Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:23:05 EST
From: Heavensforlife@aol.com
Subject: They Say- Chapter 19

Chapter 19
**Standard Disclaimer. Contains depictions of gay sex**


	They say that the plans men make often go wrong, not because of
anything we could have done, but because we are all victims of
circumstance. They say, that the best laid plans are the precise plans that
get us all in trouble.


	Zach- So I stayed over at Tag's apartment the next night. And the
night after that. And then the night after that. And I didn't have class
that day so I spent the whole the day there. It was almost as if he didn't
want me to leave for some reason. We spent all the time we could together,
sexing, and if not that, then having beautifully deep conversations.
	I know, I know, who does that with the whole conversation thing
when you're dating a freaking Navy god, but he was intensely smart, not a
jarhead at all.
	So when Wednesday rolled around and I was just lounging around in
Tag's apartment while he was in the shower, my phone rang.
	"Damn, dude, Jesse and I were started to think you'd moved out," I
heard Charles say from the other line.
	"Hey, Charles," I replied. "I was meaning to call you guys."
	"No harm done. I was just making sure you were ok. We don't want
you're soldier to whisk you off to North Korea or anything."
	"I'm sure there isn't gonna be any whisking," I replied.
	"Well, listen," he said briefly. "I was just making sure you were
alive. Try to come home sometime, the place is still here you know."
	It was great gesture. I could see how easily Jesse and Charles
would get worried, especially after the whole Chris thing, but I could
honestly say I was doing fine. Just as I was hanging up, Tag came out of
the bathroom rapped in his towel, still a little damp from the shower.
	"Who was that?"
	"My roommate," I replied. He lowered his body over mine. His skin
was still wet and clammy and felt a little weird when I rapped my arm
around him.
	"What did he want," he asked moving in closer.
	"My body," I said.
	"Well its mine," he said playfully grabbing for my dick. I
resisted. He started tickling me and I squealed like a five year old.
	"Say its mine," he said, tickling me hard. I was curled up in a
fetal ball, laughing my ass off and screaming. "Say it," he persisted.
	"Its yours," I said, gasping for breath, but he still didn't stop
his assault.
	"What's mine?"
	"My body, you jerk," I said. He let up. We collapsed against each
other.
	"You feel like clams," I said after a few moments of silence.
	"Damn," he replied. "You sure know how to break the mood."
	"Sorry," I said. "Maybe if you'd spring for a couple candles, it'd
be easier to stay in character."
	We were quiet for a few more moments, not moving or talking, just
feeling each other breath. Finally, Tag broke the silence by saying, "I'm
leaving this weekend."
	I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I sat up straight.
	"I'm the one that kills the mood?" I said sarcastically. I looked
directly at him. "What the fuck do you mean you're leaving this weekend?"
	"I didn't want to tell you how soon my leave would be over because
I didn't want us to have a one-night thing."
	"So you opted for a one-week thing? Let me count my losses."
	"I know you're upset."
	"I'm not upset," I lied lying back down. I didn't want to be
upset. It wasn't his fault he had to be stationed or diploid or whatever
soldiers did. I wasn't upset with him at least. I had to admit, rather
quickly, that I was more upset with myself for once again letting my guard
down when I knew I shouldn't. "I should really go," I said softly,
gathering my things. He got up to stop me but I told him not to bother. I
told him I'd call or something and he pleaded that we meet before he left
on Saturday, in three days.
	I told him I would, but I knew that the chances of me doing it, and
letting my vulnerability show, were slim.

	Jesse- I didn't have any classes on Wednesday so I took that
advantage to finish packing so I could move all of my stuff to Brooklyn's
on Saturday.
	I was dressed in my usual no-school attire of sweats and
wife-beater when Charles came in with a good-looking tall athletic guy.
	I got up to give them privacy when Charles said, "Don't worry about
it. This is Shane and he's gonna be moving in this weekend."
	I was a little taken aback that he'd found a roommate so quickly,
but what could I say.
	"This is the place Shane," I said. "A lot better than Emerson Hall,
huh?"
	"Yeah," Shane replied in a deep southern drawl. "I wish I would
have gotten this bid at the beginning of the year."
	"Yeah," Charles replied. He sat down at the edge of the bed and
looked up at the 6-foot Adonis. "Thank Jesse for moving in with Brooklyn."
	"I appreciate the offer," he said to Charles and I both.
	I decided to cut in. "How'd you get rid of the room so fast?"
	"Well," Chares explained. "I was working out at the gym and Shane
had been to. Somehow, we ended up relaxing in the hot tub together after
our workouts and we got to talking. I mentioned you leaving and the space
being open and he jumped on it. He's staying in one of those mass-freshman
dorms with no privacy and comfort."
	"Yeah," Shane chimed in. "Talk about an upgrade." The guys voice
was enchanting. It was deep and sexy, southern and slow. "This is place is
gorgeous," he slurred.
	"Well you said you wanted to try out the bed," Charles commented a
second later. "I know this one's mine, but they're both the same." Charles
scooted over to the corner and motioned for Shane to sit down next to
him. Even with all the space Charles left him, Shane sat as close as he
could to Charles. I wasn't the least bit surprised, just mildly amused.
	Charles whispered something into Shane's ear and Shane laughed
softly, then turned to look at me, still closing my boxes, and then back at
Charles. I watched them out of the corner of my eye, half expecting them to
dive into a full on make out session, but they didn't. Instead, they sat
there and talked. They asked each other questions about the room, cleaning
habits, sleeping habits, sex habits, shower habits, all the good stuff.
	I learned that Shane was a light sleeper, a semi-impulsive
cleaner. He studied like none other to keep his academic scholarship, the
one he split with his tennis scholarship. He wasn't a private person and
didn't care too much about nudity or loud music or whatever normal
roommates squabbled about. Apparently he was pretty smart, a fact I wasn't
quite getting out of his one-dimensional responses.
	In true Charles fashion, the subject of sex came up and to my
surprise it appeared they hadn't done it yet.
	"Sex," Charles said out of nowhere, throwing the guy off a little
bit.
	"Umm, sure," he said, both of them laughing. "No really, what?" he
asked seriously.
	"Well, I mean with Jesse, they always did it at his boyfriend's
house," Charles explained. "Do you have any problems with me bringing
people over?"
	"Not at all," he said quickly. "But I would appreciate it if I
didn't fall into a wet spot on my bed." Again they laughed. It was verging
on annoying, they're valley-girl giggling over things that were hardly even
funny.
	"Alright then," Charles said at the end of their conversation. They
stood up, flirted a few more minutes and Shane left with the intention of
moving in on Sunday.
	As Shane was exiting, Charles went to the door and whispered just
loud enough for me to hear, "Sorry we couldn't christen the place today cuz
of my roommate. How about we try tomorrow?"
	"Sure," I heard Shane reply. "I'll meet you at the gym. Working out
always gets me pumped." They laughed, I threw up in my mouth a little bit,
and the amazingly gorgeous airhead finally left the apartment.

	Charles- "Well he seems nice," I said casually, sitting down on my
bed and crossing my legs in triumph.
	Jesse didn't say anything. He kind of pouted a little, but
continued packing his things.
	"I told Shane you'd be fully out by Friday so he's gonna start
moving in Saturday morning. Is that ok?" I asked.
	"Sure," he replied barely audible. I could tell he was pissed off,
so I egged him on.
	"God," I said with my hands crossed behind my head. "I can't wait
for him to move in. He is hot isn't he?" I turned and looked at Jesse but
he didn't say anything. "I've heard stuff about him around the
gym. Apparently he was hand picked by the coaches to be the captain of the
diving team as a freshman. I heard they were gonna buy him a car when they
were recruiting him."
	"Great stuff," Jesse said mildly sarcastically. I pretended not to
hear the disdain in his voice.
	"Yeah, it is," I continued. "And I heard talk about his thingy. A
friend of mine said it was this big, soft." I held my hands out and in the
corner of my eye, saw Jesse look up to see how long I was describing it.
	"You're in college," he said, once again scornfully. "You can call
it a dick." I could clearly hear the annoyance in his voice now, so I
decided this was my moment.
	"Dude," I asked as innocently as possible. "Is something wrong?"
	"No," he said, too proud to admit anything was. "I'm just working,
that's all."
	I had almost had him, but decided that I needed to up the ante a
little bit before I gave up. I was gonna crack Jesse today if my life
depended on it. I wanted him to regret ever deciding to move in with
Brooklyn.
	I stood up and headed to my closet and started taking out
shirts. Jesse asked what I was doing.
	"I'm looking for something to wear after swim practice this
afternoon, in case Shane is there. I wanna look sexy." I held up a small
shirt that I knew fit me perfectly tight and asked Jesse what he thought.
	"You wanna know what I think?" he said raising his voice. "I think
you are dirty whore and I think that you and Shane deserve each other."
	I stared at him faux blankly, not revealing anything in my
face. Inside, I was roaring with laughter.
	"Where the hell did that come from?"
	"Let me tell you something, Charles," he said raising his voice
higher. "I don't need to hold anything back because come tonight, you and I
will no longer be roommates."
	"Be my guest Jesse," I replied. "Say what you wanna say." I was
cool and calm. He was making himself look like an idiot.
	"You are a jackass," he said. "You come in hear and you fuck my
boyfriend and you dangle all this shit over my head."
	"If this is about Brooklyn, then you may as well drop it."
	"Why?" he asked. His arms were raised.
	"Because, Jesse, it's not like you even give a shit about him. Or
wait; is it Matt you don't give a shit about? Which is it Jesse?"
	"I do not need to justify my actions to you."
	"Try justifying them to yourself." He turned beat red and I thought
he was about to jump in my face.
	"You aren't worth it," he said quietly. He turned and started
walking back to his side of the room.
	"Never call me a dirty whore, you hypocrite," I said. He stopped
short.
	"Go to hell," he whispered, not turning around.
	"I'm leaving," I said heading to the door. I stopped short and
decided this moment was as good as any to go straight for the jugular.
	"Before you move in with Brooklyn," I announced in a collected tone
of voice, "ask him who spends the night on the nights he says you can't."
Without waiting for a reaction, I walked out and headed down to the gym for
swim practice. The entire conversation went as exactly as planned.

	Denton- The week flew by. I hardly had any time to see Mitchell,
and I'm pretty sure Glass liked to keep it that way. He didn't budge when
it came to things like that. I was forced to sit at the opposite side of
the table when we had Tribe meals together. He made sure that he was
wherever I was during mandatory studying, abandoning his nude reading so
that he could keep an eye on me. When the littles were instructed to wash
all of the big's cars on Tuesday morning, Glass somehow managed to get me
excused.
	It all seemed pretty contrived, but what the hell was I supposed to
about it. One thing he couldn't stop though, was what I did during school
hours, when Mitchell and I stole seconds between classes to make out, talk,
quickly fuck, or whatever before it was time for our next class.
	We passed notes back and forth like little junior high girls,
detailing when we'd meet and what we'd do when we did. Friends we'd made
from our different classes that had nothing to do with the Tribe would
deliver them, the whole thing ending up pretty covert and 007.
	The thing that got me, though, was that I was creeping around. Sure
it made it exciting with Mitchell, but sometimes it got tiring. When I saw
him in the halls of the mansion, I had to keep walking and avoid eye
contact. Glass never brought up the subject, but if he decided to one day,
I would have to lie. It made me sick at night, it was too hard to swallow.
	Every time I got really tired of it and decided that I would lash
out and leave the tribe, Mitchell's words would reverberate in my ear:
"It's better to be in the Tribe hating life than not be in it at all."
	The more and more I stayed in the Tribe hating life, the more and
more I wanted to test that theory.

	Zach- I thought long and hard on the drive back to campus after Tag
had told me his news. I thought about calling him and enjoying the rest of
the week we had to together. I thought about not calling him and quitting
him cold turkey, not worrying about getting any more invested or
attached. I thought about how much of a jerk I was being. I thought about
how justified my attitude was.
	The truth is, it all boiled down to one thing. I didn't want to get
hurt, and I knew that if I continued to see him, by the time he left on
Saturday, it would hurt.
	The other truth is, whether I cut ties with him today or Saturday,
the hurt would still be the same.
	These realizations lead me to my new plan to get over Tag.
	When I got back to the apartment, I went straight to Jesse and
Charles' room to see if one them were home.
	I found Jesse lying down on his bed, his hands crossed behind his
head, thinking intently while staring the ceiling.
	"Having fun?" I asked sitting down on Charles bed facing him.
	"Tons," he replied not looking at me.
	"Everything alright?"
	"Yeah," he said. "I'm good. What's up?"
	"I need to ask you favor," I replied. "What are you doing this
Friday night?"
	"If you're asking me out the answers no." I laughed.
	"Don't flatter yourself," I said. Then I explained. "I want to
through a surprise party for Tag cuz he's being shipped off this
Saturday. I was just hoping you and Brooklyn would show up."
	"Sure thing," he said. Then he paused for a moment and thought
about it. "Yeah, sure thing."

	Charles- When I got to the pool, I made sure to find Shane as soon
as I was in the locker room. I spotted him and called him away from the
guys he was talking to while getting undressed for practice.
	"Thanks again, man," I said shaking his hand. "You were perfect."
	"No problem," he said. I reached in my back and pulled out the five
20 dollar bills I owed him for his excellent performance this
afternoon. "Let me know if you're roommate needs another show," he said.
	I turned to get dressed in my practice when I heard Shane call my
name.
	"Dude," he whispered, not wanting the other guys in the locker to
hear him. "I know that I was just supposed to be acting like I was
interested in the room and that you don't really need another roommate and
all, but ya'lls apartment is banging." He paused then continued. "I was
just wondering, you know, if I could have the space after Jesse leaves."
	I thought about it for a second. I hadn't even thought about giving
the room away for real. I mean, Zach didn't give Denton's spot away, and I
just assumed they'd assign someone next semester or something. But hearing
Shane ask for it, standing there in front of me all hot and sexy, I thought
what a good idea it would be.
	"Sure thing, man," I said and gave him a pat on the shoulder. The
space is yours if you want it. You heard Jesse, he's moving out this
weekend, so whenever you want."
	"Thanks man," Shane replied. "And don't worry, I'm a very grateful
roommate," he said with a wicked smile. He turned and went back to getting
dressed for practice.

	Jesse- As soon as Zach and I had gone through all the details of
the party, I called Brooklyn to let him know about it. He said he'd be
there. I told him I'd be over in about an hour with the rest of my
things. He said sure thing. Then, just for kicks, I called some guys from
around the campus and let them know about the party as well. I figured a
party would be more fun if more people showed up.
	Then I went into Zach's room and asked him for a favor.
	"Zach," I said. "I need you to do me a favor."
	"Sure," he replied.
	"Charles is a little upset with me about the moving out thing, and
I know he'll get over it, but I think it'd be better if you told him I
wasn't coming to the party on Friday, you know, in case he decides not to
come because I'm coming."
	"So you want me to tell him that you aren't gonna make it?"
	"Yeah, I mean, only if he asks or whatever."
	"Sure," he said with a slightly puzzled look on his face.
	"Thanks," I said. "See you on Friday."
	I went back to my room, picked up my final things and loaded them
into the back of my car. I went upstairs for a quick survey to make sure I
wasn't forgetting anything. I left my key on the dresser and left the
apartment for good.

	Charles- The first thing I noticed when I got home was that Jesse's
key was on the dresser and all of his stuff was finally gone.
	I was about to call Brooklyn and talk to him when Zach came in and
told me about a surprise party he was throwing for this guy. He mentioned
that Jesse didn't think he'd make it and I assumed he was going Matt's for
the weekend. I told him I'd be there and that I'd tell some of the guys
from the pool.
	I decided that if Jesse had in fact just moved into Brooklyn's that
now wouldn't be the most ideal time to call, so I let it go.
	Instead, I called Shane and some of the other guys from the pool
and told them about the banging party that would be going on this weekend.

	They say that we often don't realize it, but it's those plans we
think are foolproof, our best laid plans, that often explode in our
faces. They say that even when we pull out our most brilliant tactics,
nothing is a sure fire plan. Nothing.

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