Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:23:47 -0700 From: Ruben Cordova Subject: Healing Old Wounds - Chapter 03 Disclaimer: This story and all characters are the property of the author, any similarities to actual people is completely coincidental. This story contains sexual acts between consenting males, all sexual acts include the use of condoms unless otherwise stated. If it is illegal for you to access this material, please leave the site. Thanks to Michael for editing! All questions, comments and criticism can be sent to my email: rubencordova83@gmail.com The next morning came quicker than I would have liked. I got up and I decided to continue to workout and run with Reese every morning, except for the weekends of course. That morning we met Livia at the entrance to the mess hall and proceeded to get our food, all the while Livia and Reese were talking. Livia was telling him the kind of girls she likes and Reese would avoid answering her when she asked him what kind of girls he was into. Like clock work Jeremy called out to Reese again to join them. "Hey Reese, come on man! Now you're hanging out with a dyke and a fag?" Reese turned to us and saw Livia was ready to pummel the guy. "I'll handle this guys." Reese assured us. He walked over to the table, set his tray down and walked around to where Jeremy was sitting. "What's your problem? Are you fucking stupid or something?" "What gives man? What's with the 'tude?" Jeremy asked, bewildered. "You keep fucking insulting my friends that's what gives! Quit with the insults or you and I are gonna have a big problem." "Chill dude! I was only fucking around! You know I talk like that all the time." "Well did you ever stop and think that maybe people don't like your choice of words?" "The only people who should be insulted are actual fags and dykes!" Jeremy yelled. "They're both gay you idiot!" "What? You really are hanging out with fags? You a fag too?" Reese grabbed Jeremy by the front of his shirt, picked him up and slammed him into the nearest wall. The entire time this little situation was taking place, the rest of the team just sat and watched. I decided I needed to calm Reese down before this went too far. "Reese, he's not worth it! Let him go." I begged. "Yeah Reese, listen to your boyfriend!" Jeremy quipped. "Not until he takes it back!" "Takes what back?" I asked. "What he said about you, me and Livia!" Reese shouted. At this point Livia walked up and tried to help calm Reese down. "Reese, you need to calm down. You don't want to regret doing something that might get you kicked out of school. Listen to me and KC, let him go." Finally Reese's anger started to recede and he let go of Jeremy's shirt. Jeremy looked right at Reese, then he noticed everyone else had stopped to look at what was going on. "This isn't over. You'll see." Jeremy said, looking Reese right in the eye then he walked out of the room. "Come on, we should get going." I said, as I grabbed Reese's arm to pull him out of the mess hall. He jerked away from my grip and left without saying a word. I looked at Livia and she just shrugged. "Just give him some time to cool down. He'll come around." Livia said, assuring me he'll be fine. I went through the rest of my day wondering about Reese, thank goodness Livia was with me. I missed a lot in class by not bothering to really pay attention, luckily for me she took a lot of notes. After class we walked aimlessly around campus and got to know each other a bit better. "So... when's your birthday?" I asked. "June 16th, 1990. You?" "Same year, but August 27th. Wow, we both just turned 18. So that makes you... a little over two months older than me." "So you literally just had a birthday before coming here! Where were you born?" asked Livia. "I was born in Oakland, CA. Lived there my whole life before coming out here for school. Where are you from?" "This is getting to be freaky... I was born and raised in Hayward, CA." Livia said, making a weird face in the process. "So we're both from The Bay, cool." "OK. Here's a question straight out of left field. Has Reese done anything else to make you think he plays for our team?" "Well... yes and no. After what you told me last night, I got it in my head to test the waters a bit. So I asked him to give me a massage." "What happened?" Livia asked, excitedly. "Everything was normal, until he straddled my ass to massage my shoulders. I thought I felt him... 'growing' so to be sure I shifted underneath him and made sure my ass rubbed his crotch. When I did that I thought I heard him moan. When he was done he claimed he went to the bathroom to wash his hands, but he was gone for about fifteen minutes. When he came back he was sans-bulge, he obviously did more than wash his hands." "What makes you confused about whether or not his hard-on is a sign he likes you?" "Well... what if he got hard because I rubbed against him?" "That doesn't make sense, you said you had already thought he was hard so you rubbed against him to make sure. He was hard because he was rubbing you down, trust me." "It's just so hard to believe that someone as hot as him would like me, I've never really been crushed on before." Livia reached inside her bag and handed me a mirror. "Take a look KC, you're not a troll. You're totally fuckable!" Livia exclaimed. "Thanks Liv, that really helps. Now whenever I see someone checking me out the only thing running through my mind will be whether or not he wants to fuck me." "All I'm saying is you're hot. Just as hot as Reese, if not more so. I mean look, you have hazel eyes and jet black hair. Plus your skin tone along with your dark hair makes your eyes stand out even more. On top of that you have that toned look, not super defined but just right. Besides all guys think about is sex, so they were mind-fucking you long before I pointed it out." Livia joked. "I guess I just never really saw myself as hot before. I mean I was out to my friends in High School, and pretty much nobody cared. Well except for what you heard about yesterday. Sure I played around with a couple friends after that but, nobody ever tried to date me." I said, handing her the mirror back. "Well if this whole thing with Reese doesn't pan out, I think you won't have a problem finding a boyfriend." "Speaking of Reese, is that him over there?" I asked. "Where?" "Coming from the baseball field. You see?" "Oh yeah, I think that is him. Come on let's go see." We headed in his direction. As we got closer I could see that he looked kind of mad still. When he saw us coming towards him he sped up to meet us. "Hey guys! What's up?" "Nothing much, we were just walking around campus talking. Aren't you supposed to be in practice?"I asked. "Yeah but fucking Jeremy kept trying to start shit with me. He got me so pissed again that I hit him, coach saw and suspended me for all of next week." "Well what did he say that made you so mad?" Livia asked. "He kept calling me and KC fags and saying he was my boyfriend. Then he said he was gonna tell coach I was gay and have him kick me off the team. So I lost it and hit him, when I did he just laughed." "Reese! That's what he was trying to get you to do the whole time. You played right into his hands." I yelled. "Can we just talk about something else?" "Sure. Hey wanna hear something freaky? Me and KC were born two months apart, I'm older." Livia boasted. "Yeah, and we're both from California. In the Bay Area, we practically grew up near each other." I added. "Weird, so you guys wanna head over to the Library to study? It's still kinda early for dinner." Reese asked. "Yeah, sounds good to me." As we made our way towards the Library, I grabbed Livia's arm and pulled her just out of ear shot of Reese. "He got mad because that asshole was saying I was Reese's boyfriend. Is that proof to you he's not gay?" "No, I think he doesn't want to be outed. Plus if he is gay, he probably got offended being called a fag." Livia quipped. At some point I guess Reese noticed we were behind him so he turned to see what we were talking about. "You guys talking about me?" "No." I answered "KC just wanted to check out your ass." Livia joked. "You guys think alike so much its scary." Reese said. "What do you mean?" Livia asked. "Yesterday I told him I wouldn't mind running behind him to watch his ass jiggle. You gotta admit, it's one hell of an ass!" "Well if you like looking at my ass so much, why don't you take a picture. It will last longer." Reese said, joking. "That's not a bad idea! We're gonna need to find models eventually for class assignments. Reese could be your model KC!" Livia exclaimed. "I was only kidding! KC, you're not seriously thinking about it are you?" "Why not? I mean we live together, and it sure as hell beats having to hire one and pay him with money I don't have." "Yeah but... do I have to?" "No you don't have to, but we'll talk about it more when the time comes." We finally made it to the Library and found a table to work at. We weren't there very long before I started spacing out. I mean aside from a few mandatory general classes, Livia and I really didn't have much work aside from shooting pictures. I imagined what it would be like having Reese for a model. Seeing him naked more often than I do now, I mean neither one of us is very shy when it comes to nudity. I thought about the different locations we could shoot at, maybe a couple cowboy themes. I mean come on, imagine Reese in some tight blue jeans, boots, a hat and nothing else. Holding a lasso or posing with a horse, HOT! I was pulled from my daydream by a kick in my shin. I quickly shot Livia a dirty look. "Look at Reese's hand." Livia said, in almost a whisper. I turned and saw that his hand looked twice its normal size and he was trying to do everything with his left hand. "Reese, we need to have someone look at your hand. I think it might be broken." "I'll be fine KC, really. Nothing I haven't... son of a bitch!" While he was talking to me, Livia pressed down on the back of his hand with her finger. "You were saying, Mr. Macho?" Livia said, giving him a devilish grin. I stood up and grabbed my things while Livia grabbed her and Reese's stuff before he could refuse again. "Come on, we're going to the emergency room. Livia, could you be a doll and drop our stuff in our room?" I asked, giving her a quick wink. "Sure thing love." At that we headed out of the library and parted ways. Luckily UNM Library is right across the street from the UNM Hospital, so we just walked across the street and into the ER. After what seemed like forever, the doctors took x-rays and confirmed Reese's broken hand. They put his forearm into a cast and prescribed some painkillers. As we were walking out of the hospital I let out a small chuckle. "What's so funny?" Reese asked with a smirk on his face. "You'd think that in this day and age that if you broke your hand they would have some other way of helping it heal, not just putting your whole forearm in a cast." "Yeah well what can you do except deal with it?" Said Reese as he shrugged his shoulders. We made our way back to our dorn room and settled in for the night. I had to help Reese undress seeing as how he would be one handed for a while. As I was helping him out of his shirt I realized that I could smell his arm pits just a bit. It wasn't a revolting smell but one that oddly enough caused my cock to stir. I reached down and made a quick adjustment to my package while Reese was pulling his shirt over his head, that's when I caught another look at the bruise Livia had given him. Without thinking I reached a hand out and traced the outline with my finger tips. I half heard Reese let out a satisfied sigh and relax his body when I realized what I was doing and looked back to his face. Our eyes locked together and I could see a look of longing and fear in his eyes. I wanted so desperately to reach out with my hand and cup his face; giving him what I then realized we both wanted... no, what we both needed. I finally broke eye contact when I noticed him lick his lips but whatever connection we had made faded. I thought I saw his lips moving so I looked back up to his eyes, my head finally clearing. "I'm sorry... what did you say?" "I said we should get to bed, we have class tomorrow plus our morning workout and run." Reese repeated. I nodded my head in agreement and we collected our kits and headed to the bathroom to brush our teeth. There wasn't anyone around being it was quite late, so we did our business and then headed back to our room. Oddly enough there was a kind of tension that had built up suddenly and whenever I would try to make eye contact with Reese he would turn his head the other way. After a couple minutes of agonizing silence I went to turn off the light. "Good night Reese." Silence. Have you ever heard someone refer to utter silence as deafening? Before that moment I didn't know if it was true or not but now I do. For some reason his refusal to speak to me caused a tightening in my chest but I refused to let my emotions overrun me. I sighed a quiet `whatever' and turned out the lights, climbed in my bed and went to sleep. The rest of the week went by with few words exchanged between Reese and myself. We continued running and working out together but it was done in silence. Of course Livia noticed and grilled me about it when Reese wasn't around, which now seemed to be more often. Friday evening rolled around and Livia wanted me to go out with her to a local gay club, I agreed. I definitely needed to relax and have a bit of fun. Reese came into the room as I was waiting for Livia to show up. I gave him a quick glance and saw a questioning look flash across his face, boy I could read him like an open book. I thought it might be a friendly gesture, not that I hadn't tried these past few days, to invite him along to get him to start hanging out with us again. "Liv and I are going out to a club to have a bit of fun and check out the night life here. Care to come with us?" "No." "You know Reese that's the most you've said to me since we got back from the emergency room Tuesday night." He turned to look at me and I could tell there was something he wanted to say to me, he just shook his head and let out a long breath then went back to whatever it was he was doing. By that time I had had enough of his attitude. "What the fuck is going on with you Reese? For some reason you've been ignoring me for the past three days." "Nothing's the matter, just leave me alone." "Like hell nothing's the matter! Come on, you can talk to me." I said, almost pleading. He turned to look at me again but this time the pain in his eyes hit me like a knife through the heart. He slowly sat down on his bed and leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. His words came out muffled and I had to ask him to repeat himself, by this time I was seated next to him on his bed. He lifted his head and turned to face me. "I... I think... I'm gay." His eyes searched my face for some kind of reaction from me. I really didn't know what to say, yeah I had once been in his place but my coming out had been met with violence. No one had ever offered me any kind words until much later after the dust had settled so to speak. I did my best to come up with something to say. "Reese I know how confused you must feel. Is that why you haven't spoken to me the past couple days?" "I was afraid that I might say something stupid, I didn't know how to tell you. I know it's dumb but I didn't want you to hate me for not telling you right away." I let out a small chuckle before continuing the conversation. "Well if you remember correctly I wasn't originally planning on telling you either, but you stumbled across my stash so I had no choice. Don't worry, I'm not mad just curious as to why you're telling me now." Instead of answering my question with words he leaned close to me and kissed me lightly on the lips. I gasped at the sudden contact and he must have thought I wanted him to back off cause that's what he started doing. I reached out and pulled him back to me, kissing him again with less shock and a little bit more force. He ran a hand through my hair as his tongue pushed passed my lips and began exploring my mouth. Just as the thought of taking the situation to the next level flashed in my mind, I realized that he was completely new to all this. I gently broke our kiss and we both breathed deeply. "God KC, I've wanted to do that since I first met you... but now that you know about me you have to promise me that you won't say anything. I'm not ready to come out to my friends or my parents yet." "I understand Reese, but you should at least give your parents the benefit of the doubt. I mean they are your parents and after all, it's not like they would love you any less." "I know... but I'm just not ready. Can you understand?" "Of course I do, I promise I won't say anything. When you're ready I'll be there to support you like any good friend would." I said, caressing his face with my hand. "I was hoping you might be more than just my friend. I know we just met but I can't explain it, the feeling I get when you're around me is intense." "Does it kind of feel like when you were a kid and you would close your eyes and spin around in circles. Spinning so fast until you felt like you were gonna fall?" "Kinda but more scary cause I think I did fall." He said, taking my hand in his. "I think I did too." I guess neither of us had heard the door open. "Well it's about fucking time the two of you realize it!" Livia stood in the doorway with a goofy smile on her face. "Listen KC, it's obvious you and Reese need to talk about things so... I'm gonna head back to my room and we can go out tomorrow night. Sound good?" "Sounds perfect Liv, thanks." "Not a problem, just don't wake the neighbors when the two of you make wild monkey sex." At that she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Reese raised an eyebrow. "Wild monkey sex? She must think I'm easy." "Like I am?" I said as I smacked him in the arm. Reese just laughed and gave me another quick peck on the lips. "So what do you think KC? Can you be the boyfriend of a closet case who has plenty of emotional baggage?" "Even though I know you have nothing to worry about, I'm here for you until you're ready to come out and what kind of baggage could you possibly have?" Reese didn't answer my question but just returned the smile I had on my face. We were both glad that the tension between us had been lifted. Reese laid down on his bed and I climbed up next him, careful of his right arm. We started talking more about where we grew up and stuff like that and eventually I was laying with my head on his chest with his arm holding me close. As I could feel myself starting to drift off to sleep I couldn't remember a time in my life when I had ever felt as happy as I did right in this moment. Sorry about the LONG delay between this chapter and the last one, but sometimes life just gets in your way or you start losing inspiration. Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and I'll try to have the next chapter out before Thanksgiving. After chapter four gets posted don't expect anything new until January.