The Freshmen - 35. Chapter 35

September 29, 2004

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

Will

“What’s up?” Scotty asked. I had asked Scotty and Fabian to meet in our room at 2:00, and they were here but Marie wasn’t.

“Marie told me to ask you both to be here, so this is her deal,” I said, even though I knew all about it.

“Well she’s not here, so why don’t you tell us?” Scotty asked gruffly.

“Can’t you be patient for a few fucking minutes?” I asked. He gave me a dirty look then sat in one of our nasty chairs. No sooner had he done that than there was a knock on our door, then it opened to reveal Marie.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said.

“It was only five minutes, but you pissed Scotty off,” I said, getting a chuckle from Fab.

“You did not piss me off,” Scotty said, and gave me a foul look.

“Good,” she said in her perky way. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” Scotty asked.

“With me,” she said, and raised her eyebrow to challenge him.

“Fine,” he said, then followed her out of the room, with me and Fab right behind them. She walked fast which kept them from asking any more questions, and went out to the road where Jorge was waiting with the Escalade. We got in with Marie and I sitting facing forward, Scotty across from Marie, and Fab across from me.

“Stefan is coming into town this weekend,” she said, telling them something that they already knew. “He will probably want to take you out to dinner at a nice place, and in Boston that means you have to dress nicely.”

“What I wore last time wasn’t good enough?” Scotty asked sarcastically. “Well if I’m too fucking underdressed, I won’t go.”

“So what is your plan?” Fab asked.

“We’re going to take you both to a top-notch clothing store and buy you a suit, a blazer, a pair of pants, and all the accessories that go with them,” I said.

“I don’t need you to take me shopping,” Scotty objected.

“After that we have an appointment at a salon,” Marie said, her eyes blazing at Scotty.

“Fuck that,” Scotty said. “I don’t need your fucking charity.”

“Dude, watch your fucking mouth when you’re in front of a lady,” I snapped. Fab chuckled.

“Sorry,” Scotty grumbled.

Marie leaned forward and put her hand on Scotty’s thigh, and I was impressed that just that gesture snapped him in line pretty fast. “Do this for me.” He grimaced. “You asked me out. You have to look good if you do that.”

"Look, it's going to happen, regardless. Either we do this now or Stef will do it when he gets here, and he won't be as restrained as us," I said, as Marie and I exchanged amused glances.

Scotty looked at Fab, who just shrugged. “Fine,” he said, giving in to the inevitable. No way Marie couldn’t charm a guy like Scotty, or most guys in general, into doing what she asked them to do.

We got to the men’s store, which was really upscale. Marie had things completely under control, so I just wandered around looking at their merchandise. This week had been strange. Thor had been kind of cold to me, and seemed to stay away from the dorm more than before. When he was there, he was friendly and civil, but I could tell it was an act. I couldn’t figure out if he was mad, afraid, or embarrassed. I’d kind of ruled out anger, because he didn’t glare at me or seem belligerent. I wasn’t quite sure why he would be afraid of me either. Maybe he was worried that I would out him. That was so ridiculous it wasn’t even worth considering. He knew I’d seen him fucking Schaef, and it was possible he was embarrassed by that. He was pretty relaxed about me seeing his body, so I didn’t think that was it. Rather, I thought he was probably more upset that I’d caught him and Schaef in the act and that now I knew he was at least bisexual.

I’d largely left him to his own devices, giving him space to work all of this out in his own mind. I resolved not to bring up the fact that I’d seen his dick plunging deep into Schaef’s ass, and that I’d let him come to me if he wanted to talk about it. But with his new attitude towards me, the one where he avoided me and was on his guard whenever he was there, I wasn’t sure if I could handle continuing to say nothing and leaving this open wound festering.

I wandered over to watch Marie working with the tailors. She’d picked out a softer gray suit for Scotty, since he had lighter coloring, and a dark gray suit for Fab. Then she’d picked out the standard blue blazer and gray slacks for each of them. I smiled at Fab as he modeled them and hung out with him while they made alteration marks for his pants. I’d snuck into his room after midnight every night since Travis had left and had amazing sex with him. His sinuous movements were so sexy they drove me wild. He looked down at my tenting pants and smirked, so I opted to do some shopping on my own. I found a tie that would look good on Travis so I added that to our purchases, then we went to a really nice shoe store.

Buying shoes was way more fun, but I didn’t find anything I wanted. Marie got them each two pairs of black shoes since they had no reason, with the clothes we’d bought, to wear brown. One pair was more formal to go with their suits, and the other was a bit more casual to go with the blazer. I found these Boston stores too stuffy, and their styles too traditional. Even for my more formal clothes, I wanted something that was a bit more avant garde. The stuff we’d looked at was probably pretty much the same stuff they’d been selling 100 years ago.

“You are both going to look fabulous,” Marie gushed as we got into the limo.

“Those were some nice suits, eh,” Scotty said. “Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome,” she said. “You can wear the blue blazer and the gray pants when I take you out next week.”

“I told you I was taking you out,” he insisted.

“I’m making the rules. You want to go out with me or not?” she asked, making me giggle at what a dominatrix she was being.

“Fine, you’re in charge,” he said.

“That’s what it’s like when you go out with Marie,” I said, giving her shit. The limo pulled up to the salon and Marie got out, leading us all into a really nice place. Both Scotty and Fab looked scared shitless, since all you could see were women getting manicures. Marie went up to the front desk and introduced herself.

“Welcome,” the lady behind the desk said. She walked around and stood in front of us. “Please follow me.”

The mostly older women in the salon stared at us with lust in their eyes. This was a great place to pick up a cougar. The desk lady led us into a private area where there were two women and two men waiting for us. “What’s going on?” Scotty asked.

“You’re going to get a manicure and a pedicure, then you’re going to get your hair styled,” Marie announced.

“What if I don’t want that?” Scotty asked, being combative.

“Then I’ll think you’re an idiot because your nails look like shit and your feet are nasty,” she said. He looked at me, nonverbally pleading for help.

“This part is cool,” I promised Scotty and Fab. “You’ll like it. Trust me.”

They grudgingly gave in, and forty-five minutes later the desk lady led us out of that room and to another private room where four people were waiting to work on our hair. “That wasn’t too bad,” Scotty said, commenting on the nail treatments.

“Told you,” I said. Marie spent a decent amount of time talking to the people who were cutting Scotty’s hair, while the woman cutting Fab’s hair already had a plan for what to do and just needed Marie’s approval. I had a handsome guy named Chris as my stylist, and I’d done this enough that I was able to tell him how my hair should be cut. After that we all sat in our chairs, absorbed in our own worlds while hair fell to the floor. I smiled and told the stylist that he’d done a good job, but that was kind of a lie, because this haircut wasn’t nearly as good as the ones I got from my normal stylists in Palo Alto and Malibu. I decided that my hair wasn’t going to look as good as it usually did until I was back on the West Coast.

They were still working on Fab and Scotty, but Marie was done right after I was. “You look good,” she said.

“Not as good as I usually do,” I grumbled to her quietly.

“This much is true,” she said as she scrunched up her face. We took seats off in the corner and just bullshitted until Fab came up. His hair had been a little longer than was fashionable these days, so they’d trimmed it back and given it a much better shape and some interesting details. He looked really good.

“What do you think?” he asked us in French.

“You look fantastic,” Marie gushed.

“You really do,” I said. “Do you like it?”

He looked in a mirror and smiled. “I like it.” Marie went off to find out what kind of products they’d used in Fab’s and Scotty’s hair. While she was gone, Scotty came out with a big frown on his face.

“I look stupid,” Scotty grumbled. He was so wrong. He had a much shorter cut and that had pulled his hair away from his face and made him look gorgeous. Instead of his appearance being dominated by his unruly mop of hair, his ‘prettiness’ came through very clearly.

“Dude, you do not look stupid; you look amazingly hot,” I said. He frowned at me. “You look so good, I’d let you fuck me.”

“Fuck you,” he said, making me laugh.

“He is right,” Fab said.

“What the fuck do you guys know about how I should look?” he asked defiantly.

“I am gay, and that means I am an expert on hair and fashion,” I asserted. “It’s part of the deal.” Fab laughed, and even Scotty smiled a bit.

Marie came walking up with the bag of stuff she’d bought them for their hair and stopped, her mouth agape as she stared at Scotty. “I look like shit,” he said, completely misinterpreting her reaction.

“You look incredible,” she said to him. “Oh my god. I have never seen someone transformed so much by a makeover.”

“You’re just saying that,” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was flirting and playing coy, or if he was still unconvinced.

“I am not,” she asserted. We all started walking to the limo, and Jorge drove us back to campus. Scotty bitched about his hair the whole time, while I rolled my eyes at him, totally pissing him off.

The limo stopped and I opened the door to get out. “Thank you so much,” Fab said to Marie and me. “If I have a formal event to go to, I can now go with confidence.”

“You’re welcome,” Marie said. Scotty made to get out but she stopped him. “Do you have some time?”

“I guess,” he said, surprised by her question.

“Then we will see you guys later,” she said, and shut the door. A few seconds later, the limo took off.

“What was that all about?” Fab asked.

“She’s probably going to try to convince him he really is super hot,” I said.

“She is going to fuck him?” he asked, which made me start laughing.

“I’m not sure, but that would definitely work,” I said. We walked into Weld and went up to our room. “So what are you doing right now?” I asked suggestively.

“I have a date,” he said. “I’m going out with this girl in my English class. She is going to tutor me.”

“Yeah, that’s what you’re going to do,” I said, and we both laughed.

“Maybe I will see you later?” he asked suggestively.

“Maybe,” I said. I opened the door to my room and saw Thor in his bed, lying on his back. “Hey,” I said casually.

“Hey,” he answered back, but his voice was kind of cracking. I locked the door then walked over to him and noticed that he’d been crying.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, as I sat on the bed next to him.

“It’s nothing,” he said, even as a tear emerged from his eye.

“Liar,” I said, and smiled slightly. I lay down next to him, getting an annoyed look from him. “Tell me.”

“It’s personal,” he said. I leaned into him and tried to hug him, even though he was on his back. He didn’t move for a bit, then he wrapped his arms around me and gripped me so tightly he was like a boa constrictor. He started sobbing, so I put up with his death grip, acknowledging that it was kind of hot.

“It will be alright,” I said soothingly.

“No it won’t,” he said. I lay on my back and pulled at him until he rolled over so his head was on my chest. I gently stroked his hair as he snuggled up to me so he was partly on top of me. “You know, don’t you?”

“About you and Schaef?” I asked. He nodded. “I know,” I admitted.

“I am so pissed off at myself for fucking him in our room,” he said.

“And you’re pissed at me for interrupting,” I said. He looked at me and was going to try to deny it, but grimaced instead. “I’m sorry about that. Travis was bleeding and I needed...”

“…Band-aids and Neosporin,” he said, interrupting me. I started laughing, and he chuckled with me.

“I was trying to play it off like I hadn’t seen anything,” I said.

“But you did,” he said somberly.

“Does it matter that I thought it was hot?” I asked playfully.

“No,” he said, and moved like he was going to get up, but I held him tightly so he couldn’t.

“I knew about the two of you before that,” I said.

“You spied on us?” he asked, full of outrage.

“No dipshit,” I said. “I knew just by watching you two together.”

“We were totally careful. We didn’t touch each other once,” he said.

I shook my head at how idiotic he was being. “It wasn’t that; it was how you looked at each other, and how you treated each other. I told Travis that I thought there was something between you two and asked him for his opinion. He basically said ‘duh’.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “He just called me and broke up with me.”

“I am so sorry,” I said, and hugged him tighter. “I understand that kind of pain.”

“How do I make it go away?” he asked me plaintively.

“The only cure is time,” I said. “I don’t have a magic bullet for that one.”

“Fuck,” he said, and buried his head in my chest.

“It will help if you meet someone else,” I said.

“I don’t want to be with anyone else,” he asserted strongly.

“Dude, he broke up with you. That is your only option,” I said. He seemed kind of in limbo. “What did he tell you?”

“He told me that we should have a relationship like you and Travis have, so we can fuck other people,” he said. “He told me that he loved me, but he couldn’t have a total commitment while we were apart.”

“So he didn’t really break up with you,” I said.

“It’s the same thing,” he snapped. “We were going to spend our lives together.”

“You still can,” I said.

He shook his head. “I don’t work that way. I’m an all or nothing guy.”

“Why?” I asked.

“If I love someone, I am totally devoted to them,” he said, spewing his dogma at me.

“Schaef didn’t break up with you; you broke up with him,” I said.

“That’s bullshit!” he yelled.

“Indoor voices,” I said firmly, and glared at him so he got my point. “He offered you a way to stay together and you didn’t want that.”

“Just because you and Travis can do that doesn’t mean other people can,” he said.

“So you’re also pissed off at me because you think we put these ideas into his head?” I asked. He said nothing, all but admitting I was right. “Next time you talk to him, ask him how long he’s been thinking about this. I’m betting you’ll find that it’s been awhile.”

“You’ll lose that bet,” he said. “I know him; you don’t.”

“Okay,” I said. He waited for me to say something else but I didn’t.

“You’re trying to tell me that my choice is to agree with this or lose him completely?” he demanded.

“That’s what I’m telling you,” I said. “He knows how badly he hurt you, so that means he’ll probably avoid talking to you, because if he does, he’ll just feel guilty. So your conversations will drop off and he’ll forget why he fell in love with you in the first place. He’ll be negotiating relationships with new guys and he won’t have you to talk to. How do you think that’s going to end?”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” he said despondently. “I don’t know if I can handle the thought of him fucking other dudes.”

“You may not be able to, but if you don’t try, how will you know for sure?” I asked. “If it doesn’t work, if it drives you crazy, then you’ll have to end it. How will that be any different than where you are now?”

“You’re telling me I should give this thing a try?” he asked.

“What do you have to lose?” I countered.

“Nothing,” he said. “This is going to be really tough, though.”

“It is,” I agreed. “It’s tough for Travis and me too. Long distance relationships are super hard. I don’t know if this will ultimately work out for us, but I love him, and this is really the only way we can stay together as a couple if we’re in different places.”

“Guess we’re kind of in the same boat,” he said.

“Kind of,” I said. “Travis and I have been grappling with this for a while, so we’re a little farther along in the process.”

“Did you have a problem with it?” he asked.

“No, Travis did,” I said. “He still viewed relationships like they usually are in high school. Where you’re totally committed to each other.”

“What’s wrong with that?” he asked defensively, because I’d implied that he was immature.

“You’re not in high school anymore,” I replied. “When Travis was freaking out about this, I gave him a scenario where he was going to the University of Nebraska and a hunky farm boy wanted Travis to fuck him. If he did, and we had a high school-type relationship, then when I found out, I’d be furious and our relationship would be damaged. With things the way they are now, he could tell me about it and I could laugh and joke with him about it.”

“What if he falls in love with this hunky farm boy?” he asked.

“That’s the risk,” I said. “Travis is really important to me. I love him more than I have ever loved a guy I’ve been dating. So if he fell in love with someone else, we’d be over as a couple, but we may be able to save our friendship.”

“What if you fall in love with someone else?” he asked.

“It works the same way,” I said.

“When did you figure out that I liked guys?” he asked.

“Probably when you told me you wanted to share a room with me,” I said. “You gave off other signs after that.”

“Then how come you didn’t hit on me?”

“Two reasons,” I said. He looked at me, waiting for me to go on. “First of all, you knew that I was gay, but I didn’t know for sure that you were. In that situation, it was really up to you to make the first move.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” I said, shaking my head at him. “If I’d hit on you, that could have freaked you out, then things would have been tense here in our room, and in the suite. I really like all of you guys. I do not want stupid drama to destroy that.”

“Alright, I can see that,” he said. “What’s the other reason?”

“I sensed that you were a guy who, when he’s in a relationship, he’s all in,” I said. “I can’t have that with you, because I love Travis. And while I’m sure it would be a blast to hook up with you, there’s no way I want to be the dude who makes you feel like you do right now.” I felt guilty for stealing Travis’s read on him, but decided that I didn’t need to cite sources in a conversation with a friend. Plus it would freak him out that we’d been talking about him.

“Schaef didn’t seem to have a problem with it,” he said bitterly.

“I’ll bet if you could see inside his mind right now, you’d find that he feels like total shit for hurting you, and he probably feels worse than you do right now,” I said.

“I don’t want him to feel like this,” he said.

“And that’s why after you think this through, you’re going to call him and make things better,” I said.

“It kind of bothered me that you jumped into bed with Fab but you acted like I was some ugly troll,” he said.

“Come on,” I said. “That’s not fair. Fab wants his freedom as much as I do. He’s safe for me. He gives me a way to sate my hormonal urges.”

He laughed at my term. “And I wasn’t safe,” he concluded.

I kissed his forehead. “You weren’t,” I said.

He lifted his head up, gazed into my eyes, then kissed me. It was very gentle and very meaningful, and when it was over he was smiling at me. “Thanks for being a good friend.”

“You’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours,” I said.

“You mind if I make a phone call?” he asked.

“I’ve got some studying to do,” I said. “I’ll see you later.” I got up, grabbed my backpack, gave him one more kiss, then I left to give him his space.

I was walking to the library when my phone rang. I was surprised to see it was Peter Thiel. “Hey,” I said casually.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“Harvard Yard, Boston,” I answered.

“I have a deal for you,” he said. “I’ll provide dinner; you provide dessert.” I chuckled at that.

“When?” I asked.

“Now,” he said. “Time is of the essence.”

“Alright, well here’s the situation. I’m dressed like a total college student: I’ve got shorts on, a rugby shirt, and flip flops.”

“Meet me at my hotel,” he said. “The Ritz.”

“I’ll get there as soon as I can,” I promised. He gave me the room number then hung up.

I called Wade’s house and connected with Jorge, who offered to pick me up. By the time I got to the spot where I was supposed to meet him, he was just pulling up. “Good timing,” he said, as I hopped into the Escalade.

“I’m known for that,” I flirted. “I need to go to the Ritz.”

“On my way,” he said. I had no idea what Peter Thiel wanted, but the last time I’d met up with him, I’d invested in Facebook which was growing like crazy. That gave him some serious cred in my book. Jorge dropped me off and I strolled through the lobby, getting a frown from the doorman and then the concierge, which I completely ignored.

I took the elevator up to his floor, got to his room and knocked. He opened the door right away. “Good to see you!” he said, then gave me a really good kiss.

“Really good to see you,” I said.

“I was going to take you downstairs for dinner, but those dipshits require you to wear a jacket, so I opted for room service instead,” he said. He handed me the menu while he called the kitchen. He told them what he wanted, then handed the phone to me, and I ordered a steak.

“You kind of freaked me out with the urgency,” I said. I put my backpack down and kicked back on the couch in his suite.

“I’m working on a deal, and I think it’s going to be golden. I need to raise another $5 million, and I thought you might be interested,” he said.

“What’s the company?” I asked.

“Tesla,” he said. I gave him a confused look. “They make electric cars.”

“They’re not really a thing, are they?” I’d heard that companies were screwing around with EVs, but I didn’t think it had gotten to the point where they were serious.

“They will be in a few years,” he said. He pulled out the business plan, which was not only interesting, it made sense.

“Alright, tell me more about these cars,” I said. He showed me the schematics of the prototype.

“This is the first car they’re going to build. It looks like a Lotus Elise, but underneath it is all Tesla. This thing has a range of almost 250 miles, and it can go from zero to 60 in 4 seconds,” he said.

“That’s pretty fucking fast,” I said.

“It is, and the best part about this is that it consumes no gas. It’s all electric. Think of how that will impact air pollution,” he said. His excitement was contagious.

“Can you imagine the Bay Area with no smog?” I mused, then smiled. “So why are you asking me to do this deal?”

“Besides the obvious reasons?” he asked, making me laugh.

“Besides that,” I said.

“Because I knew you would get it, that you’d pick up on what we’re trying to do here, and you’re smart enough to see how valuable a car like this will be,” he said. “The big investor in this is Elon Musk, one of my PayPal buddies. He’s kind of spastic, but when he latches onto something, he makes it work, and he is all in on this.”

“Alright, if I do this, can I buy two of these things when they start making them?” I asked.

“You can have two of the first 100 produced,” he promised. “I’ll write that into the contract.” He took out the contract, wrote that in, and then let me read it. It seemed pretty standard.

“Who do I make the check payable to?” I asked.

“I figured you’d be a harder sell,” he said. “Your grandfather was interested, but he wasn’t moving fast enough.”

I shrugged. “It’s five million dollars, and that seems like chump change if this can really do something about global warming.”

I signed the agreement, signed the check, then he gave me copies of both. We’d just finished that when dinner arrived. I walked out of there 90 minutes later with a smile on my face. Good food, a good fuck, and what could be a seriously cool investment.