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Three Roads Chapter 52: Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Most students were willing to fore-go breakfast, especially on Friday mornings, but there were always two students who could be counted on to be the first in line for breakfast, even on Friday mornings, Joey and Brian. Joey looked at the potatoes, waffles, sausages and several pieces of bacon that were loaded on Brian's plate in disgust as Brian joined him at the table.

"I hate you."

"What did I do now?" Brian said knowing that this was only a temporary issue.

"You eat like a pig, and you're like negative seventy pounds. I hate you."

Brian looked down at himself as if parts of his body had disappeared, "What are you talking about? You say it as if you're a fat cow. Soon you'll be blaming me for you bring short."

Joey stuck up his middle finger, "So...have you talked to Richard lately?"

"Not really."

"Ooooh...still bad huh." Joey said with a hint of a smile.

"I don't know. Are things better with you and Chase?" Brian retorted.

"That isn't funny."

"Neither is my situation."

"I'll be honest," Joey started, "as selfish as it sounds, I'm kinda glad you and Richard are cooling whatever it is you guys had going on."

"Sounds like jealousy to me." Brian said getting a little defensive.

"Richard is pretty fuckin hot, but it was more like...I was worried about him taking you away from me. You know how people get. They finally get some dick and then they desert their friends."

"I wouldn't do that to you," Brian said sincerely, "Do you feel like Cooper has done that to you?"

Joey thought about it for a second, "Actually no. We don't hang out as much as I'd like to, but we talk about the same amount we did before Eric finally caved."

Brian laughed, "I think it's funny that the two of you make fun of each other even when the other isn't around to hear it."

"He deserves it, he's Asian."

Brian took a drink of his orange juice, "So have you figured out what you're going to do about Chase?"

"No."

"That's it?"

"What else should I say? Have you figured out what to do about Richard?"

"Yeah, actually. I'm just going to leave it alone. Whatever happens happens, but I'm not going to wait for him or anything. My life will continue."

"You know that if you had just been a little bit more upfront instead of all the vomit inducing flirting you might have gotten to suck his dick. At least once anyway."

"Is that all you think about?"

"No, I save space to remember to bash Cooper, but come on you wanted to suck Richard off."

Brian laughed uncomfortably and Joey smiled, "You haven't done that in a while."

"What?

"That little laugh."

"That's because I've gotten used to your vulgarity, but it occasionally catches me off guard."

"Whatever, I'm just saying if I had the chance to suck Richard off, I'd do it in a heartbeat and I'd to a complete job, and you probably would to."

"Let's talk about something else." Brian said waving his hand to make Joey be quiet.

"Ok, chicken."

**********

"You all packed?" Cooper said as he walked into Eric's room.

"Yep. Just doing a quick look to make sure I didn't forget anything."

"This is the first time we'll be apart."

"Since?"

"Since we got together." Cooper said punching Eric in the arm playfully. Eric rubbed his shoulder right where the punch landed, but Cooper didn't notice, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too, but I'll be back by mid day Sunday, that's probably all of my mother that I can take anyway."

"Shut up, you'll be glad to see her."

"I know she'll be glad to see me, she practically threatened me if I didn'tcome home this weekend."

"It has been a while since you've been home."

"It's only been like two months and I've talked to her a bunch of times." Eric said defensively.

"Well just enjoy it, you never know when something like what happened to my dad may happen to your mom."

"That's true...well, I'm outta here. I'll see you in a couple days."

"Ummmm..."

"What?"

"Don't I get a good bye kiss?"

"Mmmm...no."

"Asshole."

Eric laughed, "It'll make my return all the better for you."

"Fuck that, I want a kiss now."

"Well that's too bad."

Cooper began to walk toward Eric and Eric ran for it, laughing as he raced through the house trying to get to the door. Cooper was ready and right when Eric had his hand on the handle of the front door, Cooper threw himself on the floor and grabbed a hold of Eric's leg.

"I'm not letting you go until you kiss me!" He yelled in between giggles.

"I'll kick you in the face if I have to."

"It's a price I'm willing to pay to get a hold of those luscious lips."

"Fine, if you let go I'll kiss you."

"I don't believe you."

"Have I ever lied?"

"Yeah, all the times you said you didn't want me for my body."

Toby walked out of his room and saw Cooper on the floor, kicking his legs, while Eric looked down at him trying to wrench is leg free, "What are you guys doing?"

Eric looked surprised and embarrassed when he realized that Toby was watching them, but Cooper continued to hold on to Eric, "He thought he could get away from me without giving me a kiss."

"You look pathetic." Toby said.

"Fine, then you come over here and give me a kiss."

"Uh, no thanks."

"That's cool," Cooper said, ignoring the fact that Eric was now moving his foot with more intent, "just show me your ass. I can't believe I've yet to see it."

"Cooper!" Eric yelled.

"What?" Cooper tried to say innocently, "You could show me your ass and all would be good."

"Ok...you have three seconds to let go of my foot before there will be a permanent imprint of it on your face. One...two..."

Cooper continued to hold on to Eric's leg, but scrunched his face as if bracing for the blow that was about to come.

"Ok, fine," Eric scoffed, "Get up here so I can give you a kiss."

"Yay!!!" Cooper yelled, immediately letting go. Their lips met briefly, both aware of the fact that Toby was watching them, before Eric said his goodbyes to both of them.

As Cooper walked by Toby, he patted him on the shoulder, "There's nothing like acting immature to get what you want."

**********

"This is really good." Eric said as he twirled more spaghetti on his fork.

His mother smiled, but tried to be modest, "It's just spaghetti."

"Yeah, but they serve this at the cafeteria all the time and it doesn't taste anything like this."

"I guess mothers have a special touch."

Eric looked up and smiled, "I guess so."

"How's school?"

"Good, I really love my psych classes. The other classes are ok I guess."

"I liked psychology when I took a few classes many moons ago." His mother said smiling from the memory.

"I never knew you went to college."

"Only for like a year and then...yeah."

"You had me."

"Yep."

"You could have gone back."

"I guess I could have. But you were such a sickly child when you were little, I would have had to spend so much time missing classes anyway, it probably wouldn't have been worth it."

"Sorry."

Carol looked at her son harshly, "Don't be ridiculous. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Really?" Eric said very surprised.

"Yes," Carol said firmly, "Why do you always think the worst?"

Eric shrugged, "I just wouldn't think that having a kid at like nineteen would be the best thing."

"Things never really quite work out the way you think they will."

Eric smiled and appreciated the irony of that statement as he had been working up the courage all night to discuss something very serious with his mother that, just a few months ago, he never thought he would even want to bring up in her presence, "Hey I wanted to ask you something."

"Mmhmm?"

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but the doorbell stopped him from making progress, "I'll get it." Eric said happy for what he thought would be a temporary distraction.

"Are you done with your plate?"

"Yeah," Eric said glancing back as his mother took their plates into the kitchen.

Eric opened the door and saw two smiling faces in front of him that he hadn't seen in a long time, "Aunt Lily?" Eric said half out of disbelief because it had been years since he'd seen her and half because she looked absolutely horrible. Her hair looked like it hadn't been combed in days, it looked like all of her belongings were wrapped in plastic bags that you would get from the grocery store, and what was worse was that her six year old son didn't look to be in much better condition.

"Eric, wow, you have grown so big since the last time I saw you."

"Yeah, it's been like three years."

"Has it been that long?"

"It has."

"I almost forgot you." The little boy who's name was Jamie said.

Eric laughed, mostly because he didn't know what to say, "Oh, do you guys want to come in?"

"That would be lovely," Lily said, "We won't stay long, just a quick visit."

"Mommy, but..."

"Jamie be quiet."

Eric thought the exchange was very strange, especially because Eric seriously doubted that they had anywhere else to go.

"I'll be right back ok?" Eric said, not waiting for his aunt to answer as he headed towards the kitchen.

"Who was that at the door?" his mother said, hearing him entering the kitchen, "I thought I heard you talking."

"It's Aunt Lily and Jamie."

He saw his mother tense and she turned around to look at her son, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, they're in the living room."

His mother immediately turned off the water and grabbed the dish towel to dry her hands as she hurried into the living room. Eric waited a few moments before following her. She was on her knees hugging Jamie tightly, while her sister, Lily, watched with a vacant expression.

"You're hurting me." Jamie whined. Eric's mom held onto Jamie for a few seconds longer before turning him loose.

"If I didn't know any better," Lily said, "you're more happy to see him than you own sister."

"I've been worried sick about the both of you over the past three years, so yes I'm happy to see him because God only know what he's seen."

"We've had to move around, but my son always come first." Lily responded, "I didn't come here to fight."

"I'm sure you didn't."

"Can we talk privately?"

Carol looked at her sister without answering for what seemed like a long time before speaking, "We can go in the kitchen. Will you keep an eye on Jamie?"

"Sure." Eric said.

"You can leave if you want, I can watch myself. I even cook for myself." Jamie said after his mother and aunt had gone into the kitchen.

"How old are you?"

Jamie held up six fingers, "Really, I can. I cook for myself too, sometimes when mommy leaves me alone and forgets to make me dinner."

"I see, "Where have you guys been?"

"Everywhere, but mom says we are staying her for a while."

"Like here with my mom?"

Jamie nodded.

"I think you misunderstood."

Jamie shook his head vehemently, "Mommy, told me before we knocked on the door. But don't tell her I told you or she will be mad."

"Ok."

"Jamie!" Carol said as she exited the kitchen, "how would you like it if you and your mother stayed here for the night?"

"You were telling the truth!" Jamie said looking at his mother before answering, "that would be a lot of fun! Can I sleep with Eric?"

His mother and Lily both looked at him with blank expressions and Jamie had grabbed his hand and was shaking it, "Please, it would be fun!"

"Uhh..yeah...sure."

"Yay!!!!" Eric chuckled at the enthusiasm of the little kid, but also because of how similar he sounded to the way Cooper had just a few hours before.

"That's wonderful. Is it still fine for me to go take a shower?" Lily asked turning to her sister.

"Sure, there are towels in the bottom cabinet. Jamie, why don't you go get changed into your pajamas."

"Ok, can I change in your room?" Jamie asked looking at Eric.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Jamie shuffled through a few of the grocery bags and once he found what he was looking for he ran off to Eric's room. As soon as Jamie was out of eye sight, Eric looked at his mother and gave her an exasperated look.

She laughed, "I know I know, but I don't think this is going to be a permanent thing."

"You don't?" Eric said skeptically.

"No. She'll probably be here for a few days and then run off again and not be heard of for another couple of years. I worry about Jamie though, he shouldn't have to live like that away from family."

"We don't see anybody else in our family and we're ok."

"Yes, but we're sane...my sister..."

"She looks terrible." Eric finished for her.

Carol nodded, "Who knows what she's seen."

"Or done."

"Ok stop it. I don't even want that in my spirit."

Eric laughed, "Ok."

"I'm surprised you let them in the door."

"Should I have?"

"Of course, they're family."

"She looked...shitty...sorry but it's true."

"I know, but maybe a few days here will do them good."

"Or drive you crazy."

"Maybe," she smiled, "good thing I have you hear."

"How lucky you are." Eric said sarcastically.

"I should be in my room when Lily comes out."

"Why?"

"I love my sister, but I don't trust her and I don't want anything stolen."

"Good times." Eric said with a funny smile.

"Yeah. If Jamie annoys you too much make him sleep out here."

"Yeah, but I'll try and have patience, it'll be good practice if I ever have kids one day.

****A Day and a half later******

"Come in." Cooper said.

"Hey." Eric said.

"Hey, sit," Cooper said patting a spot on his bed, "when did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Eric said plopping down on the bed, "I have never been happier to be home."

"Your mom annoyed you that much?"

"No, it wasn't even her. My Aunt Lily and her son Jamie showed up for a visit that turned into all weekend. They are still there, they have nowhere else to go."

"And they were annoying?"

"Not my Aunt Lily so much, she's just a little creepy, but Jamie like wanted to be around me all the time." Eric huffed as he looked up at the ceiling.

Cooper smiled, "You're just mad cause you couldn't jack off in peace."

"That's actually true this time. I even tried to do it in the shower, which I hate, and he was knocking on the door saying he had to go to the bathroom."

"Why do you hate to do it in the shower?"

"I don't know," Eric shrugged, "something about standing up just takes the fun out of it. I prefer to do it on my back."

"Like how you are now?"

Eric smiled, "Yes."

There was a long awkward silence in which each boy waited for the other to speak, Eric broke the tension filled silence first, "but yeah, Jamie was so annoying."

Cooper cleared his throat, "I think it's cute that he wanted to be around you. Had it not been a while since you saw him?"

"Three years."

"Damn, I feel bad enough that I go the few months I do without seeing my cousins."

"What was also crazy was that my mom and I were talking and it made me think of how she had me when she was a bit younger than what I am now. I couldn't imagine what that'd be like, plus kids are so annoying, I'd kill myself."

"Don't say that. And you could do it if you had to."

"I guess."

"I want kids." Cooper said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, are you surprised?"

"Very," Eric laughed, "I would think you would think of them as snot nosed annoying things that sucked the money out of you."

"I do, but some of them are so damn cute, plus think about it, you have the ability to mold another human being. That's like a mind fuck right there."

"Or plenty of time to screw up a person so that all future relationships, both personal and business, fail."

"Ok, you must haven't gotten off yet, cause you're all Mr. negative right now."

"I haven't. I tried but I guess I'm lacking inspiration."

"You know...I can provide you with that inspiration."

"You think so?"

There was something about the way Eric said it that made Cooper completely hard, "Oh yeah." Cooper moved around on the bed so that he was hovering over Eric. He was going to toy with Eric and planned on getting close and then pulling back, but Eric didn't want to play games as he lifted his head to meet Cooper's and they were kissing. Cooper had tried to be a gentleman these past few months in not pushing Eric to do anything he didn't want to do and trying his best not to put Eric in any uncomfortable situations but that was completely gone from his mind at the moment, he wasn't even thinking about himself, he just desperately wanted to get Eric off. He didn't break their kissing as his hands brushed their way from Eric's chest to in between Eric's legs. Eric let out an involuntary moan and Cooper wanted to cum right there and then.

"You're so fuckin sexy." Cooper whispered.

Eric responded by finding the buckle on Cooper's jeans and unfastening them. Before Cooper even registered what was happening Eric had pulled the zipper down as well and had put his hand inside of the jeans to feel Cooper's boxer clad erection.

"It's so big." Eric said in amazement.

Cooper chuckled, the intensity gone for the moment, "You've seen it before."

"I want to see it again."

Cooper laughed again, "I'm sorry, but this is crazy. I fuckin love it, but what's gotten into you right now?"

"You better hurry up and do it before I change my mind." Eric said. Cooper knew from the smile on Eric's face that he wouldn't be changing his mind in the next couple of minutes, but Cooper didn't want to take any chances. He climbed off of Eric who whined just a little bit without Cooper's warmth. He stood up on the floor and let his jeans drop to the floor. The brown boxers with the blue stripes running down them horizontally were dangerously tenting out. Cooper quickly removed the white shirt he was wearing and threw it across the room. He looked at Eric watching him from the bed and he could tell that Eric was jerking himself off inside of his jeans.

"Come on," Eric said impatiently, "I want to see it."

"Uhhh..."

"What's wrong?"

"Ummm...I'm not sure."

"Do you want me to go first?" Eric said as he moved to kick off his jeans."

"NO! I mean yes, well I want to see your dick too, but...this is really stupid, but I'm really nervous."

"Um why?" Eric said looking at Cooper strangely.

"Cause...you're about to see me completely naked."

"I've already seen you completely naked several times."

"I know, but this is different."

Eric looked at Cooper and could tell he was quite serious. In a strange way, Eric understood what Cooper was getting at. This was different. All the times before, Cooper's nudity had been as a joke or as a way to offend Eric, but now he was opening himself up to being vulnerable, something Cooper wasn't used to.

"Do you want to wait then?" Eric said, a little surprised at what was going on.

"No...just give me a minute."

"Ok." Eric watched Cooper intently for a few seconds as Cooper looked to be staring mindlessly into space. Eric was growing more and more frustrated by the minute and right when he was at his breaking point, Cooper snapped back into focus.

"Sorry, I had a bit of emotion creep into me just then, a little overwhelmed by the moment. I promise it won't happen again any time soon." Cooper said seriously.

"Get naked!" Eric yelled, ignoring everything Cooper had just said.

"I'm so going to remember this moment, you so horny you're yelling at me because I won't get naked." Cooper smiled and then promptly removed his underwear.

"Jesus Christ," Eric said as he sat up on the bed, "I can't believe it's that big. I don't think I could get my mouth around it."

Cooper had another fleeting thought of how surreal this moment was, but he pushed it aside and just tried to enjoy this moment with Eric, "You should try."

Eric kicked off his jeans, showing his own pair of blue boxers with white snowflake like objects on them before standing in front of Cooper. He took Cooper's dick into his hand and began jacking him off.

"That feels really good." Cooper whispered, eyes closed.

"I've had some practice."

Cooper's eyes lurched open and he put his hand on Eric's chest, "With who?"

"I meant myself. I'm not going to admit to saying this later, but I jerk off quite a lot."

"Of course you do," Cooper smiled, still loving the feeling of Eric's hand slowly, but surely, jerking him off, "You're a red blooded American man."

"I think I want to put in my mouth." Eric said looking down at Cooper's dick.

"Ok rule number one," Cooper said removing Eric's hand, "you cannot say things like that while you are jerking me off."

"Why, I thought it would make you horny." Eric said trying to return his hand to Cooper's member but Cooper slapped it away.

"It does. It makes me crazy horny to hear you talk like that, but this is our first time, so I don't want to cum right away."

Eric laughed, "I kind of do, I'm like about to burst anyway, it's been like three days."

Cooper looked down and his heart wanted to leap out of his chest as he saw Eric's hard dick poking out of his boxers. Cooper dropped to his knees so quickly that for a quick second Eric thought that Cooper had passed out. Cooper pushed Eric's torso so that Eric fell back on the bed. Cooper pulled Eric's boxers down his legs so fast that he wasn't sure if he heard the cloth rip or not; he didn't care.

"Jesus," Eric laughed, "Usually you only move this fast when there's food around."

"Shut up." Cooper said, not wanting to be even remotely distracted from pleasuring the dick in front of him.

Eric was experiencing his own emotional moment as he realized that this would be the first blowjob he had ever received. He was more than glad that he was giving up his virginity, in some way, to Cooper, but it still amazed him on some days that it was to Cooper because in many ways they seemed as unlikely a pairing as anyone. His thoughts all became a blur the minute he felt Cooper's tongue hit his balls. The unintelligible sounds that Eric began to make as Cooper gave Eric's balls a bath made Cooper smile. He wanted to turn Eric over and give his ass the same treatment, but he didn't want to reveal all his tricks in one showing. This lasted for a few minutes as Eric continued to move around on the bed, held mostly in place by Cooper. Cooper stopped pleasuring Eric and looked at Eric who looked red and flushed and still seemed to be reacting as if Cooper was still licking his balls.

"You want me to bring you home?" Cooper said jerking Eric off slowly.

"Only if I can suck you a little before you cum."

"You're not in a position to make demands." Cooper smirked as he engulfed Eric's dick easily all in one motion.

"Fuckin hell!"

Cooper came off of his boyfriend's dicks and smiled, "I'll take that as permission to continue." Cooper could taste the pre cum that Eric was producing and that was causing him to leak onto the carpet below him.

"Fuckin A!" Eric moaned loudly.

Eric knew that Eric was going to blow anytime. More than anything Cooper wanted to swallow and have Eric's seed deep inside his stomach. He only had a second to decide whether or not he was going to risk creeping Eric out by swallowing. Cooper decided to do it just on the off chance that he never got another opportunity. Eric's body shot up off the bed as he exploded into Cooper's waiting and hungry mouth. He felt like various parts of his body were going to explode in varying directions as he continued to orgasm. He was aware of the fact that he was cumming into Cooper's warm mouth and he decided that he liked it.

When he was sure Eric was done and that all of his boyfriend's cum had safely been swallowed he climbed up onto the bed next to Eric and looked at the boy laying on the bed.

"Are you ok?"

Eric laughed, "Barely making it." he said sarcastically.

"I hope it didn't weird you out that I swallowed for you."

"To be honest, you could have done whatever you wanted just now and I wouldn't have given a shit. God, you're good."

"I know." Cooper said warmly as he started to climb off the bed.

"Where are you going?"

"Finding my clothes, it's a little cold."

"Not until I suck you a bit." Eric sad sitting up and immediately moving his body into that direction. After a few moments of fumbling he started to laugh.

"I know you're not laughing because it's small." Cooper said seriously.

"It's so big," Eric said, "I don't even know if I can get my mouth around it." Cooper looked down to see Eric dramatically trying to open his mouth as much as possible.

"Just lick it then, it won't take me long to get off."

Eric began to lick the head and immediately realized that he was tasting some of the pre cum that Cooper was still spilling and was surprised that he didn't hate the taste. He chuckled again to himself before taking the plunge and trying to put as much of it in his mouth as possible. He got barely half way down before he started to gag.

"Sorry," he said pulling off, "it's been a while."

Cooper was very quickly and unpleasantly reminded of the situation almost a year ago that had forced him to confess to Eric that he loved him. He again pushed it aside, not wanting this moment to be marred by anything. Even though by all accounts the blowjob wasn't that great, Eric moved his tongue around the head of Cooper's dick very well and it was bringing Cooper closer and closer to orgasm. Cooper was enjoying the feeling immensely, but what put him over the edge was when he watched half of his dick disappear into Eric's mouth. It was more of the mental processing that occurred after viewing Eric's actions that pushed him over. He removed his dick from Eric's mouth, pushed the smaller boy back down on the bed and began jerking himself off. He had barely finished pushing Eric's shirt up to expose a bit of his stomach, when he began to shoot.

"Hell yeah." Cooper said as he directed his load to Eric's stomach. He finished and then collapsed next to Eric. Only the panting of their breathing could be heard for the next few minutes as they both tried to come down from what just happened.

"I love your cousin. He needs to follow you around all the time."

"You're such a dork." Eric laughed, "What does it taste like?"

"Cum? Fantastic. I love it."

"It doesn't feel...slimy?" Eric asked really wanting to know.

"I don't think of it that way. I guess it's like now there's a part of you that's a part of me. Plus, it's like the ultimate way to please your guy; Swallow his load."

"I always thought it was gross, but the way you talk about it makes me want to try it."

Cooper sat up and looked Eric directly in the eyes, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I mean that."

"I know."

"Ok, just making sure."

"But maybe I'll try it the next time." Eric smiled at Cooper.

"Next time?" Cooper questioned, just so that he could hear Eric say it again.

"Next time."

**********

Since campaigning had officially begun, Richard had changed the route he normally took to get to his first class. He now made sure that he took a slight detour so that he could walk by and see the posters he and Bliss had spent hours creating. He felt that it reminded him of his goal and kept his motivation high. This particular morning though, he would get inspiration of a different kind. He was still hundreds of feet away when he realized that he couldn't see either his or Bliss' poster among the others that were placed firmly in the ground. His eyes scanned all the others quickly to make sure he hadn't missed it. He began to walk faster as he saw scrapes of wood and paper littered on the ground. He knew before his vision confirmed it, that they were the remains of his poster. He whipped his head around in every direction to see if anyone near by looked suspicious. Hardly anyone was on campus, which meant that whoever did this had to have vandalized his posters late last night or very early this morning. His hands were shaking from anger and frustration as he reached in his pocket to pull out his cell phone.

"Good morning this is Jill."

"Dr. they...someone ruined my posters."

"Richard? What are you talking about?"

"Someone fucked up the posters in the quad of Bliss and I."

"They've been vandalized?"

"Yes!" Richard said frustrated.

"Stay there. I'm coming."

Five minutes later, Richard was relieved to see Dr. Taylor hurriedly walking towards him, her camera in hand. She gave Richard a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's whichever asshole would do something like this."

"I'm sure you expected something like this to happen." Dr. Taylor said as she snapped pictures.

"No, I didn't."

She smiled warmly at him, "Think about what you're doing. You're standing up and openly telling people you are proud of something that a lot of people think you should keep secret. It's bound to ruffle a few feathers."

"Fuck them, we're putting new posters up."

"I hope you do."

Richard took a deep breath, "Why would anyone do this?"

Dr. Taylor knew it was a rhetorical question and so did not answer, "I'm taking pictures so that we can send these to the school newspaper."

"You think they'd write about it?"

"I'm sure they will and once I get back to my office I'll call campus police."

"What can they do? If they had been doing their jobs this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"

"I know you're mostly speaking from anger, but it's not their fault this happened either. And yes it is more than necessary to have campus police know that your posters were ruined. This is vandalism."

"I bet I know who did this!" Richard said suddenly, "Lucas Mathias."

"Not fond of the Mathias brothers are we?"

"Brothers?"

"Yes, Lucas is two years younger than his older brother Marcus. Marcus is the current president of the student body, how do you not know this?"

Richard was a little embarrassed that he was running for President and had no idea who the current leader was, "Uhhh...I guess I need to brush up a little bit."

"You would do well to do so." She said as she continued to snap pictures, "Are you going to class?"

"Yeah...if I can focus."

"I'd go and try and forget about it, but I expect to see new posters up by tomorrow morning."

Richard smiled, "They'll be up by tonight, I'll call Bliss on my way. Thank you Dr."

"Like I said, I'll call the police as soon as I get back to my office and keep your ears to the ground. I'm sure someone saw something."

**********

Toby yawned as he sat in the back of the class. He was currently wondering how he was passing this class. For one thing it was early in the morning, Kyle whispered in his ear constantly about whatever inane thought crossed his mind, and he still couldn't concentrate very much as he constantly found himself staring at the back of the girl that had been raped because of his actions.

"I keep getting these porn catalogs in the mail. I don't know how my name got on any mailing lists..." Kyle whispered.

"Do you ever shut the fuck up?" Toby said glaring at Kyle.

"Toby?" The professor said trying to get his attention. Toby gave one final glare at Kyle for getting him in trouble before turning to the attention, "Yes ma'am?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"I said for the class project you'll be working with Kyle and Jennifer."

Toby rolled his eyes at hearing Kyle's name but looked around the room trying to figure out who Jennifer was. Once his brain caught up to what was going on, he knew instantly who it was going to be. Jennifer, that was her name. The girl he had been staring at endlessly each and every class period actually had a name. It was a ridiculous and stupid thought, but at the same time, Toby had never ever considered the obvious fact that this girl had a name. She turned around and smiled at Kyle first and then Toby, before returning her attention to the professor who was still giving out instructions.

"Yeah, you get to team up with your best friend and your girlfriend. You are a lucky man." Kyle smiled.

"You'd be better off e mailing your parts of the project to me because I have a feeling that spending more time with you will result in your death."

"Always so violent."

"That's because you always push me to the edge."

"Do you guys want me to come back there or here?" Jennifer said standing right next to Toby.

"Oh...uh...back here is fine."

"Are you ok?" She asked sincerely, "You seem a little..."

"I'm fine. Just a little..."

"In love." Kyle whispered.

Even though he heard Kyle, Toby was pretty sure that Jennifer didn't hear what Kyle had whispered. He made sure she was distracted in gathering all of her stuff before he looked at Kyle, "Why are you such an annoying asshole?"

"I'm just joking when I say you are in love with her. But you stare at her all the time and so I'm curious as to why you do it. It's obvious you don't want to tell me, but I'm just being a concerned friend in my own way."

"Uhhh...thanks." Toby said nervously and feeling a little guilty.

"You should let people in every now and again." Kyle said. Toby didn't have a chance to respond as Jennifer had returned to them.

"So let's get started!"

**********

"Hey!" Chase smiled, "This is a pleasant surprise. Usually I come to you."

"I know," Joey said returning the smile, "I decided to change it up a bit. So is this your office?"

"Mine and about four other groups. There isn't enough space for all the groups to have their own office, plus it's kind of nice sharing the office fee with other groups."

"I think it would suck to have to share an office with other groups."

"Not really," Chase said, "We have a schedule and stick to it. We don't have our meetings here anyway."

"I see."

"Did you just come by to say hi?" Chase asked.

"Yes...well...sort of."

"Ok."

"We're friends right?"

"Of course," Chase said, having no idea where this was going.

"Ok, good. Well...I just wanted to say that if you ever needed to talk about anything...well I'm here for you."

"Ok... do you think I need to talk about something?"

"I don't know do you?"

"No, I'm good. You're acting a little strange are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Joey said.

"Ok."

"Good."

Joey heard someone come up behind him and turned to see a guy with an expression of disdain on his face.

"Hey, Lucas." Chase said nonchalantly.

"Hi, Lucas, I'm Joey."

"Hi." Lucas said reluctantly offering his hand in a handshake. Lucas didn't like gay people at all, but he hated rude people even more, "What brings you here?"

"Just here to talk to Chase, but we're done now." Joey said looking for an early exit, since he was perceptive to the uncomfortableness of his presence.

"Good, cause I need to talk to him." Lucas said as he walked completely into the office.

"Ok..." Joey said a little put off.

"Is there a problem?" Lucas said in a voice he mistakenly thought was polite.

"There isn't one yet." Joey smiled, sending Lucas a silent message that he wasn't one to be pushed around.

"Let's hope there isn't." Lucas commented.

"I was just about to say the same thing," Joey started. He looked at Chase who seemed to be watching their exchange intently, "Chase, I'll talk to you soon."

"Why was he here?" Lucas said immediately after Joey exited the room.

"That's none of your business."

"It is. It's one thing if you want to frolic around with him in his office, but you shouldn't be bringing that here to this office."

"I'm the President Lucas," Chase said as he stood and threw his backpack over his shoulder, "and unfortunately for you I get to decide what's appropriate or not."

"Don't force me to let the other members what's been going on. I've been trying to be nice about it because you are my brother in Christ, but something very...wrong is going on between you two and I don't know if you can effectively lead this group anymore."

"You know what your problem is Lucas, you're a hypocrite. You just called me your brother in Christ, but what about all the other people that don't believe what you and I believe? They're just as deserving of our respect and Christ's love as much as me and you, but you treat them like dirt. The way you just treated Joey is not Christ like at all."

"I don't understand why you feel the need to defend them all the time."

"We should be reaching out and making peace with all people."

"It's a two way street though and I don't see a single gay person on this campus making that effort. They vilify us and call our beliefs crazy. You know how maddening that is? They walk around in their parades with their rainbow flags and want to talk about freedom of speech that is until someone says something they don't like."

"That's not all gay people though." Chase said, grudgingly acknowledging he felt there was some truth to what Lucas was saying.

"And not all Christians should be lumped together either. But no you wouldn't know that because every time something happens you go run to defend the gays. Why don't you stand with your own kind for a change? Why don't you make them have to come to us and make peace. It kills me to turn on the news and watch them make us look horrible for standing up for what we believe in. I will not be bullied by people who don't afford me the same respect. So you should watch yourself, because if you keep going in the direction you're going, I'll have no choice but to voice my concerns to the group."

"You know they'll back me up." Chase said trying to sound confident, but he didn't know if he truly believed what he was saying.

Lucas locked eyes with Chase and continued to look directly in them as he spoke, "Sounds like you're calling my bluff."

1. Brian and Joey have breakfast

2. Eric goes home

3. His aunt and cousin make a surprise visit

4. Eric returns

5. Richard's posters are ruined

6. Dr. Taylor gives Richard a heads up

7. Joey goes to Chase's house

8. Lucas makes a discovery