Chapter 1
“So, Mr. Taneski...”
“Please, call me Alek,” said the guy with the long hair brown hair and the goofy smile he had on his face ever since he walked into the apartment.
“I think that concludes all of our questions,” said Ryland and smiled back at him. “We will let you know in a couple of days once we’ve made our decision.”
“Do you have any questions for us?” asked Larkin. Him and Ryland were sitting on the couch, while Alek was sitting on the armchair in front of the fireplace.
“So, who will I be roommates with?” asked Alek, looking from Ryland to Larkin. The question caught them off guard because none of them had been expecting that.
“I’m sorry?” asked Ryland.
“You said on the tour that it’s a two-bedroom apartment,” said Alek. “I was wondering who would I be roommates with?”
“Well, both of us,” answered Larkin. “Me and Ryland are a couple.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” said Alek. “I shouldn’t have assumed. That’s cool.”
Ryland and Larkin looked at each other, and then they looked back at Alek.
“Are you sure you’re cool with it, Alek?” asked Larkin. Ryland was still a little bit uncomfortable to admit to the general public that he was into guys, but the good thing was that neither him nor Larkin liked public displays of affection.
“Totally, dudes!” said Alek at once. “I have nothing against! I just assumed you were straight because you’re super chill.”
Larkin looked at Alek’s brown eyes. “And gay guys aren’t ‘super chill’?”
Alek got flustered for the first time since he arrived. “It’s not what I meant,” he said. “It’s just, my first cousin is gay and he’s very flamboyant, but I love that dude to death.”
Ryland smirked, but Larkin remained serious.
“I’m not a douche if that’s what you’re thinking,” said Alek. “I might be from Texas, but I was raised and lived in Austin all my life and as everyone knows Austin is the bluest part of the state. A democratic oasis in the desert of conservatives. I just want you to give me a fair chance, that’s all.”
“We will, Alek,” said Ryland. “Don’t worry about that.”
Alek’s goofy smile returned back on his face. “Thanks, dudes.”
Larkin walked him to the door and came back shaking his head.
“What is it?” asked Ryland.
“That guy, he does seem a bit like a douche,” said Larkin. “I don’t know about him.”
“Come on, Lark,” said Ryland. “He seems okay. I don’t think he has bad intentions.”
“I still think we should go with that Evan guy,” pointed out Larkin. “He was super nice.”
“Oh, you just think he’s hot,” said Ryland half-jokingly.
“So?” asked Larkin, raising his eyebrows. “So do you. You only like Alek because he has a big piece of ass on him.”
“You noticed it too, huh?”
“That kind of ass is kind of hard not to notice, to be honest,” said Larkin and laughed. Ryland laughed as well.
“Not to worry about that,” said Ryland. “I still like your ass the best.”
“Is that why you still won’t have sex with me?”
The question brought a gloominess over the room faster than submerging your body in an ice-cold water and both of them stopped laughing.
“I’m sorry, Ry, I didn’t mean it,” said Larkin looking at his best friend and boyfriend apologetically. “I mean, I’m cool with the oral thing for right now. I know you’re going through things. I just wish you would tell me what it was so I can help you get through it.”
“It’s okay,” said Ryland when it was clearly not okay. “I understand your frustration and I don’t blame you for one bit. I just... need a bit of time before I commit to something like that, that’s all.”
Larkin wanted to snap back and say something about it, but he held his tongue because he knew that they would just end up arguing and he was tired of fighting with Ryland. They’ve been dating for almost two months now and things have been good in certain regards – they spend a lot of time together, they sucked each other off when they pleased and they loved and supported each other while they were getting used to their new environment as college students in Seattle. But, Ryland had been putting up certain resistance about having sex with him, and Larkin couldn’t help himself and wonder if it was something he had done or said, even though the brunette teen insisted otherwise.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” asked Ryland.
“I thought you said you had homework to do,” replied Larkin. He needed to go jerk off really badly and was hoping to do so when Ryland was doing his homework.
“It can wait until later. I just want to spend some time with you right now,” said Ryland.
“Okay, let’s watch a movie, but after that we both need to get some work done. I know we are just now getting started with college, but before we know we will both be losing our minds if we don’t start studying and doing our home assignments.”
“You’re such a party pooper,” said Ryland and smiled again – a strained smile that was still clouded by Larkin’s earlier question. “I thought college was all about having fun, getting drunk and hooking up in the wee hours of the night.”
“Do you want to hook up with someone else, Lucas?” asked Larkin.
“No, of course not,” said Ryland. “If we ever do something like that it’s going to be with you there. Can you believe that we had sex with Julian?”
“Oh God, don’t remind me of that,” said Larkin and laughed honestly. “I still can’t believe that that was our first sexual experience together – even though at the time we didn’t have any plans of becoming anything more.”
“Life is strange,” said Ryland and he turned on the TV.
They lived in a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Seattle, a place they were supposed to share with each other – as roommates. But, after everything that happened in the summer, and Ryland finally admitting to himself – and to his father – that he was gay and that he was in fact in love with his best friend, they still ended up sharing the apartment, but due to unpredicted circumstances they ended up with an extra room that people were willing to pay, so when the boys put the ad online they didn’t expect that they were going to have so many interested people.
They had been interviewing and showing the room to people for an entire week now, and Aleksandar Taneski (or Alek) was the last of the bunch. Most of them were a “no” for Ryland and Larkin as soon as they walked into the apartment, but some of them were pretty likable. There was a girl names Elie who was really cool and the boys liked her, but they didn’t know if they wanted to live with a girl per se, especially an artist – which Elie was. There was also a guy named Evan that Larkin liked a lot, but Ryland didn’t seem to trust him completely because he just gave him an odd vibe. And then there was Alek.
“So, who do you think we should go with?” asked Ryland as he was browsing through Netflix for something to watch.
“I think we should go with Evan,” said Larkin. Evan was a super-hot stud with dark hair, very nicely styled shadow-of-a-beard and exotic facial features. Ryland knew that Larkin liked him because Evan seemed to have a similar sense of humor as Larkin did, and Ryland did think that he was hot and an enjoyable conversationalist, and his appearance was neat, which meant that he was more likely to be neat at the apartment as well, but he just didn’t trust the guy, and he didn’t know why. It was what people called a ‘gut’ feeling, even though Ryland never had one of those before. But, he was glad that he did because he felt like he should trust it, like he was growing up.
“I don’t know, Lark,” said Ryland. “We talked about it already. I just don’t trust the guy. It’s just a feeling I get.”
“And you think that Alek is better?” asked Larkin.
“I do,” said Ryland. “He seems nice and he seems responsible. Plus, he’s also in college, just like us, which means he will have study time as much as we will, and won’t want to do crazy things. Evan doesn’t go to school.”
“But, I’m not completely convinced that Alek is okay with gay people,” said Larkin.
“What? Come on, Lark! He said it himself, he didn’t mean it like that,” said Ryland, not believing that he was having a conversation like this. “He said that he only meant it because some gay guys are really too much. And I completely get it.”
Larkin looked at Ryland as he was seeing him for the first time. “What do you mean – you get it?”
Ryland sighed. “Because being gay nowadays when it’s accepted is too much of a burden, you know? There are certain things that people expect of you just because some sissies act and talk a certain way. I’m not like that. I never will be like that. But maybe that’s why for so long I couldn’t admit to myself that I was into dudes, just because I didn’t want people to put me in the same basket with those people. I mean, everybody should be who they are, I am totally for it, but some gay guys really are too much and they make other gay dudes look really bad, because they just give everybody a bad name.”
Larking didn’t say anything for a good minute. And then...
“Wow... I can’t believe I’m dating a homophobic douche. You disappoint me Ryland.”
Ryland’s face looked like he got shocked. “Wha...?! Lark, I’m not homophobic!”
“Yes, yes you are,” said Larkin with an elevated tone of voice. “You are very homophobic and I’m just very disappointed in you. Those gay people who you think give other gay people bad name are just being themselves, and thanks to them, we don’t have to hide who we are anymore today! They are braver than you and me combined.”
“Lark, you were the one who were saying that me sucking your dick is ‘gross’ and when you finally admitted that you liked it you actually used the words ‘no homo’ as I was chocking on your cock, so I don’t want to hear you telling me that I’m homophobic!”
Larkin didn’t say anything, and Ryland was just breathing heavy.
“You know what?” said Ryland. “On the other hand, I don’t want to spend time with you right now. I’m going to take a walk.” He got up from the couch.
“Hey, Ry, come back here and let’s talk,” said Larkin. “I know I was homophobic too, but I always knew who I was even though I was trying to hide behind straight macho bravado and the tough act. Please, just come back.”
But the only response the blond boy got was the slam of the front door closing behind his boyfriend.
