Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2014 07:51:27 -0700
From: h.schreiber@hushmail.com
Subject: Chapter 8 of Come Christmas Steve by Hans Schreiber

Come Christmas Steve
Chapter 8
Love is spelled T I M E

I held my breath as Daniel slipped his small hand into that of his
father's. My friends gathered to my side as I watched the words literally
escape the young father's mouth. Each and every word simply hung there in a
cold fog for all to see and hear as he spoke.

"Daniel told me what happened," he'd said, cutting me short when I
paused. Luckily he did so before I could trip myself up in some
incriminating lie.  I swallowed hard and determined to simply tell the
truth. Nothing bad had happened and that was the honest truth.

"Listen," I said. "All I did was help him get in the room so he could go
pee."

"Yes, that's what he told me." He looked a bit confused by my forceful
tone. "Thank you for doing that." He extended his hand to me. As I
cautiously took it, he continued, "He really needed to go bad. It was very
nice of you. Most guys your age are too absorbed in themselves to bother
helping anyone, especially a small boy. I just wanted to say thank you."

I had to pause and reformulate my thoughts. I'd been prepared to launch
into a whole speech about why I had been naked, but I realized little
Daniel must have left a few little details out. Maybe in his innocence, he
didn't even think that part was important. "Well," I began. Once I got my
wits back, I finished with, "you're welcome, but it was really no big
deal. Glad I could help. He seems like a nice little guy and you seem to be
a good father."

"I don't know. I try. You wouldn't know it from hearing my wife talk. She
accused me of being a horrible father for sending him off on his own. She
thinks there's a naked pedophile lurking in every corner just waiting to
prey on him, especially in hotels. Anyway, I'm glad you were there. If poor
little Daniel had wet his pants trying to get in, I would have been in
really big trouble with his mom."

"Yeah, she did seem kind of bitchy over it, and it made sense to me what
you did. After all, you had your arms all full with the crap that needed to
go in the car."

Daniel's father's face wrinkled back into a confused look. "How ... how did
you know that?"  Steve shifted his weight and purposely stepped on my
foot. I got the message to say less. I was hesitating and it was
obvious. Suddenly, he rolled his eyes and said, "Wait a minute. Did my wife
get to you before me and accuse you of doing something inappropriate with
Daniel?"

"Umm," I began. Yes or no, I wondered. Which would be the best answer? I
started with yes, but switched to, "No. No sir," I said sticking to the
truth like I'd decided to. "I just heard you two arguing in the hallway, I
guess."

"Oh. Okay. I didn't realize we were that loud. How embarrassing. Like I
said, she's a bit of a nut case about that kind of thing," he responded.

"Well, the naked truth is, she's sort of right. Nowadays, you do have to be
careful," I commented.  Steve shifted his weight again and stepped down
hard on my foot. "OW!" I cried out. "You're on my foot." I gave Steve a
little shove.

"Oh, sorry. At least you're WEARING a shoe, imagine if I stepped on your
NAKED foot," he said, glaring into my eyes. I thought that was the
strangest thing for him to say, but he often said strange things that only
made sense later on. Then Steve added, "We really need to be going."

 "Anyway, thanks again. You guys have a nice day." Daniel's father gave me
a two finger wave and turned away. Daniel broke his grip with his father's
hand and did a karate chop and kick move and then winked at me. I smiled
and did a couple quick karate chops of my own and winked back.  Then I blew
out a giant sigh of relief as he scurried off to catch up to his dad.

"What was that all about?" Whittaker asked.

"Yeah, what was that all about?" Jensen repeated.

"Nothing. They were staying in the room next to us and I just helped the
little boy get into his room.  He needed to go pee really bad and was
having trouble with the key."

"Oh," they both said in unison.

"You," Steve whispered into my ear as we headed back to the car, "are one
lucky s.o.b. The 'naked truth?' Seriously?"

I started to laugh. I hadn't even thought about using the word 'naked'. The
'naked truth' is a saying I grew up hearing my grandfather use all the time
and I kind of picked it up. It all made sense why Steve stepped on my foot
when I used that word. "Yeah," I agreed. "I was more than a little
nervous. But see, you were just overreacting like I said."

"No," Steve said sternly, "you were just lucky. Damn lucky."

"Thanks for having my back, by the way," I said appreciatively.

He didn't respond but did reach over and give my hand a small squeeze. That
told me all I needed to know.

We checked out a couple other hot springs and each one was uniquely
awe-mazing. Steve read up on all the geological information off the plaques
while Whittaker just went around taking a lot of pics with his
phone. Jensen would look at the hot springs for a minute or two and then
fade off into a mental replay of his first sexual conquest. You could tell
that's where he was going by the look on his face and occasional
surreptitious slipping of the hand inside his pants pocket. Every now and
then, I'd catch myself looking at Steve and having a little replay of my
own, remembering the power of the orgasm I'd had inside his nice ass.

"Okay guys," I announced, "one last stop. Did everyone bring their
swimsuits like I told them to?"

"Yes, but I'm not running around in the snow in my board shorts if that's
what you've got in mind," Whittaker objected.

"Me either," Jensen agreed.

"No, it's not that. There's this place on the way out of the park called
Boiling River. Some of the hot springs flow into the Gardner River and
there's a place along the way where we're allowed to go soak in the heated
river. It sounds really, really dope on the internet reviews."

"But we'll have to get out afterwards and we'll freeze our asses off,"
Whittaker complained further.

"Yeah," Jensen agreed.

"Don't be such pansies. We can dry off quickly and take clothes to change
into so we don't have to walk back to the car in a wet suit."

"I don't know. Sounds crazy to me," Whittaker whined.

"Well you don't have to come with us if you don't want, but you'll be
missing out." I pulled the car into the parking area and there was a large,
brown, forest service sign with all the rules on it. No nudity was
prominently spelled out. I wasn't surprised that it was, because if it
wasn't, I'd be all over the idea of skinny dipping in the river. We grabbed
our suits and went into the bathroom at the trailhead to change. Whittaker
watched closely as Steve and I changed, probably thinking about what he'd
witnessed the night before. We pulled our sweat pants on over our suits and
set out on the 1/2 mile hike to the Boiling River. There were only a couple
of other cars in the parking area.

The 1/2 mile hike was easy enough. The trail followed along the Gardner
River and when we rounded a bend we saw a group of Bison grazing on the
opposite bank. You could see their warm breath billowing from their
nostrils in a fog. They completely ignored us. We reached the spot where
the extremely hot mineral water flowed into the river. We chatted with a
family just getting out and they warned us where to enter the water
at. Some parts were way too hot to be in since the mineral water could be
as hot as 140 degrees and would scorch us.

The surreal image was phenomenal as steam rose from the hot mineral streams
until it fed into the Gardner at the confluence. A rim of rocks formed a
partial barrier separating the steaming hot mineral water from the freezing
cold Gardner waters. Both extremes melded in a unique blend to create an
outdoor, natural hot tub. We stripped out of our coats, pants and other
clothing until we were down to our swimsuits. We carefully stepped into the
bathing area where two other married couples were still enjoying the
wonderful hot spring. When we got in, we could tell that finding just the
right spot was important. At first, the front half of me was freezing and
the backside was burning. We had to shift closer to the married people to
find the right mix. Once we did, however, it was a sheer delight.

We settled in and relaxed in the hot water taking in the beauty of nature
surrounding us. The buffalo grazed lazily along the river's edge, the steam
rose in thick clouds over the mineral water stream feeding our hot tub, and
the sky was deep blue with billowing white clouds. It was how I would
picture heaven to be.

Shortly after we arrived, the two couples had had enough and they got out,
dried off and left. We were able to talk more openly then and Whittaker and
Jensen started asking more about the encounter with Daniel's father. I
looked at Steve for approval and he just shrugged so I told them the whole
story. Naturally, I left out exactly why I was up in the room and naked
because even though Whittaker could figure it out, I was sure, Jensen had
no idea about me and Steve and there was no reason to clue him in.

Whittaker, predictably, laughed his ass off. Jensen chuckled along. They
both agreed with Steve that I'd gotten off lucky. After my story, we all
settled back against the embankment and just enjoyed the serenity and
beauty of the experience. Jensen closed his eyes and rocked his head
back. I imagined, from his expression, that he was pretending to be sitting
next to Valerie instead of Whittaker and guessed he was rocking a full
boner. I reached over and began slowly stroking my lover boy's arm and
upper thigh. Steve turned and gave me sweet look of lustful longing.
Apparently, he'd recharged and was ready for more action.

Since we were alone except for the bison, Whittaker, being his usual self,
suddenly thrust his suit up out of the water and waved it over his
head. "Now I can say that I went skinny dipping in Yellowstone Park. C'mon
guys, join in."

"Geez, Whittaker, put that back on. If a ranger comes by we'll get in
trouble," Steve scolded.

Whittaker said in a mocking cartoon voice, "Don't get naked in the hot
springs, Yogi, Mr. Ranger wouldn't like it."

I started to laugh and added a "Hey, Boo-boo."

Steve scowled, "What are you talking about? Why would you call me Boo-boo?"

"Didn't you watch cartoon network as a kid? You know, Yogi Bear and his
sidekick, Boo-boo?"

"No. It sounds ridiculous," Steve said. "I'm not into cartoons."

"Well, Yogi was kinda like Whittaker, just doing whatever crazy thing
crossed his mind. He especially liked to steal picnic baskets. Boo-boo was
his little buddy and he was the voice of conscience and reason. Sort of
like you are," I said to Steve. "They were constantly getting into trouble
with the Ranger. Yogi would always find a way to escape though, and get
away with things."

"I guess that's why I'm not a fan of cartoons. That's nothing like how it
happens in real life," Steve responded. "In real life, the rangers always
win."

"Almost always," Whittaker objected, "Shaney here got away with one today."

"Okay, that's true," Steve agreed. "But he was just lucky and we shouldn't
push our luck."

"Well, I'm joining Whittaker," I said. "I wanted to do it ever since I read
about this place on the net." Whittaker's bravado was contagious. I tugged
and wriggled out of my suit and waved it overhead along with
Whittaker. Jensen soon joined us and all three of us were waving them in
the air as if we were front row at a rock concert. Whittaker stood up and
started dancing so that his dick flopped about. I followed his example and
soon we were bopping in place to imaginary music playing in our
heads. Jensen stayed seated but continued to wave his suit overhead. Steve
refused to join in claiming one of us needed to stay out of jail in order
to bail the rest of us out. That made us all laugh. Then we started
screwing around together doing a little goosing action and splashing.
Steve smirked and slid toward the hotter water to keep from getting his
hair splashed on. When I managed a playful grab at Jensen's jewels, I found
out I'd been right about what he was doing. He was still semi-boned and I
winked at him. He smiled back. Then, Whittaker grabbed Jensen's shorts and
tossed them ashore. Jensen retaliated and tossed Whittaker's bright red
Hawaiian patterned shorts up next to his. I shoved mine under my crotch and
clutched them tightly so they couldn't get to them.

They wrestled with me to try and steal them until Steve cried out,
"Someone's coming, Listen!"

We stopped wrestling and sure enough, we could hear the sound of young boy
voices. "Oh, shit!  You're right," Jensen said. He started climbing out as
two of the lead scouts rounded the bend.  Jensen retreated back into the
water and hunched down covering his half bone.

"Oh shit!" Jensen said to Whittaker. "Look what you got us into?"

"Hey, you made your own decision to get naked. You could've listened to
Steve."

"Hey guys," one of the scouts called out and walked over toward us. "How's
the water?"

"It's great," Whittaker answered. "But how about a little help? We were
messing around and tossed our shorts on the shore. How about tossing them
back before the rest of your group comes?"

One of the scouts got the same mischievous glint in his eye that Whittaker
sometimes gets, started laughing, and picked up the two suits. Laughing, he
held them up and said, "What'll you give me for them?"

Whittaker squinted at the kid and said in a low, menacing tone, "How about
I let you live instead of throwing your skinny ass into the freezing
river?"  Then Whittaker growled at the kid and scrambled out of the water
and up the bank towards the two snickering scouts. Their eyes flew open and
their mouths dropped as all six foot three of Whittaker emerged from the
hot water with his giant dick flopping beneath his bright red, matted
pubes.

"HERE!" The smartass kid yelled and threw the shorts at Whittaker. Both
scouts retreated quickly back up the bank to the trail.

"Good decision," Whittaker said as he picked up the shorts and waded back
into the hot water. I'd already gotten mine back on and Whittaker and
Jensen quickly put theirs on. Shortly after, the rest of the scouts rounded
the corner.

It was an older group of scouts, more of a high adventure group ages
fifteen to seventeen, I guessed. I knew they were scouts by the forest
green pants they wore. When they saw us, they sort of pulled up and looked
a bit disappointed. I think they were hoping to be the only ones there.

We decided to get out and head back once the rest of the scout group
came. We'd had our fun and it was time to be getting back anyway. There
were eight scouts and two adult leaders. The scouts all stripped down to
their board shorts and joked and jostled with each other as they made their
way into the hot springs. We shared with them the same good advice about
where to enter and where to avoid that we'd been given.

I was impressed with a couple of the young guys' bodies. They were
obviously athletes and pretty hot looking. The others weren't much to look
at and a bit on the geeky side. I'd spent more than a few hours perusing
hot young twinks on the net back in the day and was a pretty good judge of
hot and not hot when it came to young studs. The nicest looking one was a
nicely chiseled brunette with a sizable bulge in his trunks. I wouldn't
have minded if they'd skinny dipped with us. I can't help checking out hot
guys still and I had to keep pinching myself whenever I thought about my
good fortune of hooking up Steve being the handsome stud that he is.

The smartass kid thought it was funny how their nipples hardened in the
cold air and was making a sport of giving his buddies titty-twisters. It
was amusing to watch. He made a wide berth around Whittaker, though. I
realized how much boys mature in just a few years from those high school
years to college. I read once that boys' brains don't fully develop and
boys don't fully mature until age twenty-five which explains a lot. Steve
seemed well ahead of his years in that regard. I suppose an upbringing like
his would force early maturity and even jade you a bit.

I was still forcing as much water out of my board shorts before pulling on
my sweats and the other three had walked to the bend in the
trail. Whittaker turned around and said loud enough for everyone to hear,
"Hey Shaney! Are you CUMMING?" Then he started laugh and so did Steve in
spite of himself. Jensen wanted to know why that was funny. No one
explained. I turned my back to the scout leaders and flipped him off. That
made him laugh all the harder.

The hike back was quick. We were anxious to reach the car and get the
heater going. We stripped quickly in the bathroom to get the wet suits off
and all of us except Whittaker looked like a young boy, we'd shrunk up so
much from the cold suits against our goodies. It was worth it though, and
everyone thanked me for finding out about the boiling river and making it a
part of our trip. We laughed over how close Whittaker and Jensen had come
to getting caught by the scout leaders. We laughed at the look of complete
panic on the kid's face when Whittaker's naked body came charging out of
the water. "He probably thought there was some kind of giant poisonous
snake dangling between your legs," Jensen laughed.

"That reminds me of a joke I heard at scout camp one time," I said. When
they prompted me to tell it. "Two scouts go out on an overnight outing with
nothing but a single blanket and a pocket knife for their wilderness
survival merit badge. They had a two way radio that they could only use in
case of an emergency. One of them got bit on his penis by a poisonous snake
while taking a piss. He started screaming for help. The other scout came
running and tried to call on the radio but he couldn't get reception. He
told the one who got bit to sit down and he'd run to the top of the hill to
try and get the radio to work. So he ran up and called and got the camp
nurse. He told her that his friend had gotten bitten by a snake and she
told him to make a small cut at the spot where the fangs sunk into the skin
and then suck on it to get the poison out or he could die. The scout ran
back down the hill. The almost hysterical scout looked up and asked 'What
did they say? What did they say?' The other scout shrugged and answered,
'She said you're gonna die.'"

Jensen started to chuckle politely, but Whittaker didn't and neither did
Steve. When I thought about it, it wasn't really all that funny outside of
a scout setting and since we're not twelve year-olds. I felt embarrassed
for having shared it. Steve directed the conversation away by reciting some
interesting facts he'd learned about the extraordinary geology of
Yellowstone to relieve the awkward moment I'd created.

It was a mostly quiet ride back and sort of sad when we finally turned the
car back in and took a cab back to school. We bumped knuckles and parted
ways to our separate dorm rooms. I was unpacking and sorting out my dirty
clothes when Steve wrapped his arms around me from behind. I dropped my
dirty underwear and twisted around in his arms. He kissed me and stroked my
cheek.  "Thanks, man. That was just wonderful. I loved every minute of
it. Well ... almost every minute. I could have done without the dangerous
exhibitions of nudity from you three nut jobs." I laughed and kissed him.

"I'm glad you liked it. I love you so much and I had such a great time. It
was everything I hoped it would turn out to be." We started kissing and
tonguing while rubbing each other's backs. Soon the shirts came off and
then we pulled down our pants and helped each other step out. I pulled
Steve's boxer hem over his erection and then took his boxers off. He did
the same for me and we dropped naked to the floor of our dorm room between
the beds and started thrashing and humping against each other in a fit of
lustful passion. We kissed and sucked and ground our dicks into each other.
Our precum flowed and provided an erotic lubricant. Suddenly, Steve bit my
lower lip and grunted as his hot cum slithered between our tightly pressed
abs. That set me off and I spewed my own hot load to mix between us. When
we'd both emptied our love juices onto each other's bodies and finished
with the spasms against each other, we resumed the slow passionate kissing
we'd started out with. We slid our sensitive dicks back and forth through
the silky coating of cum spread between our warm bodies. I was flush with
joy and happiness.

After a bit, Steve slid down and started licking me clean, stomach, dick
and balls. I sat up and flipped around and followed his example, licking
and tongue bathing his hot genitalia. I had to pick one of his long brown
pubes from my teeth and then resumed the bathing. When most of it was gone,
I got up and tossed him his towel. We made our way down the hallway to the
showers. After a quick, hot shower that would have been so much better if
we could have shared it, we dried off and went back to the room. We
finished unpacking and got ready for our classes the next day. The idea of
going back to our regular school routine sounded just awful. Finally, we
crawled in our separate beds. Steve sat up and played a couple of tunes on
the guitar and then we fell fast asleep.

School went okay for me and Steve over the coming weeks. Steve had taken
way too many credits in an effort to speed along the graduation process. He
had eighteen credits and was gone all the time. When he wasn't in class, it
seemed like he was studying. We had very little time for ourselves.  The
time we did have, we took full advantage of. Our pattern was to go eat
dinner at the cafeteria, walk home via the long route around campus talking
and catching up on each other's lives and classes. We'd go to our room and
make out for a while until Steve was no longer really into it. He'd get
distracted with all the thoughts of what he needed to get done and I could
tell I'd lost him. I'd stop and hand him his backpack and push him out the
door as he apologized, promising to make it up later. Steve spent lots of
time in the library computer center since he didn't have his own. It was a
real inconvenience and I let him use my laptop as much as possible. I
admired his diligence, but I felt really cheated over our lack of time
together. Usually, I'd throw on my gym clothes and Whittaker and I would go
for a run. After a month, I'd gotten in better shape and looked forward to
our daily run.

All the money I'd spent on the trip home and then on the New Year's Steve
trip had seriously depleted my savings. As a result, I'd needed to get a
job. I was really lucky to find one next to campus at a grade school after
school program. I helped the kids with their homework and then monitored
their play until their parents got off work and could pick them up. It
worked really well with my school schedule. It bothered me that even though
they didn't mind if he came by, Steve refused to ever come visit me at the
school. I really wanted him to see what a wonderful job I did with the
kids. I actually started to consider becoming a school teacher. I really
had a knack for helping kids learn and it was fun to see them get excited
over mastering a new concept. My job and Steve's study schedule really cut
into our companionship time. Sex became a weekend only event, either
Saturday or Sunday, but not both. Sometimes it felt like he was just going
through the motions.

Once in a while I'd go sit in the commons room and chat with Whittaker and
Jensen at night when Steve was pulling a late night study session. By the
third week of January, the librarians were kicking him out at midnight
practically every day. I pleaded with Steve to back off and drop some
credits but he resisted. Jensen continued texting and calling Valerie until
she asked him to stop. He was pretty morose over it when she did. He'd gone
as far as rearranging his schedule and taking a choir class to try and
impress her. It didn't work. By the first of February, he was pretty much
over the loss already and was focusing his attention on a girl in the choir
class. Since losing his virginity to Valerie in the one night stand they
had in Yellowstone, he was highly motivated to find another willing
participant. He was putting the pressure on me to double date with another
choir girl.  Whittaker thought that was pretty funny and made little inside
jokes about it that Jensen didn't get.  Finally, I decided, with Steve's
permission, to let him in on our status. He was shocked at first but then,
like Whittaker, put the little clues together and wondered how he'd missed
it.

"So what's it like?" Whittaker asked one day when only the three of us were
in the commons.

"What's what like?" I asked.

"Sex with a guy. Getting it up the ass. What's that like?"

"Geez, Whittaker, why would you ask something like that?" Jensen
said. "That's personal." Then he turned to me and said, "But if you don't
mind telling us, I'm curious too. It just seems so strange to me."

"First of all, it isn't just about butt fucking. We don't always do
that. It's just the same as it is with straight couples, I suppose. It's
about love and making each other feel good. It's as much emotional as it is
physical. Sometimes we just cuddle naked until we orgasm just from holding
each other close," I explained. "In some ways that's even better sex."

"Wow. That sounds like beautiful," Jensen said.

"But," I continued with a glint in my eye, "There are times when we're so
hot for each other that we just rip each other's clothes off and fuck our
brains out. That's fun too. As for what it feels like, it's hard to
explain. If you really want to know, you and Whittaker will have to have a
go at it some night."

"I'm game," Whittaker said. He reached over and wrapped Jensen up in a
headlock then planted a sloppy wet kiss on his cheek. "How about tonight?"

Jensen squirmed free and wiped the slobbery kiss off on the sleeve of his
t-shirt. "Gross!" Jensen said.

"Why Whittaker, I'm surprised at you," I said. "I thought you were totally
straight. D'ya got a little bi-sexual side going on in there?"

"Nah, I'm what you call a tri-sexual."

"Tri-sexual? There's no such thing," Jensen said with a little disgust
still wiping at his cheek.

"Sure there is," Whittaker insisted, "If it's sexual, I'm willing to TRY
it." He laughed in his awkward, boisterous way and I had to laugh
along. Jensen laughed too while shaking his head at us.

The first Saturday in February, I came back from running in the morning
with Whittaker to find Steve out of bed and sitting at the desk in just his
boxers working on my computer. I walked up behind him and covered his eyes,
"Guess who?"

"Hmmm, Justin Bieber?" Steve joked. That made me laugh.

"No silly, it's me." I pulled him away from the computer desk and sat on
his lap. I kissed him.

"Even better," he said, kissing me back. "How was your run?"

"Good. It would be better running with you. But I can see how you got
addicted to it. It's hard to get started and to keep going, but it feels so
good when you finish."

"I miss it. I wish I could join you guys. I just can't find time. My prof's
are really piling it on right now."

"I still think you should have dropped some credits. You're killing
yourself."

"I'm fine. I just have to really manage my time carefully."

"If you say so. It sucks for our together time, though. Even when we are
here together, it seems like I'm alone. You're always so wrapped up in your
studies and unable to focus on anything else."

"I know," Steve apologized. "I'm sorry."

"I am impressed with your work ethic. But all work and no play makes Steve
a dull boy."

"Speaking of which, I need to get this project for English done. I need to
have a thesis and outline done by Monday."

"Ugghh. See what I mean? Dull, dull, dull. C'mon, let's go shower and then
come back and make some crazy passionate love."

He paused and I sensed his hesitancy. He was torn. He glanced past me at
the computer screen and I sort of lost it. "Fine! Just study. I don't care
anyway. I'll go hang out with Jensen and Whittaker."  I pushed off his lap
and grabbed my towel.

"Wait!" Steve called, "Don't get mad. I just ..." I didn't hear whatever he
said because I pulled the door shut hard behind me as I stomped my way down
the hall to the showers.

Whittaker was just stripping out of his running clothes and stood naked
feeling the water temperature as I stomped in. "What's up with you?" He
asked.

"Nothing!" I shot back.

"Uh-oh. Lover's quarrel?" he smirked.

"No. No quarrel. Steve got his way and I let him have it. I don't know why
he wouldn't listen to me when I told him he was overdoing it on the
credits." I stared at Whittaker's naked body and his long dick and longed
for some emotionally charged sex with my Steve.

"Yeah, he's crazy," Whittaker agreed as he climbed in and pulled the shower
curtain closed.

I got naked and climbed in my own shower. I took care of my shower business
quickly and tried to finish up with a quick jerk. It had been well over a
month since I'd needed to jackoff in the shower since Steve and I had
become sexually active together.

All I managed to do by jerking my dick was to get angrier over the loss of
attention from Steve. I had to practically force a release by jacking
myself so hard and furious that it was actually painful.  As the cum
escaped from my complaining dick, I leaned against the shower stall,
clutching my oozing dick and started to cry. "Fuck!" I muttered. It was a
completely unsatisfying experience. I directed the shower nozzle to where
I'd spilled my cum to rinse it away down the drain. I watched it swirl and
disappear down the chrome grating. Then I shut off the water and dried
off. Whittaker was already gone. I shuffled back to the room with just my
towel around my waist.

When I entered our dorm room, Steve pushed away from the desk and walked
over to me. He reached out to wrap his arms around me and I tensed up. He
took me in his arms and apologized.  "Look, I'm sorry," he said. "How about
if I take a ten minute break and let you fuck me. Would that make you
happy?"

I shoved him away in a flash of anger and he tripped backwards against the
desk chair. "Just fuck yourself! Wow!" I said. "You really think I just
need to shoot a load? What would make me happy is to spend some time with
you without a fucking stopwatch running."

He righted himself and looked stunned. "I - I - I didn't mean it like
that. It's just ... I just have so much fucking homework to do. I need you
to understand that I'm doing this for my future so I can make something out
of my life."

"For your future? What about our future? Do we have a future? What are we
doing together, Steve?  Are we a couple or are we not?"

"Of course we are. I've told you, I love you," he said rubbing his wrist.

"It doesn't feel like it. Not like it did. I wish you would have listened
to me about dropping some credits."

His lip started quivering and he swallowed hard. "I know. I agree. I should
have, but it's too late now. We just have to get through it. I hate it; I
hate feeling like I can't get everything done. I hate feeling like I'm
letting my professors down and like I'm letting you down." He moved toward
me, stopped and pulled his boxers off. "C'mon, let's take some time and
play together. I promise, no stopwatch."

I put my hand out and stopped him. "No thanks. I took care of my needs in
the shower. Maybe another time when you don't need to study - like next
semester maybe." I grabbed my closet door and jerked it open. I pulled out
a clean pair of boxers, jeans and a shirt. I pulled them on and grabbed my
shoes and socks. I walked out ignoring his pleas for me to come back and
talk it over. I was in no mood for it. I went to the commons and put my
shoes and socks on. Whittaker walked by and saw me and asked if I wanted to
go with a group of guys down to the bowling alley and bowl a few games and
then play some pool. I jumped at the chance and joined the group. It was
fun and helped me take my mind off Steve. We laughed and joked like college
guys do and shared in good natured ribbing when one of us guttered or
tossed it down the middle of a split. I chose a heavy bowling ball and
heaved it at the pins to help get my aggression out. It was kind of
therapeutic watching it smash into them. My arm was a little sore from it,
but I didn't mind. Afterward, Whittaker and I went to dinner together at
the cafeteria and I was a little disappointed that Steve wasn't there. I
supposed he was still studying somewhere even though the library closed
early on Saturday.

I was able to have a good conversation with Whittaker and he opened up to
me. He shared his frustration with his family and how he felt like he
wasn't really loved that much by his parents. He shared his philosophy on
life that there was no real meaning to it and that we just lived until we
died and then that was it. "Poof! Lights out," as he put it. He believed in
being a good world citizen and in being kind to other people just for the
sake of kindness itself and not because some imaginary God wanted him to be
that way. It was interesting to get a peek into his somewhat fragile
soul. I could tell that the jokester image was a bit of a facade and that
he had a real vulnerable side.

He listened carefully and was totally sympathetic as I shared my
frustration with how my relationship with Steve had been going. We
reminisced about the New Year's trip and laughed at the Boy Scout's panic
stricken face when Whittaker charged out of the water and also about my
plight in getting locked out of the room naked. Whittaker and I walked back
to the dorms together after dinner and I walked in to find my dorm room
dark and empty. I wondered where Steve had found to study since the library
had been closed for a while. I was surprised he wasn't at the desk using my
computer. I just got undressed and crawled into bed.

I fought off the tears, tossing and turning and pounding on my
pillow. Finally, I got up and put my boxers and some shorts on. I walked
down to the commons room and looked for him. I checked the other floors as
well. No Steve. I went back to our room and crawled back into bed. I was
worried sick. My mind started coming up with all kinds of horrible things
that might have happened to him. I would never forgive myself if he was
lying dead somewhere and the last words I'd had with him were in
anger. Tears stained my pillow until the lock clattered and Steve crept in
carefully shutting the door behind him. I breathed a sigh of relief and
then I let him have it with both barrels as my dad liked to say.

**********##***********

Every relationship has its highs and its lows. Watch for the next chapter
to see how this plays out between Shane and Steve.

Comments welcome at h.schreiber@hushmail.com Thanks to my editors, Flip and
Paul.