The Making of a Slave - 16. Rock to Rocky

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable
But in the end, it's right

On my walk back home, I thought about the abruptness of my dismissal and the indignity of being naked in front of Trevor. As much as I liked Zack, there was something about this that bothered me. I wanted to talk to him about it but was having trouble pinpointing the root cause of my irritation. Was it Trevor being there and being ordered in front of him? Was it that Zack seemed to be asking me to do more and more things for him? Lately there was always a purpose for when he called me - always something he needed me to do. It was never just to hang out anymore. After agonizing over it, I decided to just let it go.

A few weeks went by since that incident and school got off to a typical start. The first big event was the audition for the Christmas rock show and we got together with Tim and Ron to practice. Ron had a big basement with his drum kit all set up and that's where we met. Tim and Ron were both friends of Zack so I didn’t really know them that well.

"Plug in over there," ordered Zack as we set up. “Alright,” he continued, “Numb is our performance song, but we’ll need a second song in case we’re picked to be the last act.”

“Last act?” I asked.

“Yea,” replied Tim, “they order the acts with the best gong last and they get to do two songs.”

“How about Beverly Hills by Weezer?” Asked Ron. “I thought we played that well.”

“Or we can do Fall to Pieces by Velvet Revolver,” suggested Tim. “I liked the way Zack shreds on that.”

“How about we go old school,” added Ron, “and do Jump by Van Halen.”

“How about we go even older with All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix?” I asked.

“Na,” said Zack, “I actually like Fall to Pieces, just not the way I sang it. Scott Weiland is not my speed.”

“I’m pretty much good with any of those,” said Ron.

‘Same here,” added Tim.

“Andrew and I pick Fall to Pieces but with Andrew singing,” exclaimed Zack.

Tim and Ron looked at each other, shrugged together and Ron said, “we’re good.”

Tim asked, “Andrew, are you good with singing it?”

“It’ll be cake,” said Zack before I could even open my mouth to reply. “OK, now that we have the songs, we need a band name.”

I started, “my vote is for…”

“No Regrets,” interrupted Zack in an eye-rolling tone. “I regret to say it’s a big NO to no regrets.”

Tim and Ron chuckled.

“How about regression,” suggested Tim.

“I like that,” added Zack.

Ron, looking over at me said, “Hey, it has R-E-G in it like regrets.”

I laughed, shrugged and said, “That works for me.”

Now that we had the band name and set list done, we went on to practice for a few hours - playing each song over and over again until Zack finally said, “ I think we got it. That last one sounded tight.”

                                                                   ***

We met to practice one more time and we all felt confident we’d be accepted to perform but that didn’t make me any less nervous on audition day.

“We’re next,” said Zack.

“Are you nervous?” I asked.

“A little,” he replied. “You?”

“Yea, very,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” he continued, “you nailed this every time.”

“Next up is Regression,” said the Music Director, Mr. Payne. There was a five judge panel evaluating the acts. Each judge was a teacher from the school's music department.

“Sound check,” said Zack..

We went through the check and all put up our thumbs. Ron started with three clicks of his drumsticks and we went into the song. We finished it flawlessly and now had to hang around to see if we got in. There were about a dozen more acts to go and we stayed to watch them all. One band, named Panama, did a great rendition of Hot For Teacher and there were a few acts that we thought were at least as good as us.

As the last act finished, Mr. Payne got on the mic and said, “please stand by while we tabulate the scores and announce the participants.”

We waited nervously as they announced the 12 selected acts and, thankfully, we were one of them. We were also one of three acts to audition for the last act.

Zack high fived me and then pulled me in for a hug, “you did great, Andrew!”

“You too,” I said as we also exchanged congratulatory hugs with Ron and Tim.

We went on to perform Fall to Pieces. We thought it went well but lost out to Panama. Ironically, their second song was Jump.

As we were packing up our stuff to leave, Zack came over to me, got close to my ear and said, “follow me back to my house, I need to cum.”

Zack didn't go out with anyone for this semester, other than a one off hook up at parties, so my jerk off services were in demand. He had me come over once or twice a week on average under the guise of "homework." It felt weird jerking him off with Trevor in his room next door and his mom home and being able to call him at any time - mostly because I had to be naked when I did it. Thankfully we were never interrupted.

Many times these week night calls also included me helping him with various chores. It was always a small add-on thing, such as folding laundry, but the weekend calls carried a lot more work.

Zack's mom made him and Trevor clean their rooms and their bathroom once a month and the next time that came up, the job fell on me. While it was Zack that drove me to do it, Trevor seemed to be on board with me doing all the work. His concern was just that it got done.

That next time came on the first Saturday in November and it was purely a call for me to help clean.

Zack greeted me at the door and we walked directly upstairs. “Hey Trevor,” he said just as we got to the top of the steps, “Andrew is here, are you OK if we come up?”

“Yes,” he answered in his usual tone. Trevor was in his room with the door slight;y ajar.

We continued to his room. It was a real mess. "Thanks for helping," said Zack, "we have a lot to do - sheets need to be changed too."

"OK," I said, "where should I start?"

"We should probably strip the beds first so we can get the laundry started," he replied.

I walked to his bed to start removing the sheets and Zack said with a laugh, "you need to strip Andrew before the bed."

"I thought this was clean only, no jerking," I said.

"It is," he replied," but the same rules apply."

"Geez," I complained, "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack," he replied.

“C’mon, Zack, what if your mom comes home or Trevor comes out?” I asked with discontent in my voice.

“She won’t,” he quickly replied, “and so what if Trevor sees you.”

“What do you mean so wha…” I started to say.

Zack cut me off, “Andrew! Stop. Just fucking do it!”

His angered response trumped my discontent so I stripped. I put my clothes in a neat pile with my sneakers on top and placed them on the floor by his door.

"Here," he said as he handed me the sheets and pillow cases he stripped from his bed. "Grab the pile of clothes then bring it all down and start a load of laundry."

I grabbed it all with two hands in a big ball and walked down the two flights of stairs to the basement. The floor was a cold cement and it felt dirty on my bare feet.

I put the clothes in the washing machine and started a cycle. As I walked back up the stairs I wiped the bottom of each of my feet with my hands. When I reached the top of the steps on the second floor, I saw Trevor' s door open with a pile of sheets and clothes in front of his door.

Trevor walked out as I stepped on to the hallway landing. He was barefoot wearing jeans and a striped red pullover and stood there staring at me for an uncomfortable few seconds. I broke the silence and said, "hi Trevor."

"Hi Andrew," he replied, in his usual monotone voice, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

I felt embarrassed being there like that, exposed while both Zack and Trevor were fully clothed. I also felt ashamed knowing there was no real reason for me to be this way, other than Zack wanting it and me agreeing to it.

As if he was reading my mind, Zack asked, “Trevor, are you OK with Andrew having no clothes on?”

“Yes,” replied Trevor, ‘it’s fine.”

“OK, good,” said Zack. Then turning to me asked, “Was there room in the washing machine for Trevor's stuff?"

"Yea, I think so," I replied.

"Good, take his stuff down and add it to the wash now, " ordered Zack. "It'll save time.

I made the same trip downstairs and stood on the dirty cold floor loading Trevor's dirty clothes and sheets into the wash. I restarted the cycle and went upstairs.

As the day went on, I got less help from the two of them. It's not like they stood by and watched but they did little more than hand me cleaning supplies and equipment and move some stuff out of the way. At least they had already cleared the plates and utensils but both garbage cans had to be emptied, the furniture had to be dusted and the floors vacuumed.

It felt very awkward having to clean while naked but having them both there made it worse. I started cleaning in Zack’s room but Trevor came in to watch. There was almost no conversation. When I was done there they followed me to Trevor’s room. The conversation was fractured and awkward. There was this overbearing thought in my mind about how I was being viewed and judged by Trevor.

“I’ll plug in the vacuum,” said Trevor as he seemingly stayed focused on the job at hand.

“Thanks,” I replied in a sarcastic tone, as if he was helping me out and not the other way around.

Zack noticed my tone and retorted, “is there a problem!?! Are you making fun of my brother!?!”

“Sorry, wasn’t meant to be,” I replied, not being totally truthful.

“Andrew wasn’t being mean,” injected Trevor, “he was just saying thanks.”

There was a short silence as Zack looked at Trevor, paused to think and said, “OK, that’s fine.” He made a point of looking back at me but nothing else was said.

Although Trevor’s presence made it worse - I knew it had nothing to do with him - it was all Zack. I finished the cleaning with the uncomfortable feeling growing inside me. I just wanted to get out of there. Zack left me in there with just Trevor as I finished the vacuuming.

After that, I walked back into Zack’s room and said, “OK, I’m done, I’m going to go.”

“Not even close,” replied Zack, “you didn’t clean the bathroom yet. Before you start on that go check the laundry to see if it’s done and put the stuff in the dryer.”

I was at a breaking point. Zack had always been commanding, but it seemed he was really pushing me. I paused a minute and thought about just leaving but instead held in all my emotions and followed his order. The wash cycle had finished and I took all the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. Then I walked upstairs to clean the bathroom.

Trevor handed me a spray bottle of cleaner and a rag and said, “to get the shower mold out you have to spray it first and let it stay there for a few minutes.”

I sprayed the shower area first then cleaned the rest of the bathroom. It was a small bathroom with a shower stall, a toilet and a small vanity all in a row from left to right. The shower stall went from one wall to the other and there was just enough room to stand in front of the toilet and vanity which is where the door opened into. There was a mat in front of the shower and the vanity.

The toilet and the area around it were gross. Either Zack, Trevor or both had bad aim. I got on my knees and started by picking up the seat and cover and sprayed the bowl. As I waited for the cleaning fluid to sink in, I heard Zack and Trevor talking. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but heard Trevor say, “Nooooo,” in a whining voice and then Zack said “OK,OK, don’t worry about it, I’ll do it.”

I wiped the bowl down then cleaned the seat and the lid and started to spray the floor around the toilet. The floor was gray mini tiles and the grout was really stained in that area. Before I could wipe it up, Zack came in and said, “move over for a second, I have to take a piss.”

I moved on my knees away from the toilet in front of the vanity as he took his dick out and started pissing. Trevor had followed him and was looking on from the door. It was a strong stream and very yellow, and I’m not sure if he did it on purpose but his aim was off and some pee hit off the side of the bowl. Even after moving aside, I was close enough to grab the odor of it. Scenes from the swirly flashed back into my head but I pushed the thoughts aside.

When he finished he put his dick back and, without flushing, moved over to wash his hands. He was smiling and looked at Trevor who also had a slight grin. I moved away so he could stand in front of the sink. He walked out after washing his hands and Trevor followed him.

I waited for a minute then flushed and heard some laughing as I did. I felt numb over the whole thing and just resigned myself to finishing out what needed to be done. I cleaned the bowl and the splash area again.

Even though it was a small bathroom it took me about an hour to get it clean. Thankfully, Trevor had retrieved the laundry and was putting the sheets back on his bed.

I helped fold the rest of the clothes and put Zack’s sheets back on his bed.

I finished folding and said, “OK, can I go now?”

I reached down to pick up my stack of clothes on the floor but Zack said, “wait. We need to inspect first. Hey Trevor, come in here.”

As Trevor walked in Zack said, “help me inspect and make sure everything is done.”

“OK,” said Trevor as he walked around looking. He reached up and slid his finger on the top shelf of Zack’s hutch. Zack didn't move a muscle and let Trevor do the inspection.

“You missed this,” said Trevor, excitedly.

I picked up a dust cloth and cleaned off the shelf. “Anything else?” I asked.

Trevor carefully continued his review and then said, "no, it looks good."

"Can I go now?" I asked while looking at Zack. My tone showed my annoyance and Zack knew it.

"We still need to check the bathroom and Trevor's room," replied Zack, not caring about my annoyed state.

Trevor checked the bathroom first and said, “wow, this has never looked so clean.”

Then, we walked towards his room. Trevor went in while I stayed in the doorway and Zack stayed in the hallway.

"It's good," said Trevor.

"Can I get dressed and go now?" I asked.

Zack turned to Trevor and asked, "can he get dressed now?"

"Yes," said Trevor, “he can.”

I walked back into Zack's room and quickly got dressed.

"How about saying thank you to Trevor," said Zack.

I felt a wave of rage come over me but I stayed composed and said, "thank you, Trevor."

"You're welcome, Andrew," replied Trevor, with a genuine smile on his face.

"See you," I said as I quickly left.

I was seething as I walked home. I could not soothe my anger and wasn't going to let it go this time. When I got home I called and Zack answered, “Hey Andrew what’s up? Did you forget something?”

“No,” I replied, “I just wanted to talk about what happened in front of Trevor.”

He chuckled and said, “don’t worry about it. Trevor is cool with it and he knows not to talk about it to anyone else. He’s really good about stuff like that.”

“That’s good,” I replied, “but why’d you even do it in the first place.”

“Do what?” He replied with a noticeable change in his tone.

“Make me stay naked in front of him,” I replied.

“Because I like it that way. You’ve been doing it for a while now and I told you Trevor is good with it so what’s the problem?”

With my tone changing a bit, I responded, “because it was in front of someone else.”

“Are you serious?” He asked. “Now you have a problem with that? After all of the times you had to do stuff or stuff was done to you in front of others, all of a sudden it’s a problem for yout!?!”

“Done to me is not the same as you making me,” I replied.

“Oh really?”, he retorted, “like kissing Patrick’s and Connor’s feet?”

“That’s different!” I shot back.

He pushed and said “Oh? Tell me how.”

“It just is,” I replied.

“Great answer, Andrew,” he said in a clearly angered tone.

“You know why,” I continued.

“I don’t,” he replied bluntly. “Is it because it’s my brother?”

“No, of course not,” I replied.

“Is that the problem?” He asked, now clearly agitated.

“No…”

“He cut me off and asked, “is he not good enough for you? Is that it!?

“No,” I replied, “it has nothing to do with him.”

“Fuck you, Andrew! He said, then paused and with his voice breaking repeated, “fuck you.”

“Zack…,” I said.

"Fuck you," he said one more time, then hung up.