Three Roads

This story contains adult and sexual situations between males. If this is not to your liking....well you know the drill.

This chapter contains the lyrics to Aimee Mann's Wise Up

Three Roads Chapter 19- Wise Up

Eric slammed his hand down on the power button of his alarm clock. He refused to open his eyes because opening his eyes meant that he was up for the morning and he was not, in the least bit, ready to get out of bed. He could feel a very cold draft circling through his room. Had he left his fan on? He pulled the covers up to his neck and sighed; that felt much better. It took him a few minutes to hear the water droplets falling from the sky, but when he finally realized what they were, he quickly sat up in bed and pulled the drapes back.

"What?!" He said out loud to himself while peering through the window. It appeared that it had been raining for hours which surprised Eric; rainy season wasn't for another few weeks in Sunnydale, but besides that, just yesterday the weather had been absolutely beautiful. Why was it raining already?

"It's an omen." said a nasty voice in the back of his head. Eric had just remembered that his date with Jon was tonight. He smiled involuntarily, he had a lot to do today; he had to go to class, go to the mall with Tim and pick out a shirt, pass out candy to underprivileged kids as part of his RA duties, and then he could go on his very first date. Wow, he thought, my first date. He had already asked Cooper to give him a once over before he left to go meet Jon, because he knew Cooper would tell him the truth about how he looked.

Half an hour later, he was in the dining commons having a quick breakfast before going to class. For the most part, it looked like any normal day as only one resident had dressed up, a girl who lived on the first floor had dressed up as a blue M&M. Eric looked up from his cereal and glanced outside through the ceiling high windows in the cafeteria. The rain was still going strong and looked like it wasn't going to stop any time soon. Behind him, Eric heard the loud click clack of high heels hitting the hard floor of the dining commons. He rolled his eyes and continued eating his cereal. It had always been ridiculous to him the way some girls chose to dress, but it never ceased to amaze him how many girls refused to cover up when the weather was like this. It was always amusing to him though, when a few days later he would pass those same girls coughing as if they were going to hack up a lung; it served them right. The click-clacking was right in his ear now and before he could turn around to give the girl a dirty look for disturbing his morning peace, the girl sat down in front of him.

"It is so freakin cold outside," Cooper said, digging into his breakfast, "What?" Cooper asked as Eric stared at him.

Cooper was dressed as a girl from head to toe. It started with the very bushy black-haired wig on top of his head. He had big hoop earrings through each of his ears that were large enough for Eric to fit his fist through them. Cooper had red lipstick on his lips that had been perfectly applied and enough blush on his cheeks for three women. Eric looked further down his body and Cooper had a white sleeveless shirt that had been stuffed with something to give the effect of breasts. In big red letters across the chest of the shirt was written "Tease." Eric could see the top of a black mini skirt that seemed to ride very low on Cooper hips.

"Ah." Eric said as he realized that he could see a bit of a blue thong peeking from the sides of Cooper's skirt. Finally, white high heels finished the ensemble.

"One thing's for sure," Eric started, "You've never looked better."

"Ah, aren't you sweet?" Cooper said as if Eric had just really paid him a compliment.

"So what cracked out actress are you supposed to be?"

"No one in particular, I'm just a ho."

Eric shook his head, "You're really going to walk around campus like that all day?"

"Yeah," Cooper said confused, "Why do I look fat in this?"

It was still raining when Cooper and Eric left the cafeteria. Eric zipped up his sweater and opened his umbrella to keep as dry as possible, "You don't want to get under?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You're not gonna cover up at all, it's raining for goodness sake."

"Would a ho cover up?!"

They walked in silence for a few minutes, before Cooper asked, "You ever think the rain is an omen?"

"For what?" Eric asked worriedly, recalling his thoughts from that morning.

"Like your life needs cleaning out. You know how you can smell the rain right before it starts to fall. You always get those signs, like how something always seems a little off or just doesn't seem quite right."

"No, I don't think that," Eric said forcefully, "What about all the good stuff that comes from the rain? Without it flowers couldn't grow, crops couldn't flourish..."

"There are always more traffic accidents when it rains." Cooper pointed out.

"Oh, what do you know you're just a ho."

"And a damn sexy one at that."

"My class is this way, I'll see you later tonight." Eric said.

"Yep."

Back at the dorms, both Richard and Toby were doing their various morning rituals as they were getting ready for the day ahead of them.

"Excuse me." Toby said stiffly so he could grab a pair of underwear out of his drawer.

"Oh, sorry." Richard said as politely as he could muster. That was about as much as Toby had said to him in almost a week. He had tried to bait Toby into some kind of conversation, even if it meant hysterical yelling, but he had yet to be successful. Surely, any anger over leaving the sleepover would have abated by now, so why was Toby so angry?

"Are you just never going to talk to me again?" Richard asked sitting on the bed.

"I will when you're ready to be honest with me."

"I hate when you do that. You get some random assumption in your head that you make irrefutable fact and you act like that until I admit it, so why don't you just tell me what I need to admit too so we can get past this."

"Why do you spend so much time with Bliss?"

"She's my friend, I like her."

Toby looked at him skeptically, "And that's it?"

"Uh, yeah. What else would there be?"

"You`re always texting her or on the phone with her making plans..."

"She likes to go out and drink, you don't. I thought I was doing you a favor. You just need to hang around her more, it's good were going to her Halloween party tonight."

"I don't want to go anywhere tonight! What's wrong with just you and me? We don't need to always be around Bliss or the guys!"

"Why are you so threatened by her?"

"It's not her, it's you. You're the one who said you wanted to fondle her massive tits!"

"I was drunk." Richard said defensively.

"And what about ditching your friends and me to go hang with her at the sleepover?"

"They're your friends, Toby."

"And you said you wanted to blow a guy in front of a girl."

"I was just saying what came to my mind, plus I had had a few beers by then." Richard said, on the verge of laughing.

"Funny, alcohol seems to always be involved."

"What is this? Name all the things you don't like about Richard? You drink too, buddy."

"Not as much as you do."

"You're not my goddamn mother, alright?"

"No, your mother is just too busy fighting with your dad to give a shit."

"Fuck you." Richard said hastily picking up his backpack. He threw it over his shoulder and hurriedly walked out of the room without another glance at his boyfriend.

As students rushed to their classes amid the continuing rain, Tim found himself warm and cozy in the University coffee shop. As more and more students filed in drenched and without proper attire for the weather, Tim patted himself on the back for always checking the morning news for the weather. He brought his attention back to his computer and saw a picture of him and Toby when they had gone to the club last year for Toby's birthday. They had their arms around each other`s shoulders, and both were shirtless with the sweat gleaming perfectly off their bodies as proof that that had been a very good night. That was also the night, Tim remembered, that he had allowed Toby to take his virginity. He smiled and looked at the picture again; they looked so good together and their smiles were so bright that night, Tim closed his eyes tightly as if the picture hadn't preserved the memory.

"What are you doing?" Eric asked curiously.

"Oh, I was just checking my e mail really fast." Tim lied as he closed the monitor of his laptop.

"With your eyes closed?"

"Huh?"

"You were checking your e mail with your eyes closed?"

"Oh, ha, no. I was...ok I was looking at a picture of me and Toby from the club, remember that?"

"From last year? Yeah," Eric smiled, "that was a great night."

"Yeah, I told you right that that was the night me and Toby did it."

"You didn't, but I figured as much."

"You've come a long way since then." Tim said suddenly changing the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"You're going out on a date with a boy tonight, you could have chosen a better one, but it's still a boy."

"It's so weird. Like, I don't know. It just came out of nowhere." Eric giggled.

"The best things usually do. What are you guys going to do?"

"Dinner at Olive Garden. He's never been," there was a short pause before Eric said, " I don't know, it seems like it's too good to be true almost."

"Don't do that. This is a great day for you, you should be happy."

"I am, I just mean like what if he tries to kiss me or something, I don't want to have sex with him...not now anyway...I wouldn't even know what to do."

Tim laughed, "You would be a major ho if you slept with him on your first date."

"Speaking of which, have you seen Cooper today?"

"Interesting segue way, but no I haven't."

"Call me if you do. Thats all Ill say." Eric said laughing, "You ready to head over to the mall?"

Eric smiled at himself in the mirror. As he turned towards his bed, his black cape swept behind him. He picked up the brown wand laying on his bed and smiled sheepishly as held it. He flicked the wand at his door and was startled when a series of sounds came from it. He stared at the wand and again flicked it in the directions of the door and sure enough a series of sounds came from it again.

"It's me!" Cooper yelled, "Let me in." Eric laughed at his own stupidity and yanked the door open to let Cooper in.

"Harry Potter!" Cooper said failing miserably at imitating a British accent, "You look really cute."

"Thanks," Eric smiled, "You ready to head downstairs?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Oh, let me grab Toby."

"He's not coming anymore."

"What? Why?"

"I guess him and Richard had a fight. When don't they fight?" Cooper said jokingly.

"Whatever." Eric said seriously annoyed. The boys made their way down the hallway and the stairs to the lobby area of their dorm building. They nodded to the rest of the R.A. staff and took their places to wait for instructions. The residence hall director for their building, Mark, came out of his office with a foul expression on his face. Behind his back, they all secretly called him a Nazi, partly out of respect because he had a strict no bullshit policy when it came to the RA job, however, the nickname also referred to his unreasonable expectations. Over the years, several resident advisors had complained about his high expectations and his seeming disregard for school work and a social life. Mark had made it a requirement that all the RA's be dressed up for tonight, but all of them were disappointed that he himself had not decided to dress up. Both Cooper and Eric had previously discussed their opinions of Mark; both were sure he was gay, though neither had any proof. Both also agreed that while he could never be called ugly, whether or not they found him attractive differed from day to day.

"I think it's his hair." Cooper had remarked during the discussion.

Mark had now been talking for a while and Cooper realized that he had better start paying attention or incur the wrath of his hall director, "You must stay with the children at all times as you walk through the halls. Remember you can only knock on the doors that have the orange sign on them saying that the resident has agreed to pass out candy. Also, as a reminder, remember these kids come from areas where it is not safe for them to be out this late to trick or treat, so make sure that you make it as fun as possible for them, any questions?" When no one said anything, Mark turned on his heels and went back into his office.

"No, Mark, we don't need any help at all, we've completely gotten it under control. You just go back in your office and do nothing." Cooper said to the closed office door.

"Shhhh! or he'll hear you." Eric said. The kids and their parents started to arrive over the next fifteen minutes and many of them had already started giggling over Cooper's costume. In total there were almost 200 people that had shown up; with their being six RA's, they decided to each take a group of roughly 35-40 people. The people were quickly separated and each RA went there separate way to lead the kids around the various dorm buildings.

"Hey, I remember you!" a little girl dressed as a fairy yelled at Cooper, "Your name is Pooper!" A lot of the kids laughed as they continuously repeated the word Pooper. Cooper recognized the little girl as Sally, he had taken a trip to Target with Toby and Eric one morning last year and had met Sally. He thought she was a brat then and apparently she hadn't changed much.

"Why are you dressed like a girl?" She asked as they continued to walk.

"Why are you dressed like a fairy?"

"We should be switched because I'm a girl and you're a fairy." She giggled again.

"Santa's going to bring you coal if you don't behave little girl."

"Mommy! He's being mean to me!!" Sally screamed. Sally's mother turned her head so quickly, Cooper was surprised she didn't have whiplash. The woman scowled at Cooper as if he were some kind of dangerous predator, "Walk over here by Mommy, honey."

"Richie!!" Bliss screamed as she through her arms around him, "Come in, come in! You look hot!" She said she looked Richard up and down. He had made himself a toga out of a white sheet and pinned it on the side. As an accessory, he found a wooden head wreath to wear, and some old sandals he had spray painted a gold color to complete the ensemble. Because he and Toby had had a fight earlier, not only was Toby not accompanying him to Bliss' Halloween party, but he also did not help Richard with his costume, which meant that Richard had a bit of difficulty getting the sheet to fit perfectly around his body. The band of his black boxer briefs could be seen peaking out of his toga, though Bliss and many of the other attendees didn't mind.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Richard asked her.

"Wait for it, wait for it...Where the fuck is Bobby Trendy?!" Everyone cheered and Bliss did her infamous chest shake as everyone applauded..

"Uh..."

"I'm Anna Nicole Smith!"

"Ohh, right." Richard said. The costume was all the more amusing to him because it didn't look like Bliss had to do very much to look like Anna Nicole Smith, though he had to admit, that her cleavage looked really hot in what she was wearing.

"Where's Toby?" Bliss asked.

"We kind of had a fight."

"Damn, I would have loved to see him in a toga." Bliss laughed.

"Can we go in your room and talk real quick."

"Yeah," she said leading the way. They walked into her bedroom and Richard smiled as almost every inch of wall was covered with the poster of some hot guy who were more often than not wearing very little clothes.

"I love that picture right there." Richard said pointing to a poster of Justin Timberlake. Justin had a black bandana around his head, a black tank top, and he was wearing red leather pants. He was leaning against a wall, with his right leg up against it and was wearing what Richard would describe as a "come fuck me look."

"Wishful thinking!" Bliss giggled.

"Yeah, I wish it would come true."

"So what's up?"

"It's Toby."

"Well duh."

"Thanks. I just...he's so different from when we were together in high school. We used to be perfect, absolutely perfect, and then we broke up to go to college and now that we're back together it's so different." He paused, waiting for some sign from Bliss that she was paying attention or that he could continue. After a few seconds she finally spoke up, "Dude, if you keep going you're so going to kill my buzz."

"You're high?"

"Not if you keep talking all serious. It's a party for goodness sakes. Relax, I can get you some."

"No, I don't want to get high, I'll have to hear it from Toby."

"Toby isn't here and he's not your keeper."

"I don't want to either. But I could definitely get drunk tonight."

"Ok, I can settle for that, let's go out there with the rest of the crowd."

"I'm just going to take a piss real quick ok?"

"Yeah, I'll see you out there." Bliss smiled. Richard didn't really have to go the bathroom, he just needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts. Things seemed to always be changing, a few weeks ago him and Toby seemed to be headed in the right direction and he and Bliss could talk about anything, now Toby didn't want to talk to him at all and it seemed as though while Bliss was great to be around, she didn't always care for the serious things in life that came up all too often. After a few moments, he resigned himself to the fact that he was not going to get any answers tonight and that he might as well have a little fun until he could figure something out.

He emerged from the room and Bliss screamed, "There's Bobby Trendy!" She handed him a can of beer, "Drink up my friend!" The voice in the back of his head, that always sounded like Toby was telling him that if he wasn't careful, alcohol would become the only thing that could help him cope.

"It won't let me down tonight." He said quietly to himself and quickly drained the can of its contents.

"Hi." Toby said surprised, opening the door. He had been expecting Eric to come up and try and convince him to come and help with the trick or treaters like he had promised, but instead Tim was standing at the door with his little sister Tathiana standing next to him obviously dressed as an angel.

"Toby!" Tathiana yelled hugging Toby tightly around his hips.

"Hi, Tati, how are you?"

"I'm fine, how come you don't come to my house anymore?" She asked still clinging on to him. Toby shot Tim an uncomfortable look and Tim pulled his sister off of him, "Tati, remember I told you that me and him aren't together anymore."

"Oh, yeah I forgot, are you guys still friends?"

"Uh..."Tim stammered.

"Of course we are, I still like your brother, he's a very cool guy." Tim and Toby exchanged a smile.

"Do you want some candy, Tati, I only have a little bit."

"Yes, please!"

Tim unconsciously checked out Toby's ass as he turned around to walk to the desk in his room to get a few miniature candy bars to give to Tathiana, "Hey I was thinking," Tim started nervously, "I know I'm not on the team anymore but I still want to stay in shape, and I could probably still give you a good run, you want to play tennis sometime?"

"Yeah, that would be cool, I'm always looking for extra matches."

"Great, then I'll call you soon."

"Ok. Thank you Tati for coming to visit, you look really pretty in your costume."

"Thank you. Bye, Toby!" Tim was smiling as he walked with his little sister down the hallway. Even though it had been a very short visit, it was all he needed. He missed Toby, more than he wanted to admit; he had never been happier in his life than those few months when they had been a couple.

"Where's my five dollars!!" Tati screamed, interrupting her brother's thoughts.

"Oh," he said digging into his pocket, "here. Thanks for doing that Tati."

"Why couldn't you just tell him that you wanted to see him?" Tathiana asked innocently. Tim simply shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't yet able to say it out loud to anyone, or even to admit it to himself.

"So how do I look?" Eric asked Cooper apprehensively.

"I think you look hot." Cooper said from Eric's bed. He was back into his normal clothes as the day was almost over.

"You don't like it?"

"I was serious, you look really good."

"Oh, thanks. I'm so glad it stopped raining, maybe it wasn't such an omen after all." Eric laughed.

"Yeah, I guess not." Cooper said dryly.

"What was that about this morning anyway?

"I just got a lot on my mind. I have to tell Kevin I'm in love with him, but I don't think he'll feel the same way though."

"Oh, I see."

"I'm sorry," Cooper said quickly before Eric could say more, "I shouldn't be talking about this tonight, you're going on your first date."

"No, go ahead, it'll stop me from getting so nervous."

"Ok...he's leaving in a few weeks too, I want to do it before he leaves."

"You should then, who knows if you're honest with him, maybe he'll be honest with you."

"Hopefully, so you guys are doing dinner and then..." Cooper raised his right eyebrow.

"No, no, none of that not tonight...I mean.."

"So you do plan to do it at some point then?" Cooper smiled knowing he was making Eric uncomfortable.

"What? No, well, yeah, stop it! You're making me more nervous."

"I'm just fucking with ya, you'll be fine. You're a great guy and I'm sure he knows how lucky he is that he gets to de-virginize you." Eric shot Cooper a nasty look.

"I meant because it's your first date, I swear!"

"Ok, well I should get going. Thanks for helping me out Cooper."

"No problem." Eric suddenly had the strong urge to hug Cooper so he did and Cooper returned the hug happily. They walked out of Eric's room and started to walk down the hallway. When they came to where they had part ways, Cooper said, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Well that leaves me with few choices."

"Fuck you." Cooper said jokingly.

"By the way, you're much hotter as a guy." Eric said to his friend before turning around for good.

Cooper watched Eric go down the stairs and smiled inside. There was no one more deserving of Eric of finding someone who could make him happy, he hoped it would all work out. He fished for his cell phone in his wallet and quickly found Kevin's number.

"Yo."

"Hey Kev, it's Cooper, can I come by?"

"I was just gonna jump in the shower, give me about 30 and then come on over, I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Umm, ok." Cooper smiled as he walked back to his room to wait out the thirty minutes. Kevin was obviously wanting to fool around, hence the I'll have the door unlocked and Cooper had already decided that he was going to push the envelope as far as he could go this time to see how much Kevin was willing to do.

Eric was surprised that he was able to find a parking space during this time at the Olive Garden in town. It was usually very difficult to find a space in this lot, as there were several department stores and restaurants all sharing the same lot. He checked his face in the mirror and wished he had brushed his hair a few more times. He took a deep breath and muttered, "It's ok." before getting out of the car. He saw Jon waving and smiling from in front of the restaurant and Eric hesitantly returned the wave.

"Could he be anymore obvious?" Eric said out loud. He also felt severely underdressed as he was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a black shirt that he had picked out with Tim at the mall earlier that day and he had also received assurances from Cooper that he looked ok. Jon, however, looked very preppy in a white collared shirt that was covered by a gray vest. He also had on a pair of nicely pressed black slacks.

"Hey."

"Hey," Eric said looking around, "This place is nice."

"Haven't you been here before?"

"Yes, just not at night...it looks different."

"No it doesn't." Jon laughed walking forward, "Let's go inside."

Jon walked confidently up to the counter, "I have a reservation for two, it's under Jon."

"Yes, right this way." A girl around their age said. She seated them and only looked surprised for a minute when Jon pushed Eric's seat back for him so he could sit at the table. She took their drink orders and then walked away. Eric, mortified that Jon had found it necessary to do that, wished they had gotten a better table, they were smack in the middle of the restaurant, everyone could see and probably hear everything they would talk about tonight.

"So how was your day?" Jon asked interrupting Eric's thoughts.

"It was good, it was good."

"Come on details, dinner's going to last at least two hours, you're going to have to give me more than that." Jon smiled. Eric loved that smile so much and for some reason it seemed to relax him quite a bit. He recounted how his day had gone and how much fun leading the kids around had been. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a guy, who looked like he could be the manager, speeding towards them holding a sign that read, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." Eric couldn't believe this was happening and he stared blankly ahead as the guy continued to approach their table. Right before he reached them, the guy turned right and instead stopped at a table where a bunch of shady looking teenagers had been seated a few minutes after them. He could hear the manager talking in a raised whisper and after a few moments all of the kids got up and left. Eric exhaled heavily and saw that Jon had been staring at him.

"Eric, I am so glad that you agreed to come out with me tonight. It's been the longest week of my life waiting for tonight." Eric couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you for saying that."

"I really mean it, Eric, and I hope you just relax and enjoy tonight." The waiter appeared and gave the rundown of all the specials that night. Eric wasn't listening though, he realized, in that moment, that he had a choice; He could let his old fears haunt him and ruin this night or he could enjoy it, have fun and be himself.

"What would you like sir?" The waiter asked him. Eric smiled widely; he was ready.

Cooper had his hand raised to knock on Kevin's door, when he remembered that Kevin had said the door would be unlocked. He smiled as he entered wondering what state and position he would find Kevin in. He smiled when he saw that Kevin was under the bed sheets already; he was shirtless and wearing a very content look on his face. Cooper thought it looked oddly similar to the way Kevin looked right after he had climaxed. It took Cooper a minute to realize that there was someone else in the room, a girl he did not recognize and she had quite clearly just been naked as she was covering her breasts and hiding behind Kevin's desk. Cooper continued to look at her as comprehension dawned on him and he quickly turned back to Kevin. Kevin's eyes were now open and he was staring directly at Cooper, though Cooper couldn't read the expression on his face.

"Get out!!" The girl yelled. Cooper lingered for a moment longer, staring at Kevin, who was still looking at him, almost impassively. He ran out of the room and ran all the way down the hallway to his room that he had mercifully left unlocked. He sat on his bed staring at the blank wall ahead of him. It only took one sob, before Cooper lost control.

It's not What you thought When you first began it

Toby paced around his room. He located Richard's number on his phone and pressed send for the fourth time that night; Richard had yet to answer.

You got What you want Now you can hardly stand it though, By now you know It's not going to stop It's not going to stop It's not going to stop 'Til you wise up

Eric laughed as Jon continued to imitate his own mother. As he continued to listen he was glad he had accepted the invitation to go out with Jon.

You're sure There's a cure And you have finally found it

The party was long over, but Bliss and Richard were still up drinking and laughing, though neither of them knew what was so funny.

You think One drink Will shrink you 'til you're underground And living down But it's not going to stop It's not going to stop It's not going to stop 'Til you wise up

Tim stared at the picture of him and Toby from the club. He couldn't help but wonder if he had made the right decision last year in breaking up with Toby.

Prepare a list of what you need Before you sign away the deed 'Cause it's not going to stop It's not going to stop It's not going to stop 'Til you wise up No, it's not going to stop 'Til you wise up No, it's not going to stop So just...give up

Richard allowed Bliss to lead him through the living room over the discarded paper cups and the empty cans of beer and bottles of liquor into her bedroom.

"You can sleep here tonight." She said softly to him.

"I think I'd like that very much." Richard said.

Hey guys thanks for reading the latest chapter, I hoped you liked it. I really encourage you guys to listen to Aimee Mann's Wise Up. Feel free as always to e mail me at tenniswiz12@msn.com to give me any positive feedback or constructive criticism about the story and any thoughts on where you think it might be headed. Thanks again for reading!