Risky Business

Introduction

Moving to Florida from Boston has definitely been one of the larger changes that I have made in my life. I decided finally that I needed to get away from the suffocation of being stuck indoors during the winter. I also needed to get away from the suffocation of living in an overprotective household. My only freedom came from school, and it is no different now. I had always looked forward to moving down to North Miami, as I have been here several times, but I really think that I bit off more than I can chew. Back home, being a local jock that everyone at my high school, and even in the region would put on a pedestal, meant that people knew me. As much as it boosted my ego, it also made my parents shelter me even more. I never got the chance to go out with my friends, or even just having a sleepover. I know, it’s laughable, but I think my mom finally recognised that it’s time to let me branch out a bit, and do my own thing. Lord knows that she wanted to keep me in the area, always pushing me for the Ivies. I thought that I wasn’t cut out for Boston, but now that I’m standing in front of the baggage claim with too many suitcases and one hell of a headache from sitting right next to the jet engine. Maybe my parents were right about more than I would like to admit.

Fifteen minutes have passed, and I finally see my final bag. I lug all five with me, nearly stumbling through the door while I wait for my roommate, Casey, to pick me up. It is beyond humid here, and I did not really know what to expect, but Florida humidity dominates any day in the sweltering alleys of Boston. Being stuck under a loud overpass at Fort Lauderdale’s airport is what really seems to lighten my mood. I don’t really know how to explain it, but the atmosphere here is so much different, laid back, hotter.

I sit with my luggage on the concrete, and I stare down at my phone waiting for Casey to tell me when he’s here. A drop of sweat falls off of my nose, and directly onto my screen. I raise my shirt and wipe the sweat from my face. A message from Casey pops up on my screen. That’s my cue to stand and wait, instead, I guess. A couple minutes later, he pulls up in a Jeep. He steps out to open his trunk, and helps me with all of my stuff. Casey is wearing a snug, blue button down shirt. His muscular arms fill out the sleeves, and his shorts expose a large portion of his thighs.

Casey has a full head of thick, black and wavy hair that has been kissed by the salty Floridian air. I catch myself studying him a bit too intently. He’s got at least a few inches on me in height; five-foot-eleven, maybe. And he’s definitely got ten to fifteen pounds over me.

“Jeez, Cameron, you know you can let go of some of your childhood clothes, right?” He teases me, and grabs at my almost skin-tight tank top. Casey is pretty well tanned from the Floridian sun. His deep brown eyes meet mine and it feels as though for a moment, I have forgotten how to breathe.

“I see you’re no different in person than you are over text.”

I close his trunk and get into the passenger side. I put my head back against the seat and close my eyes as Casey pulls out into traffic. “So, how was your flight?” He asks.

“Fine. About as good as a flight could be, I guess.” I pull the brim of my baseball hat down over my eyes. “How was your drive?” I try to keep the conversation going.

“Aight.” Casey rests his arm on the centre console. “Traffic sucks ass, but no surprise there.” He pulls on to the highway and I seem to block everything out. Casey looks over to me, but doesn’t say anything else. I doze off in the passenger seat.

Around forty-five minutes later, Casey wakes me up in the parking lot. I sit up in my seat and look around. “This isn’t the dorm,” I mumble.

“Obviously.” Casey gets out of the Jeep and begins to unload my luggage.

I look around and back to him, confused. I rub my eyes and slowly get out to help him. “What are we doing here?” I pull out my phone and we’re all the way in Weston.

“Well, my dad told me we could chill at his condo before classes began, and I didn’t want you to be stuck at school.” He takes some of my stuff inside. “Come on,” he calls back to me, “just come inside, relax, and let’s get to know each other some more. There’s a gym, a big pool, volleyball courts. Whatever you want to do.”

“Alright dude,” I laugh a bit even though I’m still confused. “I’ll trust you on this one, but maybe tell me next time?”

“You’ve never heard of a surprise?”

I roll my eyes and join Casey in the elevator.

“Also, you can take that off, no one really cares about COVID here,” he adds.

I pull my mask down and put it in my pocket. “Yeah, I can tell. Less than a quarter of people here were wearing masks.”

“Plus, masks get in the way of that smile.” Casey gives me a little wink before the elevator doors opening interrupt my attention.

The air in the tower is salty, even though we’re far from the ocean. A light flickers on and off in the hallway, and it is overall dark in the tower. We walk down to the corner condo on the seventh floor, and Casey hands me a key card to keep for the week.

“This is it,” he says while he opens the door. The condo itself isn’t all that small, but the bedroom takes up about a third of the square footage. “I’ll take the couch if you want me to, it’s a pull-out.”

I set all of my things beside the couch and head to the balcony door. I have to put some force behind my body to open it. “Damn, they take these hurricane precautions seriously.” I laugh.

“Yeah, man,” he walks out onto the balcony behind me. “It’s something that you gotta get used to pretty much anywhere. Maybe it’ll finally get your arms some shape.”

I roll my eyes again. “Shut up, Casey,” I reply. “Because you’re so much stronger, yeah?” He doesn’t pick up immediately on my sarcasm, which just seems to be another Floridian trait showing through. Once he catches on though, I find myself pressed up against the wall.

His eyes look down on mine and there’s an almost irresistible devilish grin. “Choose your fights wisely, he says, understanding that he likely has the upper hand on strength since he is a few years my senior. “Freshmen are usually easy bait for me, don’t make me want to change how I see you.”

I tremble and struggle against Casey’s brick wall of a body. His natural scent takes over the salty air and invades my nose. I can no longer tell whether or not he is joking. After a few more moments, he lets me go, and grins again while he opens the door to head inside. I let out a long sigh before I begin to question what exactly I’ve managed to get myself into.

“I truly do hope he’s joking.” I mumble to myself quietly while I regain my composure. I lean on the railing and look down into the surrounding neighbourhoods that are dotted by lagoons and wetlands. The breeze feels nice, and, although extremely hot, the cover from the balcony provides for a quite pleasant view for miles around. I fix my eyes upon billowing clouds and developing thunderstorms that accompany summer days here. I would always be mesmerised by the lightning when I used to come here.

I go back inside, but I prop the door open for the breeze to filter through while the thermostat catches up with its operations. Casey is spread out on the couch with his hand up his shirt, and I cannot help but stare down to his hairy lower abdomen. I reluctantly take my eyes off of him and go into the kitchen. I grab a can of sparkling water and wipe the condensation off on my shirt.

“So, what’s your plan?” I ask Casey. “Anything— anything at all that you wanna do?”

“There’s a lot that I wanna do before my friends get here.” The same grin as before forms on his face, and he stands up while stripping his shirt off.

“Your friends?” I set my can down and a wave of nerves rush through me. My eyes widen,and I am conflicted again. Was he joking?

Casey grabs me by my neck and slams me into the wall. The impact with the concrete winds me, and I find myself once again struggling against his formidable body. I try to breathe, but he only tightens his grip around my neck.

“I know you want it,” he teases me with his manly scent. I try to reply but I can’t get any air out of my lungs. “And I know you can’t keep your eyes off of me.”

Casey’s words pierce my ears while I kick and thrash against him to try and get loose. I realise now that him pinning me against the wall outside was a test of strength that I failed. He knows that he is stronger than me, and that means he knows he can do anything he wants to me. I put my hands on his wrist and try and push away, but he lets go of my neck, and I immediately gasp for air.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time to finally meet you,” he says. He pulls me in for a deep kiss, and I let it last for longer than I should. Mixed messages invade my mind while I regain my breath. Adrenaline rushes through my veins and Casey seems more like a threat than a friend. Am I just another object for him to get off on?

Casey grabs my bulge and holds it tightly. I let out a small moan from the stimulation. He presses his hairy chest against my body. He clearly still seems to need to prove his dominance, which means that there must be some sort of weakness that he needs to compensate for. I grapple with what to do now. Do I fight back? Or do I let him take control so I don’t get stuck on his bad side? Casey kisses me again before letting me go.

Casey backs away from me, giving me space to breathe more. I can’t just let him step all over me. That’s all my parents have done to me, and now that I’m finally free of their grasps, I don’t want to let other people think that I’m someone they can just step on. I set my jaw and sit in a wooden chair at the glass-top table set along the bedroom wall between the kitchen and living area. The other half of me begins to doubt what I could really accomplish. On one hand, I would prove myself to someone that doesn’t know me. However, on the other hand, I would be humiliating myself in front of someone that doesn’t know me. Right now I really wish that I was still back in Boston, because at least, there, no one would mess with me.

Casey’s friendly demeanour seems to have returned, but I proceed with caution. “We’ve been talking for months over the phone, but it seems like I know nothing about you.” I break a deafening silence. There is a hint of sarcasm in my voice to mask my genuine nervousness.

“I’ve told you everything you’ve asked.” Casey responds. His voice is back to its calm nature, no longer so demanding.

“Clearly you have a lot more to tell me.” I don’t think before I retort, and Casey perks up.

He laughs a bit. “If I told you everything, I would have scared you away by now.” He sits up and looks over to me. “You’re here for that reason, too. I know who you are, your success as a high school jock. Dumb frat boys like me know how to choose our men-“

“So you’re not my roommate?” I interrupt.

“I am,” he counters. “But, I am also here to see if you’re the right man for our frat.” He pauses for a moment before saying frat, as if he’s hesitant to call it that. I furrow my eyebrows while I try to piece together what exactly is going on. “Anyway,” he continues, “all I can really say for now is, consider this the beginning of your pledging process.” Casey leans back into the couch. “Don’t take this lightly either. If you want to prove that you’re the same Cameron that was two-time state champion in wrestling, and the star of the baseball team, you’re gonna have to really work yourself hard.”

I somewhat expected him to be uncertain about me, but if he knows everything about me, why should I have to prove myself again? I stand up. “And why do I have to when I didn’t even have the ability to make my own decision about this entire situation?”

“Because as your roommate, I will be sure to make your experience at this college as humiliating and shitty as you could ever imagine.” An undertone of cockiness traps me in a corner again, only this time, it’s not physical.

“And I can just submit a room change.”

“Listen man,” Casey relaxes his body. “I’m just the one that’s been told to pursue you. It’s part of my duty as a member of this frat. I can assure you that I am the least of your worries at this university, since I have to pretend to even be nice to you.

“But, if you think I’m not being dead serious, you can feel free to take your things and I’ll take you down to your dorm. The moment that you step out of the room on this offer, though, is the moment that you accept you will absolutely dread seeing me or any other jock in the hallway for fear he might torment you. Good luck getting into any parties either.”

Casey’s leverage seems to continue to pile on, but that doesn’t stop part of me from eyeing the door with a superficial idea of what it could mean to go into college with a posse of douchebags stalking my every move. Casey keeps his eyes on me, but he shows no emotion towards my ultimate decision.

I weigh the possibilities in my mind for the next while. With how petty I am, one side of me wants to walk out to spite whoever it is that put Casey up to the bullshit he has me on now. I want to show the him and his frat boys that I’m not one to be reckoned with, but I know it would be damn near impossible to enjoy anything without running into someone who knows everything about me.

Casey pulls out his phone and I can see him typing messages from where I am. There is not a single doubt in my mind that they are about me. He’s probably telling all of his friends that they’re gonna have fun making my life living hell for the next four years. Although exceedingly hard for me to admit right now, the last few months of talking to Casey over the phone is making this decision much more difficult than I would have thought. Maybe there’s something to be gained personally if I keep Casey in my life for the meantime.