Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2018 23:42:58 -0400 From: Farank McMe Subject: New Start with Pain: Devon This story is complete fiction. Any resemblances to persons or events in real-life are purely coincidental. Please leave now if you are underage or don't like stories of a homosexual nature. Otherwise, please enjoy the story. Please consider donating to Nifty as they need your help to continue to provide these wonderful stories. http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html Feedback is welcome as this Part 2 of my very first story. My email address is at the end of this chapter. Devon Chapter 1 - The Next Step A preamble: This story is a sequel to the previous story, "A New Start With Pain." However, it is a standalone story. It will certainly help you have a deeper appreciation for this story if you take the time to read "A New Start With Pain." But it is not necessary. -- Samual Blake, proofreader / editor Devon's POV Well it's now August. Riley and I are getting ready to head off to college. As luck would have it we were accepted at the same school. Both Riley and I were still dealing with sad emotions because it has only been a few months since Kurt's death. Both of us have been very supportive of each other. And our families have also been a tremendous source of strength. During the summer almost every free moment I had I went to the memorial tree and plaque that was planted in Kurt's honor at the football field. Sometimes I would just get lost in time and lose track of it all until Riley, Ryan or Sheriff Potter came to find me. Kurt's death has been hard on all of us. The Potters losing their son and brother, Riley losing his best friend from early childhood and me losing my lover, the man who asked me to marry him just 5 days before he was killed. We battled it all. Different bullies during high school and my crazy parents who tried to have Kurt killed. But in the end it was a stupid drunk driver who killed Kurt and messed everything up. So now the time has come to try and take the next step. Riley and I are headed to the same college and we will be rooming together. Riley is planning to major in Physical Fitness and Sports Therapy. I plan on majoring in Science and Mathematics. The funny thing is we both want to be teachers. It was getting very emotional at the Potter household. They have been my foster parents for over a year and a half. So with me heading off to college and the loss of Kurt, it was a somber day when Riley and I left. But one of the nice things is that the school is only a little over a 3 hours drive back home. It will be a good distance to come home once and awhile but far enough away such that it will not be an every day event to come home. When we got to our room we found it was a nice set up, considering it was a dorm. There was a common room with 2 bedrooms flanking it. But we had to use a communal shower at the end of the hall. Riley and I went to freshmen student orientation and then we had dinner and walked around campus and met some of our dorm mates. The next day Riley had football orientation so he was going to be gone all day. I wandered off to the mathematics building just to check it out. I met a few other students and started to develop some friendships. As we visited we soon realized it was well past lunch time so we headed over to the student union to eat. I got back to our room around 4 and was tired so I took a nap. At about 7 the slamming of our dorm door woke me up. I went into the common area and saw Riley sitting on the couch. He looked pissed off, so I asked him what's up. He told me that it was a hard first day with the team and that a lot of the upper class guys were nice but they asked a lot of questions about Kurt. I was happy that they knew about him but was also sad. I sat down next to Riley and put my arm over his shoulder and kind of held him. Riley told me that there were a few guys who are also freshman like him but that they were complete assholes to him and it just rubbed him the wrong way. He also mentioned that he invited some of his teammates over for pizza tomorrow. Once he relaxed I told him about my day and the guys I met and had lunch with. We both agreed that we did like it here. We were determined to get the events of the last 2 years behind us and make everyone back home proud of us. It was getting late so we figured we better head off to get something to eat. We stopped at the front desk to get suggestions for places to eat and also good place to order pizza for tomorrow. The young guy at the desk gave us some suggestions and we chatted with him for a few minutes. I found out he is a sophomore and lives right down the hall from us. He is also taking some of the same classes as me. We thanked him and as we were walking away Riley turned back and invited him to join us tomorrow around 6. He smiled and said he would take us up on our invitation and thanked us. As we walked out the door to go get some food Riley laughed at me and said, "You do realize that "green" eyes was flirting with you back there don't you?" I blushed and said in a sad tone, "No. I do not think I am ready for that kind of relationship yet." Riley put his arm over my shoulder and said, "I understand that. But you can make friends and talk to hot guys. Just maybe you will find someone that will help heal your pain and also work with you to experience love again." As a tear ran down my cheek I looked at Riley and said, "If I fell in love again this soon it would feel like a betrayal to Kurt." Riley stopped walking and turned to look at me straight in my eyes and said flat out, "Kurt would not want you to live like this and he would definitely not see it as a betrayal of your love to him. He knew your love for him was deep and genuine. I am not saying go out and find a new boyfriend right away. All I am saying is mingle with some of the hot guys and allow love to blossom within you again when you discover that the right chemistry is happening between you and a new friend. I know Kurt would not want you to wither in your emotions over him. Your love and memories of Kurt are something you will always have. Someday soon I hope you will be able to share your memories of Kurt with a new boyfriend." We walked to a nice Chinese place that "green" eyes recommended. The food was very good. When we made it back to the dorm "green" eyes was still at the desk so I walked over smiling at him and told him where we went to eat and thanked him again for his recommendation and reminded him about tomorrow. He smiled back. As we were walking towards the elevators he said, "Jason." I turned and looked back at him. He said, "My name is Jason." I smiled and chuckled as we had not properly introduced ourselves earlier. We walked back over to shake his hand. I said, "Jason, my name is Devon and my friend here is Riley. We are looking forward to visiting with you over pizza tomorrow." Riley had a big grin on his face as we rode the elevator up. I told him to knock it off and he just let out a gut wrenching laugh. As we walked back to our room our mood quickly changed. Someone spray painted our door with the word "FAG" on it. We called the front desk and I told Jason what we found. He said he would make the required call. I thanked him and hung up. A few minutes later the RA and Campus Police were knocking on our door. They were very nice and polite as they asked questions. The RA called to have our door painted over. The cops walked up and down the hallway knocking on doors to talk with folks on our floor to see if anyone saw anything. Everyone told them no. This whole situation kind of left a bitter taste with us. But after everything we endured over the last year, this was nothing. Before we went to bed the door had been painted over with a cover coat, so it can be repainted to match the doors on the rest of the floor. We both did our nightly routine before bed and said our good nights. As childish as it sounds I fell into a deep sleep as I hugged my "Kurt" pillow. Riley and I slept in late as neither of us had anything on our schedule that was pressing. When we did finally get up we went shopping for stuff we needed for our room. When we got back Riley asked if I wanted to hit the school gym. I agreed as it had been quite a while since I had worked out. As soon as I changed into my gym clothes I headed over to the gym with Riley. After a couple of hours my thought was, "OMG I want to slap Riley around." He put me through a really tough, grueling work out. I was exhausted and felt like he had just put me thru the ringer!! As soon as we got back to our room we showered and each of us took a nap before our pizza party was due to start. We got up about 4:30 and made sure our rooms were clean and then we ordered 4 large pies. Riley's 3 very buff and sexy teammates arrived and he introduced me to Jefferson, David and Jamal. Just as Riley finished introducing me to his friends there was a knock on our door. It was Jason. When the 2nd round of introductions was over Riley walked over to me and chuckled as he whispered to me to close my mouth because I was drooling. I blushed and that caused a chuckle from all our guests. We all chatted for a little while and then the pizza delivery guy arrived. It did not take us long to devour all of it. After we finished eating and belching we visited some more. Jefferson looked directly at me and said, "Riley shared with us what you guys have been through. I am so sorry for your loss." David and Jamal also offered their sympathy. I got a lump in my throat and whimpered out, "Thank you." I looked over at Jason. He had somewhat of a confused look on his face. But it did not last long as Jamal inquired about the door to our room being freshly painted. So we told them what happened. Our guest were truly offended in our behalf. We continued to visit. As the party started to break up I asked Jason to hang back as I wanted to talk with him. Riley looked and me and gave me a knowing nod. I asked Jason to come with me so we could talk in private. We went into my bedroom. I offered him the desk chair and I sat on the bed. Out of reflex I grabbed my "Kurt" pillow and hugged it like it was normal. Jason gave me a smile. I said, "Jason, I want to share with you some of the things that have happened to Riley and me over the last 2 years of our lives." Before I could get another word out he looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I know about what has happened to Riley and you. I too am very sorry for your loss". He reached over to wipe the tears off my cheek and then continued, "After you guys called down to the desk and reported that your door had been vandalized I went to Google and did some research on you and Riley. I read all about the shooting at the football game, the mall, the school attack and finally the story of Kurt's death." At this point both of us had tears rolling out of our eyes and down on our cheeks. Jason continued to console me by sharing, "My younger brother played football on one of the teams that your team played against and won. My brother also shared with me about the school attack and that he and his fellow teammates attended Kurt's funeral. But I could not place your names until I looked you guys up on Google. And then everything started to come together in my mind." I was humbled at Jason's sensitivity and my tears started to flow a little heavier. I hugged the pillow ever harder. As Jason looked at me, he nodded at the pillow. I explained, "When Riley and Ryan, Kurt's older brother, saw how distraught I was they made this bed pillow out of one of Kurt's football jerseys as a way to comfort me. It has become a security blanket that I use when I feel stressed out and unsure of myself." Jason smiled and said, "I understand how you feel but certainly not on the same level. My boyfriend just broke up with me and I am still recovering from that. It was a nasty break up." Jason then got up, sat down next to me on the bed and put his arm over my shoulder. I kind of tensed up a little. He asked if that was alright and I said, "Yes, it is okay for you to console me like this." I continued to hug the pillow and began to relax. A few minutes later Jason continued, "I would like to get to know you better if you are willing to be my friend. If and when the time is right I will pursue a relationship with you. I will never be pushy or try to force anything on you. I would want to make sure we have a good, solid friendship first. And if something develops so be it." I smiled and looked down at the floor then up at him. I said, "Jason, I would like nothing more than to build a friendship with you. But as for anything further, that will be hard and my heart is just not ready for that." He smiled and said, "Cool and as long as you keep an open mind, I will work to help heal your heart." With that he rubbed my back and put his on the pillow, like he was sealing his promise to help heal my heart ache with a pledge. We laid there in silence for a few more minutes and then got up to walk out to find Riley sitting on the couch watching TV with a big grin on his face. We said good night and then Jason left. Riley patted the cushion next to him indicating that he wanted me to sit down. He apologized for not telling me that he told his friends about our past and that he did not get the chance to tell Jason. I told him there was nothing to be sorry for and that Jason told me that he had Googled us and knew everything that has happened to us. I also told him all the details of the conversation that Jason and I just had. Riley was very happy for me. He gave me a big hug and then we went to bed. I had a very good sleep that night. End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is a work in progress. Be on the lookout for it. For those of you that sent feedback on "A New Start With Pain", thank you. Your comments were greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading Chapter 1 of "Devon - The Next Step." Any feedback you offer will be greatly appreciated. You can send your comments, whether positive or negative, to Frank McMee . Also, a thank you is extended to Samual Blake for his assistance with editing and proofreading. May you be blessed with an enjoyable and safe day.