Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 17:00:43 -0800 (PST) From: Thomas-Andre Bardwell Subject: The Courtship- Part 4 Sorry to start off this chapter like this, but I am a sexual person. There was a soft knock on my door. I was masturbating. "It's Tim." Oh the irony. "Just a second." I scrambled myself under my blankets. Luckily it was nearly 11:30 at night so that I could easily feign such early slumber. "Come in." Thank god, I left the door unlocked. Tim came in asking me about my work with the Theatre Dept Scene Shop. He had recently lost his job. God what bad luck, I thought to myself, to lose your job and your mate in the same week. "Well there are a few openings. Do you want me to put in a good word for you?" That question warranted me one of his bright, perky smiles that I've missed. "That'd be awesome." "Are you sure you can handle the work though?" I teased. "C'mon Tom. You work there." I gasped at the boy's witty response. "Wow. If you're trying to suck up so I can put in a great word for you, that's not the best route to go, mister." "I'm just playing." He said. I decided to get bold. "How are you feeling?" I hadn't seen him in a while. "Better." He said. He then forced a smile; I knew he wasn't that much better. But I didn't press. I woke up on Tuesday with Tim as usual only this time he wasn't near for the shower. I was slightly disappointed. "Hey. I got the job!" "Huh?" I grunted back. It's 8:30 for god's sake. "I'm working in the scene shop with you." Oh how wonderful, I thought to myself, now I get to see him bending over and sweating. ...Oh no. Now I get see him bending over and sweating. This may be too much for me. "When do you start?" "Today." "Oh." I responded. "What's your work shift?" "Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the morning." Thank god, only one day with him. "Cool. You want to head over to the theatre together?" He's so fucking sweet. Who was this girl that left him go? Is she crazy? He's hot. Hot. Nice. Hot. Humble. ...Did I mention hot? "So do you date?" He asked on the way over to the theatre. Random! Oh well, better not skirt the issue. "Yeah, but it's hard to find guys at Hiram. I'm picky." He snickered. "What's so funny?" I asked. "Just how easy that ended up being, you know? I've been trying to figure out for the longest how to get around to confirm that you were, you know, that way." How adorable. "What way, Tim? Picky?" I teased. "You know what I mean." He replied. "I thought people were just saying you were gay because they were assholes or whatever." "Nope. I'm actually gay." "That's cool." I wanted to lodge another smart-ass response at him but realized that he had just done something really brave. I needed to let the moment lie in the air. Work was arduous as usual. Every once and a while I looked over at Tim to see how he was handling things and he'd shoot an oh-god-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into look at me. Our supervisor can be a real shit head and pretty vague on what he wants done; It can be very frustrating. We decided to get lunch together after work. I'm really starting to like Tim for more than just his sexuality. He's a really funny, sweet guy. He's easy going and a really good listener. And he's like that with everybody. It is these qualities that I perceived and twisted; he's just an all around nice guy. We were perfectly fine eating lunch by ourselves until two shit heads decided to sit with us. Jake and Keith – two football players with big necks and shitty attitudes. They kept leaving me out of the conversation by talking over my head about fantasy football and shit. Whenever I tried to interject, I often felt emasculated because they had to explain to me shit that "regular guys" would know about. I wanted to slink away from the table and die. Tim kept trying to engage me though. Every so often he'd explain to me what something meant and thrown on at the end some joke about Jake or Keith. One time, he looked over at me, as I was probably blankly staring off into the cafeteria and winked at me. A goofy, blushing smirk probably formed on my face. He's so charming. I had to get off to class though so I excused myself. "Wait up, I walk with you." Tim shouted after me. He must have seen it on my face. "Don't let those fuckers get to you. They have little dicks anyway." "How do you know that?" I said nearly doubling over in laughter. "Well, I've seen them in the shower's and shit. Not that I was looking or nothing." I don't think I've laughed so hard a long time. I came back from class and nearly ran into Tim. He was carrying fishing gear. "On Tuesday night?" I said to him. "Why not? Besides I like being out on the lake at night. It's nice." He said staring off into his mind. I wish I were there. "Hey, take me with me you sometime." I said. "Oh yeah sure! You like fishing?" No not really, I thought to myself. My dad used to take me fishing a lot when I was younger. I hated it. I hate sitting on my ass staring at nature. I think it's dull. "Oh yea, my dad used to take me fishing a lot when I was younger. I loved it. I love sitting out watching nature. I think it's real peaceful." He almost looked as if he didn't buy it, so I added the following: "You have to take out with you sometime." I said rather nonchalantly. "Alright. Deal." "Are you serious?" I exclaimed. "Yeah." "Alright," I began to test. "Shake on it. Next time you go, you're taking me with you." ...His hands nearly swallowed mine; I was so turned on.