Chasing Rusty Parker - 6. Straight Vs. Stray (Cat)

Chapter Six – Straight Vs. Stray (Cat)

Was that what people meant when they said something about watching an accident in slow motion without being able to look away? Matty’s problem wasn’t that, though. No, his problem was that he was the accident in progress. He was gaping like a fish; he was sweating and blushing while keeping his eyes furiously glued to Rusty’s Adam’s apple.

Rusty surprised him by putting both hands on his shoulders and making a move as if he was trying to push Matty down. What was that about? Oh, gawd, was this the moment when Rusty would ask him to suck his cock in exchange for silence, like in one of his strange fantasies?

He staggered and kept upright, although his knees were getting weaker. Rusty patted him forcefully on the shoulders and his arms dropped.

Then, he suddenly leaned forward, forcing Matty to take a step back, almost running into the mirror. Rusty was grinning and staring at him. “Got you, right?”

Oh, oh, this wasn’t the moment for him to lose his head. So, he crossed his arms, set his chin high and stared Rusty in the face, still not aiming for the eyes and just looking a little lower, at those beautiful lips stretched in a huge grin. “So?”

“Oh, you’re a dude with attitude,” Rusty commented. “You’re not denying it.”

“I have no reason to. You just went ahead and assumed whatever,” Matty said, while willing his heart to slow down. Looking at Rusty’s mouth didn’t help his nerves much. “You didn’t ask.”

“I stand corrected.” To show that he meant it, Rusty straightened up and moved away.

Now, Matty could breathe. And it was probably where everything he had hoped to achieve with Rusty ended because this was a game changer. However, he didn’t intend to hide his orientation, and if Rusty losing complete interest of any kind in him was a consequence, so be it.

It was also an easy way out, he admitted to himself. Just standing close to Rusty was enough to make him dizzy. Any more of that sweet torture, and he wouldn’t be held accountable for what his hands wanted to do.

Rusty began to pace the room slowly. Matty just followed him with his eyes. He should say something, end the awkwardness, and find his way out.

Then Rusty stopped abruptly. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No,” Matty replied and rubbed his elbows in a defensive gesture. Any moment now, Rusty would know that he was crushing on him and it was the only reason why he had gotten into this tutoring thing and –

“How good are you at hooking up?” Rusty asked his next question.

Matty stared. There was no sign on Rusty’s face that he was making fun of him. “Um, I don’t know,” he started. What was the correct answer?

“You’re not hooking up either,” Rusty concluded. He clapped his hands suddenly. “That’s great!”

“It is?” Matty asked carefully.

Rusty pushed an invisible pair of glasses up on his nose. “Yes. Because I can still teach you everything.” He opened his arms wide, as if he was inviting Matty to embrace him.

Matty didn’t move from his place. “I have no idea what you mean by that,” he said cautiously.

Rusty threw him an understanding, yet patronizing look. “Nothing’s changed, Matty boy. I am still on a mission to help you loosen up. No, before you’re getting your panties in a twist, not that kind of loosening up. Although, for the record, I wouldn’t mind. Would you want me to open you up?”

Matty gulped and gaped and couldn’t close his mouth.

“I understand, I understand.” Rusty waved and smirked. “My forward personality is too much for you. That’s why I promise to be gentle.”

“Rusty, I --” Matty started. Whatever was happening, it was the slow motion thing again. And this time, Rusty was a willing participant in the accident.

“On a scale from one to ten, how inexperienced are you?” Rusty continued.

“That’s… none of your business!” Matty exclaimed.

“Hmm.” Rusty pursed his lips and crossed his arms. “You’re a kinky kisser, for sure, so there’s no way you’re a virgin, and yet.” He rubbed his chin and turned, for no apparent reason. Then, he marched toward the closet, rummaged through it and came out with a fluffy toy that looked anthropomorphic enough to be considered a furry. He waved it in front of Matty.

“Why do you have such a thing?” Matty asked and pointed at the fluffy object.

“A chick gave it to me. It was a gift. I never throw gifts away.” The closet doors opened with a low-key wail, and Matty watched as a multitude of things poured from inside. A lot of it was sexy female lingerie, and he noticed a whip, a paddle, and many other fluffy toys among other things.

Rusty looked over his shoulder and then shrugged. “I should do some spring cleaning.”

“It’s the end of September,” Matty pointed out.

“Yeah,” Rusty admitted but added nothing else. “Now,” he said as he waved the toy, “show me how far you went with guys. Did you touch here?” He pointed at the toy’s chest.

Matty looked closely. Did the toy have nipples? What kind of a toy was it? “I’m not answering your stupid questions,” he decided.

That seemed to leave Rusty a bit discomfited. “Are you a virgin?”

Matty clamped his mouth shut and threw Rusty as angry a look as he could muster.

“How come you kiss like that?” Rusty continued.

“Like what?” Matty mumbled. His cheeks had to be crimson red by now.

“You know, like you want to force a poor guy into deepthroating without announcing yourself first. By the way, not cool.”

“Sorry,” Matty said and winced. He had gone overboard with that kiss. He shouldn’t have been so thirsty to begin with.

“Ah, I didn’t mind,” Rusty assured him. “But it looks like I have to teach you the proper etiquette.”

Matty just nodded, feeling dazed. Rusty hadn’t minded being kissed by him. “How?” he whispered.

Rusty smiled. No, he smirked. That wasn’t a good sign, was it?

***

He hadn’t felt such a thrill in a long time. And he was suddenly happy. Finally, his boredom was at an end, and teaching Matty everything he needed to know about how to get out of his shell and turn into a gay butterfly was the solution to everything.

Plus, it was so satisfying to see the ice-cool ass going through so many different shades of red that Rusty couldn’t keep count.

“Well,” he said and walked over to Matty after throwing the useless toy over his shoulder. “Look, this is what we’re going to do about it.” In one smooth motion, he took off his tank top. Matty was staring at him, biting his bottom lip. That was a good sign. It also made Rusty want to bite on the same lip, too. It was so plump and sexy. Gay dudes would love it.

But first, Matty needed to stop being such a nerd.

“Feel free to use me.” Rusty put his hands over his head and flexed his muscles in what he knew was a totally sexy move.

“W-what?” Matty stuttered.

Rusty smirked. He so totally had the guy where he wanted him. Oh, how the tables turned when the sexy nerd didn’t have a textbook in his hand and a sharp unforgiving glint in his eyes. “Yeah, you heard me. Explore my body.”

“Rusty.” Matty rubbed his forehead and took his eyes off him. Hmm, not a good sign. “Why would I do that?”

“Because,” Rusty enunciated carefully, academic-style, “you must be curious about the male body.”

“I’m a guy,” Matty threw at him. “I know the male body well enough.”

“Yours,” Rusty pointed out swiftly. “For the record, if you’re gay, you need to be curious about other dudes’ bods. Not just the peckers.” He made a vague gesture around his crotch.

“For real?” Matty said breezily, his eyes wide and questioning in the most innocent manner possible. Damn, that was one fine actor. “I had no idea.”

“Sarcasm will get you nowhere, gay boy.” Action was mandatory, given the circumstances. Rusty walked over to Matty, grabbed his reluctant hand and began rubbing it against his chest. “See? Different from yours, right?” Matty’s hand was a bit damp, but not unpleasant. Rusty ignored the small shiver of delight coursing through him at the touch.

“Yeah,” came a whisper.

“I know,” Rusty said and snapped his fingers. He let Matty’s hand drop and moved to the bed. He threw himself on it, hands above his head. “I’ll close my eyes. Imagine you’re a kinky doc and just hypnotized your patient, who’s a dumb but very sexy jock.”

Matty groaned. “Where do you come up with these ideas?”

“I’m at your mercy, doc. Do your kinky worst.” Rusty bit his lips trying not to laugh. Matty was too much of a goody-two-shoes to do anything dirty to him.

“Are you laughing at me? Don’t complain then,” Matty said aggressively.

Hmm, me likey, Rusty thought. “I wouldn’t dare laugh at you. Come on, let me see your kinky dirty nerdy side.”

“You asked for it. What’s your safe word?”

“I’m shaking already. No safe word needed. You don’t have the guts,” Rusty continued to rile up Matty. With this guy, direct challenge worked best.

“All right. Your call.” Damn, Matty could sound pretty damn smug when he wanted. That was the part of him that Rusty wanted to subdue and make crumble.

He was taken by surprise by the sensation of warmth and wetness on his skin. Well, well, well. Matty had a side. Rusty wasn’t sure if it was kinky enough, but he was licking along his right hip bone. Rusty shivered. Dat tongue, man, dat tongue. It was shy, yet curious and daring.

Matty’s touch was featherlike but homing in on Rusty’s pecs. At the same time, he took his time licking across Rusty’s lower belly and reaching the other hip. That was a guy with a very clear kink in mind. Rusty held his muscles tight to give Matty plenty to work with. Deft fingers brushed against his nipples and he hissed in pleasure.

“Aren’t you supposed to be under hypnosis or something?” Matty teased him. “I didn’t order you to talk.”

“Shut up and do your thing. By the way, you’re doing great.”

Matty pinched his right nipple lightly. Rusty grunted for show. He liked those little dares.

He understood the order to shut up. The most challenging part was to continue to keep his eyes closed while Matty did whatever he did. He was dying to watch him stick out that rosy tongue and lick him all over.

But roleplay was meant to be done well by respecting the script. As torturous as it was, he needed to play the hypnotized.

Matty moved his tongue again, dipping it in the main valley between the abs. Normally, Rusty would have appreciated his bed partner going lower not upward at this point, but it was Matty’s show. Rusty even preferred to take pleasure in getting a boner that he knew would remain unfulfilled unless he chose to use his hand. Later.

Now, he could hear Matty sniffing him delicately, burying that cute nose into his chest hair here and there. Then, Matty moved to his armpit and suddenly sank his teeth in the tender flesh between the arm and torso.

It didn’t hurt. But it surely made Rusty’s boner pop. He opened his eyes, grabbed Matty by the shoulders and rolled him on the bed. His mouth covered moist lips, good enough to eat, and he put his tongue deep inside Matty’s mouth, earning a soft desperate keen in return. Rusty wanted to feel that tongue on his, he wanted Matty to force him to deepthroat it again. The memory of the kiss was back in full force, and Rusty hiked his boner against Matty’s thigh.

Matty struggled but pushed him away. He stared at Rusty, breathing hard and with a wild look in his eyes. “Safe word,” he said.

“Oh, wow,” Rusty said but pulled slightly away to give Matty space. “I thought I was the one who would need it. Why?”

“I can’t tell,” Matty said, in a quick clipped manner.

Rusty moved further away and stared between them. “Dude, you have a boner!”

Matty, flustered enough to put a coven of nuns to shame, jumped from the bed. “You have a boner, too!”

“Yeah.” Rusty was quite proud of it. It was a mighty good boner. “I don’t mind if you jerk off here.”

Matty stared at him, completely horrified. Right. Virgin boy needed to be taken easy. “Does it ever cross your mind that you’re a bit too...” Matty struggled for a bit to find the right word, “open to these things for a straight guy?”

Rusty shrugged. “So? I have full confidence in my sexuality or something. Nothing troubles me when it comes to sex. Does it trouble you?”

“Plenty,” Matty shot back. He put his hands in his hair and looked desperate for a moment. “I have to go.”

“Okay, I won’t keep you,” Rusty said but he felt miffed by that abrupt decision. “For the record, how do you rate my tutoring skills?”

Matty grabbed his shoulder bag from the chair. “Goodbye, Rusty.”

“See you on Friday?”

“Sure, of course, yes.” Matty ran toward the door.

“A little bit of blue balls never killed anyone,” Rusty shouted after him. “Not that I know of.” Damn, that boy was really in a hurry to take care of business.

Matty’s hurried steps on the stairs were the only reply. Rusty stretched on the bed and pulled out his hard cock. As he replayed the very satisfying tutoring session in his head, his eyes fell on the glasses he had taken from his tutor and placed on top of the closet. Could he...?

Hmm, better not. But it was a good fantasy to imagine coming on Matty’s face. With the glasses on. It wasn’t gay if it was just a fantasy.

But, maybe, just maybe, kissing his tutor and enjoying it way too much did make him a little gay. Eh, whatever got him off.

It was one of the happiest boners in his life of late, and it was worth playing with for a while. Rusty kept his eyes closed as the memory of a sweet boy tongue in his mouth flooded his brain with pleasure. The force of his release almost knocked him over.

“Wow.” He stared down at his chest in awe. He had made a really nice and good mess.

Obnoxious tutors in tight jeans with an attitude made good jerk off material. Go figure. There was always something new to learn.

***

Oh, no, oh, no, why had he played along? That wasn’t hard to get! Matty burst into his room, closed the door, crashed against it and pulled out his cock. It took him about two point three seconds to unload.

He dropped to the floor. His breathing was so uneven and harsh that he hoped no one on the other side of the door could hear him. They would probably think something bad was happening to him. Like he was sick or having a heart attack. Only that he was just sickly in love with the wrong guy.

His t-shirt was ruined. He took it off and dropped it on the floor by his side. What kind of madness pushed him to do all those things to Rusty? Sure, the guy kept challenging him and it looked like he didn’t mind being licked all over by a gay dude, but that didn’t mean that Matty was supposed to lose his head like that.

He covered his face and groaned. Rusty was probably having so much fun at his expense right now. It was easy for him to wave the goods in the face of poor ol’ thirsty Matty and even let himself be groped and licked. He was very confident in his sexuality, right?

Only that, Matty thought as he kept on covering his face in shame, Rusty had kissed him. Yeah, he had pushed him on his back, got on top of him, and kissed him like he meant it. Plus, his cock had been hard as a rock. Matty touched his thigh, as if there could be some phantom imprint of Rusty’s penis still there.

No, no, no, for Rusty, such things weren’t probably in any shape or form to provide a cause for doubt and other issues. No, he was the guy who got handsy with his best friends and no one batted an eye. He could go around the campus, pinching the nipples of all the guys happening in his path, and that was just Rusty.

And Matty was just Matty. More and more foolishly in crush with him, because imagining things and doing them for real were so very different. Now, he didn’t need to use his brain to conjure how Rusty’s large sexy mouth felt on his. He knew it; and there were absolutely no fricking chances that he would ever forget it.

Or how his hands had held his shoulders, pressing him down. It made him weak in the knees just thinking of it. How would it feel to have sex with him for real?

Matty shook his head and jumped to his feet. No, he wasn’t thinking that. There was no way he mistook all this for something else. It would be just stupid. However, the plan of seeing how far he could go with Rusty had high chances of exploding spectacularly in his own face. It wouldn’t be only his own jizz, as well. He took the stained t-shirt to the bathroom and gave himself a longsuffering look in the mirror.

Ah, fuck. He didn’t have his glasses.

His phone chimed at that exact moment.

You forgot your glasses. I’ll drop by to bring them to you.

K.

Yes, single letter abbreviations were the best way to hide what he was feeling. That ‘K’ made him sound cool and unaffected.

Make sure I don’t catch you jerking off to zombie porn again.

As if.

Wow, he got this. If he had to communicate to Rusty via short text messages, he was saved.

I have better suggestions.

Don’t wanna hear them.

Not a choice, Matty boy. Be ready for me.

Matty decided against typing anything else. There was no intelligent, one-word comeback to something like that. Ready for Rusty? That was impossible. Surely, Rusty was just teasing him after seeing how easy it was to make Matty get a boner for him.

Thing was, he needed to be quick because Rusty Parker would be upon him with who knew how many weird challenges. He stashed away the stained t-shirt and slapped his cheeks hard while staring one last time at himself in the mirror. Well, it would take Rusty at least ten minutes to reach the dorm, so he had time to change into something more fitting for the cool and collected person he was supposed to be and chill his racing heartbeat.

Damn, he probably needed to become a yoga expert in the next ten minutes to make that happen.

***

He opted out of the book he had been reading the night of the cat boy incident and spread some textbooks on the bed, careful to pretend that nothing had happened and that he was as cool as a cucumber.

The playful knock on the door still made him start with a small gasp. He really, really needed to get hold of himself. He opened the door, making sure to school his face into something neutral and non-inviting for further teasing.

“Your glasses, professor,” Rusty said and grinned, while holding his glasses. He wore a different tank top and smelled like he had just showered.

Matty opened his palm. “Thanks.”

But Rusty pulled back his hand and let Matty’s glasses drop inside his pocket. “Aren’t you going to invite me in? I need to check on your proclivities regarding certain priapic zombies.”

He could resist, say something like he needed to study, but Matty knew that he would only invite new forms of torture into his life that way. His heart and other parts of his body had had enough of that for the day. So, he stepped to the side and gestured with his chin for Rusty to enter.

Ah, why did he have to smell so good? Matty stopped breathing mid-way as Rusty threw him a strange look. His voice came out wheezing. “Come inside already.”

“Hmm,” Rusty said and walked in with his usual swagger that only served to further prove his confidence in how he moved his body and the effect that had on the people around him.

Matty stared after him, letting his eyes linger lower. The sweatpants Rusty wore were the baggy type, but the way they hung so low on those sexy hips helped Matty remember everything from earlier a bit too much. There was plenty of junk in Rusty’s trunk, for sure. Maybe, next time, Rusty would let him play –

No, no, he needed to stop with his wide-eyed fantasies. Any moment now, Rusty would start laughing at him for being too easy.

Rusty took out Matty’s glasses and put them on the nightstand. Then, he plopped down on the bed and examined the textbooks spread around. “Are you one of those multipotentialites?” he asked. “Or just good at multi-tasking?”

He hadn’t expect Rusty to be curious about the textbooks. “It keeps me from getting bored. You know, learning multiple things at the same time.”

“I feel you, man,” Rusty said and then stared at him.

It took Matty all his willpower not to fidget in place.

“I was thinking of a trade, my dude,” Rusty began.

“What trade?”

Rusty leaned back and put his linked hands on top of his head. Why did he have to look so good in that bed, even surrounded by textbooks? Matty wondered and licked his lips.

“You’re free to say ‘no’,” Rusty continued.

Matty was pretty sure he couldn’t say ‘no’ to Rusty in this life or the next. “All right.” He crossed his arms and looked at his guest, trying hard not to let any of his true feelings show.

“You’re obviously a guy who hasn’t seen any proper action in forever.”

“Gee, thanks. Way to boost a man’s confidence,” Matty shot back.

Rusty smirked. “You know, that glare, how you’re looking at me right now, I have no idea about what makes some dudes tick and all that, but if I were gay, it’d make me want to bend you over and give it to you.”

Matty let out a suffering sigh. “Then, I guess I’m in luck, because you’re as straight as they come, right?”

Rusty shrugged. “I’m open-minded. And I like sex. I want other people to enjoy it too, you know?”

“By how often you hook up, there’s no shortage of candidates to your philosophy, right? By that, I mean girls,” Matty added quickly.

Rusty offered him another broad smile. “I could teach you. I want to help you stop being so shy. I mean, you do want to have sex with dudes, right? You’re pretty thirsty, in my humble opinion.”

“I doubt there’s a humble bone in your whole body.”

“True. But here I am, with a proposition. Rusty Parker, that’s me,” he said pointing at his chest, “is willing to lend his body to science.”

“What science is that?”

“The science of getting Matty Han to enjoy being the thirsty gay boy he is,” Rusty replied brightly. “Come on, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unless you want to catch a boyfriend or hook up with a sexy gay dude by playing the shy virgin… wait, do you?”

“No,” Matty replied. In all honesty, he had no answer to that question. He only wanted to catch Rusty Parker. The method was still unclear.

“See?” Rusty pointed out, making a large gesture with his right arm, his palm open. “This is what we’re going to do. I’ll help you explore and become confident of your sexuality, just like I am. Then, I will release you into the wild, and you’ll be able to have anyone you want.”

“Anyone?” Matty said slowly.

Rusty nodded with conviction.

“Anyone-anyone?” Matty asked again. Even you?

“I always succeed in everything I put my mind to,” Rusty replied. “Just one thing.”

“Yes,” Matty replied, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now’s the moment when he’s going to tell me that he’s off-limits.

“Don’t use what I’m teaching you on Maddox or Jonathan. They’re my bros. It wouldn’t be cool.”

Matty nodded eagerly. “Of course.”

Rusty gave him a long look, his eyes narrowed as if he was trying to gauge if Matty was being honest. “I’ll hold you accountable. I saw the way you looked at my man Maddox. Sure, at the moment, I didn’t know what it was, but now I see it. Are you thirsty for my bff, Matty?”

“No.” Matty didn’t know if it was possible to shake his head more than that without having it unscrew from his neck and make it fly across the room.

“Okay. Then we’re cool. Shake on it?” Rusty offered his hand, making very little effort to push himself off the bed.

Matty was, therefore, forced to walk to him and shake hands. He had no idea why he was doing that or what followed.

“Good,” Rusty said, still shaking his hand. “For a moment there, I thought you’d say ‘no’. You know, like your ethics-oriented mind was telling you that you shouldn’t play with me to avoid falling for your student.”

Rusty was totally pulling his leg. And he was wrong. When it came to falling, it was too late. Matty was all too willing to trample everything that he knew about ethics only so that he could get his hands on Rusty again.

That was how thirsty he was. Rusty had no idea.

“Good.” Rusty pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll turn you into the most desirable gay candy in the land.” He patted Matty’s shoulders roughly. “That’s a promise, bro.”

“Yeah, okay,” Matty said, stuttering a bit. “I’d like that.”

“That was a nice, polite reply.” Rusty smirked as he stared him up and down. “We’ll work on that, too.”

“What, do you assume that gay guys don’t like nice polite guys?” Matty asked, wanting to be clever enough to say something that would make Rusty stay a little bit longer.

Rusty gave him a thoughtful once-over. “Do you consider yourself a top or a bottom?”

Matty shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. Maybe both?”

Rusty nodded. “Well, it’s all about discovering yourself, right? Something tells me that you’re the domineering kind. So, you might like to play both roles, and I can totally see you as a power bottom, and even as a dom cracking his whip.”

“A dom? I think your imagination is taking you a bit too far,” Matty said. His palms were starting to sweat. It was no mystery that Rusty enjoyed a little bit of pain on the menu. Just imagining himself as the guy cracking his whip to make Rusty obey was enough to give him a new series of wet dreams.

“Nah, nah, the first rule, Matty boy, is not to knock it until you try it. Have you ever tried dressing up in leather? Latex, maybe?”

Matty froze for a moment, overly conscious of the cat boy suit at the bottom of his closet. “No, no, not my style,” he protested. “I like, you know, airy clothes.” He pointed at his striped shirt.

Rusty made a face. “Don’t worry, I’ll drag you out of your cocoon and turn you into the most awesome gay butterfly at Sunny Hill. You can’t change your mind. You shook on it.”

“No leather for me, though. Or latex,” Matty said quickly.

“All right, all right.” Rusty held his palms up. “I’m only guiding you, not pressuring you or anything. Then, see you on Friday.”

“I’m supposed to tutor you on Friday.”

“I’ll let you do that, as long as you let me tutor you back.”

“I didn’t know that was a condition.”

“It is, now,” Rusty concluded for the both of them. “Now, I gotta go. There’s a new doe in the land, looking for a hunter. Or so I heard.”

Matty nodded, not knowing what he could add to that. He dropped on the bed and caught his head in his hands. Had he just struck a deal with the devil? If he had, it was all his fault and no one else’s.

Right now, Rusty was going to chase some skirt as he always did, while Matty just sat here, in his room, thinking of how bad he was still crushing on him without even knowing why.

His phone interrupted his thoughts.

“Local reports say that Rusty Parker is just leaving your dorm.”

“For real? What reports?” Matty asked, alarmed.

“Relax. I’m on my way to you, and I just saw him,” Zoey said. “Is it just me, or do you sound really down?”

“Just come up, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

***

“So, you see, I am very bad, like really incredibly bad, at playing hard to get,” Matty finished his explanation.

Zoey had gotten a shortened, embellished, and kinks-left-out version of what had happened, not for the sake of her innocent ears, but for that of his self-esteem. “Well, that’s true,” she agreed, “but let’s not forget about the ace up your sleeve.”

“What’s that?” As he saw things, Rusty would torture him Friday after Friday, with glimpses of how it would feel to be together even if only in a wrapped up way, until he got bored and tired of him.

“Matty might play easy to get, but your cat boy persona doesn’t have to.”

“I guess so. But what are the chances I’ll stumble upon Rusty again while in my cat boy suit?”

“Search for him,” Zoey suggested. “Come on.”

“What, right now? You’re pushing me, in case you’re not aware.”

“Yes. Stop dallying.”

“Zoey, I think that right now, Rusty is hooking up with some new girl he noticed. I don’t know if--”

“What did I tell you? Stop it with the defeatist attitude. And stop getting out of his way of getting laid. As a cat boy, you’re free to cockblock him.”

“I am?” Matty asked cautiously.

“Yeah. Put on that suit and go chase him down. That’s your purpose in life right now.”

Matty rolled his eyes, but Zoey had a point. “Wait, I can’t just go in and out of my room dressed as a cat boy.”

“Okay. I’ll play watch for you this time. But you need to find a way to do it.”

Hiding clothes nearby was one choice, although risky. Matty pondered for a bit until Zoey began elbowing him again. “All right, I’ll do it.”

Zoey patted his head. “See? That’s the attitude.”

***

After the earlier jerk-off session, and clearing the air with Matty, Rusty felt like himself again. That meant that he could start hooking up after his short stint in the realm of the abstinent. To be honest, it did serve well and made for good blow-ups to keep from sex a little, but now, he was all for pleasure.

Also, as much as he liked fooling around with Matty, there was a bit too much gay in his sandwich lately. He was a ladies’ man, to put it nicely, and he hadn’t been that for the last several days.

Rumor had it that a certain freshman already had the hots for him and had accepted a challenge from her circle of girlfriends to bring him to his knees. That was a good, solid attitude. Rusty could barely wait to do some pressure tests.

And to take plump lips, wide eyes, and a certain tongue out of his mind. What was he now? Gay like Maddox?

“Hey, hey,” he called for a girl who looked like she was new around there by how she studied her surroundings and was noting something on her pad. “Do you know where I can find Wilhelmina, um, Willie?” He had no idea what the girl’s last name was.

The girl looked at him and blinked a few times. “I know a Wilhelmina, but I don’t think that’s her last name.”

“I don’t know, either,” Rusty said with a big smile and put his hands in his pockets. “But there can’t be more than one Wilhelmina in freshman year, right?”

“I only know one,” the girl replied stubbornly.

“Well, tell me where I can find her,” Rusty said with a shrug.

He listened to the girl’s directions and thanked her, hoping that his dazzling smile was enough to make her lose some of the sourness in her face. Evening was setting, and he wanted to be back to the house early enough to enjoy Jonathan’s cooking. Those two were really bent on not living together during senior year, but Jonathan was spending more time at their house than in his own room. Probably Ray was half-disappointed about it, but also half-grateful because that meant he could have his girlfriend over more often than not.

He was heading over to the dorm indicated by the girl, when someone called his name. He turned to see a blonde girl with hair down to her waist, walking toward him. Oh, right, that was his target.

“I heard you’ve been asking about me,” she said and smiled while wrapping a strand of hair around her forefinger. She was casting sideway glances at him and chewing on her gum.

She looked like she didn’t have a lot going on for her in the upstairs department, but everything below the forehead looked in perfect order. Especially that rack, which Rusty eyed with expert consideration.

“Yeah,” he started.

His eyes slid past her, to the wall behind. Chasing that cat boy on Saturday night had been so much fun. Unexpected fun.

“And?” the girl asked and looked over her shoulder, curious to see what was competing with her for Rusty’s attention. “Is there something you want to ask me?”

Yeah, he would like to ask her how she got a name like that, and charm her with sweet talk. Then, if she was game, he would go to her room and they’d play the horizontal cha-cha for like an hour or so…

Predictable. He knew how things would go with that girl without thinking twice.

“What are you looking at?” she eventually asked, unnerved by his silence, without a doubt. “Wow, what the hell is that?”

Rusty blinked. At first, he thought it was his imagination conjuring up the cat boy, again up on the wall, but no, the chick in front of him could see him, too. The cat boy was gracefully walking on the narrow ledge, his skinny tail swinging to and fro. He stopped, and while it was difficult to figure out his expression from where Rusty was, he seemed to be pondering over his next move.

Hmm, better not to scare him and just observe him.

“O. M. G.,” Wilhelmina commented, “is it one of those losers who don’t have a life and play dress-up?”

Rusty turned his head toward her so fast it made a cracking noise. He worked a sudden kink in his neck and stared her down. She mistook his change in attitude for something else and batted her eyelashes while chewing harder on her gum.

“You’re not the Wilhelmina I was looking for,” he said.

She looked at him nonplussed and blinked hard and fast a few times. “There’s no other Wilhelmina around here.”

“I’m sure there is,” Rusty said and ruffled her hair, which she had probably painstakingly styled for hours. “Sorry, my bad. Allow me to take my leave, miss.”

She brought her hands to her hair and rushed after him. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I’ve been asking about you.”

“Ask again next week,” Rusty told her without a second thought.

“Really? Next week, I might be asking about someone else,” she warned him with obvious rancor.

He waved. “My loss, then,” he said airily, his full attention on the cat boy on the wall now.

While he had conversed with Wilhelmina, the cat boy had decided to sit on a ledge and let his feet dangle over the wall, as if he was debating whether or not to jump down on this side.

Wilhelmina turned on her heel and left in a huff. Rusty only heard her walking away. He had no eyes for her anymore. What he had eyes for was a stray cat who needed some domesticating.

TBC