Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 09:30:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Zare Scott <raspucin70@yahoo.com>
Subject: Rip Tide, chapters 3 & 4

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction.  It depicts a romance
between two consenting adult males and may contain some descriptions of
sexual act between two consenting adult males.  If you are not of legal
age to read
this kind of story, please leave now.  If you reside in area where
reading
stories that include sexual situations between two consenting adult males
are illegal, please leave now.  This story is for entertainment purposes
only.  Any similarity to any person(s) living or dead is simply a
coincidence.  The author retains all rights to this story.  It cannot be
reproduced in any form without expressed written permission from the
author (me).  Please contact the author for any requests
aspucin70@yahoo.com.  Copyright 2006

RIP TIDE
Chapter Three and Four: Meet Matt
(From Matt's point of view)

  "Matty, hurry up " I heard my mom calling me. I shuffled my feet trying
my best to deliberately annoy her. My dad was already standing outside on
the cabin porch, making final adjustments on the camera and stand. I must
admit I kind of liked the idea of this photograph. It is going to
probably be the one that all of us will remember for a long time. I felt
a sting of sadness, and I knew why; tomorrow I will be on my way to
college, 300 miles away from here and 1000 miles away from home. My
parents wanted to follow me all the way to the school but I objected. How
embarrassing would it be to have your parents escort you to your dorm?
Yeah, I know that a lot of kids do that but to me it's not cool. After
weeks of arguing, they finally got this idea to follow me to Tennessee,
where they had a time-share cabin. That was ok with me; I was not sure
that my car would make it all right for the whole trip. I had our family
mechanic go over it and change the oil, but it was still an old car and I
felt much more secure having dad's truck as a back-up
vehicle.

Mom grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me on the porch. I faked a
bored-out of my mind face into the camera, which prompted my dad to give
me a phony stern look. "Young man, you better shape up or I will send you
to military school instead. Look happy, damn-it " He was bad at faking
harsh demands, which made me giggle. He set the camera, hurried around to
take his place next to mom and me, and than he placed his hand on my
shoulder hugging me along with my mom. Several seconds later, the camera
buzzed and took the shot.

    I was glad that we did this. My parents never go out on vacations,
let alone all of us together. This was a good chance for them to
incorporate a mini-vacation with my road trip across the four states.
They didn't agree at all with my school choice, being across the world
from home and all.
Ok, it was NOT across the world, but this was further than I have ever
been away from the place where I had grown up.  You are not in Kansas
anymore, Toto, I thought to myself.

  The next morning, after tearful good-byes all around, I started
descending on the curvy mountain road towards town, where I jumped on the
highway that would lead me through Savannah toward my college town. It
started to rain, but I didn't care. I was looking forward to this trip. I
had my maps; some food and coffee; I was
listening to some good tunes on my stereo; and I was on my way to
college! How great life can be!

Droning on the highway my mind started to wander off. I have been away
from home before but not like this. Of course I was nervous, I knew THAT.
It doesn't take a degree in psychology to figure that one out. But it was
more than that; a new school is one thing, but this is a whole new life,
a life alone, that is. Suddenly it hit me. Alone. I felt a wave of
anxiety surge through my body. All of the sudden, I was feeling totally
lost, scared, uneasy, and worst of all, lonely.

Can I do this? Can I really do this?

I had to laugh at myself. Is little Matthew scared to leave his mommy's
side all of the sudden?
The same Matthew who DEMANDED to drive alone to the college that HE
picked out himself? While at the time it seemed like good idea, I now
thought to myself, this IS a big deal for me.
There is a reason, probably a million of them, to be worried.  But I also
know I would be fine, after all, I am not the only one doing this. It is
not like I am some lonesome pioneer braving through uncharted
territories. Stop being silly, Matthew. You'll do fine.  I kept saying to
myself.

  I arrived to my college town later that day. It took me a while to
orient myself and find the campus. Then I had to go through the usual
procedures to get all the paperwork done, find my dorm room and finally
get settled in. I shared my room with Steven, a skinny guy from Iowa.
Steven was a computer nerd and his half of the room was crowded with a
desktop AND a laptop, a printer and various pieces of computer equipment.
We talked a bit, but obviously we did not have too much in common. After
I was done unpacking, I headed outside to see the campus.

  It was a very nice afternoon. It still hadn't got too cold, but fall
was definitively here. I enjoyed my little walk, soaking up the evening
sun and crisp air, settling in this quiet town's atmosphere. I began to
feel hunger; no wander, last time I had a decent meal was breakfast this
morning with my parents. During the trip I snacked, but that is hardly a
meal, let alone healthy.

  I stopped at some Cuban restaurant to grab a sandwich and coffee. I
decided to take them outside and sit on the bench in front of the
restaurant. I enjoyed the moment for a bit looking at the slow traffic,
and then I dug into my sandwich. I barely made it through my first bite
when I saw a guy walking on the other side of the street. I cannot place
what exactly brought my attention to him. He was simply walking down the
street with his headphones on and backpack over the shoulder, nothing
special about it.
Ok, I admit, he was a piece of eye candy, tall and very well built. You
could see that he had wide shoulders and all the right muscles in all the
right places without being bulky. His pecs were filling his shirt very
nicely with rounded shoulders and nice biceps. He had short dark hair and
a dark tan giving him that Italian look. His high cheekbones rounded
out his facial features in a very manly way.
But it was more than just his build and looks. It was the way he walked
and it was familiar to me for some reason. It was like watching a well
muscled animal, confident in itself, going on a hunt. "He looks like a
panther would look," I thought to myself, "Beautiful and dangerous at the
same time."

I realized that I was actually starring at this guy, while I sat there
with my sandwich half way to my mouth. I took another bite not even
noticing the taste. I continued to watch him as he passed my view and I
could only see him from behind until he turned the corner. I took a sip
of the coffee, still holding his image in my head.

This guy was hot. That was the only way I could describe him, plain and
simple. He was in his twenties, maybe even went to my college. That was a
good possibility. That means I will most probably see him again. My
college wasn't very large, I am sure that if he goes there, I will bump
into him eventually. I tried to get back to my sandwich, but I just
couldn't get this guy out of my head and the way he was moving down the
sidewalk. Then it dawned on me; once I meet one of my dad's friends who
is into martial arts of some kind, he was a black belt or something
similar. This guy was moving in exactly the same way my dad's friend
moved. Same fluidity, same gracious motion. The only thing different was
that my dad's friend did not ooze sexuality like this guy. He did not
have that Italian look to him. Sexy? No, not just sexy. More like
smoldering hot.

  If you haven't figured out by now, I am gay. Twenty years old and
totally uninterested in the opposite sex. I knew I was gay for a long
time. I discovered it when I was in Junior High. My counselor tried to
convince me that "exploring" (what a euphemism) is normal, and that by
the time I finished puberty I should be "normal" (his words); that did
not happened. The only thing that did happened was that by then I was
sure that I was gay.

The biggest stress I had was coming out to my parents. Being an only
child, I guess it was especially hard on them to accept my sexuality. My
dad was shocked. His son, his pride and joy, someone to teach how to
throw a football and talk about girls took a different path. I knew that
was a huge disappointment to him. I know that more than everything he
wanted a "normal" life for me and he knew that by accepting to be what I
truly am I would never be as accepted as somebody who is straight. It did
not affect our relationship other than that - I know that he still loves
me unconditionally, no matter what. I am totally disconnected from all
typical guy stuff, football, beer in a pub, ogling over girls - my dad
was left alone on that. And don't even give me any tools - the garage is
a foreign planet to me. On the other hand, I was quite good at track and
field but I never got interested to be competitive. I am good at drawing
- charcoal is my favorite medium. So I do have SOME positives traits. In
addition to that, I love to do stuff outside, like biking and hiking. Dad
and I found our connection there. I was fortunate that he was willing to
explore other things like camping and hiking so we still had father-son
time together. The only thing is I could never bring myself to talk to
him about my love life (or the absence of it). Something like that was
always mom's department. Luckily, she was even more supportive than my
dad so I guess I lucked out in parent department.

  The only thing that I never had any luck with was to actually find
someone to call my own. Growing up in small town in Kansas, you can only
imagine what kind of prospective was there for a young kid like me to
find a soul mate. There was no gay "community" there. I am sure there
were other people like me, but I just never had the luck to find one.
Truth be told, I was scared to look. That was the main reason why I am
still a virgin. I was very frustrated over that fact, but after one all
night talk with my mother and a lot of shed tears, she gave me a very
good piece of advice, "Do not hurry with sex. It can do more damage than
good. Besides, I am sure that beautiful boy like you won't have any
problem finding love in this world."

I was very grateful for that advice. It stopped me from making mistakes
and despite the frustration that I never had actually slept with anybody
yet, I was not unhappy with that choice.

Besides, I was painfully shy. Crowded places with lots of people were
filling me with anxiety. I would rather go to the movies alone or with
Mary.  Mary was my neighbor, just couple years older than me, and she was
working in a local bookstore so we hang out sometimes. Yes, she knows
about me.

As for her comment about my personal appearance...I don't know. She IS my
mom, after all. At 6ft and with a decent build I guess I was average; I
did lot of outdoorsy stuff, so I was in pretty good shape: six-pack and
nice toned pecs, but nothing on the side of actual muscle-bound jock. I
do have deep-blue eyes, which I guess you could find attractive. Black
hair is my father's trait and I keep it neatly trimmed. I don't know,
somehow I do not categorize myself as "beautiful" or "hot".

  Morning of the second day came and I had a class at 9 am. First class
of my college career and a mandatory attendance I could not be late. But
as fate would have it, everything was going wrong  that morning. I set my
alarm clock for 7:30 but I did not realize that it was actually set for
7:30 pm. Of course, when I woke up, it was almost nine. I beat the world
record in showering and yet I was still late when I ran into the Science
building clutching in my hand a note where I had written the lecture room
number.
 112, where is 112?  I followed the numbers from 101 to 110 and that was
where the hall ended. Did I write wrong room number? Is this the right
building? Oh damn it, damn it, damn it. I started to run back towards the
exit when I passed something that looked like a sign. I looked up,
turning to run backwards at the same time. It was a big banner informing
all newbies that 112 lecture hall is actually an adjacent building, with
a separate entrance. At least someone had mercy on our poor souls. As I
turned around, my vision was blocked with something all of the sudden. I
tried to stop but it was too late. I slammed full force into a guy who
looked like he appeared out of nowhere. In a split second both of us were
on the floor.
  I tried to get up but the impact knocked the wind out of me. It felt
like I hit a cement wall. Finally, after what felt like minutes, I
managed to get on my feet and look around.

Oh shit.  It was that guy from across the street.

 With the light coming from behind me every detail on his face was
clearly visible. Dark hair, high cheekbones, tanned cheeks. A strong jaw
line with beautiful firm lips and the most beautiful dark eyes that I
have ever seen on a person. So dark that I could swear that they were
black.

And they were spitting fire directly at me.

 This guy was not moving at all and yet there was so much hostility
avalanching from him that I could almost feel it hitting me in the chest.
All of the sudden I felt weak, like someone had drained all the energy
out of me. I felt dizzy and I almost had to close my eyes to regain my
composure. My eyes focused on a portion of the floor that had all of my
notes, papers and books lying in a pile. Then I saw that this guy had his
fist tightly clenched.

 Oh shit, I am gonna get it. There was no doubt in my mind that this guy
was perfectly capable of annihilating me completely with just one
slam-dunk. I managed to look back up to him, to say something, anything,
just to try to get some kind of explanation for all this out of me...but
my lungs were still fighting for air.

 Then something happened. There was no visible change, it was more like a
force field being lifted. I cannot describe it. One second ago you could
cut the tension with knife and now it was simply gone. But the most
fascinated transformation happened in this guy's eyes. They were not
hostile anymore. They were still dark, but not black. Suddenly, they
become warm. Like "I-am-all-open-to-you" warm. It was amazing. Without a
single motion or word from him, he completely changed.

 Finally, I managed to stutter some lame, half-ass, apology as to why I
ran into him. He was looking at me for one long second more and than he
stopped me by lifting his hand, like he was trying to stop this flood of
incoherent words that were coming out my mouth.

"No, it's ok, really. You just caught me off balance, that's all."

His words shook me even more. His voice was deep, husky and definitively
masculine. The kind of voice that smokers have. His voice made my chest
vibrate even though he was talking very quietly. My legs quivered I
almost had to sit down.

WHAT A HELL IS GOING ON WITH ME ?

I concealed my shakiness by picking up my papers from the floor. He was
still next to me while I just could not, for the love of God, get grip on
my life. He was trying to talk to me, asking me something about my being
freshman. I was one short step away from turning into a blathering
idiot.  I had to get out of here. I HAD TO!
 I shuffled all my papers into one big pile and stumbled down the hall.
In my head stuff was getting more clear, but I just couldn't deal with
all this right now. My brain was trying to process too much information
at the same time, while I only had one picture in my head.

His eyes. His black, deep, fire-inside eyes.

 I managed to run into room 112 just in time to get in line with other
students who were picking up some handouts. Luckily roll has not being
called yet, so I collapsed in a seat and managed to regain a
semi-civilized appearance.

Jesus, what a mess. Just one hour ago, my life was so perfect and look at
it now. I propped myself to sit more straight up in my chair. The
professor would soon start to take the attendance and I figured that I
better pay attention. "Better than I was doing that this morning, when I
ran into Mr. Dangerous," I said to myself. Shivers ran up my spine when I
remembered his clenched fists. I honestly believed that he was half of a
second from beating my scrawny ass to a pulp. He definitively looked like
someone who you should not mess with.

But his eyes...how captivating they were. Now that I am recalling his
image the more enchanting they seem to me. And that voice...I
absentmindedly placed my hand on my chest, almost hoping to feel those
humming vibrations that I had when he was speaking to me. I could only
feel my heart beating against my hand. Holy cow, I think I am falling in
love with this guy who almost hit me. Something is wrong there.
Matthew, what is going on with you?

"Matthew?"

" Matthew? Mathew Hartwell? Is he here?"

I realized that that was the professor calling my name for the third
time.
"Here " I lifted my hand.
What an idiot I am. Stop with this daydreaming, damn-it.

The lecture was short, mainly a review of the syllabus and the usual
mandatory information. In less than half an hour, we were free to go. I
did not have another class until noon, so I decided to call my parents.

"Um, where is my cell phone?" I searched my clothes, my backpack, all my
pockets - no luck. I hurried back to the lecture hall, look around my
seat and in between the seat rows with the same result. Hesitantly, I
returned to the same place where I bumped into that guy. Nothing. The
hall was clean as a whistle.

 Shit.

I returned to my room and after almost an hour of tearing my side up
looking, I concluded that I lost my cell phone. Somehow, somewhere, it's
a goner. I tried to find it by calling myself from the room but I only
got my own voice mail.

Well this is just lovely. What a day. Worse of all, I do not have a phone
book. All the numbers that are important to me are in my phone. I called
my dad's cell, but couldn't get through. Up in the Tennessee mountains
there is little to no reception. I didn't know the hotel phone number
either. Shit.

I sighed and sat on my bed with my head buried in my hands. My mind was
racing and I couldn't get a hold of myself. I felt like I was on a roller
coaster, tumbling me left and right. This is really shaping up to be a
really crappy day. And it's not even 11 am yet.  I felt desperation and
weakness again so I flipped myself on my back in the bed. I need a minute
to regain my senses. Maybe an hour. Or a week. I sighed again. Ok, this
is not the start that I imagined but it is not the end of the world.. I
lost my cell phone, so what? I managed to get to my class on time,
barely, but I was still ok. Nothing wrong had happened, right?

Wrong.

Yeah, that's right - Mr. Dangerous, he happened. Or I happened to him,
which is more like it. Again, the image of his fiery eyes came to my
mind. I was not quite sure was I still terrified or attracted to those
eyes. Both perhaps? Like moth attracted to a flame.

I was lost in my thoughts when Steven walked in. I almost jumped out of
bed- why am I feeling like he caught me doing something wrong? Not like I
was jerking off or anything. Well, mentally maybe. Shit, I HAVE to get
this guy out of my head. This is going to mess me up completely if I
continue like this. Luckily I had Sociology class to go to at noon, so
that gave me the motivation to get going.

The rest of the day went uneventfully. After classes were done, I went
back to my room, had my dinner, and I spend the better part of the
evening writing emails. Unfortunately my parents did not have access to
the internet, so I was wondering how I was going to get in touch with
them. I couldn't remember the name of the hotel either.  I thought that I
would try to get in touch with my uncle tomorrow regarding that. I shut
off computer and went to bed.

The next morning, after my morning class, I decided to grab something to
eat at the campus cafeteria. I did not like the idea of a crowded space,
but I did not have much money, so I had to be careful with it.

  The cafeteria was a mad house; there were too many people and too
little
space. Everybody was talking, laughing, moving around. I got a sandwich
and small bottle of orange juice and realized that I couldn't possibly
eat here. I started to move towards the exit. Finally outside, I took a
deep breath and looked for nice quiet spot. Across the cafeteria was a
park with large trees that was looking just right for my stressed-out
mind. I scooted over there and sat underneath the tree with my back
against it. Yeah, this is much better. I unwrapped my sandwich and
started to eat.

 "Umm, Matt?" I heard someone call my name.

I absently nodded my head, trying to swallow my food. All of the sudden,
as I craned my head towards person who called me, I realized that there
is something sketchy here. Unfortunately, by the time my brain caught up
with those vague feelings, I already looked up.
My poor brain got overloaded again in that split second. Question, who
here knew my name and why does that voice sound familiar, and I
recognized the face. It all collided together in my brain. I choked on my
food.

There was Mr. Dangerous, standing with his hands in his jeans pocket,
with an expression on his face that it was hard to read. It was a strange
mixture of curiosity,
anxiety and perhaps nervousness.

I jumped on my feet, which prompted him to actually back off half a step.
But this time it was not a defensive reaction. It looked like I startled
him. We were standing about three feet apart looking again at each other.
Just when the situation started to be awkward he repeated my name but in
not same fashion as the first time. This time it sounded more like he was
looking for conformation.

"Matt?"

 He sounded like he was settling down. Like he found what he was looking
for or who he was looking for. I was still in mild shock over his
appearance. If he told me that a space ship landed and dropped him there,
I would have no trouble believing it.

"Um,...yeah...I'm Matt." I realized that I did not know what else to say.
My mind was washed from any capability to say anything meaningful.
Thankfully, before I turned into a blathering idiot, he stuck his hand
out and introduced himself to me.

"I'm Hayden"

 "Hi, Hay...den."

Why I'm I stuttering? I accepted his hand. He had a pleasant, firm
handshake. He actually had to come one step closer to me, so now we were
standing at a normal civilized distance for two adults to have
conversation.

 " How are you doing? I hope that you settled ok?"

 Ok, what is going on? He is pleasant, even more, friendly. Is this some
senior prank? I decided to be cautious.

"Thank you for asking, yes. I have to apologize for running into you
yesterday.  I do not have a habit of running into people."

"Aw, no problem. Actually, now that I think of it, I found it funny that
you knocked me over," he said as he flashed me a smile.

Oh my God. He had a toothy grin, which exposed almost all of his white
teeth. I do not know why I found that so hot, but it made him scorching
hot for that fraction of the second. Almost wolf-like. I had to look
away, somewhere else, anywhere but at him.
"Yeah...sorry."

For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence again. I wanted to say
something, something interesting, something funny, witty, anything to
keep this stud in my presence.

"Umm...so.. are you freshmen too?" I managed to say a complete sentence.

This may work as long as I don't have to look at him directly. So much
for my social skills. This guy is going to find out what an idiot he has
standing in front of him and run away to his friends to collect his bet
or to his girlfriend who made him do this as part of some weird project.

"Nah, I am sophomore. Been here for a while. Where are you staying?"

 Now that was an odd question. Even I knew that. People do not usually
ask you something personal like that thirty seconds after they introduced
themselves. I doubled my defenses.

"On campus."

 I figured that was safe enough, not telling him a room number or
anything really important. Besides, I couldn't grasp the concept why he
was asking me that. But I underestimated him. He caught on my distrustful
feeling immediately.

 "Oh, I am sorry man, I did not mean to prowl. It's just that your mom
said that you didn't have place to stay and..."

 I looked at him in total disbelief. How on Earth...?

He instantly caught my expression and immediately stopped to reached into
his pocket, giving me my cell phone.

 "...um, I found it in front of the Chem lab...it looks just like mine,
so I picked it up. Didn't even realized that it was not mine until today
and then your mom called all worried about you."

I was so relieved.  Hey, if you are like me, half of your life is in your
laptop and the other half is in your cell phone. My first impulse was to
hug him. No, I cannot do that. Be cool, Matt. You know what is going to
happen next, do you. He is going to be pleasant for another two minutes
and leave. Forever. You will see him on campus, maybe he will nod his
head and that would be it. I managed to put on a happy face.

"Thank you sooo much, Hayden!  You do not know how important my cell is
to me. I wish that there is something I can do to repay this..."

Ha, nice played, Matt Good way to ask him for...anything. Quickly, think
of something. Wash his car. Clean his house. Be his slave for a day.
Anything.

 "No need, man. I'm all set, thank you. I wanted to be sure that it was
yours.  I'm glad that we got that sorted out. Now can you do me a favor?"

"Sure...anything" And I meant ANYTHING

 "Can you please call your mom and tell her that you are ok? She sounded
really concerned this morning. Ok?"

 "Oh, that. Sure. Yes. Yes, I will call my parents." Oh well, I tried,
didn't I? I still managed to keep my happy face. "Definitively, man.
Thanks again. "

"Cool...well, I guess I'll be off now. See you later, Matt," he said,
looking me straight into the eyes, tilting his head just a little bit,
with a trace of smile.

 "Umm...a...ok" I stammered, realizing that this was it. Even though I
tried to play my game well, he was still leaving. He is clearly not
interested in me and what the hell I was expecting. Get a grip, Matt, and
try to act civilized. I managed to put a faded smile on my face, looking
at him, trying to memorize every detail on him. He nodded his head and
walked away. I lustfully gazed after him realizing that this was probably
the only time I had a chance to speak to him. In my hand, still warm from
his body, was my cell phone. I thumbed against its silky surface almost
being jealous of my cell phone for being so close to his body. I sighed
from the depth of my being and leaned against the tree. I needed
something to lean on.

No. I needed SOMEONE to lean on.

Hayden. I needed to lean on Hayden.


End of chapters 3 and 4

Finally, a decent end to a chapter. I decided to combine 3 and 4 so it
will come to meaningful finish. I do owe you guys an apology: I did not
sort out necessary details the way I should. Hayden and Matt are in
undergraduate school, not a grad school as I mentioned before. Also I
made remark about how Matt's mom thinks that he doesn't have place to
stay, while it is clear that he has dorm room on campus. I'll try to fix
that in next chapter.
Also, MANY thanx to a GM, who went to great deal of frustration to
actually edit the whole thing, and point some of my mistakes.
Take care,
HF