Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 00:03:34 -0600 From: David J Subject: All Good Things - Chapter 1 Before I begin, I would like to thank David for helping me edit this chapter and Cheryl and Joey for reading and commenting on it. I hope that all of you enjoy it as well. If you have any questions or comments, please email me on boricuaholandes@hotmail.com. David ;) I am also supposed to tell you that this story contains references to homosexual male activities. If it offends, or it is illegal to view this information, please leave now. If not, enjoy. ;) All Good Things... Chapter 1 The weather had turned off bad. To be precise, after weeks of cool, breezy, dry fall weather, Auburn, Alabama had been hit with a cold, windy, rainy patch of weather that showed no signs of letting up, at least not anytime in the near future. It had been that way all day, from the time I left my apartment that morning, through the afternoon, and classes that I really didn't want to take, until that evening, when I sat, alone, in the foreign language lab, hoping that an undergrad would come into the lab for tutoring so that I would have something to do. As I sat there, reading the news on Yahoo and surfing around www.myspace.com and www.manhunt.net, I grew increasingly away of the boredom that had enveloped the evening. The Haley Center was deserted, except for me and a few maintenance people that were working in one of the multimedia classrooms down the hall. By five o'clock, an hour into my two hour shift, I'd been out to smoke twice already, hoping that I would at least get the inspiration to write a story or something for www.nifty.org. But there was nothing. At around 5:45, I'd decided that it was about time to go. Since my parents had instilled this crazy work ethic in me, I felt guilty as I began to pack my things and get ready to head home, early. I sat back in the chair at the attendant's station and turned to the computer. I tuned my iPod to Andrea Echeverri's "Amortiguador" and turned to check my three email accounts. Nothing new was going on at hotmail; Tigermail (our university email service) only held a few messages, including one from my Colonial literature professor about La Aruacana (the most boring book ever written). My myspace mail account had a message from my best friend, which I decided to read later, since it was rather long. Before the end of the song, I'd finished checking my messages and decided that it was time to go. That was when I saw him. He was a god among men as he stood there, in all his tall, lean, olive-complected glory. He was my vision of what an angel might look like. Most people who popped in at this hour simply sat in the lab, checked their email, and quickly scurried back to their lives. This boy didn't. He bypassed the first row of computers, then the second, then the third, until he came into the area where we were assigned to be for free tutoring. He looked directly at me, with the most beautiful, clear blue eyes I'd ever seen. I was awestruck as I noticed the orange t-shirt he wore was slightly damp from the rain and perfectly showed the outline of his shoulders, arms, and chest. He had curly, black hair that was shaggy, as the style of the day was. As is natural for a gay man, I surveyed him quickly as he came into the room. He was wearing a pair of blue running shorts and some sneakers. He legs were slightly on the scrawny side, but muscular, probably from running or some sport he played for the university. Hunched on his left shoulder was a bag that looked entirely too heavy for any one person to carry, but he did it effortlessly. "Hi," he said as we lightly rapped on the door. "Were you about to leave?" "I was. Is there anything I can help you with, though?" I said, trying to be as professional as possible to this man. He had set his bag down onto one of the two tables that were in the small room so that more than one tutoring session could take place at the same time. "Oh no problem then. I can come back another time," he said as he picked up the bag with one hand and put it back onto his shoulder. "It's not a problem, dude," I said, walking from behind my desk over to where he was. "Are you sure?" he asked, looking again for the reassurance that he was not there at the absolute worst time. "Yeah. What's up?" "Well. I'm in Spanish 1020, and I'm having trouble with this lesson we've worked on. We have a test on Friday, and I am so afraid of failing it." "Well, what's the topic?" I asked as I pulled out a chair to sit down. It was all that I could do to keep my composure. This man was hot. "It's the preterite and imperfect tenses. Man, I can't figure out when to use which. I was so confused in class the other day, and my teacher ran out of the classroom before I had a chance to ask him about it. "OK." We opened the book to the page where there was an explanation of the language's two different past tenses. Until well after the lab closed, I sat there with him, trying to teach him how to use the two different tenses. He looked as confused still, after an hour of working on exercises from the workbook that accompanied their text. "Look at like this. The past is a loaf of bread. Everything related to the past, the habitual, the repeated, the characteristics, time, and the past as a whole is represented by that loaf of bread. That's the imperfect. When you take out one slice of the bread, you have a specific period of time or an action that has been totally completed and has no further influence on the bread itself." "And that's the preterite?" he asked. I could almost see that the information had clicked in his head. "Yeah. That's it." "Why couldn't my teacher have told it like that?" he asked as he smiled. It was the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen. Inside it were the whitest teeth I'd ever seen on a living creature. "I have no idea. When I start teaching, though, I'm gonna do it that way," I stated confidently, looking forward, in that moment, to having a class of my own to teach next fall. "Nice. I might have to take the class again, just to actually learn this stuff from a guy that seems to know what he's doing," he said, smiling at me. "So when do you work again?" he asked. "This Thursday, same time," I answered as we stood from the table. He put his hand out to shake mine, and I obliged him. "Cool. I'll probably come by and see you then, if that's cool?" he said as he backed up to the door. "That's fine. I'm always here." "Nice. I'm Tony, by the way." "Me llamo Jacob," I said, trying to get him to use a bit of Spanish. "Mucho gusto, Jacob," he said, waving as he left the room. "Igualmente," I said as I went to the door as he walked out of the lab. The back of his body was as impressive as the front, I thought to myself. His nice, lean, ass was the stuff dreams are made of, at least in my mind. Realizing the time, I scurried to pack my things and head toward my apartment. Since it was so late when Tony and I finished our studying, the bus wouldn't be running, and I would have to walk home. Not that I minded the walk. Most days, when it was nice out, the short walk and my iPod were the two best things in the world. On those nice days, I would usually snap on some U2 or Gloria Estefan en espanol to enjoy the walk home. Sometimes some Soundgarden was nice, if it hadn't been the best of days. (I have VERY eclectic tastes in music, with my iPod being dominated by a few artists that ranged from these to Mariah Carey and Celine Dion to Rage Against the Machine to Canadian bands like Wide Mouth Mason and the Odds.) With the dreariness of this day, though, I decided to put on Evanescence's "Bring me to Life" to try to make me forget about the doldrums around me. I ordered Chinese food after I got home and lounged the rest of the night. I read a little; I wrote a little, but for the most part I simply used the time to relax. Since I didn't have to teach the next day, I slept in. A relaxing evening was all that I needed to make my outlook on the last half of the week improve. I woke up around noon and headed to campus for the afternoon linguistics class. Thursday went by well, even though my worst class is on Tuesday and Thursday of each week. At four, I went into the lab to begin my second and final shift of the week. Since it was the evening before an exam, the lab was filled with people who needed last minute help understanding the finer concepts of the Spanish language. It was different from Tuesday night, by far. I shuffled between the groups of people answering questions. I'd been too caught up in my work to realize that my obsession of the past few days had sauntered into the room and taken a seat at the attendants' desk. When I did notice him, he smiled in my direction. I walked over to the desk for a quick second just to tell him that I'd be with him shortly. By 5:45, the room began to clear. At six, the remaining people packed their things and left. I will say simply that I only told them that the lab was supposed to close at six. As the last girl left, she turned and thanked me for all my help and smiled at me. "So you so could have asked her out," Tony said as I slouched into a chair. "Probably so. She's not really my type though," I said as Tony walked over to the table. He set a notebook and a pen on the table, but didn't bother to sit down himself. "So what is your type?" he asked, walking up behind me. In a moment, I felt his hands touching my neck and shoulders. Slowly he began to knead my muscles. I never answered his question, but that was mostly due to the massage that I was getting from this very hot man. The relaxing massage made me forget all of the tension that the freshmen fratboys and sorostitutes had caused a few minutes before. Five minutes passed. "So you haven't answered my question," he said. I could almost hear a smug tone in his voice. "I don't know," I lied. "I'm attracted to a person's personality." "That's a very political answer." "The family business," I answered. "Not such a bad thing." "Your family is in politics?" "Yeah. Kind of." "Kind of? Not a real answer, dude," he said, almost sarcastically as he continued kneading my shoulders. He moved to my upper back, moving from the middle of my back to the top of my arm. "What can I say?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders beneath his tight hands. It almost reminded me of Adan, my exboyfriend from Toronto. He chuckled. "Thank you." "For?" "The Massage. It is so relaxing." "So you won't mind if I ask you a few questions about the test?" "No. You can ask anything you want?" "Don't tell me that," he ordered, almost seductively. I could almost hear a smile developing on his face. "So yeah. We covered the preterite and imperfect the other day. What else do you think is gonna be on there?" "If I were you, I would study the prepositions por and para." "Do you have a cheat like for the preterite and imperfect?" "Por is through and by. Para is for. There are some idiomatic expressions with por, though. You'll have to study those." He reached under the bands on the arms of my shirt and massaged my biceps. His touch had almost an electric charge as he relaxed me. "Nice. Thank you." "Anytime, papi," I said, losing myself in naughty thoughts about Tony. "Papi?" He sounded kind of surprised at my choice of words. "Yeah. I like a guy that is nice and smart, above all else." "So you're gay?" "Yeah," I said, almost reluctantly. Half of me was worried that he would try to kick my ass right there. "I was worried." "Why?" He bent down. His hand lightly grazed the top of my forarm as I sat in the chair. In a moment, I felt his lips touch the nape of my neck. "Oh God!" I whispered. I thought it was inaudible, but it wasn't. "You OK? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He moved from behind me and sat in the chair. "You so didn't make me uncomfortable, Tony." I smiled at him. It was pure pleasure, for me. Of course, it was also my fault that it had come to an abrupt halt. "I shouldn't have done that," he said, fidgeting with the notebook. "I came here to get help, and I shouldn't have done that." I reached across the table and lightly put my hand atop the hand that was messing with the notebook. Slowly he looked up at me. Inside his bright blue eyes, I could see that he felt, almost, ashamed by what had happened. "No worries," I said, looking directly into his eyes. I slowly stood from my seat and went over behind him, the position that he'd taken with me. I set my hands on his shoulders and rubbed them. In a moment, I moved down his arms and placed my hands on top of his. I reached down and kissed the nape of his neck. "Feels good, doesn't it?" "Yeah. It does." I reached around and kissed the side of his neck. "And that?" "Real good, dude." I turned him slightly and kissed the back of his chin, which was still littered with one or two days of stubble. "And?" "Please don't stop there," he pleaded, in a whispered tone. I gladly allowed myself to kiss his chin. "Jacob," he whispered to me. "Yeah?" I said pulling away from him for a moment. "This feels really good." "Do you still think that you've upset me?" "No." "Good," I added as I moved closer into his lips. I lightly kissed the luscious red goodness. I pulled back, before heading into his mouth again. This time, his tongue split the connection between us. He turned to completely face me, placing his arms on my hips. We continued kissing for an uncountable amount of time. It felt so good. "What time is it?" he asked. "6:40," I answered. "Damn!" "What?" "I've got to be some place at 7." "Oh." "It should last about an hour," he added. "Would you like to call me later?" I asked. "Sure. Number?" "416.555.9281" "So you're not from around here?" "Nope. I'm from Toronto." "That explains the funny accent," he said, smiling. "Says he from the south," I joked. "I'm glad I got to see you tonight." "Trust me, Tony. The pleasure was all mine." Before he walked out of the office, he came over and kissed me on the cheek. "Bye, Jake." "Bye." Just as on Tuesday, I stood in the doorway of the office and watched him leave the lab. His ass was just as divine as it had been the other day. I shut down the computer I'd been logged into earlier and, as quickly as possible, I walked back to the apartment. As I was walking from the Haley Center, past the Pharmacy building, I started playing "Someone Who's Cool" by the Odds. I walked quite quickly, ready to get home and get a shower, in the event he ended up coming over or we went some place. I was more excited than I had been when I met Adan, my ex, which is a story I will save until later. I got home and went through the motions, making sure I was ready for whatever might happen tonight. It could be that nothing would happen, but then it could be that everything would happen. I pulled on my t-shirt that said "Everything's Bigger in Saskatchewan" and pair of jeans. I had my coat out, just in the event we were to go somewhere. By 9:30, he still hadn't called. I assumed that he wouldn't be up for anything, since it was so late, so I walked back to my bedroom to change into a pair of shorts that I wore to bed, most of the time. As I opened the door, the phone began to ring. "Hello?" I answered, not recognizing the number. "Hey, Jake." "Tony!" "I'm so sorry that I didn't call you earlier." "Not a problem, Tony. How was the meeting?" "Boring. Extremely boring." "I'm so sorry." "No problem. I think it was boring because there were so many things on my mind." "Oh?" "Like this Canadian guy who's dad is in politics." "Sounds hot." "Oh he is. He has the nicest arms on any guy in Auburn." I chuckled into the phone. "See. This is why I love living in the South." "We're definitely the lucky ones." "Two points for Tony!" "That was worth at least three, Jake." "I suppose so," I said smiling at the banter between us. "So I was just gonna say thank you for the tutoring," Tony added. "It's seriously no problem," I said, trying to act cool. "So..." "Yeah..." "You want to go get something to eat or get a drink?" Tony asked. "Yeah," I said coolly, "that would be cool." On the inside, though, I was screaming joyously at the request. "Cool. Well let me go get a shower and then I will give you a call back. Cool?" "Yeah," I started, "that will be cool." "Cool. Alright then. Talk to you soon." "Bye." I was suddenly nervous. I don't know why though. It could have been that I hadn't been out on a real date since I left Toronto. It could be that there was a hot man on his way to pick me up. Forgive me if I seem overly excited about the prospects of the evening, but this was the thing almost like a date I'd been on in a long time. Adan had left a bad taste in my mouth for dating altogether. Damn the Canuck! About a half hour later, I was sitting on the sofa, waiting on his call. I was still nervous, and as I sat there, I cought myself nervously shaking my leg. Why was I so nervous? He was just a guy. The phone again rang, and I answered it quickly and anxiously. "Hello?" "Hey Jake." "Hey Tony. What's up?" He snickered. "I don't think it would be polite to tell you." "OH!" I snickered myself. "So what's the plan, Mr. Man?" "I was thinking we could get something to eat and then go from there." "That sounds good." "What would you like to eat?" "Since there are no Tim Horton's around here, I'm not sure," I answered. "Well. We could get a pizza. The Mellow Mushroom is still open." "That will work. A beer wouldn't be so bad either," I answered honestly. "Nope. It wouldn't." I took a moment to give him directions to my apartment. As it turned out, we only lived about two blocks from each other. Within a matter of minutes, he was here, knocking on the front door. I grabbed my coat, and, together, we walked down the three flights of stairs to his truck. "So what does your shirt say?" he asked. "Everything's bigger in Saskatchewan! Isn't it cool?" He chuckled. "Is that where you're from?" "Oh no! Thank goodness, no. I'm from Ontario." "Ahh...That's right. You have a Toronto phone number." "Yep. Where are you from?" "I'm from Charlotte. At least that's where I was raised. I was born in Miami." "Nice city." "Charlotte?" "Yep. My best friend, Val, lives there." "Cool." "Yeah. She's an awesome girl. We met at UT." "You went to Texas?" I chuckled as he asked "Wot?" "Toronto." "OH! I forget y'all have colleges up there," he joked. "HA HA! I also studied at `La Universidad de La Habana'." "You've been to Cuba?" "Yeah. My dad used to work in the Embassy there. That's where I initially learned Spanish." "Nice. I've always wanted to go. My grandmother talks about it all the time. She wants to go back, but she can't get a visa." "Eres cubano?" "Yes. I mean si. Ethnically?" he said, smiling. "Well, tell her that she can come see my mother, and my mother will go with her. She goes to Havana at least once a year, to see friends and to just hang out at the beach." "That would be so cool." "I imagine it is a beautiful place." "It is. They have the most beautiful beaches, and the men...oh shit. Sorry." He laughed at the position of discomfort I found myself in. "It's alright. There's no problem with looking. That's how I spotted you." "Damn. That makes five, Tony." "Thank you." "So I've not eaten at this place yet. What's it like?" "It is absolutely the best pizza in the world. I usually get one with ham. I was thinking about getting one with Canadian bacon tonight." All I could do was smile. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Canadian bacon was, in fact, ham. "Nice." "I just hope no one gets jealous of me, since I will be there with the hottest man in Auburn." "I was just thinking the same thing." "Two points then, for you, Jake. It is OK that I call you Jake, isn't it?" "Yes. It is. Most everyone calls me that anyway. And thank you for the points," I smiled. "I'm still winning this whole little contest, though." "No, Tony," I started, "I'm winning," I said as I put my left hand onto his, which was holding the gear shifter of his large truck. "You are sweet, Jake." "But you don't know me yet, Tony," I said. "According to my ex, I'm a cold, ruthless, heartless bitch." "He just didn't know what he was missing out on," he said, almost as soon as I'd finished the other line. "You seem nice." "I guess I can be." "And you're hot." "If only I were as hot as you, Tono," I called myself saying as we turned onto College Street from West Glenn. "That's what my grandmothers call me," he said. "What? Hot?" "NO!" he laughed. "Tono. My brothers and I were the only `Latins' in the neighborhood, though, so all of our friends were white, and they couldn't say it right, so they started calling me Tony. I guess it just kind of stuck." "Ahh...When I was about 11, when we lived in Cuba, my best friend was a kid named Antonio. That's what all of our friends called him." "Cool. Can I ask a weird question?" "The only weird question is how George Bush got re-elected." "Word. So do you have any pictures from Cuba?" "Not any here. I could get my mom to send some down, though, if you'd like." "That would be so cool. I've never been able to go there, but I feel an odd connection to the place, ya know." "Makes sense." In just a second, we were parking the car. It was across the street from the restaurant, but I honestly didn't care. As pathetic as it will sound, I actually enjoyed the few seconds more that we had together. "So you have brothers?" "Yeah. Guillermo, who is older, and Martin, who is younger. What about you?" "A sister and a brother, Jane and Daniel." "Are they as cute as you?" "Danny is hotter; Jane is engaged to a Quebecer. He's nice enough, though." He laughed. From this angle, and in the light of the city, I could see that he had a nicer figure than I thought. I was walking a second behind him so that I could get a nice look from behind. Man, the view was better than being at the top of the CN tower looking over downtown Toronto. There were people all over the streets. Soon enough, we were standing in line to be seated. The queue seemed long, but Tony was more than determined to make it a good experience for us. "So why Auburn?" he asked as we took a seat in a small, dimly lit booth on one side of the restaurant. "It's far enough away from Canada that I can be independent, but it's close enough to home that I can hop a plane if I have to. What about you?" "A little bit of the same. I can go out on dates here. At home, that's not very possible." "So your parents don't know?" "Nope. I don't know if I know how to tell them, honestly. What about your family?" "They know. They're cool with it, but they didn't like Adan," I answered as the waitress came over to the table. "What can I get you guys?" the cute, late teenage girl waiting on our table asked. "Are you cool with Canadian Bacon?" Tony asked, looking at me. "Yeah. That's fine," I answered, smiling at the gorgeous man across from me. "Great. I will have that out in a few minutes then. What would y'all like to drink in the meantime?" "What Canadian beers do y'all have?" Tony asked. "Labat Blue and Molson," the girl answered without having to think about it. "I'll have a Molson," Tony answered. "Same here," I said. "Be right back with those," the girls said. She wrote down something on her pad and walked away from our table. "So where were we at?" Tony asked. "We were talking about you," I answered, trying to fend off the question that I knew what coming. "We were not. We were talking about your family. I was about to ask you about this Adan character," he slyly stated. "Do we have to go there?" I asked, not really feeling the course of the conversation. I didn't want to talk about Adan, and I especially didn't want this to be one of our first conversations outside of Spanish. "Well, no. I don't guess so." "I promise that I will tell you about him later, but he is the kind of person that is known more for his lack of intelligence than anything." "So he's a dumbfuck?" "Yeah. Pretty much," I answered. "So why haven't you come out to your family?" "I'd rather save that one for later, too," he smiled. "For real, I was raised in a very conservative house, and I'm not sure they would look too fondly upon it." "Ah. Entiendo." (I understand.) He sat there for a second. It was almost as if he were pondering something. I couldn't say that I totally understood his point of view, since I'd been fortunate enough to have parents that didn't care, as long as I was happy, a sister who was the supreme fag hag of the world, and a brother that was only concerned with working out and pussy, and who considered himself my first fag stag. "I wish I could tell them, though," he continued after receiving our beers. "In time, Tony, all will be OK," I said, trying to make him feel better about things in general. "I didn't mean to ask a sensitive question," I stated. "You didn't. It's honestly something I've thought about for a long time. I wish I could tell them, but I haven't found the right time or place to do it." "When I came out, my parents told me that they would love me no matter what," I said as I reached across the table for his hand, "If they feel the same way, they will still have you in their life." I was trying to make him feel better. Fortunately for me, the pizza came right as I was finishing this affirmation. "Yeah. So on a different topic, what kind of music do you listen to?" he asked. I realized that, in that moment, he was trying to change the topic, and I was more than happy to comply. "Well. I love all kinds of music. I kind of grew up on salsa, growing up in Cuba. I also love indie-rock, pop, but not much rap." "What about country?" "Some of it is OK. I try not to judge a song or artist until I've heard it a couple of times, but I can tell you that I really don't like Toby Keith." "Nice. Country is my favorite, but I love hearing my parents and grandmothers playing Salsa. I've always felt connected to it." "Salsa is awesome. Have you heard much reggaeton?" "Just Daddy Yankee and Pitbul," he said, "but I'm not very fond of them." "You should hear Calle 13," I suggested. "Make me a CD?" "Sure. I will even call the playlist "For Tony" in iTunes." "Nice," he said smiling. We each took a piece of the pizza from the tray as it had been brought to us. For an hour or so, we took our time eating the pizza and talking about random things. He asked me about Canada, and I asked him about North Carolina. I must admit that I lost myself as he recounted stories of home. I realized that he was truly a funny, witty man, and he realized that behind my nicely sculpted exterior, I was a dork of the Napoleon Dynamite quality. I loved learning things, and random information spewed from within me as a fountain. "So are you ready to go?" he asked after sitting there talking to me for a while. "If we have too..." I said. He smiled at the way that I answered the question. We did get up and pay the check and walked outside of the restaurant. The check had been split between us, since I wasn't going to let him pay for everything, as he wanted to do initially. It was colder when we left than when we'd entered. Despite my heritage, I'd grown up, for the most part, in Cuba, where the tropical weather had tempered me against the cold that was more than prevalent in the Canadian landscape. As we walked back toward the truck, he surprised me. "Would you like to go for a walk around campus?" "Sure," I answered, relieved that the night wouldn't be coming to an end as soon as I'd initially thought. We crossed the street from the restaurant, but headed away from his truck and away from the congestion of the downtown Auburn area. "So...Can I ask you something weird?" "I don't know, can you?" I answered, a tinge of sarcasm in my voice. "Well...I guess I can," he said. "What's Cuba like?" "It's the absolutely most beautiful place in the world, next to wherever you are." "Two more points for Jake." "That deserves at least three," I stated, joking with him as we crossed Magnolia street to Toomer's Corner. "OK. I'll give you a third point. That makes what, six?" "Yeah. And you've got seven, even before the points I was going to give you for having a nice ass." Tony laughed. "Two for that?" "At least a touchdown, dude," I said, not totally knowing what the term meant. "Damn. Six points for me!" "Right." "So more about Cuba..." he instructed. "The beaches are beautiful, especially on the southern part of the island, the side that faces the Caribbean. The water is so clear. It's just so relaxing." "My grandmother has always talked about a city called Trinidad. Have you heard of it?" "Heard of it. It's where we always went to get out of Havana. It's one of the most beautiful cities on the island." "That's where she and my grandfather are from," Tony stated. "You should go down there sometime," I stated, not thinking about my statement. "Can't. I'm American. Our government doesn't want us to have anything to do with the island. I tried to get a visa once, but they said that I couldn't, because tourist travel is illegal." "Oh." "It really sucks." "Yeah," I stated as we walked past Samford Hall and toward the inner parts of campus. "So what's your major?" "Engineering. I figured that it would be a pretty cool major, in terms of having a future." "You don't sound too excited about it, though," I said, noticing a bit of hesitation in his voice. "To be honest, I would be happy as an artist. I love to draw. You should see some of my notebooks!" "Nice, Tonito." He chuckled. "My parents thought it would be a bad idea, though." "Ah. My parents wanted me to major in Canadian Studies and go into the diplomatic corps." "But you didn't." "When it came down to it, Tony," I started, "I realized early on that it wasn't my lot in life, and I couldn't go through with it." "How did they react?" "They were upset at first, but they eventually supported me. My mom has always said that one must do what he feels passionate about." "Sounds like your mom is a cool lady," Tony said. "That's at least two points, right there," I told him. "Damn. Between me being nice about your mom and my nice ass, I'm racking up." "Trust me when I say, Tony, that I'm the lucky one." I put my arms into his as we walked across campus, past the theatre and music buildings. "I can't imagine that why a million guys haven't asked you out, since you've been here." "They have. It's just wasn't feeling them." "But you chose to go out with me?" "Yeah." "What makes me different?" "You just seem different, Tony." "Good different?" "Yeah!" "Nice," he said, smiling. "Yep." "So different, how?" "You seem nice, charming, smart, and well, inquisitive. Handsome." "Handsome?" "Yes, handsome." He lifted his arm and placed it around my shoulder. We laughed and chitchatted while walking back toward where he'd parked my car. He made me laugh. As we reached his car, the littered streets had become far less crowded than they were earlier. We climbed into his truck, and he started it up. "Here," he said as he reached out for my hand. He placed it on the gear shifter, with his hand on top. "So are you going to teach me how to drive?" "Nope. I just wanted to hold your hand, but this was the only way I could think of." "Did you just fall from heaven, Tony." "Now. I haven't been there in about 24 years, I guess." "Damn," I said, smiling as I looked out the window. There were a few couples that walked down the street. One of the couples were holding hands as they walked in front of the library. I looked at Tony as he drove the truck through the town. He was so nice, and the evening had been nice, as well. For a few minutes, we drove through town. He called it "taking the long way" back to the apartment which I inhabited alone. We crossed blocks and blocks of the city as we drove away, then toward, then away from the apartment. When we finally ended up on Glenn Avenue, he seemed as though he didn't want the night to end. To be honest, I'd had such a good time just hanging out with him that I didn't want it to end either. When we pulled into my apartment complex, a breath of disbelief seemed to envelop both of us. In the course of an evening, I'd had the best single night since moving to the US. Tony was so nice and so masculine and so charming. He was, for lack of better phrasing, the epitome of the Southern man, as I'd heard the story told. He pulled into one of the empty parking spaces and turned off the engine. "I've had a wonderful time tonight, Jake." "Y yo tambien, Tono." (Me too, Tono.) "Do you mind if I call you tomorrow?" "I'd hope you would, Tony," I joked with him. He smiled. There it was again, that perfect smile, totally surrounding his beautifully white teeth. He looked Cuban, in that moment. If I'd not known that before, I would have assumed it then. He looked like Carlos, my `first'; he looked like Adan, my first real boyfriend, yet he was so much more than all of them, combined. "Would you like me to walk you up to your apartment?" "You don't have to..." "I want to," he said, interrupting me before I could protest more. "It will give me another two minutes with you." I again smiled at the man. "OK, then, since you put it that way." He opened the door to his side of the truck and stepped out. I was opening my door, but before I could step out, he met me on my side of the truck. He held out his arm, as if to help me from the oversized vehicle. I pointed to my apartment, and he walked with me, hand in hand, up the three flights of stairs to my apartment. "You can come in if you'd like," I advised as we reached the door and fished for my keys. "Jake. If I come in, something is likely to happen that might impede our second date, and I really would much rather take the time to get to know you and date you than just getting to know you for the sex." What was he saying? Was he telling me that he didn't like me that way? Was he truly being the gentleman that he appeared to be? I looked into his eyes, and I could tell from the way he looked at me, in the pale light, that he was sincere. "Alright then," I said smiling at him. I fidgeted with the keys until I found the one that went into the door. "Will I talk to you tomorrow?" "Yes. It might not be until later. I have classes most of the day tomorrow." "That will be fine." He took my hand again and we stood there, in stark silence, as Orion overlooked us. He leaned into me and kissed me on the lips. As he held my hands, he took the time to sweetly, honestly, sincerely caress my lips in his. From time to time, our tongues met. His kiss was electric. I didn't want him to stop, but he'd made it clear that he didn't want this to be a one-time occurrence, and I was more than happy with that. After an immeasurable time, he pulled away. "I should probably be going." "I've had an amazing time tonight, Tony." "Me too. I will talk to you tomorrow, though." He pulled me into a hug before turning to walk down the winding staircase that led to the ground floor of the building. "Bye," he said quietly to me. "Ciao." I opened the door and walked inside. My computer was still powered on, and the screensaver showed a waving Canadian flag. I sat down for a minute, and as I was opening tigermail, I heard him pull out of the parking lot of the building. I wondered if there were a quasi-euphoria enveloping him as it was me. I opened tigermail with the intent of sending him an email telling him how much fun I'd had that evening. There were a few junk emails from various people. My best friend, Val, had sent me a message as well, as well as my mother, brother, and a pen pal from Spain. I noticed that, down the screen, there was an unread message that I knew would break me from the good feelings I'd been feeling most of the night. Adan Rodriguez's name was there, in bold, marking a message that I'd not read from him. There wasn't a subject, so I didn't know what to expect. "Well shit!" I quietly said to myself. I clicked on the message. I didn't know what it contained, but I contemplated sending him a message telling him not to contact me again. HHeHepreprp p"Get on MSN when you get home, Jake. I need to talk to you about something," said the message. What did this fucker want? Why was he still trying to get in touch with me? UGH! This would be, though, the perfect opportunity to tell him to leave me alone. I didn't want him around. I never wanted to hear from him again. I never wanted to see his face, for he was the reason why I only half trusted men, especially gay men. I opened MSN and logged in as invisible. I didn't want him to see me coming and going. Why hadn't I deleted his name from my list? I'd thought about that several times, but never had actually taken the moment to do it. "What?" I typed into the box. "You could at least say hello," he responded. "I didn't want to, Adan. What is so important that you need to talk to me about?" "No small talk?" "Not on your life. Get to it before I get pissed." "What are you gonna do from Alabama?" "Remember that my entire family still lives in Toronto, and they'd be more than happy, especially Danny, to kick your ass." "Damn. The South has made you a bitter queen." "Not bitter, just short of patience for people like you." "Like me?" "Yes." "What is that supposed to mean?" "Adan, think about it. You still owe me over $2,000. You cheated on me with not one, not two, but THREE different guys over the two years we were together. You drugged me one night, and after I passed out, you raped me." "You'd said you wanted it." "Fucking stop it Adan. Now are you going to tell me what the fuck you needed to talk to me about?" "WELL...I was gonna give you another chance, but I guess not now." "Give ME another chance? You're a dumb fuck if you think I'd ever take you back." "It was a joke, Jake. Carlo and I are happy together." "Carlo?" "My new boyfriend...We've been seeing each other for almost two months." "Does he know you use cocaine?" "Nope. I'm trying to quit that shit." "I'll see it when I believe it, Adan." "You are pure evil." "It's all your fault, fucktard. I'm gone." "JAKE! Wait..." "WHAT?" "What I really wanted to talk to you about..." "It's about time..." "Do you remember that trip we took to Santiago?" "I wish I could forget everything about you, Adan." "ANYWAY! ...My mother found some pictures from the trip. She wanted to know if you wanted them." "THAT'S what you wanted?" "Yeah." "Tell your mom I said thanks, but no. I don't want anything here that will remind me of you, Adan. In fact, I really wish you would really forget that Gina gave you my email address." "Fine. I will tell her. I can't believe you're still like this toward me." "What? Unwilling to deal with bullshit?" "Fine. Fuck yourself, Jake." "I probably could a lot easier than you. Bye." I closed out the window and tried to get the application closed before he could send me another message. When I hit the quit option, I felt almost relieved. Perhaps this time, I thought to myself, he actually will forget me so that I could move on to better, and I'm hoping, bigger things. Back in tigermail, I opened the message he'd sent to me and hit reply. "Tony – I'm so glad that I got to spend some time with you tonight. I had an amazing time. –Jake" I hit the send button and got ready for bed. As I lay down in the bed, I thought back over the night: the good time I had with Tony, the conversation with Adan, and being back at home with enough time to sleep for two or three hours before I had to get up and proctor an exam, with my mentor. I don't remember what I dreamt, but when I woke up the next morning, I was in a good mood. As usual, I woke up with very little time. I went through the usual morning routines, and since I didn't feel like walking, I hopped the bus. In just a few minutes, I, along with most of the residents of this sleepy hamlet converged upon the Haley Center. As I walked up the stairs to the third floor, where my mentor's classroom was, I encountered a group of my fellow graduate students standing outside smoking. Carlito, Carina, Leah, Diana, Leah's boyfriend, Ron, and a couple of undergrads I didn't know well all looked at me as they, almost simultaneously exhaled their Parliament Lights. "JAKE!" Carina, Leah, and Diana all yelled. "What's up?" I asked hugging each of the girls and greeting the guys. "Not much," Leah said. "So Raquel went to Quixote's last night," Diana said. Raquel was another student in our program. "Did she have fun?" "She did!" Diana said. "She even called me at one point," Leah interjected. "She said that she saw you with a luscious creature." "Really?" I asked. "What's his name?" Carina asked. "Tony," I said smiling. The girls all jumped up and down at the news and smiled for me. "Did you have fun?" Diana asked. "I had an amazing time. We went to dinner and then just went for a long walk around Auburn." "Nice!" they said. Leah looked at her watch and said that it was time to go. Together, she and I said goodbye to everyone and walked toward the classroom. There were so many people standing around the hall. I hoped that I would see Tony before reaching the classroom, but I wasn't lucky enough. The exam went by quickly, with the entire class finishing in less than the allotted fifty minutes. Leah and I walked back to her office for a few minutes, and then went our separate ways for the weekend. I quickly walked back home and prepared for a calming, relaxing weekend with nothing really important to do. By the time I got home, my home phone was ringing. "Hello?" "Hello, dear. How is my favorite gay son today?" "Hi Mom!" I said excitedly. I'd not had a chance to just sit and talk to my mom in a while, and so to hear her voice was calming. I'd been homesick for the first month I was here, but once everything was in full swing, I found that I had very little time for anything other than school and the odd night out during the week. "How's things in the T.O.?" "Everything is great my love. How about in Alabama?" "It's great. I had a date last night." "Really? Hot?" "Oh yes." "Nice?" "Oh yes." "Smart?" "Oh yes." "Use drugs?" "Not that I know of. I just met him Tuesday." "Well, he already sounds much better than your last one." "Who I talked to last night..." "What did he want?" "He said his mom found some pictures from when we went to Cuba last summer and wanted to know if I wanted them. I think he was probably just trying to find my address so that he could start some more shit." "Oh. If he starts to bother you, let us know. We'll deal with him up here." "Thanks Mom. So how's Dad?" "He's fine. So tell me more about this man..." I chuckled about my mom wanting more details that anyone from this morning. I gave her the rundown on this man, to which she seemed impressed. We talked for another good two hours before she finally had to go and tend to my sister-in-law, who was pregnant. We wished each other the best and I set out to have a great afternoon, just me and my private time. By four in the afternoon, I'd taken a nap, got my clothes together for a quick wash, and picked up the kitchen. I was interrupted by the sound of my phone playing O! Canada. (I know I'm obsessed, but when I moved to Auburn, my tone and screensaver were the only things that reminded me of home.) "Hey," I said, happy to hear Tony's voice. "How are things?" "Ahh...They are good. How are things with you?" "They're good," I grabbed my home phone and began to dial his number. "Answer the other call," I instructed as I held both phones to my ears. "OK," he said, clicking to the other call. "So what number is this?" "My home phone. I didn't want you to have to pay a lot of money to call me." "Ahh...Thanks! I found out it's almost a dollar a minute to call you." "Oh goodness. I didn't realize that it was that expensive." "Yeah. I think you're worth it, though." "Awww...more points for you, chulo." "Yay! So have you had a good day?" "Yep. The tests went well, and I've gotten a few things done around here." "Nice." "Yep. How did you do on the test?" "I think I did OK. I got to the part with the preterite and imperfect, and I just went blank for a minute." "Oh no!" "But then I thought about your smile, and your examples, and I got through it. I think I did well." "Great! I'm so glad to hear that." "Yeah." "So what do you have going on this weekend?" "I'm going to the football game with Gui and Martin." "Ah. Nice. Spending time with the brothers. Speaking of...I should call Danny," I said, more in a thinking-out-loud mode. "Cool. Tell him I said hi." "I will. He will ask who you are," I said, grabbing a soda from the fridge and going to the sofa. "What will you tell him?" "Probably the same thing I told my mom." "You've already told your mom about me?" he said, a sweet tone in his voice. "She called, and I couldn't lie to her." "So what'd you tell her?" "Just the basics. Smart. Funny. Nice. Good body." "Did she sound like she liked me?" "Yeah. She said you sounded cool." "Sweet. Boy tested, mom approved," he joked. "So are your brothers down yet?" "No. They're coming later tonight. When I talked to Gui, he was telling me that they probably wouldn't be able to leave around 6, which will put them here about 12 or 1." "Cool." "Yeah. It will be cool to hang out with them. I haven't gotten to see them in a while." "It will be a good day, then." "Yeah. It's gonna be a good time. It'll be good to get Martin drunk, he's always funny when he's drunk." "How old is he?" "Martin is 19. Gui is 29." "Cool. Jane is 24, and Danny is 22." "Cool." "Yeah. I was an only child for four years, and it was nice. Damn my parents for having more," I joked. He laughed heartily. "Alright, Jake. I've got to run and get my house cleaned up before they get here. Mind if I call you this weekend?" "Not at all," I said, trying not to sound too desperate. "Good. I'll talk to you later then." "Alright. Bye hawtie." "Bye." As I sat in the apartment that evening, I thought about Tony. I wondered what he was doing. I thought about his hot body. I wondered what his body looked like under his clothes. Did he have a hairy chest? How developed were his abs? I felt familiar rumblings below the belt. I was getting hard thinking about this guy. Damn, he was hot. I put my right hand under the edge of my pants and began to caress my balls. My dick grew harder and harder as I thought more and more about his eyes, his lips, his hair. As I undid my jeans with one hand, I began to slowly jerk my dick with the other. "Damn," I said to myself. My eyes were closed. I imagined that my hand were Tony's mouth. Then Tony's tight ass. My balls pulled up close to my body and I felt myself twitching. I shot a load of cum unlike one I'd shot in a while. Once I was cleaned up, I donned some shorts and went to bed, cuddling with my pillow. The week had been one that was quite interesting. The most interesting thing was that I'd met this man, this Tony, and he seemed so interesting. He was not only nice on the eyes, but made me my mind race. It was a very good thing.