Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:35:44 -0800 (PST) From: Jo Jo Subject: The Living Years Chap. 23 "Ready for Every Ready Person" Disclaimer: The following story contains activity that would be considered of homosexual nature between consenting college students. While none of it crosses into a gratuitous nature, if such material is offensive to you or you are not of the legal age to read such material in your area, please do not. Other than that, please enjoy the story! The Living Years Chapter 23 "Ready for Every Ready Person" Ringing in the ears was never a fun way to wake up but Jesse's ears were ringing at the moment and would just not stop. He liked to sleep in whenever possible. Today wasn't going to be one of those days and he knew it so he forced himself up, slowly, but up nonetheless. That was about when he realized he was having a nightmare. "Ah, Jesus Christ!" he shouted, not even sure what was going on or what to do. He was naked, that much he could feel. Amber was in bed next to him. He couldn't tell if she was naked as well but he dreaded the thought. He wasn't wrapped in his 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton satin silk mix sheets but instead a rather bold shade of pink polyester and cotton mix `sheets' that were itching every inch of him. He wasn't surrounded by the tranquil flowing walls of water and lush greenery in his bedroom looking ahead at a finely kept Japanese zen garden but instead a dresser with clothes hanging halfway out and a mirror directly left of it. He was in Amber's room alright, a place that he'd called home not too long ago but had since began to associate with all kinds of bad memories and nightmares. He didn't know what the hell was going on but blinking three times hadn't worked. He wasn't in a nightmare. This was real and it was strange. "Amber!" Jesse exclaimed. Even his voice had hurt to use. His body ached. His ears were ringing. He felt altogether like a pile of shit but he was at least in a right state of mind to know what was going on which was that he didn't know what was going on. "Amber!" Jesse called out again, this time shaking the bed for emphasis. Amber, this time responded and turned around, opening her eyes slowly at first then widely and jumping up. "Oh my god, did we-" "What do you mean DID WE? Why the hell am I here?" Jesse asked, trying to keep from going completely mad. Amber herself seemed to be trying to collect her thoughts, trying to come up with an appropriately dignified response to Jesse's question. "No, of course we didn't," she replied simply. "I have standards." "So do I and even the cheapest roach motel would have been less of a nightmare to wake up in," Jesse replied. "Can you please explain to me why I'm naked in your bed and why you're...interestingly enough, fully clothed, shoes and all?" "You don't remember?" Amber asked, feeling a bit happy to know that she knew something Jesse didn't. "I think I'd remember getting THIS drunk," Jesse replied. "And I know what drunk feels like sweetheart and this certainly isn't it." "That's because you aren't drunk," Amber replied. "You're sick." "What? Are you off your rocker? I never get sick. I'm a Yorkshire." "No, you're a Sickshire who passed out at the quad and slept all day in my bed...after I gave you a bath when you woke up and threw up all over yourself." "Nice try but I believe I'd like to be presented with some sort of proof." Amber chuckled before crawling out of bed and tying her hair into a pony tail. "You think I'm gonna keep some puke clothes in my room? I threw them away." "Well...those are some very expensive rags some homeless bloke is going to get their hands on. Now, please explain to me what you were doing in bed with me." "It is MY bed. I wasn't gonna sleep on the floor. And I don't know why you're getting so upset. You should be thanking me." "Oh yes," Jesse started, trying to get out of bed before stopping and cupping his head for a few moments and then starting again. "Oh yes, my deepest sympathy goes out to you, the last person on Earth I'd ever trust my delicate body to while in a fragile state. I'd have been more trusting spending the night with Michael Jackson at Neverland Ranch." "I don't have time for this," Amber spoke, zipping up her two piece jog suit. "I saved you from giving all your daddy's money away and from that mutant pig Sierra the female rapist and all I get is this? I have my morning jog to do." "I think I'll take another bath. Just to be on the safe side," Jesse spoke, a bitter taste in his mouth. "Whatever," Amber spoke before realizing that Jesse hadn't moved. "What, not like anyone's watching you." Jesse looked around, almost not willing to put it past Amber to have cameras set up somewhere. "Right," he replied. "Who'd want to spy on you?" Jesse wrapped the bed sheet around his waist before dragging himself into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Trey giggled as Noah worked his way back up to Trey's face, kissing up his bare chest, hidden under the covers. "Okay, I think we should get back to reality before we stay in here forever," Trey playfully spoke. Once Noah was back atop the bed, facing Trey, he responded. "Is that so bad?" "No, but I'm sure our parents would love to know why we suddenly went from good grades to no grades." Noah sighed, placing his hands behind his head. "Your parents, maybe," Noah replied. "The last time I saw mine they were throwing me a birthday party AFTER my birthday because they forgot." "I love my mom, but with Dro and his friend there, home isn't exactly peachy go lucky for me either." "Yeah, so we'll just stay here and keep up with our new, blissfully happy and hotly and insanely passionate lives," Noah chuckled, kissing on Trey's neck. "Noah, stop," Trey giggled playfully pushing Noah away from him, who began tickling him which was met with uncontrollable laughter. "Laughing, that's what I like to hear," surprisingly to Noah and Trey came the voice of Jeremy who had just entered the room, abruptly ending the tickling session. "Not the heavy moaning and nasally breathing sounds of man-love. Creepy, by the way." "Wait, Jeremy, you-" "Came back last night to the room my parents are paying for, thinking I was gonna get some quality Dark Elf leveling up time, only to hear...things and walk straight out? Yeah, I did," Jeremy replied. Noah sat up, feeling embarrassed to have been caught by Jeremy, while Trey, more concerned with the situation sat up as well. "You couldn't hear us from outside could you?" Trey asked. "I kinda covered my bleeding ears shortly after the first mistake," Jeremy replied. "But I don't wanna lie to you...I did question whether I was hearing what I thought I was hearing before I entered my new gay love nest." "Oh my god," Trey mumbled, face sinking into his hands. Noah just shook his head, reaching down to the floor and picking up his boxers and wife beater. Jeremy, deciding it was safe for him to enter, shut the door behind him completely and walked over to his computer. "So, you heard about the fire right? I'm gonna take the PG train of thought and assume that's really why you're here right?" he asked. "Yeah, the seventh and eighth floors are gone," Noah replied. "It's probably gonna take a while to fix." "Yeah well the school's already said they're replacing everyone's stuff," Jeremy added, as he turned on his computer. "Do me a favor and claim to have had the extra rare and super valuable Green Mage Magician card from Magic. That or a new computer so I can lan with myself." "I'm not gonna lie to the school, Jeremy," Trey replied as Noah handed him his shirt. "Besides, I doubt anyone would see me as the type." "Then you be me and I'll be you," Jeremy replied. "I can get away with playing burn victim. Everyone likes free stuff." "We're not coning the school, Jeremy," Trey scoffed. "Oh well, gave it a shot," Jeremy replied. "I do expect warnings from now on if you're gonna be in the throes of hot man love. I kinda need my eyes." "Yeah, sure," Noah replied, standing up and behind Jeremy as he squeezed his shoulders and leaned forward. "Expect it to be happening a lot." "Awww, dude, SO didn't need to hear that...god," Jeremy complained as his game started. Trey chuckled before falling back down on Noah's bed. Shawn had a lot on his mind. His dorm was gone along with pretty much everything he'd ever bought in his entire life. Trey was with Noah and he was almost positive that after what happened, they'd had sex, which meant that Trey was officially lost to him now. He was at least happy that he'd taken the time to make other friends or he would have had nowhere to stay for the time being while the school worked on rebuilding the dorm hall and replacing all his stuff. All of that had left him feeling like he needed to get his mess of a life in perfect order. He was amazed that he was in better shape than he thought he'd be with everything going the way it was going. Now more than ever did he want to realign everything in his life that he thought possibly needed some attention so that he could brace himself for the path to self enlightenment, wherever it was going to take him. He had to make himself a mental checklist of all the things he wanted to accomplish. First, he wanted once and for all to settle things with Trey. He knew perfectly well now that whatever he thought and wanted to happen between them was clearly not going to happen and that he just had to accept the fact that they would forever just be friends. He had a lot of ground to cover in that area so it was probably going to take the most time and attention from him. And while he was at it he figured he could try to make nice with Noah, although that wasn't going to become a high priority on the list any time soon. Then there was his situation with Ben. He'd probably said everything that needed to be said to Ben in an effort to try to repair their damaged friendship and had meant everything he'd said each time, but each time Ben refused to listen and even ended up causing them to recycle dialogue from previous make up attempts. But the one thing he realized now was that each time he was willing to settle. He'd try a little harder each time, determined to make things right but the end result would always more or less be the same. He was going to work on the end result so that he was sure to get a new one. Finally there was his life in general. He'd barely gone to class since starting college, instead choosing to waste most of his time either sleeping or IMing people online. And he was a slob with no discernable goals in life. He wasn't even really sure what his major was going to be anymore. All he knew was that his lack of uncertainty about that and his lack of caring about the rest was going to change. He was going to have priorities once again. He was going to change his life and have a good one while he was at it. He didn't really have an order he wanted to tackle them in. All he knew was that they all needed to be completed and soon. He'd decided to start with Ben first. He was happy to have friends that would let him spend the night but he didn't exactly trust any of them as far as he could throw them and he knew that, even with the two of them on the fritz, he'd be able to trust Ben with his life if it came down to it. Shawn was ready to knock, getting all the jitters out of his system before the door opened for him, Ben's roommate Spence standing behind it. "Shawny! You're here!" Spence exclaimed, throwing an arm around Shawn as he pulled him into the room. "Wanna go down to the pool?" "What pool?" Shawn asked, looking over at Ben who seemed displeased to see him. "The indoor one at the gym. I plan on scoring all the hot chicks numbers since the pool is like the second best place to meet hot chicks next to the gym. We should go there too." "I missed your mile a minute mind," Shawn replied, a small smile on his face. "We don't see you enough," Spence smiled. "Right Ben-Ben? We don't see Shawny enough." "Don't call me that, Spence," Ben sighed, standing up and walking over to his closet. "Well I'm off," Spence spoke. "Hot chicks wait for no man. By the way Shawn, sucks about your dorm room. You know you can stay here if you-" "No! I mean...just go already Spence," Ben said, facing his closet, a little afraid to face Shawn. Spence shrugged before playfully knocking Shawn in his shoulder and exiting the room, leaving Shawn and Ben alone. "Look," Ben started. "I don't know why you keep coming here. We have nothing left to talk about." "Well," Shawn started, taking a seat atop Spence's bed. "I thought I'd come by to see whether or not you cared that I was still alive." "Of course I cared. Care," Ben replied. "I'm not that big a dick." "So you admit you're being a dick about everything?" Shawn asked, a hint of playfulness in his tone. Ben pulled out of his closet and looked over at Shawn before walking past him and over to his cabinets. "Seriously Ben, how much longer do we have to go through this?" Shawn asked. "I admit that I was wrong and I'm sorry. I just wanna move past all this and try to get back on track." Ben didn't respond for a few moments, still doing his best to avoid eye contact with Shawn before he turned around and looked at Shawn for the first time. "You're really...you know..." "I don't know what I am," Shawn replied. "But it'd be nice to have my best friend with me to help me figure it out." Ben didn't respond, instead choosing to look down at the ground. "I don't have to be...okay with it right now do I?" he asked, ashamed to even ask the question. "I'm not even sure I'm okay with it," Shawn replied. "I just miss hanging out with you and telling you all my secrets. You're my brother man. I need you." Ben thought for a moment before a wide grin spread on his face. "Well, that's true," he replied. "You do need me." "Shut up," Shawn smiled, throwing a pillow at Ben. "I mean, how you got on all this time without me..." "Asshole!" Shawn laughed, rushing over to tackle Ben. "And the lack of frat parties," Ben managed to get out as he and Shawn wrestled their way back into friendship. "Ya'll all make me sick," Grace mumbled as she carefully poured a smoking blue chemical into a large glass beaker. Trey watched carefully to make sure she was pouring in the right amount. "Who is ya'll and why do we make you sick?" Trey asked, not really sure now was the right time to be talking during their chemistry experiment. "Every damn body up to they mama's house got somebody. Oh and speaking of mama's, even my own damn mama found a man," Grace replied, sloshing the chemical in the air with each word that left her mouth. "Grace," Trey spoke, watching the liquid in the tube swirl around in the air. "I mean, you got Noah. Zoey's got...that guy we never see. Hell even that freak girl Sierra got a man for every night of the week." "Jesse doesn't have anyone," Trey thought he'd point out. "Can you really see anyone wanting to put up with Jesse for that long like that?" Grace asked. "My point is, all I get are gay best friends and stalkers." "Grace," Trey started, taking the liquid from her hands to pour himself. "That guy is NOT stalking you. And even if he was, so what? It probably just means he likes you." "Really? You think so?" Grace asked dreamily before realizing how she sounded. "Still, stalker ain't something a girl looks for in a guy." "So if you don't wanna think about it, then don't think about it," Trey replied. "If you stop paying him attention, he'll probably just go away." "You think he's been stalking me because I know he's been stalking me?" Grace asked. "That's weird." "What I think is that we should finish this experiment now before we have to stay after class to do it," Trey sighed, recording some results in his notebook. Grace sighed and zoned away for a few moments before suddenly speaking aloud the first thought that came into her mind. "I wonder who he is." "What?" Trey asked. "My stalker slash admirer. I wonder if he's like some rich ass diplomats son-" "Or a drug dealing stalker," Trey chimed in. "Or a famous actor from London-" "Or an escaped convicted felon stalker-" "Or-" "Grace! You already said it yourself, you think the guy is creepy. And whether he's a stalker or not doesn't really matter since we pretty much need to stay focused so we don't sizzle our hands off with acid!" Grace pursed her lips at Trey as silence fell over them for a few moments, which didn't last long before she had something else to say. "We could find out who he is," she suggested. "What?" Trey asked, somewhat taken aback. "I mean, the only reason we think his ass is a stalker," Grace started. "We?" Trey asked. "Is because we don't know him," she finished. Trey sighed, a little confused as to what was going through Grace's mind. "You're gonna help me find out, right boy?" Grace asked. Trey stared at Grace. "Right, Trey?" "Grace-" "You know what, you play too much boy. Just forget about it. I'll find out who that nigga is on my own. And if I don't come back home tonight, just know whose fault it is when I'm strung up naked to some pole somewhere, neck slashed wide open." Trey frowned at Grace's imagery before relenting. "Okay, fine," he sighed. "We'll find out who he is. But first we have to find him and he could be anywhere." "He's a stalker remember?" Grace asked. "He'll find us." Trey was just a little off-put with how comfortable Grace seemed to be with making that particular statement before turning his attention back to his experiment. "You look angry," Noah commented to Jesse, who'd been pouting about something since before class had even started. Jesse looked over at Noah. "I keep forgetting I share at least one class with all of you now," he responded before, sinking back into his angry expression. "Further proof the universe must loathe me." Noah, not too concerned, but concerned enough decided to press Jesse on the matter. "What's wrong? Your parents tell you Nick is the favorite child?" he thought he'd joke. "Some, more weaker people, would kill themselves with a revelation like that," Jesse replied. "Unfortunately for me, my problem is much worse." "So vent then," Noah suggested. "I promise to listen, just not to care." Jesse, deciding he was a little too upset to offer his own response decided to just start venting. "So apparently I was terribly ill yesterday," he started. "Yeah, you were even worse than usual," Noah replied while taking notes. "It's just strange because Yorkshires just don't fall ill. It just doesn't happen." "Well, let me be the first to congratulate you on being the first. Just don't let it happen again. The world can only take so much of you healthy as it is." "You're enjoying my misery, aren't you?" "I get my kicks wherever I can," Noah replied. "Still," Jesse decided to continue without comment. "You'd think I'd be able to remember my actions 24 hours ago. It'd help me explain why on God's earth I woke up naked in bed with that twit Amber." "Usually when you wake up in bed naked with someone-" "I don't want to hear it, you half wit," Jesse interrupted. "I didn't sleep with Amber, thankfully. Although, she might have drugged me or something because I still feel god awful." "Probably because you're still sick," Noah replied. "Most people don't get sick and heal all in a day." "Well I'm not most people," Jesse replied. "I told you, I'm a Yorkshire. We shake ill begotten things away." "So we're back to my Nick theory, then. Maybe there's a video of you on Guys Gone Wild by now." "Sorry but no, I fully intend to get to the bottom of things," Jesse replied. "No one makes a fool of Jesse Yorkshire." "Okay evil genius," Noah chuckled. "If you say so." "I'd say you're working on thin ice," Zoey commented, swirling her chef salad around with her fork. "I mean, people in general don't usually set out to find their stalkers." She, Trey, Grace and Noah had all managed to secure themselves what would probably be their new after class hangout/ eating spot at one of the upperclassmen dorms. Technically none of them were supposed to be there let alone eating there but once they decided no one would care and realizing that no one did in fact care, they promptly decided it would be one of their best kept secrets among them all. At least, they were hoping it would be that way. "Grace thinks he might be rich," Trey chuckled. "Boy don't do that. I ain't no goldigging ho. I just wanna put a name with a face," Grace replied. "So you can know if the face belongs here at school or behind a plastic panel in a padded cell, right?" Zoey added. "I just can't believe we're having these kinds of conversations," Noah commented, chocolate milkshake in hand. "Whatever happened to tests and parties?" "We live in such a cartoon world," Zoey added. "Anyway, back to me," Grace replied, not the least bit amused that the focus had shifted away from her. "I told Trey I want to know who he is so I can stop worrying about his ass cutting me in my sleep. Harmless enough right?" Zoey, Trey and Noah all exchanged glances. "Right?" Grace asked through gritted teeth. "Oh, right, yeah, sure," Zoey, Noah and Trey all replied in unison. "I'm serious ya'll, I can't be getting wrinkles from worrying about this damn fool all day," Grace spoke, sounding like a three year old that hadn't gotten to eat her ice cream before dinner. "Why don't we just go talk to him, me and Trey?" Noah asked. "We can find out if he's gay or not, save you the trouble." "Boy please, I told ya'll you were gay before you told me," Grace replied. "I don't need you for that. Besides, gays can be stalkers too, so that ain't gonna solve nothing." "Gay stalkers, huh? Sounds like a conversation I wanna be a part of," Shawn spoke, surprising everyone as he stood behind them all, tray of food in hand and Ben by his side. "So much for this place being our little secret," Zoey mumbled. "Shawn, boy, where yo ass been at?" Grace asked. "I'm having a crisis and yo ass wanna go off and play hide and seek!" Shawn just smiled at Grace before turning his attention to Trey, who didn't know what to do. "Hey...guys," Ben smiled. Trey knew that Shawn was behind him but there were too many things running through his mind, too many bad things that all had to do with Shawn, that made him not want to have anything to do with him anymore. "Can we talk?" Shawn asked. "Trey? Please?" Noah looked over at Trey, trying to determine how he was feeling at the moment. He could tell that Shawn was the last person his boyfriend wanted to see at the moment. "Trey-" "You know, actually I don't think I'm as hungry as I thought I was," Trey spoke as he hurriedly gathered his belongings in an attempt to get out of the room as fast as he could before he blew up in Shawn's face. "No, wait, Trey-" "I think you need to leave," Noah spoke, standing up and getting in front of Shawn's path leading to Trey. "Now." Shawn looked past Noah and over at Trey who was being calmed down by Zoey and Grace. "Come on," Ben spoke, pulling Shawn's arm. "We got catching up to do anyway." Shawn offered one last glance in Trey's direction, hoping he'd at least look back his way. But when it didn't happen, he decided not to push the situation any further, opting to leave with Ben. As Shawn was leaving, Sierra passed him, magazine and milkshake in hand. "More drama on gay lovers lane and I of course missed it, damn," she spoke. "Okay, does everyone know about this place then?" Zoey asked. "Oh get over yourself loser number three, the school opened up all the dorm halls to all students during renovation and now with this whole fire thing, I'm thinking it's gonna stay that way for a long time," Sierra replied. "So, what'd I miss?" Everyone exchanged glances before deciding things were good enough for them to at least stay put for the time being. "Are you okay?" Noah asked, looking at Trey, a bit worried that he wouldn't return his gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine," Trey lied. He had a lot he wanted to say to Shawn. Things that he knew needed to be said in a way that Shawn would finally understand them. Because now that he was finally in the right place in his life, he didn't want to play any more back and forward games with Shawn anymore. One way or the other, Shawn was going to hear those things. He was going to make sure of that. "I'm gonna get so fat eating here," Trey noticed Sierra trying to speak with a mouth full as she mooched some shrimp off of Zoey's plate. "And speaking of fat." Everyone turned around when they noticed Amber quickly hurrying towards them. It wasn't so much her that had them taking notice as it was it the laughs and snickers coming from some of the guys as she passed. "I think today's the day she finally figured out people usually laugh at her instead of with her," Sierra spoke, as Amber reached the table, taking Sierra's magazine from her and using it to cover her face as she sat down. "Where's Jesse?" she asked. "Who cares?" Sierra thought she'd try. "Amber, everything okay girl?" Grace asked, trying to determine whether she should have sympathy or be laughing at Amber. "I'm just having a really bad day and I need Jesse," Amber replied. "If money can't even buy HIM love-" "Shut up you big fat whale!" Amber shouted, noting the shrimp hanging from her mouth. Only it'd been a little too loud as several other students in the room had taken notice. Amber looked around before shielding her face further. "Girl, you acting like Whitney when the police found her crack," Grace spoke. "What's up?" "Look, seriously, I need to talk to Jesse. He's the only one that can help me-" "Do what? Ride the mud flaps all the way to victory?" "Sierra..." Noah strayed. "Look at her. She's demented. Why do we have to sit by her? People are staring." "They started when YOU got here, whore!" Amber shrieked, once again drawing more attention to herself. "Alright, look, everyone just calm down and-" "No, you know what, I have to go buy wigs and a fat suit and change my last name because I can't find Jesse and none of you can help me-" "With that mystery problem you've told us so much about?" Zoey asked, sarcastically. "Yeah, turns out, we've done all we can with the information provided." "Okay, yeah just laugh at me when this is THE WORST thing that has EVER happened to me! And I'm so not exaggerating!" Everyone else was doing their best to keep from laughing at Amber and what they figured would be a pointless and trivial problem, having no idea just how serious a problem she was having. "They do seem to be laughing a little harder today though," Zoey commented, noticing all the students, mostly male, laughing, snickering and pointing. "Must be a proximity thing." "Just remember you're the ugly one of the group," Amber scoffed at Zoey, before standing up realizing she was getting no help. "And the rest of you can all burn fiery deaths in hell because you all completely SUCK!" Everyone waited until Amber was out of hearing range before picking up their conversation. "Well?" Sierra asked. "That'd be Jesse's friend, he deals with all that drama, not us," Grace replied. "Some people right?" Sierra continued. "They'll think anyone likes them." "Yeah," Noah mumbled, staring directly back at Sierra. "I wonder who THOSE people are?" Despite his better judgment, Jesse had decided that instead of going to class, his time would be better spent trying to figure out where the hell he first went wrong yesterday that had led the inevitable horror of waking up naked in bed with Amber. The various tales he'd gotten from his peers around campus, however, ranged from him throwing pills from the rooftops of every building on campus to offering to give people hundred dollar bills in exchange for rolled blunts. And even though he had no idea what rolled blunts were or what kind of pills he could possibly have been throwing from the rooftops that he'd somehow managed to scale and climb, he had a feeling that at some point during the day, he'd actually done all the things people had told him. Of course, they'd also told him some even more horrifying stories about offering to help homeless bums on the street and even worse, camping outdoors to help raise money for the nations runaways. Those were the ones that had him shaking his head in disgust. As if he cared about the nations runaways when there were more interesting people elsewhere to care about. All that small talk and conversation gathering had left him with somewhat of an indiscernible headache that had caused him to talk refuge in his apartment for the rest of the day, figuring solace away from everyone for the rest of the night would be a lot better for him than anything. So the last thing he was expecting was any kind of company, let alone the kind of company that had come knocking like an insane jackrabbit outside his door. He was almost tempted just to let them keep knocking. His television was on so he knew that whoever it was knew he was here. When it was clear that the annoying asshole wasn't going to leave, he decided they'd be better off receiving a proper insult from him before he sent them along their miserable little way and quickly proceeded to walk over to the door and open it, not the least bit surprised to find out who was so crazy. "Amber, how unfortunate for me my brother ever met you. Otherwise you'd never know where I lived and you'd be none the wiser for it," was his greeting. "We need to talk, like now," Amber spoke, showing herself inside Jesse's apartment as she peeled off her scarf and winter coat. "Yes by all means, enter my flat after such a warm welcome." "So I like, saved your life yesterday," Amber started, taking a seat on Jesse's couch. "I've heard stories but I can most certainly guarantee you that you did no such thing-" "Ah, hello, you like totally passed out in the quad and I so could have left you there but I didn't and now you owe me a favor," Amber replied. "Okay, I'll let you touch me and tell your friends about it," Jesse replied. "It worked for that insanely annoying Hilary Duff." "Do I look like that big an airhead to you?" Amber asked. As Jesse opened his mouth to respond, Amber took it upon herself to continue speaking herself. "Anyways, I think...know, someone's been watching me and I need you to help me figure out who it is," Amber replied. Jesse thought for a moment. A topic like this was almost too salivating for him. He had no idea where to begin but he figured he'd give it a shot. "So, let's see," he started, taking a seat at one of the bar stools at the counter next to the sofa. "You're telling me that you've gone so psycho paranoid that you think someone would pay any more than three seconds worth of attention to you?" Amber looked around, a chill running down her spine as she thought about what she'd found earlier. "I found...a camera, in my room, Jesse," she started, somberly. "I was moving around the furniture, trying to change things up a bit in the room, and there was a camera behind the wall where my dresser was. It was like connected to the handle so you could see everything facing that way. Somebody...somebody's seen me naked!" "I'm sorry did you say you were moving furniture?" "Jesse, this is serious!" "For Christ's sake, Amber, there isn't a camera in your room. You're being daft." "Don't call me that, Jesse. Just come back to my room. I'll show you what I'm talking about." Jesse eyed Amber suspiciously, suddenly feeling like he was the only one not in on the joke she'd decided was appropriate to play on him. "Um...what's going on here?" he asked, looking around. Amber looked around. "What?" "What are you playing at? Are you on something?" Amber looked around, this time as if she were searching for hidden cameras. "What? What? Did they follow you here? They're gonna kill me! Get that camera out of my room!" Jesse eyed Amber as if she'd lost her mind. After determining that she had in fact done just that, he felt sorry for her. If she was acting this crazy, he could at least humor her and pretend to care. Even though he felt like supreme shit, he still felt sorrier for Amber. "Alright," he sighed. "Where is this phantom camera you found?" "Come on!" Amber spoke, pulling Jesse up. "Let's find it before my whole life makes it on the internet." "God, like anyone would care about THAT happening," Jesse mumbled as they started towards the door. "Grace!" "Boy shutup!" The time had apparently come for Grace and Trey to determine the identity of her secret admirer. Or stalker, whichever one she felt like calling him more. The two of them had decided to go to the library with the intention of studying the various online photo books, on campus yearbooks, and of course Facebook and MySpace. They'd, Trey mostly, been doing just that for hours with not the slightest bit of luck. Grace's attention had been mostly focused on scanning the library for her stalker in person. At least that way there would be plenty of people around when she inevitably decided to confront him. Or got Trey to do it for her, whichever one she felt like doing more. In the meantime though, Grace wanted to occupy the time with more pleasant subjects. "So what's the deal with you and your best friend Shawn?" she started, leaning over the table as Trey flipped through another yearbook. "Are you two just never gonna talk again?" "We talked. Sort of. Fought, really." "About what?" Grace asked. When Trey didn't respond, Grace pretty much figured out the answer on her own. "Well you're not going anywhere. And neither is Noah so Shawn's just gonna have to get over it." "That's just it," Trey started, pushing the yearbook away from him. "I'm not going anywhere and that's the problem. I can't say I agree with the way Shawn treats me sometimes but I can't say I blame him either." "What do you mean?" "How would you feel being roommates with someone you were hopelessly in love with?" Grace eyed Trey for a moment. "Shawn's in love with you?" she asked. Trey shook his head. "He pretty much told me that much." Grace wasn't sure what to say after that. Other than the word she let fall out of her mouth. "Wow." "Yeah, I mean, it's pretty-" "Wait, Trey, hold that thought. I think we just found my Mr. Right." Trey turned around to look over behind him past where Grace was staring, immediately knowing what she had caught sight of. "I thought we said he was Mr. Stalker?" "Yeah well," Grace started, rising to her feet. "Until we determine that he is a stalker, he about to be my Mr. Right." Trey hadn't even gotten the chance to offer a rebuttal before Grace rushed off and over to talk to the guy she'd been so afraid was stalker her the past few weeks. Not feeling like it was a very good idea, Trey stood up, starting after her. "Grace, wait!" he started. His sights were locked on Grace starting towards her mystery stalker, who seemed not to even notice that Grace was heading in his direction before someone else entirely was blocking his view. "I knew you'd be here," Shawn started. Trey let out a sigh, at first trying to see past Shawn before realizing Shawn didn't plan on getting out of his way. "What?" Trey asked, making no attempts to hide how annoyed he was with Shawn at the moment. "Can we talk?" Shawn asked. "What do you want Shawn?" Trey asked, trying to see past Shawn again. "I figured the best way to avoid our boomerang conversations would be just not to talk to each other anymore." Shawn frowned. "Trey come on. Can't you see I'm trying here?" "Yep, every other week you `try'. It's old now." Shawn wasn't really sure how he was going to continue and still be able to keep his cool but he knew that he had to if he really wanted to rebuild his friendship with Trey. "Look, Trey," he started, as sincerely as he could muster. "I feel really bad about the way things keep ending up between us. I know it's my fault, I'm admitting that." "Good," Trey said, still looking past Shawn and over at the situation that was unfolding with Grace behind him. "Just so were on the same page and know whose fault everything is." "I can't help the way I feel about you. That's probably never gonna change but I can at least get over the fact that we're never gonna be together and try to accept you and me and Noah as friends." Trey, who hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation very well had altogether ceased listening once it looked like Grace was being led to the back of the library with her mystery stalker. "God, what is that creep up to?" Trey mumbled aloud. "Trey? Did you hear me? I said I wanted to be friends-" "Yeah, Shawn I don't know what to tell you because we're not friends and I'm probably gonna switch roommates," Trey spoke, almost as an afterthought before rushing off to go find Grace before she disappeared entirely. Shawn, floored with the words that had just come out of Trey's mouth and the way the entire conversation had gone stood not knowing what to do with himself. He felt embarrassed. Like everyone in the library had heard the entire conversation and had seen how he'd just been rejected and crushed. He wasn't even sure he'd actually been through what just happened, it seemed so bad. Like some sort of nightmare that he had yet to wake up from. Feeling like he needed to sit and think about what had just happened, Shawn allowed himself to just sink into the chair behind him, not even caring that someone was already at the table studying. "He seems like a selfish jerk," came the voice of the guy at the table with Shawn. Shawn took a few seconds to snap out of his funk before turning around to see the guy he was sitting with, books sprawled all over the table, including the rather large one sitting in front of the guy, who was highlighting something in it currently. "Excuse me?" Shawn felt the need to ask, as if he hadn't just heard what he thought he'd heard. The guy didn't even bother to look up but rather turned a page and kept highlighting before responding. "Apologizing is a hard thing for people to do, especially guys," the guy replied. "At the very least he should have listened to you." Shawn wanted to agree with the guy but then he realized that he had no idea who the guy was and that he was talking about Trey, the guy he was hopelessly in love with. "Look-" "Collin." "Whatever," Shawn replied. "Sorry I sat here. I'm just gonna go now and you can pretend like you never heard what happened." "But I did hear," Collin replied, this time actually looking up at Shawn which actually forced Shawn to take a good look at Collin in turn. He wasn't quite sure why, but for some reason, Shawn found himself completely captivated by Collin's strikingly blue eyes. Like deep blue crystal filled lakes that seemed to sparkle even in the dark. His hair, light brown, short and meticulously crafted in short spikes atop his head was the second thing Shawn noticed. Followed by the small silver piercing that sat just at the top of his left ear. His skin wasn't so pale he was unattractive but wasn't so tan it looked fake. It was just light enough to bring out the full bright red color of his lips, the brightest Shawn had ever seen on a guy and for some reason had started to get hard over just noticing. Shawn quickly shifted in his seat, looking away from Collin for fear of noticing something else that would keep him hard. "You and that guy are freshman right?" Collin asked. Shawn swallowed before braving looking back over at Collin. "Yeah. Why?" "Figures," Collin replied. "You get older and realize there's more mature ways of dealing with people." Shawn took offense to that. "What are you like a year older than me?" "I'm a psych major. And a junior. I'm not trying to be a prick-" "Not even trying huh?" "I just notice things and tend to comment out loud. Sorry. If you wanna go, you can go now." Shawn crossed his arms, sitting back in the chair. "Oh, I can go now? Like I couldn't before?" Collin stopped highlighting, a slight grin on his face. "Shawn, right?" Shawn nodded. "Have you ever had to write a thesis paper Shawn?" Shawn had no idea what a thesis paper was. As a matter of fact, he hadn't written a single paper all last semester. He hadn't told anyone, but he was actually on academic probation this semester for achieving the `make your parents proud' GPA of a .023. He hadn't even made a 1.0. He had to make at least a 2.5 this semester to come back next year or the school wouldn't let him ever enroll again. Shawn just decided no response would be better. "Didn't think so," Collin replied, looking back down at his textbook to highlight more paragraphs. "You can stay here if you want. Don't let my analyzing your life when I don't know you stop you." "Yeah," Shawn replied. "You don't know me." "I just said that," Collin replied. "Or anything about...what just happened." Collin sighed and looked back up. "Well, I'd say something about how your relationships are all based around what type of aura you project and how yours seems like it's stuck on negative right now, but like I said, thesis and all." "Jackass," Shawn mumbled. "Really?" Collin said, a grin on his face that Shawn couldn't help but to find cute for some reason. "I get that sometimes. I guess it IS true." Shawn wasn't sure what was happening or why he was still hard. He'd thought that Trey was the only guy he'd ever have eyes for but this jackass junior psych major was turning him on. Even if he was still a jackass. "No doubt about it, that's definitely a camera," Jesse spoke, waving his left hand in front of a small opening in a wall in Amber's room which was home to an even smaller camera lens. "See! I told you! What the hell am I gonna do? If my parent's find out I'm a porn star..." "Who said anything about you being a porn star? Or a star for that matter?" Jesse spoke, straightening up. "You generally need to be good looking to be either of those things." "Jesse!" "Would you please try to calm down Amber?" Jesse started, crossing his arms as he watched Amber pace back and forward in front of him. "We can't really resolve the matter with you making rash and grossly wrong generalizations about yourself and the situation." "Jesse, this is my entire life and future we're talking about here! Somebody could be taping my entire life and sending it to perverted losers everywhere." "Well they wouldn't have to try very hard now would they?" Jesse mumbled, taking a seat on the edge of Amber's bed. Amber stopped pacing and crossed her arms, standing directly in front of Jesse. "What's that supposed to mean?" "Exactly how long do you think it takes to install a camera in your room you never knew about without you ever finding out about it?" Jesse asked. "They don't install locks on these doors for nothing." "I love my sisters. They're my family. They'd never-" "They no, but if you carelessly leave the door to your domain unlocked, then YOU-" "Are you saying I let this happen?" "Why on earth does it take this much effort to get you to see a point being made?" Amber wasn't sure what to do or say. All she could think about was the fact that there was a camera in her room, broadcasting her every move to some creep somewhere. "Let's have a look at the damage done shall we?" Jesse spoke, walking over to Amber's computer and beginning Firefox. "What are you doing?" Amber asked, standing behind Jesse. "Have you never Googled yourself over the Internet?" Jesse asked. "Why would I do that when I have Facebook and MySpace?" Amber asked. Ignoring Amber's stupidity, Jesse proceeded to type Amber's name into a search engine, the results quickly confirming what he secretly didn't want to see. "Well, it does appear someone's made a star out of you after all," he replied, clicking the link to a page called "Amber's World", which automatically pulled up video of Amber drying off after getting out of the shower. "Oh my god!" Amber shrieked. As much as Jesse thought he loathed Amber, the last thing he'd ever want to happen to her or any woman for that matter would be to be as exposed as she was on the Internet right now. Especially without having known about it beforehand. Wanting to keep Amber from totally panicking, or worse, crying, Jesse decided to think on his feet and try to get to the bottom of the situation. "I believe I may know of someone that can help us with this problem," Jesse spoke. Amber, too distraught to respond just stared at herself on her computer screen as Jesse looked up one other person on the search engine. "There's my sexy boyfriend!" Noah spoke as Trey let himself into Noah's room with the spare key Jeremy had made for him. "Quick, have you seen Grace?" Trey asked, sounding out of breath and panicked. "Whoa, whoa, calm down," Noah spoke, standing up and stopping Trey from pacing so that he could look him in the eyes and take the situation more seriously. "What's wrong?" "Grace," Trey started, trying to catch his breath. "We were in the library trying to find her stalker." "Wow, already a conversation worthy of my attention," Jeremy spoke, turning the screen to his computer off as he swiveled around in his chair. Noah flashed him a brief look before turning his attention back to Trey. "And?" he asked. "And she found him but Shawn stopped me-" "Of course he did," Noah mumbled, angry at just the thought of Shawn being involved with his boyfriend's current state. "I was with her for a little bit and now I lost her. How big do you think this place is? A few miles? She could be anywhere!" "Trey, calm down, please," Noah started, in a soothing tone he hooped would help. "Yeah, you don't wanna burst a blood vessel in your brain or anything," Jeremy added. "That happened to a guy that used to be in one of my guilds. Only he was from China and hadn't left his computer in three weeks so..." "Jeremy, not helping!" Noah barked. "Sorry," Jeremy quipped. "What if something happens to her?" Trey said, sitting next to Noah. "Then it'll be my fault for letting my best friend get away with the psycho that killed her." "I'm sure that guy isn't a psycho," Noah replied. "We don't know that," Trey replied. "We go to school with thugs who beat people up and leave them in school fountains. Who knows what else these people here are capable of?" "Can I just say that this school has a much better screening process than some of the best Ivy league schools. A guy actually went around raping dozens of co eds at Harvard but no one suspected him because he was like this genius student." "Jeremy, play your damn game and be quiet please," Noah spoke, trying to concentrate on his boyfriend. Trey's mind was going a million miles a minute at the moment. He almost wasn't sure what he wanted to think about his situation with Grace. All he knew was that he couldn't stand the thought of anything ever happening to her. He cared about her too much. As Noah was trying to come up with not only a solution to the problem but a way to comfort Trey, there came a loud knocking outside the door followed by what sounded like someone mumbling something about someone needing to shut up. Noah didn't make a move at all and Trey was too distraught to care so Jeremy tore himself away from the situation at hand to go answer the door, surprised to see two very good looking people standing before him. "Why hello, I don't think I've met you," Jeremy spoke, looking over at Amber, who'd obviously been crying. "I'm the roommate." "Yuck," Amber spoke before sniffling and looking into Noah's room. Jeremy turned his attention to Jesse "I don't know you but I know of you. You're the computer lose...genius, correct?" Jesse asked. "I'm called the Underground Wizard online," Jeremy replied. "I have my own website and everything." "Brilliant. It figures he'd be a nutter as well," Jesse mumbled before showing himself in Noah's room, uninvited. "Hey what-" "We have a problem right now-" "Excellent, so do we also," Jesse started, taking off his jacket and handing it to Jeremy to put away as if it were his job to do that for him. "So, Amber's become a subject of interest to one very poor, lonely and obviously deranged soul." "Jesse, now really isn't a good time," Noah commented. "Now is the only time if we want to save even the smallest strand of this girl's dignity," Jesse replied. "Not that she had very much to begin with. I mean, I've met call girls with higher standards-" "Okay Jesse!" Amber cut him off. "The point is, we need you," Jesse continued, pointing to Jeremy. "To locate the owner of a site for us. And by locate I mean identify and pin down so we can go have a nice, intimate little conversation, him and I." "No problem, I guess," Jeremy replied, making his way back over to his computer desk. "What's the site?" "Amber's fricken World dot fricken com!" Amber shrieked before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter, as if her situation were actually funny. "What if Grace is dead right now? What if she's tied to a tractor somewhere being strung along a field by some wild demonic cow?" Trey spoke aloud. "My what an...imaginative mind you have there," Jesse commented as Jeremy looked up Amber's website on his computer. "Should I be concerned with that?" "You should stop thinking were friends and coming over here unannounced is what you can be concerned with," Noah replied. "And you're the angry one so I suppose it balances out," Jesse mumbled. Noah decided to ignore Jesse as he worked to try and calm Trey down. "Here we go, some guy named Josh Morton is the owner of the website," Jeremy replied after a few moments of labor. "Looks like there's only one cam...are those real?" "Oh my god!" Amber shrieked. "Focus, Noah's strange and slightly smelly roommate! Focus!" Jesse exclaimed. "Alright!" Jeremy replied. "Did you already get rid of the camera?" "Of course," Jesse replied. "We're not completely brain dead." "Dead," Trey suddenly spoke aloud, so that everyone now was focusing on him. "That's what Grace is and that's what I'll be when they put me in prison for abandoning her." "No, that's what I'll be when everyone finds out about this site and my life is over!" Amber shouted. "I can actually hack into the site and shut it down from here," Jeremy spoke. "It looks like the video was stream only so it wasn't possible for anyone to save the video." "Oh my god, you can? Do it, do it!" "But-" "Oh, there they are, those hidden and attached strings," Jesse mumbled. "It's gonna take something from you first. A date." "What?" Amber asked, suddenly feeling like a date with what she deemed the slug before her wasn't exactly worth the total humiliation of being naked on the internet. As if the two even compared. "Would you just do it so we can move past you and on to a real problem here," Noah commented looking over at Trey who was now staring off into space while shaking. "Fine," Amber sighed, suddenly not even caring about her site anymore and more about a date with Jeremy. "Just end this so I can move on with my life." Jeremy let out an audible `yes' before doing whatever he needed to do to shut down the site as Jesse wrote down the information he'd need to find the `Josh Morton' guy. Amber pulled out a yearbook from the small bookshelf behind her and started thumbing through it, hoping she could find the Josh Morton guy. "He's a sophomore. A football player. Loser!" Amber replied, tossing the book on the bed next to her. Trey, who had finally decided to stop thinking about all the bad things that could be happening to Grace, looked over beside him, his eyes falling on the yearbook open to the page of Josh. "Wait...that's him," he spoke, grabbing the yearbook. `That's they guy Grace was with." "Josh Morton, the internet scumbag is with Grace?" Noah asked, now more concerned than ever. Trey stood up. "Noah, we have to find them," he said. "Yes, let's, shall we," Jesse spoke. He may have not been willing to admit it before, but he did care somewhat about Amber and her well being and he was going to see to it that Josh Morton got what he deserved. However, now that Grace, the one girl in the entire school he'd considered even remotely likeable on a friendship basis, was involved with the matter, he wasn't just concerned, he was upset. More than upset. He was actually ready to put Josh Morton in the hospital. "Okay," Noah spoke, grabbing Trey's coat to put on him. "Let's go." "Yay, like a field trip!" Amber spoke, sounding excited and totally clueless. "One of you has to beat him up. It's only fair since you all did get to see me naked." "When half the room is stick muncher and the other half not even remotely interested, I don't think that entirely qualifies," Jesse spoke, as everyone, including Jeremy prepared to go face the now infamous Josh Morton. "And he's a psych major, did I tell you that?" "Yeah, three times now," Ben replied, before sending off another text to someone he was now late to go see. "More like major psycho. I mean, if I didn't think I was gonna get expelled or something, I would've kicked his ass." "Shawn, come on. You?" "What? I'm gay not a woman," Shawn replied. "Besides I've been in fights before." "With me and you lost both of those," Ben replied. Shawn was glad he had Ben to vent to and had been venting for the past half hour, non stop while Ben, being the good friend that Shawn had always known him to be, sat and listened the entire time. Shawn had no idea why he was so wound up in the first place. It wasn't like him to dwell on every encounter he had with whatever assholes he'd run into but this Collin guy was different. It was like he didn't know anything about him at all yet had managed to get completely under his skin. It bothered him that he was even thinking about him right now but he knew that it was going to take a while for him to calm down. He knew that what he needed to do was to go find something to do that would calm him down before he talked Ben into coming with him to find Collin just so that he could take all the frustration he had building up out on him. Without even acknowledging Ben, Shawn walked over to Ben's door to open it for some fresh air, completely surprised and confused with the scene that followed next. As soon as the door was open did he hear Jesse mumbling some angry words as he paced briskly down the hallway, Amber following behind him sounding giddy as if something were about to happen. Trey was behind her looking like he was ready to check into a mental asylum while Noah and some guy he'd never seen before followed behind them. It was a train of people he knew who just happened to be on the same floor as him, rushing through the halls at the exact moment he'd opened the door. He almost wanted to blink a few times to see if he wasn't dreaming what he'd seen. "I'll be right back," he found himself mumbling allowed absentmindedly before deciding to follow behind the large guy he'd never seen to see what was going on. "This is such a waste of time right now," Noah mumbled, sounding like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world than where he was currently. "Vindicating a hot blonde who's potentially a porn star now too is my idea of a good time," Jeremy said, sounding excited. "Oh yes, what were you planning on doing? Keyboarding the bloke to death?" Jesse asked, as he skipped knocking on what was supposedly Josh Morton's door and heading right for opening it and bursting inside. He wasn't sure why, but Trey was a little surprised to find Grace with her stalker, sitting atop his bed facing him as he sat across from her in a desk chair. They'd previously been laughing about something but had stopped with the entrance of everyone into the room. "What the goddamn hell?" Grace spoke, looking angry, surprised and utterly embarrassed that basically everyone she knew was in the room with her at that moment. "Aha! Caught you, you disgusting pervert!" Amber spoke, grabbing a book off of the bed, a heavy one at that, and tossing it at Josh, it hitting him on the side of the head. "Take that!" "Ouch!" Josh called out, cupping the side of his head as he bent over forward. "What the hell!" Grace shouted, jumping up. "Get this bitch away from him! And what the hell are the rest of ya'll doing up in here?" "Saving you from becoming the next in probably a long line of unsuspecting victims," Jesse replied. "Surprised we caught on to your little candid camera ring, Joshua?" "What?" Josh asked. "Oh god..." Noah sighed, deciding the entire situation was just a little too ridiculous for him to care about. "I thought...you were dead or something," Trey spoke, hugging a very confused Grace tightly. "Next time stay where I can see you." "Ya'll is acting crazy right now. And why ya'll throwing books at Josh's head-" "Because, Grace, he's...a stalker-" "What?" Josh asked, confused. "This guy's been taping Amber's every unimportant move and broadcasting it over the internet for every poor sap to see," Jesse commented. "Wait, what? Who's Amber?" "Don't pretend like you aren't a sicko, sicko!" Amber shouted, throwing another book at Josh. "Hey, enough with the book throwing," Noah spoke, feeling more embarrassed with each passing second. Trey looked back at Noah but instead of seeing his boyfriend his eyes floated behind him and over to Shawn who was standing in the doorway looking over the entire situation. Their eyes locked briefly before Trey looked away, feeling his heart beginning to beat faster. He didn't want to get himself worked up again for nothing. "Look, I don't know who you people are or what you're doing-" "What we're doing is shutting you down and calling the authorities. I'm quite sure Lindsay, Britney and Paris don't mind their mangina's exposed to the world for all to see, but Amber is a girl with substandard class. Even she deserves the right to privacy!" "Yeah!" Amber chimed in. "Wait, what?" With everything that had been said, Grace had pretty much pieced everything together on her own, turning to face Josh. "You was following my ass around for weeks so why not be a pervert, right?" "No, Grace, I was-" Grace cut Josh off when she too tossed yet another book at Josh's head. "And you better not tell no damn body about this or I'll come back and I'll cut you," Grace spoke, before wrapping Trey's arm in between hers. "Let's go." Feeling satisfied with himself and his efforts, Jesse turned to leave with everyone else as well. Noah flashed Shawn a threatening glance before making his way out of the room. Amber spit on Josh before `humphing' him and exiting as well. "Gosh she's so hot," Jeremy mumbled before shuffling out of the room as well leaving Josh Morton feeling very utterly confused and also like he had a slight concussion. Yahoo Group featuring advanced chapters of the story and other works by me: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/ Personal email: sidewaysfictionman@yahoo.com Feedback always welcome. Copyright 2007