Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:51:53 -0700 From: tenniswiz12@msn.com Subject: Three Roads Chapter 20: Taylor Made Happiness This story contains adult and sexual situations between males. If this is not to your liking....well you know the drill. Three Roads Chapter 20- Taylor Made Happiness As was usually the case every weekday morning around 10 A.M, the dorms were exceptionally quiet. Everyone who had class for the day had long since vacated the building and all those students who did not have classes until late afternoon or not at all, were once again asleep as they were no longer being disturbed by the noise of everyone getting ready for the day ahead of them. Richard cautiously put one foot in front of the other as he walked down the hallway to his room. Normally, he complained about how long the hallway was, especially after a meal, this morning however, it seemed all too short. He hoped that his boyfriend wasn't in the room because when Toby was angry, he refused to back down. Richard couldn't face that, not right now, he just needed a little time to sober up and think. He fit his key into the core and turned it very slowly as if he were worried about waking Toby. He closed his eyes as he entered the room and peeked around the door. He opened his left eye and quickly circled the room; when he was sure Toby was not there he closed the door behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. He dropped his keys on his desk and sat on the two pulled together beds that he and Toby slept in. He bent down to smell the sheets and he could smell Toby on them. He was happy to know that, at the very least, he still loved that smell. He felt dirty and like he really needed to take a shower, so he quickly undressed, leaving his black boxer briefs on and wrapped his blue towel around his waist and headed down the hallway to the bathroom. He walked in and saw Joey jump as if he had been startled. "Hey." Richard mumbled. "Hey. Looks like you had a rough night." "Not really." Richard said walking into the separate room where all the shower stalls were. "You didn't come home last night." "What's it to you?" "Nothing. Just saying." Joey turned to the sink, pretending to wash his hands, as he gazed into the mirror that was placed in such a way above the sink that it gave a direct view into the shower room. He watched as Richard tested the water several times with his hands; the towel hanging precariously across his hips. Joey was now looking directly into the mirror as Richard hung his towel on one of the holders next to the shower stall. He smiled to himself as out of the corner of his eye he could see Joey anticipating what he thought was coming next. One last time Richard tested the water before he went in and pulled the curtain closed behind him. Knowing that Joey was watching in disappointment, Richard took off his underwear and held his arm straight out, before letting them drop to the floor. Joey cursed silently to himself as he washed his hands and then exited the bathroom. Richard was glad that Toby still hadn't made an appearance in the room by the time he had gotten out of the shower. He quickly dressed, scribbled a note and then headed out to class. He walked, mostly oblivious to what was going on around him, because he was still deep in thought about what to do about Toby. He knew that he wasn't the best at articulating his feelings in a way that was true to how he really felt, so he really wanted to talk to someone partly for advice, but also partly to hear out loud what had been his head for a while now. He didn't know the other guys that well to talk about something this important with them. He had a fleeting thought that maybe he should work on that in the very near future. He continued to walk, still engrossed in his thoughts, when for some reason a yellow flyer that had been posted on one of the many beaten up wooden kiosks around campus caught his eye. He stopped and quickly realized it was a flyer announcing the day and times of the Queer Straight Alliance meetings. In small letters written at the bottom of the flyer it said that it was advised by Dr. Jill Taylor. A light bulb suddenly went off in his head as he realized that he could go talk to her. She had seemed so funny and friendly when he had met her at the first QSA meeting, but also intelligent and wise. He walked back the way he came because he had passed the Health Center, which was where her office was located, a few minutes ago. "Hi," Richard smiled walking up to the one card, "I need to see Dr. Taylor." "Where's your school I.D.?" The woman said. Richard recoiled when she spoke; he had been very friendly when he began talking to her, but she responded in a very monotone manner as if she were the unhappiest person on Earth which was odd because the woman was dressed in very bright colors that looked more bright than normal against her very pale skin/ "Right here. Sorry I didn't know I needed it to see her." "You need your card to do anything in the health center." She said, again with almost no emotion. "I'll keep that in mind." The woman held up a finger to silence him as she picked up the phone and dialed very quickly, obviously having dialed the number several times. "Yes, Dr. Taylor I have a Richard Channing here to see you for psychological counseling." "I don't need..." Richard started, but the woman once again held up her finger. "I'll send him right up. Go up the stairs and then turn left, go up to the window marked psychological counseling and STD testing. Next please!" Richard turned to walk up the stairs and was slightly embarrassed to see that there had been several people standing behind him waiting in line who probably all thought he had either serious issues or an STD. He walked up the stairs, turned left and saw the labeled window the woman had described just moments before. "Richard Channing to see Dr. Taylor." A few minutes later, Richard walked into a room full of colors and that looked appropriately messy for someone who was always very busy. "I thought I recognized the name," Dr Taylor smiled as she saw Richard. She stood up and gave him a quick hug, "How can I help you Richard?" It had seemed like a good idea and chance for him to get everything out he needed to say and get some quality advice from someone he thought to be rather on top of things, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, he wasn't sure he could or wanted to speak the words out loud. "Anything you say is strictly confidential, and will not be repeated to anyone, ok?" Richard still didn't say anything and Dr. Taylor began seizing him up. He seemed to be he type of person that needed to be lead to what was bothering him. He wasn't going to come out and say it. "Is it about your boyfriend?" "Sort of." "Toby, right?" "Yeah, good memory." "It's what got me here, is he mad at you?" "Yeah, we've barely spoken in like a week." "What happened?" "He didn't want to go to a party with me and I really wanted to go and so we fought." "Did something happen before that?" Dr. Taylor asked curiously. "Like what?" "I don't know. I ask because that seems like something that became an issue because of something larger. People in relationships usually fight because of either continued or repeated behavior one partner does not agree with or one person has been holding their anger inside for such a long time and that a disagreement that normally wouldn't be that big of a deal becomes such because they are so angry." "I think he was mad at me because I had left a sleepover we had with some of his friends to go hang with a friend." "Ah, could he have been embarrassed or jealous?" "I don't think so, they're his friends, and Bliss, you know her, wanted to hang out." "Oh yes, Bliss," Dr. Taylor said with a smile "Yeah, we're good friends, we have a lot in common." "Like what?" "We both like to have fun and just laugh, she`s a great girl." "What seems to be Toby's problem with your relationship with her? "He thinks we're too close I guess, he doesn't really say, it's the first time he really brought it up." "Do you guys spend a lot of time together?" "I don't think so. She's pretty much my only other friend up here besides Toby." "You've been here what two months now? Why is she your only other friend?" "Like I said, we have the most in common." "Let me ask more directly, why don't you hang out with Toby's friends more often? What about Bliss makes her more appealing?" "Her parents are divorced...and so are mine...or they're heading there... and sometimes it's nice to talk about it someone who knows what it's like." "Does Toby know about this?" "About my parents? Yeah." "No, that you confide in Bliss about your parents." "No, he wouldn't understand." "Have you given him the chance?" "I just know he wouldn't." "That's not very fair to him. He assumed something about you and your relationship with Bliss that was unfair or untrue and you are upset about it, but now you are doing the same to him. You need to be honest with him. In saying that, it`s curious he would react that way." "Why?" Richard smirked. "The Toby of today overreacts about everything. He's always angry or on the verge of angry." "What I meant was that my first impression was that you were hanging out with a male friend and Toby was naturally jealous that you were spending so much time with him. Does Bliss not like Toby?" "They don't interact very much, but they've never had a problem." "And you can't discern any reasonable explanation as to why Toby might be jealous of Bliss?" Richard paused, here the moment had presented itself again, staring him in the face, "Well...I think I might be attracted to girls." "Bisexual?" "I don't like the word...it carries such a negative connotation." "How so?" "People are dumb, they can't fathom how someone can like both guys and girls." "Given that most people believe they are sexually attracted to only one sex, you don't believe that could be the cause of such a belief? Besides, your case is special, usually people don't say they are gay and then later announce to be bisexual, it's usually the reverse." "I know. I'm just weird I guess." Richard said cracking a smile. "I'm curious, have you always felt that you were bisexual? Or has this just happened recently when you met Bliss?" "No, I've always been attracted to both. I couldn't say that when I came out though; people were pushing me to choose one or the other, and if you kiss guys then you must be gay." "You need to tell Toby." "I know, but he'll break up with me." "Again, you hate when he's decided something for you, do not do the same to him. In this case, he would have some claim to being angry with him, you've lied, even if by omission, and he'll probably be hurt by that." "I don't know how this got so complicated." "It's been my experience both professionally and personally that things are a lot less complicated when you tell the truth right from the beginning." "I should write that down." Richard smiled. "And staple it to your head...I hope I've helped." "No, you have. I don't really have anyone else to talk to about this." "Maybe you should work on fixing that too." "Right again." Kevin said picking up his stuff, "Thanks a lot Dr. Taylor." "You're welcome and come back anytime." Richard smiled as he closed the door to her office. He still didn't know whether he would, or even if he could, tell Toby about his bisexuality, but he was thankful that he at least felt a little better. Cooper stared blankly at the ceiling, his mind clear and running a million miles a minute at the same time. The only thought that he could grasp was, "I can't believe it." He said it out loud to the space around him, but his voice sounded hollow. He looked at the pictures that were hanging on his wall; there was one of him, Toby, and Eric that had been taken last year before the Christmas break, there were several of him and his older sister Angela. He loved her dearly and felt they were really close, but he was so embarrassed by what had happened and how he had let that happened, he couldn't tell her. A knock came from his door and he seriously considered not answering, but it was probably a resident so very reluctantly he answered the door. Eric was smiling widely as he opened the door and Cooper faked a smile. "Good night with Jon?" Cooper asked, welcoming is friend into the room. "Cooper, it was so amazing, it sounds dumb, but it was everything I imagined." Eric said sitting on Cooper's bed. Cooper sat next to him, closer than he normally did, but Eric continued, "Dinner was amazing and after we just kind of sat in the car and talked. I never knew it could be that much fun." "I'm happy for you." "Umm...ok...that's it?" "What do you mean?" "Aren't you gonna asked if we kissed?" "Did you?" Cooper said with little enthusiasm. "No, but I'm surprised you didn't ask." "I'm sorry." "Ok, what's wrong? " I feel like such a fuckin slut." Eric was startled by the language Cooper had used. If Cooper spoke that way it was usually in a light or joking manner, but this was clearly different, "What happened?" "Kevin...he slept with someone else." Cooper had never appreciated his friendship with Eric more than in that moment. He considered it a mark of the strength of their friendship that Eric didn't laugh or point out the fact that he and Kevin had never been a couple so no actual betrayal had taken place. "This may seem like a dumb question, but was it a guy or girl?" "Girl." "Are you ok?" Eric said lamely. "I don't know, I just feel like the world's biggest fuckin idiot and I feel so dirty. I've been giving head to someone who's never showed any interest in me other than my mouth, what kind of person does that make me?" "It shows you're human and you made a mistake." "The saddest thing is I thought I was in love with him; it's mostly why I did all that stuff for him. But I wasn't...I'm not, it was like a deep infatuation. I thought he was hot, he was willing and there you have the last year of my life." "Cooper, I don't know what to say." "It's ok, nobody ever does...but can you just sit here for a while, I don't think I could stand to be alone again." "Yeah, of course." "Thank you," Cooper said, his voice beginning to crack, "He's leaving in a couple of weeks...and I can't imagine my life without him." Cooper laid his head on Eric's shoulder and Eric could feel the movement on his shoulder from Cooper's body as it shook from sobbing. Eric didn't know what to say or do, so he decided to go with the moment and run his fingers through Cooper's very short hair in an effort to calm him. That seemed to help as Cooper's body relaxed and his head went from Eric's shoulder to his lap. Eric shifted until he found a comfortable position and he and Cooper stayed that way and were quiet for quite a long time. It was disturbed by Cooper launching himself out of Eric's lap very quickly with a confused and alarmed expression on his face. "It's ok," Eric said soothingly, "It's just me." "Sorry, I think I fell asleep." "Are you hungry, I can go down to the commons and get you some food." "Yeah, would you please?" "Yeah, I'll be right back." Eric made his way down to the dining commons and he was still surprised that for a second day in a row, the weather seemed very cold. He quickly walked the few steps from the outside of the dorms to the dining commons and was disappointed that the air conditioning system was still going full blast inside. "Can I just have two to go plates, please?" Eric was putting a generous portion of salad on the plate that was to be his when he felt someone come up from behind him, "Hey." he said when he saw it was Toby. "Yo, how's it going?" "It's going." "Two plates?" Toby said smirking, "Trying to add some weight or something?" "One is for Cooper." "Oh...I've known you longer and you've never brought me dinner." "By the way," Eric said ignoring Toby's last remark, "You might want to stop by Cooper's room, he's devastated over Kevin." "What happened now?" Toby asked while scooping some mashed potatoes on his plate. Eric really didn't want to get into it here with tons of nosy college students walking around. Plus he wanted to get back to Cooper as quickly as possible, "I'll let him tell you." "Ok, I'll come up after I eat." Toby said, heading towards a table. As Eric made his way back to Cooper's room, Toby looked out at the dismal weather and was one of the few to be happy about it. The colder weather made tennis practice easier for him; he knew he could go all day when the weather was like this because he didn't have to worry about getting tired. He was sitting alone in the dining commons for a very long time. Cooper and Eric where in Cooper's room doing whatever it is they did and he hadn't crossed paths with Richard in over a day. It was kind of nice in his opinion, just to be alone with his own thoughts and not having someone breathing down his back. Half an hour later, he was walking through the lobby and saw an RA scolding a resident for letting someone into the building who was not living there. Toby came to the top of his floor and debated whether to go to Cooper's room or go the other way down the hall to his room. He decided he would run by his room to pick up his cell phone to see if Richard had called and then head over to the other side of the floor. He turned the key in his door and was startled to see Richard sitting on their bed, staring at the wall across the room; their was no tv or music on, just Richard staring into space. "Did you get my note?" Richard asked without looking at Toby. "No, I've been gone all day." "Will you sit down please?" Richard asked pleadingly. Toby slowly and reluctantly sat down. He didn't like where this conversation seemed to be going. Almost more than anything, Toby hated to be blindsided and he had the distinct feeling that that was about to happen over the next few minutes. Richard had a way of doing that to him, particularly the night a few weeks before they had started separate colleges when Richard told him he thought it was best that they go their separate ways to fully experience college. "I want you to let me say everything I need to say before you say anything, ok?" Richard said, still not looking at his boyfriend. "Ok." "Really Toby, I mean it." "Ok!" "I hate shows where one person in a relationship keeps a secret from the other and they have the opportunity to tell the truth and they don't, and you know from that moment on the relationship is doomed. I'm trying not to have that be us, so keep in mind that this is very hard for me to say to you, ok?" Toby was now using all his self control to stay seated next to Richard; he really wanted to get up and run and he wasn't sure why. Had Richard cheated on him? "Ok. I can do that." "I think I might be bisexual." Toby didn't say anything for a few moments, which Richard had learned from the past was usually a good sign; if Toby ranted and raved, you had offended him deeply. "I kind of figured." "Huh?" Richard said in surprise. "When we were first together, I used to watch you all the time when we were out. I couldn't understand and sometimes I still wonder why you chose to be with me. Lots of people think I'm good looking, but Richard you're just...I can't even think of a word. There's just something about you. But when we would go out to the mall or the movies, I used to watch who you would check out to see what your real tastes were cause I couldn't imagine they were me, and I noticed you always seemed to check out the guys who had girlfriends. I didn't think much of it until school started when you and Bliss, you guys just have this thing, it's obvious you're attracted to each other." "I wish you would have told me all this before." "There's something I have to know. Have you slept with her?" "No!" came Richard's immediate response, "Of course I haven't, we're in a relationship! Before that comment I thought you were taking it pretty well." He was being truthful. He would admit that there had been times he thought about it or maybe his actions had been inappropriate, but he had never cheated on Toby. "I'm taking a page from you. I don't always want to be the person who flies off the handle at everything they don't like and I had to ask you about her, I wouldn't have been able to get closure if I had." "Closure?" Richard asked confused. "Yeah." "On what?" "On us. I would have always wondered if you left me for her." Toby said, slightly embarrassed. "Toby, I'm not breaking up with you. I don't want to. I'm being honest with you to make our relationship stronger." Toby chuckled softly and couldn't help but smile, "I thought you were, but seriously have you ever been with a girl?" "No. I did go on a few dates with one last year, but nothing other than a kiss happened." Toby was a little surprised by this, he had asked Richard last year when he was considering dating Tim if he had dated anyone. Richard had responded a few people, but omitted the fact that one of them had been a girl. "Then aren't you curious, don't you want to explore that?" "A little bit, but I love you Toby and I would never hurt you like I did before. I'm still sorry about that, you know. Plus, with my parents...you know...you're about the only person I know I can count on right now." "I love you too." "So you're not mad at me anymore?" Richard asked, placing his head on Toby's shoulders. "No, I've missed talking to you so much." Toby gave Richard's forehead a kiss. "I missed that, but I also missed something else too," Richard said grabbing Toby's crotch. Toby would have been mortified any other time by the giggle that escaped his mouth, but he was happy at the moment and so took no notice of it. The two rearranged themselves so that Toby was on his back with Richard on top of him, kissing him passionately. As he kissed his boyfriend's neck, Richard could smell the faintest hint of sweat on Toby and it drove him wild. He lifted Toby's shirt over his head and placed little kisses all the way down Toby's chest and stomach until he was at the beginning of Toby's shorts. With one yank, Toby's shorts and briefs came down his leg and then were discarded onto the floor. Toby reached up and pulled Richard's shirt over his head, and it soon joined Toby's clothes on the floor. Richard came back up to kiss Toby, more urgently this time as both moaned in the other's mouth. He stopped to pay a little attention to Toby's nipples on his way down back to Toby's erect cock. He took it in his hand and just like he had done Toby's chest and stomach, he placed little kisses all around Toby's dick before sliding it into his mouth with loving affection. Toby loved getting head the most from Richard and fully enjoyed the attention he was receiving as it had been almost a week since he had gotten off. Richard expertly sucked his boyfriend's dick for a few minutes before Toby pulled him back up and, if possible, kissed him even more urgently than ever before. "Make love to me." Richard said breathlessly. Richard didn't usually like to bottom, and when he did Toby usually had to ask, he thought it a great gesture that Richard had asked this time. Toby moved off the bed and his dick swung clumsily as he walked to the closet to retrieve a condom and some lube. Richard was in the process of removing his clothes when Toby came back ready to go. "How do you want me?" "Just on your back, I want to soak you all in." Toby said. He rested Richard's legs on his shoulders and Toby bean to apply just a bit of pressure to Richard's entrance, dropping a bit more lube on Richard just to be safe. Richard tensed just a bit but quickly relaxed as he felt Toby slide into him. "Go slow, ok?" "Yeah." Toby had no reason to rush. He was with the man he loved, the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and he couldn't help but feel that they had strengthen their relationship ten fold in the last week. I'd love to hear from you guys (and thank you to the ones who always let me know what they're thinking) about the story. If you'd like updates on when a new chapter of the story is posted, drop me an e mail at tenniswiz12@msn.com Hope you guys enjoy the update and hope to hear from you soon. Also as a side note, I'm sure we've all heard about the conflict going on in Lebanon. Naturally, some of us fall on different sides of the fence on the issue and what's being done. Please just take a minute to pray to whatever higher power you believe in and if you don't believe in one than just take a moment to wish all the people who really have litle or nothing to do with this conflict and just want the best future for themselves and their famillies well.