The Making of a Slave - 28. Everything Can Change

The one lingering issue was the resentment building up from Patrick. It was percolating since day one and, pretty quickly, it all came to a head after the second week of classes. It was Saturday morning and I got up early to get my cleaning done. I found Patrick was already awake and in the living area studying. What made matters worse, and unbeknownst to me at the time, he had broken up with Carley the night before.

“Hey good morning,” I said as I went to get the shark steam cleaner in the closet.

“Morning,” he replied, barely looking up from his book.

I plugged in the shark and started cleaning the floor. “Could you do that another time?” Asked Patrick in a clearly annoyed tone.

“Why?” I asked in return.

“Because of the noise,” he retorted.

The thing barely made a hum so I replied, “It barely makes any noise.”

“Just turn it off,” he replied in a sterner, louder voice.

I turned it off and put it away and instead grabbed a broom. I softly swept the floor so as not to make noise. I got to the part of the room where he was sitting and I carefully passed the broom behind his chair.

“Will you get the fuck away from me!” He screamed as he pushed me hard enough for me to fall to the floor.

With that Zack popped his head out of his room and asked, “Hey what’s going on?”

“I’m fucking sick of this!” He screamed and continued to rant. “I have to see him walk around naked like a faggot and watch him clip your nails - fucking disgusting. Your shit is all over the bathroom and he’s always in the fucking way! This is not what I signed up for! I’m getting screwed here!”

“You’re right,” said Zack, in a calming voice. “Weedge, why don’t you go out for a while. I’ll buzz you when you can come back.”

Patrick took a deep breath and watched as I went to leave,

I immediately slipped on my shorts and t-shirt which was right by the door and started walking to my room to get my shoes. “Go, now,” ordered Zack.

“I just need to get my sh..”

“Now.” He said again.

I grabbed my swipe card and phone off the table and walked out. I wasn’t sure where to go and being barefoot limited my options. I walked across the courtyard to the student lounge. Luckily it was early so hardly anyone was there. I swiped in and got a bagel and coffee from the grab and go and sat down to wait.

I was thankful to have grabbed my phone which allowed me to access the school portal and do my assigned reading. Two hours went by and I started to get worried because I was scheduled to work. I didn’t want to go there barefoot and in shorts.

Zack texted a few minutes later.

<Zack> I know you have work, come back, get what you need and get back out.
<Weedge> OK if I come now?
<Zack? Yes, but don’t linger - get in and out.
<Weedge> OK

When I got back to the room - I went straight to my room to get dressed. Patrick and Zack were in Zack’s room and on a conference call. I wanted to obey Zack and not linger but I paused a second on my way out and it was clear they were talking to Max. I walked out quickly and went to work.

It was a slow day with few calls and no one coming into the IT Center. I finished all my homework and spent the rest of the time talking to coworkers. I was able to put the incident with Patrick out of my mind, until it was close to quitting time when I got another text from Zack.

<Zack> Weedge, when you get back, go to your room and stay there until I come get you. You can stay dressed.
<Weedge> OK

I wasn’t going to ask any questions but a bunch came to mind. What did he and Patrick talk about? Why was it such a long time? Why is Max involved? Why was he allowing me to stay dressed? None of this could be good, but I put my faith in Zack.

I got back to the room and Zack and Patrick were sitting in the living area. I didn’t look over at them, I just went into my room and waited.

“I’ll let you guys talk it through,” said Patrick as he made his way out of the dorm.

I heard the door close behind him. A few minutes later Zack came into my room and said, “OK, as you can probably imagine, we have a lot to sort out. So take a seat.”

I nodded and he continued, “The arrangement with Patrick isn’t working out and we need to make some major changes. It will involve all of us but you’re going to be the one mostly affected by it.”

I nodded again. He pulled out a list and went on, “first of all, none of these changes go against our agreement and I’ve discussed them with Max. I also set up a time for you to talk to Max directly, if you want, after we speak.”

“OK,” I replied, and paused for him to continue.

“We both knew our arrangement was complicated enough,” he said, “ and adding Partick would make it even more difficult. I thought that we could keep him out of it and work around him, but it’s now clear that won’t work. It’s really not fair to him. He has to put up with all the bullshit associated with our relationship while not benefitting in any way or even being a part of it.”

He continued, “if we want to keep this going, there are limited choices. We could change our living arrangement but that won’t be easy - nor would it be fair to whoever has to find a new roommate or go solo. I think the only real way to go is to bring Patrick into the relationship.”

“What?” I asked. “How?”

“Wait,” he replied, “let me finish. No, you’re not going to be his slave too - but there’s no reason why he can’t benefit from your services. Let me go through all the changes one by one and we’ll discuss each one - OK?”

“OK,” I replied.

“OK," he said, “the first one is - no more walking around naked in the dorm room. You are to wear a t-shirt and shorts while in the general area.”

He paused and looked at me for comment. Can I wear socks or flip flops too?” I asked.

“No,” he replied, “just shorts with no underwear and a t-shirt with no undershirt - nothing else.”

“OK, that’s good - that’s actually an improvement,” I said.

“True,” he replied, “but there are not too many of those on this list. When you are alone in your room, I may still require you to be fully naked, but if I do, you will be allowed to close the door - close - not lock - so I can come in at any time.”

“OK,” I said, “no problem there.”

“Here’s where it gets more difficult for you,” said Zack. “Going forward you will do Patrick’s laundry, including ironing and putting the clothes back in his drawers and closet unit.”

“That’s a lot more work,” I retorted.

Zack leaned his head in a bit as to partially acknowledge my complaint then said, “you can probably combine the loads and just do a larger wash.”

“Yea but then there’s drying and folding…”

He cut me off, “I know. There’s no way around this being more work. Laundry includes keeping his shoes clean. You will also have to include his room along with the rest of the dorm cleaning.”

I exhaled loudly but said nothing else.

Zack continued, “As you know, there have been problems with the bathroom and we came up with a plan to resolve them. Any of your stuff that’s in there now will be moved into your room so Patrick and I will have half each of the vanity and medicine cabinet. So that stuff isn’t laid out on the sink counter, we will get two trays - one for me and one for him. You’ll set up each of our stuff on the trays and then put them on top of the toilet tank so it’s not in the way.”

“So I have to set his stuff up too now?” I asked.

“Yes,” replied Zack, but he doesn’t really have much.”

“I don’t have to do hygiene stuff for him, do I?” I asked.

“No,” replied Zack, “no personal service or anything sexual - but he can make you run errands like get food and drinks for him. I will keep an eye on that to make sure he doesn’t unrealistically take up your time.”

“Anything else?” I asked.

“It’s important that you do this respectfully and not harbor any ill will or resentment. Can you do that?”

I paused, and said, “I think so. I will need time to absorb all this though.”

“That’s fair,” said Zack, “but you’re going to have to do all that quickly - and I want you to talk to him soon. When you do, you should be apologetic. I know you technically didn’t do anything wrong, but that’s not how he perceived it and that’s what matters more.”

“Will you let me talk to Max first?” I asked.

“Yes,’ he replied, “you can do that right now. First, do you have any other questions for me?”

“How did you get to this point with him?” I asked.

“It wasn’t easy,” replied Zack. “He was pissed and was looking to change the living arrangements. I convinced him to give this a try. At first he was like, fuck no, but as we talked more, he warmed up to it and at the end he seemed kind of excited about it. We also spent some time talking about Carley, I think that played a major role in him blowing up.”

“Carley?” I asked.

“Yea, they broke up,” he said, “well, more like she dumped him.”

“Ah, that explains a lot,” I added.

“Yea, it brough things to a head,” he replied, “but it was clear this wasn’t working out as it was going. Patrick wasn’t happy.”

Yes,” I agreed, “it was pretty obvious he was expecting something different. He definitely seemed bothered even by my presence.”

Zack replied, “I think your relationship with him will need to be worked on. Taking on some of these tasks will help - at least I think they will.”

“I don’t know,’ I said, “I think he has - like a disrespect for me that will be hard to overcome.”

Zack nodded, “yea, that’s definitely there. I mean, It wasn’t before college. Well maybe just in a minor way - but definitely since we moved in together. I told him he’s got to talk that through with you. I don’t know if you can change his mind but you at least need to find a way to accept it and work through it.”

“After his blow up, how confident are you that he’s going to keep this all a secret - even if we resolve it all?” I asked.

“Good question,” replied Zack. “We talked about this too. I still take him at his word. I have known him since grade school, he’s the type to keep stuff to himself. One of the first things he said after you left was that he wanted out but promised he would say nothing to anyone about the slave stuff. In some ways if he’s benefitting from it, he’ll be involved and, I think, even less likely to say anything.”

“Yea, I guess that makes sense,” I replied. “I mean other than the tasks I now have to do for him - will everything else be between me and you or will he be involved?”

“Look,” he said, “I still think the less he’s involved - the better but we’ll have to see. My approach would be that he would only know stuff that’s obvious in the dorm room. You and I should make sure we keep talking about his involvement and keep an open mind.”

“What was Max’s take on all of this?” I asked.

Zack laughs, “you mean besides, I told you so?”

We both laughed and he continued, “Max is really more of a sounding board he tries to guide me into making up my own mind and making my own decisions. He did agree though that none of the changes would go against our agreement. You can ask him whatever you want though.

“OK,” I replied, “so should I talk to him now?”

“Yes, that’s the next step,” agreed Zack. “I’ll message him and he will call you when he can. Stay in your room until he calls - not sure how long that will be.”

Zack walked out and I remained in the room. In less than an hour my phone went off and it was a text from Max to call him on video chat. I opened my laptop and called him.

“Hi Weedge,” he said, making it clear he knew about my new name. “Before we start, I just want to make it clear that anything you say to me will get back to Zack. I’m speaking to you as a courtesy, so this is not a private confidential session. Please acknowledge that verbally.”

I replied, “I acknowledge that this is not private and anything I say can and will be used against me.”

Max smiled and asked, “So what did you want to talk about?”

“What do you think about how this is going so far?” I asked. “Like, compared to others that you are involved in.”

Max replied, “Well, I don’t have any others that are exactly like yours, but I expected problems and I expect there will be more. I think the adjustments Zack discussed with Patrick are reasonable and could go a long way to helping remedy the situation. More importantly, what are your thoughts about this? How do you feel? What reservations do you have, if any?”

I paused for a few seconds then started, “I think Patrick has been an issue from day 1. He doesn’t understand why I am doing this and I think he just looks down on me for it.”

Max interrupted, “He doesn’t understand it and may never totally get it. I explained it to him a bit when we spoke, but it’s not something most people can embrace.”

“How do I handle that?” I asked.

“All you can do is talk to him,” replied Max, try to get him to understand where you’re coming from and let him know this is an exploration for you - you don’t have all the answers and don’t know where this will lead.”

“I don’t think I’m going to like doing stuff for him,” I added. “It’s different with Zack, I feel a connection to him - with Patrick , it’s like he looks down on me and now I have to serve him.”

“Don’t look at it like you are serving Patrick,” said Max, “you’re actually doing what Zack wants and Zack’s motivation is not to benefit Patrick necessarily, but to find a way to make your relationship work. Just think that anything you do for Patrick you are actually doing for Zack.”

“I like that approach better,” I added. “Aside from Patrick, the rest was working out well - mostly. I guess you heard about the punishment?”

“Yes,” said Max, “what did you think about it?”

“I didn’t have a problem with it,” I replied. I definitely deserved it and I get why he had to do it and not let it go.”

“You seem to get this and much quicker than people twice your age,” said Max with a smile. “Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“Na,” I replied, “I think this is the best way to go. I just hope it works.”

“OK, Weedge,” said Max, “if you need to talk anything through just tell Zack and I’ll call you. Good bye and good luck!”

“Bye,” I said while I waved my hand as he logged off.

I walked over to Zack’s room. He was doing homework on his desk. “Is there anything you want me to do now? I talked to Max, so I guess Patrick is next?”

“Yea,” replied Zack, “let me text him.”

Zack tapped on his phone and got a reply within seconds. “He said to meet him in the lounge - group study room 2. This way you guys can talk in private.”

“OK,” I replied. “I hope this goes well.”

“Just be honest,” advised Zack, “and remember to be apologetic - as much as you can.”