Seven

  

JC picked at the rings in his spiral notebook as Chris talked. He couldn’t meet the professor’s eye, no matter how interesting the discussion was. He didn’t know WHAT was wrong with him. Chris was an attractive man, true, but JC thought a lot of men were attractive.  Chris was fun and intelligent. There again, JC had met a lot of those, too.  It was just something about Chris. Something drew JC in, had drawn him in from day one.  That bothered him. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, but this was an example of it if he had ever seen one.

“JC…can I talk to you?” Chris asked as the class ended and everyone rushed for the door. JC lagged behind and Chris closed the door to the classroom. “Are you okay?”

“Who, me? Fine!” JC answered with fake cheerfulness.

“It was nice seeing you at that club on Friday,” Chris said, leaning against the chalkboard.

“Yeah, it was.”

“You go there a lot?”

“Um, I guess so.”

“With your friend?”

“Who, Lance?  Yeah, he comes with me. He’s not a dancer, though, he just stands around watching me,” JC replied.

“Oh,” Chris said.  “Well, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk to much about me being there. Many of the faculty members know that I’m gay, but I’d rather not advertise it. I was active in the gay community while in college, but many of the people I ran with are no longer around, so…”

“I understand,” JC said, nodding.  “Was there anything else?”

Chris looked as if he were about to say something, then changed his mind. “No. You have a good day.”

“You, too,” JC said. He went into the hallway and pounded his head against the wall. “Was there anything else? How could I say that? Here was the perfect opportunity to have a conversation with him, and I blew it.”  JC sighed with frustration, then headed down the hall.

 

“Justin?” Lance ran after Justin, half hoping that Justin hadn’t heard him calling his name across one of the courtyards. Justin slowly turned around.

“Oh, hi, Lance.”  He turned to his friend. “Trace…this is Lance. The one I was telling you about.”

“Hi,” the other boy said. He was as tall as Justin.  “I’m Trace.”

“Hey,” Lance said. “Are you on the basketball team, too?”

“Yeah,” Trace said.  They all stood for a second, then Lance remembered why he had stopped Justin.

“We should get together. Talk about stuff. You free tonight?”

“I have practice tonight and tomorrow night.  Free the next night, though.”

“Wanna come by the house?  That’s pizza night.”

“Sweet,” Justin said, grinning. “I’ll be there.”  He walked away, dribbling his basketball. Lance frowned as he watched him leave.

“Okay, you were right,” JC said, walking up behind him.

“What? Let me get out my datebook and pencil that in. JC admitted I was right.” Lance turned away from watching Justin’s slender frame and smiled at his friend.

“Ha ha. You were right. Chris Kirkpatrick is gay. He admitted it to me today,” JC said. He hefted his backpack up.  “Where are you headed?”

“Free period.  My class was cancelled. I was headed for some lunch.”

“Cool. I need caffeine.” JC fell into step beside Lance. “Got your talent show piece ready?”

“Yeah…I’m glad that thing is next week. I hate that we had hardly ANY time to prepare, but I hate performing in it even more.”

“It was YOUR brilliant idea,” JC reminded him.

“I know. Hey, while we’re admitting things…I talked to Justin and we’re gonna hang out in a few days. That should make you happy.”

“Since when is your life’s mission making ME happy?” JC asked, laughing. “Lance, I don’t care what you do, except I know that dealing with this kid drives you crazy.”

“I’m above all that,” Lance said. “I’ve decided to be incredibly nice to him.”

“Nice enough to convince him to join the frat?”

“Not that nice,” Lance said, and JC laughed again.

 

“So…why do you want to join the frat?” Lance wiped at his mouth with a napkin. He and Justin were eating pizza, sitting cross-legged on Lance’s bed.

“Why not?” Justin said, and Lance raised an eyebrow. “Just kidding. I wanted to be with people like me?”

“We’re not like you,” Lance said almost automatically.

“The people in this frat are bi or gay. The people in this frat will not care if my date is a guy.  I can’t find many other places like that.”

“You did it to be accepted?”

“I did it to feel comfortable.  I know what you think of me. You think a jock can’t be into the alternative lifestyle. Guess what, Lance, I’m a jock, and I’m into it.” Justin finished his piece of pizza. “Deal with it.”

“Whether or not I deal with your lifestyle choice has nothing to do with your acceptance into this fraternity, Justin. It’s all up to you and what you make us think of you,” Lance said.  “But you do realize it’s not one big orgy, right? That you can’t even date another brother?”

“I know that, Lance. God, I read the rulebook like ten times already.” Justin glared at him. “While we’re getting all honest and open, why did YOU join the frat?”

Lance started to lie, but something on Justin’s face made him change his mind. “What do your parents think about you being bi?”

Justin looked surprised. “Well, uh, they were surprised, but they’re trying to accept it. They hope I’ll get over it while at school.”

“My parents don’t accept it,” Lance said faintly, staring at a picture on his desk.  “They ignore it. They know about it, but it’s like the elephant in the living room that everyone sees but refuses to discuss.  They throw girls my way, they talk about the family I’ll raise someday…they just ignore the fact that it will never happen.”  Lance’s green eyes turned on Justin. “Not only did I join the frat to belong with ‘my kind,’ like you, but I also joined as one last way to defy them.”

“Damn,” Justin whispered.

“So I take this frat stuff really seriously.” Lance looked Justin in the eye. “I hope you’re not playing with us…that it isn’t some sort of joke.”

“It’s NOT a joke, Lance!” Justin insisted.

“Okay,” Lance said, but he didn’t look like he believed it.

Eight