“So…what happened?”
Roger looked at me, then looked down at his lunch tray. “Jack’s moving out of the dorm. Moving into his fraternity house.”
“He freaked out, didn’t he?” I asked, sitting across from him.
“He said it was too much for him. He liked what happened, but he couldn’t risk anyone finding out. Also, he didn’t really want to have an ongoing relationship with a couple. Said it was too perverted, even for him.”
We both laughed softly.
“It’s understandable, really,” I said, taking a bite of my carrot stick. “He’s the sports jock, famous for his female conquests. If you guys weren’t roommates, it might not have been a problem, but with that constant temptation just a few feet away…”
“You’re right,” Roger sighed. “It’d be too weird if we had an ongoing sexual relationship. For you and me too, I mean. I want you to be with me every time I have sex. How would you be able to trust me, knowing my roommate is someone I’ve been intimate with? You’d never know if we were screwing around behind your back or not. And, quite frankly, I wouldn’t want that kind of temptation either. Trust between us is more important to me than living out my fantasies.”
“You’re over-reacting again, you know,” I grinned. “We can still live out this fantasy, just not with Jack.”
“Do you have someone else in mind?” he asked.
“No, not yet, but I’ll keep my eye out. You can too. Just let me know if you find someone. I’ll be the one to do the approaching. There’s nothing wrong with homosexuality or bi-sexuality, but you know as well as I do that if you go around propositioning men, it’s going to get ugly. If I do it, saying I have this kink – which quite frankly, I believe I do – the guys will just say no thanks and think I’m a kinky chick.”
“You’d do that for me?” he asked, smiling.
“Isn’t it obvious that I enjoyed myself? I’ll do it for both of us.”
“Jesus, I have hit the jackpot.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
* * * * * * * * *
Several months passed and we both kept our eyes out for likely prospects. There were a few, but when I would approach them, all they wanted was straight sex. No one was interested in bi activities, or they just wouldn’t admit it.
There were just five weeks left before the spring semester was over. Roger and I had decided that maybe we should widen our search and begin visiting some swing clubs or putting an ad online. We decided to wait until the semester was over so we could focus on our studies.
It was a warm afternoon when I saw him. Roger and I were studying outside, sitting beneath a tree in the open area between the music and science buildings.
I looked up from my American history book, feeling a warm breeze. I breathed in the fresh, clean air and smiled widely. I loved winter, but there was nothing like a fresh spring breeze after a long, cold season. When I opened my eyes, he was sitting down on a bench beneath a tree across the way. He crossed his leg over his knee and propped his laptop on his leg. He opened it up and began typing away.
He was tall, about 6 inches taller than me, about the same height as Roger. He had dark hair, wore glasses (that kept sliding down his nose as he typed furiously) and had a look of intensity that could rival Roger’s.
I nudged Roger and he looked up. I nodded toward the young man slightly and his eyes followed my direction. He looked at him for a few moments then looked back at me. “Do you even know him?” he asked.
“Never saw him before in my life,” I admitted. “But isn’t there something about him?”
He looked back at him then said, “Yeah, there is.”
“Stay here. I’ll go find out who he is.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” he warned.
“No, but it won’t hurt to say hello.”
I set my books aside and stood, dusting the seat of my jeans. I crossed the grassy area towards this intriguing young man, but almost stopped when he glanced up at me. I could tell by his glance that he was not interested in talking to me. Still, I kept walking.
“Hi,” I said, stopping in front of him. “I was wondering if you had an extra pencil I could borrow. I’m studying for my test and I – “
“I don’t carry pencils. Or pens,” he added hastily. “Physical writing is dead. I just enter everything on my computer.”
“Oh, well, thanks anyway,” I said, but didn’t walk away. I found myself at a loss for words, but unwilling to give up.
“Is there something else?” he snapped.
“My, but aren’t you friendly?” I said, smiling at him, finding myself feeling a bit giddy. He was trying so hard to make me go away that I just couldn’t give in to him.
“I didn’t come here to make friends. I came here to study, which I thought was what you were trying to do. Over there with your boyfriend.”
“Yes, but I thought we could at least exchange names or something. You know, simple social niceties and all.”
“Simple wastes of time, is more like it, but if it’ll get you to leave me alone more quickly, my name is Barry. Barry Hollander.”
“I’m Rachel Williams and my boyfriend over there is Roger Waterfield.”
“Okay Rachel, I know your name now. Can I get back to studying? Oh, I’m sorry, do I have to say ‘please’ first?”
I couldn’t help smiling. “You’re trying way too hard, Barry.”
He stared at me for a moment then blurted, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I think I like you, no matter how much of an asshole you’re pretending to be. What are you doing this Friday night?”
“What? Are you serious? I really do want to study.”
“Great, fine, I’m not asking you to join us for dinner right now, I’m asking you to join us for dinner this Friday night. We’re fun people. I think you’d like us.”
“I wouldn’t count on that Rachel,” he glowered. “Now, please, just-“
“Fine, that’s settled. Where do you live? We’ll pick you up.”
He gaped at me then began to blush. He looked down at his keyboard and said, barely above a murmur, “I live in the campus apartments. Building three, apartment A.’
“Great. We’ll pick you up on Friday at 8:00. No place fancy, so dress casual.”
“You are the weirdest woman I’ve ever met,” he said fiercely, looking up at me again.
I grinned at him and said, “You haven’t seen anything, yet.”
* * * * * * * * *
That Friday night I walked up to Barry’s apartment alone while Roger waited in the car. He was convinced that Barry wouldn’t go with us and had only told me where he lived to get me to leave him alone or maybe he had given a fake address. After a few days time, I admitted that my confidence about this was waning, but I was determined to at least play this out and see where it ended.
Barry opened the door when I knocked and I felt my eyes widen. He had dressed up a bit, wearing a nice shirt and tie with a faded pair of jeans. His face was still wearing that intense scowl, but I didn’t let it intimidate me.
“Hi. Can I assume that you’re still joining us?”
He stared at me a moment, then said, “What is this all about, anyway?”
“Okay, I’ll be honest with you, Barry. I don’t normally say this so soon, but I can see that there’s not point in trying to woo you slowly.”
“Woo me?”
“I’m attracted to you.”
“Don’t you – have a boyfriend?”
“No, I have a fiancé.”
His eyes widened for a moment, then he said, “Then why in the hell are you asking me out, with your boyfriend coming along with us?”
I stepped inside his apartment and shut the door behind me. He backed away from me and I could tell that he was a bit frightened. I was feeling a huge power trip and my confidence was bubbling over. I had no idea why I felt this way around this man that I barely knew, but I already felt I had him wrapped around my finger.
“Can you keep a secret, Barry?”
“I’m new here, Rachel. Just transferred at the beginning of the semester. You may have noticed that I’m not all that sociable.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. Just because you don’t know anyone doesn’t mean you aren’t a gossip.”
“Yes, I can keep a secret,” he answered, his eyes flashing.
“I’m not the only one attracted to you.”
We stood there staring at each other for a moment, and then his eyes suddenly widened and his mouth fell open. I had to smile at the reaction, but I was suddenly very nervous. If this backfired, I might have just made Roger’s life on this campus a living hell.
“Your fiancé is gay?” he whispered.
“No, he’s bi-sexual,” I said.
“And you don’t care?”
I smiled once again. “Care? Barry, I love the fact that my lover is open to all things sexually.”
“I’ve never even thought about-“
“Most straight men don’t, but I do know that a lot of men, when they do think about it, find a curiosity deep inside. Most ignore it, scared to death of it, but some don’t ignore it and eventually embrace it.”
He sighed deeply, obviously frustrated, and said, “I was going to say that I’ve never thought about doing anything sexually with a woman.”
“Oh,” I said, suddenly caught unawares. I felt stupid and annoyed with myself for assuming Barry was straight. I rarely assumed anything about anyone’s sexuality, but I hadn’t even considered that Barry could be gay.
“Well then,” I said, rubbing my hands together. “This just got a bit more interesting.”
“Disappointed?” he asked, smiling cynically.
I looked at him for a moment then said, “No, not at all. Would you still like to join us for dinner?”
“You’re not expecting anything out of me other than dinner tonight, are you?”
“No, of course not. We don’t expect anything of you at all. At the least, we can have a nice meal together and get to know each other. Who knows, maybe you’ll be civil and we can all be friends”
He scowled at me for a moment, but it was soon replaced with a reluctant smile. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.”
Roger looked stunned when Barry followed me down the stairs, but he was composed by the time we were in the car. Barry sat in the back and we rode to the restaurant in silence after I introduced the two men to each other.
I could feel the tension emanating from both of them and I looked out the window, unable to stop smiling. There was no guarantee that anything was going to happen with Barry, but the fact that he was in the car knowing fully what we had in mind meant that we were closer than ever before.
I just hoped he wasn’t as much of an ass as he had pretended to be earlier in the week.
Things were quiet at the restaurant at first. I did most of the talking and Roger tried to be friendly, but he was visibly nervous which always made him reluctant to talk. Barry was silent for a good while, but finally started talking when the main course arrived, finding that he did have quite a lot in common with us. We enjoyed many similar pastimes, such as music, literature and even movies.
By the time dessert arrived, we were all laughing together and talking animatedly as if we had known each other for years.
After the bill had been paid, we all sat drinking a last cup of coffee before leaving.
“I’d like to apologize for earlier this week,” Barry said, suddenly serious again. “I transferred here from Calvin University an hour north of here. It’s not a Christian university, but most of the people who attend the place are heavily involved in religion. I refused to ‘renounce’ my homosexuality and I was pretty much railroaded out. There were some other gays and lesbians there, but they wouldn’t come out and they wouldn’t speak out against the things that were happening there.”
“That’s terrible,” I said softly.
“When I moved here, I didn’t want to go into the closet, but I didn’t want a repeat of what happened before. I decided to just focus on my studies and to not bother trying to get to know anyone. It just didn’t seem worth it.”
“Not all of us are close-minded assholes,” Roger said, scowling slightly.
“From what Rachel has told me, neither of you are close-minded about anything.”
I glanced at Roger, nervously. I hadn’t had a chance to warn him about what I had told Barry in his apartment. He looked a little worried, but less than I expected.
“Being close-minded just causes you to miss out some things and experiences that could be fun and exciting,” Roger said slowly. “I’m not into self-denial.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Barry said, draining the last of his coffee. Roger and I both followed suit.
After dinner, we took Barry home. He hesitated when leaving the car then said, “Would you two like to come over for dinner next Saturday? I’m actually a pretty good cook.”
“We’d love to,” Roger said quickly, then blushed a bit. Barry pretended like he didn’t notice and said, “Great. 7:00. Don’t be late, or the rolls will be cold.”
He left the car hastily and went up his stairs just as fast. We waited to make sure he got into his apartment safely then Roger put the car into reverse and left for the main campus.
“So, I take it you liked him,” I said, taking Roger’s hand.
“Yeah, I did. Even if nothing happens sexually, I’d like to spend time with him. He’s fun, once he stops doing the jerk act.”
“I’m a little disappointed, myself,” I said wistfully, looking out the window.
“Why?” Roger asked.
“He’s gay. Never been with a woman. That’s good for you, but I find him very attractive and if anything were to happen, it might be me who ends up just watching.”
“Perhaps we can convince him to open up his mind to the possibility of straight sex.”
“Maybe,” I said, “but if not, that’s fine too. You’re more than enough to satisfy me. And there’s always Jack.”
“You little bitch,” he laughed, slapping my leg.
* * * * * * * * *
“You must be joking. A professor had the audacity to suggest that the Earth is flat?”
“Yep, Mr. Connors. Thinks the ‘round’ theory is all a hoax. All the pictures of the Earth taken from the moon are fakes, that the curve in the horizon is an optical illusion. It’s amazing how stupid intelligent people can be.”
“Oh, believe me, I know that from first hand experience.”
I watched Roger and Barry talking as I sipped the last of my wine. A month had passed since our first dinner with Barry and we had seen him almost every day on campus and we spent every weekend with him. We had become fast friends, but so far, a sexual relationship had never occurred or even been brought up.
Both Roger and I found it a bit frustrating, as we were both attracted to him, but it wasn’t enough to make us want to stop being his friend. We were working on getting past the attraction and enjoying his company on a strictly platonic level.
There was only one more week of the spring semester. Roger and I had put a deposit on an apartment in town and were planning to move in together as soon as school was over. Our wedding date had been set for the following summer. Barry was also staying in town, but in the campus apartments. He was taking summer courses in order to catch up with some classes he had had to drop when he left his last school.
“Rachel, are you with us?”
“Hmm?” I said, looking up. I had been daydreaming and completely missed what they were saying to me.
“I was asking if you guys wanted to stay and watch a movie or play a game or something. I know it’s late, but I’m wide awake.”
“Me too,” Roger agreed.
“Sure, I’m not sleepy either,” I said, then quite suddenly yawned, which caused them both to laugh.
“I’ll make a pot of coffee,” Barry said, standing. “If you fall asleep, I’m sure Roger and I can entertain ourselves.”
I looked at Roger at this comment and he winked at me, but was obviously dismissing any connotation it could have meant past a friendly late night.
A movie was set up and I sat on the couch next to Roger while Barry sat in the easy chair next to the couch. I drifted off about an hour after the film started, snuggling close to Roger.
Sometime later, I awoke, hearing whispers, but didn’t open my eyes or indicate that I was awake.
“Wouldn’t it be selfish? Rachel would feel left out.”
“Not if she could stay in the same room. She knows you don’t go both ways and doesn’t expect anything from you towards her.”
“But you say she is attracted to me.”
“Yes, she is, but she’s not going to ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
“I know that and that’s not what concerns me.