Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:45:04 -0500
From: Jeff Allen <jeff_allen15@hotmail.com>
Subject: "Love of a Lifetime" Part 20

This is a fictional story dealing with love and consensual sexual
activities between males.  If you are not of legal age, reside in an area
where viewing such material is illegal, or are offended by homosexuality
and/or homosexual themes, leave this site now.

The author retains all rights to this story.  No reproductions or links to
other sites are allowed without the permission of the author.

Note: I owe a special thanks to Robb for doing the final proofreading and
catching all those silly little errors that I missed.


PART 20

     For the first two weeks in the apartment, Justin and I shared the
double bed in the one bedroom.  His folks brought up some bedroom furniture
after that, and Justin moved into the other bedroom.  Even after getting
his own bed, he would crawl in bed with me once or twice a week, especially
if we had a big test coming up.  Of course we slept naked.  Justin would
snuggle right up to me and go to sleep.  There was never anything sexual
about it although I did get hard most of the time when he did that.  Justin
just liked the comfort of sleeping next to someone, and I wasn't
complaining.

     Both of us really appreciated the privacy and extra space of the
apartment after being in the dorm rooms.  The apartment seemed like a
mansion to us.  Justin's seeming lack of modesty in the dorm was nothing
compared to the freedom he felt in the apartment.  The boy often got naked
right after dinner and stayed that way until he had to leave for classes in
the morning.  I normally kept my briefs on, but I enjoyed watching Justin.
Even though I knew he was totally straight, he was still nice to look at.

     The refund of the housing fees wrangled out of the university by
Justin's dad made it possible for me to pay my share of the rent on the
apartment.  We gradually replaced most of our clothes and other things that
had been destroyed.  Guys on the soccer and track teams provided some
hand-me-downs, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance took up a collection for us
that really helped me financially.

     The rest of the semester went well.  We were busy with classes and
soccer and track practices and matches.  Kevin Williams was a huge sports
fan.
  He and the three kids showed up at most of Justin's home soccer matches
and my home meets.  Our apartment became a sort of unofficial hangout for
the guys on the soccer and track teams.  The guys were good about giving us
space to study when we needed it so our grades didn't suffer from all the
social activity.  It seemed like there was almost always someone at the
place.  It took me a while to realize but our team mates were doing their
part to make certain that whoever had trashed our dorm room didn't have the
same chance with the apartment.  Doc Kevin loved having all of the jocks
around.  He stopped up to talk with us and the other guys a couple of times
a week.

     Andy and I were invited out to Doc and Matt's whenever Andy was in
town.  They were wonderful hosts, and Doc was a terrific cook.  Several
times I helped him prepare the meal in the kitchen while Andy and Matt
talked or soaked out in the hot tub.
     Sometimes I felt a little left out.  Doc of course was a friend, but
he was also one of my professors.  Andy and Matt were about the same age
and seemed to click as friends.  That left me feeling like I was standing
on the outside sometimes.  Those feelings never lasted very long, however,
since they were such great guys to be with.

     Justin and I did well that semester in our classes.  We managed "A's"
in everything except calculus which was an "A-" for both of us.  Doc had a
big potluck picnic at his place right after final exams.  All the faculty
and students in the biology department were invited.  Matt invited some of
the coaches and members of the football team.  Kevin and Kathy Williams and
their kids were present as were Andy and Larsen.
     At one point in the evening, Matt got everyone's attention and
announced that Doc would be celebrating his 35th birthday in a couple of
weeks.  Several of us had been clued in beforehand and had gag gifts for
"the old man."  Andy and I gave him a bottle of Geritol.  Kevin and Kathy
Williams produced some "over the hill vitamins."  Matt gave him a set of
"moldy oldie" CD's.  Doc took it all in stride.
     There was lots of food, lots of beer with no one becoming drunk, and
lots of laughter and conversation at the end of a long school year.

                       **********

     That summer was a wonderful time for Andy and me.  I got a job working
at the local hardware store so we had almost every evening and night
together.  A couple of times we kind of got on each others nerves a little,
but when that happened one of us would eventually say something really
silly that would cause both of us to laugh...and then we would have to make
up.  Making up is FUN!
     Andy and I were invited down to Sunset Beach for the Fourth of July
weekend.  All of Justin's family was there so we finally met the other
siblings: Jerrod, 28, a dentist just starting in practice and his partner,
Tom who was an accountant; Beth, 26, and her husband Joe Losca were both
lawyers; and Susan who had just completed her first year in law school.
     Doc and Matt visited us the last weekend of July.  It was their last
real weekend of the summer because Matt would be starting early football
practice in August.  The four of us, plus Larsen of course, spent the
weekend playing tourist and just generally relaxing.

                       **********

     Justin and I moved back into the apartment in mid August a couple of
weeks before the start of school.  The Williams kids were happy to have us
back.  All of them, but especially Little Gary, looked like they had grown
over the summer.  The little guy was so proud that he was going to start
"real school", meaning first grade, in another week or so.
     We got busy with soccer and track practices and catching up with all
of our returning team mates.  Since most of the sports teams were back on
campus for early fall drills, the food service was open.  I started my old
job back washing dishes at breakfast.

     I was clearing off some of the breakfast trays that had been left in
the dining room one morning when I ran into Jason Sherman.

     He was sitting by himself at one of the tables.  He had his back
turned to me, and I didn't recognize him at first.  I went over and started
picking up some of the trays and dishes left at one end of the table.

     He looked up from his pancakes.  "Hi, C.Z."

     I sat down at the table.  All of the anger and frustration from the
harassment of the previous year came flooding back.  I had almost managed
to forget it over the summer.  "Hi, Jason.  How are you?"

     He smiled weakly.  "I'm doing okay.  It was kind of rough being back
home this summer.  It's better up here even if the coaches are working our
butts off.  Did you have a good summer?"

     "Yeah.  It was great being able to spend the summer with Andy and not
worry about things here."

     He lowered his head.  "C.Z., I'm really sorry about how everything
turned out last year.  I should never have told Brad anything.  I'd give
anything to be able to take it all back."

     "Things seem to work out, Jason.  I've made several friends who've
been real supportive.  I don't think I would have met some of those people
if I hadn't been having trouble with the whole gay bashing thing."

     He looked down again.  "I feel sick about what all happened, man."
  When he looked up there were tears in his eyes.  "I...I'd like to talk to
you some time.  I've been trying to work through some issues in my life.  I
think you'd understand."

     "Come by our place some time.  Do you know where Justin and I are
living?"

     "Yeah.  Up on Oak Street behind that gray Victorian.  It looks like a
nice spot."

     "It is.  I'm glad to be out of the dorm."  I saw him wince at that.
"Where are you living this year?"

     "I'm still in the dorm.  My roommate this year is another guy on the
team.  Brad moved out into an apartment this year.  Maybe I won't have to
wear ear plugs to sleep this year."

     "His snoring was pretty bad, wasn't it?"

     "Man, it got even worse after you left.  Every time he got drunk, it
was like sleeping near a buzz saw."  He looked furtively around the room.
I guessed he was checking to see if any of his macho football friends had
seen him talking with one of the campus queers.  "Listen, C.Z., I've got to
go.  I'll give you a call some time."

     I sat there at the table after he left.  I felt sorry for Jason.  I
hoped the fact that he and Brad Miller were no longer roommates meant that
Jason would let open the closet door a little.  The kid was really wound up
tight.

                       **********

     The semester started off well.  Justin and I still had identical
schedules with two biology classes, organic chemistry, and another
literature course.  We didn't have Doc or the Williamses for any of the
classes, but we saw Doc around the biology building all of the time, and we
were living next door to Kevin and Kathy Williams.  We fell back into our
routine.  I'd roust Justin's naked ass out of bed when I came back from
working at breakfast.  Half the time we took our morning showers together
in the big bathtub in the apartment just to save some time.  Classes,
practice, team meetings, soccer matches, track meets, and study were our
weekday fare.
     Weekends were freer.  Justin was still trying to date and bed (with
moderate success) every good looking girl in our classes.  Andy and I were
still able to spend every other weekend or so together, but instead of
alternating who traveled as we had the previous year Andy and Larsen
usually came to Adams State.  We often got together with Doc and Matt.
Sometimes Justin joined us in Doc's hot tub if he didn't have a date.  I
was always impressed with Justin's level of self comfort.  Most straight
guys would have been at least a little nervous if they were naked in the
same hot tub with four gay guys.  It didn't seem to bother him in the
least.
     Justin's brother, Brian, and his friend Stephen Ngyuen were freshmen
and roommates at Adams State that year.  They were often over to our
apartment on the weekends but mostly kept to themselves during the week.
Of course they saw Justin every day at soccer practices and matches.  On
campus, Brian and Stephen made no effort to hide their sexual tastes.  At
first I was afraid they'd face the same problems I had the previous year,
but nothing happened.  The guys on the soccer team didn't seem to mind, and
they didn't report any harassment in the dorm.

     I was beginning to think that my problems had been a fluke.

     That was until the co-president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance was
beaten up.

                       **********

     David Cohen and Trish Boyles were co-presidents of the Gay and Lesbian
Alliance.  David was only about 5' 5" and couldn't have weighed more than
120 pounds soaking wet.  He was a little on the flamboyant side with a
quick wit and a personality that could make a convention of undertakers
roll with laughter.  I think every one who really knew David liked him.
     Two weeks before Thanksgiving someone caught him as he was going from
his car to his apartment.  According to the newspapers and a couple of
David's close friends, the attacker came up behind David and threw a cloth
or towel over his head so he couldn't see, pulled him into a darker
passageway between two apartment buildings, and proceeded to beat the crap
out of him.  Another resident of the apartment complex who was returning
from a date found David unconscious.
     The damage was severe.  Broken jaw, broken cheek bone, a couple of
broken ribs, and a ruptured spleen that had to be removed.  They said
whoever attacked him had worn steel toed boots when they kicked him.  He
was in the hospital for over a week before his parents were able to take
him home.

     He didn't return to school until well into the Spring semester, and
when he did return, he just wasn't the same carefree person.

     Two days after the beating, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance had a
meeting.  There were signs up announcing the meeting all over campus.  You
had to be blind not to know about it.  I had been an off-and-on member of
the group since my own outing incident, but I knew I had to attend the
meeting THAT night.

     Justin came with me to the Student Union for the meeting.  When we got
there, it was already standing room only.  I looked around.  The GALA
meetings usually had a pretty even mix of males and females.  This crowd
was mostly male!  I started picking out faces.  I saw the four guys on the
track team who I knew were gay.  I also saw several guys who I thought were
straight.  Brian Barnes and Stephen Nyguen were over in one corner with
some guys I recognized because they were friends of Justin's from the
soccer team.  The quarterback of the football team was there along with a
number of guys who looked like they had to be football players.  Matt
Stevenson, Doc Griffith, and a few other faculty members were there also.
     Trish Boyles was sitting at a table in the front of the room with the
University President, the Vice President for Student Affairs, and State
Trooper McMillan whose sheer muscular bulk and dark complexion dominated
the table.

     Trish started the meeting by introducing the men at the front table.
Each spoke for a bit.  President Shopman said how sorry he was that this
incident had happened on our nice little campus.  The slimy meatball of a
Vice President for Student Affairs recited some platitudes about this sort
of thing being so uncharacteristic of Adams State University and yadda,
yadda, yadda.

     Trooper McMillan stood up.  "As you heard from Ms. Boyles, I'm State
Trooper DeShuan McMillan.  My reason for being here tonight is to tell you
as much as possible about our investigation into a series of hate motivated
crimes here at Adams State, but before I get started I think we need to
remember the young man who was attacked."  He turned and looked pointedly
at President Shopman and the Greasy Meatball who hadn't mentioned David
Cohen in their remarks at all.  Shopman and Vice President House had the
good graces to appear embarrassed by their omission.
     "As you all know, David Cohen was attacked late Saturday night.  While
his injuries are severe, he is expected to make a complete recovery in
time.  I ask each of you to say a prayer tonight for Mr. Cohen.  He and his
family face a long recovery.  They will need your support.
     "Because Mr. Cohen was an outspoken leader of the gay and lesbian
student community here at Adams State and because Mr. Cohen is Jewish, the
State Police are investigating this crime as a hate crime as defined in
North Carolina statutes.  We believe it is likely connected to incidents of
vandalism against automobiles and personal property as well as another
physical assault which occurred on this campus last year."  McMillan's dark
eyes found mine in the crowd.
     "The victim of much of that vandalism and the physical assault last
year cooperated completely with the State Police knowing full well that his
cooperation would lead to more and more people on this campus knowing that
he's gay.  That takes courage.  Mr. Cohen and his family have pledged their
full cooperation in our investigation as well.  That takes courage.  No
person, and I stress no person in this state and nation should EVER suffer
discrimination much less bodily harm because of their gender, religion,
national origin, race, or sexual orientation.  It is an unfortunate fact of
life that when hatred exists, it can only be eliminated by the courageous
actions of its victims.  Everyone on this campus has been victimized by
this crime.  You may not have suffered the physical blows as Mr. Cohen did,
but all of you...gay or straight have been victimized by the hatred and
ignorance that led to this attack.
     "The State Police believe that the same person or persons responsible
for the vandalism and physical attack last year was also responsible for
the attack on Mr. Cohen.  We have some suspects, and while we do not yet
have enough evidence to charge anyone with these crimes, let me assure you
that we will find the person or persons responsible and bring them to
justice.
     "If you have any information, no matter how trivial you think it might
be, I want you to contact me."  He turned and wrote his cell phone and
pager numbers on the blackboard.

     Trish Boyles stood up as Trooper McMillan sat down.  "Does any one
have any questions?"

     The guy I had recognized as the quarterback of the football team
stepped forward.  "Ms. Boyles, can I say something?"

     "Yes.  Please identify yourself.  I haven't seen you here before."

     "I'm Adam Ferrell.  You're right, I've never been here before.  I'm
not gay..."

     Trish looked like she was going to interrupt.

     "Please let me finish.  There are several of us here tonight from
various university sports teams.  Some are gay and some, like, me are not.
We've all come here tonight for the same reason and that's to show our
support for David Cohen and to make a statement to the gay and lesbian
students of Adams State University that gay bashing and harassment are not
acceptable on this campus.
     "Until I came to this university, I had never knowingly worked or
talked with a homosexual.  I play quarterback on the football team.  My
first two years here at Adams State the starting quarterback was Mark
Stevenson.  I learned that first year that Mark is gay.  When I found out,
I was upset, but as I worked with him those two years I realized that he's
one of the best athletes and one of the finest people I've ever met.
     "Mark's brother, Matt Stevenson is one of our assistant coaches.
Coach Stevenson is also gay, and next to Mark, I consider him to be a great
mentor and friend.  I'm a better person because I've known Mark and Matt
and other guys on the team who are gay.
     "I'd like all the guys who came here tonight to show their respect and
support for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to stand up or raise
their hands."

     Most of the guys Justin and I had recognized from the various sports
teams stood or raised their arms.  There must have been 25 or 30 guys.

     Adam continued.  "Like Trooper McMillan said, all of us are affected
by the attack on David Cohen.  We are here to say that hate will not be
tolerated at Adams State."  He held up a lapel button that had the word
'hate' circled in red with a diagonal red line running through it.
"Several of us took up a collection this afternoon to have these buttons
printed.  We're going to wear these until the criminal who attacked David
Cohen is caught."

     He pinned the button to the pocket of his shirt.  Most of the athletes
who had stood or raised their hands also pinned buttons on at the same
time.

     "We have a lot of these buttons.  There will be some at the door at
the end of this meeting, and we'll be selling these buttons across campus
until they run out.  We're asking five dollars for each button.  All of the
money will go into a fund to help David Cohen and his family with their
expenses.  When you put on one of these buttons you're going to be making
the statement that Adams State University stands for diversity,
understanding, acceptance, and equality.  Hate has no place here!"

     Adam sat back down.  The room erupted in wild applause and cheers.

                       **********

     By the following afternoon it looked like a majority of the students
and faculty were sporting "ban hate" buttons.


(To be continued)