Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:58:28 -0700
From: tenniswiz12@msn.com
Subject: Three Roads: Chapter 22 - Sing Your Own Special Song (Part 2)

This story contains adult and sexual situations between males. If this is
not to your liking....well you know the drill.


Three Roads Chapter 22: Sing Your Own Special Song (Part 2)


"Eric, this is your mother!" She said angrily into the phone, "I..." she
paused.  She had suddenly lost her nerve and now her mind was spinning.  It
was possible that the movie she had found was not Eric's; Michael could have
planted it.  The reasonable side of Carol took over though, and she knew
that it belonged to her son.  Eric's mood swings, his behavior, it all made
sense now.   Her breath caught when she realized that she was still being
recorded on Eric's voice mail, "I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed
having you here this weekend and I will talk to you soon."  She hung up the
phone and sat down again at the kitchen table.  How did this happen?  How
did her son become gay?  Was it something she had done?  Had she been too
nurturing or not nurturing enough?  She thought about all the things she had
said over the past few months about gay people, none of which she considered
to be rude or horrible, but she thought about how someone gay, her son,
might take those comments and that's when the tears finally began to flow
from Carol's eyes.


"Richard, what are you doing?!" Bliss yelled, "Come back here!"  Richard
kept walking with steady purpose, his eyes locked in on the enemy before
him.  His view was suddenly obstructed by a rather tall woman and she stood
in front of his way, matching the determined look on Richard's face.

"What?!" Richard asked aggressively, already knowing what she would say.

"You need to go back to the booth and sit." Dr. Taylor said calmly.

"I can't do that."

"You're going to have to or I'll call security and have you removed for
causing a disturbance."

"Bullshit."

Dr. Taylor held up her cell phone, "Campus security is programmed into my
phone.  I walk alone to my car every Monday through Thursday night so I have
it in my phone in case I ever need it.  That's beside the point though, you
need to start walking back to the booth in the next three seconds or I will
call campus security."

Richard hesitated only for a moment, before walking back to the booth, but
he kept direct eye contact with Dr. Taylor who, to her own credit, never
broke eye contact with him either.

"Oh my God, Richie, what the hell were you thinking?" Bliss said.

"Somebody's got to do something.  They have no right."

"They have every right," Dr Taylor interrupted, "And I want it understood by
everyone hear now and for those who come to help out later, they have every
right to be out here and we will not disturb them or antagonize them or
disrupt their group in any way.  Is that understood?"

Everyone, except for Richard, nodded yes, "Richard, I need you to agree or
you'll have to leave."

"How can you take their side?  I don't get it."

"It's not about taking sides.  It's about letting people choose for
themselves.  That's the beauty of living in a free country, everyone gets to
choose how they express their beliefs, without it we wouldn't be able to
have this booth out here.  Venus, Serena, will you help me go get the rest
of the boxes?"

The two girls along with Dr. Taylor walked quickly to the Multi Cultural
Center to retrieve the boxes.  Once they were out of ear shot, Richard spoke
up again, "What the hell was she talking about living in a free country?
What does that have to do with those close minded assholes over there?"

"I kind of see her point." Cooper spoke up, "Don't get me wrong, I think
what they spew is bullshit, but they are allowed to spew that bullshit if
they want."

"They shouldn't be allowed to though, it's wrong.  Me wanting to sleep with
men doesn't affect them in any way.  If I want to marry Toby I should have
every right to.  Gays being allowed that right doesn't affect their way of
life.  Them being out here, saying all that shit that isn't even true does
affect me, it affects all of us.  They don't have to deal with the effects
of their actions, we do.  We're the ones who get jumped by insecure maniacs,
we're the ones who have to struggle to come out to the ones we love the
most, we deal with all of that and they get to go on with their lives."

Nobody said anything as Dr. Taylor and the girls had come back with the
boxes, "Is everyone ok now?" She asked, her voice full of tension.  Cooper
turned quickly realizing he hadn't seen Eric since Dr. Taylor had coaxed
Richard back to the booth.  Cooper found his friend sitting on a bench a few
feet away.  Cooper walked over to his friend and sat next to him.  Eric
looked like he was a million miles away, but otherwise he looked fine.

"They may be bible thumpers, but I'd do some of them in a heartbeat." Cooper
said.

Eric laughed, "You know you're for sure going to hell after that."

"I guess it's a good thing I don't believe in it then.  Are you ok?"

"Yeah.  I'm just wondering if this is what my life is going to be like from
here on out."

"Only if you allow it to be."

"It's not that simple."

"I know it just sounded like the smart thing to say." Cooper said bumping
his shoulder against his friend.

"Do you think Dr. Taylor was right to intervene?"

"Well yeah, Richard would have gotten his ass kicked by a bunch of
Christians.  How lame is that?"

"Seriously."

"She's an important person at this school.  If someone from the group she
was in charge of got into a fight that wouldn't be good for her.  I don't
think she had a choice."

"You're probably right." Eric looked over to see that Richard, Bliss, and
Dr. Taylor were each giving information about the club to different students
who all seemed to be smiling. It seemed to come so easy to them and he could
appreciate the skill with which they could all relate to the other people,
especially about something so personal.

"Are you ok?" Eric suddenly asked Cooper.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"The whole thing with Kevin, you haven't said much about it."

"I'm fine. It's not the easiest thing to talk about you know."

"I know.  Are you going to see him before he leaves?"

"I really don't know."  There was a pause where both boys were looking down
at the ground before Eric spoke again.

"Can I ask you a weird question?" Eric asked, a bit embarrassed.

"Shoot."

"You and Joey...did anything happen?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cooper said starting to laugh.

"Yesterday, he said something about working his magic and you just kind of
brushed it off.  I thought maybe...you know something had happened."

"Dude, no.  We're just friends.  Plus I would have told you if I hit that
shit or not." Cooper said firmly. Eric laughed, and then just as suddenly
changed the conversation, "Everything with Kevin, you'll figure it out." He
said confidently.

"As will you."  They looked at each other and both could feel the deep
understanding they seemed to have of each other.  The boys laughed nervously
because they were sure the other was thinking the same.

"You want to go see if we can help out?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah." They smiled at each other one more time before heading back to the
booth to help their fellow club members.



"President's Office, this is Tim, how can I help you?  Oh, hi Dr. Taylor.
That's today?!  No, I didn't, let me ask. Delta, where's Nancy?"

"She's out today, remember she had that meeting out of town, she won't be
back until he end of the week."

"Damn, I need to ask her something important."

"I don't know what to tell you."

Tim pouted and picked up the receiver.  He was about to take Dr. Taylor off
hold when a piece of paper caught his eye.  It was a schedule outlining when
all the administrative officials and deans would be on campus for the week.

"Delta, the President is in right?"

"Yes."

"Can I go ask him?"

Delta looked at the door as if she expected Nancy to come hurtling through
there at any moment, "You can do whatever you want, my name is Bennett and
I'm not in it.  In fact, I'm going to the bathroom so I can't be blamed for
anything."

Tim watched her leave and then quickly got out of his seat before he lost
his nerve.  There was a door just a few feet behind his desk and to the
right.  He went through it and marveled at what he saw.  The best way he
could of described it was a state of the art kitchen.  As he ran his hand
over the smooth oak that covered the kitchen, he realized he had never been
through this door before.  He found it slightly ridiculous that the kitchen
floor appeared to be made of marble, but it reminded him of something his
mom would do if she could afford it.  The kitchen was beautiful, but it also
looked like it had never been cooked in, sat in, and especially not eaten
in.  Tim took another glance and then walked out of the kitchen only to back
into Delta.

"Ah! Jesus!  What are you doing?! You scared me!" Tim said clutching his
chest, "I thought you were Nancy and that your second head was going to
burst out and swallow me whole."

"You shouldn't say those things in this office; anyone could walk in and
here you." Delta said, however her smile betrayed what she was really
thinking.

"Did you ask the President yet?"

"No, I've been in the kitchen.  Has anyone ever sat in there?"

"Just Nancy and the President."

"Figures."

"Go ask!  You still have Dr. Taylor on hold!" Tim looked at the phone on his
desk and saw a green light flashing urgently.

"Oh, right."  He went through the door that was to the left of his desk.  He
passed a fairly large room that seemed to be just as clean and pristine as
the kitchen.  He knew though, that many people had sat in here because this
was Carol's office, and anyone who wanted to meet with the President waited
here first.  He passed Carol's desk and stopped in front of another door
that had to be the President's actual office.  He knocked on the door
timidly and waited for a response, "Come in."

He could tell by the tone of the President's voice, that he hadn't expected
to be bothered any time soon, "Tim, welcome to the secret cave, is this your
first time back here?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I think it's ridiculous that a person has to go through all of that to get
back here, you'd think Area 51 lay just behind these doors."

"Yeah, no one should have to go through Nancy...I mean..."

The President laughed heartily, "Nancy is amazing at her job and I wouldn't
trade her for anybody, but sometimes people don't even know what's coming.
Anyway, how can I help you."

"Well, Mr. President..."

"Dr. Brown is fine."

"Dr?"

The president chuckled, "Yes, my doctorate is in education."

"Oh, uh, Dr. Brown, I wanted to know if it'd be ok for me to participate in
the Queer week activities today."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I thought with me working here..."

"It is absolutely ok," The President interrupted, "I came to this school
five years ago because I thought the diversity of this campus came second to
none.  A job, especially as a student assistant, should not stop you from
doing what you find to be important," Tim nodded his head in agreement.

"All that I ask," The President continued, "is that you do not use this
office to further your goals."

"Agreed, thank you Dr. Brown."

"You're welcome."


A few hours later, Tim arrived at the Queer Straight Alliance booth to be
greeted by Dr. Taylor.

"Tim, I'm glad you could make it, welcome."

"It's cool to be here.  Where are the guys?"

"They all left a while ago; they had class, but I think Richard said he
would try and come back.  Let me show you what we're doing at the booth."


Tim stood, anxiously awaiting for someone to come by.  So far all he'd been
able to get out was, "Would you like some..." before the student had already
brushed by him with either a look of disgust or some excuse of needing to be
somewhere else.  He looked straight ahead and saw the Campus Crusaders For
Christ across the quad sitting at their own table passing out what looked to
be flyers and information for their own club.

"Did they really have to do that today?"

"Huh?" Tim said blankly staring at the guy in front of them.

"Kinda sucks they did this today. I`m Jack."

Tim smiled.  The guy in front of him was cute, if not hot.  He wasn't very
tall, probably average height and weight, fairly dark skinned, but Tim
couldn't tell if he was Black or Mexican and seemed to have an affinity for
jean; he was wearing a jean jacket that matched the jean pants he was
wearing, and his backpack was made out of similar material.  Tim also
thought he talked with a slight but cute impediment because of the retainer
in his mouth.

"You know you're not supposed to wear the same color jean right?"

"Really?" Jack said looking down at his clothes with a worried expression.

"I was kidding, who even follows that kind of stuff?"

"Yeah, no one does." Jack said unconvincingly.

Tim continued to look Jack over, "Do you want some information on the
Sunnydale QSA and nearby queer friendly organizations?"

"Yeah, if it means I get to talk to you a little longer."

Tim blushed, but he smiled, "Here is a flyer about our meeting schedules and
some events that we have coming up." Tim picked up three flyers and handed
them to Jack with a smile.  The smile quickly turned into a look of
skepticism and he snatched the flyers back before Jack could grab them, "How
old are you?"

"18."

"Liar."

"I am!  If you think I'm a liar does that mean I can't have your phone
number?"

"Swear on your jean jacket that you're 18." Tim said seriously.

"Dude, this jacket cost like $200.  There's no way I'm swearing on it."

"Not only are you ridiculous for spending that much on a jean jacket, but
you're also a liar."

"Fine, I'm 18...I swear on the jacket." Jack said.  Tim waited a moment
longer before handing over the flyers to Jack.  Jack took them in his hand
and smiled, "Where do you hang out on campus?"

"Around...but mostly in the coffee shop over by the library."

"Maybe I'll see you around."

"Maybe. Thanks for stopping by the booth."

"No problem. You never told me what your name was."

"It's Tim."

"Tim...I'll remember it next time I see you."  Jack winked at Tim and then
walked away.

Tim watched Jack as he made his way through the crowds of people.  He was
walking uncommonly fast for a college student and Tim thought that whatever
Jack had to do must be of vital importance.  Coming from the same direction,
he saw Richard making his way back to the booth.

"Shit." He looked around the quad quickly for Dr. Taylor, one of the other
guys, or anybody else he might know so that he did not have to be at the
booth alone with Richard.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Richard looked around, "They took those signs down.  Earlier they had some
signs out there that said stuff like Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve."

"Oh, I guess they did then."

"Anything else interesting happen?"

"You mean before this very second?"

Richard looked around and saw nothing even remotely interesting going on,
"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing."

Richard smiled, "Oh yeah, you mean the two of us."

"Yes...just don't punch me in the face ok?" Tim said closing his eyes.

Richard laughed again, "Why would I punch you?"

"Because I used to be with Toby...aren't we supposed to hate each other?"

"Probably, but we have to be around the same people, it's probably not a
good idea."

"And I don't want to hate you, you seem like a cool person." Tim said
sincerely.

"And I don't want to hate you either, there's not a reason too."

"I agree."

"And besides," Richard paused for effect, "I'm the one who has Toby."



"Is that everything?" Dr. Taylor asked an hour later as they locked all of
their materials in one of the cabinets in the Multi-Cultural Center.

"I think so." Richard said.

"Good.  Thank you so much for your help today Richard, I really appreciate
it."

"No problem.  Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Earlier you said that the Christian group had every right to be out there.
Did you really mean that?"

"I did."

"Ok." Richard said as he turned to walk away.

"Look, I admit that I was speaking more as a member of the school's staff
than the way Jill Taylor the person would have handled it."

"But don't you feel you're selling out by letting them do that then?"

"Not at all.  I'm an out and proud lesbian woman, I don't think that is
selling out and I've done more than you will ever know for gay rights, I had
to fight hard to get the QSA any funding from the university."

"I'm sorry, it's just so frustrating that people can think something so
wrong."

"I know.  But you'll see it a lot in college and about far less
controversial things than gay rights.  You can show someone proof that what
they believe is statistically or logically incorrect and yet many will still
choose to believe it cause it's all they know.  The hardest part is that we
all do it, in some way and in some parts of our lives we all do it.  My
partner tells me that all the time about my belief in God.  She says look at
the world and all the sickness and death and destruction and tell me there's
a God.  For her it's proof that God doesn't exist.  And I ask God all the
time why some of these things happen, but...well I guess I see it differently.
A lot of people think that's foolish, but I think a lot of those people are
foolish themselves so it all evens out.  I know it seems lonely a lot of the
times, and it will continue to be a hard hard road, but it`s why I started
the group so that we don`t have to be alone."

Richard simply nodded, "Any other questions?" Dr. Taylor smiled.

"No, that's it.  Thanks."

"You're welcome."


Richard walked into his room and he couldn't help but smile when he saw Toby
lying asleep on their bed.  He climbed into bed with him as quietly as he
could, trying not to disturb Toby, but Toby moved anyway, putting his arm
around Richard and allowing him to get close.

"Hi." Toby said sleepily, his eyes still closed.

"Hi," Richard said kissing his forehead, "I think we need to talk."

"We do, but it can wait.  Let's just lay here quietly.

"Ok."


In his own room, Eric realized that he had missed a voicemail on his cell
phone.  He waited patiently as the robotic voice told him he only had one
message.  He heard his mother begin to talk and she sounded scared or like
she had been crying.  Then she paused for a few moments before her tone
changed completely and she was thanking him for a good weekend.

"What the fuck?"  Eric was listening to the options the robotic voice was
listing to him so that he could replay the message, when out of the corner
of his eye, he saw his unpacked suitcase.

"Oh, no!"  He leaped off his bed and frantically threw his clothes out of
his suitcase as he desperately looked for the DVD Michael had given him.  He
knew it wasn't in there though, because he couldn't remember ever putting it
in the suitcase.

"She found it," he muttered to himself, "she knows."


Cooper wanted to get off campus, but he also needed to study so he decided
to combine the two and go to the Starbucks nearby and get some reading done
for his classes.  He had been reading intently for a few hours when he
looked at his watch and decided that if he wanted to still grab dinner on
campus he needed to leave soon.  He packed up his belongings and headed to
the line; he wanted another ice mocha for the road.  He stood in line
absent-mindedly scanning the menu when he saw a guy turn around and smile at
him; it was Kevin.  They made eye contact and Cooper could tell that Kevin's
smile was hopeful that he might smile back.  Instead, Cooper broke eye
contact and stared directly down at the floor.  Kevin turned around
disappointedly.  He knew it was what he deserved and he couldn't blame
Cooper for reacting that way, Kevin knew he had broken his heart.  The
worker took Kevin's order and it was ready a few moments later.  Cooper
involuntarily tensed when Kevin walked by him.  He turned around as Kevin
headed to the door.  Kevin leaned on the door and it opened.  Before Cooper
could stop himself he yelled Kevin's name, and he saw Kevin stop, unsure if
he had imagined what had just happened.  Cooper walked out of line and
walked outside to Kevin.

"I don't even know what to say." Cooper said.

"I don't either.  How are you?"

"I'm good."

"Um, I was gonna leave you a note or something, but since you're right
here...I'm leaving to study abroad in a week.  I'm going home for
Thanksgiving, visit with the family a bit, and then I won't be back until
next fall.  I know I have no right to ask, but I want us to hang out at
least once before I go.  I don't think things should be left how they are
between us."

Cooper nodded repeatedly, but no words would come out.  All he could muster
was, "Yeah."

"Ok, when are you free?" Kevin asked.

"I'm not sure, I'll have to get back to you."

"Alright.  You know where to find me.  I'll hopefully see you soon then."

"Yeah."

Kevin walked away with a smile on his face, though it was due more to relief
than happiness, he was glad that Cooper had talked to him.  Cooper, on the
other hand, wasn't sure how he felt.  It was easy to deal, or not deal, with
his feelings from Kevin when he wasn't there, but seeing him again left him
unable to think straight.  He walked back to campus, wondering the whole way
if he had done the right thing.



Thanks for reading Chapter 22!  As always any suggestions, comments,
constructive criticisms you have are greatly appreciated.  Send them to
tenniswiz12@msn.com