Dylan's Sophomore Year

DYLAN'S SOPHOMORE YEAR

Chapter 1

by Donny Mumford

I'm driving Chubby and me down Route 125 toward North Andover on a beautiful Sunday in early September. Chubby's counting the money he has in his pocket, saying, "You know, working two jobs all summer was a pain in the ass, but it paid off big time for me, Dylan. I find myself unusually flush with cash." I grin and mutter, "Yeah? Probably not for long once you start spreading it around on your college girlfriends." He says, "Ha, I'll need to get a girlfriend first. I was dumped during the summer, remember? Well, not actually dumped, but Sam sent me that email saying it was fun last year, but this year she's decided to try New Hampshire State college. She transferred,

and I guess it's just as well. It'll mean a fresh start for me, and as a sophomore they'll be more chicks for me to check out. You remember how snooty upper class girls were to us as freshman." I go, "Actually I don't, but I'll take your word for it. You also had a second girlfriend last year, right?" He says, "That fizzled out before the end of last semester, and since I never contacted her over the summer she's moved on. I saw her once when I made that trip down to the north shore mall a couple of weeks ago. She's going with this cool black dude now. Anyway, it was Samantha I was primarily interested in.

We ride in silence for awhile, then talk a little about the brunch we prepared at home this morning and how the moms weren't their usual upbeat smiley selves. That's because for the next nine months Chubby and me will be away from home living near the campus. We promised them we'll try to get home two weekends a month. The trouble with that is there's more partying possibilities this year now that we're sophomores, and freshman year was pretty damn good so this year's is probably really gonna rock. So, saying we'll be home two weekends a month might be an unrealistic expectation. On the other hand, Robby might need to be home more weekends this year because his father wants him attending staff meetings now that Robby's a supervisor. Robby said something about me sticking with him on those weekends, so we'll see how it goes. All he has to say is, 'Be there,' and I'll be there. Breaking into my thoughts, Chubby chuckles, "Ya know what I'm thinking?" I go, "What?" and he says, "I'm gonna haze the shit outta the first freshman I see." I mumble, "Good to see you've got your priorities in order." He goes, "Hey, these are suppose to be the best years of our lives, bro, don't blow this opportunity for fun by getting all serious on me." I roll my eyes and mutter, "I hear ya." We're following Robby, who's in his pickup. Before we left Framingham we flipped a coin to see who rides with who. If it's heads I ride with Robby. When the coin came up tails, Chubby said, "Damn, I guess you win, Robby, I'm stuck with Dylan." I was like, "Hey! I've got feelings ya know," and Chubby gave me a smile and rubbed my head affectionately. We're as close as brothers can be, and on a few rare occasions closer than that, so I knew he was kidding. Then Chubby and I flipped the same coin to see who'd drive the Jeep and that's why I'm driving. I haven't done much driving since my ill fated New York City trip and it feels good getting behind the wheel again. Every second I drive brings us closer and closer to Merrimack College and the official start of our sophomore year.

At the junction of Route 125 and Route 114 our trip's basically over. We wait for a green light, then I follow Robby straight across Route 114 into the entrance of the Royal Crest Estates, our apartment complex. These apartments are conveniently located approximately a third of a mile from the college. We could walk to Merrimack from here in five minutes or so, but we mostly drive because the college is on the other side of Route 114 and that's a busy six lane highway. It's hairy getting across it on foot during rush hour in the mornings and late afternoons. After parking at the rental office Robby goes in to sign the lease and get the keys while Chubby and me wait in the Jeep. Chubby says, "Hey, bro, check out that babe wearing the red halter top. Whoa, that little bikini top can't quite handle her boobs." I look over and see a girl walking with a cute guy. From here he looks cute anyway, so I say, "Hard to tell how cute he is from here. He's pretty tall though." Chubby chuckles, "I didn't notice him, Dylan, look at the rack on the chick." I go, "Uh huh." Robby did all the ground work securing the apartment for us this year so he'll deal with the hassle in the office. They'll be a lot of students checking in at the same time, although the majority of Merrimack students live in dormitories on campus. I think I read that something like sixty-four percent of the five thousand-plus students live in dormitories. The students come from twenty-some different states and twenty-two different countries. Apparently diversity is a big deal for colleges and universities. Chubby, Robby, and I wanted to be sure we're rooming together so getting an apartment was our only option and it's turned out to be a good one. I can't remember a single argument among the three of us all last year. We're pretty much perfect roommates for each other, but there are lots of roommate problems every year in the dorms. That's their problem though, not ours. It's fifteen minutes before Robby comes out of the office smiling his killer smile. He's victoriously waving the keys to our apartment. I wave and smile back at him, feeling love in my heart for him, then follow his pickup to our apartment.

The Royal Crest Estates is a huge apartment complex with a dozen or so large buildings, each containing twenty apartments. Obviously, the inclusion of 'Estates' in the name is a bit ridiculous, although maybe it's because the apartment buildings are Tudor style and pretty cool looking. Also the complex is situated among many large trees and the landscaping is very nicely done so it's kinda upscale and maybe these are some of the reasons they call it Royal Crown Estates. Our apartment is on the second floor and this year it's near the main entrance of the building we're in. We go through the front door, up the steps, and then our apartment is the second one on the left. Our arms are loaded with some of the stuff we brought from home. As Robby unlocks the door, he says, "It's convenient being so close to the steps, but they'll probably be a lot of foot traffic from people who have apartments further down the hall from ours, plus our balcony faces Route 114. Because of all the trees we can't see the highway, but when we're on the balcony we'll probably hear the traffic noise." This is a two-bedroom furnished apartment with two upgraded bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen, and a nice big living room, and balcony of course. We drop the stuff we're carrying on the sofa and take a tour of the apartment. The consensus is, this is a better apartment than we had last year. This year's rent is twenty-one hundred dollars a month. Pricey, but considering it's almost on Merrimack's campus it's worth it. And when you figure the rent breaks down to seven hundred dollars per month per person it doesn't seem so bad. Very pleased with our apartment, we go out on the balcony for a cigarette as Chubby and me pat Robby on the back for a job well done.

Today's Sunday so the traffic is light on Route 114 and we can barely hear it, plus we'll usually have music playing so the traffic noise is no big deal at all. Chubby says, "This place is awesome, Robby, the furniture looks new." Robby says, "Yeah, all the furniture was replaced in this unit about a year ago. We're lucky it became available." We all light a cigarette, then Robby milks the compliments a little, "The new furniture was a big selling point for me." Chubby and me grin at each other, knowing Robby wants another compliment about the good job he did getting this place, so we mutter, "Awesome job, Robby." I adjust my junk glancing at Robby... he makes me feel

sexily squirmy when I'm with him doing anything. We're engaged to be married and ever since the proposal Robby's been doing an awesome job of taking charge of us. He has such a cool way about him. I admire and love him like never before. I sorta lean into him and he smiles at me, asking, "How ya doing, buddy?" I bump my side against him again, mumbling, "Couldn't be better." He squeezes the back of my neck and I kiss his cheek, wanting to be hugged by Robby, but he doesn't do that because we don't have excessive displays of affection in public. I don't consider a kiss on his cheek an excessive display of affection. Chubby knows Robby and I are engaged, but overdoing the affection would probably make him uncomfortable. Robby casually puts his arm across my shoulders though and I inhale his scent as Chubby mutters, "Young love, you two are cute."

Then, with cigarette smoke drifting from Chubby's mouth as he talks, he says, "It's weird, but I don't have quite the excitement level coming back to college that I had freshman year, plus I feel much less stressed-out too. Do you know what I mean?" Robby says, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Last year

everything was brand new including all the newfound freedom to do basically whatever we wanted. That was a little intimidating at first." Well, that's true for Robby, but Chubby and I pretty much have had the freedom to do whatever we wanted since we were eight years old. Robby adds, "Last year I guess we all felt a general nervousness about being in college for the first

time, you known, the campus was confusing and we were freshman so the professors tried to scare the shit out of us in the beginning. It all kinda added-up to a stressful situation. Not so this year, and I'm not saying the return to college is anti-climatic, just that there's definitely a different vibe to it." I say, "Yeah, Robby, but not a ho-hum vibe, it's still exciting. You know what, we need to be careful we don't fall into a sophomore slump thinking we know everything. You hear about sophomore slumps or sophomore jinx in sports all the time." Robby says, "That reminds me, I need to check-in with coach Smith this afternoon. I didn't do summer baseball workouts for the team like last summer, so I wanna make sure my spot on the team is still secure. We don't start official practice until February, but our manager and position coaches want sophomore players studying film this fall along with the juniors and seniors." Chubby looks at his watch, "Yeah, and I've got an interview at McDonalds for a part time job at three o'clock, so lets get this place setup."

We finish our cigarettes and then it takes an hour unloading the two cars, and getting all our stuff put away. We go food shopping after that, all of us in the Jeep. As soon as we're in Stop & Shop I go upstairs to the office to check-in and verify I have the job Cory was suppose to arrange for me. Chubby and Robby get a shopping cart and begin shopping for vital food and drink items like chips and snack food, cereal, milk, sodas, Snapple, candy bars, and maybe some chicken for tonight's dinner. We brought our gas grill from home with us. The moms don't cook so they won't need it. Last year we grilled year-round, even when it snowed. In the office I introduce myself to the lady in charge and she checks her computer's employee sheet, then says, "What'd you say your name was again?" I tell her, but she can't find my name on the list. I say, "I'm a Merrimack student, a part timer." She frowns at me for a moment, then snaps the back of her hand against the computer sheet she's reading from, saying, "Why didn't you say so? I wasted my time looking on the full time employee listing. Name?" I tell her again and she finds me on the part timers sheet, "Photo ID, please," so I hand her my license and college ID and she takes a copy of each, then says, "Okay, you're all set, Dyson." I go, "It's Dylan, as in Bob Dylan." She goes, "Huh? You want 'Bob' on your name tag?" Oh yeah, I remember this nitwit from last year. She's the wife of the store manager so I won't give her the smart-ass answer she deserves. I go, "Um, my name is Dylan Newman. It's Dylan, not Dyson, but that's okay, everyone makes that mistake." No they don't. She says, "So you're saying you want 'Dylan' not 'Bob' on your name tag, right?" Moron! I go, "Yes, thank you." She writes something down, then looks at me and says, "You're on the three to six shift beginning October first. A word of advice young man, speak more clearly and concisely when speaking with customers so they can understand you better than I did. Believe me, customers are not as patient as me. You need to report to Cory Dunlevy before your first day so he can explain what you're expected to do. It's up to you to contact him... here's his cell phone number." I start to tell her I worked here all last year, but she cuts me off with, "I'm not through talking yet. Let me tell you something, Cory does not take any backtalk from his part timers and he's a stickler for everyone being on time. That's another word of advice for you. Welcome to the Stop & Shop family." Taking a deep breath, I say, very clearly, "Thank you," and she goes back to doing whatever it is she does. I guess I'm suppose to leave. Going down the steps I'm thinking, 'What a fucking idiot! I worked here all last year, I know what I'm expected to do.' But, huh, Cory got promoted... good for him! Funny he didn't say anything about it.

I find Robby and Chubby in the snack aisle talking with my man, Cory. When he sees me he comes over and gives me a big hug, saying, "Dylan, great to see you. Did you check-in at the office?" Man, this is a different greeting than the one he gave me the first time I met him. Back then I thought he was a new employee, but he was just new to this Stop & Shop location. He'd worked a few years at another Stop & Shop before transferring to this one when he, his two sisters, and his mother moved to North Andover. I say, "Yes, I checked in already, boss," and then I tell Robby and Chubby, "Cory got promoted. Why didn't you tell me, Cory?" He shrugs, "I don't know, I wanted to surprise you I guess." I say, "You're a huge improvement over that stiff of a part timers supervisor we had last year." Cory shrugs, "Actually the store manager split up the position so I'm just one of three supervisors in charge of part timers. One for each shift and we're open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." Robby asks, "You're full time, huh?" Cory goes, "Yeah, I'm full time at Stop & Shop and I've finally started taking college courses through the university of Phoenix. They have a hundred locations and fortunately one of them's in Lawrence. I'm taking a course every Saturday and another course two nights a week. It'll take me at least six years to

graduate." I go, "Good for you, Cory. A full time job and you're going for

your degree at the same time. I admire you, dude!" He blushes, and mumbles, "It's a pain in the ass going to classes around my Stop & Shop schedule. I'm coordinating everything with the other two part-timer supervisor, but they're good guys so it works okay." We congratulate Cory, but like with Seth I feel bad that neither of them can enjoy the luxury Robby, Chubby, and I

enjoy of partying our way through college. Life is harder for some than others. It's not fair, but then no one's ever said life was fair.

Chubby goes, "Look who's here." I look up and see Ears Henderson and Scott Tinsdale pushing a cart down the aisle. Ears is wearing a t-shirt with writing on the front that reads, 'I'm here with stupid' and there's an arrow pointing down from the writing to his dick. Robby, Chubby, and I exchange one arm hugs and fist bumps with both of them, as I'm saying to Ears, "Good to see ya, Walter?" That's his actual first name. He goes, "Oh, only my mother's allowed to call me that." Ears' roommate, Scott, went through a period last year where he thought he wanted to blow me, not that I ever accommodated him. Ears and Scott exchange lies with Robby and my brother about what they did last summer as I'm pointing up at the office, saying to Cory, "The clueless one up there, up in the office, says I need to call you so you can tell me what's expected of me." He chuckles, "She forgets you were here last year. The job's the same, Dylan. I'll be in the office to meet you on your first shift, I think it's October first, right?" I say, "Yeah, that's my first day, beginning at three o'clock." He says, "Yeah, I'll tell Marie we had our meeting so she can check your name off. Hey, I need a haircut." I go, "Let me get registered and settled in first, okay?" He goes, "Sure, gee, it's good to see ya, Dylan." I go, "Yeah, you too, Cory." He blushes and grins, "That was a wild time after your ride back from New York City. Remember?" I go, "Of course I remember, you saved my life, dude. You were awesome." He blushes some more, "I didn't do anything. Hey, you're gonna be disappointed what's happened here at Stop & Shop though." I ask why, and he seriously says, "Wait till you see how few part-time guys we have this year. It's mostly girls and middle age housewives working the registers and bagging, plus a couple of retired older men." I mumble, "Well, that sucks." He laughs, pats my shoulder and tells me he needs to get back to work.

Cory's really changed, and all for the better too. Good for him. Ears and Scott go on with their shopping and so do Chubby, Robby, and me. As were checking out at the register, Robby's muttering, "We should have made a list, I think we're forgetting stuff." Ha ha, mister conscientious, I just love him to death. There's a robust woman working the register and a retiree old guy bagging out groceries... this place has really gone down hill. They used to have cute guys doing the register and bagging. It's outrageously unfair. I'm pushing the cart out when I see Matthew Flowers coming in the other door. He's talking with a burly, college-age kid. Matthew has the softest hair I've ever cut and from the looks of him he hasn't had a haircut since the one I gave him. He's also cute, but in an unusual way. I say that because he has kind of a flat face, but cute too like I said. The plain looking kid he's with doesn't do anything for me at all. I reach over and tap Matthew's arm. He looks surprised, smiles, then glances at the burly kid, and then back at me, nervously saying, "Oh, hi, Dylan. Back at college, huh? Ya working here again this year?" I go, "Great to see you, dude. Yeah, I'm working here again." He says, "Well, I'll see you around the store I guess, I'm working at my old job in produce." The burly kid pushes Matthew in the back, muttering, "Let's go Matt, move it," then he gives me a nasty cold look. What the fuck was that all about? Matthew's a sweet, friendly, outgoing kid, or he used to be anyway. We messed around with some buddy sex last summer one time, but I probably won't do it again. That unattractive friend of Matthew's might have something to say about that anyway, but the real reason is I'm cutting way back on side sex to impress Robby.

We dump the grocery bags in the back of the Jeep and Chubby drives us to the apartment. It's one thirty in the afternoon by now. Chubby says, "After we put this stuff away lets grab something for lunch and then I gotta get over for my interview at McDonalds." Robby says, "Yeah, lunch is a good idea. Right after that I'll check in at the baseball office and remind the coach who I am." I frown, "He wouldn't forget you, Robby." He grins at me, mumbling, "My fan club is heard from. Thanks, Dylan." Lately I find myself acting like a love sick schoolgirl around Robby at times, so I should probably pump the brakes on that a little. Robby says, "How about if we treat ourselves to Fuddruckers for lunch?" That's where we go. Inside we wave at Travis Hunter and his roommate from last year, the always drunk Harry Black. They're at a table near the windows and naturally Harry's drinking a beer. He has awesome fake ID. Travis yells over, "We got three seats for you guys over here." Last year I got the distinct impression Travis was coming on to me, but I sidestepped it back then. This year I'm not going to even notice it. Last year I was busy with Ryan at the time, Ryan and my main squeeze, Robby, but this year I'm all about Robby. Chubby waves at Travis noncommittally and we wait in line to place our orders. None of us tries to order a beer. It takes five minutes before our food is ready. The place is crowded so we carry our trays of food over to Travis' and Harry's table. Fist bumps all around, then Travis says, "Guess what Harry did this morning?" As we sit down, I ask, "What's that?" and he says, "We're at the mall in Rockingham picking up some CDs. We stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffees and we're over by the railing looking down on people on the first floor. Dunkin Donuts is on the second level so we're leaning our arms on the railing holding our coffees, waiting for them to cool down enough to drink." Chubby says, "I can see where this is going." Travis goes, "Yeah, well, I ask Harry what time it is so he turns his left hand, the one he's holding his Styrofoam cup of coffee in to see his watch and the dumb shit dumps his hot coffee over the railing and it lands on this old broad's head twenty feet below us." We laugh as Harry fumes, "I was hung over, dude. Ya never ask a guy the time when he's holding a cup of coffee." Travis grins, "Most guys don't turn the fuckin' cup over to look at their watch." Harry claims anyone would. From then on the whole lunch is all about reminiscing the fucked-up things Harry did last year. I finally ask, "You guys rooming together again this year?" and Harry says, "A'course we are, we're buds, ain't we Travis." Travis says, "I took pity on him, no one else would room with him." Harry cackles, "Yeah, it's true." Yep, we're back at college!!

After lunch Robby and I get a ride to Merrimack with Travis and Harry so Robby can check in with the team's coaches. Chubby drives the Jeep to his interview at McDonalds. Robby and I get dropped off at the quad and the roommates go on up to their dorm. Robby says, "I don't know how long this will take, Dylan. I might need to take a physical when I sign up for the team. What are you gonna do?" Robby mentioning a physical makes me think of his shaved pubic hair and I gotta wonder what he'll say about that. To his question, I shrug, and say, "I guess I'll walk around and check out the campus." Looking around, he says, "They've obviously been doing a lot of work on the landscaping around here. It looks great." I'm like, "Yeah, it does." Robby checks his wristwatch and says, "I gotta run, I'll text you when I'm finished and we'll meet somewhere. Guess we'll need to walk back to the apartment. I should have driven the fuckin' pickup to Fuddruckers." I mutter, "No problem. Route 114 isn't that busy on Sundays." With a little wave of his hand Robby heads for the baseball diamond and the sports offices. I watch him walk away thinking he walks cool and confident and I'm proud he's my boyfriend. Lighting a cigarette I stroll around taking it all in. It's nice being back at college, kinda fun being a sophomore too. I pass a lot of new faces, the freshman class have been here since Thursday. Huh, they look pretty young to me, but no real standouts so far, meaning no especially cute guys. Speaking of cute guys, I wonder where Ryan is, and what Ryan's and my reunion will be like? I feel a little nervous about seeing him again, which is weird. Naturally I wouldn't admit that to him or anyone else. Ryan got into my head last spring and I don't think I've ever had the hot's for anybody like I had for him. I even thought I loved him, although I was never mixed-up enough to think I loved him the way I love Rob, I mean, Robby. Just thinking about Ryan gets me referring to Robby as Rob, like Ryan does. I guess I still have some of the hot's I used to feel for Ryan, and that's even after he effectively dumped me some time during the summer. Not officially, but he stopped emailing and texting so it's the same thing. I'm not crazy about the threesome getting back together, but I do what Robby says. He's the man. I'll never understand why Ryan cut me out, but it's Robby I care about anyway. I mean, Ryan couldn't possibly have faked having the hot's for me, not to the extent he claimed he felt and demonstrated openly. Nobody is that good of an actor, and then what the hell changed his mind? Wait a minute! Ryan might be at the baseball offices if he's going to be the team's flunky or so-called locker room manager again. Hmmm, I never thought of that.

The sun is warm on this day in early September, a really nice day. I sit on a bench finishing my cigarette. To get Ryan off my mind I think about Robby. Gee, last night was special. Robby was awesome. He took me to dinner at our favorite restaurant in downtown Framingham where our favorite waiter serves us alcoholic beverages. We both had two Manhattans straight up and got a little tipsy. All through dinner it was lover's talk about us and our future life together. Robby makes it sound so romantic and perfect. After dinner we went to my place and got naked. I was sort of hypnotized and everything we did felt special because it was Robby and me doing it. In bed I started by licking his feet and then up his legs, sorta worshiping him. I did it slowly and loved every minute of it. When I licked up to his crotch he already had a hard cock so I rimmed his ass for like fifteen minutes with Robby moaning the whole time and constantly squirming on the bed. My dick was like a steel pipe with a bad washer, leaking constantly, mostly on Robby's legs. Robby finally pushed my head away saying he was going to cum. I lay naked on top of him as I was kissing and licking all over his face. When we're together I can't imagine why I ever have side-sex with others. It's mysterious. Anyway, when the danger of Robby having a premature ejaculation passed I kissed down his chest, sucked on his nipples and then licked my way across his stomach to his shaved groin and licked all around there before sucking his cock into my mouth. It was awesome sucking his boner and slurping

down his precum, absolutely awesome. I thought I'd have an orgasm twice and one time I did shoot a six inch string of cum onto his leg, but I took a minute of just laying the side of my face on his stomach with Robby lightly

rubbing my head and neck whispering words of love until my impending orgasm calmed down. It was very special and I've never felt more in love with him then I felt last night.

What the fuck! I've got a raging boner sitting on this bench thinking about that. And there are a lot of students walking by. Taking a deep breath, I light another cigarette and try calming down my libido by thinking about sitting in a bathtub of ice water. Jesus, does Robby get me sexually aroused! He's macho with his confident take charge attitude lately. Smelling the back of my wrist I glance around, happily noticing no one is paying attention to me and my boner. I get looks from passing students, glances like most people glance at those around them, but no one is pointing at my boner at least. Ha ha, fucking boners are awesome. I know I glance at people all the time. Then I see the first cute guy today... he's so young looking he's gotta be a freshman. Thin dude trying to look like he knows where he's going. He's rocking this cool blond burr haircut and he's got a really nice build. We exchange glances but only for a split second. That happens a lot. If you

maintain eye contact it can lead to many unpleasant situations and only rarely a good one. Nine out of ten times it's a straight kid who doesn't want another guy looking at him. The infamous, 'What the fuck are you looking at' is a favorite retort of many. I close my eyes exhaling smoke and enjoy the sun on my face. A picture of Robby drifts back in my head and I can actually smell him if I think real hard. God, the way he eventually rolled me over on the mattress last night and then without a word he got between my legs, spreading them the way he wanted. I'm getting another boner just thinking about him smacking my ass, "Slam, slap, slap, slap," without saying anything. Then he lifts my hips a little and in goes his hard-as-steel fat cock. He fucked me hard and fast the first time. I had goose bumps all over me as he slammed his body against me driving his boner up my ass, doing it hard. I moaned with pleasure from the first thrust until cum streamed from my quivering cock with my whole body shaking from the sexual pleasure. It felt special last night like it was a new beginning and if it was some kind of new beginning, what a start it was. Later, after cuddling together and making out with our bodies intertwined until it seemed like we were one person, he fucked me slowly and lovingly for twenty minutes before we climaxed almost together. His orgasm was filling my ass just as mine was being pumped up from my balls. I squealed for ten seconds it felt so good. Afterward we clung together until Robby had to go. The last thing he said after kissing me goodbye was, "Tomorrow night, baby, it'll even be better." Robby's like my hero and my lover all in one. This summer he's matured so much, gaining much more confidence, and as I mentioned he has this awesome 'in-charge' attitude that I just love. Jesus, I've got another aching boner.

Taking a last drag on my cigarette, and then trying to flick the butt, it goes straight up in the air and I need to bat it away with my hand to keep it from landing on my lap and maybe burning my boner. "Hey, cool move, Dylan." I glance over, "Huh?" and see Jarod Mellincamp walking toward me grinning. He's my one-time nemesis. I adjust my junk the best I can without being too obvious about it. I mean, who springs a boner this hard from just daydreaming? I need to get a fucking grip. Jarod's a tough little guy who I got in a fight with early in my freshman year. He was with that asshole Dick Veris who jumped in on our fight making it two against one, the 'one' being me until Robby came charging over and kicked the living shit out of Ferris. I had my hands full with Jarod one on one, but I think I won in the end. Because of my boner I don't get up to greet Jarod, but give him a big smile, saying, "Jarod, buddy, wassup?" and we do an awkward one arm hug with a pat on the back, me still sitting and trying to keep my boner from bumping his leg. Jarod says, "Good to see you, Dylan," as he sits down, and adds, "You're looking good as always. We never did do that double date, did we?" I relax a little now that Jarod's joined me on the bench and isn't likely to be staring at my lap. He's a straight dude, sexually. If I had stood up, straight or not, Jarod would not be able to miss my boner poking out the front of my shorts. I go, "No, we didn't do the double date. You still going with the same girl?" He goes, "God no, we split up during last semester. I've been single ever since." I say, "Well, did you ever consider switching sides?" When I told him I was gay last year, after we became friends, he said I was the first person he knew who came right out and said they were gay. Jarod grins, "Switch side? No, not really. No switching sides, I like tail too much." Well, what the fuck, lots of 'tail' in gay relationships. He punches my arm lightly, saying, "Jesus, if I had your looks and body I wouldn't be single this long. The chicks would come running after me. Do you get hit on much?" I shrug, "Nah, hardly ever." He's smallish, but kinda hot too. His hair's hanging over his ears, so I rub his head, saying, "Did I ever tell you what an awesome barber I am? I've been cutting my buds' hair since I was nine or ten years old." He goes, "Oh yeah, that's cool. What do ya charge for a haircut?" I make a circle with my forefinger and thumb, saying, "Nothing, nada, zero. I like doing it."

Then, because I rubbed his head, he rubs mine now, asking, "Did you give yourself this short haircut?" I go, "No, my friend cut it for me, but I don't think it's all that short. Do you like it?" He says, "No, not really, it's too short for me. What kind of haircut should I get?" I say, "Any kind you want," and we talk about hair styles a little with him finishing by saying, "I've gotta meet my roommate, but give me your cell phone number and I'll call you for one of your free haircuts, okay?" I say, "Sure," and we exchange email and text information, typing it into our cell phones. As we're doing that, he mutters, "Dylan, how the fuck did people get by without cell phones?" I mumble, "Fuck, if I know." With one last rub of my head, he gives

me his cute grin and takes off at a jog, saying over his shoulder, "I'm late, dude, see you around." Damn, he's hot. Funny how some guys do it for me

without even trying, and without even being gay like in Jarod's case. I'd love to be fucked by that little guy, which makes me think of little Ryan again and my dick gets all squirmy. Fuck! Maybe I have sex on my mind too much. Nah, I'm good with my conviction to cut way the fuck back on my side-sex activities. Of course Robby never said I need to cut it out entirely. That's the mark of a good leader. He doesn't make unrealistic requirements. I get up and wander over to the cafeteria area and run into a friend of Connor's named Homer. I don't know his last name. We bump fist as he says, "Dude, where's Connor?" Homer called me dude so he probably doesn't remember my name. I say, "Hi ya, Homer. Um, Connor joined the Army." He goes, "Fuck! Yeah, he said he was gonna do that, but I was hoping he'd change his mind." We talk about Connor for a minute with me telling Homer what I know about how Connor's doing, and then we go on our way. We didn't have much in common to talk about except Connor. The good news is, talking to Homer allowed my dick to relax.

I get an email from Seth so I stop to read it on my iPhone. 'Hey, Dylan, success! My date with Jackie was awesome last night. Thanks for giving me morale support!! Love ya, Seth.' Well that's certainly a promising move by Seth, Jackie is a guy. I call Seth and we talk for ten minutes as I'm sitting on the steps of the dining hall. I find out they went to the movies for their first date, had iced coffee after the movies and talked for an hour. Jackie still has the long hair, but Seth told him about me and my free haircuts. Jackie's interested because he said he hates spending twenty dollars on a haircut. According to Seth, even though he doesn't like spending money for haircuts, Jackie's not a cheapskate because Jackie bought their coffees. Oh man, big spender! They have another date set for next Saturday night. Nothing sexual happened, but they talked about what they like sexually and Jackie's exclusively a top, which might be a problem because Seth didn't have a good time being a bottom for me, although neither of us mentions that. He tells me more about what they talked about and the more I hear the less excited I am. Jackie doesn't like sports or rock 'n roll or drinking, three things Seth likes very much. How the hell are they gonna be compatible when they have so little in common? Seth's super excited though so I don't throw a money-wrench into things by mentioning the compatibility factor. I'm just glad to hear Seth's excited about someone, someone not named Dylan. Buddy sex with Seth is fine, but he talks about being in love too much and that can't lead to anything positive for him. Okay, so maybe Jackie Bradley won't work out long term, but there's still Connor and maybe Cory, plus all the other guys on the gay match-making site Seth belongs to. Of course Cory will need to admit he's gay before he'd be a candidate to be Seth's boyfriend. You know what, I wish I could stop worry about Seth so much.

A perky blond girl, kinda cute, taps me on the shoulder as I'm sitting here, and says, "Excuse me, um. No, let me start over. Hi, I'm Judy Rinker, and you're Dylan, right?" I go, "The Dylan part's right, but I need to take your word about the Judy Rinker part." She giggles, "We were in the same class last year. It was, ironically, 'The Art of Communication' course, but I'm sure you don't remember me." I ask, "Why is it ironic, we were in that class together?" She giggles, "Because I spent the whole semester thinking of a way to communicate with you. Unsuccessfully, I might add. It's taking all the false courage I have, plus the prodding all summer by my best friend, for me to speak to you now." This is kinda weird, and then she says real fast, "Um, are you going with anyone? If not, I'm asking you out on a date with me." Jeez, I feel kinda bad for her. I say, "I'm really flattered, Judy, but I am going with someone, my boyfriend. I'm gay, but if I weren't I'd be happy to go out with you." She sits down next to me on the step, "I never considered that possibility in my master plan to seduce you and get you to marry me." I laugh, "Yeah, um, sorry," then I brighten up, "My brother's not gay and he isn't going with anyone at the moment. Would you like me to introduce you to him?" She takes hold of my arm, she's the touchy/feely type, and asks, "Does he look like you?" I go, "Yeah, sorta. He's better looking than me actually. At least I think he is." She looks behind her and motions someone over. It's a tall girl with big hair who's wearing too much makeup. Judy says to the girl, "Dylan would go out with me except he's gay and

going with his boyfriend." Her friend says, "Oh fuck! We never included that possibility into the equation." Then she holds her hand down to me, saying, "Hi, Dylan, I'm Mary Butler. You're awesomely cute." I say, "Oh, thanks, everyone says that," and they both giggle. Judy says, "He has a brother," and Mary goes, "No shit," then to me, "Does he look like you?" I go, "He's better looking," and the girls do a fist bump. Why do girls want to do stuff like guys do?

We talk awhile and I learn these two are best friends and Mary's been going out with the same guy since high school. They've been on a two year quest to find a steady boyfriend for Judy. All summer they planned on having Judy ask me out on a date and like I told her, it's flattering. I ask, "Didn't you have a plan B?" Mary says, "Fuck no, you were it, Dylan." I go, "Well, ya got a plan B now, my brother." I show her a picture of Chubby on my iPhone. In the picture Chubby and me are standing together holding cans of beer with our arms across each other's shoulders. We have a lot of pictures like that one with us at different ages as we were growing up. Well when we were younger we weren't holding cans of beer. I remember I asked Robby to take this picture, but I don't remember where we all were. Some party last year probably. Maybe it was here at Merrimack over at Tracy's place, he's the

guy who threw all the beer parties last year. The girlfriends huddle together looking at the picture. Judy says, "He doesn't look all that much like you except the nose," and she runs her finger down my nose, mumbling, "Cute nose." Mary says, "He's shorter than you," and I go, "Not much." Judy says, "Take my picture and show it to, um, what's his name?" I say, "Jeff, but I've always called him Chubby." She asks, "Was he chubby as a little kid?" I go, "No, the opposite." She nods her head like that makes sense, then goes, "He'll do fine. Take my picture, okay?" We stand and I take four pictures of her before she sees one she likes, and then we exchange phone information. I say, "He'll call you." The two girls are satisfied and do a high five this time, saying, "Thanks, Dylan. He can call as soon as he wants." As they're walking away, Mary says to Judy, "See, what'd I tell ya? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You didn't corral Dylan, but it's looking good for his brother." I'm grinning, thinking, 'That was random.'

Then Robby sends me a text, which I assume means he's ready to leave, but no. He tells me he'll be another hour-and-a-half to two hours. The infield coach asked Robby to stay and workout some new guys. They're what's called walk-on guys trying to make the team. Robby's gonna see if any of the guys has potential to be backups for infield positions or spots on the practice team. I know this is the kind of thing Robby loves to do and it'll be good brown-nosing points with his coach too. But in actuality, could it be Ryan sneaking around my fiancé and delaying his departure from the sports office? That's the question. It's a question I don't ask Robby, and I'm not sure why I don't. Robby suggests I walk back to the apartment without him, but there's nothing to do there so I continue wandering around campus. I do that without meeting any of the other guys we know from last year, so again I'm checking out the freshman who are roaming around looking lost. Mostly they're on their own as they haven't had time to make friends yet. Some roommates are together trying to get to know each other, so not everyone is on their own. I light another cigarette thinking about that girl asking me out and try imagining what it'd be like if I were straight instead of gay. That proves to be too alien a concept for me so I can't come up with anything reasonably believable. I abandon that thought and walk over near the dorms where I finally see someone who's somewhat familiar. A lone figure sitting on the steps of his dorm. I assume it's his dorm, and he's smelling the back of his wrist so it's gotta be Dougie Hamilton, my young acquaintance from Stop and Shop. He's the one I blame for my latest habit of unconsciously smelling the back of my wrist or hand. I do it now as I'm walking towards him slowly. Dropping my cigarette butt, I'm staring at him and the closer I get the sexier and more exotic he appears to be.

Dougie basically looks the same as I remember him from our two chance encounters at Stop & Shop except presently he's without the cute grin I remember. The first time I saw him I was taken in by his appearance so much I pulled my phony mistaken identity routine on him. He was real polite and likable about it, and his mom was nice too. I'm approaching him from the side and a little behind him which is why he doesn't see me. It gives me time to ogle him some more. There are lots of freshman walking around, but poor Dougie looks lonely. I stop beside a brick wall, lean up against it staring at him thinking about his request that I mentor him here at Merrimack, but not sure what he means by 'mentor'. Don't even know for sure if he was serious, but I think he was. He looks like he could use a friend right about now in any case. He's an ultra sexy, but unusual looking boy. I mean, he's cute, don't get me wrong, but cute like Matthew Flowers is cute, in a unique way. Dougie has the same hairstyle he had earlier this summer. His dark brown hair is parted in the middle and cut in a regular haircut style except for two scraggly strands of hair on either side of his face that reach to his chin. It's a very odd look for a guy. He's sitting on the steps with his forearms on his thighs leaning forward so the two strands of hair are hanging away from his face. When he stands straight the long hairs frame his face which is very pale and therefore a striking contrast to the dark hair. Mostly his facial features are pretty, almost delicate. He's very unique looking like I said. Full dark red lips with big dark eyes protected by long curvy eyelashes and narrow eyebrows. There's a beauty mark on his left cheekbone that I hadn't noticed before. It's on the side of his face that I can see from where I'm standing. Maybe the dark brown beauty mark is a mole, but it's perfectly round and flush with his skin so I'm not sure. I'm also not sure of his sexuality, although because of his body language in Stop & Shop I'd lean towards him being gay or bi. That might just be wishful thinking on my part though. I really don't know, yet and anyway I'm not looking for side sex.

He stands up and stretches, looking bored. He's very slim, my height, with long well formed legs sticking out of his shorts. Thin ankles make his sneakered feet look too big for the rest of him. There's a minor amounts of short dark hairs on his calves that I'd like to rub my fingers through. Nice biceps and his forearms taper down to thin wrists so the wristwatch he's wearing looks enormous. Dougie smells the back of his right wrist, then rubs his nose against that wrist as he's turning around to go up the steps toward the front door of the dorm. I see him full-faced now, although he's still not looking in my direction. With his dark hair, pale complexion, and red lips he'd make a good 'Dracula' for a school play. On the other hand he's got an innocence about him in both manner and appearance so he could also play a choir boy. I call over to him, "Dougie, your mentor is here to save the day." His head comes around slowly looking at me now and his cute smile breaks out all over his face. He waves at me just standing there, so I walk over to him, unconsciously smelling the back of my hand as I walk. When I realize I'm doing that I pull my arm away and put my hand in the pocket of my jeans. We hardly know each other, but I know he smells good from when we first met, so I'm not at all surprised he's always smelling his arm. He walks down the steps and bumps fist with me, but he doesn't seem all that thrilled to see me and that kinda surprises me because at least I'm a face he knows.

I ask, "How's it going so far?" He shrugs then sits down on the step again to smell the back of his hand for a moment. Sitting next to him, he glances at me, then looks straight ahead and mumbles, "Um, I hate it here, Dylan, that's how it's going." "What's wrong, Dougie?" He shrugs again, then goes, " My roommate is a bully and I have no friends. I've been here three days, three of the worse days of my life. I told my mom I wanna come home and go to night school or something." I tell him, "Your's isn't an uncommon first impression of college life for a freshmen. The first days at college, away from home and mommy for the first time, can be intimidating." He blushes a dark red, then says, "That 'mommy' comment wasn't necessary, Dylan. Don't be a prick, I'm not a momma's boy." I go, "I'm kidding you, Dougie. Jeez! Come on lets talk about it." He asks, "Can I bum a cigarette from you? I was gonna quit, but I can already see this isn't a good time to try quitting." Giving him a cigarette and lighting it, he takes a drag and still looking straight ahead, says, "Drew makes fun of my hair and he took the best bed and desk in our dorm room. He called me a fag and says he's changing my room. He wants me to room with this fat dork who farts all the time. The fat kid's roommate and Drew are setting it up between them." Drew is apparently his roommate. I say, "Gee, not a good start, huh?"

We smoke silently for a minute while I contemplate helping him. He's feeling sorry for himself and not acting at all like the sweet kid in Stop & Shop that I met when he was shopping with his mom. I look at the side of his pretty face and take pity on him, "Okay, come with me, Dougie, we'll straighten this out," as I stand up. He looks up, asking, "Where we going?" I say, "To the Housing Office. Students don't make dorm changes on their own so this Drew asshole is out of line. Any roommate changes must be made before September tenth, so we've got time." Dougie's spirits are picking up, "You mean I have some say in the matter?" I go, "Sure, but it helps if you're polite to the person in Housing." As we walk he tells me about Drew pouring a cup of cold water on him to wake him up this morning. I mutter, "I'd like to have a talk with Drew, but lets get this settled first." In the housing office we take a number, then I motion at the group of freshman here in the office who also are unhappy with their roommates. "You're not the only one with a roommate problem as you can see." While waiting I talk up a cute kid sitting next to us named, Jamie. I say, "What's your roommate like?" He goes, "He likes it silent in the room and I like music playing even while I study." Dougie says, "Hey, so do I," and I introduce them to each other. We talk and discover Jamie is just as unhappy about his early days at college as Dougie is. After ten minutes Jamie asks Dougie, "Hey, how about rooming with me, Dougie?" Misery loves company. They talk about rooming together and then get laughing about the way their current roommates mistreat and bully them. Jamie was here before us so his number gets called first. He stands up, saying, "If we have a roommate choice we're suppose to go in the office together." Dougie says, "Lets go then," and Jamie looks at me biting his bottom lip, then says, "I'm sure you'll find a good roommate, Dylan. Sorry to abandon you, but, um..." I go, "I'm a sophomore, dude. I live in an apartment, no worries." Dougie says, "Thanks, Dylan, I've got your cellphone number, I'll call you so I can get a college appropriate haircut." I say, "You do that, Dougie," and off they go.

I sit here a few seconds after they go off together, then take a deep breath and leave the office with my good deed for the day accomplished. Jamie and Dougie make a cute couple, gay or not, and both they're spirits are much improved over what they were earlier. That was a stroke of luck right there. Outside I wander back to the dining hall and get a Coke from a vending machine. Drinking it I walk over to the registration office to make sure I've got the right time for registering tomorrow. Find my name on the registration sheet and, yep, I need to register at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning just like I thought. Sophomores register tomorrow, juniors on Tuesday, and seniors Wednesday. Everyone was informed of the time for our registration in our acceptance letters. It's alphabetical, last names beginning with 'A' are first to register tomorrow morning and "Zs' are last. They don't want all fifteen hundred sophomore students showing up at the same time. It'll still be a pain in the ass though because registering and pain in the ass just come with the territory. Getting bored I walk over to the baseball diamond wondering if I'll see Ryan running around picking shit up. If not, I'll at least see Robby. I've always like watching him play baseball. He's so graceful around second base and no other player on any team I've ever seen comes close to Robby's cuteness. It makes me proud to be his true love boyfriend, not to mention his secret fiancé. As I walk up into the stands joining a small group of students who are probably as bored as me, I see Robby right away. There are about two dozen guys on the diamond and outfield. They're all throwing balls around, fielding grounders, and batting. It looks like controlled chaos, although that may be an oxymoron.

The sun's bright now without trees so I put my cool shades on and think about Willie for a second. He bought these Oakley sunglasses for me and paid like $250.00 for them. Insane! They're cool though. I'm staring at Robby's every move, but he's concentrating on what he's doing, like always, so he doesn't see me. Then, is that Ryan? If it's not, it's a clone of him. Same small body and little round eyeglasses, but he's wearing his strawberry-blond hair in a ponytail now and he has a tattoo on his arm, on both arms actually. He's scurrying around collecting baseballs that get by the catcher. Hmmm, that so-called catcher doesn't have a chance to make the team, I can tell that right now. Catch the fucking baseball, that's the first thing a catcher needs to do... haha, the poor bastard. Now I'm staring at Ryan surprised I'm feeling my dick squirm in my underpants again. Damn, he looks hot. I mean, most gay guys maybe wouldn't think Ryan's hot, but he is to me. I grab my junk, then glance over to see two girls grinning at each other nodding their heads towards me so I let go of myself and light a cigarette trying to act cool. Nosy girls should mind their own fucking business. I walk down lower in the bleachers staring at Ryan. Gawd, he looks cool. He's got a sleeveless t-shirt on, to show off his tattoos I guess and it looks like he's been lifting weights this summer. He always had good definition in his biceps but it's obviously he's been lifting weights. Now he's grinning at one of the walk-on hopefuls and, fuck, that's the cute and sexy grin I remember. I walk down behind the batter's box to the protective screen for a closer look. Ryan turns his head and sees me, gives me a smile and a wave, but doesn't come over. Well, that's just plain rude!

I'm smelling the back of my wrist trying to push down the sexual desire I feel for him, but damn, he looks so macho with that short ponytail and his tattooed biceps. Not big vulgar tattoos, but smaller ones that seem to go with him now. Biting my bottom lip I watch him pat someone on the back, probably saying something encouraging as the guy nods his head at Ryan. Exchanging the biting of my bottom lip for smelling the back of my wrist again, I stare at him, then remember my cigarette and take a drag. I'm a little discombobulated, which pisses me off. I thought I still had some hot's for Ryan left over from the beginning of the summer, but it appears I'm feeling more than a little aroused. Trying to get Ryan off my mind I notice all the chatter coming from the players on the field so I stare at them. By now I can't tell who the team players are and who the guys are that are just trying out for the team. Well, it doesn't look like this is gonna break up any time soon so I wander over to the other side of the field behind one of the dugouts still trying to get Ryan off my mind. That's easier to do when I'm not looking at him, so I don't look at him. Why did he dump me? It doesn't make any fucking sense! It's stupid, especially if we're gonna be twin boyfriends again like Rob says. Hell, Ryan could at least be friendly. Well, he did wave and smile at me. Oh fuck it! I'm gonna go back to the apartment to see if Chubby's back yet. What the fuck am I thinking? I'll text him and then I'll know if he's at the apartment. I stand here texting Chubby, then hear from behind me, "It's awesome seeing you again, Dylan." I turn and there's Ryan, sweat on his face looking so sexy as he pushes his little round glasses up his little cute nose. I'm speechless, he's got a fine-haired, pale brown mustache now and a little goatee at the end of his chin. It's so light I couldn't see it from a distance... how'd he grow that? I gulp, feeling like a star struck tweener girl gawking at the One Dimension boys.

Trying for cool, I mutter, "Wassup, Ryan?" He shrugs, "Oh, I'm just brown nosing with the manager. I got my job back, the one you say has flunky written all over it, but I like being around the baseball team." He played on his high school team but couldn't make the jump to college. I go, "Nah, you're not a flunky, you're the locker room manager." He grins, and says, spreading his arms, "Well, I'm not good enough to make the team, so this is what I'm stuck with." I nod my head going, "Heh heh," and he asks, "What's wrong? You seem different, shy or something." I frown, "Don't be silly, I'm not fucking shy. Why would I be?" He says, "No reason. Hey, Rob invited me over for a grilled chicken dinner tonight. We'll catch up then, okay? Now I gotta see to the locker room. That's where I was going when I saw you standing down here. These try-out guys have their shit all over the place. See ya later." He gives a little wave and... is that a smirk on his face? Hmmm, Rob invited him for our first dinner back at college, huh? My cell phone tweets and I look at it. Chubby texts me that he'll pick me and Robby up at the quad in ten minutes. I look over and Robby's hitting ground balls to a walk-on player at shortstop and a tall lanky kid at second base. He'll be here awhile. Look at that smile on his face. He loves this kind of thing! I guess Robby and Ryan will walk back to the apartment together, probably hand in hand. That's after they shower together no doubt. I walk away trying not to pout. Fuck this threesome shit!

to be continued.... Donny Mumford thinat20@yahoo.com (mailto:thinat20@yahoo.com)

Please consider a tax deductible donation to nonprofit Nifty to help with the expense of keeping this story site running.