Disclaimer: The following story contains activity that would be considered of homosexual nature between consenting college students. While none of it crosses into a gratuitous nature, if such material is offensive to you or you are not of the legal age to read such material in your area, please do not. Other than that, please enjoy the story!
The Living Years
Chapter 8 "Every Party is Tonight's Party"
"Maybe it's just not a black people thing," Trey spoke, as he furrowed his eyebrows at another missed shot.
He, Shawn and Noah were in the Ark Hall pool room in the lobby, playing on a pool table in the far corner of the room. They'd been playing for a while. Trey against Shawn. And Noah against Trey. Each one of them had been trying to give Trey some pointers on how to play a better game, but none of them seemed to be getting through to him.
At the moment, he was playing Noah again, and had already been preparing himself for another loss.
"Nothing goes where I call it," Trey added, the frustration evident in his voice.
Shawn chuckled at him.
"Pool is just like any other sport," he stated. "You just have to practice. You'll get better, with a good teacher."
Noah, who was sitting in a bar stool watching the two of them play, rolled his eyes.
"Depends on who he's learning from," he spoke.
Shawn looked over at him briefly before deciding not to comment while lining up to take another shot.
Trey watched with nervous anticipation as Shawn aimed and took another shot sinking two of his balls in the process.
"Dammit!" Trey exclaimed. "Look at all those balls I still have left. Did I hit anything at all?"
Shawn chuckled at Trey's apparent frustration before Noah hopped off of his stool and walked over behind Trey.
"Here, let me help you," he said.
Trey looked around nervously as Noah stood behind him, lining up a shot with the stick in his hands. He was standing so close to him that he could feel the heat from his breath tapping across the back of his neck.
He almost felt comfortable being so close to Noah. It was bringing back the old feelings he thought he'd totally gotten rid of. They were still confusing feelings, but he could now tell that they were still there.
And after three days of getting to know him again, he was starting to remember why he had them in the first place.
"Okay, just line up straight for the corner where I set you up," Noah spoke, standing back. "See what happens."
Trey was temporarily preoccupied with his feelings.
"Trey..." Shawn spoke.
Trey snapped out of it and looked over at Noah who smiled at him, waiting for him to take his shot.
Shawn looked over at Noah, eyebrows furled.
Trey let out a breath and took the shot, surprised when he actually managed to sink in two of his own balls.
"Alright!" Noah exclaimed. "Good job, man."
Trey straightened up and looked over at Noah.
"Thanks..."
"Don't think that counts," Shawn spoke. "I mean, if you wanna play for him so badly, you should just say so. It saves time."
Noah looked over at Shawn with a bemused look.
"I wasn't playing for him, I was showing him how to-"
"Right, okay," Shawn objected, cueing his stick.
Trey looked over at Noah who seemed to be glaring at Shawn, who wasn't looking at either of them.
"Well if you wanna lose to me so badly, you just say that too," Noah suddenly spoke up.
Shawn looked over at Noah.
"What?"
"Yeah," Noah spoke, grabbing a stick off the wall. "You have what, two balls left to Trey's five?"
Shawn looked down at the table.
"Yeah, so?"
"So I bet you I can sink all five of them in before you can get in your two," Noah replied.
Shawn studied Noah's face to see just how serious he was being before looking over at Trey. He wasn't about to let Noah try and make him look like some kind of idiot. Not in front of Trey, he wasn't.
"Guys, how about we-"
"Okay," Shawn replied. "Let's go then."
Noah grinned slyly before looking over at Trey.
"Don't worry man," he spoke, cueing up his stick. "I totally have this."
Trey sat back on the bar stool feeling somewhat confused as to what was going on.
He had two new friends alright. He just wasn't so sure Noah and Shawn wanted him to have the two of them as his friends.
Jesse slowly opened his eyes and looked over at the clock next to his bed. It was flashing the time '12:00' over and over in bright red.
He stared at it, feeling slightly confused for a few seconds before looking over to notice that Amber was on her computer, instant messaging some of her friends.
He slowly forced himself up, not really sure what to think.
He'd known Amber nearly three weeks, and every day she'd woken him up in an effort to get him to attend his classes. Classes that he didn't necessarily want or need to attend but did anyway specifically for Amber's sake.
But today was different.
Not only was it clear that the day was over as far as going to class went but Amber was also clearly aware of the fact that he hadn't been up all day.
Something was going on.
"Morning love," he spoke.
Amber didn't even turn around in her chair to respond.
"Amber?"
"Kinda busy, Jesse," Amber replied.
Jesse was a bit taken aback with her snappy attitude. He was usually the one to show her that kind of animosity, even though most of the time it was only out of mild annoyance.
"Funny thing happened to me," Jesse started. "I think I overslept all of today's courses."
"That's what happens when you get piss drunk in the middle of the week," Amber replied, bitterly.
Jesse just stared at the back of her head as she continued to type.
"What happened to dragging me out of bed every morning?" he asked.
"What happened to taking responsibility for yourself because you're supposed to be an adult?"
Jesse removed the bedspread from over himself as he chuckled at Amber's statement.
"'Supposed to be' being the crucial key words of that statement," he said.
Jesse let his feet fall to the side of the futon as he yawned and stretched his muscles. He didn't normally sleep all day. He, of course, had no idea if he had in fact slept all day, as he didn't quite know what time it was.
"I see my friendly little alarm clock had an accident," he mumbled, glancing back at the clock still flashing that it was 12am.
"Alarm clocks can't have accidents Jesse," Amber replied with all seriousness. "Get with the program."
"Did you unplug my alarm clock, Amber?" Jesse asked.
Amber turned around in her seat, a smug look plastered on her made up face.
"Now Jesse, why on Earth would I do something like that?" she asked.
Jesse tried to study her expression.
"I don't know," he replied carefully.
"Yeah, I think I liked the first thing better," Amber replied, turning back around in her chair. "Maybe it did have an accident."
Jesse stared at the back of her head incredulously for a few seconds before standing up and walking over to look himself over in the mirror.
"Who knows what all I've missed because of this," he started, as if to try and make Amber feel guilty for his oversleeping. "I'd imagine that's the real shame here, yeah?"
Amber quickly turned back around in her chair.
"I'm sorry, are you blaming me for this?" she asked, incredulously.
"If I felt that badly about it, believe me, there'd be someone held accountable," Jesse replied, playing with the tips of his hair. "But the fact of the matter is, I don't shitting give a fuck."
"Yeah well maybe you should," Amber mumbled.
"It's the constant oversleeping thing, I'm concerned about," Jesse continued. "What if it begins to become a trend with me? That wouldn't be a good thing."
"Well maybe you should go move into some fancy hotel somewhere where room service wakes you up," Amber sneered.
Jesse turned to look at Amber for a moment before walking over to her and placing his hands on her shoulders, massaging them.
"And why would I want to do that when I have a perfectly good room and service right where I'm already at?"
Amber tensed up as Jesse continued to massage her shoulders.
"Jesse..." Amber spoke, trying to stay firm.
"Yeah love?" he asked, starting to kiss on her neck.
"Come on...I'm...I'm busy."
"Sure about that?"
Amber let Jesse continue to kiss on her neck before he all of a sudden just stopped.
"But yeah you're probably right," he sighed. "You do look rather preoccupied."
"But-"
"No, Jesse I'm-"
"Gotta get ready to start the day anyway," Jesse sighed, moving back over to the mirror handing above Amber's dresser. "My adoring public waits."
"I can't believe we've been hanging out three days now and I still haven't seen your room," Noah said placing his hands in his pockets as he waited for Trey to turn the key to the room and let him inside.
"It's not like you don't know what it looks like, remember?" Shawn asked.
Noah looked over at him nervously before clearing his throat and looking away.
"Yeah..." he replied.
Trey even felt tense after that comment as he turned the doorknob and walked into the room, Shawn and Noah following behind him.
"Home sweet home," Trey spoke. "Kind of."
Trey stood nervously by the side of his bed as Shawn shut the door behind everyone and went to open the blinds in the room.
"Well now we know which one's the slob," Noah spoke, looking over at Shawn's side of the room.
"Hey I clean alright," Shawn objected as he let some light into the room. "Just...stuff piles up."
"And up and up and-"
"So!" Trey interrupted, before anything escalated. "Now that we all know you're both equally good at playing pool, what now?"
Shawn and Noah exchanged looks of distaste as Trey plopped down atop his bed.
It took a few moments but Noah finally stopped glaring at Shawn before taking a seat in Trey's desk chair, pulling it out into the center of the room so that both Shawn and Trey were in his field of vision.
Shawn frowned over at Noah before taking a seat at his own chair and turned it so that he was facing both Trey and Noah.
"Well I just wanted to remember how cramped the dorm rooms in here were," Noah replied. "I'm all for doing something else."
"Like what?" Trey asked.
"We could go get something to eat," Shawn suggested.
"There's an open can of ravioli right next to your computer there," Noah spoke. "Try that."
"Nice," Shawn mumbled, rolling his eyes. "You know we haven't seen your room yet? Bet anything it's ten times worse."
"Only it's not because I've heard of cleaning," Noah replied.
Trey could tell that something was going on between them, but he couldn't exactly narrow it down. What he could feel was that it had to do with him. And while he liked the attention, the last thing he wanted was added drama.
"How about we just all go to dinner like we first said," Trey spoke up, actually getting in between Noah and Shawn in an effort to ease some of the tension between them. "I'm hungry."
"Good idea," Noah reasoned, standing up scoffing at Shawn, who got up as well.
Trey let out a sigh as he stood up and looked both Noah and Shawn over.
"Hey you think if we went without Shawn here he'd actually clean up his side of the room for you?" Noah asked as the three of them started towards the door.
"Now why do you have to be such a piece of shit-"
"No, because that would be asking too much of him right?" Noah responded, completely ignoring how angry Shawn seemed to be getting.
And in any other time in any other place, Shawn would have already told Noah where he could go and what he could do to himself, but he knew that he couldn't. He knew that if he wanted to get into Trey's good graces, he had a lot of ground to make up for. He knew that he was in worse shape than Noah in Trey's eyes and that he had a lot to come back from.
Picking a fight with the guy he knew that Trey had feelings for wouldn't go over well at all with him.
Shawn was fuming as they exited the room and Trey turned to lock the door but was surprised when Noah put his arm around Shawn's shoulders and pulled him in tightly.
"You know I'm just fucking with you, right man?" he asked, a huge grin on his face.
Shawn sighed and was about to make a negative comment before he noticed Trey turning to face the both of them and quickly decided against it.
Instead he freed himself from Noah's grip and grinned right back, decided that he was going to be the winner of their little game.
"Right pal!" he exclaimed in a pseudo fake voice.
"Okay then," Trey replied. "Let's go."
Jesse knew full well the serious trouble he could be in if anyone besides Amber's friend Heather found out that he was staying with her in the sorority. He was actually surprised that no one had figured it out already.
The thing was, he didn't really care. That was the whole point. Up until this point, he'd been staying out of sight and trouble for Amber's sake, a reason he barely validated for himself. But now that Amber seemed to be growing just as agitated with him as he usually was with her, he was feeling more rebellious.
He usually felt more the rebellious type when people that got on his nerves stood to lose something. And then his vengeful side usually took over and he made it his mission to ruin that person's life, even if they were related. Not that he really could ruin anyone in his family's life, but that wasn't to say that he hadn't at least tried.
Still though, he'd missed his entire day's worth of classes thanks to Amber and wasn't really quite sure what he wanted to do with himself. It was too early to go to another party and he didn't feel like trying to catch the bus all the way back to the main part of campus where everything and everyone was at.
So he decided that he was going to risk against risk and navigate through the saintly halls of the sorority.
He hadn't really paid attention to anything that wasn't in his and Amber's room before, so everything outside of it seemed new to him.
He was still standing right outside his and Amber's room, looking around.
Amber's room just so happened to be the very first one on the second floor, located directly next to the circular shaped stairwell, the only way to get up and down between floors.
To his left were the rest of the rooms, four on each side and at the very end of the hallway was a door which led to a room he had no interest in visiting. Yet, anyway.
For the time being, he decided to go downstairs and have a look around down there.
As he headed down the twenty or so steps that curled around leading to the bottom, he passed two blondes, one of whom stared at him the way he was used to just about every female staring at him and the other flashed him a look of shock, probably due to his even being there.
When he reached the bottom, things seemed to be a little bit busier than normal for some reason.
Quite a few girls passed him without giving him so much as a second look. Everyone seemed to have lives and didn't care that a celebrity was in their midst, let alone a male.
Set up about ten feet facing the front doors was a table towards his far left covered in blue silk with pamphlets and posters set up. Two girls, a brunette and another blonde were sitting at the table looking cheerful as they greeted more girls entering the sorority.
Curious, he made his way over to the two of them, who had just finished talking to a young girl who headed for the back hallway.
"Oh sorry, this is a sorority," the brunette started. "We don't care how flamboyant you are, even gay guys can't pledge."
"Listen sweetheart, don't start having a go at me," Jesse started, bemused that anyone would consider him a queer. "I'm as straight as they come."
"Quick who did Britney Spears recently marry!" the blonde spouted.
"That bloody prick with the permanent five o clock shadow," Jesse quickly responded. "Can you believe I dared her to marry the cheekiest git she could find and stay married to him until she had two kids with him over cocktails one night?"
The two girls exchanged glances before turning back to Jesse.
"You met Britney Spears?" the brunette asked.
"Please, I have her number on speed-dial in my cell," Jesse replied, waving his expensive two thousand dollar titanium cell phone around. "I'd give her a ring, but something tells me she's out trying to do some more senseless acts just to make the gossip column."
"Okay, look, you may not be gay but you're still a guy and the answer is no," the blonde spoke.
"What if I told you I was getting information for my girlfriend?" Jesse asked, thinking quickly.
"I'd say I was disappointed to hear that," the blonde spoke, a gleam in her eye. "We could've had fun together."
"Melissa!" the brunette gasped.
Jesse grinned at the Melissa girl, leaning over the table and taking her hands into his.
"Tell you what love," he started. "Why don't you give me your number so I can-"
"Cookie?" the brunette asked, shoving a plate of cookies Jesse hadn't seen previously in his face.
He looked them over before straightening himself back up.
"Uh, no thanks," he replied. "I think I'll just stick to the tour. Oh wait, there's my girlfriend now!"
Jesse rushed off to intercept Heather who was heading straight for him.
"Jesse, what are you doing here? I thought you moved out?" Heather asked as she and Jesse started down a hallway past some of the touring guests.
"Did Amber tell you that?" Jesse asked suspiciously.
Heather stared at him curiously without responding while Jesse looked around.
"So what's going on?" Jesse asked. "And please tell me it's the meeting before the all female orgy I wasn't invited to."
"And suddenly, I'm reminded why I joined a sorority," Heather replied.
Jesse continued to look around as they walked.
"No actually it's the day the heads of the sorority show off the house to girls who might want to pledge next semester," Heather replied.
"A bit early for that, isn't it?" Jesse asked.
"Not really," Heather replied. "Plus, afterwards, we always have these really huge parties....or so I've heard. I haven't been here long enough to know."
"Parties? Really?" Jesse asked, suddenly interesting in the conversation.
"Yeah, only it's the same theme every year," Heather replied. "My sister pledged this sorority and all four years she was here they had the same lame Greek toga party thing going on."
Jesse had been to couple of toga parties in his lifetime that he could honestly attest weren't boring at all. It all depended on who planned the party. And he knew a thing or two about planning a good party.
"So why not change the theme?" Jesse asked.
"I wish," Heather replied, as she and Jesse turned a corner leading to the kitchen Jesse had no idea they had. "The junior and senior heads are the only ones allowed on the party planning committee and they like tradition for some reason."
Jesse took a seat at a bar stool in the surprisingly large and nicely furnished kitchen as Heather made her way over to the refrigerator.
"Hungry?" she asked.
Jesse hadn't really heard the question as he was too busy thinking about ways to not only get the heads to change the party theme but to help with the planning as well. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but he usually found ways to get what he wanted.
His thoughts were interrupted when Heather brought him over a bowl of warm soup someone had cooked on the stove, setting it in front of him.
Jesse, having slept all day long, was in fact hungry and didn't even question the soups contents before taking a sip and deciding it was lacking something.
"Well, I can definitely say that-"
"It needs salt!" Trey proclaimed, looking over his chili.
"What?" Noah asked, amused.
"I don't know it's just....a little bland," Trey replied.
"How can chili need salt?" Noah asked.
"They same way you think potatoes require mayonnaise," Shawn replied, squeezing mustard onto his hotdog.
"At least I'm eating real food for dinner," Noah shot back.
Trey looked both of them over before deciding that he needed to separate the two of them until one or both of them cooled off.
"Damn, I got a cramp in my leg," he moaned, pretending as best he could to relay that he had a cramp in his legs.
Both Noah and Shawn looked over at him concerned.
"You okay?" Noah asked.
"Yeah but I need a refill on this drink...and I actually changed my mind," he replied. "I don't want the chili. I want what Noah has."
"Oh," Noah replied. "Um, okay, how about if I go get that for you-"
"Too late," Shawn replied, standing up.
He grabbed Trey's empty cup and set off to go do as Trey asked.
"Okay," Noah replied. "Hey, but really, are you okay?"
Trey felt a little guilty for making the two of them think that he was in some kind of pain when it was obvious that they were concerned for him.
"Yeah," he replied, trying not to let just how guilty he felt show.
"You know I-"
Noah stopped abruptly when he felt the phone in his pocket vibrating. He quickly took it out and looked at the number displayed on his caller ID panel.
"Um..." he wavered, staring at the number for a few seconds before looking over at Trey. "I probably should take this."
"Oh...okay," Trey replied.
He had only been intending to get rid of one of them, not both of them. The last thing he wanted to do was eat dinner alone. But he wasn't so selfish that he was going to deprive Noah from talking to whoever it was that had called him.
"I'll be right back," Noah replied, before he too left the table.
He watched him until he was out of sight and the cafeteria before he looked around to se if he could spot Shawn. From where they were sitting, it was impossible.
He looked over the chili that he'd decided he didn't want in an effort to avoid facing the looks of everyone in the room before the next thing he knew, someone was sitting across from him again.
"That was fast..." were the first words to quickly come out of his mouth.
Words that had been meant for either Shawn or Trey, not who had sat down in their place.
"I see you got Shawn running errands for you," Ben started.
Trey wasn't sure what to say to him as he stared over at him.
He knew who Ben was. He was supposedly Shawn's best friend. He didn't know much about Ben, as before when he and Shawn hadn't been getting along, the two of them were always gone off somewhere together. And now that they were getting along, Shawn hadn't mentioned or gone off with him once.
"Look its cool," Ben replied. "I get it. I messed up really bad with him and he needs a friend. That's why I need your help."
Trey suddenly felt more like he had something to say.
"Me?" he asked.
"Shawn won't talk to me," Ben replied. "And it's like all of a sudden the two of you are really tight. I just thought maybe you could help me get an in with him again. So I can apologize right."
Trey wasn't sure what he was talking about but he did feel compelled enough to care.
He was about to give Ben an answer when he noticed a tray being slammed down on the table to his left and an angry looking Shawn standing at the end of the table.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he growled.
Ben stood up, looking apologetic yet unthreatened.
"Look, I was just-"
"Now you can just fucking leave!"
Trey looked over at Shawn who looked like he was ready to fight and over at Ben, who still looked unthreatened but unwilling to fight.
As Ben was leaving, Noah made his way back to the table, turning to look back at Ben as he passed him and over at Shawn and then Trey.
Shawn looked down at the table, looking slightly confused and flustered before pushing Trey his plate of food without even looking at him.
"Here," he replied, sounding like someone had sucked half his energy out of him. "Sorry about that. It won't happen again, believe me."
"Who was that?" Noah asked, curiously, as he took his seat next to Shawn across from Trey.
"Nobody," Shawn replied.
Trey believed one thing just then as he looked Shawn over. What happened wasn't ever going to happen again. Because he was going to help find a way to make sure that it wouldn't.
Jesse had an exam to take in one of his classes the next day but that hadn't stopped him from devoting all his time coming up with themes for the party he knew for certain was going to happen rather than studying.
He'd made a huge list of themes covering everything from Heaven and Hell to Retro 80's. He was a big fan of themed parties because they were almost like shows to him. It was a chance for him to show just how much attention he thought he really deserved and generally received.
"Can't do the whole Foreigner theme," Jesse mumbled as looked over his list. "People might get confused. And has been cover bands aren't even in anymore."
Jesse was sitting at Amber's desk in front of her computer. He wasn't quite sure where she was, but he'd long since stopped thinking about her. Which was exactly the reason why he hadn't heard her come in twenty minutes earlier. Or why he hadn't paid any attention to the bath water running for another ten minutes or the loud Fall Out Boy music coming from the bathroom for a half hour.
Actually, he noticed, vaguely, but since Amber was the furthest thing from his mind, he tuned it all out.
Amber had herself noticed this about Jesse and had already decided on what to do about his feigning interest in her.
"Hey," Amber spoke, upon opening the door to the bathroom.
Jesse looked over at her and her outfit, which was enough to cause him to stop paying attention to what he was doing for the time being.
Amber was standing with one arm leaning herself against the door frame, the other planted on her hip with one leg crossed before the other in a sexy pose. She was wearing a lace see through blouse with furry white feathers around the edges and lace underwear. The outfit itself was purposefully sexy, but still tasteful. She didn't consider herself a trashy girl.
"What's the get up for?" Jesse asked, curiously.
Amber started towards him slowly.
"Oh I don't know," she replied, turning him in his chair as she started massaging his shoulders and neck. "I thought maybe you could use a break. Relax a little."
"And the outfit is supposed to help stimulate that?" Jesse asked, already knowing the answer himself.
"Exactly," Amber replied.
Jesse wasn't the type of guy who got `excited' over any and every sexy little thing. He knew how to control himself, but he couldn't deny that Amber was starting to turn him on, surprisingly.
He allowed himself to let out a deep breath and to get more comfortable as Amber continued.
"And I, oh I don't know...I thought maybe I could return the favor from earlier," Amber replied as she continued to massage Jesse. "Show you I know how to give just as good as I get."
Jesse was somewhat amazed with how forward and surprisingly unlike herself Amber was being. She didn't normally seem like a trashy girl to him.
"Now, lay your head back and close your eyes," Amber started.
"I'm afraid I can't indulge you there, love," Jesse replied. "I'm working on something-"
"Jesse!"
Jesse let out an annoyed sigh as he complied with Amber's wishes.
"Okay, now I want you to think about being far way," Amber spoke soothingly as she massaged him. "Think about relaxing somewhere peaceful."
Jesse wanted to remark on how the last thing he was thinking about was relaxing given the situation he was in but decided to at least try to do what Amber was suggestion.
"Think about being in a spa somewhere....on a beach....on a beach in Hawaii!"
"That's it!" Jesse exclaimed, shooting up, bumping Amber's chin.
"Ow!" Amber exclaimed grabbing her chin.
Jesse grabbed his list of themes and threw it away, starting a new sheet in his notebook.
"Beaches of Maui," Jesse spoke the words as he wrote them down. "Haven't actually been, but it can't be that hard to throw a beach themed party."
"A what?" Amber asked, looking her chin over in the mirror.
"Nothing," Jesse replied, as he started writing down all kinds of ideas for the party.
Amber looked herself over for a few more seconds before looking at Jesse in the mirror before turning to face him.
"I'm going to bed now," she announced, hopefully.
She waited for some kind of reply from Jesse but when she didn't get one she decided to see if he heard her.
"Did you hear me? I said I was going to bed."
"Yeah," Jesse replied, without even looking up at her. "I'm gonna need to keep this light on though."
Amber gasped before angrily stomping over to the bed and climbing atop it, feeling frustrated beyond belief with another thwarted attempt on her part.
Trey had contemplated how he wanted to set about trying to repair Shawn and Ben's damaged relationship all the previous night. Needless to say, the subject had kept him up.
But he didn't feel the least bit tired. He was still excited over the whole having friends thing. He knew that most everyone had friends and that it was normal, but for him it wasn't and the very idea let alone actual occurrence excited him.
He knew that things with Grace hadn't gone so well but the fact that he now had both Shawn and Noah interested in being friends with him had been enough to quickly get him out of his bad spirits.
And now he wanted to do the same for Shawn.
Shawn hadn't really been the same since his encounter with Ben at dinner the previous night. Before it seemed like he and Noah were in some kind of `make the other guy look bad' competition, but after it was almost like Shawn had stopped caring.
He'd barely initiated himself into their conversations and was nearly downright depressing to be around. It all just told Trey that Shawn missed Ben more than he cared to admit. And as much as he liked the idea of becoming good friends with Shawn, the last thing he wanted to be was someone's substitute friend.
He was fully aware of what getting Shawn to be friends with Ben again could entail. He hadn't really found Ben to be that bad a guy, but when Shawn was friends with him, that was when he was the roommate from hell and all around pain in the ass. When the two of them weren't friends that was when the Shawn he could stand came out. But he knew that he cared more about what Shawn wanted at the moment than what he wanted, even if they were completely conflicting feelings.
So he'd decided to go against the grain and hoped that there was some way that he could help piece back together the remains of a friendship that he could tell still somewhat remained.
There must have been something about Shawn and the night because if there was something bothering him the previous night, it was like it was completely non existent the next morning. Or at least, that was the way it seemed to Trey.
"Hey," Shawn spoke, sounding as cheerful as a person could at 7:30 in the morning. "You sleep okay?"
"Um," Trey started, regarding Shawn somewhat apprehensively. "I guess."
"Yeah, so did I," Shawn replied, before heading over to his closet to pick out an outfit.
For one thing, it was almost like he could tell that Shawn was lying. That had taken him aback. But another thing that had managed to distract him was the fact that Shawn was completely naked except for a pair of loose boxers.
That was something that Trey had noticed at Shawn, which even went back as far as their orientation days. Shawn was obviously completely comfortable with his body. And Trey saw no reason as to why he shouldn't have been. He wasn't sure if Shawn worked out, but he had nicely defined pecs, biceps and arms, something that was causing somewhat of excitement in him in particular.
But he'd already noticed how nice a body Shawn had, but that was before when he was still confused about the way he was feeling. He knew for sure now that he was gay and there was no way to get around it. Especially with someone as hot as Shawn being his roommate.
"Aren't you gonna iron that?" Trey asked as he looked through his own clothes for an outfit.
"Why?" Shawn asked, curiously.
Trey wasn't sure if it was just Shawn or a white person thing in general, but he wasn't sure why it seemed like Shawn never ironed his clothes. It was strange to him, but not that big a problem.
"Oh hey listen, I thought maybe I could straighten up this mess after class," Shawn started, as he set his clothes atop his unmade bed. "If you're not doing anything maybe you could help."
Ordinarily, Trey would object to such a thing but the situation was vastly different than it had been a few days ago.
"Yeah sure, why not," Trey replied.
"Cool," Shawn replied.
Trey wasn't sure how he was supposed to be helping Shawn and Ben, especially now that he wouldn't be able to talk to Ben if he was going to be with Shawn afternoon, but he knew that he had to find some kind of way to make something work.
Jesse had no qualms in telling Amber that he was going to class today. For one thing, they shared no classes so it would impossible for her to know if actually attended any of them. Plus it wasn't like he hadn't become accustomed to telling lies when he wanted to.
But he wasn't skipping his classes in favor of taking some time to himself. He wasn't really skipping class at all. He just wasn't going to his own classes.
When he was talking to Heather the previous day, he'd found out which two seniors would be the ones in charge of throwing Friday's party and had done a bit of research to find out what classes they had and when.
He knew that he was cutting it a bit close as far as trying to completely change the party from one theme to his theme, but as far as he was concerned, his way was the only way or else there wouldn't be any party. Not a good one anyway.
The senior he really needed to talk to was Carmen Flint, best friend to the president of the sorority and all around party girl. He wasn't naïve though. Even though Carmen was blonde and wild, as far as he'd heard, he knew that there was a reason why the girl was a senior in college. She couldn't have been as stupid as she let on or other people made her out to be.
Which just meant that it was going to be a little bit tougher to convince her to do things his way, but not impossible.
He'd found what was supposed to be her first class well enough, even if he wasn't quite sure what it was supposed to be about. A course about sexuality didn't really seem like an actual course at all to him but he was curious to see what it was all about.
He knew what Carmen looked like thanks to Heather and didn't have a problem spotting her in the rather small classroom.
Instead of rows or individual desks, the room was made out to look like someone's living room, which thoroughly confused him. There were sofas, been bag chairs and gigantic pillows sprawled out everywhere which posed the question as to whether they were supposed to be learning about sex or actually having it.
Not really feeling all that sure about his initial decision, he located Carmen, who must have loved attention if she'd picked one of the giant pillows in the middle of the room to sit on, and sat on one next to her.
He knew what he had to do, he was just still feeling a bit confused over the décor in the room. He almost felt like he was part of some kind of cult once other students started pouring in. There were a wide variety of them. Hardcore gothic types. Jock types. Gorgeous blondes like Carmen. He wasn't really sure what possessed a person to want to take a class on sexuality, but it looked like any and everyone had decided to sign up anyway.
He was almost feeling somewhat overwhelmed. He had Carmen's schedule. He could meet up with her in another class. And that was exactly what he'd decided to do. He was just about to get up when the course professor entered the room, shutting the door behind him.
Jesse wasn't sure why, but an overwhelming feeling of being trapped in the room suddenly overcame him. He knew that he was free to go if he wanted to, but for some reason, he still felt trapped.
"Hey guys," the professor greeted everyone as he looked through the briefcase he'd brought in with him.
"Bill, are we gonna finish that movie we started watching Tuesday?" Jesse was surprised to hear Carmen of all people asking.
Being a class on sexuality, Jesse could only imagine what kind of `movies' they watched.
"Eventually," Bill replied. "I thought maybe we could talk a little bit about what makes someone sexually appealing."
Jesse snorted at that comment, regretting it once everyone turned his way. Normally he loved attention, but in this room with these people, he figured he could do without for a change.
"Who are you?" Carmen asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
"But first, how sexually appealing am I?" Jesse countered.
"Excuse me?" Carmen asked, sounding a bit appalled.
"Go on now, everyone, don't be shy," Jesse replied.
The words had barely left Jesse's mouth when a girl sitting to his right grabbed him and turned him facing her, rubbing the fabric of his Abercrombie t-shirt.
"Very," the girl replied, seductively.
"Lauren," Bill spoke, sounding put off. "Why don't you let go of the student I didn't know I had in a class of only twenty five."
Jesse could feel the pressure was on. Fortunately, he was superior at thinking on his feet.
"Maybe you should pay attention more mister.....Bill," Jesse replied, trying to sound like he was hurt as best he could. "That really hurts my feelings."
"Oh....well, I-"
"How about!" Jesse started, cutting Bill off and now turning the tables to sound hopefully optimistic. "To make it up to me we have that discussion you talked about in pairs."
"Okay...I don't see the harm in that," Bill replied, still looking at Jesse as if he wasn't entirely sure that he was one of his students but not wanting to look bad in front of the other ones.
"Great, let's be partners Carmen," Jesse replied, turning back to face her.
"How do you know my name?" Carmen asked.
"Now how do you think that makes me feel Carmen?" Jesse asked, putting on the theatrics once again. "To know that after three weeks my own professor and classmates don't even recognize me?"
"I..."
"That's okay....you can make it up to me too," Jesse started.
"What?"
`You're head of the party planning committee for Friday's party at your sorority aren't you?" he asked.
"Yeah but how-"
"I know a guy who knows lots of girls....anyway, I hear the theme for the party is gonna be lame toga gowns again," Jesse continued. "Is that true?"
"Yeah well it's tradition you know?" Carmen replied. "It's kind of bad luck to break tradition."
Says who, Jesse thought.
"Did you know that most of the girls actually want to change the theme?" Jesse asked.
Carmen crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows at Jesse.
"You sure do know a lot about me and my sorority," she spoke. "What are you following me?"
He could tell that last part had been asked jokingly but Jesse decided to use what he could get.
"Maybe," he replied seductively, and then lowered his head after looking around leaning closer to Carmen to get her to do the same.
Carmen looked around and then leaned forwards as well.
"You wanna know why I'm taking a class on sexuality when I've already passed it three times?" he asked, seductively.
Carmen's breathing slowed as Jesse grew dangerously close to her lips.
"There isn't a single thing I don't know about sex," he continued. "Care to test that theory?"
And it was at that moment that Jesse knew he had Carmen hooked, just like he knew he would.
"And in what decade did you buy this and forget about it?" Trey asked, holding up a completely molded and unopened loaf of bread.
Shawn looked over at what Trey was holding up and moaned.
"Ugh, I forgot my mom packed me food," he replied. "I eat at the cafeteria."
"So do I," Trey replied.
Which was the reason why neither one of them had any food in their cabinets. Well, not edible food apparently. Only drinks.
"Hey thanks again for helping me out," Shawn spoke, placing one of his clean shirts on a hanger.
He and Trey had been working on getting his side of the room clean for nearly two hours and still weren't completely done. At least not according to Trey's standards. Trey wanted to make sure that Shawn's side of the room looked just as spotless as his side looked if he was going to expend the amount of effort he was into helping him.
"No problem," Trey replied.
He had to admit, when it seemed like Shawn was at his best and completely willing to spend time with him, he was willing right back. He liked spending time with Shawn.
But he had a few other things on his mind as well.
"Hey so what's with you and Noah?" he asked, as he folded a pair of Shawn's jeans. "Do you not like him or something?"
Shawn seemed to tense up at the question and he folded one of his jackets, back turned to Trey.
"No, why?" he asked.
"I don't know," Trey replied. "I just...I got the feeling that maybe..."
"He's not my favorite guy, I'll admit that," Shawn replied. "But if he's your friend. He's my friend."
Trey wasn't sure what to say to that. He almost regretted what he did say next.
"So what if I wanted to be friends with Ben?"
Shawn stopped what he was doing and quickly turned to face Trey.
"What?"
"I mean, I thought-"
"Please...could you just stay away from him?" Shawn asked. "What about him anyway?"
Trey looked down, suddenly feeling how he used to feel around Shawn. Like he was insignificant and didn't matter somehow. He knew that Shawn wasn't trying to make him feel that way, so he tried not to get too upset.
"Sorry," Shawn mumbled, suddenly feeling like he'd made some kind of mistake with Trey. "Uh, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go see if the front desk has a vacuum."
That was what he told Trey, and it was partly true. He mostly just needed to take some time to cool off and get some air. He was doing well in his efforts to get Trey to completely open up to and confide in him and he didn't want to ruin things. He said a lot of hurtful things when he was angry and was trying to get away from that.
"Okay," Trey spoke meekly, still feeling like he'd done something wrong.
He watched as Shawn passed him and let the door shut gently behind him. Every door on the floor slammed shut if you let it shut on its own so he was happy that Shawn had stopped it from doing that. It was sign that he wasn't that mad at him if he cared enough to be that considerate.
Still, he was worried that if he didn't find a way to help him get over his problems with Ben that he wouldn't really be able to be friends with him. Not entirely anyway.
Trey decided to take a break from helping Shawn with his side of the room and stood up walking over the window near Shawn's bed and looking out of it.
There was a group of guys, white and black, all playing basketball on the spacious basketball court in the courtyard outside. There was a group of girls and other people standing in the grass watching them play.
Plenty of times went by where Trey wished that he had some skill other than being great in school. He didn't really have a bad subject. He was good at anything academic. Learning other things, like how to play basketball as well as was supposed to be expected of him as a black guy, had been a whole different story.
Then again, he wasn't sure why he was even fooling himself. Even if he could play, there was no way he was going to have enough courage to ask to join the guys already playing. But, that was what he was hoping to get out of his college experience. He was starting to come out of his shell more, but he also realized it was only because the people he knew and talked to since coming to the school had started conversations with him first. He knew he was going to have to take some initiative sooner or later.
As he continued to stare out the window, his thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at the door.
Thinking it could have been Noah, even though Noah mentioned having an exam to study for, he rushed over to answer the door.
It wasn't Noah at the door, however.
"Hey," Ben spoke. "I just saw Shawn in the lobby. I was hoping you'd be up here."
Trey wasn't sure what Ben wanted now. It was obvious he hadn't done much to help the two of them become friends again so he wasn't sure what could have changed since they kinda-sorta talked the previous day.
"There's a party tomorrow night," Ben stared. "This sorority is hosting it. Only frat guys and other sororities are really invited, but I figured if you could get Shawn to come so that we could talk, I could vouch for you guys."
Trey just stared at Ben.
"Oh and anyone else you wanted to bring too," Ben added.
Trey didn't like the idea of parties. And after the last one had gone so horribly, he was far from looking forward to the idea of this one.
"I wouldn't be asking you this if I didn't think you could help," Ben said. "I see how close you and Shawn are now. All he wanted in the first place to get along with you."
"Really? He said that?" Trey asked.
"Not really," Ben replied. "But I'm his best friend...I can tell."
Trey did, however, like the idea of Shawn really wanting to be friends with him as much as he did. If being friends with Ben again was going to make him happy, then he was all for it.
"Here's an invite," Ben spoke, handing Trey a brightly colored sheet of paper with the words "Beaches of Maui" in bold at the top. "Don't tell Shawn about party. Just try to get him there."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Trey asked.
"I don't know," Ben replied. "If you have to tell him, fine. I just don't want him to know I'll be there. Otherwise he won't come with you."
Trey didn't like how secretive everything was becoming and how it seemed like some kind of James Bond mission all of a sudden, but he was still willing to help.
"Okay," Trey replied.
"Thanks man," Ben replied, sounding relieved. "I gotta go before Shawn gets back."
Trey watched as Ben rushed down the hallway, nearly bumping into Noah as he passed.
"Hey," he greeted Trey, looking back at Ben rushing down the hall. "Who was that?"
Trey looked down at the party invitation before looking up at Noah.
"No one," he replied. "Hey you wanna go to a party tomorrow night?"
"Why Mr. Jackson I'm shocked," Shawn spoke playfully as he and Trey approached the sorority house. "Shocked that you'd actually bring me here. To a rager."
"A whater?" Trey asked.
"A party," Shawn replied. "With a Tiki theme too."
Trey watched as Shawn took a drink off of a tray that a girl dressed in a hula skirt and coconut bra was carrying around the outside guests.
"Why? I can be spontaneously wild you know," Trey replied.
Shawn chuckled at that as he took a sip of his drink and looked around.
"This place looks familiar," Shawn replied. "I think maybe I've been here before."
"Uh, I doubt it," Trey quickly mumbled as he and Shawn stood at the front door, where a rather large obviously frat guy stood blocking the entrance to the door.
"Invite?" he barked.
Trey reached into his back pocket to fish it out as Shawn continued to look around while sipping on his margarita.
He turned his head just in time to see Trey handing the guy in their way an invitation.
"Somebody gave you an invitation?" he asked, curiously.
"You sound surprised," Trey replied as the guy moved out of their way to allow them access to the house. "Spontaneously wild, remember?"
Trey felt a bit overwhelmed once inside. He'd only been to one other party in his life but already just from the looks of things it palled in comparison to the one he was at currently.
The entire floor was covered in sand, something he hadn't thought anyone would do given it was a house they'd been invited to. Granted, it was a rather large mansion-esque house, but it was still a house nonetheless.
There were Tiki poles set up everywhere and bright colored lights hanging on strings all around the room. In one corner a large group was playing some kind of limbo game while in another there was bonfire, contained, but a bonfire no less, roasting what looked to be a pig. All INSIDE of a house.
"Well Wild Child," Shawn started as he and Trey looked around in awe. "I think this is what's called not being in Kansas anymore."
Trey could attest to that. He wasn't even aware something like what had been set up inside the house was even humanly possibly. In short, it was all incredible.
The difference between his so called `black party' and this one with mostly white guests was like night and day.
Trey wasn't sure where to go or what to do first. He did, however, turn around when he felt himself being tapped on the shoulder.
"Hey," Noah greeted him.
Also with Noah were both Zoey and Grace.
He frowned upon seeing Grace.
Shawn frowned upon seeing Noah.
"Man," Noah spoke looking around. "Hate to see the cleaning bill for this place."
"I'd hate to be the one to have to clean it," Zoey added.
"Um..." Trey started.
He knew what he wanted to say. He just didn't want to say in front of Grace.
"Hey, you said I could invite whoever I wanted," Noah spoke, a bit defensively.
"You invited him?" Shawn asked, incredulously, nearly forgetting the he, Noah and Trey were all supposed to be friends. "Who invited YOU?"
"Would you believe my roommate has connections," Zoey decided to speak up for Trey. "I've never really been into the whole sorority thing myself. I'm one of those people who actually LEAVE high school to come to college."
"Hey Trey," Grace greeted.
Trey looked over at her but didn't say anything.
"Great, being in peril is already scratched off my list," Zoey spoke, looking over at the contained bonfire. "Let's hope fire in the hole isn't as bad of an idea as I'd like to think it is."
Shawn was glaring at Noah.
Noah was glaring at Shawn.
Trey was glaring at Grace.
And Zoey was the only one who hadn't a clue what was going on. But she wasn't stupid either and decided to try to break some of the tension.
"Come on Grace," Zoey spoke. "Let's go dance on each other like all the white girls."
"This is who I'm friends with," Grace spoke before walking off with Zoey further into the house and out of sight.
"So, here we are," Noah spoke. "Again."
"Yep," Shawn added.
"Yeah," Trey spoke.
He was back to feeling awkward. At a so called `rager' no less.
"Shouldn't we be having fun?" Trey asked. "This IS a party after all."
Shawn and Noah glared at each other. That was about when Shawn caught sight of Ben coming towards him from behind Noah.
He wasn't sure what came over him but he pushed Noah out of the way and walked over until he was facing Ben.
"What the fuck are you doing here!?" He shouted over the music.
"I invited Trey," Ben started. "Look, I just wanna talk....can we talk?"
"About what? We've already been through this Ben," Shawn sighed.
Noah looked over at Trey.
"What's going on?" he asked, feeling like there was something going on and he was the only one who didn't know what.
Trey shrugged, suddenly feeling like he needed a drink.
He started off towards the kitchen, without saying anything to Noah, who caught up to him and followed him in.
Trey rubbed his forehead feeling like the entire night was one bad idea and grabbed the first drink he could get his hands on.
"Two Pina Colada's and one Blue Hawaii up!" Jesse exclaimed, having fun playing bartender to the party he planned.
Noah caught sight of Jesse and moaned.
Jesse in turn noticed Noah and Trey and frowned.
"For the love of...INVITE ONLY!" he exclaimed. "I told them that! I'm starting to agree blondes can't do anything right."
"First mistake made, letting you in," Noah growled.
"For your information I happen to LIVE HERE!" Jesse exclaimed.
"Right, just like I live at the Playboy Mansion rubbing one out with Hugh and the playmates all day long," Noah replied.
"Can we cut down on some of this noise?" Trey asked.
Not being one made for alcohol from lack of actually drinking it, Trey had made the mistake of drinking all three of the drinks that Jesse had made in less than two minutes and was already starting to feel the effects.
"Oh and what's he doing here? You rent the place out for a wedding ceremony?" Jesse asked.
"You're a little asshole you know that?" Noah asked.
"That's what she said...only not in those words," Jesse shot back. "You really ought to learn to control yourself more often. Otherwise people might figure you out."
"Unlike you where there's not much going on that needs figuring out," Noah replied.
"Okay, where's security?" Jesse spoke looking around. "I know they're around here somewhere. I didn't hire them for nothing."
Noah stopped paying attention to Jesse and looked over at Trey who really looked like he wasn't doing too well. He took a seat on one of the bar stools next to him and put his arm around him, leaning in to his lowered head.
"You okay?" he asked, concerned.
"I think I might up throw," Trey replied. "I mean. Throw up.....god, turn down the god damn music already!"
Noah stood up as Trey stood up and headed back to where the party was taking place.
"Oh, no you don't!" Jesse mumbled, following behind Noah.
"Trey...are you okay?" Grace asked as he and Noah passed her and Zoey dancing.
"When are the guys I know ever not gonna be drunk?" Zoey sighed as she followed them as well.
Trey was headed straight for the exit. He was feeling shaky and could barely see anything but he had had enough. He knew that they were all signs that it was time for him to abandon yet another disastrous night.
"Trey...what happened? What'd you do to him?" Shawn asked upset with Noah upon seeing how sick Trey looked.
"Shawn..." Ben started, placing a hand on Shawn's shoulder who turned around and punched him square in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.
"I told you....you and me...we're THROUGH!" Shawn shouted as someone helped Ben up and he wiped some blood from the side of his mouth.
By then everyone had stopped paying attention to what they were doing in favor of watching the drama that was Ben and Shawn.
"God, he's gonna need a bucket," Zoey spoke turning her attention back to Trey.
Shawn glared at a hurt looking Ben before also turning his attention back to Trey.
Jesse moved aside as the security he'd hired made their way through the crowd and over to the commotion at the front.
"There they are!" he spoke.
"Come on," Shawn spoke, placing an arm around one side of Trey while Noah did the same with the other.
The three of them as well as Zoey and Grace started slowly down the steps of the house and down the path leading to the street.
"Long ass way back to be walking," Grace commented.
"He could use the walk off, wouldn't you agree?" Zoey replied.
Jesse made his way to the front steps and watched as Noah and everyone else was leaving.
"Next time, realize where you are and know when you haven't been invited," he called after them. "Saves time and trouble."
No one called back to him but he wasn't expecting them to. As long as he got the last word in, that was all that he was concerned with.
That and them all leaving HIS party. The party that was successful before they all came along.
He turned and entered the sorority house, a bit put off with how people were still standing around like the drama that occurred was still happening.
"Dance people!" he spoke. "The party's not over."
My Yahoo Group is currently under construction. I will be leaving the links to the finished advanced chapters of The Living Years up until I need to move them later (but only into a new folder). Feel free to stop by and check out the progress:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/
Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com
Copyright 2006