Boy Story: The Road Taken - 13. The Real Thing

The Real Thing

I was awakened by the phone ringing in my ear. I reached for it and answered. It was my roommate, Joe. He had crashed at someone’s room the night before and a group of them were heading to the dining hall for Sunday breakfast. He asked if I wanted to join them in about 15 minutes. It’s a five-minute walk from my dorm to the dining hall, so I had 10 minutes to get myself together. I put on standard weekend dining hall attire—a T-shirt, sweatpants, underwear, sweatshirt, and sneakers—gargled some mouthwash, swung by the rest room to take care of business, washed my face, combed my hair, and headed out.

I arrived a little early, so I sat on the bench inside by the doors while I waited. As I sat there, something didn’t feel right. I soon realized I was having Parker withdrawal. Being with him was like a roller coaster ride. It was exciting, impulsive, and constantly changing direction with lots of sex thrown in. Well, OK there’s usually no sex on a roller coaster, but you get the idea. And now I was sitting on a wooden bench and coming down from my endorphin high like some junkie. I wanted to go back to my room and choose a depressing song and play it loud, so everyone could share in my anguish.

Fortunately, my associates showed up at this point. Joe asked where I’d been the night before. Where hadn’t I been was more like it! I told him we had one of those after work parties and I crashed at someone’s house. I wasn’t lying. I had an after work party in Parker’s bed and I crashed at his house, right?

We went through the food line and I chose waffles, sausages, and OJ. It made me smile a little bit.

I sat down at the table. There were five in our party. I was almost expecting Parker to walk in and join us. While the others were recounting highlights from last night’s party, it all sounded so trivial. I was thinking, “I have had a life-changing experience and you guys are talking about who drank too much and threw up out the 8th floor window.” You know, last week I would have thought that was a great story, but I had changed. My heart had been touched and I have been transformed.

Our little breakfast party eventually came to an end and Joe and I headed back to our room. “Gee, you’re awfully quiet today,” he said. “Yeah, I think I’m just a bit hung over from last night,” I told him.

“Oh, then you need a Bloody Mary, my friend,” he suggested.

“Nah, I just need to ride this out before class on Monday,” I told him.

“OK, suit yourself,” Joe replied with a shrug. “A bunch of us are getting together to go to the hockey game, if you’re interested.”

“Normally, I’d say ’yes’ but in addition to my head pounding, something tells me I shouldn’t be too far from a toilet today, if you catch my drift.”

“Well, if that’s your problem, I don’t wanna catch your drift,” he said and we both laughed.

“Plus, I have some course reading to catch up on today, so I think a low-key day is in the cards for me,” I reasoned.

“I suppose that’s best. You want me to pick something up for you? Some kaopectate or adult diapers or something?” Joe joked.

“No, I’ve got something I can take,” I assured him.

We arrived at our room and Joe got himself ready to go to the game. I sat on my bed and started thumbing through my book to get to the reading assignment. He put on his coat and said, “OK, if you need anything, just holler…someone’s bound to hear you!” he said with a chuckle and closed the door behind him.

Of course, I wasn't feeling especially ill, but I had to play the part of being hung over to make my story believable. All of this running around, going here and there...school then work then the movies, Parker's house, meeting his mother, going to the museum, back to Parker's house, and finally to campus...well, I was beginning to burn the candle at both ends. And I recognized that. I needed to slow my roll for at least one day and finish some school assignments and catch my breath.

I started reading and must’ve nodded off when the phone rang. I leaned over and picked up the receiver, “Hello?”

“Matt?” a familiar voice asked. I smiled.

“Yeah…uh Justin?” I guessed.

“Noooo,” the voice answered.

“Uh, Tyler?”

“Noooo,” the voice repeated.

“Josh? Ryan? Timmy?” I continued.

Silence.

“Ha ha, I’m just messing with you, Parker. I knew it was you.”

“Ha ha yourself. That wasn’t very funny. Now my feelings are hurt,” he replied.

“Oh c’mon buddy,” I tried.

“Ha ha, now I’m messing with you!” he shot back and I could sense the grin over the phone.

“So did you call just to give me a hard time or do you have something on your mind?” I asked.

“Hey, you started it with all the Tyler, Justin stuff,” he reminded me.

“Alright, you got me there,” I conceded.

“I just wanted to make sure that you got home safely and that the phone number you gave me works,” he explained.

“What? Do you think I would intentionally give you the wrong number?”

“Well that’s the move with some guys. I just wanted to make sure…plus I guess I mainly wanted to hear your voice again,” he said.

“Well, Parker, you just made my day. I was feeling kind of sluggish and now I’m feeling better because you called,” I replied.

He said, “Oh really? I feel better now, too.”

I wanted to tell him that I missed him, but still playing it close to the vest, I didn’t want to let on how intense my feelings actually were. But then again, he called me, so maybe he was feeling it too.

We carried on a phone conversation that probably lasted much too long. We covered all sorts of topics. He asked questions about college and the store where I worked. I asked him about his friends and school. I could talk with him for hours just to hear his voice.

He told me his best friend in school was a girl named Jenny. “So is she your fag hag?” I asked with a laugh. “Oh, don’t let her hear you say that,” he warned. “But yeah she is. She’d surely marry me if I asked her. She is really pretty, so guys in school don’t give me any gay shit. They just assume we’re together.”

I think we were both afraid to hang up and lose that closeness, even if it was only through a phone line. I had to wrap it up though because I really had to get through my reading for class the next day. I explained that to Parker and he completely understood. He asked if he could call me again sometime. I told him he could call me anytime, and he liked that I meant it.

“Well, OK, I’ll let you go now,” he stated.

“OK, I appreciate it. We’ll have more time to talk later,” I promised.

“I know. I just can’t help it,” he replied.

“I know I feel it too,” I said tipping my hand a bit.

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do.” After a brief pause, I added, “But we have the weekend to look forward to, right?”

“Yeah, I know. OK.”

“So bye now.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

I knew I’d have to hang up first or we’d be saying “bye” to each other for the rest of the day. Almost as soon as I hung up the phone, that feeling started again—some sort of separation anxiety. I kind of figured that I was falling for him, but would I feel the same way tomorrow and later in the week. Would it be out of sight, out of mind? Yet it seemed he was feeling the same separation anxiety that I was feeling. What did that mean? I'd never experienced anything like it with anyone before.

Monday rolled around and I’ll spare you the details of my mundane week, but as the week crept along, I found that Parker was constantly on my mind. When classes got boring, I found myself daydreaming about Parker and me. When I was walking between classes, he’d pop into my head and I’d smile to myself. By the time Wednesday rolled around, I knew I had to call him.

I got back to my room at a little before 3:00, and I dialed the number he gave me. It rang for quite some time, but he finally picked up.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Parker,” I said.

“Oh, Matt…hi!” he replied.

“So what are you up to?” I asked starting the conversation.

“You don’t want to know,” he said laughing.

“Why?”

“Guess,” he said.

“I really don’t know,” I answered.

“Well, let me set the scene for you,” he began. “I’m lying on my bed with my pants down around my ankles.”

“Oh, is that some new kind of workout exercise you got going on there or something?”

“Well, it is exercise, but it’s not new. In fact I’ve become rather good at it.”

“Ha ha ha, so did I interrupt you?” I asked.

“Well, yeah kinda…but now you can help me,” he suggested.

“Oh, do you mean…what’s it called,” I asked.

“Phone sex?” he answered.

“Yeah, is that what you’re talking about?”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, wouldn’t you rather have the real thing?” I asked.

“You mean a Coke?” he asked.

“NO not that real thing!” I said laughing.

I could hear him snickering on the other end.

“Well, what ARE you suggesting?” he asked.

I made it up on the fly. “Well...tomorrow is my easy day at school. I only have 3 classes and I don’t start until 10:30. I don’t have to work tonight, and I’ve got nearly a full tank of gas in the car.”

“You mean you want to come over?” he seemed unsure whether he was asking or wishing.

“I can do you one better,” I began. “How about I come over and bring a change of clothes. I can sleep over and drive you to school in the morning before I start.”

“Whoa! Are you serious?”

“Totally.”

“That would be so cool! And we can shower together in the morning before I go to school?”

“Ha ha. Sure, if you want, you horny little boy,” I teased.

“Hey, not so little. Remember?”

“Oh, that’s right. How could I forget?”

“Well, get the hell over here then!” he ordered.

“Will it be OK with your mom?” I asked.

“What is it about ‘Matt is welcome here anytime’ don’t you understand?”

“OK, OK. I hear you,” I said.

“But you’ll have to hurry because I don’t know if I can hold off for too much longer! A boy has needs you know.”

“All right, I’m on my way!” I heard myself say and I hung up the phone.

Things were starting to look up. How we got from a simple telephone call to me coming over, certain sex, and showering before school in the morning is anyone’s guess. Actually, there was no guessing needed. I was once again being sucked into Parker’s world. Fortunately, being sucked into something is not always a bad thing.

I took two minutes to grab some clothes, two minutes to brush my teeth, one minute to get out of the building, and about six minutes to get to my car.

As I hustled out of the building, I began to wonder how long it would take to get to Parker’s house. I’d never clocked it before from campus. How long does it take for me to get to Parker’s house? As quickly as I can. That’s a period of time, right?

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