RA Adventures (C) KV 2000
If you're offended by sexual activities between men, I must ask you to leave...after I ask you what the hell you're doing here. In any event, in the cosmically unlikely chance you ended up here by mistake, go ahead and leave. If you're over 18 and meant to be here, please, kick back, relax and enjoy! I can't say thank you enough to everyone who has taken the time to write. I appreciate all the encouragement and suggestions...keep it coming, guys!
Chapter 5
I shut the door behind me, dropped my bag, stripped and climbed into bed. I stared at the ceiling for a bit just trying to get my brain to process all the information. I was numb. I decided to sleep on it and see how I felt about it after a good night's sleep.
Not too long afterwards I was awakened by a knocking at my door, not loud and obnoxious, but soft and insistent. I forced myself out of bed and clumsily made my way over to the door. I opened it to find Clint standing in front of me.
"Hey," he said, "sorry to wake you. Mark (his roommate) left and I locked myself out again." I didn't say anything, just turned around, found my pants and pulled out my set of keys. I walked back to the door and walked with him down the hall to his door.
"Are you ok? You look like hell."
"Um, I guess I got a little too much sun," I muttered.
"Yeah, I noticed that. You look a little too pink for comfort." I looked down and noticed that I had evidently gotten carried away with my sunbathing earlier.
My skin ranged from slightly pink to almost red except for a strip above my white briefs, only accenting the difference.
"Ugh...I didn't notice it had gotten so bad." The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I walked down the hall with him and opened his door.
"Hey, come in for a minute. I have some aloe you're more than welcome to." I graciously accepted and followed him into his room. He went over to his chest of drawers and rummaged around for a second and finally emerged victorious with an oversize bottle of aloe with some other ingredient to dull the pain. I made a mental note to take a Tylenol or four when I got back to the room as well.
"Here, lemme put some on your back." I walked over and faced away from him as he began slathering on a coating of the cool gel.
"Thanks a lot, Clint, I appreciate it."
"Sure thing. Hey, are you sure that's the only thing that's bothering you?"
"Nothing to worry about, it's just been an interesting day." I brushed his question off. I really didn't feel like I needed to get into explaining my situation. "So, what'd you do this weekend?" I asked, trying to divert attention.
"Well, went out clubbing last night. Hey, tell me about your friend Christine."
"Chris? Where'd you meet her?" Chris was one of my nearest and dearest friends. She was the kind of person I could tell anything, but I still hadn't said anything about my 'orientation'.
"She was at the club yesterday with a group of girls. She's really cool, dude."
"Yeah, I know. Well, what do you want to know?"
"Oh, I dunno...I guess I just wanted to know if there's anything special I should know before taking her out." I was shocked but tried to not let it show. I must have not done a terribly good job of covering up my emotions.
"Is that ok, I mean, I know you guys are really close and all. She and I had agreed to go out tomorrow nigh for dinner...but I can change if I..."
"No, no...please, Clint, you don't need my permission to go out with Christine. She's a great girl and will make a great date, I have no doubt. I'm sorry, look, I'm gonna head to bed. It's been a really long and really confusing day."
"Here, take this," he said handing me the bottle of gel. "I think you'll have more use for it. Try to get some sleep, I'm sure things will look up tomorrow." I thanked him for the gel and padded down to my room. I downed several painkillers and then climbed back into bed. I think I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. I was exhausted.
I woke up the next morning around noon and decided to just relax that day and try to avoid any more emotional roller coasters. I'd had more than enough to last me for the weekend, and if I could get some studying done for my fast-approaching finals I could feel a little bit better about myself. I also had a job interview in the middle of the week that I needed to prepare for. I wasn't terribly nervous, but the prospect of graduating without a job lined up was disconcerting, to say the least.
I grabbed my shower gear and lumbered down to the bathroom. I went for my stall and was actually relieved that I was the only person in there. I figured everyone else was probably passed out or eating. I really couldn't have cared less where they were, as long as they weren't right there, right then. I set the shower to what I presumed to be a comfortable temperature. I jumped in and cringed...my sunburned skin was going to need considerably cooler water. I adjusted the temperature and tried to enjoy the water. No use...I cleaned up and got out. I hated sunburns. I walked back to the room and downed a few more Tylenol and applied some more of Clint's gel to my damaged skin. It felt cool and relieving.
I settled down at my desk with books in front of me, trying to get some serious cramming done. The more I could study now, the less I would have to worry about it this coming week. That was a goal to work for. Besides, at that point, any distraction was a good distraction. I glanced up at my clock a couple of hours later, and hopefully somewhat smarter, and decided I was long overdue a bite to eat.
I closed the books and threw on a loose t-shirt and some shorts...something that wouldn't rub too much, and walked over to the cafeteria. I walked through the line and got my food to go. I said the few obligatory hellos that I needed to and made my way back down the hallway. I paused to look at the campus bulletin board to see if there were any announcements of any significance. I was surprised to see that that the State Symphony as well as a guest opera cast were giving a special performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at our local performing arts centre. It was very unusual...the season should have been over for this sort of event. I wrote down the number to get tickets and made a mental note to call before everything sold. It would no doubt be a packed performance since it was undoubtedly the last event of the musical season.
I walked up to the room locked myself in, turned off the lights and lit a few candles -- normally a big no-no, but since I was the RA, who was going to question me? I popped in the new Lara Fabian CD I had just gotten and tried to relax and sort through what I was feeling. I thought a lot about what was going on...my romantic interests had gone from nothing more than a passing glance to two guys that I felt a little too much for, all in the span of a weekend. I knew Matt was right about our relationship. It was the only way that we could continue the friendship as we had it, and we both knew that a romantic relationship wasn't what either one of us needed.
As far as Clint was concerned, I didn't know what to think. No real moves had been made, and as far as I could see, he might easily be another straight jock that was just a little more open. Hell, maybe he was so secure in his sexuality that he could flirt around with everybody and not mean anything by any of it. I really didn't know, and my logic skills weren't taking me very far. I sighed and decided to call Christine and see what her side of the story was.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hey gorgeous," I greeted her in typical fashion.
"Hey babe. How are you?"
"Tired and sunburned. Aside from that and trying to keep my head screwed on for finals, everything is pretty much the same."
"Sunburned? Don't tell me you went back to the tanning bed." I remembered the last time I had gone to the tanning bed and how burned I had gotten.
"No! No, no...Matt, some sorority girls and I all went to the coast for the weekend."
"Oh...okay. Sorority girls, huh? So? Any luck?"
"Well, one of them was ok, but I woulda had to put a bag over her head so I decided it wasn't worth it." We both knew the type of girl and laughed about them for a little while longer.
"Better luck next time, stud."
"Thanks. Oh, I almost forgot," I lied, "what's this I hear about you and Clint Tucker?"
"Clint? Damn, does word get around *that fast?" I chuckled at her question.
"No, he's on my hall and asked me about this fantastic blonde he had met at a club. I can only assume he meant you."
"Um, I'm not quite sure how to take that." Her turn to laugh... "Yeah, we met the other night. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He wants to go out this week to catch a movie or something. Why do you ask? Is there something I should be aware of?" her tone suddenly sounded a little more worried.
"Oh no. He's cool, at least as far as I can tell. He's been your all-around ideal resident and seems like a nice guy. I'm only just getting to know him."
"Just now?" she chided playfully. "We have to do that at the *beginning of the year." Chris was an RA as well in her dorm.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I was just curious." We wrapped up the rest of the conversation and agreed to meet for dinner later that week to catch up. She and I had almost dated a while back, but she was involved with another guy at the time, and we decided to keep our friendship platonic, in spite of ourselves. She was the first woman that had really made my head spin. I often wondered what might have been....
Anyway! I got back on the computer and made some finishing touches to my resume and printed up several copies and filed them in my attach‚ case for my interview. I shut everything off and blew out my candles. I turned back my bed and made myself comfortable. I really did feel a lot more balanced and in-control than I had the day before.
My first finals passed uneventfully. My grade point average was good going into it all, so took them confidently. In most cases I could have virtually failed and still had an A in the class. Political Science was my last final, and that was going to be on Friday. Thus far I hadn't talked to Matt or to Clint. I hadn't tried to avoid them; our social life was just cut short because of the extra study time required. My job interview had also come and gone. I felt it went well, and I was expecting a call from them any day. I would be working as an account manager in a manufacturing company. It wasn't exactly what my degree was in, but it would definitely pay the bills.
Thursday rolled around and I was sitting in my room reviewing some of the intricacies of political theory as well as a ton of other quasi-useful items that I would remember long enough for the test and then probably expulse from my overtaxed brain. I sort of expected Clint to come by and review with me, but he didn't. I had to fight feeling disappointed. I finished my studies, shut my books for the last time and headed to bed early enough to wake up feeling somewhat refreshed the next morning. I lay in my bed still half-expecting Clint to come and want some last minute advice or, at the very least, to get his aloe gel back. Neither of the above happened. I drifted off to sleep and woke up bright and early the next morning. I took my shower and still, no Clint.
I shrugged it off and went to get some breakfast.
After filling my stomach I headed up to class to do some last minute reviewing. Clint still had not gotten there, and at about five minutes before the final was scheduled to start. Oh well, he's old enough to be responsible. I still felt a tinge of guilt for not calling him to make sure he was awake. Our professor walked through the door, finals in hand and Clint followed her into the room looking slightly out of breath. He walked to the seat next to me.
"Hey! You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, I guess. I need to talk to you after this gets over. I'm sure you'll be done before I am so I'll just catch you in your room."
"Sure, whatever. I'll be there."
I didn't give myself time to ask what this could be about. I needed to concentrate on the final, and besides, I really didn't feel like getting all emotionally topsy-turvy again. The finals were passed out and I put my attention and energy into it. True to form, I finished before Clint and handed my paper in. I left feeling the exhilaration of having finished the last final of my undergraduate career. I hurried back to my room to face the never-ending task of checking people out before they leave. It's my responsibility to make sure no severe damage has been done to the room, and all that kind of great thing.
I set myself up at my desk with all my Rez paperwork in front of me and left the door open. My job was now to make sure that everything went as smoothly as possible for all the guys moving out for the summer. Hopefully it would be a painless procedure. I knew I had a couple of hours before everyone finished their finals and had gotten their things out of their rooms, so I propped my feet up on the edge of the desk and started reading a novel I had picked up at the local bookstore a week or so before.
I was interrupted by my friend Keith poking his head in the door. He was followed in short order by his twin brother, Ryan.
"Hey guys! What's going on? It's been forever." I got up to give them both a hug. The twins and I had grown up together and it wasn't very often that we were able to get together.
"Oh, not much. We were just getting ready to head home and decided to come say g'bye before we left," Keith answered me.
"Yeah," Ryan continued, "are you coming home for the summer?"
"Unfortunately no." Our hometown was a good way away, and too far for me to put down roots there again. I had the travel bug and I knew I didn't want to be tied down to any location for too long. "Actually, I went for a job interview this week.
If it went as well as I think it did I'll still be here when you guys get back."
"Awesome, dude. Well, look, we just wanted to drop in for a minute. I know you've got responsibilities, so we'll let you get to those."
"Thanks, Keith. I appreciate you stopping by. I wish you were gonna be here for a few more days so we could catch up a little."
"Well, actually, Ryan lied." Ryan shot Keith a killer look, which he calmly ignored. "We're not actually heading home just yet. We couldn't miss your *graduation, now could we? We'll be back in a couple of weeks anyway, so we'll work out a housewarming for you. Just call us. We'll be at our grandparents' house."
"Great. I'll give you a call later on and we'll see if we can't arrange a little something."
"Sounds good, Kev," Ryan called back as they headed out the door. "We'll see you then!" I really hadn't gotten to spend hardly any time with them this semester, so I was really looking forward to the chance to catch up. I thought a little about graduation and remembered that I needed to make sure everything I needed for the ceremony the next morning was clean and ironed. I got up from my desk and began putting together an outfit that wouldn't look too bad underneath the graduation robes.
"Hey!" a voice came from right behind me.
"Shit! Don't you know how to knock?!" I turned to see Clint standing behind me laughing at my startled reaction. "Oh hey, it's you. Sorry about that, you just scared the shit out of me."
"Heh heh, sorry about that, bro." He opened my fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and plopped down on the sofa.
"Please sir," I toned in my best British accent, "do make yourself at home."
"Thanks, James. Now go and fetch me something to eat." I rolled my eyes, sat back down at my desk. Suddenly we busted into laughter at our terrible accents.
"So, what's up? You said you needed to talk?" At this point I really didn't know what to expect. I had gotten things cleared up in my head, or at least regained some semblance of equilibrium -- or so I thought. Being in front of Clint was unnerving and likewise intoxicating. It was as if upon sensing him my whole body released a surge of hormones. That coupled with the way he would look into my eyes while we talked just increased the tension level to where it was virtually tangible.
"Yeah. I had kind of a proposition for you." My heart jumped in spite of me.
"Okay..."
"I don't know what you're planning on doing for a place to live after you move out of the dorm -- and I figured you already had something picked out. But, but, in the odd chance that you don't have it all figured out I was wondering how you would feel about rooming together." My head spun a minute as I was plugging all the information in.
"Well, actually, I don't have a place picked out yet. I've been looking for a while, but one-bedroom apartments are really killer as far as rent goes..."
"So..."
"So yeah, I think rooming together would be great." His face lit up as the words came out of my mouth.
"Great! Well, I guess we'll need to go apartment shopping pronto. I've looked at a couple of places so maybe we can just compare notes."
"Sounds good. Why don't you stop by tomorrow afternoon? Just wait until then to check out. I'll be in a much better position to think about it *after the ceremony tomorrow morning."
"Cool. Well, I'll catch you later then...roomie!" He turned around and walked out leaving me with a commanding view of his round ass. If there had been tension before I could only imagine what it would be now. I stood up and noticed I was hard as a rock. I was glad I had been sitting down for our conversation. I really needed to get a grip. Mmmm...getting a grip sounded really good right about now. I gave myself a little squeeze and looked forward to later on when I could have a little privacy. I sat back down as I heard voices coming down the hallway. I grabbed my paperwork and prepared for the onslaught.
Chapter five has come and gone. I'm sorry for those of you who were hoping for a little more action this chapter. I'm trying to set the stage for 'coming attractions'. As always, comments, ideas and questions are appreciated. Flames are not, so please be kind.
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