Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:44:01 -0800
From: tenniswiz12@msn.com
Subject: Three Roads: Chapter 37: This Old House

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Three Roads: Chapter 37, This Old House
======================================================

"You bitch!" Joey said as soon as Cooper opened his door.

"Never yell at an Asian man when he first opens the door."

"Why? What are you going to nun-chuck me to death?" Joey said as he squeezed
past his friend into the room.

"I just might.  What do you want?"

"I'm mad at you."

"For what?"

"One, you didn't tell me Toby was driving up today."

"I didn't know you guys were close like that." Cooper smiled.

"You know I'm trying to get into his pants!  Now he's single, I'm definitely
going for it."

"Hold your horses little one.  Toby's had a rough semester.  He doesn't need
things complicated."

"Exactly.  A good roll in the sheets would do him good.  It worked for you."
Joey smiled.

"Are you referring to the pity fuck I threw you?"

"The second reason I'm mad at you," Joey said, ignoring Cooper's last
comment, "is you didn't tell me you were moving out of the halls next year."

"Really?  I honestly thought I did."

"My feelings are kind of hurt, actually."

"Dude, I'm sorry.  I thought I told you."
"It's not that.  I wish you would have asked me if I wanted to move in too."

"Didn't you say that you were going to stay in the dorms as long as you
could stand them because of all the nakedness you get to see in the
showers?"

"Yeah."

"So I don't understand."

"Cooper, it would have been nice just to have been asked.  I would have said
no, but I thought we were good enough friends by now."

"We are man.  I'm sorry, I just wasn't thinking."

"Ok.  Don't let it happen again."

"I won't." Cooper said.  He walked over and grabbed Joey in a headlock and
messed up Joey's already slightly unkempt hair by running his hand threw it.

"Asshole." Joey said pushing Cooper off of him.

"You know you love it."

"So how's Eric?"

"Fine."

"Are we still crushing?"

"I told you I was trying to get over that."

"Moving in with him is hardly trying to get over him."

"Toby will be there too." Cooper said defensively.

"Mmhmm.  And you better invite me over."

"I will."

"Have you given any thought to what I said a few weeks ago?" Joey asked.

"Which brilliant idea was that?" Cooper said sarcastically.

"About getting laid.  At least go out, find some loser to date, just so you
can have a little bit of sex."

"But that's the thing.  I've never really had a relationship you know.  I've
always just kind of done the whole fooling around thing and it's been fun,
but...it'd be nice to have someone look at me and see me."

"I thought you dated in high school."

"I did.  And I guess you could say I did have a relationship.  But that's
when I first was experiencing being with guys so it was all just so new and
exciting, but it wasn't really that serious."

"But why Eric?  I guess I don't understand when this happened.  Or why."

Cooper paused for a second, "All the stuff with Kevin..."

"I knew it." Joey interrupted.

"No, hear me out.  When I walked in on Kevin with that girl...I was so hurt.
And for days I just kept wondering why it happened.  And  Eric was there for
me.  And I guess at some point it hit me that I was crying over someone who
would do what Kevin did to me, when I had Eric right there in front of me.
Someone who is...so caring and kind.  Seriously Joey it's been so hard for me
these past few months because I just want to hold him.  Not even because I
love him, but to see his face after he broke up with Jon and some of the
things his mother said to him...I know I could protect him and make him feel
better."

"Wow, I don't know what to say."

Cooper shrugged, "Me either."

**********

Tim awoke to find the numbers 8:30 staring back at him.  He turned to face
upright, staring at his ceiling.  Right now he'd be walking across campus,
heading to his first final of the morning, but since he'd been dismissed
from the university, he found himself wondering what he would have been
doing had he still been enrolled.  He climbed out of bed and debated on
whether or not to put on a shirt and pants.  He had enjoyed having the house
to himself where he could walk around in his underwear freely, but he
decided to don a robe as he headed out of his room and to the kitchen.  He
jumped a little when he hit the cold tile in the kitchen.  Tina Henderson
glanced up casually at her son and then went back to reading whatever had
her attention.

"Good morning." Tim smiled.

"Morning." His mother said dryly.

"I didn't expect you to be here. I'm glad I decided to put on some clothes."
Tim joked attempting to break the ice.

"I decided to go in a little late this morning."

"I see."

Tim went over the to the refrigerator and stared into it for a few seconds,
deciding on what he had a taste for that morning.  He pulled out a carton of
eggs and sat them on the counter.  Tina looked up from her book to see what
her son was doing, "Can you not use the eggs, I'm going to make cookies
later tonight."

"There's a whole carton left."

"I don't know how many cookies I'm going to make."

"Ok." Tim said putting the eggs back.  He settled on having a bowl of Honey
Nut Cheerios because he couldn't imagine anything his mom could make with
them.  He sat down at the table and he swore he heard his mom give a sigh of
annoyance.  He decided to try and break the ice again, "I've been thinking
that maybe I should get a job or something."

"Mmhmm."

"Nothing big, I still have to hear back from the judge and stuff."

"Tim, I'm trying to read ok?"

"Alright.  I guess I'll just go eat in my room." Tim said.  As he picked up
his bowl of cereal and walked around the table, he stared at the back of his
mother; he wasn't sure of what to say or what to think, but he had a bad
feeling that her attitude towards him wasn't going to change any time soon.

*******

"Is that him?" Cooper said pointing out a car to Eric.

"No."

"Is that him?"

"That was a woman in that car."

"It looked like Toby from here!"

"Just be quiet.  He said he's just gotten off the freeway he'll be here in a
minute."

"Aren't you excited?  We haven't seen him in weeks."

"I am excited.  Oh, there he is!"

Both boys watched with excitement as they saw Toby turn left into the
parking lot.  He sped towards them and began honking his horn and waving his
arm outside his window.  He pulled to a stop in a parking spot right in
front of where his two friends were standing.  Cooper didn't wait for him to
get out of the car as he reached in through the open window, grabbed Toby's
face, and planted a big kiss on him.  Toby looked shocked as Cooper pulled
back, but he soon had a smile on his face.

"Get out of the car," Cooper said, "I want a hug."

"After that kiss you can have whatever you want." Toby laughed as he gave
Cooper a hug.

"Oh my God move!" Eric said poking Cooper in the ribs.  Cooper finally moved
out of his way and Eric and Toby embraced.  It was the first time in a very
long time that either could remember being comfortable with being this
intimate with the other.

"Do you need help bringing up your stuff?" Eric asked.

"Naw, it's just a duffle bag."

"Then grab it and let's catch up." Cooper said.

"Can we go eat actually, I'm starving to death."

"You didn't eat on the way up here?" Eric asked.

"I did before I left super early this morning, but I wanted to get up here
as fast as I could.  I've really missed you guys."

"We missed you too buddy." Cooper smiled.

"If we're gonna eat we better go now.  We both have finals at noon." Eric
said.

"Son of a bitch!" Cooper yelled.

Eric rolled his eyes, "Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere on campus is fine.  I actually kind of miss it."

"Alright, well let's go put your stuff away."

*******
"It's so surreal to be here right now." Toby said as took a bite off his
hamburger, "It's strange to be back after so long."

"It hasn't been that long." Eric said matter of factly.

"Yeah," Toby said, "It's been two months."

"Wow, time flies." Eric said.

"So any news on the apartment hunting?" Toby said hopeful.

"No, but we still have plenty of time to look." Eric said.

"Yeah cause we got a little pussy boy right here." Cooper said motioning to
Eric.

"I don't care what you say.  I'm not living in a place where a crazy bag man
has free access to where I live."

"How are we gonna work out chores and stuff?  Like doing dishes." Toby
asked.

"Everyone can take care of their own stuff, meaning we wash all our own
dishes."  Eric said.

"Yeah right.  That shit doesn't work.  We'll all get lazy and we'll be
eating off of paper plates."  Cooper said.

"We can figure it out later, but now we have to head to our finals."

Cooper whined, "Do I have to go?"

"Yes yes, it won't be that bad.  You studied for it, you'll do fine."

"If not it's all good.  I have a solid A right now, so I can fail this final
pretty miserably and still pass the class."

"Lovely." Eric said dryly, "Do you want the keys to my room until we're
done?" He said looking at Toby.

"Yeah, that would be great."

Eric took his key and access card off his key ring and handed them to Toby,
"Here you go.  I should be back in like an hour and a half or so."

Cooper scoffed, "I plan to be done with mine in half an hour."

"How is that possible?" Eric asked him.

"First, don't spend longer than fifteen seconds on any question.  If you
don't have an idea after fifteen seconds then you don't know the answer so
you might as well guess and move on, which brings me to my second rule.
When in doubt, pick C or the longest answer, and if C is the longest answer,
you don't even have to read the question."

Eric just shook his head, "We'll see you later."

*******

"Bliss?"

"Hey Richie, how's it going?"

"Yeah, hey Richie how's it going?" Melinda waved.

"I'm good, who's this?" He said looking at Bliss.

"This is my good friend Melinda.  She has the apartment the guys were
thinking about taking."

"If you ask me everyone needs a crazy man in their life."

Bliss giggled, "You are so crazy."

"What are you guys up to?"

"We're just having lunch and catching up.  Are you just passing by?"

"Pretty much.  I wanted to grab something real quick before I go take my
final."

"Alright Richie, call me later."

"I will, nice meeting you..."

"Melinda.  It was very nice meeting you to Richie.  I'm sure we'll run into
each other again soon."

"I hope so.  See you girls later."
************

"Yeah, can I have a double cheeseburger?" Richard asked a few minutes later.

The woman behind the counter nodded and Richard handed her a five dollar
bill.  After taking his change, Richard decided that he would circle the
seating area because it would take him a few minutes to find a table where
he could put his stuff down; by then his food should be ready.  He
remembered that he had a class soon and as he turned to look at the wall
where the clock hung, he saw Toby throwing away his trash.  Richard froze.
Besides for a few awkward minutes that Toby had talked to him online a few
weeks after he left, the two of them had had no contact.  From time to time
Richard had thought about Toby; wondering what he was doing, if he was ok,
if he wished they were still together.  Richard knew the answer to the
latter.  He continued to stay frozen in place wanting to simply ignore the
fact that he had seen Toby, but not sure if he could go on with the rest of
his day knowing he had had a chance to talk to him.  Toby suddenly looked to
his left, almost unconsciously, and he too froze for a second, taking in who
he was seeing.  During the drive up here, he wondered and prayed that he
would run into Richard. Now that it happened he wasn't sure what to do.
Toby began to walk towards Richard but stopped after a few steps.  Toby
stared hard into his eyes and Richard made a gesture that told Toby he could
keep moving forward.

"Hi." Toby said.

Richard was bothered by how close Toby had stopped in front of him, but he
smiled anyway, "Hi."

"How have you been?"

"I've been ok.  How have you been?"

"Ok.  I'm better now."

"Glad to be back?"

"I'm just here for a visit.  But yeah.  I was hoping I would get to see
you."

"Are you staying with the guys?" Richard asked quickly.

"Yeah."

"So I guess you're back in with them?"

"Yeah," Toby couldn't help but smile, "They're awesome.  Especially after
everything that's happened."

"They're cool guys."

"I'm really glad that I saw you." Toby repeated.

Richard looked down to the ground, "It's nice seeing you to."

"I really want to sit down and talk and kind of...explain things I guess."

"It's not necessary."

"I know.  All the more reason to do it."

The woman behind the counter got Richard's attention and handed him his
hamburger.

"Thanks,"  He turned back to Toby, "I need to get to class."

"Oh, ok.  I would really like to talk Richard, if at all possible."

"I'll give you a call if I do.  I have finals and I need to study.  You know
how it is."

"Ok, well I'm not leaving until Friday morning."

"Alright, I'll call. Bye."

By the time Toby was gesturing for a hug, Richard had already taken off
without looking back.  Toby watched him go until he was out of sight.  He
ran his hand over his right ring finger and made a promise to himself that
if Richard didn't call him by Thursday night, that he would find a way to
make Richard listen to what he had to say.

*******

"Man, I never thought I'd say I missed this food." Toby said as he bit into
a piece of bacon.

"It's crazy to think that in a few months we'll have to be cooking all our
own food."  Eric said in between a bite of eggs.

"Do you want to go visit Tim later?" Toby asked, "I'd like to go see him."

"Yeah, we can do that.  I haven't talked to him in a few days."

"Ok cool, let's do it.  Cooper is taking a long time to get down here."

"It usually happens that way," Eric said, "I usually call him twice.  One
just to get him somewhat awake and then one like ten minutes later to
actually get him out of bed."

Toby laughed, "Just like a little boy...so you guys are pretty good friends?"

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Eric asked confused by the question.

"It's just funny cause you guys didn't start out too friendly."

"I guess not, but we didn't really know each other.  Are you going somewhere
with this?"

"Would you ever date him?"

"Did Cooper say something?"

"No no no.  I'm asking cause I want to know.  Cooper did give me the run
down of what happened before we went to the police station that night.  I
had no idea that happened."

"Yeah, well I had no idea he felt that way."

"Really?" Toby said not believing his friend.

"Not at all.  We're friends, good friends."

"Richard and I started off as friends and..."

"Look how that turned out."

"Ouch." Toby said obviously hurt by Eric's remark.

"I'm really sorry, that just came out."

"It's cool.  Here comes our boy."

Eric turned to see Cooper walking towards them with a piece of paper in his
hand, "It's about time." He said as Cooper sat at the table.

"You're lucky I'm even here.  It is too damn early in the morning to be up
just chit chatting."

"Toby was hungry and you have a final later today."

"Yeah later today not at the crack of fuckin dawn!"

"It's like 9 a.m."

"Alright!" Toby said laughing, "Jesus christ, you guys haven't changed at
all.  What's on the paper?"

"So last night I was searching the internet for porn..."

Eric shook his head, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Who's the one who was skipping class to jack off a few weeks ago?" Cooper
reminded him.

Eric turned red and Toby looked at Eric, "I guess some things do change."

"So what's on the paper?" Eric said trying to change the subject.

"Anyway, I was looking for porn last night when I got the idea that I should
check the off campus website that our student government runs.  Yeah,
they're actually good for something." Cooper said to no one in particular.

"Stay focused." Eric said.

"Yeah, so I saw this," he said putting the piece of paper down in the middle
of the table.  "It's perfect for us."

"A house?" Eric said.

"For only $1,400 a month?!" Toby exclaimed.

"Yeah." Cooper shrugged.

"No way." Eric said looking at the paper more closely.

"Yeah, I'm skeptical about this too," Toby said, "Three bedroom apartments
don't go for much less than this and this is a three bedroom house."

"Was there a picture of the house on the site?" Eric asked.

Cooper shook his head, "There wasn't."

"It's probably too good to be true then." Eric said.

"No, I think we should go see it at least.  You don't have a final, I have a
final like three hours from now, and Toby's just bumming it here.  It can't
hurt to take a look."

Toby looked at Eric who didn't give any signs of being against it, "Then
I'll drive."

********

"Is this the place?" Toby said as he got out of the car.

"I think so," Eric said as he looked at the piece of paper, "Yeah, this is
it."

"It looks old." Cooper said.

"It's not old.  It's like...rustic or something."

"No, it's old and there are probably termites eating it as we speak."

"You haven't even seen it and you're already complaining."

"Speaking of which..." Toby said talking over his two friends, "let's go in."

The three boys made their way up the driveway each looking around and taking
notice of the dull gray color that had been used to paint the house.

"Should we just go in?" Eric asked looking at his friends.

"Yeah, why not?" Toby shrugged.

"What if some guy is fucking his wife?"

Toby snickered and Eric turned to Cooper with a disgusted look, "Was that
really necessary?"

"I'm being serious, you don't know what's behind closed doors."

"He has a point." Toby smiled.

"Please don't encourage him."

Eric knocked on the door and almost immediately it was answered by a very
attractive young man.  The three friends were so enamored by the man's good
looks that they all stood staring at him.  Eric thought that the man had the
most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, Toby paid attention to the definition
in his arms, and Cooper was sure that he could see a bulge looming in the
front of the young man's jeans.

"Hi." He said dryly.

"Oh, hi," Toby said clearing his throat, "We're here to see the house."

"Yeah.  Come in."

Eric and Cooper gave each other a glance.  The guy walked ahead with Toby
and Eric tried to listen in as he spoke with Cooper, "You know you'd think
he'd be all warm and stuff since he wants us to take the house."

"He could run me over with his car and I'd still let him do me.  He is
fucking hot."

"He is."

"Hey guys," Toby said closing the few feet of distance between him and his
friends, "Mike said we can walk around the house and see what we think."

"Mike.  Mike.  Yeah I could definitely scream that name." Cooper said.

"Yeah me too." Eric said walking away.  Toby began to follow Eric, but Toby
grabbed his shoulder.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"What Eric just said."

"Yeah, so?"

"So?  He wants that guy."

"So do you." Toby reminded him.

"No I don't.  I just think he's hot."

"And so does Eric what's wrong with...oooooh.  Someone's jealous."

"Yeah, so." Cooper said throwing it back at him.

"Well you started it," Toby laughed, "You shouldn't have said anything."

"We might as well go, I don't want to live here anymore."

Toby laughed again, "Yeah right...Hey Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"Before we start looking around, I've got to ask...is the house really only
$1,400 a month."

"It really is." Mike smiled.

"Then why is it still available?"

"I'll be honest with you guys, cause I was a student not too long ago.  This
isn't in the greatest neighborhood.  Don't get me wrong, gunshots won't be
going off or anything, but there are nicer neighborhoods to raise your kids
ya know?"

"Not for this price though." Toby said.

"True, and plus," Mike hesitated, "Someone died in this house."

"Oh my God, who?" Cooper asked in shock.

"It's not like you're going to know who it was." Eric said.

"The woman's name was Catherine."

Cooper gasped, "Not B.M.C.?"

"B.M.C?" Toby asked.

"Big Momma Catherine.  She is the two time hot dog eating champion of the
greater Sunnydale area. Tell me you guys have heard of her."  Cooper said as
he looked at his two friends.

Toby shook his head while Eric responded with, "Can't say that I have.  So
she died in the house?" Eric asked, turning back to Mike.

"She did. There's also been some dumbass kids running around the
neighborhood saying the house is haunted and apparently it's become truth as
no one wants to step foot in this house."

Mike saw the three friends exchange glances amongst each other as if they
were all trying to read what the other was thinking, "I'm going to step out
back and make a phone call.  I'll be a few minutes, if you guys want to talk
amongst yourselves."

Before they even heard Mike's footsteps fade and the sliding glass door
close, the boys were already talking on what they were going to do.

"Can we really stay in a haunted house?" Eric asked.

"If the house is even haunted." Toby said.

"I have no issues living with a ghost, especially Big Momma C; she's good
people."

"The guy did say it's in a not so good part of town." Eric reminded his
friends."

"He said there are better places, not that this was terrible." Toby
interjected.

"If it was good enough for B.M.C. it's good enough for me." Cooper said.

"Ok, ok," Eric said putting up his hand, "Why don't we take a look around
the house and see if we even want to live here."

"Meet back here in a couple minutes?" Toby asked.

"Is this the living room?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah I think so." Toby nodded.

"Damn it's pretty big."

"Yeah, it is nice, huh?" Eric commented.

*************************************

"Do you think we'll get the house?" Eric asked Toby as they made their way
to Tim's house.

"I bet we do.  Mike sounded pretty desperate to get someone in there.  He
did cut the security deposit in half."

"Ok, so Cooper's parents must be rich.  They were able to just say yes to
him borrowing $2,100 on the spot like that."

"We are going to pay them back."  Toby said.

"Well yeah, but I couldn't go ask my mom to borrow that kind of money.  I
don't know if she even makes that in a month."

"I know what you mean.  My parents are good with money, but there's no way I
could borrow that much money from them."

"Yeah.  I really loved that house.  I didn't feel like it was haunted if
that makes any sense."

"Me neither," Toby said, "I loved the house too.  The rooms were nice and
spacy, the living room was really big, but that backyard was fantastic."

"Oh my God yeah it was." Eric smiled.

"The only thing I didn't like was the outside of the house.  I mean the lawn
was nice and shit, but the outside was so plain and like an ugly gray
color."

"True," Eric started, "but the important stuff will be on the inside.  All
the memories we'll make in that house, all the laughter and good times."

"Yeah, you're so right," Toby smiled as he looked over to Eric, "Man, I hope
we get this house!" Toby said banging on the steering wheel.

The inspector gadget theme song halted any further conversation as Toby
reached nto his pocket to dig out his cell phone, "Hello?"

"Hey it's me."

"Tim?  Why are you whispering?"

"Because my mom came home early from work.  I'm in the bathroom you guys
can't come over."

"Ok, well I'm leaving the day after tomorrow so I don't know if I'll be able
to see you."

"I know, but if something changes I'll call you."

"Alright." Toby said ending the call, "His mom's home early."

"Yeah, I heard.  She's giving him a really hard time about everything."

"I'm not surprised," Toby said, making a u- turn to head back to the dorms,
"I've met her.  She was nice and all, but she had a very...let's just say I
could tell she runs a tight ship."

Eric laughed, "Yeah, I got the same impression the one time I met her."

"This sounds weird, but like all this talk about the house and everything
that's happened with Tim and school has made me feel older.  Like this
February I'll be 21.  It's just really crazy to think about it.  I'm not
like a little kid anymore."

"Yeah, I get the same feeling too," Eric admitted, "I just hope life doesn't
pass me by."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'll turn 20 over the summer and...there's so many things I'd like to
do that I haven't gotten the chance to do yet."

"I assume these are sexual things."

"Most of them yeah."

"The fact that you can even say that out loud, when two years ago you were
pretending to be straight shows a lot of strength."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"No really.  You know how I feel about this kind of stuff.  I think it's sad
that so many people live their whole loves never being honest about
themselves, you've made big improvements."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome.  Now we just have to get you and Cooper shacked up."

"Yeah right."

"We got interrupted earlier, but you never answered my question.  Would you
ever date him?"

"I don't know why people keep saying we'd be a good couple."

"Just answer the question."

"In theory...yes, I would date him."

"Ok, are you attracted to him?"

"Toby..."

"Just answer the question."

"Of course I am attracted to him.  We're friends."

"You know what I mean." Toby said looking at him.

"You better not tell Cooper any of this."

"I won't."

"Promise on your ankle."

"That's low.  That ankle has given me a lot of trouble."

"I know which is all the more reason for you to keep your promise."

"Fine, I swear on my ankle."

Eric took a deep breath, "I think there's always been an attraction between
Cooper and I.  He's a good looking guy, and he's funny and a good friend."

"But..."

"But, with Jon it was always fun and kind of light hearted.  With Cooper...I
just have this feeling that it will be a real relationship.  Not that it
won't be fun and great, but that I would have to be committed to it."

"A guy like Cooper might not ever come around again.  So if you're not
ready, then ok, but you should be aware he might be gone by the time you
are."

"I know.  Being friends is more than fine with me.  I'm not against there
being more to our relationship, but I know I have to be fully ready for it
or I'll break his heart and I can't do that."

"Yeah."

"Can we stop talking about this now please?"

"Yeah."

*************************

"Richard?"

Richard looked to his left and saw his ex boyfriend getting up off of one of
the many wooden benches scattered around the residence hall complex.

"What are you doing here?"

"I've been waiting out here for you to come out."

Richard couldn't help but laugh, "Why didn't you just call me?"

"I was afraid you'd avoid me so I thought this was a better way."

"I see."

"I'm leaving to go back home in an hour, so I really needed to talk to you
before I left."

"We probably would have run into each other eventually back in L.A."

"Maybe, but I wanted to make sure I got this off of my chest."

"Well," Richard said throwing his backpack on the bench, "You have to make
this quick so I'm not late for my final."

"Ok.  I need to own what I did to fuck up our relationship.  I think I could
have trusted you more and I realize that I should have never doubted that
you loved me.  I am so unbelievably sorry that I cheated on you with Tim.
It never should have happened and I take full responsibility for hurting you
and not being honest with you.  I would give up anything to get back with
you. So if there's anything I can do..."

"There's not anything." Richard said firmly.

Toby blinked hard, trying to keep himself from crying, "I understand."

"Thank you for saying all those things though. Right now I want to kiss you
so badly and be with you, cause it sounds like you've finally got everything
I've been trying to show you in the past year."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because, I think we need time apart from each other, real time apart.  So I
want you to go on and date other people and have fun and live life."

"You've said that before." Toby said.

Richard could tell there was a bit of anger in Toby's voice, but he also
knew that Toby was restraining himself, "I know.  But, I really mean it this
time.  I won't in any way interfere with anyone you choose to date."

Richard waited for Toby to respond, but Toby didn't trust his voice enough
to say anything.  Richard glanced at his watch, "Toby, I have to go."

"Ok. Before you go..." Toby pulled the ring Richard had given him a few months
before off his finger, "This is yours."

"I'd forgotten all about it." Richard said, taking it from Toby's
outstretched hand.  He put the ring into his pocket and threw his backpack
over his shoulder.

"Don't forget me." Toby said.

"Of course not, you're unforgettable Toby.  And plus we're going to be
friends.  I'll be there for you."

Toby laughed, "Ok."

Richard walked forward and started to give Toby a hug before pulling back,
"What the hell." He said before kissing his ex with the passion he still had
left for him.  When the kiss ended and he pulled back to look Toby in the
eyes, part of him knew that him and Toby could go back to the way they were
if he just said the word.  He also felt in his heart that if they ever had a
realistic chance of making it work permanently between them, they had to
take this break.

"Ok, now we're friends."

"Friends."

"Well then friend," Richard said as he began to walk away, "I'll see you in
L.A."

************

Cooper smiled widely as he filled out the change of major form.  He looked
it over to make sure he hadn't forgotten to do anything.  He saved marking
the box next to Sociology for last, "I feel like this is a big moment for
me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I feel like I'm declaring my purpose to the world."

"I declared my purpose to the world two years ago.  It's not that big a
deal." Toby smirked.

Cooper stuck up his middle finger and smiled again as he finally checked the
box that said Sociology on the form.  He handed it to the woman behind the
counter before going to stand next to Toby.  Eric, just a few seconds behind
Cooper, handed the woman his form.  Both Cooper and Eric were quiet as the
three friends walked out of the office and into the bright beautiful day;
Both trying to cast themselves twenty years into the future, wondering if
they had made the right decision.

"So...I know what you chose," Toby said looking at Cooper, "but what did you
declare as your major?"

"Psychology," Eric said with a weak smile, "After thinking about it, I think
I want to be able to counsel families.  I'd like to get a concentration in
like human sexuality or adolescence if possible.  I'd love to be able to
help gay youth in some way."

"I think that's a great idea." Toby smiled.

"Yeah," Cooper smiled, "I think you'd be great at that."

"Thanks."

Cooper giggled randomly and saw the strange looks his friend were giving
him, "Sorry, it's my phone.  I had it on vibrate and it tickled."

"Wow, you're that hard up?" Toby said.

"You wish. Hello?  Oh hey Mike...yeah, uh huh...uh huh...uh huh...HELL YEAH!
Thanks.  We got it!!!"

"Oh my God no way!" Eric yelled.

"No shit?" Toby asked.

"No shit.  He said it was formality, but he had to check everything out, but
we got it.  The house is ours boys." Cooper laughed.

"Unbelievable.  I can't believe it." Eric said.

"Neither can I." Toby followed.

"Too bad B.M.C. had to die for us to get it."

"Will you shut up with that already."  Eric rolled his eyes.

"Hey, she was a woman who inspired many people."

"I hope you guys are taking the two rooms closest to each other, so you
don't disturb me with your arguing."  Toby said over his two friends.

"He's already bitching and we haven't even moved in yet." Cooper laughed.
He suddenly had the urge to put his arm around Eric's shoulders.  He was
glad that Eric did not seem put off by the action.  Toby, not wanting to be
left out, put his arm on top of Cooper's arm that was resting on Eric's
shoulder.  The three friends couldn't help but giggle at how silly they
probably looked, but as they headed back to the dorms, they walked arm to
shoulder and giggled all the way home.


Thanks for taking the time to read the story.  I would love to hear from you
guys on what you think about the story; any positive comments and
constructive criticisms are always appreciated.  drop me a line at
tenniswiz12@msn.com.  See you guys next week!