The Preacher's Kid: College and Beyond - 16. Back to School and Right Back Home

MATTY

You know what sucks about Spring Break? Going back to school—and Spring practice—and rehearsal! Jesus! I hope I can work in some sleep during all that shit! Even more—I sure as fuck hope I can get me some Facetime with my boy! We have three weeks to opening night of Tommy, and we don’t get any time off. Fuck.

Not only do I have Tommy rehearsals almost every night, I have Spring practice starting the week after we open the show. Shit! Classes, rehearsals, practice, Facetiming my boy—I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be a major stress monkey for the next few weeks!

And what the fuck is going on with the professors? It’s like they want to punish us for getting a week off! They’re all loading my ass with a shitload of homework! I guess I have to take some of it to rehearsal and try and get some done between scenes—of which there still isn’t that much time—especially tonight!

We’re choreographing “Pinball Wizard”—the biggest number of the entire show—tonight. When I walked into rehearsal, the stage was all set up, and holy shit! Right there, in the center of the stage, was this incredible oversized pinball machine. The director, the tech director, the choreographer, and Joe—the asshole playing Tommy. Great! No one else is at rehearsal.

Joe just looked at me with his smirk and asked me if I had a good vacation with my so-called boyfriend! What a fucking asshole! I just looked at him and shook my head. I hate to admit it, but there’s a song where my character, Cousin Kevin, abuses the Hell outta Tommy—and I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoy it! Hehe!

Just in time, the director came up to me and said he wanted to show me how the pinball machine would work. He took me around to the back and opened it. There was a ladder that I was supposed to use to get up inside. He told me right before I was to start singing, I was going to burst through the top of the machine. That would trigger a switch that would shoot five fireworks cannons that were set in the back. Woah! Talk about an entrance!

We had worked through my super-cool entrance three or four times when the rest of the cast started showing up. Here we go! Let’s learn this choreo—and the entire show will be ready for run-throughs!

Four hours later, I finally dragged my whipped ass back to the dorm. My roommate (Parker) looked up when I walked in and looked shocked. “Cripes, Jordan. Did Spring practice start early, and no one told me?”

I smiled at my favorite kicker and said, “She fucking killed us with that choreo tonight. I mean, it’s gonna be awesome and everything, but fuck! Anyway, I need to shower and call Eddie before I crash.”

Now, I wanna take this chance to let you know something about musical theatre—time to shatter a huge stereotype. Way too many people will see a play or a musical and have no fucking idea about what goes into it. You see, weeks—sometimes months—before you sat your silly ass in the seat, every person on that stage had to audition, not having any idea what the director—or his team—were looking for. Add to that there are at least three or four other people going head-to-head for the part you want more than anything in the world.

Having been through it many times before, I can honestly say that audition stress is a hundred times more than trying out for the football team! I mean, you’re standing up there on the stage—all by yourself—singing your heart out. If that’s not bad enough, three or four people sit at a table in front of you. The moment one of them starts tapping into their computer, you try to figure out what you might have done wrong—while you keep singing your heart out!

If that’s not bad enough, there’s the dance audition. The choreographer has about 20 to 30 minutes to teach you—and twenty or thirty other people—a routine. It’s usually pretty hard work, and then they put you up there in groups of four, and they expect you to do the entire routine perfectly—and up to tempo. And I might add, the choreo we are doing for Tommy is off the chain! I mean, it’s going to look great once we get the full-out singing going along with the full-out leaping, turning, and dancing!

Oh yeah—there’s even more to the auditions. Once they pick a few people for each of the roles, they call you back for another round of singing, followed by reading parts of the script as they put people in what feels like a million different combinations. Once that’s done—you wait. And wait. And wait a bit longer.

We had auditions at the beginning of the semester for all of the Spring shows. That meant two plays and the musical. It took eight days before they posted the cast lists. I was pretty psyched to get Cousin Keven. Being a Freshman, I knew I wasn’t going to get the lead, but for me to get a major role was pretty amazing!

I finished my shower and called my boy. He was a little upset that it was after 11:00 before I called, but he was okay once I explained how long the night had gone. The sad part was I actually fell asleep in the middle of the call—before we got around to having some naked fun. I’ll make sure to call Eddie in the morning.

 

 

NATE

I love school. It’s so cool being a freshman in high school. But going back to the old routine sucked after a week in Hawaii!

Okay, not everything sucked. G and I were walking to the cafeteria for lunch, and he grabbed my hand! I couldn’t believe it! I looked at him and asked him if he was sure. He just smiled at me and said, “I love you, Nate. I can’t pretend I don’t anymore.”

Well, fuck me! I had the biggest grin on my face as we walked into the cafeteria. I was even more surprised that there were only a couple of assholes who yelled out faggot slurs. That was okay, though. One of the assholes was escorted to the principal’s office by one of the teachers. Gotta love that zero-tolerance bully shit!

We sat in the corner and had a little privacy for a change. It was weird. G kept looking at me and smiling.

“What, G?”

“What, what?”

“Are you okay? You keep looking at me weird.”

“I love you. More than I ever thought I could love anybody.”

“I love you, G. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Even better than being a national television and internet celebrity?”

“Way more. Like a hundred thousand times more.”

He smiled again. All I could do was smile back.

“I’m ready. I’m ready for more, Nate.”

“Like—like ready for more as in what?”

“Sex. I want to do more. I want to show you how much I love you.”

“You show me every day, G. We don’t have to do anything more that way—unless you are truly ready. There’s no pressure, and we have all the time in the world.”

“I don’t feel pressured at all. I mean—no offense or anything—I’m not ready for everything. I just want to do a little more.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah.” He leaned into me and half-whispered, “I want to have your dick in my mouth—and I want you to shoot your nut so I can taste it.”

“Wow. G, only if you’re ready.”

“I’m so fucking ready it hurts.”

Great! Now I won’t be able to stand up for a while. I’m so boned up it’s painful. Thankfully we changed the subject after agreeing that we’d go to his house after school.

I texted Mom and told her that we were going to do some studying together since we had so much to do. She was cool and said she would pick me up so I could be home for dinner.

We took the bus to G’s house, and he insisted we spend at least an hour doing some homework before we got to the good stuff. He’s gonna kill me! I’ve been hard—or half-hard—all afternoon! I mean, c’mon! This was gonna be the first blowjob from a boy I was in love with. I know, I know. Simon and I had messed around, but that was just fun between two friends. This is sooooo much more!

After drilling each other on our Spanish, G stood up from his desk and took my hand. He pulled me down on his bed. We started kissing and rolling around. Next, we took each other’s clothes off down to our boxer briefs. That’s pretty much what we did in Hawaii.

I was surprised—and turned on as fuck—when G pulled off his underwear. Well, I felt like I was way overdressed. I took mine off. G kinda gasped when we were both completely naked.

“Am I that scary?”

“No, Nate. This is the first time we’ve been completely naked together. It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever done!”

“It only gets better, baby.”

We rolled around and kissed some more. We were both moaning and breathing hard. God, I had a beautiful boyfriend!

So yeah—G gave me an amazing blowjob and swallowed most of my nut. I returned the favor and did the same. Then, we kissed each other and could taste our nut. It was so hot!

All the fun was interrupted by my phone ringing. It was Mom telling me she was five minutes away and I needed to be outside. She had to get back to the house as soon as possible so she could finish dinner.

I’ve never gotten dressed so fast in my life! But, before I walked out the front door, I got in another awesome kiss with G. He giggled and told me it would be a good idea not to smile so much when I got in the car. That would make Mom wonder what was going on. Smart boy!

The best part of the whole awesome afternoon, I didn’t think once about Eddie and how he would chew my ass out if he ever found out! I’m so glad he’s retired from being my personal sex police! And no—there’s no fucking way I’m going to tell him that G gave me the best blowjob of my life! Okay, I’ve only had two—that sounded kinda stupid!

 

EDDIE

We got back from the airport a little after suppertime. Matty and I were greeted by my very loud roommate screaming, “That’s it, Connor! Fuck me harder! Pound my ass!” We just looked at each other, shook our heads, and giggled our asses off. Sometimes, it’s just hard to wrap our brains around the fact that big bad Donald Harper has discovered his power-bottom self!

Once we unpacked, we decided we definitely needed to shower off seventeen hours on an airplane. I mean, Matty suggested it, and who am I to pass up naked activities with my hot-as-fuck surfer quarterback actor boy?

We cleaned each other, blew each other, cleaned each other again, and then made our way into bed. Sadly, our plans to fuck like animals didn’t quite pan out since we both passed out once our making out quickly shifted to cuddling—which moved into sleeping.

I remember having a totally hot dream with Matty fucking and sucking me at the same time! It had to be a dream, but it felt so fucking real! I opened my eyes, and I’ll be damned! It was real! Matty was going down on my morning wood and had slipped my Matty-sized dildo into my ass! And this is how I know Matty loves it when I wake him up with his cock in my ass!

Once I was awake and aware, my moans filled the room—right along with Matty’s dirty talk! “Yeah, baby. I know you love getting sucked and fucked at the same time—just like when Kai sucked you off while I fucked your hot ass! Is that what you were dreaming about? I know you were! You called out my name before you woke up! It was hot as fuck, baby!”

“Fuck me, Matty! Fuck me hard! Pound my ass! I want you to nut inside my ass!”

“You sound like Donald. You gotta come up with something more original than that, preacher boy!”

“Goddammit, Matty! If you don’t start pounding my ass, I’ll cut you off for the next three months!”

“Whoa! I can’t even pretend to let that happen!”

Matty eased the rubber cock out of me a lot slower than I was liking, but once it was finally out, I realized that he had been lubing himself up. As soon as my ass was empty, it was filled when Matty plunged into me in one hard motion. We both yelled out a good and prolonged “fuuuuuck!” as soon as his bush slammed into my ass.

Sadly, it didn’t take long for me to nut. But then, who knows how long Matty had been blowing me before I woke up! It wasn’t a problem, though. I was using the muscles in my ass to milk my boy’s cock and clenched the fuck out of it when I started to nut. That always sends Matty over the edge, and he moaned and roared out my name as he filled my hole with his hot load.

“Wow, Matty! Just wow! You are fucking amazing!”

“Hey. I woke up before you did for once. I knew what I had to do!”

“I’m gonna sneak and set your alarm earlier now. That was—wow!”

“So, were you dreaming about Kai? Charlie Puth? Tom Holland?”

“Nope, it was all you—a brand-new, very flexible you who could fuck and suck me at the same time! Hot as fuck dream, by the way!”

“Probably, cuz I was using that dildo that apparently feels like me inside you?”

“Probably, but the dream was nothing like the real thing!”

Matty smiled at me, took me in his arms, and nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck. “Sometimes, I just can’t believe how lucky I am that the boy I was secretly in love with most of my life ended up getting the boy he wanted more than anything in the world. I love you more and more every moment I have you in my life, Eddie. I was going to wait to do this, but for some reason, I feel like this is the perfect time—especially after our amazing week together in Hawaii.”

Matty lifted his head and looked up at me. Oh. My. God. He was smiling and had a fearful look in his eyes—that were filling with tears! “Are you okay, baby?”

“Yeah. I’m good, Eddie. Please forgive me, though. I’ve never been so unprepared for something so important.”

Eddie got up to his knees and pulled me up so I was facing him. He put his hands on either side of my face and gently kissed me. “Eddie Hamilton, never in my life have I ever felt more sure about anything. I want you in my life forever. I want to get married. Whenever you’re ready. There’s no pressure. There’s no rush. But I want you to know there is absolutely no one else in this entire fucking world I want by my side.”

What. The. Fuck? “I—I—I—” And all I could do was sob. I put my forehead against Matty’s and just sobbed.

“I’m sorry, Eddie. I should have kept my mouth shut. I just thought—”

“No! No! Matty, don’t cry, baby! Of course, I’ll marry you! I just hate that you doubted I would! I’m sorry, I started crying. You just surprised me!”

“I love you!”

“Oh, Matty! I love you so much! I’m completely and utterly in love with you—I get to marry my best friend!”

We fell back onto the bed, kissing and crying, and yes—making love for hours. Every time we decided to get out of bed, we started talking about being married, which led to another round of lovemaking.

Around 2:00, there was a knock on the door. I threw on my shorts when I heard Donald yell that Nate was here. I went out to the living room, and Nate got a massive grin on his face.

“You’re not answering your phone. Mom told me to come over to say that Matty’s goodbye dinner will be ready in a half-an-hour.”

“Yeah, we both turned off our ringers so we could sleep without getting interrupted.”

“Yeah—and deal with Mom cock-blocking you!”

“What? You don’t know what—”

“—and you should probably wear a high-collared shirt to cover that giant hickey on the side of your neck!”

“What? I ran to the mirror in the entry, and, sure enough, Matty had vampired all over my neck. I looked like a high school cheerleader after the homecoming dance!

A very giggly Nate left and went back home. Donald turned to me with an incredulous look. “Jesus, Eddie—how many times have you guys fucked since you got home?”

“We fell asleep as soon as we got in bed so—since we woke up this morning—four times.”

“When did you get in? We didn’t hear you at all.”

“Of course you didn’t. You were shouting at the top of your lungs for your boy to fuck you harder and pound your ass! So—no comments about the hickey, okay?”

I smiled, turned around, and headed to our room. Matty was already in the shower, and I didn’t join him. The room smelled like some nasty boysex, so I went to find a can of Frebreeze—along with a change of sheets.

Matty walked into the bedroom, drying off. I told him we had just a few minutes to get dressed and head over to Mom and Dad’s for a goodbye dinner. He finished changing the sheets, and I did a power shower.

Believe it or not, we made it over with five minutes to spare. I decided to play it safe and wore a turtleneck top. Of course, Nate just stared at me and giggled—the little shit!

Dinner was all of Matty’s favorites—stuffed pork chops, fried apples, potatoes au gratin, brussels sprouts, and Mom’s homemade apple pie. It was amazing. It’s a good thing no one in our house can cook like mom! We’d be the size of a fucking blimp in just a few months!

After a long, tearful goodbye, Matty got in his car and made his way back to Boone and his grind at school. He told me how busy he was going to be, but I didn’t realize until now.

Matty fell asleep while we were Facetiming! God, he was tired! I was pretty whipped myself. All of my professors were pretty brutal.

I couldn’t fall asleep—jet lag and all—so I turned on the news. That always makes me sleepy! Except, I couldn’t fall asleep so easily. The stories were all about this virus that was spreading all over the world. This is some crazy shit! I mean, they’ve literally shut some entire countries down. But the scariest part of the whole thing was that it looked fairly certain the whole thing was going to end up hitting us here, and the stupid government was acting like it was nothing!

Matty’s rehearsals and my classes went on, but by the end of the week, there were rumors that they were going to shut down all the schools in the United States. What the fuck??

It was Friday afternoon when the sky fell. My professors told everyone they were shutting down the school for at least a few weeks. They would be shifting all of our classes online, but it would take a few days to get things going.

When class ended, I grabbed my phone to call Matty, and he said they were doing pretty much the same thing and that he would head home Sunday. They told him he had to move out of the dorms and plan for the possibility that the rest of the semester would be finished online.

Matty was completely bummed that Tommy had been canceled—even more bummed that Spring practice was postponed until the conference could figure out a plan of action. I had to cheer my boy up, so I suggested we spend this time at the Lake House.

“Whoa! Just us? You and me alone at the lake? That just might make for a hot time, babe.”

“I’ll stock up on food—and get a shitload of lube. I’ll bring the toys, too!”

Matty giggled and promised to bring his as well. At least he was in a better mood.

Matty said the cast was going to get together that night for the cast party they wouldn’t get to have, so I might not want to wait for a call. I was cool with that as long as I knew he was at least going to have a good time. Even better was the fucking hot time Matty and I were going to have with a couple of weeks at the lake house—alone!

 

MATTY

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This fucking Corvid virus has caused the school to shut down—and that meant Tommy was canceled. That means Spring practice was postponed. That means we still have classes to deal with—even though it’s going to be online. The dean said it would probably take a week for all the professors to set up their online shit. Just. Fuck. That.

Joe Hudson sent an email to the whole cast and said we were going to have our cast party tonight at his house. Now, this was something I was looking forward to! Joe and four other theatre majors found this huge fucking house, and they are all renting it together. I’d heard about how awesome it was and even more about the excellent cast parties that had been held there over the last few years. At least there’s one good thing happening this weekend before I have to pack my shit and move out of the dorm.

Eddie called me after his last class and told me they were shutting down UNCC as well. At least he didn’t have to move out of a dorm. I love Eddie Hamilton! He could tell how bummed I was over the show getting canceled, and he came up with the brilliant idea that we stay at the lake house while the campuses were closed. Yes! The next couple of weeks will be alone with the hottest boy in the entire state.

He said he would stock up on food and lube—the essentials of life if you ask me—and that he would head up to the house after church. Hehe—he’s a smart boy, stocking up on lube! Looks like we’re gonna have some major fucking for the next couple of weeks!

I went back to the dorm and found Parker already packed. He was going to take a bus to Charlotte so he could catch his flight back to Arizona. He said he had no other choice since he had no family close by—and the fact that his boyfriend was there only made his decision easier.

Well, that was just a silly idea! I told him I would be happy to take him to the airport. He said his flight was Saturday night. Well, that meant I would have one less day to get my shit packed, but he said he would help me, so he agreed to ride home with me.

It was around 9:30 when my Uber dropped me off in front of Joe’s house. Holy shit! The house was older than fuck! It was two stories and painted white—about two hundred years ago! I walked up the rickety steps to the front door and could already hear the music thumping.

I knocked on the door, but no one answered. I decided to walk in, and the party was already going full swing!

A group of people was sitting in the kitchen and dining room, acting all sad and mopey. The rest of the group was in the living room, singing and dancing their asses off. I went into the kitchen to get a drink and found Alex there, making a margarita.

“Matty! You need one of these amazeball margaritas!”

“Sounds good to me, Alex! How long have you been here?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe thirty minutes or so?”

She handed me the drink she was making and started another one. “Damn, Alex! This is awesome! But please, don’t let me go overboard. I’m not much of a drinker—and I’ve seen what tequila can do to a person.”

“Don’t you worry about a thing, Matty Jordan. I’ll take care of you tonight. We’re in Joe’s house—someone besides him is going to have to watch your pretty little ass!”

Alex finished making her drink, tapped her glass to mine, and we toasted the beginning of the cast party for the show that will never happen.

Alex and I both agreed that we didn’t want to hang with the mopers sitting around the kitchen table, so we moved out to the living room to join the real partiers. The soundtrack to the Alanis Morrisette musical Jagged Little Pill was filling the air, and a few people were singing along. The rest of us were drinking and sorta dancing along with the music.

It wasn’t long before Joe walked up to Alex and me—pretty wasted, I should add. “Dude, I know it totally sucks that they canceled the show. I mean—you and I were gonna kill it. I know you don’t like me very much, but I have to admit—you brought out the best in me as far as my performance. You have a lot of good things in store for you.”

I just stood there—waiting for Joe Hudson to pounce and try to kiss me or something. Only thing is, he didn’t. He didn’t do a damn thing but stand there and look at me—waiting.

“What, Joe?”

“Nothing. There’s a good chance we’ll never see each other again after tonight, and I don’t want us to part with you hating me. I know I’ve been a jerk. I was wrong. You really are a talented actor—and quarterback—and your boyfriend is totally lucky to have you.”

“Uhm—thanks. But I’m the lucky one.”

“Yeah, yeah. How did I know you were gonna say just that?”

I grinned, shrugged my shoulders, and took a gulp of my drink.

“Hey, why don’t you guys come to the back porch with me? I spent my Spring break in Vegas. You know, pot is legal there, and I brought some back with me. You gotta try this shit. It’s mind-blowing!”

“I don’t know about Matty, but if I smoke pot and drink tequila, I tend to fall asleep.”

“That’s not a problem. Two of the roomies have already left, so there are a couple of bedrooms if you need to crash. Matty?”

“I don’t smoke very often, but since there won’t be any Spring practice, drug tests, or heavy singing in my near future—why not? I’ve always enjoyed it.”

“Let’s stop by the kitchen and get another round of drinks first?”

“Sure, if Alex makes me another margarita.”

“You got it! They are to die for, right?”

We got our drinks and headed to the back porch. There were already four or five others back there. Some were smoking a cigarette, others smoking some of their own pot. Joe reached into his cargo shorts and pulled out a small pipe and a plastic bottle. He opened the bottle, and even a few feet away, I could smell the potent weed.

The three of us shared a couple of hits off the pipe, and Joe put everything back in his pocket. “Let’s just hold it there for now. This stuff is pretty fucking intense. I know—let’s go down there.”

Joe took us into the backyard and to a bench swing hanging from a giant tree. By the time the three of us were situated, I was feeling no pain. Nice! I was in the middle, with Alex to my right and Joe to my left, as we slowly moved back and forth on the swing.

“Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the buzz. I like this Joe Hudson that you’re being now.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry for the way I acted before. When you first came into the program, I got stuck on the dumb jock stereotype. Then, when you gave me a run for my money in the auditions, I was jealous—and probably a little intimidated. But you’re good. Hell, you probably would have been cast in the lead if you weren’t a Freshman.”

“Oh, I don’t know. You’re pretty awesome.”

Out of nowhere, Alex started to giggle. Joe and I looked at her, and I asked if she was okay. “I can’t believe you guys are making nice. This is so much better to listen to instead of hearing my best friend bitch about the sexy senior.”

“Dude, you called me sexy?”

“Noooo. I never called you that. I usually called you asshole or prick.” I started to giggle, which the others did as well.

“Wait. I’m not sexy?”

“Yeah. You are, I guess—and if I didn’t have Eddie Hamilton in my life, I probably would have fucked you.”

“Wow, and here I thought you hated me.”

“You guys are so cute. You guys fucking is a nice picture—at least in my head!” More giggles from the three of us.

I felt Joe’s arm around my shoulder, and he asked, “Do you have a picture like that in your head, Matty?”

“Nope. But I have a picture of Eddie and me at our lake house tomorrow night!”

“You have a fucking lake house?”

“Yeah, when my old man died, I ended up with both houses and stuff. I’m pretty lucky how everything’s turned out, I guess.”

I leaned my head back on Joe’s arm and sighed, “I’m so fucking stoned. I wish Eddie were here. I’m so horny for my boy.”

I closed my eyes and thought about Eddie. I thought about how I asked him to marry me. I thought about his hand on my cock. I thought about—“Whoah! That’s not Eddie’s hand! Dude! You can’t do that shit!” I moved Joe’s hand off my cock and suggested we rejoin the party.

“Sorry. I just saw you getting hard, and I couldn’t resist.”

“It’s not gonna happen, Joe. I need a drink of water.”

I got up and pulled Alex up with me. We made our way back inside, with Joe following us. The party was winding down. The mopers had left, and the music was a lot mellower.

I got a glass of water for Alex and myself when she said she needed to lie down. Joe said there was an empty bedroom by the back door. Alex and I went back and found the bed. We both plopped down, and that was the last thing I remembered. We were both down for the count.

* * * * *

“You wanna join the mile-high club, baby?”

“Eddie Hamilton! We could get caught—and the rest of the family is across the aisle!”

“It’ll be good—we just have to be quiet!”

Eddie moved over me and lowered his ass on my throbbing cock. God, I love being inside my boy!

Eddie arched his back, and the combination of his riding my cock with the subtle bouncing of the airplane, I was totally into joining this new club!

I knew I wasn’t going to last long. I recognized that incredible feeling deep in my balls and knew I was gonna fill my boy with my hot nut in no time at all!

Oh, God! Here it comes! Oh! Oh!

“Oohhhhh, FUUUUUUCK!”

I opened my eyes, and there was Eddie—riding my cock as I pumped hot nut into—

“What the fuck!?! Get off me!”

I pushed Alex off me and onto the floor.

“What the fuck are you doing, Alex? What the fuck?”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! I woke up and saw it. I touched it. You kept moaning like you were enjoying it. I couldn’t stop! I’m sorry! I’m sorry. I fucked up.”

“Get out of here, Alex. You need to call an Uber and get the fuck out of here.”

Great. Alex started crying while she got dressed. I can’t stand that shit! I mean—if you think about it—my best friend just fucking raped me while I was asleep! What the fuck??

I heard the front door close and got out of bed. I smelled coffee and made my way into the kitchen.

“What time is it?”

“10:30. Is Alex okay? What happened?”

“Joe—I don’t want to talk about it. We—we had a pretty big fight, I guess.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just a little surprised.”

“Coffee?”

“Fuck, yes!”

Joe handed me a cup of coffee, and I have to say I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed coffee any more than I did right then.

“I’m gonna miss you, Matty. My only regret is that I didn’t get out of my own way and let you be a friend—without you worrying about what I was going to do next.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice. But you never know. The theatre world tends to be kinda small. It won’t surprise me if we run into each other sometime down the road.”

“Yeah. That would be nice.”

“Well, I’m gonna call an Uber. I need to get my room packed up and head back to Charlotte.”

“Don’t worry about calling a ride. I’ll take you.”

“You don’t have to do that, Joe.”

“I know. I’d just like to.”

“Well, okay. I just need to find my shoes, and we can head out.”

I got back to the dorm by 11:30. Fuck! I had only a couple of hours to get packed and on the road. When I walked in, Parker had already started putting my shit in suitcases and boxes. I called Haley and told her I was gonna be leaving in a couple of hours.

She said she would bring my car over and help me load it. By the time we got everything packed, there was no room for her, and I couldn’t take Haley back to her place. Parker got her an Uber, and we were soon on our way.

While we were heading out of the mountains, I couldn’t stop thinking about Alex and the stunt she pulled. I had to talk to someone about it, and unfortunately for Parker, he was the only one available. I sighed and gripped the steering wheel.

“You okay, bud?”

“Yeah—no—I don’t know.”

“Talk to me, Matty. We talk about everything—that’s how we roll.”

I had already told Parker about Eddie’s favorite way to wake me up. Then I told him about the morning and how my best friend all but raped me.

“And, of course, you had no idea until you started to toss your nut.”

“Right. And now that I think about it. We were naked. How did that happen? I’m pretty sure we had our clothes on when we passed out.”

“Maybe you got up in the middle of the night and took your clothes off?”

“That’s totally possible. You know how I’m a walking zombie when I get up in the middle of the night.”

“Right. You could eat a meal and never remember it.”

“Well, I’m just gonna assume that I got up to go to the bathroom and took ‘em off when I got back to the room.”

“I’m sorry she used you like that, man. It sucks when your so-called friends take advantage of you.”

“Fuck. What do I tell Eddie?”

“Does he have to know? It’s not like this was something you did.”

“Yeah, I know that. But Eddie and I have never kept shit from each other. Well—except for all that time we were keeping our feelings for each other a big secret.”

“How do you think he’d take it?”

“I’d like to think he’d understand. But—I don’t know for sure. I just don’t know.”

Fuck me.