to the gym and meet with some local press."
"Press, like media?"
"Yep, we got to get you out there." His coach patted him on the back and Toby stood there in disbelief.
Tim came up behind him, "What was that about?"
"The coach wants me to meet with the media tomorrow. What the hell am I going to say?"
"You're cute when you're nervous." Tim smiled.
"I'm not nervous, "Toby said annoyed, "and I'm not really in the mood to joke around."
"Hey you're lucky I'm even talking to you right now. You didn't say hi to me when you came over to talk to coach."
"What?"
"You didn't say hi to me when you came over to talk to the coach." Tim repeated.
"Sorry, I was kind of concerned with something else and you could have said hi to me first you know."
"Uh, except that I was talking to someone else when you interrupted."
"Toby, Tim, you gonna join us today?!" The coach yelled.
After practice, the coach reminded the boys that they would be away for the next three weekends playing matches at other campuses. Tim had walked away to his bag without saying anything to Toby and it made Toby smile. This was the first quarrel, if you could even call it that, that he and Tim had had. He picked up his bag and walked over to Tim, "Hey I'm sorry about earlier. The banner just kind of freaked me out."
"It's fine."
"Why don't you come over tonight and have dinner with me and the guys? You should have met them already anyway."
"Awww you want me to meet your friends?" Tim said, his demeanor totally changing.
"Yeah, they asked about meeting you too."
Tim smiled widely, "What time should I come over?"
"Five?"
"Five sounds good."
"Alright, call me if anything changes." Toby quickly kissed his boyfriend and walked off the courts to the rest of his day.
Toby would never admit it, but he was nervous about Tim meeting Cooper and Eric. He hoped that everybody meshed well and he hoped that the earlier minor tiff he and his boyfriend had wouldn't affect anything. There was a knock at the door and Toby and Eric made eye contact.
"Be nice to him." Toby said to Eric.
"You should be telling that to Cooper." Eric laughed.
Toby opened the door and instead of being Tim, it was Cooper, "Hey asshole, I heard that."
"That language is so charming." Eric said, "Did you invite Pucci to dinner?"
"Why would I invite him?"
"He's an international student, does he even have any friends?"
"I don't know and I don't give a shit. I like him less and less everyday."
"What did he do now?" Toby asked.
"The other day he was changing and I saw that he was wearing those plain white boxers. They're so ugly."
"Don't get sidetracked, what happened?" Eric asked.
"That's it."
"You are unbelievable. Go invite him he shouldn't be by himself." Eric started again.
"Actually.." Toby interrupted, "I'd prefer if it was just us."
"Thank you for backing me up." Cooper smiled.
"It's not that, I just don't want Tim to be overwhelmed with too many people."
A knock on the door came and Toby took a deep breath before answering.
"Hey," Tim said smiling nervously.
"Hey, come in."
"Oh...they're already here." Tim said laughing nervously.
"Yeah, this is Cooper."
"How's it hanging man?" Cooper said shaking his hand.
"And this is Eric."
Eric reached forward to shake Tim's hand and immediately felt a charge when their hands met. He looked up at Tim and could tell by the expression on his face that he was feeling the exact same thing.
"Wow," Tim said.
"Yeah." Eric smiled.
"What just happened?" Toby said confused.
"I'm not sure," Tim said still looking at Eric, "I think we just made a connection." After a few more moments they finally broke contact and Tim turned to Toby, "Wow, that was weird."
"Yeah it was." Toby said dryly.
At dinner the boys were all laughing and were by far the loudest group in the dining hall. Toby was glad that Tim had almost seamlessly joined their group, but he was a bit put off by the interaction between his boyfriend and Eric. If Toby hadn't known any better, he would have thought that they were flirting with each other.
"Yeah, I'm an only child, but I do wish I had a little sibling to play with."
"Pedophile." Cooper joked.
Eric gave him a sharp look, "That wasn't funny. Did you find it funny?" He said looking at Tim.
"Not particularly." Tim said.
Cooper looked at Toby, "Look what you've done. Now there's two of them."
"So," Toby said interrupting Tim and Eric, "Since we're all together, we should talk about my birthday in a few weeks." He smiled at Eric.
"Ok." Eric said simply, "What about it?"
"I still want to go dancing at Club 21."
"Oh, that would be so much fun!" Tim said excitedly.
"I think so too, but Eric over there is being a poor sport."
"Look," Eric started, talking much lower than he previously had been, "I'll be the fourth wheel. You have Tim and Cooper will find some random person I'm sure to make out with so what am I going to do, but sit there like a log?"
"Hey," Cooper said, his feelings hurt, "I don't just make out with random people. Besides, I'm off the market."
They all looked at him, "What was that?" Eric said.
"Not only am I offended by your remark, but it doesn't matter anyway because I'm not looking for somebody at the club, cause I already got someone."
"Who?" Toby said.
"Kevin."
Eric laughed, "Are you still on that?"
"Wait, "Toby said putting his hand up, "I want to hear this. Explain Lucy."
"He marked me." Cooper said with smile.
"I can't tell you how afraid I am to hear what you mean by that." Eric said.
"I was blowing Kevin last night and he came on my face." Cooper said as if Kevin had romantically proposed to him.
"How in the hell does that mean you're a couple?"
"You think I let anyone cum on my face?" Cooper said getting frustrated, "I guess from your last comment, you think a lot of things about me." Cooper got up from the table and picked up his tray.
"Nice meeting you Tim." He said before walking away.
"What the hell was that about?" Eric asked Toby.
Toby shrugged, "I don't know."
Eric caught the strange inflection Toby had used, "Sounds like you do."
"Well," Toby started, "Sometimes you can be a bit hard on him. You know how much he likes Kevin."
"I'll be back." Tim said pointing to where the ice cream was being served. He walked over and there was only one other person in line in front of him. The girl got vanilla ice cream with whip cream over a brownie. She politely said thank you and then the boy serving the ice cream looked at Tim and said, "Can I help you?"
Tim smiled and quickly looked at the nametag that read Jon. He had barely laid eyes on Jon, but he could tell that their was a mischievousness and carefree attitude to him. The boy had a British accent and looked to be over six feet but he wasn't lanky; in fact he looked like he filled in all the right places, especially the crotch. Jon had noticed the attention he was getting and flashed Tim a smile before he repeated, "How can I help you?"
"Oh," Tim said remembering that his boyfriend was a few feet away, "I'll have the chocolate ice cream with whip cream on top."
Jon flashed Tim another smile. He grabbed a bowl and placed the brownie in it.
"Oh, I don't want the brownie." Tim said.
"Sorry mate got to give you the brownie." Jon said scooping the ice cream.
"Yeah, but I don't want it." Tim said.
"Sorry, if we let every guy say what they wanted I'd be here all night."
"But people get to pick the ice cream they want."
"Well that's different." Jon said.
"How so?"
"Ice cream has different flavors, brownies don't." Jon said noticing a line was now forming behind Tim, "Do you want this or not?"
"Yes, I want the ice cream just not the brownie."
"Wanker." Jon said under his breath, "Get out of line."
"What if I was allergic to brownies? Would I still have to get one?" Tim continued.
"Tim, what's the hold up?" Toby whispered from about three or four people back.
"This guy's being a jerk face." Tim said.
"Fuck you." Jon said.
"Dude, in the time it's taken us to argue you could have just given me the fuckin ice cream and I would have been gone...it would have been much easier.." Tim felt himself being pulled strongly by the arm out of line. He saw that it was Toby with Eric following them hurriedly out of the dining hall.
"What the fuck is your problem?" Toby asked once they were out of the hall.
"Hey don't talk to me like that."
"Then don't act like a spoiled brat. If you don't want the fuckin brownie you could have just taken it out when you got to the table. Why do you have to be so weird?"
"I'm sorry that my taste buds don't like brownies, and I couldn't have taken it out cause then little pieces of brownie would have been in the ice cream."
"You can't even argue like a normal person. Who says taste buds in an argument?" They were now outside of the dorm buildings and Eric was holding the door open for both Toby and Tim to walk through.
"I'm going home." Tim said walking away.
Immediately after entering their room, Toby sat on his bed and put his head in his hands. Eric watched this and cautiously asked, "Are you ok?"
Tony chuckled a bit and said, "Yeah. What was that fight about?"
"I think it was about ice cream." Eric said smiling.
"Isn't that so lame?" Toby said smiling, "That is officially the strangest argument I've ever had with anyone."
"Frankly, I'm glad. You guys were seriously becoming the too good to be true couple." Both boys laughed.
The next morning Toby woke up a bit earlier than normal since he wanted to be sure he arrived on time to speak with the press. He wore a silk gray buttoned up shirt and some black slacks. He strolled down the hall feeling confident that he looked good. He heard a whistle behind him and knew before he turned around that it was Cooper.
"You know," Cooper said while approaching, "the true measure of someone's ass is how good it looks in black slacks. Can I say that you get a ten out of ten."
Toby laughed, "I wish I could get Tim to feel that way about it. I'm going to start humping the bed post soon."
"Probably not happening anywhere near ice cream huh?" Cooper asked.
"How'd you hear about the ice cream fight?"
"Eric told me."
"Have you two made up?" Toby said in a mocking voice.
"Yeah, he's taking me home this weekend."
"Back to Maine?" Toby said confused.
"No, to his house so I don't have to be alone with pussy all weekend."
"Whoa, he must have really felt bad."
"I guess so."
Toby took a deep breath before he opened the door to the gym. He was immediately blinded by flash bulbs going off. He heard a bit of laughter before his vision cleared. There was a long wooden table in the center of the gym. As he walked forward, he saw a placard with his name at the center of table. There was a metal gray chair right behind the placard and he assumed that was where he was to sit. As he sat down, he instinctively grabbed the bottle of water in front of him and took a drink.
"Was it ok to drink this?" He said looking at the group of people in front of him. Someone yelled out yeah and he gave a nervous chuckle. He looked at the very large name tags some of the people were wearing and realized most of these people were from the local media. There were a few from the school newspaper and he smiled when he saw that one person had made it all the way from back home. There was even one major household name media group there and Toby could feel himself enjoying the moment. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad, he dared to think this might actually be fun.
A woman who had been standing at the end of the table began addressing the media. Toby recognized her as an administrator of the university, but didn't know her position or name. He heard her turn the session over to the media and she allowed the person from Toby's hometown go first.
"Obviously, we're all interested in you back home since you're one of our own, but so is your ex boyfriend Richard, do you guys ever think about maybe coming together and playing doubles like you did in high school?"
Toby was completely caught off guard by the question. He hadn't even considered how to respond if he was asked anything about Richard ; he didn't think the subject would even come up. Plus why was his relationship, or lack thereof, with Richard of interest to the media? If the press asked specifically about their relationship should he lie or be purposefully vague about everything?
"Um, it'll be kind of hard for us to play doubles together, since we go to different schools."
"Toby," a woman began, "you've been undefeated so far, do you think you can go the whole season without losing?"
"I've barely played so far, we'll see how it goes in the next few weeks."
Toby felt his stomach jump when the representative from the major media organization began speaking, "What's it like to be the school's best hope at winning a national championship?"
"Oh, I don't know. I've heard our basketball game is pretty good. I've been meaning to get out there and watch them ; just been busy with school."
Thirty minutes later Toby walked out of the gym thankful the interview was over, but also very relieved that he did not make a fool of himself. He was very interested to see how and if the different organizations would write about the media conference. On his way back to the dorms, Toby decided that he would skip class as a reward for his efforts at the conference. He walked back to his room and took a moment to look at some of the pictures on his wall ; he realized that Richard was in most of them. He smiled warmly as he remembered each of the events that had been captured in the pictures. He started taking the down the pictures of Richard in them. He turned when he heard the door open.
"Hey," Eric said.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Class got cancelled. How did the media thing go?"
"It went fine."
"What are you taking down?"
"Just some pictures of Richard."
"Did you guys have another fight?"
"Oh, no," Toby said chuckling, "it's just time. I should have done this a while ago."
"So it's really over." Eric said more out loud than as a question.
"I haven't taken his number out of my phone yet. I don't know if I'm going to. Time heals all wounds right?" The Inspector Gadget theme rang through the room and Toby picked up his cell phone and saw that it was Tim calling.
"Hey," Toby said a bit nervously.
"Hey, so I'm sorry for acting like a freak yesterday, I just hate brownies."
Tim said laughing.
"Then there really is something wrong with you cause brownies are really good." Toby joked back.
"Since we're going to be spending a lot of time together this weekend, I want to make sure you don't hate me or anything."
"Come on, you know I don't. People fight, though fighting over ice cream is a new one for me."
"I'm sure I fought with my parents about ice cream as a kid." Tim said.
"Probably."
"Well, I got to go, but I will see you later, I love you."
Toby smiled into the phone, but still couldn't bring himself to say those words.
Eric was a little apprehensive about going home. He hadn't been home since he returned from the Christmas break, and while him and his mother left on ok terms, he could tell something was brewing. He knew that her seeing Michael hadn't been a good thing, but he was sure that she was far from assuming he was gay. He pulled into his apartment complex and turned the ignition off. Cooper unlocked the doors and was reaching for the handle to open the door when he heard the locks go back in place. He looked to the driver's seat and realized that Eric was staring intently at him.
"You're scaring me." Cooper said.
"Cooper, you need to be on your best behavior. This is not some random person you will be meeting in a few minutes, this is my mother. There will be no cursing in her presence, no inappropriate jokes, and clothes must be worn at all times when she is in the house. Comprendes?"
"Yeah yeah I understand."
After retrieving their bags from the trunk of the car. They walked up a white stairwell that was badly in need of a sweeping, and down three doors before Eric took out his keys. Eric smiled as he smelled the scent of freshly baked cookies ; his mother did this for him every time he came home. Carol had an apron on over her work attire and gave her son a hug, "How are you honey?"
"I'm good mom, this is Cooper."
Carol looked at the tall boy in front of her and smiled, "Welcome to our home."
"Thank you, it's nice to be here. I don't like my roommate Pus...very much so it's nice to have a weekend away."
"Cooper's from Maine mom."
"Wow and you came all the way out here?"
"Yeah, I heard the guys were...nicer out here." Cooper smiled.
"Oh, I love your bracelet," Carol said looking at the cock ring around Cooper's wrist, "Where did you get it?" She asked touching it.
"Mom, don't touch it." Eric said.
"Why not?" Carol said still caressing the cock ring."
"It's part of his religion," Eric lied, "it dishonors sacred traditions when it is touched."
"Oh, pardon me." Carol said.
"It's fine." Cooper said giving his best effort not to laugh.
"Mom, we're going to go put this stuff away."
"Ok, I'll be here. Lovely to meet you Cooper."
"You too." Cooper said flashing a smile.
As they walked to Eric's room, Cooper couldn't help but say, "You know this means that your mom has technically touched my cock right?"
They had spent the next few hours playing cards with Carol and eating pizza.
Eric had been worried about Cooper having fun and spending time with his mother, but Cooper was having a blast. Carol had long since retired to bed and now, a little after midnight, the two friends were themselves getting ready for bed.
"I love your mom man." Cooper said shuffling through his bag.
"Hey, I said no dirty jokes." Eric reminded.
"No seriously. She's awesome, she like...a real person. My parents always pretend like they never get mad, or are never insanely happy about anything. Everything's always done with some specific purpose or they've always got to be in control. Your mom was so happy when she saw you ; like I could see it. She's awesome."
"Yeah, I guess my mom is pretty cool." Eric said smiling. They had already talked over the sleeping arrangements and because of how small the apartment was, it made the most sense to have Cooper sleep in Eric's bed. Eric turned to ask Cooper if it was ok if the window stayed open when a nicely shaped ass appeared in his view.
"What are you doing?" Eric asked turning away.
"It's hard for me to sleep with clothes on." He said slightly turning around.
"Tonight you're going to have to buddy."
"Afraid you won't be able to control yourself?"
"Oh yeah, I'm about ready to jump your bones now."
"Who isn't?" Cooper joked leaving on his black boxer briefs, "Good night," he said turning off the light.
Eric woke first and he turned over on his side and saw that Cooper was still sleeping. He'd seen Cooper naked before, albeit briefly, but he had never noticed what a nice body his gregarious friend possessed.. Nice broad shoulders that led to nice arms that had muscle definition, but not in any way overdone. He had a perfectly smooth chest, with nice pecs and what Eric would describe as cute little nipples. Cooper's stomach was flat for the most part, but a little work needed to be done for it to be completely flat.
Eric smiled a bit to himself and thought about how Cooper was really a nice guy. Sometimes he needed a babysitter cause he said the most inappropriate things and he could be extremely annoying at times, but surely there were thousands of guys much worse than Cooper Hwang.
"What?" Cooper said very sleepily.
"What what?" Eric said completely caught off guard.
"You've been staring at me."
"I've been staring at the clock waiting for you to wake your sorry ass up. We got to meet Michael in an hour for breakfast."
"The guy that brought out the homo in you."
"Out of bed." Eric said standing up and pulling the sheets off Cooper. Eric had morning boners all the time, but Cooper's took the cake. If Cooper's dick stretched the fabric of his underwear anymore, Eric was sure they'd rip. Cooper was making no effort to cover himself, "Can't we just sleep in a bit longer?"
"No, come on we got to get up." Eric said tapping Cooper on the chest and stealing another glance at Cooper endowment. Even in his sleepy and groggy state, it hadn't been lost on Cooper that Eric might have been looking at his bulge.
As they walked through the house, Carol poked her head out of her room, "You guys leaving so soon?"
"Oh, no we're just going to meet Michael for breakfast. I haven`t seen him since New Years."
Eric read the disapproval on his mother's face, "You're not bringing him back here are you?"
"Um, hadn't planned on it." He said walking away.
"Good, cause I don't want him in my house."
"I'll meet you in the car." Cooper said taking the keys out of Eric's hand.
"Why? What did he do to you?"
"I will not allow that in my house."
"Allow what?"
"You know what I'm talking about. I will not tell you you can't see him.."
"Good," Eric interrupted, "Cause I wouldn't listen anyway."
"I will not tell you you can't see him," his mother continued, "but I will not allow blatant sin in my house."
Eric stared at her for a long time before finally walking outside to the car. Cooper had been waiting patiently in the car and he saw that Eric was visibly upset. Eric started the car and backed out of the parking lot in a hurry and quickly sped down the road.
"You alright?" Cooper asked with concern.
"I can't believe her." Eric seethed gripping the steering wheel.
"I know that sucks man."
"Sucks Cooper? Did you see her face? No shit it sucks. If I told her I was gay she'd probably die from disgust."
"It's always different when it's someone you love though. It will be hard for her at first, but she'll come around."
"If you believed that then your parents would know you were gay." Eric hadn't meant it the way it came out, but he could tell by the look on Cooper's face, that his last remark had stung.
"I was just trying to help." Cooper said quietly.
"Thanks, but I'm fine."
"I'm surprised you don't want to go dancing for Toby's birthday."
"So you're going to start on me too?" Eric asked annoyed.
"Especially what just happened with your mom, I would think you'd want to go somewhere with people just like you and people who would accept you."
"No promises, but I'll think about going."
Three weeks later, Toby was starting to by into his own hype. After seven matches, he had gone undefeated and showed no signs of slowing down, though the match with Richard was still lingering in the back of his mind. He'd even been brave enough to mention to Eric and Cooper that, "It might be good to see Richard again."
It was a Tuesday night, another Valentine's Day, or as Eric referred to it Singles Awareness Day, had come and gone. He had very reluctantly agreed to go to the club and he was sitting on his bed sulking and pretending like he didn't want to go. Secretly, he was hoping that he would meet someone there. He didn't think he was ready for a relationship, but it might be nice to have someone else show interest in him. His cell phone rang and after a few seconds, Toby looked at him and said, "Are you going to answer that?"
"No, it's my mother. She can talk to my voicemail." Toby knew that this had been a very touchy subject with Eric for the past few weeks and because he wanted them all to have fun tonight, he decided to let it go. Eric's phone made a series of sounds letting him know that he had a voice mail. He typed in his password and couldn't help but smile at the message his mother had left:
Eric, this is your mother. This is the umpteenth message I have left for you and you have not returned any of my calls since you left here three weeks ago. If you don't call me be back before tomorrow night, I will drive down there and bang on our door until you let me in. Let's be an adult about things and talk this out ; this is no way to treat your mother.
"You guys ready to go?" Cooper asked walking into the room.
"Yeah." Toby said looking at Eric, "You ready?"
"Mmhmm."
"Alright, let me call Tim and see if he's ready."
"Yo." Tim answered a few moments later.
"You ready?" Toby asked.
"Yeah, I'll meet you guys there in twenty?"
"Yeah sounds good. See you in a bit."
"Wait!"
"Yeah."
"You still staying over tonight?"
"Yeah," Toby smiled, "Your parents really are ok with me staying over on a school night?"
"This isnt high school ; were big boys now."
"Alright, bye."
Twenty minutes later, the boys congregated outside of Club 21, a gay club located in the "Rainbow District" of downtown. The Rainbow District, as had been described to Toby, was four whole blocks of gay hot spots including various coffee shops and a twenty-one and over gay club. As Eric had driven past a store Toby had stated that that was, "The gay supermarket."
"How can a supermarket be gay?" Eric asked confused.
""Hey, it's just what I was told."
"So, what should us newbies know?" Tim asked pulling Eric into a hug.
"The first thing is probably not to get upset if someone grabs your ass ; it happens." Toby said.
"Also, if you use a urinal, know that the guy next to you is for sure lookin at your dick." Cooper added.
"Anything else?" Tim said smiling.
"Mmm...nope just have fun." Toby said smiling. They got in the short line and each of them were frisked before being allowed in the club. As they walked through the doors, Eric took a moment to stop and look at his surroundings. It was only ten p.m. but the club was already full of both guys and girls. He looked to his left and saw two healthy looking shirtless college boys behind the bar serving drinks. He looked to his right and saw a cute guy who was obviously looking for someone. The boy turned out not to be a boy at all as she turned around when someone yelled the name Lisa.
"Let's go grab a table before it gets crowded." Toby said.
As they walked forward, there were already many people sitting at the tables. Two boys kissing intensely caught Eric's eye and held his attention long enough for him to run into the end of a table where two other guys were sitting.
"Bitch." One of them yelled.
"So what do you think?" Toby yelled over the loud music.
"It's really cool." Eric smiled.
"Good." The newest Madonna song came on and just as quickly as they had sat down, Tim and Toby were up and headed to the dance floor a few feet away.
"You know that's the last time we'll probably see them until it's time to go." Cooper said watching them walk away.
"Yeah probably. Cooper don't feel obligated to sit here with me. I'll be ok."
"I don't feel obligated, I'm just waiting for a good song to come on."
Twenty minutes had passed and Cooper still hadn't gotten up. Eric was beginning to feel bad and decided this was as good a time as any to finally return his mother's call. She would probably be asleep anyway and hopefully she would hear something in the background to disapprove of.
"Going to make a phone call." Eric said getting up from the table. He walked to right outside of the club and called his mother. He was correct in that his mother was already asleep and did not answer the phone. He left her a message saying he had been busy with schoolwork and that he was sorry for not calling her back. He promised to come home soon once his workload slowed down. Eric was positive that the loud music could be heard in the background. As he approached the table, he realized Cooper was no longer there. Part of him was glad because Cooper should be having fun and he didn`t want to be responsible for being someone down, but part of him didn't know what to do. There was no way he would find Tim, Toby, or Cooper on the dance floor; there were too many people. He decided to just sit there and hope that someone would strike up a conversation with him. After a while of sitting alone, he began staring off into space, thinking about various things he needed to do that week when he heard a voice behind him, "Want to dance?"
His heart immediately sped up as he turned around to see who had asked him to dance. Comprehension, followed by annoyance showed on his face, "Not funny Cooper."
"I'm serious. You're bored and I can't have fun knowing you're not having fun." Cooper grabbed Eric by the arm, and though Eric protested he was glad that someone was forcing him onto the dance floor.
"What do I do?" Eric said nervously.
"Just move, have fun."
"But I can't dance."
"Half the people here can't dance. Nobody's watching you anyway, just go with it."
Cooper saw that Eric was trying but struggling. He knew that Eric was a few minutes away from walking off the dance floor. Cooper quickly turned around and backed as close into Eric as he could get. He grabbed Eric hands and placed them on his hips.
"Just follow my movements."
Cooper began grinding into Eric's crotch, and he could feel Eric's dick respond immediately.
"Cooper what are you doing?" Eric said nervously trying to back way. But Cooper held him firmly, "We're dancing. Just go with it."
Eric eventually become comfortable enough to look around at the other people near him. Everybody seemed to be concentrated on the person they were with, whether it be friend, girlfriend, or boyfriend. It occurred to him that a straight club was probably just like this, people having fun, laughing and joking around, except the people kissing were probably of the opposite sex. He smiled and felt a bit of apprehension leave him. He wondered why, in that moment, he understood that being gay wasn`t really all that important because it was a small part of who he was, but when he had argued with his mom a few weeks earlier, it had seemed like the only thing that mattered.
The last song finished, and Toby and Tim emerged from the dance floor sweaty and exhausted.
"Did you have fun?" Tim and Toby both asked Eric at the same time.
"I did," Eric said honestly, "I'm going to be no good tomorrow morning though, It's almost two a.m."
"Yeah, we should get going. I'm gonna head back with Tim ; I'm staying at his house. So I'll see you guys tomorrow." He gave Eric a hug, but when he went to give Cooper a hug, he whispered, "That was cool what you did tonight for Eric. You're awesome."
Cooper smiled and waved them goodbye. They talked on the way back about how tired they knew they were going to be. Eric was consciously avoiding discussing the dancing that had happened between them. He knew that Cooper had to have felt the hard on that he had had most of the time they were dancing and he didn't want to have an awkward conversation about it. They arrived back at the dorms and Eric said goodnight to Cooper halfway down the hallway as he needed to go to the bathroom. Cooper was disappointed, he had planned on giving Eric a hug at his door, but that was not going to happen now. Cooper was fumbling in his pocket for his keys when he saw Kevin come up the hallway.
"Hey where you been?"
"Went out dancing for Toby's birthday."
"Cool."
"How was your Valentine's?" Cooper asked.
"Eh, just another day." Kevin shrugged.
"You didn't get any Valentine's?" Cooper said concerned.
"I got one, but I threw that shit away," Kevin said laughing, "It was a lame hallmark card, with some overly dramatic reference to love. I'm sure on of the guys slipped it under my door as a joke. They didn't even have the decency to try and fool me by writing from your secret admirer."
Cooper forced a laugh, "Crazy kids."
"Yeah, well have a good night man."
Cooper watched Kevin walk down the hall and wished he had found the courage to write his name on the Valentine's card.
"I had such an awesome time tonight." Tim said rather loudly as he opened the front door to his house.
"Dude, aren't your parents asleep?" Toby said in a whisper.
"No they're not here," Tim said smiling, "They're on vacation with my little monster of a sister. I couldn't go because of tennis."
"You bastard. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Surpise!" Tim said loudly. They walked into Tim's room and Toby noticed that small Christmas tree was still up, but it was now covered in pink and red hearts. Tim took a towel out of a drawer, "I'm gonna jump in the shower, make yourself comfortable."
Toby had danced hard and was exhausted. He was just beginning to fall asleep when he felt a presence standing over him ; It was Tim wearing nothing but a towel.
"You awake?"
"I am now." Toby said immediately getting hard. Tim stood in front of his boyfriend, staring at him intently before dropping his towel, causing his hard on to spring free.
"What do you think?" Tim stuttered.
"I think you're beautiful." Toby said sincerely, "Come here."
An hour and a half later, they were both enjoying their post orgasmic bliss and both were entering that wonderful stage somewhere in between consciousness and sleep. Tim was thinking how corny it was that he lost his virginity on Valentine' Day and he made a decision from that day forward that whenever someone asked he would lie and say he lost his virginity the day after. Toby was happy that he had finally had sex again, but more importantly he was glad it was with Tim. He liked Tim a lot and he felt he was exactly where he was supposed to be at that very moment. Toby's cell phone began to vibrate on Tim's nightstand. Toby reached for it and saw that the caller ID said it was Richard. Leave it to Richard to spoil a perfect evening.
"Who is it?" Tim said sleepily.
"I don't recognize the number." Toby lied. The phone stopped vibrating and Toby relaxed. At first, when the cell phone vibrated again, he thought that Richard had left a message, but the cell phone was vibrating for too long to be a voice mail ; it was Richard calling again. Toby was now sitting up in the bed.
"What's wrong?" Tim said.
"Me and Richard had this thing when we were together. If we got mad at each other and weren`t speaking, we came up with this thing that in the case of an emergency we'd call three times in a row and not leave a message. He's called twice."
Tim wasn't sure if it was because he was sleepy, but Toby wasn't making much sense, "Wait, that was Richard?"
"Yeah, I lied." Toby said simply, staring at the phone. The vibration stopped for the second time and Toby was already reaching for the phone when it began to vibrate a third time.
"Richard what is it? Is everything ok?" Toby said trying not to panic.
"No Toby," Richard said crying, "Everything is not ok."
Thanks for reading this chapter, and like always, all comments and constructive criticisms are certainly appreciated and welcomed. Drop me a line if you want at tenniswiz12@MSN.com