Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 15:26:06 -0400
From: smithersleo@aol.co.uk
Subject: Coming out at university- submission 3

Coming out at university- submission 3

Again, thank you to everyone for your messages. I didn't expect such a big
response from this story, being the first that I've written myself. With
that in mind- excuse any mistakes I have made or will make. (Already a very
observant reader pointed out that in Scotland, there is a different exam
format, meaning Tristan would not have sat A-levels, but a slightly
different version.)

The general response I've had is that you prefer to read romance, rather
than a quicky with little to no plot. This chapter is a little shorter I
think, but it ends on a moment too good to continue writing with.

As always, please don't forget to donate to nifty. I know I've took this
site for granted before, so help them out a bit if you can.


Chapter 3


Back at the flat we again went our separate ways. The girls went off to
explore the university campus and Jay disappeared into his room, leaving
myself Tino and Jane in the kitchen. We were talking about how prepared we
were for university life- whether we could cook, budget, do our own laundry
and look after documents that usually our parents would have done for
us. Jane seemed almost entirely autonomous, she'd spent most of her late
childhood looking after herself, as well as her older brother. Again I
didn't hear her mention her mother, she simply said that her dad expected
her to learn skills so that she could look after her own kids one day. I
guess that went out the window when he found out she was gay.

Tino, on the other hand, was a real mummy's boy. He told us that his
parents had split up when he was young, that his dad was some kind of
nutritionist and that his mum had an accident at work meaning she retired
early.

"She must feel lost without you with her then?" I asked.

"Yeah that's what I was thinking. She's a strong woman though, I just hope
she tries to go out more and have some fun now that I'm gone."

"My mum's the same. My parents don't really speak to each other that much
and she doesn't have many friends. I kind of feel bad for leaving her."

Jane's attention began to fade, again I could sense something was up with
her mother. She'd mentioned briefly that her dad was abusive, even to her
mum, but I couldn't help but think there was more to it.

I decided to change the subject and so we began talking about our
degrees. Tino was studying business management and Jane was doing
dentistry. I was studying philosophy, politics and economics but they
thought I was mad for that. I'd hoped to be some kind of lecturer or
professor eventually, but with a degree like that, at a university as good
as Cambridge, it could take me pretty much anywhere. We talked for a while
about Tino's degree, about his optimistic vision for a business centred
around healthy and nutritious food. We later found out that he was a vegan,
which I admired him for, since I would find it next to impossible to live
without cheese. We went back to our rooms a little while later, I caught up
on some sleep since I was still a little hungover, and woke up at around 5
o'clock.

We all made dinner together, except for Jay who was still in his room. Jane
took charge as she was definitely the most experienced chef, and we sat
down and ate before heading out at 6:30. I was insanely nervous about what
would happen, what I would talk about with Luke, whether it would be
awkward or if there would be a natural connection. I couldn't help but
think I made it harder than it needed to be by inviting my entire flat out
with me, including a guy who I was almost certainly a racist and
potentially a homophobe. I wasn't ready to handle Jay, I wasn't even sure
what I thought about him was true but sometimes you just know with some
people. Besides, I wasn't the only person with reservations about him.

We made our way to the square where I said I'd meet Luke. We were slightly
early so I told them to go inside and order the first round of drinks while
I waited for him.

"Who's Luke?" Jay asked, slightly aggressively.

"Just a friend I made at a party last night."

"Oh. Okay." He said, which knocked his confidence a little. Perhaps he was
worried that this new guy was yet another person to challenge him. I wasn't
optimistic about how he'd behave with Luke, but quite frankly my attention
was focused on what to say when he turned up.

A few minutes later, Luke arrived. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a
loose white t-shirt. Not for the first time, I'd lost control of my words
the moment I was with him. A few steps away from me, he looked around,
seemingly checking if anyone I knew was there. I was standing about a metre
away from the door, but as soon as he was close enough, he reached for my
hand, interlocking my fingers with his. I was lost for words, so just
looked at his face, still as enticing as the portrait I held of him in my
head. He slowly pulled himself closer to me, I now knew what he was
doing. The adrenaline returned instantly as this gift from heaven ignored
my attempts at speech in search for something more.  His sweet smell
momentarily passed in a gush of wind as his face came closer to mine. He
took a moment to pause, our noses lightly touching as he leant slightly
upwards to meet my height. His eyes were closed, not allowing me to fall
into those seductive gems hidden behind the eyelashes that were now just
centimetres away from my own. I closed my own eyes and, without waiting a
moment longer, our lips met for only the second time. It was gentle, his
soft lips kissing both the top and bottom of mine before the intensity grew
stronger. At first, I was simply a bystander, allowing him to do as he
wished, until my own impatience got the better of me. I placed a hand on
the underside of his jaw, softly needing his cheek as I leaned forward a
little, taking my turn to gently kiss both the top and bottom of his lips.

We slowly parted, before I eventually said, "I can't explain.. what's
happening in my head right now but.. I need this more than you can
imagine."

We were still inches from each other, and by this point Luke's eyes were
open again, locked with my own, pulling me in.

"I want to know you more, Tristan. I already feel like I do but, there's
something different about you."

I leaned back in for a final kiss which was immediately met by even greater
enthusiasm. He parted slightly, only to come back and lightly bite my
bottom lip, this time with his tongue making contact as well. I followed
his lead, gently pulling my lips from his grasp and immediately going back
in, this time with both of our tongues interlocking, caressing each other's
mouths, our eyes closed and our bodies drifting closer and closer, until I
felt both of his hands reach around my waist and to the lower part of my
back.

"Don't make me wait any longer." He said with lust, the words falling out
of his mouth in a single whispering breath which fell upon my chin.

We kissed one final time before I slowly took a step back, his arms
returning from behind me and into my awaiting hands.

"Come on, let's not keep them waiting." I said, still staring deeply into
his eyes.

I turned and walked inside, almost forgetting to let go of his hands as we
headed up to where the group were sat, at a high wooden table with padded
seats.

"Guys this is Luke. Luke this is Jane, Tino, Olivia and Emily." I said as
we took a seat next to Tino and Jane, with the girls sat opposite us.

They all said hello and smiled knowingly to him, before Jane said with a
friendly face, "Don't worry, none of us are the homophobic one, he's went
to the bathroom."

We all laughed, "Well, we're not entirely sure yet, he could be fine with
it." Olivia said, which I guess was true.

"Well this should be fun either way." Luke joked, before Emily gestured
that Jay was on his way over from the bar.

He approached the table we were at and immediately noticed the new
face. "You're Tristan's friend." He said, almost as a statement, not
exactly inviting Luke into conversation.

"Yeah, Luke." He said, holding his hand out.

Jay paused, looked at Luke's hand and shook it, almost as hard as he shook
mine when we first met.

"And your name is..?" Luke insisted, matching Jay's stare that I was now
becoming used to.

"Oh, right. It's Jay. How old are you?" He asked strangely. Surely he would
know Luke was the same age, after all, we were all new to university and in
university halls which were only available to first year students.

"I'm 18, why?" Luke replied, giving Jay a strange look.

"No facial hair, at all. I had it when I was 15."

"Congratulations then, your mother must be proud." Luke said, quite
brutally, but drawing a laugh from everyone at the table.

Jay didn't seem to like this at all, we were all laughing, at him. He'd
been challenged for the first time since coming here and the look of
distaste on his face created a tension in the group, added to the fact that
Luke retained eye contact with him from the moment they shook hands. It
seemed Jay had found his sparring partner.

We were almost awaiting Jay's response, but he remained unmoved, still
glaring at Luke with a face as straight as the sexuality he tried so hard
to project.

To break the awkwardness, Jane uttered the words that could excite any
student, "who wants another pint? I'm paying," which was met with a more
than positive response from the group. Even Jay broke his gaze with Luke
and nodded his head. Jane went alone to buy the round and returned a few
minutes later with a tray of beer and a shot each. While she was away, the
table became divided. Jay turned his attention away from myself and Luke
and onto the two girls, who just seemed too nice to turn him away, despite
having their reservations about him. Luke and I had an opportunity to talk,
but not about the things I would have liked. It was hard to express what I
was truly feeling to him when across the table sat a guy with an insane
inferiority complex listening to every word. I did get the opportunity to
ask some basic questions, questions that I'd usually ask someone within the
first few minutes of meeting them. I found out he was studying English
literature, and that he lived in an area close to London, leading to him
and Tino talking about where they had family who turned out to live within
a few miles of each other.

Luke was a natural at this. He'd been thrown into a group of people he
didn't know, including a guy who was pretty much comparing dick sizes and
me, someone who moments ago he'd kissed, yet showed no sign of nerves in
front of the group. He had confidence I could only dream of having,
laughing and joking with myself and Tino without a care in the world. Even
the girls stopped listening to Jay and joined in listening to Luke, telling
a story about a London bus driver who had an obsession with one of his
friends, offering to divert from the route just to take her home.

"Oh my god how creepy." Emily said, then bringing up her own account of a
solo bus journey with a bus driver who was a little too friendly.

When the tray of shots and beers had arrived, Jay decided to take charge,
seemingly feeling a little left out from the conversation. "Let's play a
game." He said, handing out the shots and pints to everyone, leaving Luke
until last.

"A drinking game?" I asked.

"Sure. How about 'never have I ever'?" He said, a grin forming on his face.

I didn't like the sound of this. If you haven't heard of it, this game
entails a person making a statement. If the statement is true for anyone
sat around the table, they must take a drink. For example, "never have I
ever brushed my teeth." For anyone who has ever brushed their teeth, they
must drink. The game doesn't have a winner, but usually gives you a pretty
good insight about a person, especially about their sexual experiences, as
people are obsessed with the topic in this game.

We all reluctantly nodded, although I felt this was about to take a turn
for the worse.

Of course, Jay began with a fairly simple statement. "Never have I ever
kissed someone." Everyone at the table took a sip of their drink, with Luke
and I momentarily glancing at each other, a slight smirk coming from both
of us.

Olivia went next. "Never have I ever walked in on my parents having sex."
This was met with a few laughs, with only Olivia and Emily taking a drink.

"Wait, do you guys like, have the same parents or something?" Jane joked.

They giggled too, adding "maybe it's just a common thing in Manchester." We
laughed, it was all in good fun. We followed up by asking the girls how
they became so close and how they ended up at the same university
together. Turns out they were friends since a young age, and their parents
were good friends too. This prompted another story about how their parents
had accidentally ended up at a gay bar when they were younger, with one of
their friends getting an unexpected surprise when a 'woman' didn't quite
live up to the traditional sense of the word. Everyone seemed to be letting
their guards down, everyone except Jay who was adamant that we continued
with the game, not even contributing to the conversation about the girls'
parents gay bar experience. Again this made me confirm my suspicions, but
at least he didn't say anything straight up homophobic about it.

 In the midst of the conversation, Luke leaned over to me and said, "You
can lie if you want, he's going to ask about sex next, I can tell."

I looked at him and smiled, before subtly moving my hand to touch his
thigh, stroking it softly as I remained engaged in the conversation.

"Right, next person. Emily." Jay said abruptly.

"All right, calm down." She said before thinking for a second. "Never have
I ever shaved my pubes." This was also met with laughter, and everyone at
the table drinking. Again this prompted another conversation, this time it
was Tino telling us about a bad experience with a pair of scissors when he
was preparing himself for a genital 'tidy' as he called it.

"To cut a long story short, I nearly cut my long story short." He said,
which made Luke laugh the most. We were all close to tears from laughing,
even Jay broke a smile this time.

Jane and Tino had their turns, the first non sexual statements which came
as a relief to me. Tino's asking whether people had been in a fight, to
which surprisingly all of us took a drink, and Jane's statement asked about
falling over in public. I realised that in the next few rounds of this
games I was going to be in yet another difficult situation. At some point,
I would have to either lie about having sex, or admit to being a
virgin. Neither of which I wanted to do.

Luke was next, "never have I ever kissed a stranger at a party." He said,
to which everyone took a drink and, yet again our eyes met with a wink
quickly passing those beautiful eyes of his.

It was my turn. I suppressed every inch of my body that told me not to
utter this next sentence, pulling every ounce of courage from within me,
still secretly holding onto Luke's thigh under the table, "Never have I
ever kissed someone of the same sex."

A moment of silence hit the group. The same expression of disbelief
appeared on everyone's face as I was the first to take a drink. Jay looked
at me dead in the eye, trying to figure out if I was serious or simply
joking. Jane quickly followed suit, tapping her glass on the table to
switch Jays attention onto her. She took a drink too, again meeting Jay's
gaze. I looked over and smiled at her, and then over to Luke who had the
biggest grin I'd seen him make. He took a big gulp from his drink and
leaned in towards me, our lips again coming together, this time in front of
people, in front of my friends...

END OF CHAPTER 3