The List - 22. Chapter 22: Devon

Specimen’s Name: Devon

Height: 5’4’’

Build: 115 (Petite)

Occupation: Student (Kappa)

Age: 18

I knocked on Chase’s door, fully expecting him to freak out that I was standing there with an overnight bag and a forced smile.

“What happened?” he asked me, letting me in to his house. He led me straight to his bedroom upstairs, where I set my stuff down and collapsed into a mess on his bed.

“I’m sorry, but I had nowhere else to go,” I replied. “I thought about driving home.”

“No, no,” Chase said, sitting next to me. “It’s cool that you came here. What happened?”

I breathed in deeply, lifted my head up to avoid spilling any tears, and then asked him for a drink. He reached into his refrigerator and pulled out a blue Gatorade and a bottle of Skyy.

“Strong, please,” I said as he poured.

“I can tell you need it,” he said, bringing two glasses over. We cheered weakly, and I knocked half the cocktail back.

“So, I figure if I keep asking, you’ll tell me why you’re here on a Sunday night with a duffle bag,” he said. He wasn’t agitated, just confused. He sat down next to me and waited.

“I, um, got into a fight with Spencer,” I said. I debated telling him why. Chase knew about the drama with Kyle. He knew that Kyle and I had dated. The circumstances surrounding the break up and the list were left out, but he knew the implications of my roommate sleeping with my ex.

“Wow, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. And with no hesitation, he added, “You can stay with me for as long as it takes to blow over.”

I didn’t say out loud that I doubted it would blow over. This wasn’t a simple fight. This was major. This was friendship ending major.

“He slept with my ex-boyfriend,” I said.

“Kyle?” Chase asked, remembering his name from our one night of celibacy where we got to know each other.

“Yeah. And here I was feeling guilty about sleeping with you because Spencer had a crush on you, and he was having sex with my ex-boyfriend behind my back like our friendship means nothing to him.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, wow. More vodka, maybe?” I handed Chase my glass and he refilled it without a question. I would pay him back with a full bottle later.

“How did it happen?” he asked.

“He claims it only happened once. On the night I was supposed to meet you on the roof, you know? Apparently Kyle and Rusty got into a huge fight over me. Kyle came by our dorm room to apologize to me, and instead he ended up fucking my roommate,” I said, lifting my head again. I was on the verge, but I refused to cry in front of Chase.

“And it was just the once?” he asked. I sensed the tone.

“It doesn’t matter if it was once or a million times, that’s not cool.” My voice was steely and hard.

“I know, I know,” Chase said, softening me with his sweet voice. “It should never have happened.”

But it had happened. And the question was what I was going to do from there? When I left the dorm room, I told Spencer I never wanted to see him again. I told him what he’d done was unforgivable and that I would come back for the rest of my stuff later. I told him he was the worst kind of traitorous bastard and that he and Kyle could have each other. I said a ton of stuff I now realized I didn’t mean.

But I didn’t know how to go on being his friend. He knew that Kyle meant the world to me. He was the one who’d said we would get back together when I didn’t believe it. He should have stopped it at some point before dicks were inserted into asses and vice versa.

“God, the thought of them,” I blurted, pulling my hands to my face and almost dropping my glass. I lost it just then, thinking about the two of them, in my room, fucking, making noise, calling each other ‘Mister’ and ‘Sir’.

Chase gave me a big, warm hug. His bare hairless chest wrapped around me perfectly. “We’ll deal with this. Don’t worry about it. We will get through this.”

The ‘we’ wasn’t lost on me. I’m not sure what I expected from Chase out of this. I’d known him for a total of a month, and for a solid week in there, I ignored everything about him. But he’d quickly risen in the ranks of guys I could trust, and coming to Backstroke had been a no brainer. I knew I was welcome to spend the night, but after that, what could I expect out of him? We weren’t dating, and even if we were, I wouldn’t move into Backstroke with him. I knew in my core I had to figure out a way to go back to my dorm without the desire to kill my roommate. I also knew it might take a few days for that desire to go away.

I slept in Chase’s nook that night, trying hard not to think about Spencer and Kyle sweating on top of each other, but failing miserably. The oscillating thought of them humping like rabbits made it impossible for me to mess around with Chase, after a few minutes of slow making out, we both fell asleep.

The next morning, I had a late lunch with Sebastian after my full day of classes. Before I could ask for his advice on the Spencer and Kyle matter, he asked me about Valentine’s Day.

“What?” I asked, distracted, as we set up shop at a table near a window. It was a mild February day and the first signs of spring were peeking out.

“Valentine’s Day,” he replied. “The Kappa formal. I told you about it. What do you think about going?”

“Oh,” I remembered. “Yeah. I mean, sure, yeah, I’ll go. Free food and free booze, right?”

“Well, free booze, yes. There’s no food at the formal,” he said. He went on to explain the events with me only half listening. He droned on about a cute girl that Britney would set me up with. Her name was apparently Devon and she was supposedly perfect for me.

“Um, you do know that I’m gay, right? Perfect for me would imply that she’s not actually a girl.” It wasn’t lost on me that for the first time, I’d come out and said I was gay. No ‘gay-ish’ or anything. I’d said it. It was true.

“I don’t anticipate you’ll date her or anything, but you’ll like her. She’s really nice and ya’ll will have a fun night. Her and Britney were roommates at the beginning of the year,” he said.

“What happened?”

“Sorority drama. A single became available when one girl slept with another girl’s boyfriend. They couldn’t stand to look at each other; there was a food fight, a lot of rumors. It was silly.”

It didn’t sound that silly to me. In fact in sounded like exactly what I was going through. Were Spencer and I behaving like sorostitutes? How childish, I thought.

“Speaking of crazy roommates and drama,” I said. “I got into a huge fight with Spencer last night.”

“About the forbidden swimmer?” Sebastian asked, stuffing his face with turkey and bread.

“No,” I replied. “Although I did tell him about Chase and me.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me that he hooked up with Kyle a couple weeks ago.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He was more than up to speed on the Kyle and Cooper Lifetime Original Movie. I guess he was realizing it was only silly when it involved random others. When it was this close to home, it was hard.

“What did you do?”

“I wanted to punch him, really,” I confessed.

“As a dorm counselor, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you say that.” I smiled. “But seriously, that’s really fucked up. Did he tell you what happened?”

“Vaguely. It involved a lot of liquor, an upset Kyle. The Sigmas.”

“Don’t get me started on those douche lords,” Sebastian said. I hadn’t told him about my involvement with any of them, and I was glad for it now. “It doesn’t matter what happened, though, that’s against guy code.”

“I know! Which is why I’m crashing with Chase until I figure out what to do. I don’t know how I can live in that room with Spencer, when the thought of seeing him makes me want to blow a gasket.”

Sebastian gave me a pensive glare.

“You can move in to the empty room on my floor,” he said slowly, considering whether or not I would actually be able to move in there.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ll have to check with the head RA, but it shouldn’t be a problem. The guy who lived there got pulled by his parents to go to rehab. It shouldn’t be a big deal.” Rehab after one term had to be an SMU record. “I’d rather have you squatting there than at an off campus house.”

“Wow,” I replied, actively considering it. For a split second, I wondered if Sebastian was opposed to me living off campus or living with a guy off campus. “That would be great.”

“I mean, I will say, I’d talk to Spencer about it before you decide. Ya’ll are really close and I know he did a shitty thing, but moving out could make everything irreparable.”

Sebastian was right. I had been angry like this before, but it always blew over. There always came a point where it was easier to just forgive and forget. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to trust Spencer like I had for half a year, but I would eventually want to forgive him. And as my best friend, there was no way I could forget about him. I told Sebastian I would talk to Spencer before I made a decision.

“There’s only one catch,” he said as we were packing up to leave. “You have to come to the Kappa Valentine’s Day formal.”

“You’re a douche,” I said, smiling. I agreed to it, and made the trek to my future former dorm room to get the rest of my things.

I figured it being afternoon, there was no way Spencer would be home. Still, I was super nervous about going to the room. I didn’t have much stuff to carry out, but I would have to sort through a lot of Spencer’s things to get to mine. It would take a while to rack up all of my t-shirts, jeans and toiletries from the communal mess we’d built for ourselves.

As I walked, I thought about why it was such a big deal to me that they’d hooked up. I wasn’t with Kyle anymore. Technically, he was free to do what he wanted and there was nothing I could do about it. Both of them were attractive, they had a history. When I thought about it, it didn’t seem so far out of left field for two sexually charged friends to end up in bed together.

But at the end of the day, Spencer had given me such a hard time for all of the shit I did behind Kyle’s back. He’d yelled at me openly, made me feel like crap about my actions, and then hypocritically went behind my back and did this? There was a simple code among friends, and those two had broken it.

Mindlessly, as I walked through the quadrangle, I found myself crossing the lawn towards Kyle’s dorm instead of my own. For some reason, I wasn’t as upset with Kyle as I was with Spencer. I knew that it would be easier to get the full story from him without losing my lunch over it.

Seven minutes and a million mind changes later, I knocked on his door on the fifth floor.

“Hey,” he said, opening the door. For the first time in a month, Kyle smiled at me, albeit sheepishly. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you,” I said.

“Cooper, now’s not the best time.”

I stopped for a second and considered why.

“He’s here isn’t he?” I asked, realizing my voice had angry grit in it.

“No, he isn’t here,” Kyle said, opening the door wider to let me see in. The room was empty and clean and Kyle was dressed up. He scanned the hallway. “But he’s on his way.”

“Kyle,” I said, dropping my arms, deflated. I shook my head, unable to form a rational sentence. “So… what the hell is going on with you and Spencer?”

My voice shook as I spoke.

“I know he told you about it, Coop. It happened one time. It was stupid. I’m still with Rusty.”

“Wow, what a relief,” I said tartly.

“Spencer and I are just friends.”

“Who fuck!”

“Who fucked one time. It was a huge mistake.”

“So why is he coming over here? Why are you guys still seeing each other?”

“He’s my best friend, Cooper.”

I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye before it had a chance to fall.

“Kyle, I am sorry about everything that I did. I am. I’m sorry I cheated on you and I dumped you and I was an asshole, I apologize for everything. Truly, I do. But you have got to stop punishing me over this.”

“Cooper,” Kyle said, his voice remarkably strong. “My relationships from here on out have nothing to do with you. If I want to sleep with Rusty, I will. If I want to sleep with Spencer, I will. It’s none of your business anymore.”

“Anyone but them, Kyle,” I shouted. I heard a door open and close down the hall and I realized we were making a scene. “I’m begging you, fuck the entire world. But you know Rusty is an asshole and Spencer is my goddamn roommate. How could you do that? Can’t you find anyone in the world to have a relationship with that won’t drive me insane?”

Kyle blinked at me and shrugged. The answer was no, I realized. Kyle could get with anyone and I’d find fault in them. This wasn’t my business; he was right. And to accost him wasn’t fair. He didn’t owe me anything. It was Spencer who had fucked up.

Just then, I turned to the left and saw him approaching down the hall. He was dressed for dinner, I presumed, and looked as good as ever with his golden locks and his solid frame held in snuggly by a sport’s coat.

“I just feel like you’re turning the screw over and over, and I’m trying to move on, but it sucks when you keep creeping back with the wrong guys,” I said, lowering my voice and attempting to sound civil.

“I don’t know what to tell you, guy,” Kyle said with a shrug. He couldn’t have been any more indifferent.

“Cooper, I’m sorry,” Spencer said as he approached. The second he got close to me, my blood boiled from zero to sixty. My eyes turned red with rage, and I spent a few seconds actively calming myself down before I responded.

“You most certainly are,” I replied. “You both are actually.” I turned and walked away, determined to never see either of them again.

I crossed the quad straight to the parking deck and hauled ass to my Camry. A minute later, I was careening out of control down Preston Freeway towards Backstroke.

“Why, hello there,” Chase opened his bedroom door. He was dripping wet and must have just come out of the pool. The smell of chlorine lingered in the air.

“Fuck me,” I said, pushing past him and into the bedroom. I pulled my shirt over my head and turned to see Chase grinning at me.

“O-kay,” he said. He pulled me in and planted a hard kiss on me, reciprocated even harder by my angry tongue fishing. He pushed me back onto his bed aggressively. I watched him peel his shorts down with a winning grin on his face. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this.”

“Just get over here,” I said wickedly. I was extremely angry, but extremely turned on. Chase’s gorgeous Adonis body was the perfect ibuprofen to my boiling tension headache. Instead of diving in like I wanted, he peeled my pants off slowly, and stood over me, seemingly admiring the view.

He gave me a wicked smile, almost snarling, baring his teeth at me. Within a second, he dove in and went straight for the sweet spot on my neck. I knew the hickey would be huge in the morning, but I didn’t give a rat’s ass. All I wanted was Chase. As he nibbled on my neck, alternating between deep, hot kisses and long pulls on my chest and shoulders, I got more turned on than I’d ever been before.

“Fuck, that feels great,” I said, grating my nails against his back. It was impossible not to thrust upwards in sheer ecstasy every single time Chase’s tongue rubbed against my sensitive regions. I pulled him close and felt both of our boners rub together, impossibly hard, and already leaking.

When it comes to foreplay, that night with Chase was the best I’d ever had. Hands down. His hands were everywhere. His tongue was a million miles long. His dick was impossibly hard.

When I finally held it in my hand, ready to direct it into my throbbing and waiting hole, his cock actually felt hot to the touch. He sat up, rolled a condom on, giving me his crazy hot smile the whole time.

“You’re so fucking hot, Cooper,” he panted. I stroked his cock back and forth slowly, ready for him to be inside of me.

“No way, buddy,” I replied. “You’re the one who’s incredible. Now get down here and fuck me, please.” The please was a formality. I wasn’t asking him to fuck me. I was commanding him. And he did.

I had no clue where this aggressive side of me was coming from, but Chase was taking it in stride. I was horny, angry, and desperate to get plowed. I’d forgotten Spencer and Kyle a million hours ago. At this point, it was all about Chase and what he could do to me.

The second his searing hot poker touched my ass, I bucked upwards and he slid right in. It was searing hot and too hard to handle at the beginning. He held his stance in a push up position on top of me for a minute before easing downward.

“You good, babe?” he whispered. I smiled at him, raised my head and kissed him.

“I’m good. Bring it on!” I said. He charged like a hungry cowboy, diving in and out of me in swift, long strokes. I was beside myself in pleasure from the first time the head of Chase’s cock grazed my prostate and he didn’t relent from there.

While my head was rolling back, feeling better than I’d ever felt before, Chase lost himself as well. Before long, his words were a series of grunts and moans. His kisses turned into pants and little pecks on the cheek. As he revved up faster and faster, it was like my marathon swimmer was rounding the last corner.

Twenty-seven minutes of unbelievable fucking later, I lost my wad. My cum shot to the backboard of Chase’s bed. It hit me all over the face and chest and created a sticky lubricant between our slithering bodies. A second later, Chase licked a slab of cum off of my forehead and lowered his tongue to mine for a kiss. He came mid-kiss, deep inside the reservoir tip in my ass.

It was impossible to move, speak, or breathe for several minutes after we both spilled our load. I couldn’t remember a time when every single nerve ending on my body was obnoxiously stimulated. Even breathing heavily next to Chase turned me on.

“That was unbelievable,” he said, after a few minutes. “Just unreal.”

I turned my head and smiled at him, realizing that there was definitely something there. It wasn’t quite as strong as I felt with Kyle this early on, but it was growing, and I had no doubt that it could get there. Maybe angry sex was what I needed to get over Mr. Wriggs once and for all.

I leaned over and kissed Chase, his skin still hot to the touch.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, getting up and pulling a pair of sweat pants on. “Want anything from the kitchen?”

“No,” I replied. “But I need to pee.”

“Down the hall.” I pulled my pants on and followed him out. Just as Chase opened the door to the hallway, two upper classmen swimmers started clapping their hands and hollering.

I recognized one as the guy who’d loaned me a speedo at the party. The other was a curly haired black guy with incredibly cute dimples. I blushed as I walked passed them, head down, towards the bathroom.

“Babe that was unbelievable,” one of them mocked.

“Oh, Chase. Chase, Chase!” the other yelled in a high pitched voice. I didn’t really sound like that, did I? It’s impossible to describe how red my face got listening to them mock my sex noises.

One flush later, I went back to Chase’s room, intending to ask if I could spend the night. I was still technically homeless, but I planned on dealing with that the next day.

“Since when do your roommates know about us?” I asked. Chase had returned with a glass of milk and a turkey sandwich.

“I had a talk with them after you stayed over and we didn’t hook up. I figured this might be going somewhere, so they’d find out sooner or later. I wanted to be the one to tell them. I guess I’ll alert the rest of the team next.”

Sweet, I thought. My litmus test had worked wonders. I knew keeping away from Chase physically would reveal whether there was something else there or not. I now knew that there was, and he felt it too.

There was something comfortable about being with Chase. He was like a horny warm teddy bear with the body of a god. He was so happy all the time that his jovialness rubbed off on me, even in the midst of all of this drama. I found myself becoming less snarky and more playful.

“How’d your roommates take it?” I asked when he’d finished his sandwich. He looked at me, scratching his stomach like such a dude, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“They were surprised. I mean, I didn’t tell them it was you I was coming out for, but I’m sure they know now. I just said I was into dudes, and I didn’t want it to matter.”

“So if you make the Olympics, you’ll be the first openly gay swimmer on the national team,” I smiled.

“Maybe they’ll give me a medal.”

“Ohh, a nice shiny one,” I added, realizing where this was headed. There was no way I was up for another round just then; maybe in the morning, but I was still tingling.

Chase was more than happy to have me sleep over. He said we could wake up early and shower together before things got hectic. I seconded that idea.

“After you, Monsieur,” he said, lifting the covers up for me. I fell asleep in Chase’s nook that night, and for a brief time, I never wanted to sleep anywhere else ever again.

My reality hit me like a ton of bricks the next morning. I checked my email after a hot shower with Chase to find a message from Tye asking why I missed practice. I wrote him a solid apology, explaining that my living situation was growing tenuous and I had completely forgotten about volleyball.

Next, I tracked Sebastian down. He had offered up the empty room on his hall and I was very ready to take him up on that. There was no way I could share a room with Spencer for the rest of the year. I could barely stand to see him.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Sebastian asked, handing me the room key and putting my info into his hall log. “I can arrange some peer counseling for you two.”

“I don’t want peer counseling,” I shrugged, my demeanor much calmer than it had been 24 hours prior. I wasn’t even upset about the whole situation. I just wanted to get out of my dorm room and start over somewhere else. “I want him out of my life.”

“Why are you so upset, exactly?”

“It’s Kyle,” I said after a moment’s pause. I felt comfortable confessing to Sebastian what the heart of the matter was: I still had feelings for my ex and Spencer betrayed that. “It’ll always be about Kyle and Spencer knows that. What he did will never count as okay.”

Sebastian shrugged at me and handed me the key. The room was around the corner from Sebastian’s room. It was small, even by dorm standards, but it was a single with a private restroom. Apparently several guys on the hall had fought for the room after the lush had left, but Sebastian had kept it locked. Until now.

Moving the things from my overnight bag in was difficult. The tooth brush. The pajamas. My flip flops. Knowing that I had to go to CVS and buy my own body wash and toothpaste was difficult. Making my bed and knowing I would be the only one to sleep in it was the worst.

Instead of moping around in my empty room, I called Chase.

“What’s the occasion?”

“I want to fuck the daylights out of you,” I said in the sexiest voice I could muster. I couldn’t remember a time when a guy brought out the horniest in me, but Chase was that guy. Feeling better and fucking him were synonymous.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he replied. I swear I heard a door click before he’d even hung up the phone.

I did want to see Chase, but most of all I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t know how to be alone at that point. The thought of having to sleep there by myself, essentially driving the final nail in my ‘friendship with Spencer’ coffin was too much to handle.

Twelve minutes later, Chase knocked on the door and I opened it wearing nothing but a towel and a smile. He must have done 90 miles per hour down Preston to get here that fast, but I wasn’t complaining.

“Hi, I’m looking for the cute guy that lives here,” he said, sexily. “His name is Cooper. He promised to fuck me.”

“Umm… Will I do?” I replied, pulling him into the room and locking the door behind me.

“You’ll do,” he said, planting a warm passionate kiss on my lips. He sucked my tongue deep into his mouth as I lead him backwards to my barely made bed.

One thing that was different about Chase was that he didn’t necessarily care for foreplay every single time. He loved being inside of me or having me inside of him. His philosophy was that the stuff usually saved for beforehand could be done during.

And so with very little pomp and even less circumstance, Chase stripped down, climbed on top of me and slid his ass around my rock hard cock.

“Dude, you are so fucking hot,” he said, looking down at me with a face filled with lust. I ran my hands up his straddling thighs, across his rock hard stomach and past his chest. He slid up on my javelin stick and quickly slid all the way back down. I rolled my eyes backwards, enjoying his tight ass squeeze down on me like it had never taken a dick before.

“Ditto,” I replied, smiling. He leaned down in a move only a guy that flexible could do and planted a firm kiss on me without once letting my dick slip out of his ass. I ground upwards into him, burying myself deep. Losing myself.

“Oh fucking god,” Chase almost screamed when my dick grazed the little hard button in his ass.

“Shhhh,” I said, putting a finger up to his face. I wasn’t sure my new neighbors would take kindly to Chase screaming my name over and over. I hadn’t even introduced myself yet.

The next twenty minutes of near silent fucking were the sexiest twenty minutes of my life. Chase held intense eye contact, biting down on his bottom lip to avoid making too much noise as he fucked himself on my cock. I put all of my screaming tension into my finger tips and dug them into Chase’s back, probably creating sexy welts that would remind him of me.

The hotter both of us got, the faster Chase bounced up and down, creating a friction that made me want to explode more than ever. He leaned back onto my bed so that we were creating a sexy spider, and bounced up and down like a pro working a jackhammer. I pulled my pillow from under my head and let out a muffled grunt as I came deep inside Chase’s ass, oozing into the condom ever so sexily as his tight ass clenched my dick tighter and tighter.

Chase sat up, slid off and lay right next to me.

“Are you going to cum?” I asked as he snuggled behind me.

“Dude, I came twice already,” he whispered into my ear. There was no fucking way he’d already come once, let alone twice.

“Nu uh,” I replied. He ran his fingers across my chest and I realized there was some warm sticky on me that I hadn’t felt yet. “No way.”

“Yes way, Jose,” he replied, bringing his finger up to my face. I licked it sexily, feeling my dick twitch once more. It tasted like Chase. Sweet and salty. Sexy. “Can I tell you something?”

I nodded.

“This is the hottest sex I’ve ever had. Right here, this, you and me.”

It was a flattering comment from someone I regarded as unattainably sexy. The fact that he enjoyed me as much as I enjoyed him felt good.

“I second that emotion,” I answered honestly. I fell asleep for the third night in a row with Chase holding me close and me loving it.

Our sleep-overs continued, night after night. Chase coming over became the highlight of my day. For the next week, I ran through the motions of volleyball, making up for my absence in spades, and meeting with Sebastian.

Even pulling my stuff out of my old room and wheeling it across the quad didn’t seem that bad because I knew Chase would be over after practice to fuck me until we passed out. Within a week, I’d extracted all of my things, updated my contact information, and returned my original key to the dean of freshman. I was officially out of Spencer’s life and he was out of mine.

As a consolation, I had sex with Chase to look forward to. Insanely passionate and incredibly addictive sex. Like a drug almost. I was always at a loss for words after and it was easier to just pass out instead of trying to stay awake. Sleeping in his arms was special. He was so warm, his skin so soft, and his body so hard that snuggling against him was sheer perfection.

I realized on Thursday that I wasn’t getting any work done after Chase started coming over nightly. He’d literally get to my single after practice at eight, about half an hour after I got out of volleyball, and we’d bang for a few hours. We’d come together three, sometimes four times, and then pass out. I called him Friday night to say I was staying in to catch up on studying. In the week since I’d gotten my own place, I hadn’t done a lick of homework.

“Want me to come over?” he asked. He had no desire to go out and remain sober while everyone else on campus got wasted.

“No I don’t,” I lied. “I should really get some work done.”

“You can’t work while I’m there? I’ll be good, I promise,” he said, that hint of lust lingering in his voice.

“If I don’t finish Seabiscuit tonight and Revolutionary Road tomorrow, I’m screwed.”

“I thought you liked that,” he said wickedly. I smiled just a little.

“Goodnight, Mr. Pallendrino,” I said, sticking to my guns. I couldn’t afford to do badly on my midterm on Monday as I’d already done badly on two of my reading quizzes thanks to late nights fucking instead of studying.

I breezed through most of Seabiscuit, assuming the horse beat War Admiral at the end, and I went straight onto Revolutionary Road. At some point, I fell asleep sitting at my desk. I was awakened by a sharp knock on the door. I looked at my cell phone and saw that it was past two a.m.

I opened the door, not caring that I was in just a pair of boxer briefs.

“I brought you sustenance,” Chase said smiling at me as he came in. “Don’t worry, I’m not staying, I just wanted to make sure that you had enough coffee to burn the midnight oil.”

“The midnight oil ran out a long time ago,” I grogged, plopping on my bed and taking the cup of coffee from him. “I fell asleep.”

“On which one?”

“Revolutionary Road,” I said.

“Good,” he replied, pulling a DVD out of his jacket. “The movie is more fun, anyway. Leonardo DiCaprio gets naked.”

“You lie.”

“It’s called the producer’s cut.” Chase plopped on my bed, took my cup of coffee and put it on the ground and kissed me softly. “Let’s watch it in the morning.”

“Who said you could stay until morning?” I gave him a cheeky smile.

“I have a feeling you won’t kick me out.” He was right. We made out for a few minutes before I fell asleep in his nook.

The rest of the weekend was crunch time. I somehow pulled a B+ out of my ass for my American Novel midterm and managed to turn my Theater History paper in on time. Tye could tell I was a wreck on Monday night when I showed up to volleyball ten minutes late.

“Good of you to join us, Mr. Carpenter,” he said, indicating all of the extra work I’d put in since my unannounced absence was null and void. I silently changed into my shorts and joined the setters as they warmed up on the net.

After an extra grueling practice, coupled with extra laps for being late, Lucky asked me what I was doing the next night for Valentine’s Day.

“I, uh, actually have a date to the Kappa formal,” I replied as I changed into jeans. It surprised me that he was still around that long after practice, so I assumed it was just to talk to me.

“Nice,” he said with a smile. “Lucky you.”

“I guess so,” I said, tying my shoes.

“What about tonight?” I shrugged at him. I planned on calling Chase over and celebrating my B+ in class with an A+ in the ass. “Penny is visiting his girlfriend over at TCU for the next two nights, so I thought maybe you’d want to hang out at my place.”

Tempting, I thought.

I really had no excuse not to, except that I was spending the night with Chase. Lucky had been a good oral lay, but it wasn’t something I would give up Chase for. Plus, Chase and I had spent a week sleeping together and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get a wink without him behind me.

“I’m, uh, sort of seeing someone,” I said, carefully trying not to make it sound like we were more than we were. I’d learned my lesson in doing that. Lucky nodded. He looked hurt, but he’d get over it. There were plenty of guys at SMU who would love to blow Lucky. Maybe Kyle or Spencer would catch wind that I’d hooked up with him and they’d pounce over and do him the favor.

That night, after dinner and dessert at Backstroke, Chase and I cuddled in his bed, me playing with his fingers and him nibbling my ears.

“What are your plans tomorrow?” he asked me softly, still breathing heavily. I could feel his diaphragm expand and contract on my back, and I couldn’t imagine us being any closer.

“I’m going to the Kappa Valentine’s formal,” I replied. “I thought I told you that.”

“No sir, you didn’t,” he said. I couldn’t see his face, so I couldn’t tell if he was hurt or not. Did he have plans for us or something?

“I totally did,” I replied. “I told you my good friend Sebastian asked me to double with him and his girlfriend. Maybe.”

I turned my head to see his reaction. I gave him an apologetic look, complete with biting my bottom lip.

“It’s alright, killer, you have fun with the Kappas. I just didn’t know you had that kind of social pull,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, of course,” I said. “Next thing you know, I’ll be accepting a social bid.”

“Ohh, my boyfriend, the srat star!”

The use of the B word didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, after the initial shock of hearing it, I realized he’d dropped the B word purposefully to get a reaction out of me. I sat up and pulled the sheet over my bare bottom half.

“Boyfriend?”

“I was gonna ask you tomorrow at dinner,” he said. “I was going to take you to a great restaurant in Uptown and see where you thought this was going. Ask you to go steady. Give you my letterman jacket.” His smile was juvenile and cute as hell.

“Boyfriend?” I was speechless. I’d considered Chase a lot of things, but I’d hesitated to consider him my boyfriend. My track record with that distinction made me nervous.

“Look, we can keep doing this if you want,” he said, sitting up next to me. “I’m completely fine being a fuck buddy, trust me. But I haven’t even thought about sleeping with someone else in weeks. I like you a lot, Cooper. Enough to tell my roommates and friends about us. You’re the first guy I’ve done that for. I want to give it a shot.”

As hesitant as I was, I wanted to give it a shot too. Two months ago, I would have gone home with Lucky when he asked. I wouldn’t even have considered the fact that I had someone who cared about me waiting at home. I would have made an excuse. That’s the guy I was two months ago.

But maybe I was growing up. That bed-hopping side of me didn’t need to see the light of day as much anymore. I didn’t feel the need to check out any hot thing that walked past me. As I sat there considering what to tell Chase, I couldn’t help but wonder where I would be if I’d reached this level of maturity before I dumped Kyle? Things might be totally different. Or they might actually be the exact same.

Instead of saying anything, I pulled Chase’s face close to mine and kissed him softly. I felt his lips turn up into a smile, and I knew that we were on the same page.

“I’m not going to say I’ll be good at it,” he said to me when we’d gone back to our laying position.

“Hm. You can’t be worse than me.” I closed my eyes and burrowed deep into his nook.

Valentine’s Day is a big deal at SMU. Every sorority puts on a fancy formal, complete with a DJ or Band and open cocktails all night. It’s one of only two times a year that the sorority houses open their doors for a party. Usually the girls are mooching booze off the fratters on the other side of Greek Row.

Where you spend Valentine’s Day says a lot about you socially. The top tier guys get asked out by Kappas, KD’s or TriDelts. Middle tier guys get asked out by Thetas, Chi Omegas, Zetas or Pi Phis. Guys at the bottom of the social barrel either don’t get asked out at all, or split the curds among the lesser sororities. It’s the archaic way of knowing where you fit in.

If I had known that when Sebastian first asked me to go with Devon to Kappa formal, I wouldn’t have hesitated. Hearing guys in the D-hall and in my classes stress out about who got asked and who didn’t made me realize how lucky I had it. I was an accidental social climber.

Sebastian knocked at my door at exactly 7:40 to tell me that we needed to head out.

‘Cocktails at 8:00, the band starts at 9:30. Dress to impress in black and white,’ the official invite that Sebastian had dropped off said. I was ready to go when he showed up to my door with two shot glasses and a pouch of Crown. He was dressed in tight black slacks, a white tuxedo shirt and suspenders. If possible, he looked slimmer than usual. His hair was done, glasses off, and absolutely beautiful. He looked like a sexy indie rocker and the remnants of my idol crush surfaced.

“Boyfriend,” I muttered to myself as I ushered him in.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. I just need to put my vest on and I’m good to go.”

Without having Spencer’s wardrobe to wade through, I was forced to wear my own clothes for a change: dark jeans, a button down, skinny tie and vest.

“You look good,” he said. “But before we leave, we need to toast the night.”

Two shots of crown and a hair check later, I followed Sebastian out to his car and he drove us to frat row. The street was a buzz, every house decorated with Christmas lights and imported flowers. A couple of the houses had tents set up in the back. Kappa and KD had split their backyard for the most exclusive party of the night. Their lights were brighter. Their tent was higher and wider. Everyone else’s DJs would be drowned out.

“We’re here,” he said, stepping out and handing his keys to a valet driver. I marveled at the whole spectacle. We announced our names at the door and were ushered into the sorority’s drawing room on the first floor.

“Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Carpenter,” the doorman announced to the room of cocktail dresses and their dates

The buzz in the room slowed for a second and then swelled back up. Britney approached looking just as beautifully bitchy as she had when I first saw her. Behind her was a gorgeous brunette, about 5’8’’ in her four-inch stilettos, wearing an almost sheer black cocktail dress that draped beautifully on her petite frame.

“Sweetie, this is Cooper,” Sebastian introduced after they shared a quick kiss. “Coop, this is Britney and this is her little, Devon.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, offering her a hand. The first order of business as we chatted was to get cocktails. As we waded through the room that got quiet any time a new guy was announced at the door, I learned all the things you learn within meeting someone at an awkward event.

She was a freshman from Shreveport. Her parents were both attorney’s but she was pre-dentistry major. She was a Kappa legacy who got to move into the house her first year because she accepted her bid over the summer. Youngest of four, just like me. She spoke effortlessly and was actually pretty charming. By the time we were two drinks in and ready to head to the back for some dancing, I was pleasantly surprised at how cool she was.

“So what’s your story?” she asked me flirtatiously, handing me my third vodka and Red Bull.

“My story?” I said with a crooked smile. “I don’t think I have a story.”

“We’ll have to get you one, then,” she said with a smile.

The whole dance was a fun endeavor. We spent most of the night hanging out with Sebastian, who was terrified of dancing. Britney eventually coaxed him into doing the Cupid Shuffle with the other rhythm-challenged white guys. By the time the vodka and energy drink started taking hold inside of me, I was frisky and ready to move.

There was something easy about hanging out with Devon. I knew she was flirting with me. She wasn’t subtle at all. At one point, during a Britney medley mix, she ground of up on me, creating enough friction that I accidently popped a boner. Instead of getting grossed out by it, like I assumed most girls would, she looked at me and smiled.

“I have that effect on people,” she shouted in my ear. I smiled at her. A second later, she kissed me sloppily on the lips.

I returned her sloppy kiss with a vodka soaked kiss of my own. I pulled her close to me and we continued to grind together. If I had bothered to escape my bubble and look around, I would have realized we were the only couple making out on the dance floor. I also would have spotted the familiar faces lurking around the party.

A few minutes after Devon rammed her tongue down my throat, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“What happened to the gay thing?” Sebastian asked after he’d pulled me aside. He handed me a water bottle.

“I wasn’t once, you know,” I slurred. “And she’s really pretty and totally into me.”

“Are you positive this is what you want to do?” he had the concerned look of a big brother on his face. Maybe he thought he’d pressured me into hooking up with a girl by bringing me here. There wasn’t any pressure. I really was attracted to Devon and it was refreshing. I had been immersed in homosexual drama for so long; it felt good to kiss a girl again. I had no idea where this new found longing was coming from or how long it would last. I did, after all, have a cute boyfriend waiting for me at his off campus house. Still, it felt good to live in the moment and it definitely wasn’t cheating because Devon was a girl.

I chugged the water Sebastian had given me, and then returned to the dance floor. To defeat the purpose, I took a pull of vodka and Red Bull from my date’s solo cup and started jumping to Don’t Stop Believin’.

Almost immediately, the rest of the night went black.

Completely and totally black.

I woke up hours later to the sterility of a hospital room. I realized immediately that I was only wearing a thin sheet and I was shivering cold. There was the unmistakable pulsing of an IV shooting into my left arm. I looked around to try and find out where I was and why my head was throbbing. Dizzy.

Still unaware, I put my head back down and everything went black again.