Three Roads

====================================================== Three Roads Chapter 39: Birds Singing In The Sycamore Tree ======================================================

Cooper silently looked out the window as the moving vehicle carried him closer to his house. It was a beautiful night, the stars were out, he was feeling good about himself, and he had a beautiful boy sitting next to him in the car.

"I can't believe you don't know how to drive," Mike teased for the third or fourth time that night, "How old are you?"

"17, which would make you a pedophile." Cooper retorted.

"It would only make me a pedophile if we planned on hopping in the backseat."

Cooper laughed, in part because he thought it was funny, but in part because the thought made him very nervous.

"All the parking is gone from in front of the house," Mike said as he passed the house, "I'll turn around."

"You don't have to park, you can just drop me off. I'm a big boy, I can cross the street all by myself now."

"No no, I want to walk you to your door."

Mike found a spot about eight or nine car lengths from the house, "You ready?" He said to Cooper as he turned off the ignition.

"Are you really going to walk me to my door?"

"It's technically my door...or my family's door, no?"

"Whatever." Cooper said getting out of the car.

They both walked silently as they made their way to the front of the house. Cooper could feel that a kiss was coming and he welcomed it, should the opportunity present himself. He was also glad that he didn't live alone because the temptation to let one kiss lead into something else was quite strong in Cooper's mind. He knew he could probably quietly enter the house and bring Mike in undetected, but he was committed to turning over a new leaf when it came to sex.

"So I had a really good time." Mike said.

"So did I."

"You want to do this again?"

"Hell yeah."

"Good."

There was silence now between the two of them. Both were looking at the other to see if a good night's kiss would be appropriate. After a few moments Cooper pulled back, assuming Mike wasn't interested, "Well call me when you're free." Cooper said as he turned to go into the house.

"Cooper?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"Sure." Cooper said as he closed the distance between them. Their lips met and Cooper had to fight his instincts to slip his tongue into Mike's mouth. Before it could get to intense Cooper pulled away, "Thank you for tonight."

"Thank you, I'll call you."

"Night."

Cooper opened his door and closed it as quietly as he could so that he wouldn't wake his two roommates. He began to jump up and down, letting himself feel the excitement of being on a fantastic date.

"What are you doing?" Eric asked as he walked into the living room from the kitchen holding a bowl.

"Um...nothing. Why are you still up?"

"I don't know," Eric said bitterly, "I can't sleep."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind, but I took some of your ice cream. I can't help it, I love rocky road."

"No worries," Cooper said joining Eric on the couch, "What you watching?"

"Just flipping around really. We pay so much money for cable and there's hardly anything on."

"I guess it just depends." Cooper said yawning.

"How was your date?"

"Fantastic! I dated a bit in high school and I know it's been a while, but seriously I can't imagine having a much better first date than that."

"What did you guys do?"

"Just a movie and then we went to go get ice cream, but like there was no awkwardness and it was such good conversation. Remember how when we first met him he seemed kind of stand offish? He's not like that at all, he's a really cool guy."

"Good, good. Did you guys kiss?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"We did. Just a little kiss, but..." Cooper didn't say anything more he just smiled.

Eric yawned himself, "Well, I'm glad it was fun. I'm starting to get tired, I think I might be able to sleep now. Have a good night."

"You too, see you in the morning."

Anybody who would have been peaking into Cooper's window at that moment would have seen a smile of contentedness spread across the young boy's face.

He was in that perfect in between state of being partially awake, but still asleep. He could tell it was morning without even opening his eyes; the warmth of the sun was shining on his face through his open window. He could hear the birds chirping somewhere in his subconscious, but he didn't mind; it made it seem all the more like a perfect morning. Somewhere he was also remembering the fantastic date he had been on the night before and that made his smile grow even more. Cooper hadn't even woken up yet and he could tell that this was shaping up to be a fantastic day...until....

"Tamales!"

"What the fuck?" Cooper half yelled as he sat upright in his bed.

"Tamales!!"

"Oh hell to the naw!" Cooper yelled as he started to climb out of bed. He glanced at his alarm clock as he raced by it towards his window and he saw 6:20 in bright red letters.

"I had a whole fuckin ten minutes more to sleep." He mumbled as he violently pushed open his window.

"If you don't shut the fu..."

He stopped when he saw a familiar face turn towards him, "Mrs. Landsbury?!"

"Good morning Cooper." She waved from the sidewalk. He waved back and realized that she was pushing what appeared to be an ice cream cart.

"I hope I didn't wake you." She said innocently.

"Uh...it was time for me to get up anyway. What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing. I made a batch of my famous tamales; I know how much the neighbors love them and it helps supplement my income. Would you like one? They're only three dollars.

Cooper tried not to gag as he talked, "No thank you."

"Well I should get going before everyone leaves for work."

"Alright then, have a good day," Cooper said as he started to close his window. He paused when it was half way closed and then reopened it, "Mrs. Lansbury?"

"Uh huh?" She said turning around.

"You don't sell tamales every morning do you?"

"Oh no. Only every once in a while. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." Cooper smiled as he closed his window. He glanced back at his alarm clock and saw 6:23 staring back at him. It only took him a second to climb back into bed and fall asleep. As the warm sun beat on his face and the birds continued to sing, a smile began to form on Cooper's face when somewhere in his subconscious he heard a loud bang and then a woman scream something that sounded like "My Tamales!" He woke up a few minutes later refreshed and smiled as he knew today was going to be a fantastic day.

"Got your keys?" Eric asked Toby as he closed the door.

"Yep, in my tennis bag."

Eric turned the key to the right to lock the door and both boys headed down the driveway. Toby chuckled, "How long has Cooper been in the car?"

"Like fifteen minutes," Eric smiled, "You know how he gets."

"At least he's excited, I'm nervous." Toby admitted.

"Really?" Eric said as he climbed into the passenger's seat.

"It's about time." Cooper pouted from the backseat.

Eric turned and gave him a nasty look before turning back to Toby, "Why nervous?"

"I've been out of school for months, I haven't played tennis in months either. I guess I'm just hoping it's a smooth transition back into it all."

"It will be."

Toby nodded and reached over Eric into his glove compartment to pull out a stack of CD's as he started his car. As soon as Cooper heard the opening notes of the song, he rolled his eyes, "Not this again."

"Shhh." Toby hissed.

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray I've been for a walk on a winter's day I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin' on such a winter's day

Stopped in to a church I passed along the way Well I got down on my knees and I pretend to pray You know the preacher liked the cold He knows I'm gonna stay California dreamin' on such a winter's day

"We listened to the fogies and their mamas all damn summer." Cooper said.

"Shut up," Toby grinned, "I like the part with the flute."

California dreamin' on such a winter's... California dreamin' on such a winter's... California dreamin' on such a winter's day...

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray I've been for a walk on a winter's day If I didn't tell her I could leave today California dreamin' on such a winter's day

California dreamin' on such a winter's... California dreamin' on such a winter's... California dreamin' on such a winter's day...

On such a winter's day...

California dreamin' on such a winter's... California dreamin' on such a winter's... California dreamin' on such a winter's day...

California dreamin' on such a winter's day...

"You're lucky I'm not going to put it on repeat." Toby said glaring at Cooper in his rearview mirror.

"Is this part of your whole being a better person thing?"

"You could be supportive." Eric said to Cooper.

"I'm just asking!"

"It is," Toby started, "Certain songs put me in a good frame of mind. For some reason that song always does."

"I see."

"You don't have a song that puts you in a good mood?" Toby asked.

"Yeah, Me So Horny by Two Live Crew."

"You're an idiot." Eric said shaking his head. Cooper leaned forward and laid his hand on top of Eric's shoulder, "Me love you long time." It took him a few seconds to register what the strange expression on Eric's face meant, but he quickly withdrew his hand from Eric's shoulder and cleared his voice, "Just kidding." He said in a voice much higher than his usual.

Toby glanced at both of them quickly, but didn't say anything as he pulled into one of the parking lots on campus. Eric got out of the car quickly and Cooper lingered a bit cursing himself for what he had just said.

"Does it feel good to be back boys?" Toby asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"It does." Eric said quickly.

"Feels like we never left." Cooper said, "Where we all headed?"

"Tennis courts of course." Toby said.

"I'm headed all the way to the back of campus that's where my English class is." Eric said.

"You're still taking English as a junior?" Cooper scoffed.

"Yeah. I didn't know we had to take two semesters of it. Aren't you headed that way?" He said to Cooper.

"Yes sir."

"You guys behave yourselves," Toby smiled as they separated, "and I'll meet you guys back out here at three."

"Sounds good." Cooper said.

Toby hadn't said anything, but he had been just as excited as Cooper was to start school. When he saw the tennis courts come into view and saw some of his teammates already beginning to warm up, a deep sense of emotion rose up in him and he pursed his lips close together to keep any tears from falling.

"Toby!" Coach Williams said as soon as he spotted him, "How's it feel to be back?"

"Unbelievable," he smiled, "I can't even explain it."

"It's been a while since I've seen you, but you still look like you're in good shape. You still been playing and working out?"

"Working out for sure, but I haven't been playing." "When's the last time you played?"

"My last match."

"Way back in March??!!"

"Yeah."

"Toby, tennis is all about rhythm and being match tough. You haven't even hit a ball since then?"

"I did once or twice over the summer, but not more than like fifteen minutes each time. Don't worry coach, I feel like it's all clear in my head; like what I need to do and work on to play better."

"It's not good that you haven't played in 6 months Toby. You'll have a lot to do before our first matches in six weeks."

"Don't worry coach. You have no idea how eager I am. I'm going to be like a phoenix rising from the ashes," he said stretching his arms out wide, "just watch."

"We'll see...Brian, can you come here please!"

Toby watched as Brian jogged over to where they were standing, "I'm sure you remember Brian."

"I do," Toby said, extending his hand, "How's it going?"

"Good. I'm ready to get into the swing of things and get going. How are you?"

"It's nice."

"I want you two to practice together."

"Coach, don't you think it would be better to play with someone who hit's the ball a little harder just so I can get my rhythm? No offense." Toby said looking at Brian.

"None taken."

"No, we need our best two players playing against each other."

Toby snorted at the last comment, but he could tell the Coach didn't think he'd said anything remotely funny.

"Don't worry," Brian smiled, trying to break the tension, "I'll go easy on you."

Toby smiled, "You want to walk to the other side?"

"Sure."

As Toby waited for Brian to get to the other side of the net, he bounced the ball off his racquet and promised himself that he would try his best to kick Brian's ass during this practice session.

Richard hung a bright and newly purchased rainbow flag right next to the American flag and stepped back to admire what he had done.

"A bit of a contradiction don't you think?" Joey said standing next to him.

"Yeah no kidding, but maybe one day."

"You'd be amazed at people's stupidity." Joey said seriously.

Richard exhaled, "Positive thoughts. Dr. Taylor says she's confident within ten years or so that the Supreme Court will rule that gay marriage has to be allowed for all citizens."

"Based on what?"

"Equal protection under the law. Plus they struck down the ban on sodomy a few years ago."

"Unbelievable," Joey said, "What would the world be without sodomy?"

"A place I wouldn't want to live." Richard smiled.

"When you and Toby were together, who bottomed?" Joey said.

Richard looked away from the flag to look at Joey, "How is that any of your business?"

"It isn't, but it would help with a fantasy or two."

"I'm not answering that question." Richard said.

Joey huffed, "Fine. Where is Dr. Taylor anyway?"

"She's headed to Tim's court appearance." Richard said through gritted teeth.

"Still not part of the Tim fan club?"

"Of course not. He fooled around with Toby when we were together."

"It takes two to tango." Joey reminded him.

"Shut up. What do you know?"

Joey left Richard standing in front of the two flags and went to sit behind the office desk that had been set up in the Pride Center.

"Anything I should know before you leave to go to class?" Joey asked.

"No, we went over everything yesterday. I'll be back at one to relieve you and Dr. Taylor said she would stop by when she gets on campus."

"Alright, then I'll see you later."

"Yep...and Joey remember no sleeping with the customers."

"I did agree to serve the customers to the best of my abilities." Joey smirked.

Richard laughed, "You better behave."

About an hour later, Joey found himself absolutely bored. Only one person had dropped in since the Pride Center had opened and that had been by mistake. He had been tempted to search the web for porn, but he figured that getting fired on his first day was probably not the best idea. He began to daydream about some of the new meat he had seen walking around the dorms. As much as he would have liked to move off campus, he wasn't ready to give up the unknowing peep shows a lot of the guys provided for him. He was thinking about one guy in particular that he had seen in the shower this morning. He apologized profusely for pulling the curtain back on the showering boy "accidentally." He knew that would be good jack off material for at least a few weeks. He was daydreaming about the kid so much that he didn't notice that someone had walked in and was staring at him intently.

"Hello?" The guy said waving his hand in front of Joey's face.

Joey had come back to his senses only to be staring at a real life dream. He looked up to see what he would only describe as an Italian god standing before him. The guy was wearing a baby blue collared shirt that was tight enough to show the definition in his body, but not unnecessarily tight where it screamed for attention. Joey's eyes glanced over well defined arms that were absolutely perfect; They were big enough to be considered well built, but still in size with the beautiful body. The only thing that bothered Joey was the guy was wearing fairly loose fitting jeans so Joey had no way of guessing how big his dick was.

"Can I help you?"

"Maybe. I'm Chase, I'm the President of the CFC here on campus."

"CFC? I haven't heard of that fraternity."

"I'm not in a Fraternity."

"Really? You look like you could be."

Chase didn't know what to say to that so he decided not to comment, "CFC stands for Crusaders For Christ."

"Oh," Joey said his attitude changing, "What do you want?"

"I'm not hear to cause trouble. I actually wanted to pitch an idea to you guys."

"Ok." Joey said, still not sure of Chase's intentions.

"Last year in the quad we saw how crazy it got during club week between the QSA and some of the other Christian groups. My group doesn't stand for those types of things. We believe we're all children of God and therefore should be treated accordingly...despite our differences."

"Interesting. So what's your idea?"

"To hopefully improve some relations between the gays and the Christians, I thought it would be cool if we sponsored like a sports game between our two clubs; like a friendly basketball game or something."

"Saying "the gays" makes it sound like we have a disease or something; it's better to refer to us as the queer community." Joey said remembering his lecture from Dr. Taylor when he used the term "faggot" in her presence.

"Got ya."

"We have a pamphlet on it if you want to take one."

"I'm good," Chase smiled, "but yeah I think it would be cool to show that we can all get along and that not all Christians are close minded."

"I have to talk to my boss about it, but I don't see why she would be against it."

"Good, well then I'll talk to you soon..."

"Joey." He smiled.

"Joey."

"Can I have your number?" Joey asked as Chase turned to leave the Pride Center.

Chase got a very serious expression on his face, "I'm not gay."

"I meant so that Dr. Taylor could contact you once I speak with her."

"Oh, sorry. You got a piece of paper or something?" Chase asked embarrassed at what he had just assumed.

"Yeah." Joey said handing him a pencil and paper.

"Thanks." Chase said when he finished.

"You're welcome."

Joey smiled as he watched Chase walk out of the room. He couldn't tell how big Chase's dick might be, but one thing was for sure, he had an ass to die for.

"All right guys time to bring it in for today!" Coach Williams yelled, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Most of the guys quickly gathered their belongings and headed to the locker room where they would quickly shower and head off to their next class. Toby always liked to take his time after practice, so he never scheduled a class immediately following it. He usually would either take another ten to fifteen minutes to practice serving or he would do what he was doing now; taking a few minutes to stretch before he too headed to the locker room.

"Good practice today." Brian said standing alongside Toby. Toby was bent at the waste and couldn't help but quickly glancing at Brian's crotch to see if there was anything worth looking at. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he saw a bit of a bulge hanging to the left of Brian's shorts.

"Yeah, you too."

"You were hitting the ball really hard. It would have been cool to watch if I hadn't been on the other end of it." Brian said.

"You were running around the court pretty fast, man. I've never seen anyone slide on these courts like that."

"Thanks man....can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Toby said as he stood up to his full height again.

"Eric and Cooper...is everything alright between them?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure everything was ok between them and that I didn't cause any trouble. Tim said everything was fine, but I figured you would know better." Brian said.

"I'm not following. Did something happen between the three of you guys?"

Brian shook his head, "No, I was just making sure. Thanks Toby and I'll see you tomorrow."

Toby watched as Brian grabbed his bag and headed in the same direction his teammates had just a few minutes earlier.

"What do you think of him?" Coach Williams asked as he came up from behind Toby.

"He's alright I guess."

"Toby, I want to be straight with you. Brian's good, but you have supported this team for the past two years so there is no need to feel threatened or..."

"I don't feel threatened." Toby said quickly.

"Good, I was just making sure."

"Did you watch us play at all today? I hit so many shots he didn't even get to. He even said just now that he was amazed at how hard I was hitting the ball."

"I watched here and there. It looked to me that for every winner you hit, you hit another one several feet out." Coach Williams said seriously. "I'm rusty that's all."

"Well rusty or not, it's hard to win matches that way, especially against someone who plays the way he does."

"No worries coach. Like I said, it's all up here." Toby said pointing to his head.

There was tons of activity going on in the courtroom, but Tim was processing none of it. He stared ahead looking at the seat the judge would be occupying in just a moment and he wondered how his life might change in the next few minutes. Vanessa, Dr. Taylor's partner, had spoken with Tim and both his parents just a couple of minutes earlier and felt that it was unlikely Tim was going to spend any time in jail since he had been a model student and hadn`t had a record prior to now. She'd also mentioned the fact that Tim's parents being prominent members of the community did not hurt his case at all. Dr. Taylor had run in a few minutes ago and told him that she had sent a letter to the judge a few days ago, speaking to what a great person she felt Tim was and how isolated she felt this one very bad incident to be. His heart warmed when she finished telling him. He had never really been very close to her before all this had happened several months ago, but now he felt that no matter which way the judge's decision went, he was indebted to her for life. Tim felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket and he quickly retrieved it to find that he had been sent a text message. It was from Toby and it read:

"I'm there with you in spirit."

Tim smiled and put his cell phone on silent just as people in the courtroom began to shuffle as the judge walked briskly to his chair.

"Please be seated." Judge Schnyder said.

Tim looked back and received an encouraging smile from Dr. Taylor.

"Mr. Henderson will you please stand?"

Tim was surprised at how quickly his brain seemed to process that request as he scooted his chair back from the table and stood. He suddenly had the impulse to run, but knew better than to do anything as stupid as that.

"Mr. Henderson, several weeks ago you pleaded guilty to a breaking and entering charge. I see here that you were originally charged with a tampering of evidence charge but that was dropped due to insufficient evidence....correct?" Judge Schnyder asked when Tim did not respond.

"Oh...yes. That's correct sir...or your honor."

"Is there anything you'd like to say on your behalf before I give my final ruling?"

"Just that I'm sorry and..." Tim stopped talking. He didn't want to cry, not in front of all these people, and especially not in front of this judge. To him the judge seemed like the type of person that crying would have no affect on; it seemed like it would serve no purpose but to annoy him.

"and I hope I can be forgiven for betraying the trust of my family and friends."

Tim had been mostly thinking about his mother during his statement and if he had been able to turn around, he would have seen the unmistakable look of a mother who was truly worried for her son.

"I'll be honest," Judge Schnyder started, " I've only been reviewing this case since this morning and I know nothing about you, Mr. Henderson personally, but apparently there are those who do who have spoken very highly of you."

"More than one?" Tim blurted out.

"Yes. A Dr. Taylor and a Dr. Brown."

It took everything in his power for Tim not to turn around to look to see if the President was sitting in the courtroom, but that didn't stop his jaw from hitting the floor. His head was spinning as he tried to figure out why in the world Dr. Brown would help him after everything he had done.

"Had you still been charged with tampering of evidence I highly doubt I'd hand down the sentence I'm about to, however, your record is clean except for this incidence, you've never even received a parking ticket which is more than what I can say for myself."

Some in the courtroom chuckled lightly at Judge Schnyder's self deprecating remarks and Tim seriously doubted he'd be given a life imprisonment sentence with the judge cracking jokes.

"You've been an excellent student and the fact that you have the President of the university speaking on your behalf only helps your cause. I'm a big proponent of having punishments fit the crime and since you did a disservice to the University, it should only be fitting that you pay your restitution to them. My ruling is that you are required, unless deathly ill or some other serious extenuating circumstances prevent you from doing so, to attend every on campus sporting event until the end of the spring semester. You will assist the event staff, contact to be determined, however they need you, whether that be cleaning toilets or dancing around doing back flips dressed as the mascot."

Tim heard several sighs of relief behind him and that's when it hit him that it was over; he wasn't going to jail, he would still be with his family and friends, he was home free.

"On a final note," Dr. Schnyder said, "I have to wonder why someone with such a perfect record would do what you have done Mr. Henderson. The tampering with evidence charge not withstanding, these were very serious charges against you. You need to look inside yourself and find out what brought you to put your future at risk like this. And know that if there is a next time, no amount of letters will stop me from bringing the full extent of the law on you." The judge hammered his gavel and speedily retreated from the room. Tim, stood in disbelief not sure of what to do. He was violently turned around by his mother who wrapped her arms around him,

"Thankfully, this nightmare is over."

Tim was not only thrilled that his mother was speaking to him, but it also surprised him that it appeared his mother had been crying; he had never known her to show this much emotion.

"I'm glad it's over too." His father said as he embraced his son.

"Oh, goodness," Tina Henderson said as she wiped her eyes, "Let's go home."

"Next!"

Brian walked up to the glass window with a smile on his face, "Hi, I..."

"Where's your one card?" The woman from behind the counter said. It was the same woman both Richard and Eric had encountered in their visits to the health center.

"My what?"

"Your one card."

"I don't know what that is." Brian said apologetically.

"Your school I.D. card."

"Oh, I didn't know I needed one to come here."

"You need one to do everything. Next!"

"Wait," Brian said without moving, "Where can I get one of these cards."

The woman huffed loudly as she shuffled through a stack of papers sitting on the counter beside her. She pulled a yellow piece of paper from the stack and made a large circle on the paper before sliding it roughly through the opening.

"Go there. Next!"

"Thanks...I guess." Brian said.

Thirty minutes later he found himself back in line at the health center. The woman who had been so rude before was still the only person manning the reception area. He sighed deeply hoping that she would be more helpful and a little kinder this time.

"I'm back and this time..."

"Where's your one card?" She deadpanned.

"Right here." Brian said smiling as widely as he could.

The woman stared at him for a few moments before tapping her finger under the partition, signaling to him that he needed to place the card in the tray below.

"My mom says you should kill people with kindness." Brian said, almost to himself.

The woman, who had been typing something on the computer, stopped momentarily and gave Brian a sideways glance before continuing to type, "What are you here for today?"

"I just wanted to turn in my immunization records, I'm an international student. I didn't even know that..."

"We don't take those kinds of records here that's Admissions and Records."

"Uh, but you're the health center."

"I'm aware of where we are." She looked to see if anyone else was in line. Brian took some satisfaction that there wasn't so the woman simply returned her attention back to her computer.

"Where is Admissions and Records?" Brian asked.

"You have a map."

"I threw it away because I didn't think I'd need it again."

Brian fully expected for the woman's head to spin considering the look she gave him, but she once again quickly shuffled through some papers and pushed the paper through the partition, "There."

Brian stared at her for a few more minutes, debating whether or not he should say something else before turning away and heading towards Admissions and Records.

********** Eric looked at the white tags trying to locate his professor's names' as he walked down one of the many narrow aisles of the bookstore. He said excuse me as he passed a guy who was bent over in the middle of the aisle who was shuffling through a bunch of books trying to find one with a "used" tag on it. Eric quickly looked at the guy's ass as he passed and thought it looked nice in the jeans the guy was wearing. Eric found the book he was looking for and was relieved to see that it was only $25.00.

"Too bad they are not all that cheap." A familiar British voice said in Eric's ear.

"Hey." Eric smiled.

"Hey yourself."

"Buying books?"

"Yep spending all my parents hard earned cash...so when are we going to hang out?"

"I don't know. Last time you ditched me."

"I didn't ditch you," Jon smiled, "Something else came up."

"Something else or someone else?" Eric laughed.

"Well if you must know it was someone else."

"Really?" Eric said as upbeat as possible. He had been joking when he made his last comment, but Jon seemed quite serious.

"It's nothing serious or anything. It's been about a month and a half."

"So over the summer?"

"Yeah."

"I see."

Cooper appeared in the aisle, but stopped when he saw that Eric and Jon were talking. Eric saw him, made quick eye contact and then returned his attention to Jon, "Hey I got to run, but I'll see you around?"

"For sure," Jon said a little surprised by the sudden end to their conversation, "I'll see you later."

As Eric approached, Cooper took a long hard look at Jon, who had gone back to searching for books in an aisle near by, "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eric said unconvincingly, "Can we go?"

"Yeah. I'm not done finding all my books, but I don't read them anyway so we can go. You sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ok. But if you need to talk about anything..."

"Thanks. I'm just being dumb is all."

"Do you want a candy bar?"

"Huh?"

"A candy bar. Do you want one?"

"Ummm...I'm ok."

"Are you sure? My treat...and plus this line is fucking long. We're gonna be here a while."

"Ok sure." Eric smiled.

"What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

Cooper ducked under one of the line formers and Eric watched him as he made his way to the aisle where the candy was held. Cooper momentarily stopped in front of a row of C.D.'s and quickly thumbed through them. Eric wasn't sure why but for some reason it made him laugh. The person behind him motioned for him to move forward so he turned around and kept his attention on the various cashiers several feet in front of him. Cooper came back a few seconds later and handed Eric a snickers.

"I could definitely use one of these right now."

"Me too." Cooper said ripping off the wrapper.

"Won't we get in trouble?"

"I'm going to pay for them...I highly doubt this will cause a stir."

Eric shrugged and then too ripped off the wrapper from his candy bar.

"Cheers!" Cooper said.

"Ok," Brian said thoroughly frustrated, "I went to Admissions and Records and they said that they do not nor have they ever taken immunization records and that I must have been mistaken."

"That would be correct." The woman said.

"Ok, so then why did you tell me to go there then?"

"I must have misunderstood you," the woman said with the slightest hint of a smile that lead Brian to believe that she hadn't misunderstood him at all, "I can take those now."

Brian slipped the papers under the partition and watched as the woman typed on her computer for a few moments. She looked up and seemed surprised to still see Brian standing there, "Yes?"

"Oh, are you done?"

"I am. Is there anything else I can do." The woman said more sarcastically than as a question.

"Actually yes." Brian said.

"Another map?"

"No, how about an attitude adjustment? You've been very rude to me today and I don't appreciate at all. You're here to serve the students and if they annoy you by asking you to perform the basic functions of your job, then maybe you should think about a new career!"

Brian turned on his heels and hurriedly rushed out of the health center. He sat on one of the dusty brown benches located outside of the building and put his head in his hands. Thankfully, he was done for the day and now could head back to the dorms and relax, but he needed to take a few moments and get himself together. Confrontation of any kind always made him very upset, but there were some things he would simply not stand for and someone being rude to him for no reason was at the top of the list.

"Brian?"

A smile quickly replaced the frustration that had been etched on his face, "Richard, hey."

"Hey man, welcome back," Richard said holding out his hand for a handshake, "Are you ok?"

"I am. I've just had a very frustrating day. That stupid woman in there," Brian said motioning back to the building, "plus it took me forever to find some of my classes."

"The first day can be rough," Richard said taking a seat next to Brian on the bench, "but at least it's over, right?"

"Yeah," Brian smiled, "how was your day?"

"Great. I kinda like school and lots of people came to visit the Pride Center today so that's cool."

"What's that?"

"Basically a place for the L.G.B.T.I.Q.Q.A. people on campus."

Brian didn't know what to say so he just laughed nervously.

"Or in human terms a place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered, inter-sexed, queer, questioning, and ally students can go without fear of persecution. You should come by and visit us one of these days."

"I definitely will."

"I have to go, just stopping by to see Dr. Taylor and then going to a friend's house."

"Bliss?"

"No, actually a friend of hers... or ours, Melinda."

"Oh cool."

"Yeah, we definitely should hang out sometime. Do you have my cell?"

"I don't."

Richard started to recite his number and Brian asked him to slow down because he had to put his name in first.

"Sorry."

"Alright, got it." Brian said a few moments later.

"Seriously man, we should hang out sometime. Don't be afraid to use that number."

"I won't be."

"See you later."

Brian watched as Richard entered the building and he hoped that Richard was being sincere about what he had said about hanging out. Brian looked at the number in his phone one last time to make sure it was really in there before making his way back to the dorms.

"Hi!" Tim shrieked when he opened the door and saw Toby standing there.

"Hi," Toby was just as happy to see Tim, "Is it still safe to come in?"

"Yeah, it's why I called you. My mom decided to go to work for a few hours just to make sure she didn't fall behind. How long has it been?"

"I don't know. Like almost six months I think since we've last seen each other."

"That is way too long. So what's new?" Tim said as he headed to his bedroom.

Toby followed, "Not much, just glad to be back in school and tennis, and be with my friends," Toby chuckled, "You still have the Christmas tree up."

"Of course. It never comes down."

"What's with the white ribbons though?"

"You know how you're not supposed to wear white after labor day?"

"Um...sure."

"Well this is my little protest against that."

"Freak."

"What can I say?"

"How are you feeling...now that everything is over."

"Uber relieved. My mom actually hugged me and smiled in my direction today.

She's hardly spoken to me since all this started."

"That's good, maybe things will change now."

"Hopefully...you know the judge said something weird."

"What did he say?"

"After he said that I needed to pay my debt to the school by doing my community service there, he said that I should look inside myself to try and understand why or how I got in this position."

"You don't think that's true?"

"I do. It's just...I worked hard to get into college and you know the only way to have a future is through an education; That's what we've been told since we've been in kindergarten and now I don't have that."

"I thought you said you had the option of applying to return to school in the Spring."

"I do, but I'm not getting in. I can tell you that."

"You don't know that."

"I do. I can't explain it, but I know I won't."

"Tim..."

"No really. Like now what do I do? Do I go get a job, do I move and see if another school will take me, do I just sit here and be a bum. I didn't even get what I wanted out of all of this."

"And what was that?" Toby said without thinking, "Oh."

"It seems really really stupid now, but then it made perfect sense."

"That happens a lot in life apparently. Things change and most of the time we're not ready for them."

"But that's different. That's just life...I have no one to blame for any of this but myself. For so long, my future was...I don't know at least going in the right direction, now it's like I'm starting over again."

Toby didn't know what to say, so he reached over and pulled Tim into a hug. A few moments later he heard Tim sniffle a bit and he knew that he was crying.

"Thanks for coming over Toby."

"No problem, I'm here for you."

"Brian Brian Brian," Joey said as he came out of his room, "I didn't know you lived here."

"Yep." Brian said as he fished through his backpack for his key. He'd only encountered Joey once, last year when he was visiting, and Joey had made him a bit uncomfortable.

"Are you staying permanently?"

"At least for this year. We'll see after that."

"Cool...what are you up to now?"

"I was going to call Toby, Eric, and Cooper to see if they wanted to go grab some dinner or something. I haven't seen them since I've been back."

"You know they live off campus right?"

"Yeah, Tim told me. I still thought I'd call though."

"Just a word of advice, that's a hard group to break into. Believe me I've tried.

"I thought you and Cooper were pretty good friends." Brian said turning towards Joey.

"Exactly, me and Cooper are good friends."

"I see." Brian said.

"I think instead of calling them, you should go to the cafeteria with me and have dinner. I was heading that way any and I don't have anyone to go with."

Brian thought about it for a minute, "Sure why not. I didn't have anyone to go with either, that's why I was going to call the others."

"Now you don't have to. Just let me grab my keys ok?"

"Sure."

As Joey grabbed his keys off the bed, he couldn't help but smile. It sounded corny in his head and he wasn't sure if Brian would get the reference anyway so he didn't say anything as they headed down the hallway together, but he had the strong feeling that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Thanks for checking out the latest chapter of Three Roads. Hope you guys are enjoying the progression (hopefully it's not too slow this time around), but it's definitely leading to some big things happening in then ext few chapters. All comments, questions, and constructive criticisms are more than welcome. Just send an e mail to tenniswiz12@msn.com, andI'll get back to you.