Chapter 1: Chapter One
Chapter Text
Bradley
Ugh. Why is it so bright and cheery outside when all I feel is the exact opposite. Hopefully the movers will move faster so I can just crawl into my bed and drown out the rest of this embarrassing day.
I was no longer allowed to be a part of the Gamma MuMu fraternity after what had happened at the games last fall. Tank and the rest of the guys won’t even look at me anymore and with good reason. Not that I NEEDED the fraternity or them anyways. My whole future has already been planned out for me regardless of what extracurricular activities I participate in.
The X Games were a fun thing for me, all for me and I squandered it by being the exact person my dad is. A cheater, a liar, a sneaky businessman whose only goal is to win. My dad was in support of the fraternity and the X Games. He said it’d look good to be a part of something like that, but that it ultimately didn’t matter since they wouldn’t be useful once I take over his company. Now that those were behind me, he was just happy that I could focus all of my attention on my schooling and making the right connections.
“Sir, would you like us to loft up the bed and put your desk underneath it or put the couch underneath there?” An older man in a full overall suit asks, gently rousing me from my thoughts.
“You can put my desk underneath it, Alan. Thank you.” I respond as I notice my dad angrily talking on his phone. At first glance you wouldn’t think anything of him but the longer you look at him the more you realize everything about my dad oozes old money. He is dressed in a plain light blue dress shirt with the sleeves cuffed to his elbows and dark navy dress pants just barely grazing his light brown loafers. Everything he has on is designer and tailor fitted exactly to his well maintained body. His custom gold Rolex and wedding band glittering in the sun as he runs his fingers through his hair.
“Yessss,” he hisses at someone on the other line. “He needs to learn a lesson about humiliation after the stunt he pulled at the games. After this semester he’ll take that lovely two bedroom apartment across town. Yes. Yes, dear. At least he’ll be closer to his classes so he’ll have no excuse but to keep getting good grades. Yes. I love you too, see you at home.” My dad slides his phone in his pants pocket and then turns to look at me.
“Bradley, I know you’re not happy about this but I would like you to know what it’ll be like living as a..a…,” he sneers. “...a commoner, if you decide to humiliate our family name again like you had at the Games. It took a lot of money to scrub that from the media.” He says to me cooly as he flashes me his million dollar businessman smile. He has perfected that smile, it never seems to reach his eyes..
“Whatever.” I huff again as he walks over and adjusts the collar of my shirt.
“Make sure you really let it sink in this semester or else.” He says only loud enough for me to hear as he puts his hands on my shoulders. “Or else you’ll lose a lot more than the money I’ve so graciously provided for you year after year.” His icy blue eyes glare into mine as he cracks that same smile again. I roll mine in response and he tightens his grip on my shoulders to the point of pain.
“Yes sir.” I respond as I impassively stare back at him, refusing to give him any satisfaction of causing me harm..
“Make sure you keep hitting the gym too, we have appearances to keep up.” He says as he releases his hold on me and pulls his phone back out of his pocket.
I look up at the light blue sky hoping gravity would just cease to work and I’d float endlessly into it. I hear my dad tapping and swiping around on his phone as he grumbles about some meeting he has soon. I close my eyes and listen to the sparse dead leaves fluttering in the trees around me. I hear the sounds of a handful of other students making their way around us entering and exiting the other buildings.
There is a slight chill in the air as if it threatens to snow tonight once the sun goes down. This winter has been extremely mild compared to years before. It has snowed on and off but every time it does it just heats back up melting it all. Today is one of those warmer days, perfect for the long sleeve button up and cashmere sweater combo I have on. But even still with the sun shining, the chill seeps into my clothes and makes me shiver slightly.
“Alright, I have to head out now Bradley. The movers should be done shortly, don’t forget to tip them generously.” My dad remarks as I open my eyes and look back at him. Without looking up from his phone he puts his hand back on my shoulder “I also deposited a small amount of money into your account for the month. I think $20,000 should be enough for food and other things as you need them, “he absentmindedly says.
“Thank you sir,” I say as he gives my shoulder a quick squeeze. Still looking at his phone he then turns around stalking over to his glossy beige Bentley sitting next to the ‘No Parking’ sign.
“Oh, before I forget!” He yells across the way towards me, “Your mother says she loves you. Also that she had them park a car in the East lot for you and that your keys are in the lock box in your wardrobe.” He gives one last professional smile before he gets in and speeds off.
Standing there on the sidewalk watching as his tail lights disappear around the corner I let out a big sigh and turn on my heels. I stalk up the steps, slide my badge over the reader, and open one of the double doors. Alan is making his way down the stairs in front of me with the other movers behind him.
“Alright Sir Bradley, we have everything moved into your dorm. It fit nicely, even if it didn’t leave much room for your roommate, “he says through his bushy mustache. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have any furniture he’s trying to move in there other than what is provided by the school.”
“Thank you once again Alan, I appreciate it.” I reply as I slide him a wad of hundred dollar bills and shake his hand. His eyes bulge and he nods his head as he grunts a thank you. They walk past me and I take a big breath before I make my way up the double flight of stairs.
As I walk down the hallway past the other dorms and communal bathroom, I ache for my giant room I had at the Gamma house. My father put me into the ‘all-male’ building which I honestly don’t mind. It was the cheapest option and my dad wants to make sure I experience what it's like to live as if I have to pinch pennies like everyone else around me. I get to a door that says 2F and open it.
For a cheap dorm, the room is rather large with very high ceilings and wood flooring. They were made for three people to live in but, over winter break another building of dorms was finished across campus.The school then decided that every dorm be changed to only two per room.
There are two large windows that stretch all the way up to the ceiling on the far wall. The right side window has my bed lofted up in front of it with my desk and mini fridge set up underneath it. My laptop and desk lamp are placed neatly on top, all plugged in and ready to use. The large wardrobe provided by the school sits perpendicular to the left end of my bunk so I can get as much privacy as I can in here. The movers set up the left side of the room to mirror mine. My dark gray couch sits parallel to both of the wardrobes with its back facing the left side of the room. The giant alpaca rug my mom insisted I bring, lays in front of it with a beautiful mahogany coffee table atop it. The matching TV stand with my large flatscreen has been set up against the right wall. I roll my eyes at the extravagance of my personal furniture compared to how shoddy everything else looks.
There’s a mirror screwed into the back of the door. I stare into it and push my hair back. Hopefully this semester goes by fast. I slide my wireless headphones and phone out of my front pockets. As I put my headphones into my ears, I start scrolling through my music. Maybe a little melancholic music will put me at ease, I think as I select a song. I walk over to my tv stand and grab my skateboard leaning against it. With the song Jesus Christ by Brand New now soothing me, I step into the hallway thinking about taking a cruise to the Bean Scene for some hot chocolate.
Max
“YEAH UH HUH YEAH UH HUH!” Bobby yells along with the music blaring over PJ’s sound system in the van. “Champagne by Ganja White Night is my JAM right now!” he continues as he takes a huge rip out of the milky bong in his hands.
“Heaven by your SIIIIDE!” PJ yells along as he flips his baseball cap backwards and continues driving down the road. I just roll my eyes and laugh as Bobby reaches around PJ in the front. He puts the bong up to PJ’s mouth. PJ takes a hit and blows the smoke out slowly as we keep making our way towards campus. As the smoke swirls around us in the van, I open the window slightly to let it waft out. We may be a bunch of reckless idiots for smoking while driving, but I want to make sure PJ can still see at the very least.
I am bummed I won’t be sharing a dorm with them this semester. We’ll be in the same building at least, but I’ll be on the floor above them. We decided to come back to campus a couple days early from winter break to move all of my stuff into my new dorm. I start wondering about who my new roommate is going to be. I hope it’s not some straight edge dude who is going to complain if I come back smelling like weed and booze on the weekends. My thoughts get disrupted as Bobby hits my left shoulder with the bong and passes it up to the front seat with me.
“Hey Max-a-million,” he coughs out. “I am mega bummed we won’t get to share our space again this year. Thank you for taking the ‘L’ and rooming with some rando, bud.”
“It’s okay bro,” I say as I take a rather large pull of the bong myself. As I start coughing hard, breathing out the smoke, my phone chimes. Handing the bong back to Bobby in the back, I pull my phone out of my pocket and see Roxanne has texted me.
________________________
Roxanne: I miss you already! I hope moving your stuff in goes nice and easy babe<3 let me know when you can facetime me later, I’ve got a surprise ;)
Me: Oh? What kind of surprise?
Roxanne: *sends picture of her torso with her off the shoulder shirt pulled down further to reveal a lacey emerald green bra*
__________________________________
“OUUUU!” Bobby shouts as he pushes his round purple sunglasses up over his eyes. “Damn Max, it must’ve been hard to leave THAT back home!” I spin around in the front seat and give him a shove nearly knocking the bong over.
“Don’t be reading over my shoulder, that wasn’t meant for you dickhead!”I growl as I give him a light smack on the side of his head and reply to her.
______________________________
Me: *sends gif of Jim Carrey in the Mask with his eyes bugging out and jaw dropping open*
Me: Girl, you’re killing me over here ;)
Roxanne: Good:)
____________________________________
I slide my phone back into the front pocket of my jeans and glare back at Bobby.
“I’m sorry man, I know I shouldn’t have looked but I thought it was going to be that text we’ve been waiting on about that New Year’s party tonight.” Bobby apologizes as he ashes out the bowl of the bong and pours the water into an old plastic water bottle.
“Mocha thinks it’ll be at one of the frat houses on the west side of town,” PJ responds, stopping at a stop sign. “She says she’ll let me know once she knows anything more.”
“Good! Less chance of potentially running into anybody from the Gamma house,” Bobby chirps as PJ lurches forward and keeps driving down the road.
I just roll my eyes and rest my head on the window. I hope we don’t have to deal with any of them this year. Last semester was such a headache due to them. Specifically due to Brad. I roll my eyes at the thought of him and pull my phone back out.
I start scrolling through instagram and see a picture Roxanne has posted. It’s a photo of the two of us. Her beautiful brown eyes glittering in the sunlight with her voluminous auburn hair draping around us. Her chin is resting on top of my head with my messy black hair sticking out at all angles. The sun was bright that day so my face is all scrunched up while I’m smiling wide. She captioned it: “Gap toothed beauty<3” I double tap the photo and keep mindlessly scrolling while thoughts about her creep into my mind.
We ended up reconnecting after the X Games were televised. Roxanne texted me a congratulations for winning and we haven’t stopped texting since. She ended up going to a college somewhere out west after highschool which is why we broke up in the first place. We figured it would be easier that way, but we missed each other too much. When winter break came around, she came back home for it so we spent a lot of that time together. Most of that time spent together was cuddling in my bed at home and fucking like rabbits. Roxanne was my first lover, but definitely not my only. There were a few girls during the X Games who made passes which I eagerly took. But being with Roxanne is comfortable. We haven’t made anything official with us. Roxanne expressed how hard it could be being so far away from one another. She said she just wants to keep enjoying me for as long as she can and I have absolutely no issues with that.
After what seems like an eternity, PJ turns right into the East parking lot. We made it. As he puts the van in park, PJ’s phone chimes. I get out of the van and stretch my arms up over my head. It is such a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the wind is slightly chilly, and the ground is finally dry. I open up the side door of the van to Bobby shoving his sneakers in his backpack. He clambers out wearing his skates and starts effortlessly meandering around the van in them. I grab my skateboard out the back and shut the door.
“Hey! So we have until 7:30 to get you settled in your new dorm before we have to meet Mocha at the Bean Scene,” PJ says as he unhooks his bike from the rack on the back of the van. “She told me the party starts at 9 and she’s got the address.”
“Sick,” I say as I start skating through the parking lot towards the buildings.
We make it to the front of our building. I take a deep breath and check the time on my phone as Boddy sits on the steps to change out of his skates. PJ hooks his bike up to the rack and exclaims, “Ahh! It feels so nice to be back on our own again guys.”
“Got that right,” I agree as I make note of the time. It’s 4:45 right now so we’ve got a decent amount of time to move my things. We make our way up the front steps and badge ourselves in. It still smells exactly as it did before we left. Sweat and dust.
“Let’s check out my new dorm first in case we gotta move the furniture around,” I remark as I start climbing the stairs. Both the guys nod and start up after me.
Walking down the hallway, Bobby looks up at the ceiling. “Woooooow, the ceilings are way higher than the ones on the first floor.”
“Bobby, you’re way higher than the ones on the first floor,” PJ retorts. We all chuckle at the stupid joke. I take my new key out of my pocket attached to my wallet chain. The little badge hanging off the ring says “2F”.
“2F. Hmm, so it's gotta be right there in the middle,” I say as we come up on the corresponding door. I unlock the door and push it open.
“Wooooooooow,” Bobby whistles as he steps inside. “I wonder who your roommate is huh? Check out his stuff!” Bobby exclaims, gesturing to the lavish rug and mahogany furniture.
“Guess we’ll keep your futon in our room since there doesn't seem to be much room for it with their stuff.” PJ chuckles as we look at the space that’s left for me.
“I guess he at least set up my bunk and shit in the best way possible to make this work,” I shrug as I make my way around the back of the couch towards my lofted bed. Hopefully he’s down to
share his couch and TV since he wanted to take up the communal space.
“I think I can fit the futon in here actually. Lets move the desk from under the bed and push it against the left wall behind the couch. It’ll be somewhat of a tight squeeze but at least I’ll have a space to relax that isn’t in view of his bed,” I say. They both nod and start heading out to grab my futon. I shift the desk out from under my lofted bed and push it against the wall. I scoot the chair in and look at the 3ft gap between both the backs of my chair and my roommate’s couch. Not too bad, I think as I hear grunting outside the open door.
PJ and Bobby come scooting in the door with the maroon colored futon between them. Quickly, I make my way over to them and we hoist it high above our heads so the legs of it won’t scrape the couch and so it’ll make it over the desk. There’s a lot of bumping against the wall and the wardrobe as we pivot the futon around until it fits perfectly underneath my bunk.“Ayyy, nice nice,” Bobby exclaims as he wipes the sheen of sweat off his forehead. “Now our hammock chairs will fit nicely in our room with Max’s futon in here!”
He and PJ high five quickly as we all make our way down to our old dorm for the rest of my stuff. Everything else is a breeze setting up. We bring some of my posters upstairs and plaster them along my wall on the left. My purple floor lamp fits perfectly on the left side of the futon. The orange and black checkered rug sits well in front of the futon and the wardrobe. I hang up a black and green mountainside tapestry off of the lofted bed to give myself even more privacy if I want to relax on the futon. PJ sets up my laptop and speaker on my desk. Bobby clambers up the bunk to my bed and starts putting my bedding together for me. I put all of my clothes away in the wardrobe leaving out a fresh oversized white tee shirt and my deodorant.
“Hell yeah guys! Thank you,” I express to them as I fist bump them both.
“Shit! We’ve got twenty minutes to get to the Bean Scene before we’re late. Mocha hates it when I’m late,” PJ whines as he hurriedly scampers out of the door. “LET’S GO!” he shouts as he’s halfway down the hallway.
“Alright! But let me change my sweatshirt quick before we go!” Bobby yells after him as he disappears out of the door.
I smile and shake my head as I pull my shirt off. I quickly apply more cedar scented deodorant and button up a flannel hoodie overtop the fresh white shirt I laid out. I grab one of my baseball caps hanging in the wardrobe and tuck it into my back pocket with the bill hanging out. I glance in the mirror attached to the back of the door and push my hair back. I wonder how tonight is going to go as I grab my skateboard and lock the door behind me.
Chapter 2: Chapter Two
Notes:
Okay, so moving forward I think I might just keep each chapter to only one character's point of view.... but that might change /.\ we'll just have to see! I'm also going to keep my post date to Sundays... for now lol
I know the pace is slow, but I did say this is going to be a slow burn ;)
It's also taking me a little bit to get used to posting on here, so just bear with me with the harsh look until I can get a handle on it lol
I ended up making my own character in this chapter, which is going to happen a lot seeing as how there really isn't many characters to utilize anyways haha, I've been going back and forth with myself on how I want Max and Bradley to look. I found an awesome artist while scrolling Tumblr who made some Maxley Fanart. It has become my inspiration! Their Tumblr is oiarlert if anybody wants to check them out!Thank you for reading this! Enjoy:D
Chapter Text
Bradley
“Hehhh huhhhh,” I breathe out a deep sigh. The crisp air refreshes my lungs while I skate my way around the campus’s park on my board. As I round the last corner beyond the trees, I’m smacked in the face with the sight of the small lily pad riddled lake. The sun has started going down now so the sky is streaked with a marvelous collage of pink and orange hues that reflect off of the calm water. I keep pushing myself around the lake, carving small twisting patterns on the paved walkway. I pull my phone out of my pocket to check the time.
“Hmm, six fifty-eight,” I mumble to myself as I take a slight right turn leading away from the lake and towards one of the roads heading into town. I swipe up on my phone and change the song to Take My Head by Turnover. A smile starts sliding across my face as I make my way down the street. Before I’ve realized, I’m in front of the Bean Scene putting my headphones in my pocket and bounding down the stairs.
Hopefully it won’t be busy, I think to myself as I open the door with my free hand. The moody lighting and hole-in-the-wall vibes put me off as I make my way towards the counter. I always feel out of place when I come here. My preppy rich boy style sticks out like a sore thumb down here.
“Hello Sir Bradley, what can I get youuuu?” A young woman with silver dyed hair and a silver septum ring drawls to me as she leans against the register. She eyes me dejectedly and then gives me a coy smile.
“Ohhhh Little Miss Sophia, I would LOVE two hot chocolates with oat milk. One to stay and one to go. Oh and those little mini marshmallows if you could be so kind,” I smugly reply as I prop my board up against the counter. She expertly rolls her thick lined eyes and quickly makes herself busy with my order.
“Have you just clocked in, dear?” I titter after her as she starts mixing the cocoa powder in the oatmilk. I glance up at the clock that reads ‘7:14’. She puts one of her hands on her full hips as she spins on her heel and smirks at me.
“HOW perceptive of you,” She purrs in a sarcastic tone. “You only come in here when I am working, why is that?” Sophia asks while she sets the chocolatey concoction on the hotplate to heat up.
“Because I know how much joy it brings you seeing me.” I say affirmatively, closing my eyes and sticking my nose in the air. Letting all of the arrogant demeanor that I can muster seep out of me.
“More like you know how much joy it brings YOU to see ME.” Sophia chuckles and reaches her hand across the counter to playfully swipe at my chest. I chuckle in response as she turns back around and pours the silky brown liquid into two cups. One, a chunky glass mug and the other, a brown biodegradable to-go cup.
She’s not wrong. It DOES bring me joy seeing her here. Sophia is one of the very few people around campus that has never treated me as if all that I am is a rich, pompous asshole’s son. She’s a sophomore trying to get a business degree like me. We shared a class during our freshman year and we got partnered together for a project. I am grateful for that project, otherwise I probably would’ve never gotten to know her as well as I have. Once she found out about my closeted homosexual proclivities, she dragged me along to the University’s LGBTQ club. I was hesitant at first, but she assured me everyone there would respect my situation. And they have! Out of all the people on campus, they’re the only few people I can confidently consider friends.
“Here you go, my slippery little twunk,” She quips with a wink as she sets both of the hot chocolates on the counter. Flashing her a grin, I swipe my card in the reader and push the chunky mug towards her. Her eyes twinkle as she raises up the cup between plum colored fingernails.
“Are you going out tonight?” Sophia asks me wearily, peeking up over the rim of her mug as she takes a delicate sip.
“Ehh, probably not. I’ll probably just head back and enjoy the spoils of my new living quarters.” I grumble as I take a taste of the scalding liquid. Nobody can make hot chocolate like Sophia. Perfectly rich and velvety smooth.
Sophia scrunches up her nose and shakes her head. “You’re ridiculous, it’s New Year’s Eve Bradley! Who cares about what happened at the X Games. Anybody who actually does needs to find a hobby.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I notice someone in my peripherals looking at me from one of the corner booths. I shoot a glance in that direction and notice Mocha staring at me with her classic look of disinterest. She calculatedly raises her left hand to adjust her magenta hair behind her ear as she pulls up her phone with her right. Her dark green eyes never leave my face until the blue light of her phone illuminates them. A moment later my phone vibrates in my back pocket. Wincing, I pick up my hot chocolate and skateboard leaning against the counter.
“Well I am an extremely busy man, as you know Sophia.” I raise my eyebrow at her while putting on an impression of my dad’s arrogant CEO voice. “I better get back to my important meetings and whatnot. I expect a full report about your night of degeneracy in the morning. Good? Good. Ta ta, my lovely!” I warble to her with a loud kiss in the air as I back my way towards the door.
“Of course, Sir Bradley. I’ll get right on that, my busy busy man!” she trills after me, making a big show of blowing me a kiss and giving me a cheeky wave.
Once I step back out on the worn down sidewalk, I pull my phone out and check to see who the text message is from.
Mocha.
“Ughh,” I groan as I flop my skateboard down, step on, and push off. She has always had a problem with me going to the Bean Scene. She refuses to understand that it’s the only place around the college to go for a decent cup of caffeine. I’m not coming to “her spot” just for the sole purpose of mocking her. Because the thing with Mocha is that she is just like me, whether she wants to admit it or not.
Our fathers are business partners and old friends. Mocha and I have spent every holiday season together since we were in diapers. Every. Holiday. Season. Exactly like our fathers have before us. We’ve lived next door to one another since birth and were great friends all throughout our years at private school. We both come from old money. While she actively lies about it, I took the more honest, but abhorrent, route. Having everyone judge me right out of the gate for not being humble about coming from big money, is on the top of my list of things I would do-over. Mocha’s route isn’t one I’d take either though. I couldn’t bring myself to lie about it like she has. Nobody other than me knows. She’s done an excellent job of convincing all of our peers that her financial situation mirrors theirs. So much so, that anybody who knows us thinks we hate each other. That is a lie, we’re actually best friends.
I shake the thoughts out of my head as I mosey my way back to campus on my skateboard. Looking down at my phone, I ignore the message from Mocha and swipe through my music. Landing on Obituaries by The Menzingers, I grin and push off again with my right foot. The brisk breeze pushes my hair back, cooling my forehead. I lift up my hot chocolate to take a generous sip. Throwing my head back letting the toasty liquid slowly warm me up while it makes its way to my stomach. I gaze up at the luminescent speckles of stars peeking through the darkening sky. The thick trunked sycamores sprawl their branches upwards as if reaching for them. Just when the song hits the chorus, I hear it. The sound of a familiar yet distinctive laugh.
“Ha ha ha ah-hyuck!”
I swivel my head down and scan around to see if I actually heard what I think I just heard. In the fading light I can see them, I can see him.
His slim build with surprisingly broad shoulders comes into view. He slowly carves out an ‘S’ pattern on the sidewalk with his skateboard. The mauve and black flannel jacket he wears flaps open behind him. I catch the glint of his silver snake bite piercings as he passes under the streetlight. His scruffy head is thrown back in laughter. Max Goof.
“Fuuuuuck,” I whisper under my breath as my palms start sweating and my heart starts thumping. Why do BOTH of us have to be back from winter break early! I was hoping he’d still be enjoying the holiday with his father since they seem to actually have a good relationship with one another. But to my dismay there he is just a street length across from me in the dark, skating along on the opposite side behind his friends. I continue staring, seriously considering diving behind one of the trees when the ginger one with the buzzed hair points at me.
I can’t seem to remember his name, Tommy? Robby? Whatever, Sophia will probably talk to me about him again at some point. For unfathomable reasons she seems to have taken a slight interest in him.
He continues pointing and says something I can’t quite make out through the music playing in my headphones. Max’s heavyset friend, who is also Mocha’s current boyfriend, P.J, looks over quickly. He takes his hands off of his handlebars and leans back on his bike to flip both of his middle fingers at me. I roll my eyes and tighten my grip on the hot chocolate. I flick my eyes over to Max.
Max lazily twists his head towards me then flicks his head up in a quick, silent “what’s up.” He flashes that crooked gap-toothed grin while he gives me a small wave. I keep my expression neutral while I confidently turn my gaze from him and push onwards.
Fuck. He’s back. I knew I’d end up seeing him eventually, but I was hoping it’d be AFTER classes have started back up. The heat on my right hand radiating from the drink reminds me of that handshake we shared. The handshake we had given each other following the games. A sort of truce between us. I still don’t like him though. I find him beautiful, arrogant, and infuriating. He thinks he’s so much better than me and KNOWS how good he looks.
After we’ve passed each other, I sneak another look over my shoulder. To my surprise, he’s doing the same. My blue eyes lock with his dark, almost black colored eyes. With my cheeks ablaze, I whip my head back around and quickly push my way back to campus.
Making it to the front steps of the building, I hurriedly make my way inside. Stalking up the stairs, grumbling to myself. “Max Goof,” I mutter, pulling open the door to the dorm. I quickly slip in and rest my forehead against the wall next to the door while I lock it. Standing there with my eyes closed, I take a deep breath. After a couple of minutes I turn around and lean my back against it. Fuck him.
Opening my eyes, I notice the left side of the room has been moved in. As I pull off my sweater and start unbuttoning my shirt underneath, I eye my new roommate's belongings. His motif seems a little shabby, but in an intentional kind of way. Like in a hipster record store kind of way. Sitting on the desk next to a pink Himalayan salt lamp, his laptop lays there engulfed in stickers. His wall in between the desk and bunk are littered with posters. Posters of various music groups and skateboard brands trail their way across the pale wall. My eyes linger on the Powerline poster directly in the middle of the collage.
"Hm, at least we already have a few things in common. Seems to also be a big Powerline fan," I whisper to myself. Undressing down to my boxer briefs, I grab everything up off the floor and drop it in my hamper on the right side by my TV stand. I bring my hands together for two crisp claps and the lamp on my desk flashes on. Flicking off the overhead light, I make my way to the wardrobe and toss on a large white tee. I crawl up onto my bunk to snuggle into the silk sheet set and soft, puffy down comforter. I reach my hands up and clap twice. Listening to the swish of the dead leaves on the sycamore trees, I keep picturing that lazy gap-toothed smile when I close my eyes. Max Goof.
Chapter 3: Chapter Three
Notes:
So, I tentatively am going to keep my posts to every Sunday but, it may be every Sunday, or Monday, depending on how busy I've been throughout the week /.\ I do have a fun Halloween event coming up in the next two weeks so I may skip a week but, I'm going to try to push out an extra chapter this week so I'll have something lol
This chapter was a bit of a struggle to get through, I wasn't sure I wanted them to full on meet face to face yet. I decided to prolong it just a bit more ;) I hope its not getting boring already! I haven't written anything in so long so I've kind of just been winging it and completely disregarding editing before I post to just keep myself writing.
Let me know what you think! I'm dying for some feedback lol Enjoy :)
Chapter Text
Max
“Let’s hit it, Maximus!” Bobby chirps while shaking my arm. Sluggishly, my attention focuses back in.
“Huh? Oh, okay!” I say as I stand up from the booth, picking up my empty plate of nachos. I make my way to the trash bin, drop in the dirty napkins, and place my empty plate on top.
“Man, I ate way too much,” I groan, as my stomach feels on the verge of exploding. Bobby just chuckles and hands me my skateboard.
“That’s good, more roughage to soak up all that liquid idiocy!” He grins at me wiggling his eyebrows. I chuckle along with him and we make our way outside the Bean Scene. P.J and Mocha are already outside getting set up on P.J’s bike. Bobby sits down on the ground next to his backpack to put his skates on. I take a deep breath. Resting my skateboard on my legs, I stretch my arms above my head. The sun has completely gone down at this point and the temperature has dropped considerably. I shiver slightly as I pull my baseball cap out of my back pocket and put it on.
“Last one there has to buy the next bottle!” Bobby yells as he furiously skates past us, laughing. I look over at P.J and Mocha who both chuckle. I let my skateboard down and push off, zooming down the road after Bobby. After a few moments of comfortable silence between all of us, Mocha clears her throat gently.
“Wonder if we’ll see Brad tonight…” Mocha says from somewhere behind me. I can hear the smirk through the dark.
“Oh yeah! We seen him earlier on our way to the Bean Scene,” P.J responds, also from somewhere behind me. I turn my head back and Mocha is leaning over P.J’s shoulders with her feet on the back pegs of his bike. Her long maroon hair drapes over his shoulder like armor. She gives me a sly smirk and flicks her eyebrows up.
“Yeah and he still looks like a little bitch,” Bobby retorts from the front side of me. He slows down so now he’s just lazily skating backwards on my right side. I give a half hearted laugh and keep watching Mocha. She just rolls her eyes then gives P.J a peck on his cheek.
Turning my head back around, I give a couple of good pushes with my right leg then coast. I start to wonder if we will see Bradley out tonight too. I can tell he’s been having a rough time since the X-Games last semester. As much as that guy messed with us, I always viewed our rivalry as just a couple of idiots with extremely skewed views on pranks. It had gotten out of hand during the games, but I feel as if that wasn’t his intention for it to get out of control like that. For someone who has a father like mine, I can understand things not going as intended. I was hoping after our handshake, our truce, that he’d come around. Let bygones be bygones and all that. I feel kind of bad for him. Not in a pity kind of way, more like in an I empathize with his situation kind of way. He has to be lonely, seeing him alone on our way to the Bean Scene, when he was always surrounded by the Gammas, was sad.
“I thought you guys had a truce, huh Bobby?” Mocha asks with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“I thought you didn’t like the bad vibes he was blowing out,” Bobby playfully challenges. “I thought you couldn’t handle choking on that second-hand smoke.” He snaps his fingers once and raises his purple tinted glasses above his eyebrows. Squinting at her and P.J as his mouth breaks into a wicked grin.
“There is music to your nuisance, whether it be pleasant or maddening. It differs day to day,” Mocha drawls. Bobby flips her a lazy middle finger and she gracefully returns the gesture.
“Ahh, my scintillating dame. Your squire adores you,” P.J swoons, making Mocha laugh and Bobby smile. Bobby turns on his skates to face forward and then speeds up. The rumbling sound of a bunch of conversations and loud music snakes its way through the yards we pass by.
“Almost there!” Bobby shouts as he zooms forward. I pick up the pace and launch forward. Veering and taking a right and coming up behind Bobby.
There it is, MuMu Phi. The other fraternity here at the college. A massive two story house stretches out across the lot with people strewn along the lawn laughing and yelling. We stop in front of it on the sidewalk to let Bobby dig his sneakers out of his backpack. Bobby sits down and hands me the bottle of tequila as he takes his skates off. I hold on to it and look for a shrub or something to tuck away my skateboard and P.J’s bike. By the time Bobby has finished putting his shoes on we’ve found a decently sized bush on the right side of the house to hide our gear. We all make our way to the front door and enter.
The lights are turned down low and the music is bumping. Everywhere people are yelling to each other over the music, smiling and throwing back drinks. I catch a slight whiff of something skunky.
“Oooo, I think I found my first stop,” I say as I elbow Bobby and notice he’s already grinning.
“Let’s goooooo!” He yells and grabs my arm. P.J and Mocha follow behind closely as we all snake our way through the crowd smiling at people as we squeeze by. Bobby must’ve pulled his silicone bong out of his backpack because he holds it high above his head in front of us. I grab onto the back of his hoodie as he starts yelling, “Make way please, I must find my people!”
Everyone around us who notices starts laughing and points us in the direction of the back hall. We make it to what seems to be the back of the house and hang a left into the kitchen. There's food and drinks strewn all over the countertops and island. Past that, against the far wall, a giant round table surrounded by a half circle bench seat and a few chairs sit. There only three people occupying a decent portion of the bench seat. Bobby howls and holds up his bong like a beacon. Everyone around the table mimics the sound and smiles all while holding up their various smoking apparatuses. Gesturing us over towards them, we grab a couple drinks on the way over.
“Finally! I’ve made it home. Let's smoke,” Bobby chuckles, as he pulls out his grinder and starts filling it. I pull the blunt from my shirt pocket and light it up. I take a good inhale and pass it to a dark haired man on my left. He says thank you before he takes a good drag off it and puts it up to the mouth of a green haired girl on his left. Before I realize Bobby on my right is handing me the bong and I take a long milky inhale. Coughing, I pass it to the guy on my left again. He’s got beautiful green eyes and a wide smile. He pulls his arm from around the shoulder of the green haired girl on his left.
“I’m Isaiah,” He says as he extends his dark hand out for a fist bump.
“Max,” I reply, returning the gesture.
“I know who you are. You absolutely smoked those Gammas in the X-Games this last fall right?” He grunts out as he tries to hold the smoke in his lungs and then lets it out slowly.
“THAT’S who you guys are! I knew you all looked familiar, I thought I was just too high,” The green hair girl says while laughing. Her hazel eyes heavy and bloodshot.
“This is Desirae,” Isaiah says for the woman as she takes a hit off the bong. “And this fool next to her is Donny.” Gesturing towards a shaggy, red haired man in a green beanie whose head is leaned back. He holds up a weak peace sign and cracks a smile.
We all introduce ourselves to our new friends and keep passing around the bong and blunt. I find myself slowly losing track of time and the conversations as they trickle around me. I lean my head back and start giggling to myself. Bobby nudges my elbow and hands me a can of Sprite that he picked up on the way over here.
“Looks like you could use a shot there Maxxie boy,” Bobby chuckles as he flicks his head up at P.J. P.J nods and makes his way back over to the island in the kitchen and brings over a small stack of red solo cups.
“Shots?” Bobby asks, raising his eyebrow and smiling towards our new friends. They all look at one another and giggle.
“Hell yeah! Hey, you guys ever tried dabs before?” Isaiah asks and flicks his head up towards Donny. Donny just grins in response. He starts reaching under the table digging around in his backpack.
“We have never had the pleasure,” Mocha responds, eyeing the rig that Donny has in his hands as he shimmies out of the booth and makes his way towards the sink.
“It’s greaaaaat,” Desirae says dragging out the vowels. She takes a quick swig of her beer and adds, “Make sure you have something to drink though, you’re gonna need it.”
“I think I’ll sit this one out, but thank you.” Mocha says, smiling back towards the woman. Desirae smiles back and nods gently.
By the time Bobby has finished pouring and distributing the shots, Donny has made it back to the table and turns on a small blow torch lighter. He starts heating up the glass bowl part of the contraption. I nervously look over at Bobby, Mocha and P.J. The boys just look at me with anticipation written all over their faces. Mocha gives me a little smirk and shakes her head.
“Alright, TO NEW FRIENDS AND NEW EXPERIENCES!” Bobby yells out with his red cup high in the air.
“HERE! HERE!” We all shout out in response and throw back the shots. After setting down our cups and quickly sipping on our chasers, Bobby quickly fills them with another round.
“Alright, she’s ready.” Donny chirps out as he opens a frosted jar with what looks like earwax in it.
“So, are those the dabs?” Bobby asks, trying to get a better look across the table at what Donny is doing.
“Yeah, come over here! I’ll show you what I’m doing and what this is,” Donny says, gesturing for Bobby. Bobby wiggles his way out of the booth and scampers around Mocha and P.J who are sitting in the chairs. I look over at Isaiah and Desirae. They’re giggling and whispering sweet nothings to one another. Mocha offer me a small wave from her chair to my right and mouths 'Are you as high as I am?' I chuckle and nod my head. She laughs and gets up out of the chair and slides into the booth next to me where Bobby was sitting. Bobby and P.J are busy peppering Donny with questions.
“I’m so stoned, I’m starting to panic a little.” Mocha admits as she slouches back against the booth and leans her head back with me.
“Why’s that?” I ask, concerned that we may need to make a quick getaway.
“I keep losing track of time and I feel like I’m being weird,” She chuckles out as she takes a deep breath and starts gently rubbing her thighs.
“You’re the least weird one at this table right now. These two on my left are about to start sucking each other's faces off and those three over there have said ‘Wooooah crazy’ like eight times within the past minute.” I say nodding my head at the boys taking turns inhaling the milky smoke. She chuckles and leans her head on my shoulder.
“So you guys saw Bradley on your way to the coffee place huh?” Mocha asks under her breath only loud enough for me to hear.
“Yeah. He was all alone,” I reply. Thoughts of Bradley creep their way into my head. His feathered light brown hair blown back as he carved his way down the sidewalk on his skateboard. His chiseled jawline, strong cheekbones, and thick dark eyebrows set in a stoic look on his face. His oversized periwinkle sweater desperately trying to cover his strong, broad shoulders and chest.
“I saw him grabbing a drink before you guys got there. He looked real good, huh?” Mocha muses next to me, rousing me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, he did.” I respond before I even realize what I’ve said. I glance down nervously at her as she tilts her head to meet my eyes. She smiles a wicked smile and winks before she pinches my arm.
“All tall, tan, and muscley.” Mocha continues on, still smiling up at me. “I’m glad you confided in me at the Halloween party, Max. Even though you said yourself that you're not sure about your feelings, I'm glad you told me.”
I smile at her and then lean my head back looking up at the ceiling. “Yeah, me too. I’m not quite ready to let the guys know. I’m honestly not even sure what I think about it all. It seems to only be for him that I have these feelings so I’m not sure what I would even tell the guys. I thought it was just rivalry but…” I say to Mocha as I’m interrupted by P.J coughing.
His face is beat red and tears stream down his round cheeks. He flashes us a huge grin and gives us all a thumbs up. Mocha chuckles as she sits up and scoots back into the chair next to him. She wipes his tears and hands him a bottle of water.
“YEAH P.J!” Desirae cheers and Isaiah pounds his hand on the table in celebration. “Max?” She asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me as she reaches across Isaiah handing me the rig.
“Uh, ok. Here goes nothing,” I say hesitantly. I take the rig in my hands as Desirae scoops out a small, golden glob from the jar with a long metal tool. She drags the glob against the bowl and it drops in. She then quickly covers the bowl with a glass cap. Isaiah nods at me and I take a generous pull. Almost too generous of a pull. The thick smoke hits my lungs and I pull back from the rig as I set it on the table. Isaiah picks it up and finishes out the hit as I immediately start coughing. I start coughing so hard I double over and lay down on the bench where Mocha had just been sitting. Everyone around the table starts cheering and Isaiah starts smacking my back.
“What a first hit, Max!” Isaiah cheers as he blows out his smoke effortlessly. I slowly sit back up with tears trailing down my face. I give everyone a thumbs up while blinking through the tears like P.J had, which makes everyone erupt in laughter. I can feel the high hit me right in the face and my eyes start feeling heavy.
“Holy fuck,” I choke out. Bobby slides back into the booth next to me and hands me my Sprite. I greedily take a sip and try to hold down my cough. Bobby keeps laughing and slings his arm around me.
“Let’s all take one last shot before we venture into the rest of the great beyond to dance!” Bobby proclaims holding up a red cup.
“HERE! HERE!” We all shout in unison and throw back the shots.
I start feeling the effects of everything that I have smoked and all of the shots of tequila by now. Everything seems to start moving as if I’m in a stop motion movie. Before I’ve realized, I’m dapping up our new friends and getting dragged out by Bobby into the hall towards the music. Mocha has her hands on my shoulders and P.J holds onto her hips as we make our way into a dark room filled with people dancing.
Party lights flash all around us and a smoke machine in the corner blasts out a light haze along the floor. I feel as if I’m drifting endlessly as the song Shooting Stars by Bag Raiders blasts all around us. We make our way into the middle of the crowd and Bobby hands me the bottle of tequila. I take a pull off the bottle and hand it back to him. He throws his head back and does a quick spin before he moonwalks back towards P.J. I close my eyes and start swaying to the music to catch the beat.
Once I’ve caught a good rhythm and start dancing, I open my eyes and notice a tall brunette woman with a beautiful smile looking at me. She’s dancing with a blonde woman who seems to be eyeing Bobby. I flash the brunette a smile and she bashfully averts her gaze. When she peeks back at me, I start acting like I’m unraveling a coiled rope. She starts laughing as I start twirling the imaginary rope up above my head in a lasso. As the song changes to Up Down by T-Pain, I throw out the lasso and act as if I caught her. She stiffens up her body and flashes me another smile. Slowly, she starts scooching towards me on beat as I reel her in. Once she’s made her way to me, she puts her hands on shoulders and grinds up on me. She slowly snakes her hand into my hair on the back of my neck and presses against me as we bounce to the beat.
Mocha comes rushing up to us and hands the bottle of tequila towards my new friend. She smiles at Mocha and takes the bottle from her. Mocha looks at me with glassy eyes and just throws her head back to laugh. I take the bottle next and have another pull from it. As the liquid burns its way down my throat, I can feel my consciousness start to leave me. Handing the bottle back to Mocha, the brunette turns around and places my hands on her hips. We start grinding to the music and everything in my head starts to feel swimmy.
________________________________________
The cold wind feels amazing on my face as it blows my hair back. The light from the street lights blur overhead and I’m looking down a dark road. The wheels of my skateboard hum from beneath the board under my feet. Realization of what I’m doing and where I am at starts to trickle back into my consciousness. I start carving a wide serpentine pattern on the empty road as I throw my head back and laugh.
“Ayyyy, Max-a-million! He’s baaaaaaack, we thought we lost you there for good, bud!” Bobby cackles out into the night as he skates up alongside me and slaps me on the back.
“You blacked out, man. I thought I was going to have to carry you on my back,” P.J chortles from somewhere behind me in the darkness.
“Yeah honey, I was so sure you were going to pass out for the night on that couch. Until Bobby shook you and said ‘Let’s ride’. You jumped up so fast, it was comical.” Mocha giggles from behind me. I turn my head back and see her and P.J on his bike, except this time she’s sitting on the handlebars with her feet on the front pegs. As we pass under another streetlight, I see that her dark lipstick has smeared across her cheek and P.J’s mouth looks as if he soaked it in red Kool-Aid.
Tossing my head back to laugh, I open my eyes and watch the branches of the trees overhead blur past. I honestly don’t remember much after taking that last shot. I know I was dancing with that woman with brown hair but, after that it’s all choppy. I remember laughing in the kitchen again with P.J, as we gorged ourselves on snacks. A hazy memory of shouting “Happy New Years” as someone kisses my cheek. I can sort of remember rubbing Bobby’s back as he was throwing up in a toilet. I remember sitting on the couch in the other living room playing Mario Kart with a couple of random dudes. That’s about all I can seem to bring back through the haze of lost memories.
Quietly we make our way onto campus and to the front doors of our building. Staggering up the stairs with our gear in hand, we badge ourselves into the building. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, I look up and take a deep breath.
“I got this.” I say under my breath as I grip my skateboard.
“Goodnight, man. We’ll text ya in the morning to see how you’re feeling,” P.J mumbles as he and Mocha make their way down the hallway.
“Sleep sweet, Max-a-million.” Bobby whispers as he gives me a light hug and saunters down the hallway, humming to himself.
Turning on my heel, I purposely make my way up the stairs. With heavy steps, I have finally made it to my door. I fish my wallet chain out of my back pocket and put the key in the door. Stumbling into the room, I quietly unbutton my pants and let them drop to the floor. I unbutton my jacket and drop it on the back of my chair. Digging for my phone in the pocket, I pull it out and use the light from my screen to make my way over to my bunk. Once I’ve made it up the ladder on the left hand side, I pull my shirt off and drop it to the floor. Finally sliding beneath my comforter, I nestle in and listen to the rhythmic sound of my new roommate sleeping.
Chapter 4: Chapter Four
Notes:
Alright, so in anticipation for potentially not posting next Sunday, I've written my longest chapter yet! This one gets super spicy /.\ it's not a smutty chapter about Max and Bradley so if you're not interested in that you can just skip the part in between the dotted lines. It's going to shorten the chapter by A LOT but just saying, if you don't like the Bradley/Tank pairing, you're not going to like it lol I decided to write this flashback because I would like some feedback on how I’ve written it, if it flows good or not..
Anyways, I'm still trying to get used to breaking up my paragraphs and writing out thoughts, so just bear with me until I can figure it out. Hopefully it reads nice and not super choppy:)
ENJOY!
Chapter Text
Bradley
Is something burning? Is that alcohol? What are these smells? Damn, Tank and the guys are STILL partying?! I sit up in my bed and search for my phone.
Feeling my way through the sheets and comforter, my fingers finally touch the cold casing on my phone. I flip it around in my hand and tap the screen. The blinding light sears the time into my eyeballs; 5:18AM . I rub the sleep from my eyes and peer through the dark in the room.
Wait, where am I? I’m laying in a bunk bed? Confused, I hold up my phone and let the light from the screen illuminate my surroundings. There's movement in another bunk at my feet and the sleeping lump burrows into their blankets.
Oh, yeah. I’m in the dorms now. I no longer live at the Gammas anymore. This smell of marijuana and booze must be coming from my new roommate, I think to myself. I quietly clamber down the ladder and open my wardrobe. Pulling on a pair of track shorts, I toss my sweatshirt over my shoulder. I quickly pull on a pair of long socks and my running shoes then grab my toothbrush and toothpaste. Quietly, I make my way down the hallway to the communal bathroom that’s actually larger than I thought it would be.
A large frosted window towers along the far wall. Three sinks line the right wall with three stalls along the left side. Further past the sinks, there's a corner that leads into a small vestibule with two pairs of showers facing one another. I shuffle over to one of the sinks and set my stuff down. Looking at myself in the mirror, I grimace.
I used to love how closely I resembled my father when I was a child. ‘ A long line of great genetics. The strong bloodline of the Uppercrusts have blessed me with a perfect mini-me,’ is what I can hear him say. Now, I can’t stand the way my face looks. A symmetrical face with strong cheekbones and a strong jawline. A perfect, straight nose and full lips nestle in the middle of my tanned face. My light blue eyes settle nicely below my thick, dark eyebrows. I stare into those eyes and all I can see is my father staring back at me.
I run my fingers through my light brown hair and push it back with a sigh. At least I got one thing from my mother, my hair color. I flash myself a blinding smile of straight white teeth and roll my eyes.
My father is far too concerned with how our family looks. All of us have an obligation to look “perfect”. I had to endure a rigorous fitness regimen in my teens to upkeep my own physique. By now it has just become routine for me and in a fucked up way, it brings me comfort.
After I finish brushing my teeth, I quietly make my way back to my dorm and sneak back inside. Using my phone light, I grab my key and badge then slide them into a white crossbody bag. Situating my earbuds into my ears, I scoop up my water bottle. I wrap a hand towel around the back of my neck and make my way over to the door. A low vibrating noise buzzes once to my right. I glance over at my roommate's desk before I grab the door handle. Lying on top of the laptop, his phone vibrates again. The screen illuminates his jacket hanging off the back of his chair. A mauve flannel jacket with a black hood is the last thing I see before the door closes behind me.
“Seventeen.. hmph.. eighteen… hmph... nineteen… hmph… twenty,” I mumble under my breath as I finish another set on the pulldown machine. My lats burn but, it’s such a nice burn.
The sweat trickles down my neck and underneath my deep navy blue sweatshirt. Taking the end of the towel that’s around my neck, I dab the sweat from my forehead and lean forward to pick up my water bottle. As I squirt some water in my mouth the song I was listening to changes to Two Cups of Tea by Star Fucking Hipsters. Smiling to myself, I lean forward with my elbows on my knees and think about the familiarity of my roommate’s jacket.
I could swear I’ve seen that jacket somewhere before. The style seems like a pretty popular style this year, but the coloring is pretty unique. It could belong to one of the random people who were walking around outside the dorm while I was moving in. But then they probably would’ve been moving in their stuff at the same time. Hmm, it could honestly just be someone I had in class last semester. Hopefully it isn’t someone who watched the X-Games last semester, but that is also doubtful. He has multiple posters of skateboarding brands on his wall so they definitely were interested in watching that. Great.
As I keep pondering the mystery that is my roommate, I notice someone familiar has stepped into the gym. Tank. He comes stalking in and makes his way over to the far side of the gym by the smith machine. Tank sets down his shaker bottle by the bench and turns around to start grabbing plates from the rack.
I stare at his enormous back and watch as those muscles contract when he lifts up a hundred pound plate. He’s wearing a basic pair of gym shorts and a skimpy, loose tank top that hangs off of his gigantic shoulders like a torn flag. Tank is a massive man, he looks like those tall bodybuilders who only want to keep adding muscle and not cut weight. Sophia said there was a term for him within the gay community, a Bull? I don’t know what those terms refer to but, I’m guessing it has to do with his size. Sophia and the others from the club have mentioned that I could be categorized as a twunk or a gym bunny? I have honestly never put too much thought into any of that.
I keep watching as Tank racks up plates on the barbell. After he seems satisfied with the weights, he bends over to pick up his shaker bottle. His large bubble butt filling out his peach colored shorts beautifully. Preemptively shaking any dirty thoughts out of my head, I start another set of reps on the pulldown machine.
“Don’t look over here you big lug,” I whisper to myself as I start pulling down on the bar. Sweat starts snaking its way through my hair and trails down the sides of my neck. The burn in my muscles starts radiating and I grit my teeth.
This feeling has become one of my favorites, it gives me something else to focus on that isn’t my emotions. I finish my last rep and stand up. My sweatshirt is soaked through now and clings to my body. I walk over to one of the sanitation stations scattered around the gym. I pick up a little hand towel with a bottle of disinfectant before heading back. Cleaning up the machine, I notice a couple more of the regulars that I usually see in the mornings have come in.
Scanning the gym, which is still pretty empty, I decide to use the leg press machine that's tucked into the opposite corner of where Tank is. I think I’ll just do a few sets until failure and call it good for the day. Maybe I’ll take a longer jog back to the dorms and make a lap or two around the small lake.
I glance back at Tank who has finally started his set. While he’s distracted I scurry over to the leg press and get situated. I pull my phone from the pouch of my sweatshirt and thumb through my playlist. Landing on my Rage Against the Machine playlist, I click shuffle.
“One.. agh… two…agh,” I grunt out as I keep breathing through my set. My thighs and glutes start burning as I slowly push through. I squeeze my eyes shut and grimace. “Fifteen… agh… sixteen… agh… seventeen,” I continue grunting out while the song, Bombtrack, blasts through my earbuds.
“Oh Braaad, baby.” I hear a familiar voice boom from behind me. My eyes snap open and in the mirror in front of me, I see Tank reflected in it. He’s standing behind the seat of the machine, smiling. Staring into my eyes, Tank leans his chest over the back of the seat and pulls my earbuds out of my ears. He then rests a large hand on my shoulder and pushes back his brassy blonde hair with his other.
“I always loved hearing those sounds coming from you, Brad baby.” He says with a sensual tone as he tosses one of his sly smiles my way. His grip on my shoulder tightens as he watches me groan one more time as I push up the platform. I lock it into place and close my eyes, breathing heavily.
“Braaaad,” Tank drawls. He releases my shoulder and I hear him shift around to the side of the machine. I can feel the heat of where his hand was slowly dissipate and I open my eyes. He looms over the side of the machine looking down at me. His pronounced traps and shoulders glisten as he leans against the side of the weights peering down at me.
“Don’t be that way, Bradley. I didn’t want you to get kicked out of the Gammas but, I am only one vote. I tried to get everyone to give you another chance. I swear, I did. It’s all politics, baby.” He says as he leans forward and uses one of his large fingers to brush a bead of sweat off my chin. A little tingle shoots up my spine and I swallow hard. He smiles at me and bends down so his lips are next to my ear.
“I miss you, Bradley Baby. I know you must miss this juicy ass,” He whispers into my ear, his hot breath sends a trail of heat blooming across my face. “Let’s get together soon and I can boss you around again just the way you like.”
Tank chuckles as he straightens back up and adjusts himself. Fuddled by his seduction, I look him up and down. Eyeing his thick veiny thighs, bulky midsection, and bulging biceps. I swallow hard again while the memory of our first time together flashes through my head.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
It was over a month into the summer after my freshman year. Tank and I had been the only two to stay for the summer at the Gamma house, since we had recently been elected as President and Vice President. We spent a lot of time at the gym and the skatepark. This particular night, we had just gotten back from a late night at the gym and decided to use the hot tub to unwind.
“Ahh,” I sigh, sliding down into the hot bubbling water. The color changing lights under the water make me feel as if I’m boiling in a witches cauldron. The jets beating on my back feel amazing after what I had just put my body through at the gym. As the water foams around me, I shout “Tank! Wanna grab us some drinks?”
“Already on it, baby!” I hear Tank shout from somewhere past the closed door. A few seconds later he comes bumbling outside through the sliding door holding a 24-pack of hard seltzers on his shoulder. With his free hand he pulls one of the small tables closer to the hot tub. He sets the drinks on top and opens the cardboard case. Tossing me a lime flavored seltzer, I smile at him in thanks as I catch it. He grins back at me as he tests the water with his hand.
“Nothing like a good soak,” He says as he climbs up the step and pulls his shirt off over his head.
I study the massive ripples of muscles along his body as he does. The lights shift from pink to purple to blue as he sinks down into the water. He spreads his arms out wide and takes up more than half of the hot tub from the corner. I spread out my arms too on the opposite corner. We relax like that for a few moments before he digs into the case and pulls himself out a drink.
“Just what the doctor ordered, huh Bradley?” Tank asks, while he cracks open the can and looks over at me.
“Exactly what the doctor ordered, baby.” I reply, opening my own seltzer with a satisfying chk-ahh. We lean forward in unison and clank the cans together.
“To great friends, baby.” Tank toasts.
“To great friends,” I reply back. Lifting the can to my lips, I take a large gulp of the fizzy drink. It bubbles its way down my throat. I wince at the feeling. We soak in silence for a while, just listening to the swirling water while we toss back the remainder of our drinks.
“Toss me another one,” I behest while dropping my empty can over the side of the tub. Tank smiles slightly and lobs me another can. I catch it and crack it open. Tank opens another one as well and we hold them up for a moment as if toasting them again. It goes on like this for the next half hour or so. Relaxing quietly in the water with both of us throwing back drink after drink. I enjoy this comfortable silence that Tank and I can share. All of the other guys in the Gamma house are too rambunctious and loud. It’s been nice this past month and a half with only Tank in the house. The hot bubbling water swirls around us and I realize that I’m definitely way more tipsy than I anticipated.
“Fuck, I think I’m drunk.” I blurt out. Tank chuckles and eases further down into the water. He rests his head on the padded corner of the hot tub and folds his hands atop his stomach as he starts to float a bit.
“Me too baby, the jacuzzi really helps get our money’s worth.” He sighs contentedly, closing his eyes. His large foot brushes up against the right side of my hips. I sink down further into the water and rest my head on the padded corner as well. My right foot brushes up against his upper outer thigh as his right foot grazes my side now. I close my eyes and we float like this for a few moments, casually bumping into one another.
I feel his right foot gently rub against my side and my arm. Before I can think about what I’m doing, I reach my hands over and grab ahold of his foot. I start to massage the bridge of his foot absentmindedly as I shift my body underneath his massive right leg. Tank lets out a chuckle.
“Ahh, what wonderful service from our new Gamma leader.” He sighs as I continue working the base of my palm into the bridge of his foot.
“It’s not a free service,” I retort as I lift my left leg up around his right one. I place my foot on top of his stomach and wiggle my toes. Tank chuckles again and grabs ahold of my foot with his meaty hands. Our bodies brush up against one another as my groin presses up completely against the underside of his leg. At this point I’m basically straddling his leg from underneath while we continue to massage each other's feet in the water.
What the fuck am I doing? Is this okay? Slowly my consciousness starts to come back into focus when I open my eyes. Tank must be fine with this since he hasn’t moved or made any comment about it. Plus, he is massaging my foot as well which honestly feels great. I haven’t had a massage recently and his strong hands are doing wonders. Tank pulls my left foot up a little higher on his stomach and my other foot gently brushes up against his crotch. It’s hard. His dick is hard.
The back of my head slides off of the cushion and I’m under the water. I quickly release Tank’s foot and push myself back out of the bubbling liquid. He has let go of my foot at this point and starts laughing.
“Asshole,” I sputter out as I push my hair out of my face and situate myself back into my corner. Tank keeps laughing and wiggles his other foot above the water. The jacuzzi lights shift the color of his pruney foot from yellow to orange.
“C’mon Bradley, you were doing so good. I need the other foot rubbed to even me out,” He rumbles out as he keeps laughing. I glare at him for a few seconds until I remember the feeling of his hard dick beneath my toes. My own dick twitches awake and I get a tingly feeling down my spine.
Up until this point I have only ever made out with a handful of guys and traded a few hand jobs in bathroom stalls at concerts. Everything I have ever done with another man has been in secret. The only people that know are Mocha, Sophia, and the guys that I had fun with. Because if my father ever finds out that his son, his successor is gay, he’d kill me.
Tank smirks at me and wiggles his foot again. I sigh and take a hold of it with both hands. I start working my fingers into his arch then make my way to his heel and then up his ankle. He just sighs and continues resting back with his eyes closed. Hesitantly, I start rubbing up his calf and work the muscle. He smiles slightly, keeping his eyes shut. While keeping my eyes on his face, I slowly work my hands up to his knee.
“Mmm, that’s the one I tweaked earlier this week. That feels so nice,” He murmurs to me. The praise sends another tingle down my spine.
I gently rub his knee, pressing my palms on either side. Then I slide my hands up the sides of his thigh, only slightly. He doesn’t react. I kneed my palms into his meaty thigh, feeling his soft, wet skin slide underneath my fingers. At this point my dick is throbbing against my shorts. I glance down to see if his body is reacting the same way mine is. To my pleasure, it is.
Through the foamy bubbles I can see his hard member prominently straining against his pink swim trunks. I continue gazing through the bubbles as I work my hands up higher on his thigh. I peek back up at his face, expecting him to still have his head back with his eyes closed. But it isn’t, his head is up right and he’s watching me. His eyes meet mine and I freeze.
“Should we take this inside?” Tank asks, a sultry smile breaking across his face. I stare at him for a moment trying to grasp what is happening. I swallow hard then nod curtly.
“Meet me in my room after you’ve dried off. I want you standing naked in my doorway in about 10 minutes.” He commands as he stands up out of the water, his unmistakable hard on now eye level with me. He grins down at me then makes his way out of the tub and inside the house. His brawny back glistening against the shifting lights.
Holy shit, this is happening. I’m not sure if I’m ready for this. Upon exploring and researching my own sexual desires, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am what is known as a verse? I’ve definitely thought of fucking a man more than once but, I also welcome the thought of being fucked. Tank doesn’t seem like he’s a bottom, which is fine. Except that I am not so sure if I’m ready to be penetrated by anything other than my own toy or my own fingers right now. Nervousness starts settling over me as I climb out of the jacuzzi and make my way into the house.
With my heart thumping in my chest, I start up the stairs and quickly shuffle down the hallway to my room. Once inside, I close the door slightly and snatch the towel hanging off the back of it. I walk towards my bed and toss the towel down on it. Sliding my fingers into the waistband of my shorts, I drop the wet garment to the floor with a quick slap. Grabbing the towel up, I start drying myself off.
“Oh shit. Is he going to fuck me? I don’t know if I can relax enough for that. He’s going to hurt. Maybe I can suggest mutual head?” I whisper to myself in an attempt to calm myself down. The nervousness from earlier slowly turns into anticipation though. I am finally going to have sex with a man. After I finish drying off, I head back towards my door and hang the towel up. I grip the towel and lean my forehead against it. Feeling oddly sober now, I take a couple deep breaths.
“Braaaad, where are you?” Tank’s voice rumbles from beyond my door. I take one last deep breath and straighten up my back. Sticking my chest out, I confidently make my way down the hallway towards the illuminated doorway. My feet slap the little puddles that were left behind by Tank’s wet body. With each step my dick starts hardening again at the thought of being able to run my hands all over Tank’s body. Thinking of taking his dick in my mouth all but has me ready for whatever happens once I enter his room.
Now standing in Tank’s doorway, I am granted a beautiful sight of Tank leaning back against his headboard completely naked and aroused. I casually lean my shoulder against the side of the door frame and cross my arms. The only lightsource in the room is a small, green lamp on his bedside table. The dim viridescent light casts shadows across his husky body as he picks up a small bottle lying next to him. He squirts out a generous amount of clear liquid into his right hand. Tucking his left hand behind his head, he gently rests his right hand palm up alongside himself. A wicked smile creeps along his lips as his hand slides up his hip and grips his cock.
A gasp escapes my lips as he starts working himself in front of me. The lube slicks up his cock making it gleam. My own hand hesitantly grasps my dick and I start slowly pumping myself. I have fantasized a few times about Tank. I have always found him handsome and his protective demeanor with his friends is so attractive. There were a couple of instances that we had had where I thought he might find me attractive. Long lingering looks, compliments pertaining to how good my body is, and conversations that always ended with him laying his hand on my shoulder. But, I always brushed those off as a straight man being nice to his friend. I guess I can’t say my gut feelings were wrong anymore, considering what is happening now.
Tank groans quietly as he slowly jacks himself. Each time his thick hand pulls up on his dick, his bicep and pec bulges. Precum starts to leak out of the head of my cock at the sight. The liquid lubricates my hand making me moan. Tank groans in response and squeezes his dick. He untucks his other arm from behind his head and beckons me over to him. I stop stroking myself and smirk.
“You want me over there?” I ask in a coy tone. I slowly glide my fingers down the underside of my shaft as I use my other hand to slowly trace a lazy pattern up my abs. Tank groans again.
“Get over here. Now.” Tank orders, his voice deep and strong. Hearing his stern command sends that tingle down my spine. It makes my dick twitch. He notices the jump and his smirk turns into a lustful grin while my cock bobs up and down.
“Now.” He barks at me. Without thinking I hurry over towards the bed, towards him. Standing by the edge of the bed I watch as Tank sits up and positions himself up on his knees. His massive thighs expand as he sits back on his feet. He takes a hold of my dick in one hand while he leans forward on his other. He peers up at me with lust filled eyes as he slowly slides my dick in his mouth.
“Ahh, oh shit.” I groan as his wet mouth engulfs the tip of my cock. His slippery tongue rubs against the underside of my shaft while he takes me deeper into his mouth. He gets me about three quarters of the way in when he gags slightly, causing his mouth to tighten around me ever so slightly. A gasp escapes my mouth as he slides my cock back out of his mouth with a small pop.
“Feel good?” Tank asks as he peers up at me. I press the tip of my swollen dick back up against his lips in response. He chuckles as he sits back on his knees again, almost eye to eye with me. His hand reaches out for my shoulder and he pulls me down so my ear is close to his lips.
“I’ve got something that will feel even better than my mouth, baby,” He whispers in a sensual tone that sends goosebumps down the back of my neck. He reaches over to his nightstand and opens the drawer. I straighten up and watch as he fumbles his hand around, searching for something. Once he’s found whatever he was looking for, he pulls his hand out to reveal a condom. My heart rate increases as I start to panic at the thought of what’s coming.
“Suit up, baby.” He says as he flicks the condom at me. Holding the plastic wrapped condom in my hand, my nerves begin to settle. So Tank IS a bottom, I think to myself. That’s so fucking hot to think that a man as big and burly as Tank is likes to be dominated. I start to wonder if he’s going to need any finger play until he leans forward again and reaches behind himself. All I can do is watch in awe as Tank groans and slowly pulls a lime green anal plug from his ass. Tank tosses it onto the bed behind him. His dark, deep set eyes gaze into mine as his tongue flicks out to lick his lips.
“C’mon Braaaad, I want to feel that thick Uppercrust cock deep inside me.” He rumbles out. I tear open the wrapper and flick it onto the floor. Finally feeling confident with my situation, I narrow my eyes and flash a sultry smile.
“You want my dick, Tank? How bad?” I muse, leisurely sheathing myself. I watch as his face shifts from a look of arousal to a look of deep yearning. That look alone almost makes me cum on the spot.
“Bradley, baby. If you don’t start fucking me soon, I’ll just have to pin you down and fuck myself on top of you.” He responds. His eyes glimmer with a hint of challenge followed by intense heat. My cock bounces up again in anticipation as I fold my arms across my chest.
Smirking down at him I whisper loudly and slowly, “Do it.”
Tank growls as he grabs my arm and forcibly pulls me down onto the bed on my back. I lean up to kiss him but he places his large hand on my chest to push me back down. I give him a quizzical look and raise my eyebrow.
“I don’t kiss men, baby.” Tank says sternly. He shifts his body up on top of mine, straddling me.
I run my hands over his thick thighs and squeeze. Our cocks brush up against one another and that friction causes me to groan. Tank gives me a little smile as he reaches over to pick up the bottle of lube. Taking both of our dicks into his warm hand, he then squirts a liberal amount of lube onto both of them. He squeezes them together causing our shafts to rub and slide along one another. I moan and he starts pumping both of our cocks in his hand. I grip onto his thighs. My toes curl in pleasure and I start to lose myself in it.
“Fuck Tank, that feels so good.” I moan out and bite my bottom lip. Tanks eyes dance at the sight of me. He starts thrusting his dick into his hand against my own cock and I feel his balls lightly slap against my own. I groan loudly, sliding my hands up and down his thighs.
“It’s about to feel even better, baby.” He growls as he releases our slicked cocks.
Tank squirts more lube onto three of his fingers then leans himself forward and begins preparing himself for me. I adjust my arms so that my head is resting on top of them as I gaze up at the sight of this giant man above me shifting himself up into a squatting position. He takes hold of my cock in one hand as he supports himself with his other behind him. I feel the head of my cock press up against his hole and I hold my breath. The tight feeling of my tip penetrating past that puckered ring sends stars to my eyes.
“Aghh, Tank.” I groan out loudly as he sinks down onto me.
“Yeah baby, that’s it. Nice and thick,” Tank murmurs as I feel his muscles relax around my dick.
Tank uses both hands to support himself now, as he leans back and slowly starts bouncing up and down. He throws his head back and lets out a low moan as my dick continues to stretch his hole.
“I told you I had something better than my mouth,” Tank moans as he begins to quicken his pace, his hard cock bobbing up and down. At this point, I am unable to think about anything other than what he’s doing to me. The feeling of my swollen cock sliding in and out of this man’s tight ass has left me wrecked. The only sounds I can hear in the room are our moans and labored breathing.
“Fuck me hard, Bradley. C’mon, faster. For me.” Tank pants out, begging. I quickly grip his hips and shift myself to start thrusting. I plunge myself up into him and his cock starts slapping up to hit his stomach. Precum drips out of his tip as he throws his head back and moans deeply. I can feel his ass tighten around me and I begin to whimper. My release is imminent and I hope he’s not too far behind me because I can’t hold on any longer.
“Fuck, agh. I’m coming,” I gasp out as my balls tighten. I continue thrusting up into him as I squeeze my eyes shut and ride through my own release. I feel his hot cum soak my stomach as the muscles inside his hole contract and release around my…
……………………………………………………………………………………………
“Braaaad, are you listening?” I hear Tank’s voice ask while the memory I had starts to fade. Half hard now, I adjust myself and clear my throat.
“Yes, I hear you.” I reply, turning my head to meet his gaze. My head is still a little foggy with the memory. I glare at him and hold my hand out, palm up. He smirks and places my earbuds into the middle of my hand.
“Well, if you ever feel lonely don’t hesitate to text me, baby.” He muses as he places his hand on my shoulder and starts to walk away.
“Don’t count on me ever feeling THAT lonely!” I snap, watching his back in the mirror as he tenses. He shakes his head and I can hear him chuckle slightly as he saunters off.
Brushing his touch from my shoulder, I stand up and walk over to the sanitation station to grab another hand towel. I quickly sanitize the leg press machine and gather my gear. I sling my bag over my head and drop the hand towel into the metal basket by the door on my way out.
Once outside, I inhale the crisp air deeply and let it out slowly. Ugh. I can’t believe I still allow Tank to have that power over me. We only fucked like three or four more times after that initial one. They all went about the same way too; me pounding into him roughly with no kissing or tenderness whatsoever from him.
Before everyone came back for their fall semesters, I sat him down and explained my situation with my father. I told him that I couldn't start a relationship with a man even though that’s all that I truly wanted. I apologized for having to cut it off with him. Tank just brushed it off saying that he didn’t like men like that anyways. He said that what we did was just two friends passing the time until all of the hot sorority girls came back to school. Even though he said that, I knew deep down he didn’t mean it. After that conversation, he never seemed to stop teasing me and trying to get me to fuck him again.
Putting my headphones in my ears, I thumb through the songs on my phone. I click on my cardio playlist and select my favorite Powerline song; Stand Out. I close my eyes and smile while I tap my foot to the beat. Checking the time, it reads 7:58AM. Sophia hasn’t texted me yet about how her night went, which isn’t surprising. It’s still too early for her to up just yet after a night of partying.
I tuck my phone into my bag and grip the water bottle in my hand. With the chorus blaring in my ears, I step off the curb and start jogging towards the lake. Making my way onto the paved walkway, I pick up my pace and run hard. Breathing heavy, I think about the nice hot shower I’m going to take when I get back to the dorms. I wonder if my new roommate is up just yet, hopefully he won’t be too hungover for introductions.
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Notes:
Wow. So I didn't expect to take such a long break from writing but, the last few moths of the year always hit me the hardest with a lack of wanting to do ANYTHING (/.\)
Regardless, I'm back and I wrote a lot :D It took me a minute to actually figure out how I wanted to progress the story and I think I have a somewhat cohesive idea now lol
Let me know if there is anything that I wrote that may be a little too clunky, that I could fix to make the reading go more smoothly. Also, I think moving forward there won't be so many loooooooooooooong flash backs lol I hope you enjoy it and thank you all for reading this far!
Chapter Text
Max
“Oof, fuck.” I choke out quietly as a minor throbbing sensation slowly erupts across my right temple as soon as I open my eyes. Lucky for me the room is still dark.
I try swallowing but my tongue is tacky and it feels as if I’m trying to drink sand. I need water, BAD. Sitting up in bed, I reach over to my left and grip one of the large curtains. Sliding it open I am immediately assaulted by a barrage of sunlight. It has to be around 9 o’clock from the looks of it.
The sunlight dances with the wind through the moderately bare tree branches and brittle brown leaves. I reach my hands up to my face and rub the build up of crusties from my eyes. The swirls of colors flashing around behind my closed eyes, coupled with the pressure from my hands, alleviates the headache slightly. I stretch my arms up to the raised ceiling and yawn loudly as I look towards my feet, I stare across the space between the bunk beds.
“Huh, my roommate is respectful.” I think as I eye the empty bed. Slowly, I make my way down the ladder and teeter around once my feet hit the floor. Ugh, I feel like shit. I can taste how bad my breath stinks. Man, if I don’t get water in me soon I think I may just disintegrate into a dust pile right here on my rug.
Opening my wardrobe, I dig around for my shower caddy and towel. Once I’ve gathered what I need, I walk over to my desk and tap my phone. The time says 8:48am, so I wasn’t too far off with my guesstimate. I notice I have a couple of texts already too. One from Roxanne and three from Bobby. I quickly swipe up on my phone to read the messages.
8:23am, Bobby: GOODMORNING!
8:30am, Bobby: WAKE UP!
8:40am, Bobby: FOOD?
I reply back quickly,
8:51am, Me: I’m alive.. barely haha I’m going to hop in the shower quick, I’ll come down by you when I’m done
Backing out of that text thread, I click into the one with Roxanne.
5:42AM, Roxanne: Hope u had a good nite:) I may have drank waaaaaaaay too muhc lol whenever ur free call me tmr! Goodnite:*
A smile slides across my face and I send back a response.
8:52AM, Me: I had a good night, wuld have been better if you were here wit me;)
Just as I set my phone back down on top of my laptop, it vibrates. A reply from Bobby with the message preview reading “COOL BEANS!” lights up the screen.
I slide my boxers off and wrap a large red towel around my waist. I rub my eye again and acknowledge the grimy feeling all over my body. Slipping on my shower sandals, I pick up the shower caddy and head out of the door. I shuffle my way down the dimly lit hallway towards the bathroom. Opening the door I’m blinded by the sunlight shifting through the large frosted glass window. The sound of water streaming out of a shower head ricochets off the bathroom walls. The humidity feels nice as I make my way over to a sink and turn on the cold water. Leaning over the sink and tilting my head, I cup my lips and suck in a couple gulps of water. The crisp temperature of the water is so refreshing, I can feel my dehydrated husk of a body slowly coming back to life.
Standing up straight, I stare at myself in the mirror for a bit looking over my choppy black mullet, tousled like I had just stuck my head out of a moving car. I glance over the puffy bags under my dark brown eyes and push on them with my finger. I then brush that finger over my large nose and glance over my full lips adorned with my spiked snake bite piercings. Looking at the black hair dye fading from my eyebrows, I make note to reapply another coat soon.
Reaching up to my ear lobes, I push the large stone plugs from their holes. With them in my hands I take some soap from my shower supplies and begin to wash the moonstone jewelry. After I’m satisfied with their cleanliness, I dry them with the towel around my waist and drop them inside a little nook in the shower caddy. Methodically, I apply the toothpaste to my tooth brush and begin brushing my teeth.
Afterwards, I shuffle quickly towards the small room to the right where the two shower cubicles are. Hanging up my towel next to the unoccupied shower, I get in and turn the knob. Ice cold water hits my face and I gasp quietly. The water quickly heats up and I adjust it to my liking. I turn around to let the water beat against my upper back and lean forward against the wall of the shower. With my forehead pressed onto my forearm, I try to remember what I did at the party last night. Small blurbs of memories quickly flash through my mind: helping Bobby puke in the toilet, dominating at Mario Kart, dancing with that girl. The quiet words me and Mocha had shared at the table while everybody was getting high linger a little longer than the rest.
“He looked good, huh?”
“Yeah.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. Why’d I say that?! Why did I even say anything to her in the first place about Bradley that night at the Halloween party?
………………………………………………………………………………
“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” A chorus of male voices trail throughout the house from the kitchen somewhere in the back.
The music blaring out of the multiple speakers staged around the house melds with all of the various drunken conversations and laughter. For being a Halloween party at the football team’s house, the decorations are sick. There are orange and black streamers twisting their way across the ceilings wrapped around orange LED lights. All along the floors, green and purple LED lights line the sides. Smoke machines strewn throughout the large house coat the floor in a thin veil of fog. Fake cobwebs cover the walls with little plastic spiders peeking out through them. There are people everywhere dressed in Halloween costumes varying from slutty to nutty.
Sitting at the bottom of the stairs in the foyer, I adjust my chrome Ghostface mask up onto my head so I can take a generous pull from the Hennesy bottle. Bobby sits in front of me and leans his back against my knees. Gently, I start digging my kneecaps into his shoulder blades and bounce him to the beat. I lift the bottle again and take another swig from it as Bobby turns his body around. He pushes up his LED Purge mask to grin at me.
“Ouuuu, it’s THAT type of night tonight, huh?” Bobby asks, eyeing me as I wipe my mouth with the sleeve of my black hoodie.
The multicolor lights from his mask illuminate his face perfectly in the dim lighting of the house. Smiling wide, he twists back around and rests the back of his head onto my lap and opens his mouth. I chuckle and pour the brown liquid into his mouth until he gives me a thumbs up. His generous grin returns to his face after he swallows it. I am already pretty wasted at this point and I can feel my head start to feel swimmy. I smile back at him as he wipes the gleam off his lips.
Glancing up at the crowd in the foyer, I spot Mocha and P.J making their way over to us. Mocha has on a long, sleek, black wig and a low-cut, long-sleeve, floor-length dress that causes the fog on the floor to wisp up as she meanders her way through the crowd. P.J is sporting a black, double-breasted pinstripe suit with a white cravat necktie tucked into his slightly unbuttoned black dress shirt. His hair has been greased down against his head in a wicked middle part. The thin mustache drawn onto his upper lip curves upwards on the ends as he smiles at us.
“Lemme get some of that. Please,” Mocha slurs slightly, as she plops down on the steps next to Bobby. She giggles loudly with a flushed face and her long, black wig shifts around her shoulders and gleams in the party lights as she leans over to grab the neck of the bottle.
“Okay Morticia, as long as you don’t get your lipstick all over it,” Bobby chuckles. Mocha looks breathtaking in her costume underneath the green and purple holiday lights snaking their way up the railing on the stairs. P.J leans on the railing, his face equally as flushed as he grins at her while she waterfalls a drink out of the bottle.
“Is it dance time?” P.J eagerly asks, tilting his head towards the dark living room illuminated by nothing but a strobe light and multicolored laser lights.
“YES! C’mon love,” Mocha says, handing the bottle back to Bobby and grabbing P.J’s hand.
A couple women dressed in sexy astronaut costumes squeeze their way past me and Bobby on their way up the stairs. Bobby eyes them eagerly and flashes me a huge grin. I roll my eyes and shove his shoulder. The last thing Bobby needs to be doing right now is try to hit on those girls. The guy always says he has “great game” when it comes to flirting but, I have yet to see him even get close to a goal.
“Let’s get in there, Bobby.” I urge, as I reach my hand up and grip the railing. Standing up, I reach down and snake my hand under Bobby’s armpit helping him up to his feet. I slide my mask back down over my face and Bobby follows suit.
We make our way into the living room, squeezing through a group of people standing in the archway dressed up as the Minions. Passing by a man in a large banana costume dancing sporadically, we find an open spot near the left side of the room by a couch. Bobby pushes his mask back up and takes another pull from the bottle in his hands. Then he closes his eyes and hugs it as he starts swaying side to side to the beat. P.J and Mocha gently press up on one another and rock to the music. I smile beneath my mask and try to find the rhythm. The booze has made its way deep into my brain at this point and I feel my legs wobble a bit. Letting out a giggle, I plop myself down on the couch.
“Oof, I think it’s best to just enjoy a little people-watching for now.” I say in the general direction of our group. I know they didn’t hear me but I’m too drunk to care at this point. Peering through the darkened eye holes in my mask, I take in the sights around me.
There’s plenty of guys in stereotypical Halloween themed masks like mine which is expected. There’s a banquet of food related costumes as well, like the typical hotdogs and pickles. A swath of sexy devils and nurses, along with a few nuns and witches fill the room. I push my mask up over my face to get a better look around. I notice a large muscular man dressed up as what appears to be Bane from Christain Bale’s Batman. His stature is eerily similar and I get a small rush of irritation as realization sets in. It’s Tank.
Fuck. Don’t tell me the Gamma’s are here too. I quickly flick my eyes to the people standing around “Bane”. There’s a blonde woman next to him in a red latex mini dress and devil horns. She wraps her dainty arm around his massive forearm and giggles to a brunette woman next to her in a matching angel outfit. There’s a curvy lady next to them with silver hair dressed up in a sexy latex Catwoman costume. She’s got her arm resting on the shoulder of a broad shouldered guy dressed up as Batman.
I can only really tell the man’s costume is Batman from the mask he has flipped up onto his head. With the mask pushed up I can see he has applied thick black smokey eye makeup. He’s definitely going for the edgy Robert Pattinson Batman. Everything he's wearing is black, from the bootcut jeans and combat boots to the black bomber jacket and pullover hoodie. ‘Batman’ smiles wide at ‘Catwoman’ but the smile doesn’t seem to reach up to his eyes. Even with the lack of good lighting in here I can tell whose perfect smile that belongs to, it’s Bradley.
I’m surprised they showed up here. I figured they would be throwing their own Halloween party and that we wouldn’t have to worry about seeing them tonight. I keep watching him as he throws his head back to laugh at something Tank has said. The strobe lights flash next to him allowing me clear glimpses of his strong neck and pronounced jawline. He turns his head to look out at everyone else dancing in the room. His head slowly turns and he lifts a red cup up to his mouth. Just before his eyes can find mine, ‘Catwoman’ leans on him to whisper something into his ear as she caresses the side of his face in her long nailed hand.
An anxious feeling settles in my gut. I can feel my hands start to feel clammy. My mind starts to sift through recent interactions I’ve had with Bradley; smug looks he’s shot my way and some snarky quips about my lack of intelligence, for not joining the Gammas, start to consume my drunken thoughts. The motion of someone plopping down next to me shakes me back to the present. I tear my eyes from the scene of Bradley slowly sliding his arm around ‘Catwoman’s waist. I look down at the person nudging my shoulder and see Mocha smiling up at me. A light gleam of sweat across her forehead shifts with the colors of the laser lights.
“Showtime!” She exclaims as she nods her head towards the crowded room.
The song that starts playing finally begins to register in my mind and I realize it’s Thriller by Michael Jackson. As the first smack of the drums bang, Bobby and P.J begin to hit the dance moves in front of us. P.J shoots me a serious look and mouths “C’mon, bitch” as he swats his arms out to the music. I can’t help but let out a laugh. Mocha grabs my arm and pushes me up to join them. Once on my feet, I fall right into step with them.
“Yeah, Max!” Bobby howls next to me as I moonwalk into position. I throw my head back and laugh as we drop down and shimmy.
People around us back up and give us ample room as we dance. Bobby, P.J, and I have been dancing to this song since we were kids. The moves have become like second nature to us by now. I get a rush of confidence as the people around us start cheering us on.
Grinning, I glance over at Bradley and realize he’s watching me. A blaze of emotion flashes across his face as I pop up on my toes and spin around. I shoot him a quick wink and smile smugly. His eyes smolder as he continues watching us. We continue moving through the dance effortlessly as we near the end of the song. I throw in a couple of Michael Jackson’s signature moves to add a little more pizzazz to our dance and everyone erupts into cheers once again. Once the narrator in the song starts laughing at the end, I kick my foot out and spin one last time. The dude in the banana costume comes up and throws his arm around my shoulder.
“Dude Max, that was so sick! I got that all on video,” He blurts out. He’s holding out his phone and yells, “Team 99 is gonna crush the Gammas this year!”
“Gamma Mu Mu, more like Gamma Doo Doo!” Bobby yells from behind me. Everyone laughs and cheers as I smile nervously and glance over at Bradley. I can feel them all seething in the corner.
“C’mon now, we’re all just here to have a good time. Let’s keep that energy for the X Games!” I yell as I brush the banana guy’s arm off me.
Luckily, Like A G6 by Far East Movement comes on and everybody begins singing and dancing. P.J and Bobby start dancing again, passing the bottle back and forth between themselves. I pat them both on the back before I meander my way back to the couch. Mocha grins at me as I flop down next to her.
“That was marvelous, you guys are full of surprises!” She laughs as she tucks her feet up on the couch and rests her elbow on my shoulder.
Leaning on me, she says “ I like how you handled that situation with the guy in the banana costume too. Keeping it humble, if only the Gammas could extend that same treatment towards you guys.”
“Yeah, well they like their mind games. We don’t need to do that,” I reply as I scan the room and land on the corner where Bradley and his goons are dancing.
The song switches to Slow Motion by Juvenile and the vibe in the room shifts from fun and crazy to sexy and sensual. I watch as Bradley smiles down at the Catwoman lady and pulls her close to his body. She starts grinding up on him and wraps her hand around the back of his neck.
I start to feel an anxious sensation in my chest knot up as my eyes follow her other hand. She gently grabs his hand and guides it along her hip to her round ass. She flashes him a coy smile and when he doesn’t squeeze it right away, she does it herself. Clearing my throat, I rub my palms on my thighs and look back up to his face. If I didn't know any better, I’d say that smile seems kind of forced.
“Hmm, who are you looking at?” Mocha asks, following my eyeline through the flashing lights. As her gaze lands on them, she lets out a snort.
“How cute. He thinks he can handle all of that? She’s going to eat him aliiiive.” Mocha chuckles to herself.
As if he can sense us watching him, Bradley’s eyes flicker over to us on the couch. Mocha gives him a playful wave and wiggle of her fingers as she kisses the air towards him. He glares daggers at her and then shifts that look towards me. Copying the same movements Mocha had done, I add a middle finger gesture to the end.
Bradley smirks and then looks down at the woman grinding on him. He uses his free hand to gently tilt her head up to kiss her. I watch as she opens her mouth to allow his tongue to slide into hers. A prickle of heat makes its way up my neck to my cheeks as he grabs her ass and she presses herself deeper into the kiss. With my cheeks burning, I watch as Bradley opens his eyes and locks onto mine while he continues to make out with ‘Catwoman’. My mouth goes dry and the knot in my chest returns. Mocha snorts before looking away from them towards me.
“Hey, are you okay?” She asks, gently resting her hand on my forearm.
“Huh? Yeah, I.. I think I need to get another drink, something other than liquor. I’m going to head into the kitchen and grab a beer. Be right back,” I say quickly as I wrench my eyes from Bradley’s and stand up. Sliding my mask down over my face, I look back at Mocha and give her a thumbs up before snaking my way out of the living room.
Once back into the foyer, I locate the hallway to the kitchen on my left and move towards it. The knot in my chest seems to fade as I pass by an overstimulating amount of people. After what feels like an eternity in my drunken state, I finally step into the kitchen. It’s lit up in orange lighting and there's various snacks lining the countertops. A bunch of football players are all huddled around the keg laughing and yelling. I notice an open cooler on the floor full to the brim with ice and bottled beer.
“Ay, can I grab a few of these?” I ask loudly as I point down to the cooler. All of the guys look at me and almost in unison give me a thumbs up.
“Hell yeah, man! It’s a party!” One guy with bright red hair yells.
“Okay, round three! Grab my legs!” He yells out as he turns back around to the keg.
A cacophony of yells erupt from them as they help the red haired man handstand on the top of the keg. I smile to myself under the mask as I grab a couple of Corona bottles from the cooler. I quickly make my way back out of the kitchen and slip outside through the sliding door.
Pushing my mask up on my head, the cool Autumn air hits my face and chills my dampened skin. Leaning my back against the glass door, I take a deep breath and close my eyes to listen to the rustling of the dry leaves. The stark contrast between the atmosphere outside and the atmosphere inside is slightly sobering. I open my eyes and take in my surroundings. The back deck is large and drops down in the middle around a built in fire pit. There are large shrubs and small trees surrounding it, making it very secluded from the rest of the yard. Walking around the edge of the deck, I notice a small set of stairs to my right through the shrubs. I glance back at the house and shrug.
It’s getting to the part of the night when the entire house is starting to feel sweaty. Everyone is either wasted or teetering on the edge of being wasted, myself included. I need a moment to myself right now. I make my way down the small stairs and take a left at the garage. It’s hard to see now that I don’t have the light shining from the back door. But once my eyes have adjusted to the dark, the light from the full moon is enough to illuminate the backyard. There's a volleyball net set up in the middle of the backyard and I spot two lawn chairs to my left. They sit a couple feet in front of the shrubs surrounding the deck. I sit down in the farthest one and place the Corona bottles on the seat of the first.
Digging around in my pockets, I feel for my lighter and pull it out once I feel the smooth plastic on my fingers. Adjusting my grip on the neck of the bottle so that my hand is right underneath the edge of the cap, I wedge the end of the lighter between them. Gripping tightly, I leverage the top of the lighter with my other hand and pop open the bottle. Lifting the bottle up to my lips, I take a long pull from the bottle as the wind picks up and whirls wilted leaves past me.
My mind drifts back to the kiss Bradley was sharing with that woman in the living room. The way he slowly tilted her head up so they could gaze into each other's eyes. That sultry little smile he gave her before pressing his lips against hers. The way she caressed the back of his neck and pushed her fingers through his hair. The way his strong hands gripped her ass and pulled her close. That intense look in his eyes as they burned into mine while their tongues danced back and forth. I start to feel that tight feeling in my chest again and my cheeks start to flush. What the fuck. It’s almost as if I’m jealous. It can’t be jealousy, I don’t have anything from either of them that I should be jealous of. Is it envy? But envious of what?
“Of him?” I whisper to myself and then snort out loud at the thought.
The woman dressed up as Catwoman is hot, I can’t deny that. The way the latex suit hugs her curves in all of the right places. But I don’t even know who she is, so I don’t think I’m necessarily envious of him. I lean back in the chair and mull it over. So does that mean it’s a feeling of envy for her? But for what? For being able to kiss Bradley? My chest tightens again at the thought.
“What the fuck,” I mutter to myself before taking another long pull from my beer.
Just as I finish swallowing the bitter liquid, I hear the back door quickly slide open and close. I listen to the sound of swift footsteps making their way across the wooden deck towards the stairs. Then the sound of those same feet rapidly making their way down to the grass. A man appears at the edge of the bushes. It’s difficult to see him in the dark but then he steps into the moonlight. He’s wearing a bomber jacket with a hoodie underneath and there is a Batman mask perched up on his head exposing his face. It’s Bradley.
What. The. Fuck. Masking the surprise from my face, I watch him quietly from my chair. Bradley silently stands there with his eyes closed before he inhales a large breath through his nose then calmly exhales it through his mouth. Hesitantly, I lift the beer bottle to my lips and tilt the liquid into my mouth. The dim light from the moon gently illuminates the thin layer of sweat on his face. The black makeup he applied around his eyes has started to bleed down his cheekbones.
We stay like this for a moment in complete silence. Him standing there thinking he’s alone and me watching him trying to think of something to say. Just as I swallow and go to open my mouth, the back door slides open. BAM! The noises from inside come spilling out as a woman yells out a name.
“Bradley?” The woman calls. Bradley’s eyes snap open and he turns to his left. His eyes widen as he finally notices me sitting here. I smirk before flicking my chin up at him. He slowly raises a finger to his lips, not taking his eyes off of mine.
“BRADLEY?” The woman calls out again, this time in a firmer tone. Bradley makes a motion with his hand across his throat. I smile devilishly at him and shake my head slowly side to side. His eyes plead with me through the darkness and he freezes while I leisurely open my mouth to speak.
“Nah. Max,” I respond. The relief in Bradley’s demeanor is palpable, even in the dark. His shoulders relax but he stays frozen, listening.
“Oh, ew.” The woman says back and the door slides closed, cutting off the noise from inside.
We listen for a few more moments before Bradley lets out a sigh of relief. I keep grinning at him as he pulls his mask from his head and pushes his hair back. He looks away from me as he takes another breath and straightens out his posture. Turning to face me again, he gives me a smug look.
“Noble,” He finally says.
“You’re welcome, Braaaad.” I drawl as I lift the bottle back up to my lips. I take a loud, slow sip as I watch him roll his eyes.
“It’s Bradley,” He huffs before gesturing around us. “Why are you out here alone? Kind of creepy sitting out here by yourself in the dark.” I shrug and gesture around us as well before pointing the mouth of my beer at him.
“Why are YOU out here alone? Kind of weird that you wouldn’t want to be out here with Catwoman.” I retort, nodding my head behind me towards the house. Bradley glances at the shrubs as he begins to fiddle with the strap on his mask. A small smile breaks across his lips and he looks away from me while shaking his head.
“Her name is Sophia. And I.. I’m not enough for her,” He breathes out, still smiling.
I chuckle at his unusual vulnerability and respond, “Yeah. Mocha said something about the fact that she’d eat you alive.”
He chuckles too as he continues looking out at the backyard. Tilting his head up, he looks at the moon quietly. Should I say something? What should I say? Maybe it’s because we’re drunk and alone, but it feels as if it’s okay to be friendly right now. I reach over to the other chair and move the beer bottles to the grass. As I sit back up, I grab one of the bottles and look at him again. He’s still standing there just watching the moon as the wind tousels his hair.
“Wanna beer?” I ask hesitantly as the rustling from the leaves die down. Bradley turns his head to me in surprise, raising his eyebrows.
I hold out a beer and motion for him to sit down in the other chair. He stares at me as if he too is contemplating whether or not it’s okay for us to be friendly with one another for once. He walks over reluctantly and takes the beer from me before plopping down in the other chair. He fishes around the pockets of his jacket before he pulls out a silver bottle opener. Using it, he pops open the beer and takes a drink. I notice he doesn’t swallow the beer right away. Instead he sort of swishes it around in his mouth, as if it’s mouthwash, before swallowing it down.
“Ahh, I haven’t had a Corona in awhile. I forget how smooth they are,” He muses before he takes another sip, this time swallowing it as it enters his mouth.
“Mm,” I mumble agreement into my own bottle while I take another sip.
The quiet we share as we sit here drinking our beers feels nice. Bradley leans forward with his elbows on his knees and swirls around the amber beer in its bottle. I slouch down into my seat inspecting the trails of black eye makeup streaking down his cheeks to his lips. His lips gleam a little in the light of the moon. They look soft…huh. Wait. WHAT.
His lips look SOFT?!
“What the fuck,” I murmur as I sit up a little straighter and finish off the rest of my beer.
“Hmm?” Bradley grunts.
I pause and mentally kick myself for allowing my thoughts to leave my head. Ignoring his question, I reach down between us and swap my empty beer out for the last one. Taking my lighter, I pop open the bottle and slide the cap into my pocket. I take another sip while casually glancing towards Bradley. He’s watching me now. His thick eyebrows raise slightly as he takes a sip too. I clear my throat a little and lean back in the chair.
“Are you ready to get your ass kicked in the X Games?” I taunt. He cracks a smile and I notice that this time his eyes seem to smile too.
“Ha, are you ready to be humiliated? The Uppercrusts never lose.” He retorts before taking a drink. His eyes linger on mine before they quickly flicker down to my mouth and back up.
“Damn, guess this first time is going to be real devastatin’ than.” I tease.
He keeps smiling while he shakes his head. Looking away from me now, he sits up and leans back in his chair. A slight creaking can be heard over the whispering of the leaves. His head snaps in my direction with his eyes wide. I can only watch in disbelief as his legs kick up into the air as he falls back onto the ground with a hard thud. The beer bottle held up high in his left hand, not spilling a single drop.
“Bah haw haha, ahyuck!” I burst out laughing while throwing my head back and pointing.
“Hahahaha,” I hear him laugh from down on the ground. His feet shaking in tandem with his cackling in the dark.
Listening to his laugh, I feel a sudden lightness in my chest. It’s nice being with him like this. A wave of yearning floods through me. I wish that we could be friends like this rather than constantly feuding with each other.
Bradley sets his beer down onto the grass before rolling out of the broken chair onto his back. He lays sprawled out on the grass as I continue staring at him on the ground from my chair. He’s grinning as he turns his head towards me with his hand extended up into the air. His eyes gleam as he flutters his hand and clears his throat loudly. I make an exasperated sound and roll my eyes.
“Guess I could lend you a hand,” I jest, flashing him my crooked smile. I set my beer down next to my chair before getting to my feet.
“Noble,” He remarks as he starts wiggling his fingers while I make my way over to him.
Now standing in front of him, I gaze down at him. Bradley stares back at me, his grin never leaving his eyes. With his hair pushed back, the perfect symmetry of his face is on full display in the moonlight. He looks like a warrior with the dark makeup smearing down his face. I hadn’t ever realized how good looking he is. I mean I always knew he was conventionally attractive but there’s something else I feel like I’m noticing now. I have to be too drunk at this point. What is this? Why am I feeling like this?
I extend out my hand and grab ahold of his wiggling one. I feel a couple of calluses at the base of his fingers gently scrape my palm. His hand is slightly colder than mine and his grip is strong. A gust of wind swirls the dampened leaves around us as the trees creak and the bushes swish back and forth.
Pulling him up onto his feet, I brush off some wet grass from his shoulder and drop that hand down to my side. For some reason I don't let go of his hand though. Bradley doesn’t let go either. Instead, he gives my hand a small squeeze as he peers at me through his eyelashes. His mouth no longer holds a smile but a little glint of amusement flickers in his eyes. My throat goes dry and I start feeling a little bashful as I hesitantly rub my thumb against the back of his hand. I give him another crooked smile as he gives me a soft smile of his own. I’m not sure if it’s just the alcohol at this point but my chest starts to flutter.
“Oh? How interesting.”
We both freeze at the statement, our smiles instantly disappear. Still holding Bradley’s hand, I glance over towards the stairs hidden in the shrubs and notice a dark figure standing there in the shadows. Bradley keeps looking at me with panic flashing across his face as he quickly releases my hand.
He brushes off his shoulder and rakes his fingers through his hair before turning his back to me, facing whoever was watching us in the dark. I start to nervously push my tongue onto the backs of my lip piercings as the silence continues. Putting my hands in my pockets, I awkwardly shift about to appear casual as my eyes flicker between the figure and the back of Bradley’s head.
“Bradley and Max, out here alone AND being friendly?” The familiar voice trickles through the darkness.
Mocha steps into the moonlight with her arms crossed as her long glossy black wig drapes down her back. Her bright red lips curl up into a wicked sneer as she eyes Bradley. I let out a quiet sigh before relaxing my shoulders and smiling towards her. Mocha flicks her eyes towards me and I can see the giddiness bubbling up inside of her. She shifts her weight to one leg, allowing one of her rounded hips to jut out.
“Is the great Bradley Uppercrust the Third speechless for once?” She drawls, allowing a hint of her amusement to seep into her words.
“Yes, the sight of a mediocre Mortia has me at a loss for words.” He retorts. A devilish grin creeps across Mocha’s face.
“Me-ow. Feeling particularly catty tonight are we?” Mocha shoots back as her smile turns a little sour around the edges. She narrows her eyes, “Speaking of catty, where’s your date?”
I notice Bradley’s shoulders tense up as he snorts in response. My low chuckle gets carried away by another gust of wind. Mocha’s smile turns into a smirk as she glances my way. Bradley ignores us as he bends over to pick his mask up from the ground. He brushes it off then flips his hair back before putting the mask back up on his head. Stooping back down, he grabs the beer and turns back to Mocha.
“Well as fun as it would be to have a row with you, I have more desirable activities to attend to.” Bradley replies in a haughty tone. Flashes of him and ‘Catwoman’ sucking face flicker through my thoughts again. My hands tighten slightly into fists and my neck heats up.
“Yeah? Well you better go enjoy those than, Braaad.” I reply with a thick layer of derision before I can even register what I’m saying. A small sneer finds its way onto my face as my eyes bore into the back of Bradley’s head.
“Oh Max, I will. Immensely more than I could ever be enjoying myself right now.” Bradley retorts as he glares over his shoulder towards me. “Looking forward to seeing your disappointment when you lose at the Games. Should’ve decided to be on the winning side when you had the chance.” He looks back at Mocha before stalking towards the deck stairs.
Mocha and I continue to look at one another as we listen to his footsteps move up the steps and make their way across the deck. The back door slides open and the cacophony of the party floods the backyard for a few seconds before getting cut off by the door slamming shut.
“So, what was ALL that about?” Mocha gives me a sly smile as she gestures between me and the shrubs behind her.
“Uhh, honestly I have no idea.” I sigh in reply, as I scoop up my beer. I saunter over towards her, swaying slightly.
“I think I need to sit down. Stairs?” I ask while not actually waiting for a reply. Mocha giggles and takes my elbow as I pass by her. We sit down next to each other on the narrow steps, our shoulders smushed against one another.
“Was he actually being cordial with you before I interrupted?” Mocha asks curiously, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
“Yeah, it was weird but a good weird.” I reply, quickly replaying the whole interaction I had just had with Bradley in my head. “He was nice to me, like he had been when I first met him back at the beginning of the semester. Like back before he asked me if I’d like to join the Gamma house.”
“Hm, back before you rejected him.” Mocha muses quietly, almost to herself.
“Yeaaah, before I turned down his offer to join the house.” I gently correct, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye this time.
“Semantics,” She replies, gently fanning her hand in front of her as if to brush my words away.
We sit together in silence for awhile, listening to the almost melodic way the wind whirls around and fluffs up the shrubs. Mocha shivers slightly and wraps her arm around mine. She nestles against me and rests her head on my shoulder.
“So, you’d say that I rejected him?” I ask quietly, mulling over the idea.
“Hmm, I guess that depends on what was said.” She replies. Thinking back to the conversation I had with Bradley, I start to feel a pit form in my stomach.
“Fuck. He said, ‘Would you like to join me? I would love a friend like you.’ And then I said ‘No, I’ve got friends that I promised I’d do this with.’ Then everything seemed to go downhill after that.” I mumble.
“He said ‘I would love a friend like YOU’,” Mocha gasps. She pulls her head off of my shoulder and turns to look at me. “Max, I thought you were more perceptive than this! And then you basically just said ‘No, I already have friends.’ What?!”
“Well thinking back on it now, I see it. Fuck, I am a dick.” I groan. “I should’ve said it differently but I just, I didn’t realize.”
“To be fair though, he shouldn’t be reacting the way he is to that. He comes from a proud family that never really taught him how to handle rejection.” Mocha states in an oddly insightful way. I raise my eyebrow at her.
“I mean, that’s just what I’ve gathered from my interactions with him.” She says flippantly, looking forward back to the side of the garage. Then she quietly asks, “so, why were you guys holding hands just now?”
“What?” My cheeks burn.
“I said, why were you guys holding hands when I walked out here?” She asks again, this time turning her head to me again with a wicked smile on her face.
“The chair broke and I was helping him to his feet.” I stammer. My heart begins to hammer in my throat.
“Hmm. Seemed like an awfully long time to be hanging on to his hand after helping him up,” She teases, gently pushing me into the railing. I smile as I look away from her big shit-eating grin. I take a long drink from my beer before answering.
“I dunno. He just didn’t let go. It was kind of nice,” I say, remembering the coldness of his soft skin on my hand.
“Max. I’m going to ask you a question and don’t freak out on me. It’s just something I’ve been noticing,” Mocha says cautiously. “Do you like men?”
“What?” I breathe out, turning my head to look at her in surprise. She just stares at me, kindness and patience radiating from her eyes.
“What?” I say again. “Why are you asking this?”
She shrugs. “It’s just something I’ve been picking up from you. I know you enjoy women but you also seem like you’re not too entirely opposed to the idea of enjoying men too?”
I look back at her, I scan her face for any sign of mischief but there’s nothing. She’s completely earnest. Turning away from her, I swirl the beer bottle in my hands. Feeling the liquid sloshing around in the bottle before I lift it to my lips and gulp it down. She places her left hand on my forearm and nudges me slightly.
“Like you said, I guess I’m not entirely opposed to the idea. I’m just nervous about it. I’ve thought about fooling around with men multiple times, I just haven’t ever had an opportunity to act on it I suppose.” I finally say, sighing into the night air.
“So would you say that if given an opportunity, you’d be open to fooling around with Bradley?” Mocha asks, a tiny drip of giddiness falling off the end of her question.
“Mocha, he’s a straight man.” I deadpan, thinking back to the kisses he was sharing with that woman in the living room.
“That didn’t answer my question,” she hedges gently.
“I guess.. I mean, if he wasn’t as straight as he is then.. Yes, I’d love..”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
BAM! A loud thudding sound from the shower across from mine jolts me back to the present. I can hear the scrambling of the other person quickly picking up their soap bottle followed by a muffled “shit” whispered under their breath.
I straighten up and turn back to face the water streaming from the shower head. The water has become colder now while I was lost deep in my memories. I adjust the knobs and begin lathering up my wash cloth. As I move through the motions of washing myself, the other person turns off their shower and quickly makes their way out of the bathroom. Letting the water pound against my face, I allow my mind to go blank and just listen to the echoing sound of the water raining down around me.
Shifting my head to look down towards my feet, I eye the patchy coloration of my skin as the water trails down my body. The unpigmented color of my feet speckle a pattern up my shins to my knees where it shifts to a solid tanned color. I hold out my pale hands and look at the same pattern mirrored from my legs, except it dances up my forearms to my elbows. At first it was a small pale patch on the bridge of my nose but then it bloomed farther out and now looks almost as if I’m wearing a pale mask with matching gloves and socks.
A rumbling in my stomach urges me to hurry through the rest of my shower. Ugh, I am starving and am in dire need of some caffeine. I quickly finish washing my hair and turn the water off. I give my head a good shake, whipping the water from my hair. Cracking the shower door open a little, I grab my towel and wrap it around my waist before opening it the rest of the way. I hope they're making pancakes in the mess hall today. I could go for something warm and sweet, I think to myself as I gather up my stuff and shuffle my way out into the hall.
The brisk air in the hallway causes goosebumps to prick up all over my wet skin. I hurriedly get to my door and slide in. To my surprise, I’m not alone. I notice my roommate’s wardrobe is open and he’s rustling around behind the opened door.
“Sup roomie,” I call out to him as I walk over to my desk behind the couch.
I can hear him stop shuffling stuff around and then I see his hand appear on the side of the door. Nothing happens. We both just stand there quietly. I begin to feel slightly uncomfortable with the silence and clear my throat.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m Max.” I say, setting my shower caddy onto my desk and gripping the towel around my waist.
Slowly the door to his wardrobe closes and I can finally see who I’m talking to.
“Brad?” I ask, stunned. My mouth drops open and I widen my eyes.
Bradley just stands there equally as shocked. His mouth isn’t hanging open like mine but, I can tell from the look in his eyes, he was definitely not expecting me to be standing here.
“It’s Bradley,” is all he says while we continue to stare at each other.
Bradley has a wet, peach colored towel in his one hand and a light blue, jean jacket in the other. His brown hair is wet and pushed back to reveal the entirety of his face. He has on a soft cream colored crew neck and tan colored jeans that are folded up at the bottom. His eyes look me over before he turns up his lip and scoffs before turning away from me. All I can do is watch as he hangs his towel up on one of the hooks on the outside of the wardrobe door. He averts his eyes as he begins to put his jacket on.
“Wait, you’re going to be my roommate?” I stupidly ask as I compose myself and grip the towel tighter.
“Apparently so,” he says cooly, still not looking at me.
He bends over and begins to slide his sneakers on. I shift nervously from foot to foot and hear my phone buzz. I glance over at my laptop and pick up my phone. Sliding up on the screen, it opens up a message from Bobby.
9:28AM, Bobby: BRUH.
I quickly type out a reply.
9:28AM, Me: Meeting my new roommate rn, be down in 10.
I set the phone back down and look up at Bradley. He twitches as I catch him watching me and he quickly looks away. He slings a white crossbody bag over his chest and makes his way to the door. Grabbing up his skateboard leaning against the wall, he looks at me over his shoulder.
“See ya,” he says quietly before opening the door and leaving.
My mind whirls at the thought of us sharing this dorm room for the semester. Especially after all that we had gone through last semester, how did I end up being roommates with HIM? Why is he even in the dorms? I know he got kicked out of the Gammas but, I figured with the amount of money his family has that he would be in an apartment of his own.
I rake my fingers through my wet hair and pull my towel off from around my waist. I flop it up onto my head and furiously scrub my hair before drying off the rest of my body. I scurry over to my own wardrobe and hang up the towel on one of the hooks. Opening the door, I begin hazardously searching for a pair of boxers and a tee shirt. Throwing those onto the futon, I grab a pair of loose fitting dark wash jeans and swipe up a pair of white socks before closing the door. I plop down on my futon and begin sliding my socks on over my feet.
“Wait,” I whisper to myself before standing up and digging back into my wardrobe for my SPF lotion. I begin moisturizing my body, making sure to apply a generous amount to the spots on my skin lacking in pigmentation. My mind is racing so fast I almost forgot one of the most important steps in my routine. After I’m satisfied with the application, I put the lotion back and quickly apply some deodorant. As I shove my head through my shirt, there’s a loud knocking on the door.
“MAAAAAX, c’mon man. We’re starving,” I hear Bobby’s muffled yelling from the otherside.
“Come in!” I yell back as I stumble over to my desk and pick up my shower caddy. I dig into the little nook and grab out my moonstone plugs. Sliding the caddy into the wardrobe, I fling my dirty clothes from last night into the basket next to it with my feet. My wallet chain falls out with a clatter and I pick it up and unhook it.
“So where’s your new roomie?” P.J exclaims as he waltzes into the room behind Bobby. I snort in response and begin sliding my plugs into the gaping holes in my earlobes.
“What’s THAT mean?” Bobby asks, eyeing me over his purple tinted glasses.
“Bro, my new roommate is our favorite person in the whole world.” I say sarcastically as I finish getting myself together and reach for my flannel jacket hanging off the back of my chair.
“No shit?” Bobby asks, his mouth twisting into a sickly smile.
“No shit.” I respond, fixing my hood and sliding my phone into my back pocket.
“You’re fucking with us,” P.J exclaims. He glances over at the mahogany furniture again and then looks back at me, realization twinkling in his dark eyes. “No shit.”
“This’ll be interesting,” I hear Mocha’s voice lilting through the air as she appears in the doorway.
She has a smug smile on her face as delight burns in her green eyes while she gazes at me. I flash her a nervous smile and begin buttoning the bottom four buttons on my jacket.
“Well, let’s get some grub and ponder this new found information on full stomachs,” Bobby says as he slings his arm over my shoulder.
P.J pulls a joint out of his breast pocket on his coat and says, “But first, we’ll have a lovely little smoke on the way there.”
We all laugh and clamber out of the door together. I glance one last time back at the dorm before the door closes, picturing Bradley’s cool gaze from where he stood just awhile ago.