Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:31:23 -0800 (PST) From: Jo Jo Subject: The Living Years Chapter 9 "Magic of the Lovelorn Heart" 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 9 "Magic of the Lovelorn Heart" The way it worked was, if Trey got a good nights sleep, that usually meant that Shawn hadn't. And if Shawn had gotten to sleep okay, it meant that Trey had been up all night as well. But last night had been the night where neither of them had gotten any sleep. And this time is was all because of Trey. Shawn had never seen anyone have such an adverse reaction from having consumed so much alcohol so fast. It seemed like Trey was up every half hour puking his brains out in the bathroom toilet. And every time that Trey got up, so had Shawn. Shawn was concerned for Trey and knew that he couldn't just try to get to sleep knowing his roommate was so sick. He wanted to help him, and mostly did what he could to entail that. Whether it be helping Trey back to his bed after a puking spell or cleaning up some vomit that hadn't quite made it into the toilet, Shawn spent his night looking after a sick Trey while Trey spent his night being sick. That wasn't to say that neither of them managed to get to sleep. It just was no longer night by the time that it happened, something that Trey was shocked to realize once he spotted the time on his alarm clock and shot up before falling back down. "Too fast," he mumbled. He waited a few minutes for the room to stop spinning and for his head to stop feeling quite as throbbing as it did before he sat up again, this time much slower. At first he was confused as to what was going on. It was Saturday, that much he knew. He just didn't know why he wasn't at home in his much more comfortable queen sized bed. Then he remembered. He remembered everything. He remembered how he'd pretty much tricked Shawn into attending a party that Ben had invited him to. Or about how Grace had shown up ruining his mood and the party for him as far as he was concerned. And about how because he realized what a mistake he'd made, he'd drank so much liquor so fast, he'd ended up paying for that and his other bigger mistake all night. The way he saw it, his being sick was punishment for tricking Shawn into attending the party in the first place. He just shouldn't have gotten involved. What happened between Ben and Shawn should have stayed between them. Instead he'd allowed himself to be used and only ended up paying for it in the end. He should have been paying more attention to Shawn and his feelings on the matter. It was just as obvious to him now as it should have been before how much Shawn didn't want to patch things up with Ben. Yet, he had to push it. And all that had accomplished was the two of them fighting, something he only vaguely remembered happening. All he knew now was that it was Saturday and he was still at school. He hadn't even called his mom to let her know that he was staying. Not that he was really obligated to do so. For all intents and purposes, this place was supposed to be his home now. He didn't really have to go back and forward between places. Especially with one of Dro's friends living in the upstairs apartment. Trey looked over at his clock again. It was just after ten in the morning. He wasn't sure when he finally stopped puking, but he felt like he'd gotten no sleep at all. Like he'd only just been able to fall asleep longer than an hour and that hour had been all the sleep he'd gotten or something. Then he looked over surprised to see a sleeping Shawn in the bed across from him. He was surprised because he figured Shawn would have either left or been up already. It took him a few moments to remember that Shawn had been up half the night with him as well helping him with his sickness. And that was suddenly when he remembered that in one or two of his puking spells, he'd accidentally missed the toilet and puked straight on the floor, not even caring at the time. But he sure as hell cared now and shot out of the bed and rushed into the bathroom, prepared without wanting to be to look over the damage. He was surprised to see that the bathroom floor was spotless. Which meant that someone, most likely Shawn, had cleaned it up for him. "Yeah, about that....we're gonna need some more Pine Sol," Trey was surprised to hear Shawn speak. Trey turned around still in the bathroom to face Shawn who was sitting propped up on his elbows in the bed staring at him, his shirtless chest fully showing. He had to force himself to look away as he exited the bathroom and shut the door behind him, crawling back into bed. For some reason, it was only ever cold to him in the mornings. Not just cold but freezing, as if that was when the air conditioner in the dorms kicked in or something. And Shawn with his fan on didn't help matters, even if it was on low. Trey settled in as did Shawn who placed his hands behind his head on his pillow and looked up at the ceiling. "You really can't hold your liquor can you?" he asked. Trey, who was staring at his alarm clock wondering what he was going to do now that it was too late to go home, turned on his side and let out a sigh. "I think it's more of an acquired taste for some people," Trey replied. Shawn grinned and stared at the ceiling for a few moments before responding. "You just gotta know how to hold it well," he said. Trey chuckled. "Oh and you'd be the one to teach me how, huh?" Shawn smiled but didn't respond. There were a bunch of things going through his head and he wasn't really sure if he wanted to talk about any of it. "Listen...I'm uh...sorry about last night," Trey started, taking Shawn by surprise somewhat. "I thought I could help you out with Ben. I didn't mean to trap you." Shawn stared at the ceiling for a few moments before sitting up and turning to face Trey who was already turned facing him. "You were just trying to help," he replied. "In your own....complicated way. I get it." Trey and Shawn stared at each other for a few moments before Trey fell on his back, Shawn also doing the same. "Well I'm sorry anyway," Trey said. "Sorry that it didn't work." Shawn stared thoughtfully at the ceiling for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "Yeah," he mumbled. ******************************************************************************* Noah had been another casualty of the `sleepless' Friday night syndrome, as he hadn't gotten much sleep either the previous night. After he'd helped drop Trey off back at his and Shawn's dorm room, Shawn had insisted on him leaving, stating that he was perfectly capable and willing to look after Trey. And when he tried to argue, Zoey and Grace had convinced him to let it go and not to lose his cool. He did keep his cool, but he far from let things go. He had so many things on his mind. Things he wasn't even really sure he had any right to think but did anyway. Things that had him questioning just what kinds of feelings he had for Trey. He wanted to tell himself that they were the friendly kind. The kind that meant that he only wanted Trey's friendship and nothing more. But knowing that Shawn was taking care of the guy that had kissed him and that he'd kissed back had drove in more feelings. They just confused him further. All he knew was that he'd been too worried about Trey to get a good nights sleep. He was lying on his back on the bottom mattress of the bunk bed in his room, left leg pulled up, right hand behind his head, staring at the bars holding the mattress above him. The mattress that had depressed in firmness and had started to shake the bed frame, catching him off guard. Noah watched curiously as Jeremy climbed from the top of the bunk bed down to the floor and walked groggily into the bathroom. He stared at the shut door for a few moments, expecting Jeremy to take a piss and come right out. But when he didn't he sat back and stared up at the mattress bed frame again. Trey was sick and there wasn't a thing he could do about it. At least, nothing anyone would let him do. He was struggling with trying to determine how that was supposed to make him feel. He honestly couldn't come up with an answer that would satisfy him, and that just frustrated him even more. He was supposed to be straight, yet he still had these weird feelings for Trey, only that angered him too. It was like one big lose-lose situation where no matter what, someone wasn't going to be happy. And he was used that person being him. He'd already learned to get over his constant unhappiness. But now he was starting to see that he didn't have to be unhappy all the time. And that he didn't have to be alone either. A good fifteen minutes passed before Jeremy emerged from the restroom. Noah hadn't heard any toilets flush or any showers running. He wasn't really sure what Jeremy had been up to in the restroom, nor did he really even care. What did strike him as odd was how upbeat Jeremy looked. He almost looked like he was ready to take on the world, after having only been up fifteen minutes. "You went to sleep last night," Noah spoke, turning on his side as Jeremy booted up his computer and looked around for his pants. "I did," he replied. "What's it like? Sleep I mean?" Noah joked. "Got in pretty late huh?" Jeremy asked, slipping his jeans on and zipping his fly. Noah let out a sigh. "Yeah well a friend of mine was in trouble," Noah replied. "Oh, was it..." Jeremy started before looking over a sticky note attached to a bulletin board behind his computer screen. "Zoey?" Noah looked over at the sticky note. "You taped her name to your board?" he asked, incredulously. "I'd just call her Zelda if I didn't," Jeremy replied, taking a seat at his computer desk. "Zelda's a way cooler name anyway. Who doesn't want to be named after a videogame heroine?" "You told me Zelda was the princess in that game and is always getting kidnapped," Noah commented. Jeremy bit his bottom lip and frowned before suddenly remembering something. "Well she does have an alter ego, Sheik, that'll kick Ganandorf ass," he replied. Noah's interest in the topic was slowly waning as he fell on his back, thinking. "You know, I was half expecting you to disappear all weekend again," Jeremy started, as he loaded up one of his computer games. "Everyone likes coming home to find their roommate passed out outside their door." "Hey!" Noah objected. "That was a one time thing and I was going through some shit." "I get it," Jeremy replied. "Since you're a ladies man rock star guy you gotta go through shit so you can write about shit. Is that it?" Noah was finding out fast just why he'd since decided to stay out of intimate conversations with a guy who considered a fictional character who lived on the fictional planet of Krypton as his hero. He looked over at his alarm clock and moaned upon realizing how late in the day it was. "Hey it's Saturday, okay," Jeremy commented without so much as looking up from his computer screen. "It's not like we have anything to do." Noah didn't like not having things to do. He was all for relaxing some days and taking it easy when he absolutely felt like he could. Today wasn't one of those days. He may not have been able to stay with Trey the previous night but nothing was stopping him from checking up on him today. And if anyone tried again, he wasn't going to be as nice a guy as he was and just let it go. "Sweet, my Green Mage just leveled!" Jeremy cheered. Noah let out a sigh and decided the sooner he got up and out, the better. ******************************************************************************* Jesse, completely wiped out and beat, barely managed to slip off his flip flops before falling face first onto his futon mattress. He had barely shut his eyes before Amber came bursting in, seemingly from out of nowhere, saying something that Jesse was doing his best to tune out. "Morning party boy!" she was saying. "Brought you breakfast!" Jesse had been up all night overseeing the fifty five people he'd hired to have the entire party cleaned up and have the sorority looking like it had before he'd changed everything for the party. The party had ended close to four in the morning, and Jesse had spent the last five making sure everything was in order. Clean up had gone surprisingly fast, considering the amount of sand that had to be cleaned up from downstairs. All he wanted to do now was to sleep until it was time for him to get up for class on Monday. Or at least until every muscle in his body stopped feeling like he'd just completed a fifty mile marathon. Amber set the tray of food that she'd made in surprise for Jesse down and crawled into bed next to him, peeling the covers back and spooning Jesse's back. Jesse in return pulled every last bit of bedspread from Amber and scooted forward, as far away from her as possible without falling off the futon. "Jesse-" "Have you ever had to scream the words `there's still more sand' repeatedly for five hours?" Jesse managed to say, despite not knowing he had enough energy left in him to string together a coherent sentence. "It's terribly draining." "I'm really glad you got to change the party theme Jesse," Amber spoke cheerfully. "It was really fun." "Well good," Jesse mumbled, face turning into his pillow. "Now you go off and reflect on my brilliance dear. I'm just going to have a nice long lie down-" "Jesse, aren't you like...horny or anything?" Amber asked. Jesse had already come to understand Amber for her limited amount of common sense and thought he knew just how dense she could be, but she was striking more new lows with him now than the entire time he'd known her. "Cuz I heard guys really want sex after a long days work," Amber spoke as if it were fact. Jesse, rightly so, had never heard of such a thing and even if it were true he considered the amount of work he'd done enough to drain him of the energy it would take to show a girl as good a time as he was used to. "Amber, when have the two of us ever had sex?" Jesse asked, hoping to clear the air so Amber would shut the hell up and let him get his rest. "That's just it silly," Amber replied. "We haven't." "Right," Jesse said. "And you think now of all times, at eleven in the morning, that I'm gonna start shagging you? Get a clue, would you?" Amber stared at Jesse's back for a few moments before speaking again. "You don't wanna have sex with me?" she asked, all seriousness in her voice. "Right now, I'd say no to a threesome with J. Lo, Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears!" Jesse hoped that had been enough to get Amber off his case as he adjusted himself to get more comfortable in an effort to get some sleep. Amber, seemingly frozen in her spot stood up slowly, feeling a little dazed and stunned. "Oh, love could you shut those blinds for me?" Jesse asked. "It's a bit bright in here." Amber looked over at Jesse before narrowing her eyes at him and walking over to the blinds. "Sure thing," she said, before letting the blinds up completely, the opposite of what Jesse had asked, and heading for the door. "Amber...what the..." "Have fun with your left hand!" Amber exclaimed before exiting the room, leaving an annoyed Jesse behind. ******************************************************************************* Trey didn't want to be the first one up. He always hated, before he and Shawn started to get close, to be the first one of them up because it always seemed like Shawn was watching him. Granted, that hadn't changed, but he at least didn't really mind it as much now that it seemed like the two of them were starting to become friends. But that was different for today because today was Saturday. The first Saturday of his life that he wasn't at home. It was a bit overwhelming to think that he was really starting to become more independent, even if something as small as this was the first step. He'd been lying in bed, thinking and staring at his ceiling. He figured Shawn had fallen asleep because neither of them had really kept up any conversation. Or at least, he kept telling himself that Shawn had fallen asleep. But something told him that Shawn was in fact up and just had no interest in talking to him anymore. Perhaps because he was upset with having to take care of him while drunk. Trey knew that Shawn had gone to plenty of parties the days before they started to get along, probably drinking his fair share of alcohol and getting drunk, but never relying on Trey to clean up his blue colored vomit. All he knew was that Shawn had plenty of reasons to be upset with him, and for once, Trey saw validation in that. Never one to just lie in bed sleeping all day, Trey forced himself to sit up and looked back over at his clock. It was going on half past 12 in the afternoon. Which meant that he'd been doing nothing but lying for nearly two hours. He looked over at Shawn. With the t.v., microwave and Shawn's fan and computer all laying out on the desk/cabinet thing that spaced the two beds, it was hard for him to tell whether or not he was up. He hesitated at first before getting a little confidence and forced himself up and out of bed. He didn't even bother to actually check to see if Shawn was up or not. Instead, he pulled a pair of jeans and a shirt from his side of the closet and grabbed a towel, bar of soap and his shampoo before heading into the shower. For some reason, taking a shower almost seemed different to him just because it was the weekend. Maybe it was because he wasn't on any schedule because he was in a hurry to get to class. Or maybe it was because for once, he had significant things going on in his life that caused his mind to wander. It had wandered so much he wound up taking his shower twenty minutes longer than his usual quick five minute showers. To him that seemed long but it was nothing compared to the amount of time he happened to notice one or both of the suitemates he'd yet to actually meet take. He'd brought his clothes and a change of boxers into the bathroom with him and changed into them after drying off. He was still dying his low cut hair when he heard a knock at upon exiting the restroom. Ordinarily Trey would have ignored it. With Shawn being asleep, the door never would have been for him anyway. But now that he actually knew people, he also knew that the door very well could have been for him. He didn't bother to look out the peephole before he opened the door, surprised to see Noah standing before him. "Noah? Hey!" he greeted, continuing to towel his hair dry. "Hey," Noah replied, looking and sounding awfully upbeat. "I figured maybe you could use some breakfast." "It's twelve in the afternoon," Trey replied. "Okay lunch then," Noah replied. Trey looked back over towards a sleeping Shawn. Noah looked back as well before Trey turned back to face him. "What about Shawn?" Trey asked. "Looks like he's out cold to me," Noah replied, sounding pleased with that particular tidbit. "Wouldn't wanna wake the guy up." Trey hesitated for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do was to just up and leave Shawn while he was sleeping. Especially after having taken such good care of him the previous night. But he had to remember that he was still his own person and Noah was trying to get to know him too. He didn't want to blow him off. "You coming?" Noah asked. Trey bit his bottom lip and thought for a moment before turning around, grabbing his keys, wallet and a pair of shoes. "Okay," he said, exiting the room. "Let's go." ******************************************************************************* Despite being completely beat, for some reason, Jesse hadn't quite managed to get to sleep. Girls could get pretty noisy on the weekends when they had nothing much to do, but he could usually fall asleep anyway. He'd been tossing and turning, catching a few minutes of sleep before suddenly waking up feeling like he'd been jolted out of a deep sleep when it wasn't the case. Not being able to get to sleep meant that he'd heard Amber coming down the hallway chatting with someone. He was going to ignore the whole thing until he heard Amber mentioning to whoever she was talking to to excuse the mess in the room. Suddenly, Jesse wasn't feeling so tired as his eyes shot upon and he sat up, trying not to panic as he looked around. He'd since shed his clothes, only wearing a very loose pair of boxers. He looked around, not really sure what to do as he heard the door to the room starting to open. He quickly bent down and picked up a pile of his clothes, clutching it to his chest as Amber and her friend from the other day, Stacy, stared at him. "Oh my god," Stacy muttered. Jesse looked over at Amber, an unreadable look on her face. Stacy turned to face Amber. "Amber...is this your new boyfriend or something?" she asked. Amber and Jesse stared at each other for a few seconds before Amber's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "Nope," she replied. Jesse stared incredulously at Amber before turning his attention to Stacy. "Hi," he spoke, holding out a hand. "I'm Jesse." "Yeah," Stacy replied. "I think I saw you at the party last night. You were the guy yelling at security right?" Jesse let out a sigh as Amber shut the door and tossed her keys on the dresser nearby, passing him and Stacy to go open the blinds that Jesse had got up to shut. "What are you doing here?" Stacy asked. "Um..." Jesse started, looking over at Amber who seemed to be doing her best not to give him any idea as to what the hell she was up to. Stacy stared at Jesse's naked chest with interest as Jesse studied her. "Uh, so what are you lovely ladies up to this afternoon?" Jesse asked. Stacy continued to stare at Jesse's body. "Who are you?" Amber suddenly asked, taking Jesse off guard. Both Jesse and Stacy looked over at Amber, who was sitting against the computer desk, arms crossed staring at Jesse expectantly. "What?" Jesse asked. "Who are you?" Amber repeated. "What are you doing in my room?" Jesse studied Amber's face to try and determine how serious she was being before looking over at Stacy briefly and then down at the ground. "Um..." "Wait...you're telling me you don't know him?" Stacy asked. Jesse looked up. "Of course she knows me, love," he spoke, again trying to think quickly on his feet. "Everyone knows me." Jesse was nervous about his uncertainty as to what was going on but decided to act like he was in some kind of control by starting to put on his clothes. "Yeah, if you want, I could sign an autograph for you," he started, slipping on a pair of cargo shorts. "I mean, if you want." Amber glared at Jesse as Stacy looked walked over to Amber so that she was close enough to her that only she could hear what she had to say. "You know guys aren't really allowed in here right?" Stacy asked. "What's going on?" Amber watched as Jesse pulled a shirt over his head before letting out a sigh and looking around. "Who do I call if there's someone in my room that shouldn't be?" she spoke. "What?" both Jesse and Stacy asked simultaneously. "Amber, his clothes and stuff is everywhere," Stacy spoke, looking around. "How do you not know him?" Amber looked around. Before when Jesse had the entire room clean, it didn't really look like anyone but her was staying in the room. She'd forgotten that Jesse had let things get back to being messy and that it now looked very much like Jesse was staying with her. "Uh..." Jesse walked over to Amber and walked behind her, putting his hands around her waist and head over her shoulders. "She just didn't want anybody to know we were seeing each other," he started. "You know? With me being a big celebrity and all. The last thing we want is to be all over the tabloids." Amber gasped at Jesse's statement. "Amber....is it true? That you have a secret boyfriend that you didn't tell me about?" Stacy asked. Jesse let go of Amber and stood next to Stacy, so that he was facing Amber. Amber looked over at Jesse who seemed to be trying to motion for her to keep her mouth shut with his facial expressions and over at Stacy before replying. "Right! Secrets out I guess," Amber replied. Jesse breathed a sigh of relief before plopping back down on the futon. "Well I won't say anything about it," Stacy spoke. "I've had plenty of guys stay in my room overnight. Of course, the next night was when they'd tell me they were actually gay but, yeah." Amber frowned and let out an annoyed sigh while looking over at Jesse who flashed her a confused yet confident look. He wasn't sure what was going on but he'd be damned if he was going to sit back and be clueless. ******************************************************************************* Trey had never been out to lunch with anyone before. Sure he'd eaten lunch at school with other people, but he'd never actually gone out and had a meal of any kind with anyone that wasn't his mother or another family member. He wasn't quite sure how to act around Noah. It was obvious that Noah was trying to get along with him, despite the fact that he'd kissed him during their summer orientation. He wasn't sure how he felt about Noah not bringing it up. Part of him wanted to talk about it with Noah but the rest of him just wanted to avoid it entirely. He wasn't sure if it had been a mistake kissing Noah or not. He certainly had felt something, enough to want to kiss him. But an entire summer had gone by where he had time to try and forget about Noah. And he just about had. But now that Noah was back in his life treating him just as nicely as he did during their orientation session and ignoring their kiss, he was finding it hard to find a way to try and get past the little bit of awkwardness he felt inside. "The great thing about this place," Noah started. "It fits right into the college student budget and it lets me order all the pancakes and country fried steak I want." Trey chuckled as he looked down at his own plate of food consisting of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon and cherry pie to the side. He was happy that Noah had invited him to IHOP, even if he was feeling a little like he should have been doing more to act a certain way. It was all he could do to keep from thinking about more serious matters. He and Noah were sitting at a both towards the back of the restaurant, practically secluded from everyone else. Trey wasn't quite sure how much he liked the near privacy, however. "Sorry about yesterday," Noah started. "I didn't mean to upset you by inviting Grace." Trey frowned a bit. Thinking about Grace was less than pleasing to him, but he didn't want Noah thinking it was his fault. "You didn't invite her," Trey replied. "Zoey did. Besides, I told you invite whoever, so..." Noah just stared at Trey as he chewed his food before looking down and messing with his food for a little bit. He had something on his mind, and he was going to get to it, he was just working his way up. "I wanted to make sure you were okay last night," he started. "I guess Shawn took care of everything huh?" Trey looked up at Noah, feeling a bit awkward with the question. He wasn't quite sure what Noah was trying to say, if there was any subtext at all. He didn't know what to say to him really. "Yeah..." was all he did say before he looked back down at his food. A few more awkward moments passed between the two of them before Noah opened his mouth to say something before looking down, just as Trey looked up at him. When Trey looked back down again, that was when Noah finally spoke up. "I guess I just thought we connected or whatever," he started. He wasn't even talking about the kiss or anything sexual at all. He meant that he'd thought they understood each other better than Trey could with Shawn. But they hadn't really talked about anything that had happened between them during the summer orientation session. Trey looked up, not sure what to say. "What?" he asked. Noah shuffled in his seat and looked around idly before looking down at his plate. "I don't know...I thought we were good friends," he said. "I mean, I know it was only three days but..." Trey stared at Noah for a few moments. He knew what Noah was talking about. It was true that during their orientation session, the two of them had connected on a level he hadn't thought was possible to do with someone so quick. Not only was Noah the first white person he thought of as a friend, he was also the first person he thought of as a friend. He didn't think the two would ever go hand in hand, but they had. And then he made the mistake of kissing Noah. And things got awkward and that was the reason that things were the way they were between them now. Noah looked up. "Were...were we ever gonna talk about....what happened?" he asked. Trey stared at him uncomfortably. That was a question that he'd been wondering about himself. He wasn't sure if he should bring it up or wait for Noah to bring it up. Or to just ignore it altogether. But now that it had been brought up, he wasn't sure what to say about it. He just wasn't sure what to say. He was feeling like that a lot lately. "I don't know," Trey replied. "What's there to talk about?" Noah stared at Trey before sitting back in his chair and sighing, a bit frustrated. "I don't know," he replied. "You finished?" Trey stared at Noah for a few seconds before looking down at his food. He hadn't really eaten all of it, but he was far from feeling hungry anymore. "Yeah," he replied, almost inaudibly. It was almost like he was feeling completely out of it. Like he wasn't himself. Like he was on the outside looking in on someone else's life. And he wasn't quite sure how to deal with that. Trey watched as Noah signaled for their waitress to bring them the check. He tried to get a read of him to see what he was feeling, but Noah was doing everything he could to look him in the eyes. He truthfully looked pissed at Trey. And for some reason, he knew it was his fault. ******************************************************************************* "Jesse!" Jesse pushed right past Heather and into her room, stopping upon noticing the guy sitting shirtless atop her bed. "Oh and what is this now?" he spoke, curiously. "Someone having themselves a bit of afternoon delight." "Who's the tool, babe?" the guy on the bed asked, starting to look for his t-shirt. "Please," Jesse started. "Some of us are trying to have an intelligent conversation here." "Jesse, now's not a good time-" "Get the hell out you bloody little prick before I do to you what Ashton Kutcher did to that inmate in the Butterfly Effect," Jesse spouted, obviously irritated. The guy stared at Jesse, then over at Heather who had her hand on her forehead and was sighing. "Jesse-" "Is this guy for real?" Heather's boyfriend asked. Jesse didn't wait any further to give the guy another chance before rushing over to him, nearly picking him up completely and flinging him out the window, holding on to him by his shirt. "Oh god!" the guy shouted. "Long trip down," Jesse said. "Shame you chose today of all days to leave the skivvies in the drawer." "Jesse-" "Fine," Jesse sighed, before pulling the guy back up and letting him fall to the ground. "Oh and in case you didn't figure it out by now, this is me being irritated." The boy, obviously traumatized hurried over to grab his pants and shoes before rushing out the door and down the hall. "Oh way to go Jesse," Heather complained. "I don't ruin what you and Amber have going on." "That's exactly what we need to talk about love," Jesse started, grabbing a chair from Heather's computer desk and flipping it to sit in it backwards. Heather, who was looking a bit more interested, pulled her bathrobe tighter before sitting on the edge of her bed, facing Jesse. "Okay, now that you ruined my afternoon and stole my attention," Heather started. "I'm listening." "Just how smart is she, Amber?" Jesse started. "I'd have figured her somewhere between the knowing of Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson...both really terrible liars by the way." Heather stared at Jesse for a moment to determine how serious he was before responding. "Amber and I've been here since the beginning of June," Heather replied. "That's about how long I've known her." "Would you say she's a meticulous planner?" Jesse asked. "Don't you live with her?" Heather asked. "How would I know?" "You two are supposed to be mates right?" Jesse asked. "What's this about anyway?" Heather asked. "Did she set fire to your clothes because she caught you having a threesome or something?" "What have you heard? Would she do that?" Heather had been joking but Jesse stood up, a serious look on his face and walked over to the window, looking out of it. "I believe my days are numbered here," he sighed. Heather crossed her legs, folding her hands on her knees in front of her. "What, you didn't really think you could stay here all year did you?" she asked. "I mean, just because we don't care doesn't mean that somebody else won't." "I just never figured Amber to be the one to be the first to care," Jesse spoke, actually sounding concerned. Heather stood up and walked over to Jesse, standing behind him. "Maybe you should try talking to her," she said. "You'd be surprised at the kind of reaction you'd get." Jesse turned around. "Oh yes, then she'd have all my drinks poisoned and my legs and arms chained to the bed so she can go hammer happy with my ankles," he spoke. And just thinking about what could possibly have been going on started to reel him even further than he'd already been feeling. He just left Heather and stormed out of her room, not noticing Amber watching him coming out of her room. Amber, who was standing at the end of the hallway furrowed her eyebrows upon seeing Jesse and turned to storm down the opposite side of the hallway before noticing something. She looked back at where Jesse was headed at the opposite end of the hallway and turned to face the side of the wall where she was standing, before deciding to do something rash and crazy. Jesse who was on his way towards the stairs stopped when he noticed the loud alarms going off all over the place. He looked around to see quite a few girls exiting their rooms and looking around in confusion. Some were even screaming, and all of them were talking and getting on his nerves. "What the hell?" he muttered. "Did somebody pull the fire alarm?" one girl asked near Jesse. Jesse stared at her as she casually strolled down the hallway continuing her conversation with someone on the other end of her cell phone, seeming not to care that the alarms going off could have actually been going off for a serious reason. Jesse just watched as all the girls around him ran around acting like chickens without their heads before noticing one thing. There was no water. The fire alarms were going off but the sprinklers hadn't been activated. If there really was a fire somewhere, they'd all have been toast. Or at the very least suffering from smoke inhalation. The loud screams and shouting and talking taking place in the halls stopped once the alarms abruptly stopped and all the girls stared with fear and apprehension at two girls in the middle of the hallway who looked to be two of the head girls of the sorority. The girls around him looked like they were afraid but Jesse certainly wasn't, even though he knew that he had plenty reason to be. "Okay, who the hell thought it'd be cute to touch the fucking fire alarm?" one of the two barked. "Well that's rather unattractive," Jesse mumbled, remarking at the girl's language. Unfortunately for him, she'd heard him and turned quick to face him. "What the hell? Who are you?" "Okay," Jesse started. "You're one of THOSE. I mean, my face is literally everywhere in upper east London. You should travel more. It'd suit you." "What are you doing here? This is a sorority as in off limits to guys," the other spoke. Jesse noticed how everyone's attention turned to him. Again, this was another situation where he didn't quite welcome such attention. "You know, I could give you all numbers, but I think that's be a bit tacky wouldn't you agree?" Jesse replied. "Did you pull the fire alarm? And don't shit with me because I know someone pulled it. Otherwise we'd all be soaked right now." "And thank god we aren't huh?" Jesse replied. "I don't think Gucci's fit for that." "Hey...you're Amber's boyfriend right?" Jesse noticed that it was Stacy, Amber's friend from earlier, who'd said this. Realizing he could use it as an in, he went with it. "Stacy, hey!" Jesse replied, making his way over to her. "What's going on?" Heather asked, upon coming out of her room, now fully dressed. "Lucy and Farrah think Jesse pulled the fire alarm just because he's a guy and he's here," Stacy replied. "But I'm vouching for him. Jesse caught sight of Amber, who was staring at him nonchalantly with her arms crossed. "Maybe she pulled it," he spoke up. "I mean, look where she is. Plus we got into a fight. She probably wanted to punish me, you know?" Everyone turned their attention to face Amber. "What?" Amber asked, surprised. "Me? No...no I-" Jesse could tell that most of the girls were smitten with him as it was. He knew he was off the hook pretty much. "Well, I'll let you ladies work this out," Jesse said, making his way towards the stairs. "It's like you say, no guys allowed right?" Amber glared over at Jesse as he headed down the stairs. "I'll call you later hun?" Jesse said, making a `call me' gesture with his hand before heading for and out the front door, knowing that once again, he'd been able to talk his way out of another potentially tricky situation. ******************************************************************************* Trey and Noah had pretty much ridden home in awkward silence. And despite feeling the awkward tension between them, Noah had insisted on walking Trey to his dorm room. Of course, that also had consisted of one long walk to the dorm hall and down the hall to his room. And now that the two of them were at his room, it was like nether one knew how to say goodbye to the other when it was apparent that that was what they both wanted to do. Not knowing what to say, Trey fumbled around in his pocket for his keys. "Yeah...um...I guess we'll talk later or something," he said, his back to Noah. Noah had been struggling with something ever since he and Trey had left the restaurant. Not really sure what had come over him, he decided to just go with the moment and grabbed Trey, turning him around and leaning in for a kiss. The kiss was rough and slow at first, taking Trey by surprise. But after the first few seconds, Trey was starting to forget all about how frustrated he was feeling with himself and his situation with Noah. In fact, he'd all but stop thinking at all, instead allowing himself to just be wrapped in their kissing. And just as soon as it started, had it ended as Noah pulled away. Trey's eyes opened slowly, as he felt a bit caught in a daze. It took him a couple of seconds to recompose himself and to gather his thoughts again. "Just so we have something to talk about," Noah grinned, before back away from Trey, leaving him with a bunch of crazy mixed up thoughts and feelings all going through his head at the same time. Trey just stood outside his door, not really sure what to do. He was only snapped back to reality once he noticed the door next to his opening, laughter pouring out from the inside of the room and a tall white guy with shaggy black hair stepping out. He turned towards he door and was going to go inside but stopped as the guy threw a `hey' at him. He turned, trying to put on his best `normal' face, a hard feat considering everything he was feeling and thinking at the moment. "Are you Shawn's roommate?" the guy asked, walking a couple of steps closer to Trey. "Yeah," he replied. "I'm Trey." "Mark," the guy replied, holding out a hand which Trey shook. "Man, I can't believe we've been in school almost a month and haven't even met each other," Mark replied. Trey could understand what Mark meant, considering Mark was just one of the two suitemates that he hadn't gotten a chance to meet since moving in. At least now he could say that he at least knew one of them. "So, where's..." Trey started, looking over to Mark's door to read the name of his suitemate off a tag stuck on the door. "Peter?" "Peter's never here much," Mark replied. "He pretty much just sleeps here. I don't even know if the guy bathes. He's cool though." Trey wasn't sure what to say to that information so he just nodded. "You eat anything yet?" Mark asked. "I was on my way down to the cafeteria. For some reason my mouth wants Jello. Lots and lots of jello." "Thanks, but I'm good," Trey replied. "A little tired actually." "Rock on man," Mark spoke, starting down the hall. "That's what college is for, right?" Again, Trey just nodded before quickly dipping into his room and letting out a sigh of relief. He hadn't even noticed Shawn sitting at his computer screen wearing nothing but a loose pair of boxers. And even though it wasn't even four in the afternoon yet, Shawn still had the lamp on his desk next to the computer turned on. Shawn turned to face Trey. "I hear you met Mark," he said. Trey threw his keys atop his dressed ant sat on the edge of his bed. "You heard that much huh?" he asked. "With that screen thing on all the doors, I'm surprised I haven't heard all the sex through the walls yet," Shawn replied, before standing up and walking over to his closet to get some clothes. Trey sighed before toeing off his shoes and tossing himself back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Did Noah actually being the one to kiss him make him gay? Did it mean that he wanted to start some kind of relationship with him? He just didn't know. He had no idea what was supposed to be his next step. And that confused the hell out of him. Shawn turned to face Trey as he worked a shirt over his head. "So," he started, pulling the shirt over his head. "Have fun?" Trey looked over at him. "What?" "I mean wherever you went," Shawn replied. "It's just, I thought you'd be sleeping your hangover away still but when I woke up, you were MIA." Trey nodded slightly and looked back up at the ceiling. "I had lunch with Noah," he replied. Shawn hadn't really been expecting Trey to tell him that of all things and it had actually taken him aback somewhat. He stood in his spot by his closet not really sure what to do before shutting it, almost as an afterthought, and walked over to his computer chair, not really sure what to do. Sensing that he'd started some tension between even himself and Shawn, Trey turned and looked over at Shawn. "Nothing big," he said. "I think he just felt bad for leaving me last night." Shawn looked over at Trey. "You don't blame me for that, do you? I mean, I just thought with me being your roommate and all-` "No it's cool," Trey replied. "Really. Thanks." Shawn was happy that Trey wasn't upset with him, but he couldn't help but to be upset anyway. He was trying as best as he could to make things up with Trey, but he still felt like because Noah shared that past with him, not to mention a kiss, that he was more out of the loop than him. And then Ben had to go and mess things up even further for him. Which meant that he had some serious ground to cover, now especially since Noah had gone off and taken Trey out to eat right under his nose. He was trying to think of a way to counter that. When he looked back over at Trey, he noticed that his eyes were closed. If he was going to sleep, it gave him some time to think of a way to do something for Trey just like Noah had. He wasn't going to let Noah steal Trey away from him. Not again. ******************************************************************************* Jesse had never really been one to consider himself a paranoid person, but Amber's recent insane acts were cause for concern. He wasn't quite sure what the hell was going on with her, but it was apparent to him that she meant to cause trouble for him. Of course, it had also been his experience that with enough time to cool off, people could forget all about whatever it was that bothered them about him, and go on acting just as they had before. And that was exactly what he'd decided to do with Amber. It wasn't enough that the girl unplugged his alarm clock causing him to miss all of his classes. But then she'd pretty much spent the past few days trying to get him caught by one or all of the sorority heads to get him thrown out. He couldn't determine if it was just him she wanted out or herself as well, as she wasn't being the most careful planner in the world when it came to all of it. Either way, he wasn't about to let someone like Amber ruin his usual good spirits and decided to take a stroll the quad. Maybe to get a bite to eat and check his mail while he was at it as well. He didn't particularly relish or enjoy the thought, but he also knew that he didn't want to wander too far away from the campus or the sorority. Which left him wandering the large hall between two of three student cafes, the stairs leading to the lower levels and the mail room. He looked down at his watch as he walked, realizing that it was going on seven and bumped directly into someone in the process. "Walking is like driving skeeze," Sierra complained. "Always stay to the right." Jesse looked up, annoyed upon realizing who he'd bumped into, but not so annoyed he didn't mind messing with her. "Really? The whole wide load thing applies to you, now does it?" he asked. Sierra grinned slyly before crossing her arms in a stance that meant she was ready to test Jesse right back. "You know you missed our first exam in class right?" she asked, a bit of satisfaction evident in her tone. "I'm sure the questions composed of who the better singer was between Clay Aiken and Meatloaf, no?" "How's this life treating you? Since you're such a big celeb back home and everything." "For your information," Jesse started, but stopping once he noticed another familiar face exiting the mailroom looking over a couple items of mail. Forgetting completely about Sierra, whom he quickly pushed out of the way, Jesse walked past her and over to an oblivious Noah. "I've searched the depths of my mind to try and determine who would send you any mail," Jesse started. "I stopped when I got to prison inmates." "Are you fucking kidding me with this? What, are you following me around now?" Noah asked, obviously not in the mood for Jesse. "Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?" Jesse asked. "Like me to get close enough to succumb to your little homosexual wiles." Noah started towards Jesse but stopped as Sierra made her way over to the two of them. "Uh hello? People don't just ignore me," she spoke, sounding pissed. "They do in this lifetime love," Jesse replied without breaking his glare at Noah. Noah frowned before looking over at Sierra. "And you. You're-" "Sierra," she replied. "You look familiar. I know you don't I?" "I don't think so," Noah mumbled, pushing past both Jesse and Sierra. "Really? I'm so good with faces-" "Oh that's right, run," Jesse called after him. "Take off the second people better than you show up." "You think I'm better than him? Really?" Sierra asked, sounding amused with the thought. "Not you sweetheart...weren't you leaving anyway?" Jesse asked, annoyed. Noah stopped and turned around. "You know, I always just figured you were an asshole because you were rich," he started. "But we've been here nearly a month and you still can't stop picking fights with people." "People?" "Trey told me about that little tussle you two got into last week," Noah replied. Jesse sucked in his lips, looking down. He wasn't used to feeling intimidated by anyone and Noah was single-handedly bringing out such a new emotion in him all by himself. "Guess it really is lonely at the top after all huh?" Noah replied, before leaving Jesse alone with Sierra who looked over at him. "Don't look at me, you're the one with the bitchy girlfriend," Sierra spoke. "She's not my girlfriend," Jesse mumbled, feeling a bit shaken. "Good, because how anyone could stand her-" "Or you-" "Yeah...I agree with whatshisface," Sierra said. "You must be a pretty lonely little freshman huh?" Sierra chuckled before starting off as well. Jesse stood thinking to himself for a few seconds before regaining his composure and suddenly remembering something. "You're a freshman too!" he called after Sierra. "Bloody ingrate." ******************************************************************************* Trey opened his eyes slowly, not surprised to see Shawn, but surprised to see what he was up to. It looked like he was getting ready to go somewhere without telling him. Granted, he couldn't exactly fault him for that. He had his own life and could do whatever he wanted. Plus, it wasn't like he hadn't left to go off with Noah while Shawn was sleeping. Still though, he was curious to know what was going on. "Hey," Trey spoke, the grogginess of having been asleep for quite a few hours evident in his voice. "Hey," Shawn replied, sounding busy as he looked around the room. Trey did as well. He noticed that Shawn's bed was made and that everything on his side was still spotless. He could smell soap and Listerine, which must have meant that Shawn was definitely planning on heading out for a while. "Ah, keys," Shawn spoke, grabbing his set of keys off of his desk and shoving them into his pocket. Trey sat up, allowing his feet to fall off the bed as he yawned and tried to wake fully up. "So got a hot date or something?" Trey joked. Shawn stopped looking like he had a couple of minutes to get ready before the world exploded and looked over at Trey with a serious look on his face. "Yeah, with you," he replied. Trey was shocked. He wasn't exactly sure how to take that statement. He already felt like he had enough to deal with what with Noah kissing him and all but now it seemed like Shawn was into him as well? "What?" Trey asked, a bit of fear in his voice. Shawn cracked a smile as he walked over to the mirror above the sink and started messing with the tips of his hair. "Relax man, just joking," Shawn replied. "But seriously though, I figured you might be a bit hungry when you woke up." Trey actually felt a lot hungry, having spent nearly four and a half hours sleeping. He was surprised his stomach wasn't growling. "You up for going out?" Shawn asked, turning to face Trey. Trey looked down. He wasn't expecting to have gone out with Noah, but he had. And now on the very same day, Shawn was asking him out as well. Granted, neither affairs were actual dates, but Noah had kissed Trey at the end of their little outing. He was a little worried Shawn might have tried the same thing, even if it did seem more than a little unlikely. "Um..." He wavered. He wanted to say yes. But then again, he didn't want to. He wasn't really sure what to do. "Come on, it'll be fun," Shawn said. "We can even go check out a movie or something." As much as Trey felt like it was a bad idea, he knew he couldn't deny that he was drawn to Shawn almost the same way he was drawn to Noah. "Okay," he replied, standing up. "Let's go." ****************************************************************************** Jesse was almost a little afraid to show his face back at the sorority. After what had happened earlier, nearly every girl there had seen his face. Not only that, but most of them figured that he was Amber's boyfriend, something that was, in his opinion, worse. But he wasn't stupid. He'd waited until it was good and dark out before even attempting to return. The fact that it was a Saturday night meant that most of the girls would more than likely be out partying or doing whatever anyway. He had no trouble walking through the front door and up the stairs leading to Amber's room, the first one to the left as soon as you were up the stairs. It was impossible to tell if she was in from the outside of the door, but he wasn't so afraid that he wasn't going to see. He wasted no time in walking in, half surprised and half not surprised to find that Amber was in fact in the room. The completely surprising thing to him was who Amber was with. "Stacy, Heather, two of my favorite ladies," Jesse spoke, putting on a smile as he shut the door behind him. He'd been in tricky situations before, but this was probably one of the trickiest. All three girls were sitting on Jesse's futon mattress, which had been left down as a bed that someone had made for him, staring over at him like they'd just been conspiring against him before he walked in. "You ladies weren't gossiping about me now were you?" Jesse asked. "Why? Because the world is supposed to revolve around you?" Amber asked bitterly. Jesse looked over at her as calm as possible before Heather spoke up. "Actually, yeah, we were talking about you," she replied. "All good things I hope," Jesse said, peeling off his jacket as he looked at Amber who was glaring at him. "You know, maybe we should leave the two of them alone," Stacy spoke up. "Let them work out their problems." "Huh?" Jesse and Heather asked, simultaneously. "It's just, they make such a cute couple," Stacy replied. "I'd hate to see them break up." "Didn't you just say you found out about the two of them this morning?" Heather asked, incredulously. Not really responding, Stacy stood up, pulling Heather up with her and started for the door. "No more fighting you two," Stacy spoke. "Oh and put a sock on the door before you two...you know..." Jesse and Amber stared over at each other while a confused Heather tried to piece things together. "No wait a second Stacy, I don't think we should-" "Let's go Heather!" Stacy exclaimed, pulling Heather through the door and shutting it behind her. Jesse stood with his hands in his pockets staring at Amber who rolled her eyes at Jesse and stood up, walking over to her computer desk. Jesse let out a low chuckle before walking over to his bed and sitting atop it. "Not really sure what you thought Stacy was going to do if she found out about our little living arrangement," he started. "But pulling the fire alarm...that took guts." "I don't know what you're talking about," Amber replied pensively. "Thus proving there is a brain in there after all," Jesse replied. "Oddly, that actually turns me on." "Oh now you wanna be turned on," Amber replied, turning around to face Jesse. "Right after you could be in serious trouble, not before." Jesse stared at Amber a bit confused. "Well Amber, I can't very well get involved with my roommate now can I?" he said. "What if things went south? What would I do then?" "Don't know," Amber replied, turning back around to look over her computer. "But I've already decided, I don't wanna find out." Jesse stared at Amber's back for a few seconds before replying. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Amber turned back around. "Let's just say you'd be surprised at what I was capable of," she replied. Jesse stared at her as she turned back to face her computer. "A heart is a hard thing to mend," she added. And suddenly, Jesse finally felt like he understood Amber for the first time. ******************************************************************************* Trey was thankful that his dinner with Shawn hadn't been anywhere near as awkward as his lunch with Noah. Granted, there was no past with them. Neither of them had the dreaded tension of a shared kiss between them looming over their heads. And because of that fact, they were able to just sit back and enjoy their dinner, which was pretty good considering Trey didn't have to pay and Shawn had let him order whatever he wanted. Shawn even made good on his suggestion to see a movie. And while they had gone in to watch a movie together, they ended up spending the entire time trashing it and being goofy copying the main leads and spouting off their ridiculous dialogue. Trey was happy that he'd actually been able to have fun with Shawn and not have to worry about his feeling for him. It was the first time that he didn't have to worry about any complicated relationships with anyone from school. He wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the fact that he wasn't thinking about Noah or what, but whatever it was, he liked the feeling. "Oh, oh, and what about the line `I liked the feeling," Shawn started. "Because you gave it to me!" Trey and Shawn finished in unison. The two of them were headed back to Shawn's car in the parking lot of the movie theater. Having seen the 10:30 showing of the movie, it was pretty late and there weren't too many cars left in the parking lot. Shawn threw a piece of his leftover popcorn at Trey, who dodged it and retaliated by jumping behind him and pulling him back, which was met by laughter from Shawn. Trey wasn't sure what it was that was making him feel so comfortable with Shawn. When he first met Shawn, he'd felt those initial first twinge of feelings for him but couldn't really act on them, out of not wanting to and what had unfolded between them in the meantime. He in no way ever imagined that he'd feel this close to a guy he had almost hated, especially so quick. It was like he and Shawn were best friends that had known each other all their lives. Or at least, that was the way Trey felt. He never would have thought he'd be able to come out of his `shell' so fast and so completely with anyone. And he was doing exactly that with Shawn. "Okay okay, next time I get to pick the movie," Shawn said, trying to stop laughing. "Something where people can actually act." "You picked this movie," Trey argued. "Yeah right guy who wanted to see something scary," Shawn shot back. "We didn't have to see that mess though," Trey replied. Shawn and Trey had been standing at Shawn's car. Shawn had been working the door lock on the car while looking over at Trey but just stopped, staring at him. He wasn't sure what it was exactly. He just felt something. They were the same feelings that he'd been feeling, but they were stronger than ever now. Even though they'd scared him before, something was different tonight. Something about this night and this situation put him at ease with all of his feelings. "What?" Trey asked. "You got a little...." Trey rubbed his face but Shawn started towards him. "Here," he said, as he started towards him. Trey allowed himself to turn to face Shawn, his back to the car as Shawn stood in front of him. He'd thought Shawn was going to wipe something from his face but instead, he leaned in to kiss him, taking him completely by surprise. He was surprised because it was happening, not because of who it was happening with. He could tell that the feelings were there, he just knew there was no way that he was going to act on them. But Shawn was. Just like his kiss with Noah, just when Trey got into the kiss, did Shawn pull away, a smile on his face. "Well..." was all he said, before walking back over to his side of the car. Trey touched his lips. Just like his kiss with...NOAH! He'd thought it but it was like it was only just now setting in with him. Noah had kissed him. Shawn had kissed him. What was he supposed to do now? ******************************************************************************* My Yahoo Group is currently under construction. I will be leaving the links to the finished advanced chapters of The Living Years up until I need to move them later (but only into a new folder). Feel free to stop by and check out the progress: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/ Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com Copyright 2006