by Hawke Oakley
“Nope,” I said with a laugh. “Just a guy whose really fuckin’ tired after having the best sex of his life. Come on, let’s get cleaned up and go to hell to sleep.”
Chapter Sixteen
Riley wasn’t there when I woke up the next morning. I sat up on my elbows, groaning at how stiff my body felt, and rubbed my eyes. His side of the bed was cold. I checked the time. He must have left for class already.
I flopped back down and snuggled into the warmth of the bed, feeling smug that I didn’t have class for a few hours. But as I breathed in his scent, I wished classes didn’t exist at all – I just wanted him to be here, wrapped around me.
Good Lord, when did I get this gay?
As I closed my eyes again, ready to settle in for another round of sleep, someone started pounding on the door. I groaned.
“Go away.”
“Let us in or I’ll break the door!”
My eyes snapped open. Shoving pants on, I grumbled and opened the door to find a smug-looking Beth and excited-looking Caroline.
“I’m trying to sleep here,” I said.
“Oh, don’t give us that,” Beth said, waving a hand and slipping inside the room. Caroline followed.
“Love your outfit today,” she said, looking up and down my half-naked body with a wink. I sighed.
“Guys, it’s – ” I checked the time. “Eleven in the morning.”
“Yeah, we get it, you need your beauty sleep. Listen. You have to tell us everything that happened,” Beth said. “This one’s been dying all morning.”
Caroline nodded, guilty as charged.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, suppressing a yawn.
They exchanged glances.
“We saw Riley in the hall this morning,” Caroline whispered.
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with this information, unless he was wearing a big neon sign around his neck that said I Just Had Sex with Aaron.
“And?” I pressed.
“We know something happened between you two,” Beth said.
Okay, maybe he was wearing a sign.
“What?” My voice cracked. “How?”
She smirked. “Well, first of all, you just proved it with your little high pitched squeak. Second, he was staring into space when I saw him in the hall – he bumped into Caroline by accident and apologized profusely before he wandered off again. Never seen that before in my life.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Caroline added. “Plus he had this doofy look on his face, you know when you have a big crush and it’s all you can think about?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “That doesn’t – ”
“And the way you’re acting pretty much confirms you were involved somehow.” Beth crossed her arms. “So spill it.”
I sat down, defeated and flustered. Both their eyes were on me, watching me like vultures.
“Fine,” I muttered. Caroline burst into a squeal.
“Oh. My. Gosh. I totally knew it!” she cried.
“You leave two guys alone in the woods and this happens,” Beth said.
“Hey, it wasn't like that,” I mumbled. “I mean, it sort of started in the woods, but – ”
“You didn’t have sex in the woods, did you?” Caroline interrupted, then gasped. “Did anyone see you?”
“What? No, we didn’t have sex – I mean, not in the woods – ”
“You had sex?” Beth spat. “Holy fuck.”
Caroline stared at me like I’d dropped the biggest bombshell in history. She fanned herself. “Oh my gosh. You have to tell us everything. Don’t leave anything out.”
“Alright, alright, just let me put a shirt on,” I said. After throwing one on, I sat back down on the edge of the bed and I noticed the girls were grinning at me. “What?”
“That’s not your shirt,” Beth said, her brows raised.
I looked down. I’d grabbed one of Riley’s shirts by mistake. “Goddamnit.”
Caroline squealed.
“There’s nothing to tell, you guys, really. He sort of just told me he liked me but he kept going on about how he thought he was straight, so I decided to test it by kissing him,” I explained. Caroline’s eyes sparkled like she had front row seats to the biggest movie premier of the year.
“And he was into it?” Beth asked.
I nodded. “Damn straight. Or, damn bi. Or, hell, I dunno what he is, and I don’t care, as long as he still lets me make out with him.”
Beth was grinning. “You like him.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You really like him.”
I blushed. “Considering I just gave him a blowjob last night, I’d say, yeah, I really like him.”
Caroline just about fainted. “No way. Did he like it?”
“Of course he liked it!” Beth said, then turned to me. “He did, didn’t he?”
I sighed and averted my eyes, lost in the memory of it. “Yeah.”
“Did you swallow?” she asked mischievously.
I smirked. “Hell yeah.”
We all laughed. After giving Caroline every single detail so she wouldn’t explode, she was finally satisfied.
“That’s really cool, you guys,” she said. “I’m glad you worked things out.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “He’s… actually a really nice guy.”
“Maybe it’s just you,” Beth said. “You tamed the demon.”
I smiled but shook my head. “No, he was never a bad guy, he was just really lonely and it made him lash out.” I gazed up at them. “It would mean a lot to me if you guys would try to be his friends, too.”
“Of course we will!” Caroline promised.
“You got it,” Beth said. “It should be easier now, anyway, with you turning him into a big softie.”
“Are you gonna put this in your report?” Caroline asked.
I groaned. With everything going on, I’d completely forgotten about that. “Crap. Can’t I just tell Dr. Z that Riley and I fuck now and everything’s alright?”
“Dear Dr. Z,” Beth began, imitating my voice. “Thanks for basically setting me up with my once-straight roommate. We banged and it was awesome. Sincerely, Aaron.”
“Oh, definitely,” I said with a grin. “That’ll go over well. A plus.”
I leaned back on the bed, wanting to collapse into Riley’s scent again, but there was no way in hell I’d do that with the girls around. They’d gotten enough insight into my gay antics today.
“You guys should have a date,” Caroline suggested. “Go someplace nice and romantic!”
“A date?” I asked, blushing. “I don’t even know if we’re dating.”
“How could you not be?” Beth asked. “You sucked his face, you sucked his dick, what else is there to it?”
“I dunno,” I mumbled. “I haven’t thought about any of that stuff. It all happened so fast, you know?”
“You should bring it up. Ask him what he thinks,” Caroline said. “Winter break’s coming up, you know.” She gasped. “Oh my gosh. What if you stayed over at his place? Or if he stayed at yours?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, holding up my palms. “Slow down.”
“I’m just saying, you should think about it,” she said. “It would be sooo cute.”
I thought about it – Riley at my house, standing around with his big lanky arms, looking like a football player compared to me and the rest of my family – oh, especially the parents who didn’t even know I was gay. No, thanks.
But what about his family? I realized that I didn’t know anything about them except that they were jerks who didn’t support his hobby. Hell, if they didn’t like his writing, would they even like me, a gay little liberal arts student?
Either option seemed like a fucking bad idea.
“I’ll ask him about it,” I said, just to satisfy Caroline.
During class, all I could fucking think about was Riley.
His voice moaning my name, the way his neck tightened
under my fingers when we made out last night, the taste of his tongue on mine, the thick scent of his cock…
I had to derail that train of thought, fast, before I popped a boner in the middle of lecture.
When it was finally over, I rushed back to the dorm, ate, and ran up to the room. My heart raced in anticipation, hoping Riley would be there.
He was laying across his bed, half his face buried in his pillow as he thumbed through his phone.
“Oh, hey Aaron,” he said, moments before I dropped my bag and launched myself at him. “Oof.”
I pressed my face into the crook of his neck, taking a deep drag of his scent. A rush of emotion flooded my brain and it felt like I was floating.
“I missed you,” I murmured.
“I was barely gone a few hours,” Riley said. He began petting my hair and my eyes slipped closed. At first his fingers hovered tentatively, his touches unsure at first, but soon he eased into a rhythm.
“I know, but still.” I sat up suddenly, catching his eyes. “Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“What are we?” I asked.
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
I thought back to Caroline’s words, which were burning up at the tip of my tongue. “I mean,” I mumbled. “Are we… dating?”
Riley paused, as if he hadn’t thought of it either until now. He shuffled underneath me, putting his forearm under the back of his head. “I dunno. Uh. Do you… want to be? Shit, I don’t fucking know anything about being gay.”
I scoffed. “It’s not rocket science, dude. It’s all the same shit.”
“So, does that make you my girlfriend?” he asked with a shitty grin. I playfully punched his arm.
“Shut up, idiot. If anyone’s the girlfriend, it’s you. You should have heard yourself moaning my name last night.”
Riley’s face flushed and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“So that settles it?” I asked. “We’re boyfriends?”
Hearing it out loud made my heart flutter. I’d had “real” boyfriends in high school before, but none of them lasted very long or were serious enough to write home about. But this was college – anything could happen. I swallowed hard. I was getting ahead of myself.
“I guess,” Riley said hoarsely.
“Come on, you have to say it, too, otherwise it makes me feel like a weirdo,” I said.
“Fine, fine, we’re boyfriends,” he mumbled. He leaned in closer with a little smirk. “As long as you keep doing what you did last night.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You’re not just keeping me around for the sex, are you?”
His expression softened and he hesitantly ran his fingers through my hair again. “Hey,” he said. “Of course not.”
Suddenly I felt bad for teasing him. I sighed. “I know.”
We fell quiet as we laid there together, soaking up each other’s warmth.
“Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?” I asked.
He yawned. Our intermingling body heat and softness of the bed was making me sleepy, too. “Go for it.”
“Caroline brought it up and I hadn’t thought about it before, I guess, but…” I trailed off, not exactly sure of how to ask.
“What is it?” he mumbled.
I fiddled with his shirt collar. “What are you, uh, doing on the winter break?”
I saw the blush crawl onto his face in slow-motion. “Um,” he croaked, glancing off to the side. “I guess I didn’t put that much thought into it. I mean, this is all pretty much out of nowhere. A lot has changed in the past 24 hours, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it,” I said, nodding. Another awkward silence fell as we laid there.
“Why don’t you come to my place?” I blurted out.
Oh my God. Why the fuck did I say that? I haven’t even asked my parents if I can bring someone over, much less my brand new still-in-the-packaging boyfriend!
Riley’s voice broke me out of my self-deprecating thoughts.
“For real?” he asked quietly.
“Sure, why not?” I could think of a million reasons why not.
But then the shy smile that broke out across his face made my doubts melt away.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” he said.
“Me too.” I couldn’t help but smile back. “So it’s settled, then?”
He nodded. “Definitely.”
A slow, radiating joy lit up in his eyes, one like I’d never seen. Every time I saw life like this on Riley’s face I wondered how I could have ever thought he was anything less than perfect. How could I not have seen it all this time?
There was one thing I’d completely forgotten about until Molly brought it up.
“So, who’s going to pay for his plane ticket?”
I almost choked on my salad. She half-slammed half-patted me on the back until the coughing fit ended.
“Crap,” I muttered. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“Of course you wouldn’t have,” she said, barely trying to hide the smug grin on her face. “You’re too busy being in the throes of love.”
“Hey, shut up,” I mumbled.
“Didn’t I predict this a while ago?” she wondered deliberately out loud.
“No,” I lied. “That was some other guy. I don’t even know who you are, so please stop talking to me.”
Molly laughed, then asked, “Have you told mom and dad yet?”
“No.” I sighed. “Do you think they’ll care?”
“About what?” she said before chugging back her drink. “That you’re gay, or that you’re bringing said gay boyfriend over?”
“Either.”
She shrugged. “I don’t think make a big fuss about it. You remember how they were when I brought all my girlfriends over in high school. They were fine. I think any mistakes they made with me, you’ll be spared from.”
“Thank you for your noble sacrifice,” I said.
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter Seventeen
Riley was on his laptop when I got back from class. It never failed to make my cheeks tinge when I saw him there, even though he wasn’t doing anything special.
“Hey,” I said, throwing my bag down and going over to kiss him. He let my lips brush against the side of his mouth while he continued staring at the screen. Finally he leaned away and gave up, grumbling something about me being a “horny animal.”
He set his laptop aside just in time for me to pounce on him, sitting firmly on his waist. His hipbones jutted up into my ass. I leaned down, capturing his mouth in a hungry kiss. Already I could feel myself getting hard, and within seconds, he was too. I smirked and ground my hips against his, getting a little moan out of him.
“Hey, cut it out, I’m busy here,” he mumbled. “I don’t need a boner right now.”
I grabbed the half-closed laptop and turned it towards myself. “What are you doing that’s so important, anyway?”
My eyes skimmed the screen. It was all airplane ticket prices. But something was off. They were grossly inflated, at least compared to the cheap-ass business tickets I was used to.
“What is this?” I mumbled, sliding off of him. Riley got flustered, trying to grab the laptop from me.
“It’s nothing. Come on.”
“Are these first-class tickets?” I asked, whirling on him. “What are these for? Dude, what the hell? I thought you were coming home with me for winter break.”
He shot me a narrowed glare, the kind of expression I was more used to seeing on his face. “They are for coming home with you on winter break.”
I blinked in confusion. “But – but these are so expensive. Why aren’t you looking at economy tickets?”
Riley sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “There’s, uh, kind of something I haven’t told you about my family. But it’s kind of embarrassing and weird, so don’t make a big deal out of it, okay?”
I paused, waiting.
He looked off to the side, fiddling with the wireless mouse. “We, uh –
my family is like, rich.”
“Okay.” I raised my brows. “How rich?”
“Like,” he began, mumbling, still not meeting my gaze. “Enough to buy you, me and Molly first class tickets and not bat an eye.”
I almost choked, again. “What? Dude, are you serious?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled.
“Riley, that’s amazing!” I sputtered. “And they’d just let you? They wouldn’t be mad or anything?”
He shrugged. “Not really. It’s my own account, and I can spend it on whatever I want.”
“Dude, that’s awesome!” I clapped him on the back, feeling like a real straight guy all of a sudden. “Why didn't you say anything about it before?”
“It’s not really the kind of thing I like bringing up,” he said as he laid back onto his pillow. I leaned over his face.
“But why? It’s not a bad thing,” I said.
“People treat you differently once they know,” he muttered. “Like, suddenly they have to be nice to you. It’s so bullshit. That’s why I don’t tell anyone. I’d rather they hate me for me, not love me for my money.”
I laid down across his chest before scooting up to give him a little kiss. “Well, I hated you for you, and now I love you for you, and it has nothing to do with the money. So there.”
He smirked and pet the back of my hair. “I appreciate it.”
“So, you’re okay with the first class seats?” he asked, looking almost concerned, like I was gonna jump up at any second and refute them.
“Of course!” I said. “Who wouldn’t be? Hell, I’ve never flown first class in my life. Do they serve champagne and stuff?”
I was mostly joking but then he nodded, like it was a daily occurrence. “Yeah, a few kinds, actually.”
“God, you’re so cute,” I said, which made him blush.
“Why am I cute for knowing about booze on planes?” he muttered, but I laughed and cut him off with a kiss.
Molly was, somehow, not at all surprised by the news that Riley was buying all three of our tickets home. I don’t think she was ever surprised by anything. She had like a sixth sense or something.
“He totally likes you,” she said.
I blushed. “Well, I know that now.”