Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 22:09:06 -0600
From: Kevin Mac <farscape20@hotmail.com>
Subject: RA Adventures Chapter 5
RA Adventures
(C) KV 2000
If you're offended by sexual activities between men, I must ask you to
leave...after I ask you what the hell you're doing here. In any event, in
the cosmically unlikely chance you ended up here by mistake, go ahead and
leave. If you're over 18 and meant to be here, please, kick back, relax
and enjoy! I can't say thank you enough to everyone who has taken the time
to write. I appreciate all the encouragement and suggestions...keep it
coming, guys!
--------------------
Chapter 5
I shut the door behind me, dropped my bag, stripped and climbed into
bed. I stared at the ceiling for a bit just trying to get my brain to
process all the information. I was numb. I decided to sleep on it and see
how I felt about it after a good night's sleep.
Not too long afterwards I was awakened by a knocking at my door, not
loud and obnoxious, but soft and insistent. I forced myself out of bed and
clumsily made my way over to the door. I opened it to find Clint standing
in front of me.
"Hey," he said, "sorry to wake you. Mark (his roommate) left and I
locked myself out again." I didn't say anything, just turned around, found
my pants and pulled out my set of keys. I walked back to the door and
walked with him down the hall to his door.
"Are you ok? You look like hell."
"Um, I guess I got a little too much sun," I muttered.
"Yeah, I noticed that. You look a little too pink for comfort." I
looked down and noticed that I had evidently gotten carried away with my
sunbathing earlier.
My skin ranged from slightly pink to almost red except for a strip above
my white briefs, only accenting the difference.
"Ugh...I didn't notice it had gotten so bad." The more I thought
about it, the worse I felt. I walked down the hall with him and opened his
door.
"Hey, come in for a minute. I have some aloe you're more than welcome
to." I graciously accepted and followed him into his room. He went over
to his chest of drawers and rummaged around for a second and finally
emerged victorious with an oversize bottle of aloe with some other
ingredient to dull the pain. I made a mental note to take a Tylenol or
four when I got back to the room as well.
"Here, lemme put some on your back." I walked over and faced away
from him as he began slathering on a coating of the cool gel.
"Thanks a lot, Clint, I appreciate it."
"Sure thing. Hey, are you sure that's the only thing that's bothering
you?"
"Nothing to worry about, it's just been an interesting day." I
brushed his question off. I really didn't feel like I needed to get into
explaining my situation. "So, what'd you do this weekend?" I asked, trying
to divert attention.
"Well, went out clubbing last night. Hey, tell me about your friend
Christine."
"Chris? Where'd you meet her?" Chris was one of my nearest and
dearest friends. She was the kind of person I could tell anything, but I
still hadn't said anything about my 'orientation'.
"She was at the club yesterday with a group of girls. She's really
cool, dude."
"Yeah, I know. Well, what do you want to know?"
"Oh, I dunno...I guess I just wanted to know if there's anything
special I should know before taking her out." I was shocked but tried to
not let it show. I must have not done a terribly good job of covering up
my emotions.
"Is that ok, I mean, I know you guys are really close and all. She
and I had agreed to go out tomorrow nigh for dinner...but I can change if
I..."
"No, no...please, Clint, you don't need my permission to go out with
Christine. She's a great girl and will make a great date, I have no doubt.
I'm sorry, look, I'm gonna head to bed. It's been a really long and really
confusing day."
"Here, take this," he said handing me the bottle of gel. "I think
you'll have more use for it. Try to get some sleep, I'm sure things will
look up tomorrow." I thanked him for the gel and padded down to my room.
I downed several painkillers and then climbed back into bed. I think I
fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. I was exhausted.
************
I woke up the next morning around noon and decided to just relax that
day and try to avoid any more emotional roller coasters. I'd had more than
enough to last me for the weekend, and if I could get some studying done
for my fast-approaching finals I could feel a little bit better about
myself. I also had a job interview in the middle of the week that I needed
to prepare for. I wasn't terribly nervous, but the prospect of graduating
without a job lined up was disconcerting, to say the least.
I grabbed my shower gear and lumbered down to the bathroom. I went
for my stall and was actually relieved that I was the only person in there.
I figured everyone else was probably passed out or eating. I really
couldn't have cared less where they were, as long as they weren't right
there, right then. I set the shower to what I presumed to be a comfortable
temperature. I jumped in and cringed...my sunburned skin was going to need
considerably cooler water. I adjusted the temperature and tried to enjoy
the water. No use...I cleaned up and got out. I hated sunburns. I walked
back to the room and downed a few more Tylenol and applied some more of
Clint's gel to my damaged skin. It felt cool and relieving.
I settled down at my desk with books in front of me, trying to get
some serious cramming done. The more I could study now, the less I would
have to worry about it this coming week. That was a goal to work for.
Besides, at that point, any distraction was a good distraction. I glanced
up at my clock a couple of hours later, and hopefully somewhat smarter, and
decided I was long overdue a bite to eat.
I closed the books and threw on a loose t-shirt and some
shorts...something that wouldn't rub too much, and walked over to the
cafeteria. I walked through the line and got my food to go. I said the
few obligatory hellos that I needed to and made my way back down the
hallway. I paused to look at the campus bulletin board to see if there
were any announcements of any significance. I was surprised to see that
that the State Symphony as well as a guest opera cast were giving a special
performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at our local performing arts centre.
It was very unusual...the season should have been over for this sort of
event. I wrote down the number to get tickets and made a mental note to
call before everything sold. It would no doubt be a packed performance
since it was undoubtedly the last event of the musical season.
I walked up to the room locked myself in, turned off the lights and
lit a few candles -- normally a big no-no, but since I was the RA, who was
going to question me? I popped in the new Lara Fabian CD I had just gotten
and tried to relax and sort through what I was feeling. I thought a lot
about what was going on...my romantic interests had gone from nothing more
than a passing glance to two guys that I felt a little too much for, all in
the span of a weekend. I knew Matt was right about our relationship. It
was the only way that we could continue the friendship as we had it, and we
both knew that a romantic relationship wasn't what either one of us needed.
As far as Clint was concerned, I didn't know what to think. No real
moves had been made, and as far as I could see, he might easily be another
straight jock that was just a little more open. Hell, maybe he was so
secure in his sexuality that he could flirt around with everybody and not
mean anything by any of it. I really didn't know, and my logic skills
weren't taking me very far. I sighed and decided to call Christine and see
what her side of the story was.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hey gorgeous," I greeted her in typical fashion.
"Hey babe. How are you?"
"Tired and sunburned. Aside from that and trying to keep my head
screwed on for finals, everything is pretty much the same."
"Sunburned? Don't tell me you went back to the tanning bed." I
remembered the last time I had gone to the tanning bed and how burned I had
gotten.
"No! No, no...Matt, some sorority girls and I all went to the coast
for the weekend."
"Oh...okay. Sorority girls, huh? So? Any luck?"
"Well, one of them was ok, but I woulda had to put a bag over her head
so I decided it wasn't worth it." We both knew the type of girl and
laughed about them for a little while longer.
"Better luck next time, stud."
"Thanks. Oh, I almost forgot," I lied, "what's this I hear about you
and Clint Tucker?"
"Clint? Damn, does word get around **that* fast?" I chuckled at her
question.
"No, he's on my hall and asked me about this fantastic blonde he had
met at a club. I can only assume he meant you."
"Um, I'm not quite sure how to take that." Her turn to laugh...
"Yeah, we met the other night. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He wants
to go out this week to catch a movie or something. Why do you ask? Is
there something I should be aware of?" her tone suddenly sounded a little
more worried.
"Oh no. He's cool, at least as far as I can tell. He's been your
all-around ideal resident and seems like a nice guy. I'm only just getting
to know him."
"Just now?" she chided playfully. "We have to do that at the
**beginning* of the year." Chris was an RA as well in her dorm.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I was just curious." We wrapped up the rest of
the conversation and agreed to meet for dinner later that week to catch up.
She and I had almost dated a while back, but she was involved with another
guy at the time, and we decided to keep our friendship platonic, in spite
of ourselves. She was the first woman that had really made my head spin.
I often wondered what might have been....
Anyway! I got back on the computer and made some finishing touches to
my resume and printed up several copies and filed them in my attach‚
case for my interview. I shut everything off and blew out my candles. I
turned back my bed and made myself comfortable. I really did feel a lot
more balanced and in-control than I had the day before.
************
My first finals passed uneventfully. My grade point average was good
going into it all, so took them confidently. In most cases I could have
virtually failed and still had an A in the class. Political Science was my
last final, and that was going to be on Friday. Thus far I hadn't talked
to Matt or to Clint. I hadn't tried to avoid them; our social life was
just cut short because of the extra study time required. My job interview
had also come and gone. I felt it went well, and I was expecting a call
from them any day. I would be working as an account manager in a
manufacturing company. It wasn't exactly what my degree was in, but it
would definitely pay the bills.
Thursday rolled around and I was sitting in my room reviewing some of
the intricacies of political theory as well as a ton of other quasi-useful
items that I would remember long enough for the test and then probably
expulse from my overtaxed brain. I sort of expected Clint to come by and
review with me, but he didn't. I had to fight feeling disappointed. I
finished my studies, shut my books for the last time and headed to bed
early enough to wake up feeling somewhat refreshed the next morning. I lay
in my bed still half-expecting Clint to come and want some last minute
advice or, at the very least, to get his aloe gel back. Neither of the
above happened. I drifted off to sleep and woke up bright and early the
next morning. I took my shower and still, no Clint.
I shrugged it off and went to get some breakfast.
After filling my stomach I headed up to class to do some last minute
reviewing. Clint still had not gotten there, and at about five minutes
before the final was scheduled to start. Oh well, he's old enough to be
responsible. I still felt a tinge of guilt for not calling him to make
sure he was awake. Our professor walked through the door, finals in hand
and Clint followed her into the room looking slightly out of breath. He
walked to the seat next to me.
"Hey! You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, I guess. I need to talk to you after this gets over. I'm sure
you'll be done before I am so I'll just catch you in your room."
"Sure, whatever. I'll be there."
I didn't give myself time to ask what this could be about. I needed
to concentrate on the final, and besides, I really didn't feel like getting
all emotionally topsy-turvy again. The finals were passed out and I put my
attention and energy into it. True to form, I finished before Clint and
handed my paper in. I left feeling the exhilaration of having finished the
last final of my undergraduate career. I hurried back to my room to face
the never-ending task of checking people out before they leave. It's my
responsibility to make sure no severe damage has been done to the room, and
all that kind of great thing.
I set myself up at my desk with all my Rez paperwork in front of me
and left the door open. My job was now to make sure that everything went
as smoothly as possible for all the guys moving out for the summer.
Hopefully it would be a painless procedure. I knew I had a couple of hours
before everyone finished their finals and had gotten their things out of
their rooms, so I propped my feet up on the edge of the desk and started
reading a novel I had picked up at the local bookstore a week or so before.
I was interrupted by my friend Keith poking his head in the door. He
was followed in short order by his twin brother, Ryan.
"Hey guys! What's going on? It's been forever." I got up to give
them both a hug. The twins and I had grown up together and it wasn't very
often that we were able to get together.
"Oh, not much. We were just getting ready to head home and decided to
come say g'bye before we left," Keith answered me.
"Yeah," Ryan continued, "are you coming home for the summer?"
"Unfortunately no." Our hometown was a good way away, and too far for
me to put down roots there again. I had the travel bug and I knew I didn't
want to be tied down to any location for too long. "Actually, I went for a
job interview this week.
If it went as well as I think it did I'll still be here when you guys get
back."
"Awesome, dude. Well, look, we just wanted to drop in for a minute.
I know you've got responsibilities, so we'll let you get to those."
"Thanks, Keith. I appreciate you stopping by. I wish you were gonna
be here for a few more days so we could catch up a little."
"Well, actually, Ryan lied." Ryan shot Keith a killer look, which he
calmly ignored. "We're not actually heading home just yet. We couldn't
miss your **graduation*, now could we? We'll be back in a couple of weeks
anyway, so we'll work out a housewarming for you. Just call us. We'll be
at our grandparents' house."
"Great. I'll give you a call later on and we'll see if we can't
arrange a little something."
"Sounds good, Kev," Ryan called back as they headed out the door.
"We'll see you then!" I really hadn't gotten to spend hardly any time with
them this semester, so I was really looking forward to the chance to catch
up. I thought a little about graduation and remembered that I needed to
make sure everything I needed for the ceremony the next morning was clean
and ironed. I got up from my desk and began putting together an outfit
that wouldn't look too bad underneath the graduation robes.
"Hey!" a voice came from right behind me.
"Shit! Don't you know how to knock?!" I turned to see Clint standing
behind me laughing at my startled reaction. "Oh hey, it's you. Sorry
about that, you just scared the shit out of me."
"Heh heh, sorry about that, bro." He opened my fridge and grabbed a
bottle of water and plopped down on the sofa.
"Please sir," I toned in my best British accent, "do make yourself at
home."
"Thanks, James. Now go and fetch me something to eat." I rolled my eyes,
sat back down at my desk. Suddenly we busted into laughter at our terrible
accents.
"So, what's up? You said you needed to talk?" At this point I really
didn't know what to expect. I had gotten things cleared up in my head, or
at least regained some semblance of equilibrium -- or so I thought. Being
in front of Clint was unnerving and likewise intoxicating. It was as if
upon sensing him my whole body released a surge of hormones. That coupled
with the way he would look into my eyes while we talked just increased the
tension level to where it was virtually tangible.
"Yeah. I had kind of a proposition for you." My heart jumped in
spite of me.
"Okay..."
"I don't know what you're planning on doing for a place to live after
you move out of the dorm -- and I figured you already had something picked
out. But, but, in the odd chance that you don't have it all figured out I
was wondering how you would feel about rooming together." My head spun a
minute as I was plugging all the information in.
"Well, actually, I don't have a place picked out yet. I've been
looking for a while, but one-bedroom apartments are really killer as far as
rent goes..."
"So..."
"So yeah, I think rooming together would be great." His face lit up
as the words came out of my mouth.
"Great! Well, I guess we'll need to go apartment shopping pronto.
I've looked at a couple of places so maybe we can just compare notes."
"Sounds good. Why don't you stop by tomorrow afternoon? Just wait
until then to check out. I'll be in a much better position to think about
it **after* the ceremony tomorrow morning."
"Cool. Well, I'll catch you later then...roomie!" He turned around
and walked out leaving me with a commanding view of his round ass. If
there had been tension before I could only imagine what it would be now. I
stood up and noticed I was hard as a rock. I was glad I had been sitting
down for our conversation. I really needed to get a grip. Mmmm...getting
a grip sounded really good right about now. I gave myself a little squeeze
and looked forward to later on when I could have a little privacy. I sat
back down as I heard voices coming down the hallway. I grabbed my
paperwork and prepared for the onslaught.
-----------------------------
Chapter five has come and gone. I'm sorry for those of you who were hoping
for a little more action this chapter. I'm trying to set the stage for
'coming attractions'. As always, comments, ideas and questions are
appreciated. Flames are not, so please be kind.
Farscape20@hotmail.com