Bloodlines - 16. Chapter 16

September 11, 1998

I sat in the kitchen with Brad, eating a monster breakfast while trying not to get it on my tie. Last night we'd all crashed early. Konrad, Cole, and I were worn out from all the shit the night before, while the other guys picked up on our mood. Besides, we wanted to be rested for the big party tonight.

“Good morning,” JP said as he strode confidently into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” I said, trying not to look guilty. I felt so bad for turning his world upside down.

“I'm glad I caught you before you left,” JP said. I started to freak out inside. What now? Was he kicking me out too? I relaxed. Not likely. He'd let me stay until at least Sunday. “I had a long talk with Brian yesterday.”

I said nothing, but I was so thankful Brad was there with me. “Oh?” he asked, letting JP know he was there and involved.

“He's taking a little break from this situation, and then he'll be back later next week,” he said.

“This situation?” Brad asked sarcastically. “You mean the one he created?”

JP looked at him and sighed, then ignored him. “He has promised me that when he comes back he wants to try and have a more civil relationship with you. All I ask is that you give him another chance.”

A simple 'yes' was all that was required, but I needed him to understand. “JP, the guy has been trying to piss me off since we met. It seems like every time I try to ignore him, or just go with the flow, he pokes me in the eye. I don't want it to be this way, so what you ask is no big sacrifice on my part. I'm just wondering if he can really change.”

I glanced at Brad and saw him staring at JP with his smart-ass grin. “I think you stepped into a snake pit, that being his relationship with Cody,” JP responded. “He's not over that, even now, and you were a convenient target. I think he understands that you're not his target anymore.”

“You think he understands?” Brad asked sarcastically.

“Bradley, I am as sure as I can be. I can give no guarantees for someone else's behavior. As it is, I feel as if I'm playing amateur psychologist.” The fatigue, the stress this had caused him, was clear.

“And what should Matt do if this bullshit starts up again?” Brad asked. He was relentless.

“Well, the logical thing for him to do is to come see me,” JP said.

I stood up and moved up behind him and started kneading his shoulders. “You got it boss.” I felt the tension start to ebb from his body, and looked over at Brad and winked.

“We have a meeting to get to. Your massage will have to wait,” Brad said. I leaned down and kissed JP on the cheek.

“Thanks for everything.” He just nodded. Brad and I headed to the Great Hall and met Stefan there. “You missed breakfast,” I said.

“It is a sacrifice I make to stay so slim and sexy,” he said. I laughed. “You do not think I am sexy?”

“Fuck yeah I think you're sexy. Want me to show you?” I said, flirting.

“He just spent his time at breakfast wrapping JP around his finger,” Brad said. “He seems to know your weakness too.”

“That I am an amazing lover is a strength, not a weakness,” he said cockily, “but we have business to do. Can you please try to keep your mind off your penis?”

“Look who's talking. Anyway, these guys are interesting. Both Stanford PhD students who are so confident in this idea they're blowing off their degrees to run with it. One guy's an American, Larry Page is his name. He's from Michigan originally. The other guy is a Russian immigrant. His name is Sergey Brin,” Brad said. “And get this. They're going to call their company 'Google’.”

“Google?” I asked. “That's kind of weird. Catchy, but weird.”

We met them in a restaurant and they were really impressive young men. Page was all technical and shit, but Brin, the Russian, he had charisma. He was pretty hot; his brain was so attractive it was scary. In the end, they didn't need all that much money, and Stefan cut them a check for $300,000 on the spot. I was surprised by that, expecting there to be all kinds of legal forms and shit.

“So why did you just give them a check?” I asked when we had left the meeting. “I figured the lawyers would be all over that.”

“It is a hunch,” Stef said. “I invested roughly the same amount of money in COMCALC back in the '70s, and that made me a fortune. These men will do the same.”

“I should have given them some of my money,” I said.

“My investment is from all three of us,” Stef said. “I did not pay you anything for your work this summer, for saving me a small fortune in Laramie. This way we will all win or lose together. You will have to budget for a taxable income of $100,000 this year,” he said. “If you need money to cover that, let me know.”

“You just gave me $100,000?” I asked. “You're kidding, right?”

“I am not kidding, and I did not give you $100,000. I gave you $100,000 of stock in this new company, this Google. It will not be worth anything for a while,” he said.

“Thanks Stef,” I said.

“Yeah. Thanks Stef,” Brad said sincerely. “It's pretty high risk though.”

“Being successful means knowing when to take chances,” Stef said. “This is one of those times.” I sat in the limo silently, pondering the fact that I had a stake in this company founded by a couple of geniuses. Stef's gut was telling him they'd be successful. So was mine.

We got back to the house and I found Cole waiting for me. “Can I hitch a ride to practice?”

“Dude, of course you can. What am I gonna do, make you walk?” He smiled a little at me and just shrugged his shoulders, and then he picked up his bag and mine and tossed them into the GMC.

“This place must seem so different from Nebraska,” I said.

“Yep,” he responded.

“You ever have like a real conversation? Where you talk in sentences, like maybe two at a time or more?” I asked, and flashed him my killer smile.

“I'm kinda shy,” he said. “Don't talk, don't embarrass yourself, and don’t get noticed.”

“Yeah, but how can you get to know people?” I asked.

“I watch them,” he said simply.

“OK, I get that. But how do you let people get to know you?”

“Why would they want to do that?” he asked. “I'm just some dude.”

“Dude, I worked my ass off to get into Stanford. You had to do the same thing. Even if you're a legacy, you don't get in without the GPA, the SATs, and all the other shit,” I said, thinking about how I'd worked to pad my application with extracurriculars.

“Yep,” he said.

“Well, that makes you more than just some dude.” I had to do something to break through this shell of his. I had an idea. “Look, we're living together, and I want to get to know you better.”

“Now who's trying to get in whose pants,” he said, and I just started cracking up.

“Yep,” I said, mimicking him. He smiled at me, his adorable little grin that reminded me of Robbie. “So I want you to talk to me at least once a day and use ten sentences in a row.”

“Ten?” he asked.

“Yeah, ten. Talk about your day, talk about your home, talk about how horny you are, I don't care. Ten.”

“Ten,” he said, and pondered it. “OK.”

“You want to do your ten for today now or after practice?” I asked.

“After,” he said. Of course.

We had a good practice, or at least I did. Gilchrist tried to slam me up against the boards but I was too fast for him, too agile, and I just zipped out of his way, and then with a little twist of my stick sent him flying face first into them instead. He was pissed because it hurt and because it made him look appropriately like an idiot. We finished and headed to the locker room where everyone was pretty ginned up about our party. There were a few guys on our squad from the area and they'd invited a couple of chicks over. I wasn't sure how that would go down with JP, but I figured that hot women would be fun to have around. Then, just before we were ready to leave, the coach announced that it was the team only, no chicks, and that he'd be there. That kind of killed the buzz.

So Cole and I hopped into the GMC and headed back home, hoping to beat everyone else there so I could help set shit up. “You look deep in thought,” I said to him.

“I'm trying to think up my ten sentences,” he said. I cracked up. He was too funny.

“Did you get them figured out yet?”

“Cut me some slack on the first round, in case I don't get them right?” he asked.

“Yeah. No problem,” I said.

He took a deep breath. “I come from a little po-dunk town in Nebraska but I don't even live there, in the town. I grew up on a farm, a big fucking farm, but a farm. I spent a lot of time with animals, not people. I don't trust people, and they kind of scare me. I usually don't have too many friends at once, usually only a couple of people I trust. That's five,” he said, pausing for a break.

He looked at me, trying to decide if he could trust me, or so it seemed. “I got into Stanford because I'm a freak with numbers. I played hockey to escape from the farm, and because you wear a mouth guard so you don't have to talk as much. I had a girlfriend that I loved, but she dumped me for some other guy. I kissed her and she sucked my dick once, but other than that I'm a virgin. I drink once in a while, and I smoke weed with you. That's ten.”

I just stared at him. “Wow Cole. That's a lot of info. Thanks for sharing all that with me.” I suddenly felt pretty special. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” he said.

“You picked me to be your friend, and you had them rework it so you'd end up as my roommate. Why?” I'd found out that I'd been assigned to room with some junior, a real tool, but Cole had gotten it changed.

“I feel like I can trust you. You don't judge people,” he said. “Does it bother you that I did that?”

“Fuck no! I'm glad you did. I've been hoping to get to know you better, that you'd open up a little bit. I like you. You're cool.” He smiled at me, a goofy smile that wasn't all that attractive, but still cute in its own way.

We got to Escorial and I discovered there was nothing for me to do. These people knew how to throw a party. JP was there in the Great Hall, waiting to greet everyone and take their keys. After hearing about Billy, I understood his concern about drunk driving. What pain that man had endured in his life. I hope I don't have to deal with that kind of shit. The first guy through the door was one of the seniors, an assistant captain. Jacques LeBrand, French Canadian, tall and slender, with dark hair and a big nose.

He introduced himself to JP who slipped into fluent French without a hitch. Damn. I had to think through my sentences and piece them together before I said anything. He made me feel like a moron. So they babbled away until the other Canadian showed up, John Gillespie.

“Nice place eh,” he said. “Thanks for inviting us over.” His “o's” were as pronounced as someone from Minnesota's would be. The coach showed up then, and it was interesting to watch JP interact with him. He was cordial, but not overly friendly, as if he wanted to keep his distance. I didn't know if it was just our coach, or coaches in general, but I made a little mental note to hassle him about it later.

The party was a blast. There were tons of food, kegs of beer, and even Jaeger and Tequila for shots. The coach stayed for the first few hours, then pulled the captain and assistant captains aside and threatened them with death if anyone misbehaved. JP and Stef vanished after that, although Ace and Brad hung out longer. They seemed to be reliving their youth, and it was a riot. I was pretty trashed when I saw a familiar figure come strolling out onto the patio.

“Hey Matt,” Robbie said. God, it was good to see him. I jumped up and gave him a big hug and introduced him to everyone. Still, he was kind of freaked out, and I could tell by the way he was looking around that he was anxious to find Brad.

“Last time I saw Brad he was down by the pool with a bunch of guys,” I said. “Let's go find him.”

“Probably skinny dipping with the whole team,” he said, almost in a sulky way. It was actually disturbing to see him nervous, clearly worrying that Brad would remain faithful.

“Don't worry. Brad's been behaving himself,” I said.

“I trust him, but sometimes if he gets really drunk his body overrules his mind,” he said.

“And that's only the case for Brad?” I teased.

“Yeah, well you get him all fucked up and drop him in the middle of a bunch of hot naked hockey players, and I'm not sure anyone could resist that.” I laughed heartily, he laughed a fake laugh.

We got down to the pool area and there were Brad and Ace, drunk off their asses, trying to play beer pong with Cole and Danfield. “So I have to throw this ball and make it in then you drink?” Brad asked, slurring.

“Yeah, and you actually have to make it this time so we don't have to drink dipshit,” Ace said.

“I don't see you doing any better asshole,” Brad said to Ace. Then he tossed the ball and missed. “Fuck.”

“My turn,” Danfield said. Then he launched the ping pong ball right into a cup. “Drink it!” he ordered.

“I can remember when guys said that to me and it didn't involve beer,” Brad said.

“Gross,” Ace said with a disgusted look. I looked over at Robbie and saw him grinning.

“See, I told you not to worry,” I said.

“Yeah, I'm a dumb ass sometimes,” he said, but he was already beyond me. “Hey baby!”

“Robbie!” Brad shouted, then jumped up and gave him a huge hug and a monster kiss.

“You get used to it,” Ace said apologetically.

“I think he's just trying to get out of drinking,” Danfield said playfully.

“Alright you little fuckers, it's my turn,” Robbie said, taking over for Brad. I left them and went back up to the patio to smoke some weed. I was walking down the hall when I ran into Konrad.

“Hey Matt,” he said with a leer. “I was looking for you.”

“Oh yeah? What for?” I teased.

“You chased Brian off, so I figure the least you can do is fill in for him,” he said. He was close now, the alcohol on his breath blasting into my face full force.

“Right. Like I'm that slutty,” I joked. “You think the first time you look at me I'm going to grab my ankles for you?” We were standing in front of my bedroom door and he pushed it open, and pulled me in.

“Yeah, I do,” he said. Then he kissed me, and this Casanova had had some practice. He was damn good. I felt his hands dig below my waistband and grab my ass firmly, in an authoritative manner, and then he unclenched his fingers and ran them up and down my crack, grazing my hole. I was done then. I moaned into his mouth and reached down to undo my pants. I dropped to my knees and undid his, taking out his nice cock, probably pushing seven inches hard, and started sucking on it. I inhaled his scent, his masculine smell laced with the sweat of the evening. God, it was intoxicating.

“Oh fuck, that's good. God damn, that's good,” he said. He grabbed my head and started to fuck my face, but he had a big cock and he was getting carried away, so I wrapped my left hand around his shaft to regulate his depth while I frantically stroked my own dick. I heard his moans get more rapid, more intense, and then I tasted that familiar salty flavor as he blasted into my mouth. He finished blowing his wad but let me keep his cock in my mouth, just holding still, while I stroked myself to a nice orgasm. I just pulled off of him and licked my lips when I heard my door close.

I looked up at him horrified. “Someone was in here!”

“Fuck!” he said, and looked around as if for evidence. “Should have locked the fucking door.” I thought about it through my dulled senses and decided that he had more to worry about than I did.

“Well there's nothing we can do about it now,” I said. “Fuck. Let's just go smoke a J and not worry about it.” He nodded, and that's what we did. I got stoned again and did a few shots, then decided to walk around and find everyone. I figured that if it was one of my teammates I'd be able to tell by the look on their faces. Of course it wasn't that easy, because everywhere I went I had to do a shot, or drink a beer, or do a bong hit. I'd found almost everyone except for Cole, Danfield, and Cramer, but by then I was ready to pass out. Only there were two guys passed out in my bed for some reason. Why my bed? Weren't there other places to pass out? I stood in the hallway, trying to decide what to do when fate made the decision for me. Konrad came staggering down the hall and bumped into his door, evidently too drunk to remember to open it first. I started cracking up, and that attracted his attention. He moved his head, motioning me over, and when I got within range, he pulled me into his room.

“Welcome to my love den,” he said, cracking me up.

“You too drunk to get it up?” I asked playfully.

He took my hand and guided it to his hardening dick. “Nope.” We locked the door and shed all our clothes this time, and then he pushed me onto my stomach, ripped open a condom, and just plowed into me. I was kind of surprised, I figured he'd be a little more into foreplay, and it hurt because I wasn't really ready for him, but I gritted my teeth and focused on getting into it.

What started out as a shitty fuck turned into an awesome one. The blow job I gave him, combined with all the booze, had dulled him to the point that he lasted forever. It was awesome. I just rode the wave, letting him pound on and on, and then on some more. When he finally came I was so sore it was almost a relief. He passed out on top of me and in me. I arched my ass up enough so I could reach my dick and stroked myself off, cumming just as his limp dick popped out of my ass. Then I passed out.

September 12, 1998

I woke up with Konrad still on top of me, his morning hard-on stabbing my ass. If I weren't so sore I might have given him a morning thrill. I pushed him off and grabbed my clothes, then headed back to my room to shower and change clothes. I had nothing planned for the day other than to recover from my fucking hangover. Gillespie and LeBrand were the guys in my bed. They were cute, lying there on their stomachs. LeBrand had his arm over Gillespie's back in a protective gesture. I hopped in the shower, washed my reeking pits, and had just settled into a nice shower jack off when Gillespie came bursting in.

“Gotta pee dude,” he said. I tried to keep my back to him so he wouldn't see my hard dick, but that made it tough to peek at him while he was taking a piss. He finished and shook his dick, then looked up at me. “OK, you can finish beating off.” He laughed at his own joke as he left. Fucker.

Next stop was the kitchen where I found Cole wolfing down food with JP and Stef. “Well good morning,” Stef said cheerfully.

“Quieter please,” I said. He just laughed loudly.

“I take it you had fun,” he said. I nodded and rubbed my temples. Cole looked at me strangely then pushed a bottle of Tylenol toward me.

“Thanks,” I said. He just nodded.

“Well, we are off for a morning ride,” Stef said, grabbing JP's hand. “We will see you later on.”

“Have fun,” I said unenthusiastically.

“Where'd you sleep?” Cole asked after they left.

“With Konrad,” I said, watching his face carefully for any sign, wondering if he was the guy in my room.

“I told Gillespie and LeBrand they could crash in your room. I hope that was OK,” he said.

“So where did you plan for me to sleep?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“In a bed,” he said simply. I laughed, but that hurt, so I stopped.

“I was gonna crash with you but I didn't want to bother you,” I lied.

“It's cool. You wouldn't have bothered me.” I began to wonder if that had been his plan. He was shy. Was he trying to manipulate the situation so I'd end up sleeping with him? I shook it off.

“Well, you're going to be sleeping with me often enough, starting tomorrow,” I joked. That was move in day.

“Yep.”

“So what do you want to do today?” I knew he'd offer nothing in the way of suggestions.

“Hang out.” So we hung out, hung over.

September 13, 1998

“You have a lot of shit,” Cole complained as he helped me lug my refrigerator up to our room.

“Just be glad we're only on the second floor,” I said. “Now lift you big pussy.”

“I'm glad we're in West Lag,” he said. Our dorm room was in Lagunita Court, or Lag as it was known. We were in the Eucalipto building, in a pretty nice room. We lugged the fridge up the stairs and into our room. Our room was “L” shaped. When you walked in, there were two closets and a sink on the left side of the room. We put the Fridge next to the sink, underneath my big plasma TV. Then the room made its “L” turn to the right, where there were two beds, side by side, and two desks situated at the end, against the wall. It was pretty close quarters. Our twin beds were only separated by three or four feet.

“Two more loads,” I said. He rolled his eyes. “You bitch now, but wait until we're watching football and drinking beers,” I said.

“Point,” he responded. We lugged the rest of my shit up and then started unpacking. I noticed that he didn't have much stuff.

“You need more clothes,” I said.

“I got enough.” I looked at him, forcing him to expand. “Live on a farm, you learn to make do. You make things last.”

“Never lived on a farm,” I said.

“Lucky for the sheep,” he said. I just stared at him and then started cracking up. Every once in a while he'd just drop these deadpan jokes. Fucking hilarious. I walked by him like I was going to pass by him innocently, then reached up and grabbed his left nipple, squeezing it hard. “Ow!” he yelped. Then he tackled me. I noticed that Cole liked to wrestle, and that he usually got hard.

He had me on my bed, on top of my back, trying to reach around and grab my nipples. “See how you like it fuckhead,” he said, trying to sound all severe but I knew better. His cock was hard and jabbing into my ass. I smiled, thinking that if we were nude he'd be fucking me. I moved my hips, and adopted a defensive position, and then when he was off guard I knocked him off of me and onto his ass. He was about to jump on me again when I stopped him.

“Food.” That did it. We went down to the cafeteria and sneered disapprovingly at the slop there. “We were spoiled at Escorial.”

“Yep,” he said. Still, we loaded up our trays and sat down at a long table, just the two of us. I noticed that he watched all the people intently, taking in the room.

“Who you looking at?” I asked.

“Everyone,” he said. “Watch that guy over there. He's gonna hit on that chick and get shot down.” I looked at a cute but dorky freshman as he boldly walked up to a pretty hot girl. They talked for a few minutes, then he walked away, looking rejected, while she turned and giggled with her friends. “Bitch.”

“Because she wouldn't do that dude?” I asked.

“No, because of the way they're making fun of him,” he said bitterly. I had a vision in my mind of Cole, in high school, locking away his shyness, battling it down enough to go ask a girl out, only to be shot down like that dude. Must be devastating for him.

“They may not be making fun of him. They may just be talking about him. She could end up going out with him. She just wants to make him work for it.” He stared at me like I was speaking Greek. “He's got to prove he's got balls.”

He watched some more. “Nah. They're making fun of him.”

“Why don't you go try. You're a handsome guy. I bet she fucking spreads her legs right here,” I said with a smile.

“No,” he said emphatically.

“Why not?” I asked. “Worst she can say is no.”

“Yeah. And that's the worst thing that can happen,” he said.

“You just gonna beat off for four years?” I prodded.

“Nah. My bed's only a couple of feet from yours. I figure you'll do it for me.”

“Dream on, goon.” But I wondered if he was serious, or just playing around?

I took a shower in the communal bathroom. It wasn't co-ed, and the showers were partitioned off so they were private, but it was still kind of strange. I chided myself for being an idiot. I showered in locker rooms all the time, and this was a lot more private. Danfield and Cramer came in to shower too, and that loosened up the atmosphere. They were roommates. Konrad joined us as well. He'd managed to score a single, although who he fucked to get that I have no idea. We just hung out in there, bullshitting and joking, laughing so hard my sides hurt, and then headed back to our rooms.

It was kind of weird to be sleeping so close to Cole. I mean, I'd fantasized about this guy a lot of times. He was so hunky, and such a nice guy, it was inevitable. But now that we were lying in our beds, wearing only boxers, separated by only a few feet, there was a lot of tension. He must have sensed it too, because he finally rolled over onto his side facing away from me.

Not only that, it was really weird sharing a room, period. I was an only child, raised in a freakishly huge house, yet now I was crammed into this small space with this big goofy dude. I had a tendency to be pretty organized, but I could generate some clutter. I wondered if he'd turn out to be a slob, or a neat freak, or neither of those. I looked at his back and smiled, putting those practical worries out of my mind. There was something to be said for having another person around. I heard his soft snoring then, and it lulled me to sleep.