Off Campus

Seth’s Perspective

The semester was winding down and Christmas break was just a couple of weeks away. Things had been a little weird around the duplex since Thanksgiving… not bad, just weird. Cam and Eric seemed to be turning into a couple with Max as more of a friend and roommate. I heard Eric introduce Cam as his boyfriend to a guy at work one day, but he was still inviting Max into the bedroom and I know Cam was hoping things would go back to what they were. I was pretty sure that Max and Brody had something going on, but I didn’t have any real proof. However, it was extremely suspicious how one would leave the house and the other would just disappear about twenty minutes later, then they would both just mysteriously return home at around the same time. Max denied my accusations, of course he did it with a smirk which just made me more suspicious.

Unfortunately, the break-up of the throuple and Max’s flirting seemed to have driven Brody back into reclusion. He stopped hanging with all of us (well all of us except Max I suspected) and pretty much kept to himself again, I only saw him when he was leaving or coming home. I think the drama was a bit much for him, I also know he felt like he played a part in the break-up. That was pretty much all in his head though. Max was just ready to move on, Brody had nothing to do with it and I know Eric and Cam didn’t have an issue with him.

We had been hit with a blizzard (welcome to Wisconsin in December), classes were cancelled and we were snowed in. Zach decided to shovel out the grill and have cookout in the middle of the frozen tundra. The five of us were just hanging out on the first floor playing board games while the brats boiled in beer. Zach decided it was time to flare up the grill and I followed him out into the backyard following the little path he had shoveled out for us earlier and got everything going. While we were in the backyard watching our breath and freezing our asses off, I looked up at Brody’s door. I really missed the guy and decided to venture up to the third floor and invite him down. I knocked on the door and he ignored me like he used to. “It’s Seth, and I know you’re in there” I kept knocking “I’m not giving up, Brody!” Then I yelled “It’s fucking freezing out here, let me in!”

He FINALLY pushed the door open, shot me a grin and said, “Yer a pain in the ass, Seth” with that accent.

I just laughed at him and said, “yep! And Hello to you too stranger” then followed him into his place. He went right back to his easel while Witchy wrapped herself around my ankles. “We’re cooking out, come down and eat with us later.”

“Nah thanks, I’m good up here” he said. I was having a flashback to our first couple of days here when I had to drag him out.

“C’mon, I miss hanging with you” why don’t we ever see you anymore.

“You know why”

“Max?” I asked.

“Kinda’ he said as he painted “I feel bad I broke those guys up.” I could tell he was really guilt ridden, which sucked, since none of this was his fault.

“You’re cute, but you’re not that cute” I said with a laugh and made him laugh too. “You had nothing to do with it. It was a freaking threesome, how long was it gonna last anyway?” I asked. “Max wanted something different and it had nothing to do with you. No one blames you but you.” He kept painting, and I knew he wasn’t buying my explanation, although it was 100% true. “Can I ask you something personal?” He nodded in response to my question. “Are you and Max dating?”

“No” he blurted out defensively. “We’ve been talking a lot, trying to get to know each other, but we haven’t dated or nothin’” he responded in that adorable accent.

I smiled at his response “Max is an awesome guy, date him already” I said.

“C’mon Seth” He said pronouncing my name more like “Sayeth” I loved it when he said my name. “It’s awkward with him living with those guys still, I don’t want everybody hatin’ me.”

“Oh my god, Brody. No one hates you or blames you for any of this and I miss the hell outta you” I said in complete sincerity. We all missed having him around and it was pissing me off that I couldn’t convince him. “Just come down for dinner. You know I can and will annoy the hell out of you until I get my way” I said looking right at him, he smirked back because he knew it was true.

He finally gave in, “fine you pain in the butt, I’ll come down. What time is dinner and what we havin’?”

“In a half hour. Brats, burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, and anything else summery. Zach decided we were going to turn the blizzard into a summer cookout.” I said as Brody rolled his eyes and laughed.

A half hour later we were all down on the first floor filling our plates and playing Cards Against Humanity together. Brody blended in like he had before the whole dethroupling debacle, he was one of us whether he liked it or not. He and Max sat next to each other on one of the couches, Eric was on the other side of the couch with Cam sitting on the floor leaning against the couch between his legs, while Zach sat on the other couch as I laid on my back with my head in his lap. We were six friends, and it felt like three couples. Max and Brody felt so right together, so did Cam and Eric. I think we all felt it… even Brody. We hung out until well past midnight, we all eventually passed out and slept in the living room of first floor flat that night. That was the first night we had all hung out together since Max initiated the dethroupling. Frankly, this worked so much better if you ask me. I hoped it would last.

The next day was Friday and most of us didn’t have classes. The snow had stopped but the roads were still bad so Max and Brody stayed home too. Brody went up to his studio to paint. On the first floor Max was working on his paper, Cam was studying, and Eric was playing video games. On the second floor, Zach and I were cleaning. I had finished my psych paper about three weeks early and was driving myself and everybody else crazy by overthinking and over-tweaking every little sentence. Zach couldn’t take my obsessing anymore and convinced me to turn it in early, so I handed it to Professor Ayers about a week before the storm. It felt good to hand it in, but at the same time I just worried about things I should’ve worded differently, research I should’ve included, other things I should’ve explored, etc. For some reason this paper seemed like the most important thing I had ever done, it was probably just because it was so personal.

I was cleaning the toilet with my phone sitting on the vanity when I got a text alert. I looked at my phone on the counter and read, “Hi Seth, this is Professor Ayers, I hope you’re keeping warm. Do you have a few minutes to discuss your paper?” Holy shit! Professor Ayers was texting me personally, he must’ve gotten my number from the class list. But why the hell was he texting me? Professor Ayers was the head of the department, very accomplished and respected for a man in his mid-forties.

“ZACH!” I yelled as I pulled my hands out of the toilet, ripped off the rubber gloves, and ran through the flat looking for him. He was in the living room vacuuming the rug. “Look! Look!” I said showing him the text. “What the hell do you think he wants? Shit, I hope I’m not flunking, Crap what if I need to redo my paper, What if…” I was going into a rampant freak out.

“Calm down” Zach said, “Your paper was freaking awesome, just text the guy back.”

Zach calmed me down and I answered the text “Nice to hear from you, I’m free now if you are.” My phone rang within a minute. I answered politely and professionally as I sat at the dining room table to take the call. Zach sat across from me and listened to my part of the conversation.

“Hi Seth, I hope you’re making the most of being snowed in. I’m sure you’re used to this weather being from Phoenix and all” Professor Ayers joked, then we made small talk for a bit. “Listen, the reason I’m calling is because I read your paper. Yours is the first one I have received.” I think I said ‘yes sir’ or something like that as I listened, I was too nervous to really remember. This was an important, required course for my major and Professor Ayers was a big deal in the Psychology Department, and frankly a big deal in his field. “First of all, you set the bar pretty high for every other student.” That brought a smile to my face; Zach broke into a smile when he saw mine even though he couldn’t hear Professor Ayers.

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

“Seriously, this is doctorial level work and writing. The case studies are absolutely compelling, your hypotheses are thought provoking, and your analysis is smart and well thought out. I called to ask your permission to share your paper with a colleague of mine who has a private practice in Brookfield.” He explained, “he specializes in counselling LGBTQ families and offers one of the most sought-after internships in our department. He hasn’t taken on a student for the past couple of semesters because no one has impressed him.” I was getting excited, but a little confused. First semester sophomores didn’t get offered internships, those were saved mostly for seniors, and occasionally for second semester Juniors if they showed enough promise. Zach watched my face closely as I listened to the Professor. “I think he’ll be impressed by your paper and may even consider offering you an internship. You’re a little young, but your grades, and knowledge of the material are strong and I can make a case for it to the board. What do you think?”

I hesitated a bit because I was in shock, but HELL YES, I wanted this. “I’m extremely honored, do you really think I’m ready?”

“Absolutely, Seth. You’re extremely mature for your age, a hard worker, and very insightful” his words flattered me. “If he decides to take you on, it could last several semesters, would give you some incredible experience with one of the best, and could open a lot of doors for you. Yeah, there’ll be a lot of copying, filing, all that fun stuff, but Dr. Aarons is known for bringing his interns into the room and giving them firsthand experience.”

Dr. Aarons, I recognized that name. “Dr. Aarons? Didn’t he write the textbook chapter on changes in sexual prejudices?” I asked.

“That’s him” Professor Ayers said, “he’s been published an uncountable number of times, the man is a genius, and I think you could learn so much from him, Seth.”

“I’m honored that you want to share my paper with him” I answered, “but can I take another look before you share it? I’ve had a few more thoughts since I handed it in.” Zach rolled his eyes when he heard me say that. He was so sick of my over-obsessing.

“If you’d like, we can go through it together on Monday during my office hours, I have a few thoughts for you” Professor Ayers said. I jumped at the opportunity and we agreed to meet Monday afternoon. As soon as I had said goodbye and hung up the phone, I filled Zach in on the half of the conversation that he couldn’t hear. Zach was so excited for me. I pulled out my laptop and started to research Dr. Aarons. Damn, this guy was a big deal. I spent the rest of the day reading papers, articles, and speeches he had published. By the end of the day, I was in complete awe of the man… he was doing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. He was amazing and I wanted this opportunity more than I had ever wanted anything (well, anything other than Zach).

That night we all ate dinner together again, I had asked Zach to keep the whole internship thing between us because I didn’t want to make a big deal of it until I knew if I really had a shot. I did, however, tell Max about the call. We were washing the dishes while the other guys were watching a moving in the living room.

“Holy Shit, Seth. This is humongous” Max screamed in excitement. “I am so proud of you… jealous as fuck, but proud. My paper sucks compared to yours” His paper didn’t suck, but I smiled at his statement. I know it sounds a little arrogant, but I worked hard for this and yeah, I was proud to even be considered. “So, what’s the next step?” Max asked.

“Well, I’m meeting with Professor Ayers on Monday to get his feedback on my paper so I can make a few more tweaks before he shares it with Dr. Aarons, then I guess if he likes my work, we set up an interview.” As I said that out loud it hit me… this might really happen. What if it did happen? I’d have to buy professional clothes. Oh hell, it’s in another city, I’d need to get a car, and insurance; suddenly my excitement turned to panic. Max read my face.

“You’ll figure it all out, Seth. This is a big deal, and if it comes through it could open doors for you. You’ve earned this, enjoy it man!” Max said as we both dried our hands and started putting the dishes away.

“Thanks, Max. Can we keep it quiet until I know if it’s real or not?” is all I said as we finished up the dishes, Max nodded then we joined our friends. We all took the same positions we had the night before, sitting as three couples. Again, everyone was fine with it and it just felt right. After the movie Zach and I went up to our place, I had to work early Saturday morning. Brody headed up to his place and Max said he’d walk him home; that raised some eyebrows, but no one said a word.

When we got up to our place we went right to the bedroom and got ready for bed. I stripped down to my boxer-briefs then went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. As I was looking in the mirror and brushing my teeth, Zach came up behind me and put his arms around me and kissed me on the neck. “Hello Dr. Westin” he said as he hooked his elbow under my pits and pulled me back against his warm, naked chest. I smiled, then rinsed and spit the toothpaste into the sink (yeah, sexy. I know). Zach nuzzled my neck, then playfully moved backwards making me fall against his chest. He literally dragged me into the bedroom on my heels as I laughed and weakly protested. He flung me onto the bed, I landed diagonally across the bed and Zach immediately jumped up putting one knee on either side of my hips. He kissed me lovingly rubbing our underwear-clad crotches together. “I am so proud of you, Seth” he said giving me a sweet peck on the lips.

“I didn’t do anything yet” I responded looking into his beautiful eyes.

“You worked your ass off on that paper, and now you’re being considered for an internship with one of the top LGBT Psychiatrists in the country. You’re only a sophomore, Seth. It’s a big deal just to be considered.” He said kissing me again.

I smiled, “yeah, but there’s so much that could go wrong, plus I’m gonna need new clothes, and a car, and…”

“We’ll figure all that out. Can’t you just enjoy this victory? I mean, internship or not, it’s obvious Professor Ayers sees potential in you, if Dr. Aarons doesn’t open doors for you he will. I am so proud of you.” Zach said “You took your family bullshit and used it to move forward. Damn you’re amazing.” His beautiful, smiling face was inches from me and it was contagious as hell. I smiled, and inside I was jumping up and down with, but I was trying not to get too excited about all this just yet. But Zach on top of me… now THAT I could get excited about. He leaned in and kissed me my whole body tingled with anticipation.

He started to grind his hips against mine and I could feel us both growing in our underwear. It felt so amazing. I thought after a year that sex would be boring, but sex with Zach always felt amazing and new to me. He stopped kissing me for a moment and I took the opportunity to shove my nose in his armpit and take a huge whiff of his addicting musk. I just loved the way he smelled and it brought me to full hardness instantly. Zach started peppering my body with tiny, sweet kisses as he moved down my body. He added the occasional bite to make me moan and writhe in excitement. After what seemed like decades, he finally got to my waistband and tugged it down letting just the head of my cock pop out. He immediately licked it as his eyes locked with mine, connecting with my soul. I knew I was inexperienced; I mean yeah, I had done a lot sexually but it was all with Zach, but I always felt like we transcended sex. We had this emotional, almost spiritual connection whenever we made love and I doubted that sex with anyone else could ever feel as incredible.

As I lay there looking at this gorgeous jock licking my manhood, I could feel my waistband move down lower and lower until my boxer-briefs were being pulled off my feet and tossed aside. Zach now had full access and he wasn’t one to waste an opportunity. He moved his attention from my cockhead to my shaft, licking every blood-engorged inch of it. Oh my god he was sending shivers through my entire being with each touch of his tongue. I have no idea how long he licked me for, but I couldn’t just lay there enjoying it, I needed him. “Flip around” I said looking into his eyes. He flipped around and his covered crotch was straddling my face, I tugged at his waistband as he wriggled free of his underwear. There it was the most beautiful cock in the world to me. I reached my hand up, put my palm over his crack so that it was straddling both of his ass cheeks, then inserted my middle finger in his hole, almost like he was a bowling ball. I pulled him down, opening my mouth to accept him. I slobbered and swirled my tongue as he moved deeper into me, through my mouth and down my throat until his cock hit the back of my throat. I swallowed hard and took the final inch of him down my throat. Zach moaned as I did, sending indescribable sensations through my member and awakening every nerve ending in my body. We stayed in our sixty-nine for a long time, giving each other the most intense oral pleasure. Eventually our cock sucking turned into rimming, then full-on anal assaults as we ate each other out, each devouring the other’s asshole with fervor. Every now and then I would give his firm, perfect, jock ass a hard smack. At one point, I got so carried away that I planted my teeth on one of his cheeks and bit hard. He yelped and jumped off me.

He flipped around so that he was straddling my hips again and we were face-to-face, “you’re gonna pay for that” he said with an evil smirk on his beautiful face. With his cock and my ass both still slick with saliva from our sixty-nine session he moved between my legs, lined himself up and pushed his head into me, breaching my tight pucker. My eyes went wide, as did his grin. He leaned down and kissed me passionately as he moved forward, inch-by-inch. As he did, I found myself raising my legs higher until the soles of my feet were parallel to the ceiling. Zach grabbed my ankles, pushing them back towards my chest as he pushed into me harder, then faster, his mouth tight against mine as he devoured me. Oh, my god I was lost in lust. It was a rare combination as he made love to me and fucked me hard at the same time. My hole was full of his cock, my mouth was full of his tongue, and my nostrils were alive with the combined scents of his musk and man-sex. My arms and hands didn’t know what to do as they moved up and down his back searching for the right place to land, they finally found their rightful place on his ass cheeks. Stretching my arms, I parted his ass cheeks with my fingertips exposing his hole to the chilled air and making him moan into our loving fuck. I apologize because I don’t know how to describe what I felt at that moment, mere words just couldn’t do it justice.

After several minutes of hard pounding, Zach shot his load deep into my bowels, the heat of his load, the friction of my cock rubbing between us, and the power of our connection was just too much and I shot my load between our writhing bodies. Zach continued to move in and out of me, our bodies sliding up and down with my cum causing a slick, sticky, warm mess between us. Finally, Zach collapsed, then rolled off me and we lay side-by-side looking at the ceiling and trying to catch our breath. “FUCK! That was amazing!” Zach yelled and I heard laughter coming from downstairs. I was sure they heard it all, but I didn’t care. Zach turned, smiled at me, and asked, “You know how they say that sex with the same person gets boring after a while?” I nodded with a smile on my face, then Zach added “whoever THEY are, THEY never met YOU!” then he kissed me. We rolled out of bed and dragged our sticky, naked bodies into the shower and cleaned each other off. We got clean and dirty at the same time and it was an amazing end to an amazing snow day in Wisconsin.

The next morning, I woke up early and got myself ready for a long shift at work. It was cold out and there was still snow on the ground as I walked through the backyard and started my walk to work. It was still dark and I heard noises by the parking slab, it was Brody loading up his Jeep. “Hey” he said. It was dark but and cold, but I could still tell that he had been crying.

Hey, Brody” I said in a concerned voice. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Um, yeah, I guess” He said “My grammaw passed away last night. I’m going to North Carolina for the funeral, and to help my dad.” His voice was quiet and solemn. “I’m glad you’re here, I didn’t want to wake anyone up. Can you make sure Witchy gets taken care of?” I nodded and he handed me a key “All her food and kitty litter are in the pantry, you can either leave her up there or bring her down to your place if it’s easier.” He said adding “If you need more supplies go get ‘em and I’ll pay you when I get back.”

“I’ll handle it, don’t worry about her. Is there anything else I can do to help?” I asked.

“Tell Max I’m sorry” he said. I responded with a confused look. “I asked him out for our first date on New Year’s Eve, but I’m not sure if I’ll be back by then.” I smiled an empathetic smile. I was happy those two were moving things forward but heartbroken for his loss.

“Wake him up” I said, Brody just shook his head ‘no’. “He’ll be pissed if he doesn’t get to say goodbye, Brody. I’m waking him” I said walking towards his bedroom window on the side of the house. Brody knew he couldn’t stop me and just watched as I tapped on the window softly. Then louder. Then louder until Max woke up and opened it.

“What the hell, Seth?” He said still pretty much asleep.

“Brody’s leaving, get your ass out here and say goodbye” I said with my breath visible in the Wisconsin cold.

“What?” Max said as he pulled on some sweats, ran through the flat and out the backdoor into the snow barefooted. He and Brody talked as I watched from a distance, then they hugged and Brody got in his old Jeep, flipped on the headlights and back out into the alley. I heard the snow crunching under his tires as he drove out of the Alley, onto the road and headed home.

I went over to Max, “you okay?” I asked.

He just hugged me and said, “this sucks, Seth.” I hugged him for a minute then walked away and headed to work. The day went by slowly. The roads were still covered in snow and people were staying inside for the most part. It took me a long time to walk home after Eric and Cam relieved me. I finally got back about 3:00PM and Zach was at the dining room table studying for his last Final exam on Tuesday. He had every inch of the table covered with books, paper, and the remains of a day’s worth of snacks.

“Hey, did you hear about Brody’s grandmother?” He asked as I walked in.

“Yeah” I said and pulled out Brody’s house key. “He was packing up his Jeep this morning when I left for work and he asked me to keep an eye on Witchy. I think we should move her down here.” I was pulling of my layers of clothing as we spoke.

“Awesome” Zach said. I’ll help you move her stuff down when you’re ready. I went into our bedroom to change while Zach kept studying. When I was ready, Zach took a study break and we went up to Brody’s place. I put the key in and entered, Witchy jumped into my arms and was purring and mewing like crazy, she missed Brody already. Zach Grabbed her litter box and food bowls and took them down to our kitchen. I set the cat down and started pulling all her supplies out of the pantry. I looked around Brody’s place and couldn’t help but think how perfectly it suited him. Every inch of it screamed his name. I hoped he was having a safe trip. Zach soon came back up the steps and scooped up Witchy taking her down to our place as I put all her stuff in a box, locked up his studio, then went down to our place.

Once we got our new roomie settled, I went down to talk to Max. Cam and Eric were working for a few more hours, so he was alone.

“Hey, have you heard from Brody?” I asked as he sat on the couch studying.

He smiled sadly, “Yeah, he called and talked to me all the way through Indiana.” He sighed heavily “This sucks, Seth. I really like him and it was just starting to go somewhere.”

“He’ll be back” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, I know, but he’s so sad. He and his “grammaw” (he said the word with a fake accent imitating Brody) were pretty close.”

I hugged my friend, “You should go to the funeral.” He looked up at me from the couch, it was obvious he had thought about it, but he was apprehensive.

“We haven’t even gone out on a date yet; don’t you think it would be a little weird if I travel 1,000 miles and just show up?” He asked.

“If I were him and one of my friends traveled 1,000 miles to support me, I would be nothing but appreciative.” I said, starting to look up flights.

Max was throwing out a million excuses “I need to turn in my Psych paper” he said.

“But the rest of your finals are done, right?” I asked and he nodded. “And I can do turn in your paper on Monday when I meet with Professor Ayers.” I said killing his first two excuses.

“Well, I’m supposed to fly back to Minneapolis at the end of the week for Christmas break” he protested again.

“So, fly from North Carolina to Minneapolis.” I said. “Why are you arguing, you know you want to be there for him.” He just rolled his eyes at me. It was obvious he wanted to go but felt weird about it because their relationship was so undefined.

That night when Cam and Eric came home, we all had dinner together. We were texting with Brody who had stopped at a motel in Virginia for the night and planned on finishing the last several miles of his trip the next morning. We were texting him pics of us and Witchy when he called. Max answered on speakerphone, then moved into his bedroom to talk in private.

While he was gone, the four of us decided to pitch in and buy Max a ticket to Raleigh, and then back home to Minneapolis for Christmas. It would be our Christmas gift to him.

To be continued…