Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 18:09:59 -0500
From: Dave H. <streyn@hotmail.com>
Subject: Problems with Romance Chapter 8 (section-college)

Author's Note:

Ok. So this is my first try at writing a story. Hopefully some of you out
there will read this and hopefully like it some bit. This story is not one
of those "oh police officer. slap those handcuffs on me and take me in.
rowr" stories. It's just about a college guy trying to find the right
person. So if that disinterests you, you should stop reading. Otherwise,
read on. The story may be a little slow, but it will eventually pick up
around the following parts to come. If you have any comments, e-mail me at
Streyn@hotmail.com

Thanks to all the people who have been e-mailing me. It's good to know
people are actually reading this. And those of you who are reading this and
want to e-mail me but don't, please do. Don't worry, I don't bite. I'm a
really nice person. So I welcome any comments about my story.

This story is completely fictional. So any similarities you may see are
purely coincidental. In other words, don't bite my ass off if it just so
happens that you're life just happens to be exactly like the one in this
story.

Also, if you are under age or it is illegal for you to be reading this, then
go away now. Don't want you reading something you shouldn't now. Also, if
these kinds of stories are not to your liking, you should leave as well

--------------
CHAPTER 8

"What do you mean he's in a car crash?" My heart started to beat rapidly. I
could hardly breathe. What had I done?

"I just don't know yet. He's at J.H. Hospital here in Baltimore. They just
called and told us to go down there." Jeff sounded scared. Of course he did.
Who know what happened to his brother. "We're headed there right now. I need
to talk to you later. I want to know what was so fucking important that he
was driving in this blizzard. Bye."

"Bye." He didn't sound to happy with me. Why shouldn't he? I had to go to
Baltimore. I couldn't just sit in my house while Will was in the hospital. I
ran downstairs, put on my shoes.

"Dave, where do you think you're going? You're not really going to go out
and drive in the snow?"

"Mom, my friend is in the hospital. He was in a car accident. I need to seem
him as soon as I can."

"Dave, I don't know. What happens if you get into an accident? How about us?
Why don't you wait for the snow to subside a little and drive to the
hospital then?"

"No, I can't! It's my entire fault. I have to go right now." And I just ran
out of the door. I drove for two hours straight, as safely as I could in the
snow. Eventually, I got to Baltimore. I called Jeff on his cell phone.
"Jeff, are you in the hospital?"

"Yah, but we can't see him right now. We're waiting here in the lobby until
the doctors say it's all right to visit him."

"I'm in Baltimore. Can you give me the directions?"

"Are you crazy? The same thing could have happened to you!" Eventually he
settled down a bit. I made it to the hospital after a few minutes. After I
parked, I ran to the lobby and found Jeff.

"Hi Dave."

"Hi Jeff. Where's the rest of the family."

"I told them to go home. I just said I'd call them if there were any news.
We don't live too far from here anyways. No use in all of us staying here."

"I'm really sorry for what happened. I told him not to drive. I told him he
could stay over in my house until the snow stopped falling. I'm not trying
to put the blame on anyone but I'm just trying to tell you that I didn't
make him drive in the snow."

"I know. I know. Will is sort of stubborn that way. I was so surprised when
he just left our house. He said he was going over to your house."

"How is he doing?"

"They just told us he was in stable condition. Not much after that. It seems
that the accident was pretty serious. Apparently, he was driving when
another car lost control, and slammed into his. He ended up spinning out of
control too and then hit the barrier."

Oh my god. This was all my fault. That's all I could say to myself. "This is
all my fault."

"Look, nothing good will come out putting blame on people. I'm just glad
that he is safe now. What did he have to say to you that he couldn't say
over the phone? What was so important?"

I didn't know what to say. There were two things I could do. I could lie,
make up some story, and still try to make it sound reasonable why Will came
over to my house. The other choice was to tell the truth, but that I would
have to tell Jeff his brother is gay, and maybe Will would want his family
to know.

"Well?"

"Do you promise not to tell anyone? I know now isn't exactly the time to
keep any secrets from anyone, but this is a really delicate matter. You
can't tell anybody."

"Tell me. I just want to know."

"Ok. How do I say this? Well, maybe I should tell you what happened in
Boston. This might sound a little vague but here it goes. You know how we're
really good friends, right?"

"Yah, Will talked to me about it that night after we went out on
Thanksgiving break."

"Well, we had a really big fight in Boston, which ended up with him punching
me in the face."

"Ok...but even then, if he was trying to get back on good terms with you, he
could have just called you."

"But it's not as easy as that."

"What isn't?"

"Jeff, I'm gay."

"So, what does that to do with anything?" It took him a little more time to
figure it out. We just sat there in silence. I could tell from the
expression on his face that he eventually figured it out. "Oh."

"Look, you haven't known this. But Will and I have been seeing each other on
and off, mainly because of misunderstandings, for about a month. And I don't
want to blame Will or anything, but basically, there was a really big rift
between us while we were in Boston. Something happened, and I guess when he
came back here, he needed to talk to me and the subject was just not
something you talk about over the phone. I mean, take Sofia for example. If
something went wrong between you, wouldn't you want to make things better in
person instead of over the phone?"

"I guess. So, does that mean my brother is gay too?"

"Yes. And you can't tell Will I told you that. I'm sure he would have wanted
to tell you on his own. On his own terms. But under the circumstances, I
think you just needed to know this."

"Well, I guess this makes a lot of things clear about him."

"Are you ok with it?"

"I guess. Not really much I can do it about it. If he's gay, I guess I'll
still love him. I just wish he had told me."

"I'm sure he was going to real soon. This thing is really new between us. I
mean, it's the first time that either of us have had a relationship with
another guy. So I guess being gay is really new to both of us. But please
don't tell you parents. I could tell you, but I can't really tell them. I
couldn't tell the whole story to them again. Your family doesn't hate me, do
they?"

"Well, I think they're just glad Will is safe and sound now. I'm sure they
won't blame you for what happened. In fact, they're still a little ambiguous
as to what happened. And I'm sure they'll understand it was Will's choice to
drive in the snow. And no, I won't tell my family about you two."

"Thanks. So are you really ok with this?"

"Yah. I mean, at least I know that he is with a good person. And he seemed
really happy that day when we were in the coffee shop. No wonder he kept
smiling that whole night. I'm just thinking that I'm going to have a hard
time explaining this to my parents without revealing anything."

"Jeff, thank you so much." Jeff and I sat there talking until the morning.
Neither of us could really sleep, being so worried about Will. We just
talked about Will, about being gay. We also talked about Sofia. Eventually,
a nurse came to us and told us that they would allow visitors to finally see
him. "He'll be on the third floor. Would you like to use the phone to call
the rest of your family?"

Jeff answered, "No it's ok. I have a cell phone."

"Oh, you shouldn't use them in the hospital. Here, use this landline."

"Ok then. Dave, I'll go call my family first and join you later. Besides,
I'm sure you two need to talk about a few things before the rest of my
family gets here."

"Ok." So I took the elevator up to the third floor and went to his room.
What would I see? I couldn't barely stand seeing him cry. What if he was in
more pain than that? "Knock knock."

"Dave? Is that you?"

"Yah." I walked in, went around the curtain and saw him. It looked like he
had broken his right leg. I started to cry. "Will, I'm so sorry."

"Dave, it's not your fault. It's mine really. I shouldn't have been driving
in weather like that. Plus that psycho was driving way too fast on the
highway. I should have tried to avoid him."

"Are you ok? Does it hurt?"

"It's not that bad I guess. The doctors said I might have to be in case for
a few months. I have a complicated fracture in my lower leg, and my arm has
a few simple fractures. So at least I came out pretty unharmed unlike the
other guy. He might be in the hospital for weeks."

"Are you sure if you're ok? Do you need anything?"

"Dave. If you ask me if I am ok one more time, I am going to kill you. But
there is one thing that you could do for me. Come here."

"What is it?" I walked over to him. I knew what he wanted. I bent down to
his face. I wanted to cry seeing him with these bandages. But at least I
could make some of his pain go away. I kissed him, hoping to eliminate any
pain he might be feeling. Our kiss lasted for only a short while. I heard
the doorknob turn, and we broke our embrace.

"Will? Will, are you ok?" Jeff and his mom and dad rushed in. "Are you ok?"

I sort of just stood in the corner. I really didn't want to say anything to
interrupt his family. In fact, I kind of tried to quietly leave the room
before his parents could really notice me until...

They turned around. "You must be Dave. Thank you for coming here to see
Will. You must be a really good friend."

"Yah, mom, he really is." Thanks Will. It meant a lot just hearing it from
him, and in front of his family too.

"Now, Will, why were you stupid enough to drive in the snow?"

Uh oh. What was he going to say? Will sort of looked at me. I looked at
Jeff. We all had questioned looks on our faces. What were supposed to say?

"It's all right. You don't have to explain yourself. The important thing is
that you are alive. But, if you ever do anything like that again, you do
know that I will kill you."

We all burst out laughing. His mom was a really nice person, and evidently a
big joker. After that, I excused myself from the room. I had to find
somewhere to sit. This was all too much for me. I went back down to the
lobby and just sat there. I started to think about what could have happened.
Will could be dead right now. I could never live with myself. It's hard
enough knowing that he had a broken arm and leg. What if it was more? After
a few minutes, his mom came down. "Hi Mrs. Ruthers."

"Hi, Dave. I know we haven't really been formally introduced. Please just
call me Emma. Anyways, I just wanted you to know that I'm glad Will has a
friend like you, who came all the way here from D.C. to see him."

"I just wanted to make sure he was ok. He's one of my best friends."

"I'm glad. Now, I would love to stay here with Will, but his father and I
must go. It seems there is another emergency in our family. Could you stay
here with him?"

"Of course!" Don't sound to excited there.

"Thank you." Will's dad came down, we all said goodbye, and they left. I
went back up to Will's room.

He was talking with Jeff when I got in. "Hi guys."

"Hey Dave. I was just talking to Jeff about us. Seems like you had a little
chat last night?"

"Will, I'm sorry. But I just had to explain!"

"Dave, it's ok. I'm not mad at you or anything. So, my parents left?"

"Yah, they said they got a call. Family emergency."

Jeff said, "Oh that's right. Our grandfather is sick. He has cancer, and the
doctors don't think that he will last more than a month."

"I'm sorry about that."

"It's ok. So Dave, I was just thinking, you've been here almost 8 hours. Do
your parents know that you are here?"

OH SHIT! My parents must be freaking out by now. I can't believe I forgot to
call them. They're going to kill me. "Shit, I'll be back. I'm just going to
go call them really quickly." I ran outside and tried to find the nearest
payphone. "Hi, mom? It's me Dave."

"David, where have you been? The cell phone? Why isn't it on? We've been
worried sick. Are you at the hospital? Which hospital?"

"Mom, I'm really sorry. I'm in Baltimore. My friend was in a really bad
accident. You know, the one that came over last night? I'm sorry I sort of
rushed out of the house last night without really telling you where I was
going." Jeff found me, and saw the expression my face. I could tell in my
mom's voice that she was angry as hell. Jeff then told me to give him the
phone, and I did.

"Hi. Mrs. Cordais? This is Jeff...yah, Sofia's boyfriend. I'm Will's brother
too..."

I sort of walked away while Jeff talked to my mother. I could hear her loud
voice from a distance. I was so relieved when Jeff took the phone. But I was
sorry that Jeff also had to talk to her when she was in that state.
Eventually, he handed the phone over to me.

"Mom?"

"Well, I'm still mad at you. But I know I shouldn't. Just try and come home
soon, ok. And don't forget to call if you're going to be there for a while."

"Ok mom." I hung up the phone. "Thank you so much Jeff. What did you say to
her?"

"I just worked my charm. Just kidding. I told her the truth, well, most of
it at least. I left a few details out of the whole thing."

"Well, whatever you said, she wasn't nearly as mad when she was first
talking to me." We walked back into the room. We just stayed there, talking,
and watching TV. Jeff went out to get us some food for lunch. Unfortunately
for Will, he had to eat the hospital food. I pretty much just sat there with
him. But, in the middle of our conversation, I noticed he was looking a
little weird. "What's the problem?"

He blushed a bit. "Um, this is really embarrassing, but I need to go to the
bathroom."

"So then why don't you go?" He gave me an evil look. "Oh, sorry. I forgot.
How are you supposed to go the bathroom then?" He handed me something that
looked like a water bottle. "What's this supposed to be?"

"Um, that's my toilet. Look, I just need some help, you know, with the
equipment I guess?"

"You sure you don't want to wait for Jeff or somebody?"

"Please no. I'm not really comfortable being naked around Jeff, less him
helping me pee."

"So what do you need me to do?"

"Just sort of lift of the hospital gown I guess. Don't get any ideas now."

"I don't know Will. I'm not really comfortable with this." And I wasn't.
This would be the first time I would see him naked, well, at least, the
bottom half of him naked.

"I understand. But I still really need to pee."

"Ok, I'll sort of hold it while you pee in it. You better make sure you get
it in. I don't want piss all over my hand." So I took the bottle thing. I
just sort of reached in under the gown, and hopefully his dick would just
happen to be able to pee into the bottle.

Will looked really uncomfortable too. "Wait, a little up. No, down a bit.
Ok, hold it."

I just couldn't help but laugh. It sounded so funny the way we were doing
this.

"Stop laughing! You'll make me laugh." It was too late. He burst out
laughing too. "C'mon, we don't stop laughing, you'll make me miss the
bottle. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"Hehe. No." It was kind of weird, the whole thing. I really didn't touch any
part of him. At the same time, I didn't want to. But for some odd reason, I
also didn't mind helping him out. I would really do anything for him.

"Ok. I'm done. Make sure you don't spill it too! I don't want to be lying in
a puddle of my own urine." Just then, Jeff barged into the room.

"Whoa! I leave you two alone for 15 minutes and you just go at it, don't
you? Please stop for my sake."

"Shut up Jeff. I needed to go to the bathroom. It's kind of hard when your
arm is broken. Dave was just being nice and helping me out."

"I'm sure he was `helping you out'."

"Shut up Jeff!" We both shouted. We also started to blush crazily. I put the
bottle in the bathroom, washed my hands, and came back. Jeff had snuck in
the food in his backpack. We ate some burgers while Will was stuck eating
some bad hospital food. After a few hours, it got dark. Jeff said he needed
to go home to check up on his parents. "Dave, can you stay with me? Just
tonight."

"Yah. Sure. I don't know what the nurses will say though." They had come
around a few minutes ago telling me that visiting hours would be over soon.

Jeff said, "I'll take care of it. I'll call your house too and tell them
you're staying here."

"Ok, bye Jeff."

And he left the room. It was just Will and I, in his hospital room. I
dragged two chairs next to his bed; I guess those two chairs would be my bed
tonight. I didn't mind though. We stayed up, talking about things like our
plans for Christmas and stuff. I could talk to him for hours. The soothing
sound of his voice and the way his lips moved just killed me.  He fell
asleep eventually. I'm sure you've heard that when a person is sleeping,
they look the most rested and peaceful at that time. And Will was no
exception. Even after being in the accident, it seemed that he was sleeping
pretty peacefully. I sort of just sat in my chair, resting my head on his
bed, studying him. I saw the way his chest slowly rose and fell as he
breathed; the way he smiled even when he was asleep; the way that his mouth
slightly twitched every time I stroked his hand and the way he let out deep
breaths as I ran my other hand through his hair. Then, I thought about
earlier in the day when I helped him out with the bottle. I never actually
touched him down there. But now, while he was asleep, I had the chance to. I
could just reach down into his gown, but I thought `no, not here, and
definitely not like this. When we get there, I want it to be even more
special than this.' So, I just took his hand into mine, and we stayed like
that the whole night. I just fell asleep looking at his angelic expression.
--------------------
Endnote: Ok, hopefully this chapter turned out the way I wanted it to. I
couldn't exactly perfectly express some of the things I wanted to, but
hopefully you guys interpret it the way I want you too. Thanks again for
reading this. I still want to hear comments, critiques, and ideas. E-mail me
at Streyn@hotmail.com
Thanks!