Nate's wounded heart

[subfer1]

THey were midterms and I did great in 4 of them, decent in one and... not so decent in another one, lol I will try better for the ones that are to come, and btw I'm working on the new chapter, and the comments I got were sent privately and they were odd, becuase frankly this is fiction, but anyways that ain't gonna stop me, you'll hear from me soon.

 

[subfer1]

Ok, so here it is, more to come soon, and everything will change, how will it change? only time will tell

Chapter 16 ––Reap what you sow––

As he walked down the stairs to Nate and Luke’s room, he still felt like throwing up his lunch. After emptying the petition mailbox outside his room he had found all of the petitions for room reassignments and had felt a chill go up his spine as soon as he found a petition for a new room from Nathaniel Thompson. The letter was brief and direct, it explained how out of personal differences between him and his roommate, Lucas Halliwell, the relationship between them had become impolite and harsh and hence he considered it best if he could be assigned to a different room with or without a roommate. He had also explained in the letter that whether he was assigned within the same building or another it didn’t really matter to him. Now as he reached their room, he dug into his mind and remembered that Nate had to be in there, and Luke was in class, perfect timing.

“Nate, open up, it’s me Martin,” he said as he knocked on the door a few times. He waited a few seconds and heard noise inside the room, and then steps coming towards the door and right after that Nate opened the door. He was unshaved, looked like he had been that way for a few days, his hair was messy and he was wearing loose dark clothes. “Hey buddy, can I come in?” he asked Nate, receiving a nod in response he stepped in the room as Nate walked back to his bed and sat on it.

“So… what’s up?” Nate asked him already expecting and knowing what he was going to say.

“Well, you know what I found in my mailbox, don’t you?” he answered.

He waited a few seconds as Martin looked intently at him, not taking his eyes off him. “Well, I got sick of him yelling at me whenever I try to talk to him, that would be one of the reasons and the other is that I know he’s right. I cheated on him and it seems like he isn’t going to forgive me anytime soon, so I’m just doing him a favor,” he answered trying to hide his face from Martin by looking out the window.

“Nate, come on man, there must be some way for the two of you to work things out…” Martin said with his voice breaking.

When he heard Martin’s voice break he looked back at him and when he saw the sorrowful look on Martin’s face he reached out and held him. “I wish there was, but what can I do? I don’t know what else to do, he’s not speaking to Becca since she tried to ask him to talk to me, he says she’s just getting on my side, I don’t want you to get that either so please stay out of it,” Nate asked him.

“He’s being an asshole…” Martin told him as they hugged.

“Well I kissed another guy, he sort of has the right to be one,” Nate said back.

“You both screwed up, but now that you did screw up he won’t admit that he did anything wrong before, at least you want to talk to him, all he does is push you away,” Martin said before he backed up and released Nate from his arms.

“Yeah, well I can’t do anything to change that now can I? Listen man I gotta go to the library and hit the books I have my last final tomorrow…” Nate started to say.

“Don’t go just yet, you know I have to go give the room reassignment petitions before Friday, please stay around and try to talk to him, see if there’s still any hope you know…” Martin said.

Nate sighed. “Ok, but I don’t make any promises and if by Friday there aren’t any changes then send it in, I’ll leave on Saturday morning, Julian can’t come pick me up until then anyways,” he said before he got up and got his backpack and a jacket.

“Your cousins are cool… has Julian…” Martin started saying.

“No, and please don’t think bad about him, we kissed that night but nothing has happened, he has a guy, they aren’t a couple, but he wants to go serious with him, he didn’t intend to do it and neither did I, not like it makes any difference…” Nate said.

“I’m sorry Natey… I guess… I had no right…” Martin started saying.

“It’s ok, you don’t know him and well I guess you had the right to ask, I swear you guys are going to hit it off pretty well, now let’s go Martin, he’s going to be back soon and I don’t want to add any stress to the studying I already have to do,” Nate asked him. Martin got up and they both went to the door and left the room.

* * * * *

She needed to study, she had two more finals before she could go home, one was the following day and the other one would be next week on Tuesday. She still felt her stomach clench whenever she’d remember her fight with Luke, it had begun slowly, they had been joking around a little, then Luke changed the subject with no subtlety when she asked him about Cape Girardeau. She wanted to play along but after a few minutes, she asked again and he told her in a very unfriendly tone to stay out of it. She wouldn’t have any of that, so all hell broke loose, and they yelled at each other until Nate got to the room. Which was, if you kept track of time, about twenty minutes after they started yelling at each other and calling each other names she wouldn’t have possibly believed she’d ever call Luke or he’d ever use against her.

She had dropped her highlighting marker and was staring into an empty space in between two bookshelves. As she reached down and under the table to pick her marker up she realized someone stopped in front of her. When she looked up her memory told her this was someone she knew, yet she didn’t know the guy’s name. He was tall, about five feet and eleven inches tall and slender, with broad shoulders and long shiny brown hair tied at the back of his head in a pony tail. “You seem a little distracted,” the guy said looking down at her.

“Uhm, well… yeah I guess with all the studying I am,” she said feeling caught off guard and hating the blush that she knew was covering her face.

“The material isn’t really hard, in fact I know of a good book around here that has some interesting summaries of the theories we have to know for the test,” he said before smiling. Then she recognized him, she had seen the smile but from behind, he liked sitting at the front row of their basic sociology class, she remembered how he would look back and smile at her every time she would make a feminist or radical remark that would make their teacher stiffen and change the subject immediately.

“You’re in my sociology class huh? I’m sorry but to be honest with you, I don’t remember your name,” she confessed feeling herself blush a darker shade of red.

There was the smile once again, with dimples and everything. “It’s ok, I am ashamed to recognize that we have never actually spoken to each other before, my name is Darryl, and I am even more ashamed to say that I think you are friends with my roommate,” he said looking down when he said the last part.

“Your roommate? Who could that be?” she asked.

“Well, he’s got light brown hair, short, green eyes…” He began saying.

“Brent? Are you telling me you’re his roommate and that little shit never bothered to say his roommate is taking one of my classes?” she asked in amazement.

“Well, he might have not known, if you come to think about it, we have that class in the mornings and he never gets up before ten a.m. so he doesn’t really know what classes I have during those hours,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah I’ve heard Martin say that he’s a heavy sleeper,” she said smiling.

“So you’re a friend of his boyfriend too?” Darryl asked her.

“Actually I sort of am responsible for the two of them being a couple, I introduced them to each other a few months ago,” she confessed smiling.

“Oh, so you’re the one behind the whole thing huh?” he asked her shaking his head from side to side.

“Sorry, I guess I am, do they cause too much trouble around the room?” she asked him wondering.

“Well, I have gotten there a few times and found them both sweaty and blushing, but fully clothed, yet it’s undeniable what happened a while before because you can even smell it in the air,” he said scrunching up his face a little.

She went into a fit of laughter when she heard this and he joined her too. After a few seconds, they remembered they were in the library and tried to regain their composure. “We have to be careful, Mrs. Hepburn might be around and she isn’t exactly a nice lady,” Becca told him after they had calmed down.

“You know one of the librarians by name?” he asked her.

“Well Nate, one of my friends works here to help himself with money and all that,” she answered. “but I tell you that lady is a freak, she has a way of scaring people away from her that you wouldn’t believe,” she added before giggling a little.

“Hey are you still dating that guy that used to walk you to class earlier in the semester?” he asked her.

She froze for a few seconds. Michael was the one that walked her to class until the whole reality that he had been hiding from her came forth. “I… uh… well…” as she realized she couldn’t get the words out she shook her head in denial, as she felt her eyes getting teary.

“Oh, Becca I’m sorry I said anything it’s none of my business…” Darryl started apologizing.

“No, it’s ok, it’s just that I hadn’t had to talk about it since a while ago, he got himself into trouble, did some pretty screwed up stuff to me and my friends, Martin, Nate, all of them and then he got kicked out of school,” she told him.

He reached forward and placed his hand on her right cheek, caressing it a bit. She closed her eyes and felt herself blush and then she felt he took his hand off her face. When she looked up, she saw him blushing and step back a little bit before walking in between two bookshelves close by. At first she froze, she thought he had left her there; she got up and went down the aisle he had gone into and saw him at the middle of it. He stood before the bookshelf and was looking for a book, after a few seconds he reached for one and took it; he turned around and smiled when he saw her standing at the entrance of the aisle. “Here, it’s got all of the theories and authors for our test, the summaries are much more understandable than the ones our teacher gave us,” he said extending the hand with the book towards her.

“Thanks, I really am going crazy trying to cover the theories in the original books and the summaries the teacher gave are all choppy and cryptic,” she said smiling at him.

“I have to go now, but try to study as much of that one as you can, see if you can take it to your room and take notes from it,” he said as he extended his hand for her. She was going to shake it but then he took it and leaned down to kiss the back of her hand. She blushed as he stood back up. “Becca if you ask me, that guy was an idiot for having mistreated you, you know where to find me now, I hope we can get together some time,” he said before letting go off her hand.

She nodded as she smiled. “Thank you and I guess I’ll look for you during the weekend probably,” she said before waving at him as he walked away.

* * * * *

“Oh my god…” he said as he felt his body was still twitching from the orgasm Martin had just given him. Martin pulled out after he filled the condom he was wearing as a result from the massage Brent’s ass had given him when Brent came.

“Oh shit, that was nice,” he said smiling down at Brent before leaning down to kiss him. Their kiss was long and passionate; as they parted, Martin tied the condom up and threw it managing to get it in the wastebasket under Brent’s desk. Then he lay next to Brent as he used one of his socks to clean his cum off his chest and stomach. When he was finished he held Martin against him and they were starting to relax when they heard the door open.

“Hey Brent… Oh shit guys I’m sorry!” Darryl said as he went back outside after seeing the two of them lying naked holding each other.

“Oh shit, let’s get dressed now,” Martin said as he got up and started looking for his clothes around the floor while Brent laughed hysterically. “Damn it Brent, stop laughing and get dressed,” Martin scolded him before starting to laugh a little himself.

After they were fully clothed Brent went and opened the door and found Darryl standing there covering his face with his hands. “You saw our dicks!” Brent said before he started to laugh once again.

“God I think I went blind…” Darryl said as he walked in the room to find a blushing Martin sitting on Brent’s bed looking down and keeping his sight stuck to the floor.

“It’s ok guys, it’s not like I didn’t figure out what the two of you do when I’m away,” Darryl said as he placed his back pack on his desk chair and shook some snow off his jacket and into his garbage can. “I hate snow! I don’t know how people get used to it…” He said before throwing his jacket over the back of his desk chair and then he sat on his bed and started taking his boots and socks off.

“You cali boys are all the same huh?” Martin asked him smiling.

“Fuck off, I’m from cali too and I don’t complain,” Brent said.

“Well I already fu…” Martin was about to say.

“Nah, nah, nah, shhh I don’t need to hear more ok, I already saw enough for a while…” Darryl said before shaking his head and walking to the bathroom.

“Hehehe we traumatized the straightie,” Brent said before falling into his bed as he went into another fit of laughter.

Martin tried to calm him down but ended up joining him. Darryl came out of the bathroom and shook his head when he saw them. “Hey I think one of my classmates is a friend of the two of you,” he said as the two of them started calming down and taking deep breaths.

“Which friend? Luke, Nate…” Martin began to say.

“Becca, gray eyes, black shiny hair, beautiful face…” Darryl started saying before he realized the words he was using.

“Darryl and Becca sitting on a tree…” Brent started singing before he had to lay flat in the bed when Darryl grabbed one of his boots and threw it at him.

“Hey, so, you want her number?” Martin asked him as he started scrolling down the contact list of his cell phone. Darryl didn’t even ask a question he just got his cell and added the number that Martin gave him. “She likes sunflowers, coffee, she loves Anne Rice’s books and if you hurt her I’ll send you straight to hell,” Martin said pointing his finger at him when he added the last part.

Darryl put his hands up in front of him in a defensive way. “My man, I like her and besides she already said the last guy she dated was a dick, and I frankly think that if he treated her badly then he should burn in hell. I can’t even believe I actually talked to her, I always see her in class but I’d never worked up the nerve to talk to her,” he said before blushing again and walking towards the bathroom.

“Ok, you’ve got my blessing!” Martin yelled to him from bed.

“Oh… thanks dude,” Darryl said blushing as he walked back into the room.

* * * * *
He knew Luke had to be back already so he took a deep breath before going in. He went in and saw Luke sitting on his bed with his i-pod on, he was highlighting one of his textbooks. When he saw Nate walk in, he increased the volume of his i-pod and the music coming from it got so loud that Nate could hear it and perfectly make out the lyrics. He sighed and walked to his bed, he dropped his backpack on it and sat at the edge, he started untying his boots and taking off his shoes, he decided he would go for a passive way; he was tired of direct confrontations and the aggressive outcome that Luke had picked as his constant answer.

He got one of his notebooks out of his backpack, a pen and then he wrote in big letters a message for Luke. He got up and went to Luke’s bed, putting the notebook with the message in front of his face. “Can we talk?” Luke slapped the notebook away with his hand and it fell to the floor in between the two beds. Nate sighed and went to get the notebook. He flipped the page, wrote a new message, and again put the notebook before Luke’s face. “If you don’t lower the volume you’ll go deaf.” After he read the message he slapped the notebook away once again and looked up to him. “Like you gave a fuck!” He yelled at Nate and went back to his reading.

Nate didn’t even pick up the notebook, he walked next to Luke and yelled into his ear. “I DO GIVE A FUCK YOU IDIOT!” Even though he had his earphones on the scream was loud enough to piss him off even more.

He got up and took the earphones off. “No, you don’t, you showed me you didn’t care when you went and made out with your cousin,” he said before sitting down again.

“You sneaked in behind us to see us kissing, then you leave and you automatically assume we kept doing it or whatever without even knowing,” Nate answered.

“And I am supposed to believe anything you say after you kissed another guy?” Luke said glaring at him.

“Like I’m supposed to believe anything you say after you flirted with my cousin in front of my very eyes and then denied doing so?” Nate asked, and saw the look of fury that took over Luke’s face, and then Luke reached down, got one of his boots from the floor, and threw it at Nate hitting him in the face. He felt the pain expand from his cheekbone, where the boot hit him and then spread all over his head. He stepped back and then fell on his bed.

“Dude, Nate I’m sorry I didn’t…” Luke began to say.

“You didn’t mean it? You didn’t want to? Which one is it?” Nate asked feeling rage take over him, as he felt the spot where the boot had hit him, the sole of the boot had scraped his face a little and he started walking towards the bathroom.

“I… just…” Luke tried to say feeling the tears come to his eyes, as he walked behind him.

“What? Speak! You have the balls to throw a boot at my face but you don’t have the balls to come up with an excuse?” He said as he went in the bathroom and turned on the water in the sink, he put some water on his face and checked it in the mirror. Yes, it was a nasty scrape and he was sure it would turn into an even nastier bruise.

“I mean, you were yelling at me, and saying that stuff and it made me angry if you hadn’t started…” Luke started saying from the bathroom door.

“Don’t you even dare say it’s my fault!” Nate yelled back at him. “I might have talked to you that way knowing it would piss you off, but how else would I get your attention? You never speak to me anymore and you ignore me, and to top it all up you try to blame this on me? I might have yelled and pissed you off, but there’s always a choice, and you chose to be a fucking dirtbag and get physical,” Nate said before looking back at the mirror and going back to cleaning his face.

“So now I’m a fucking dirtbag? I am sick of this bullshit, I wish you would just leave and not come back!” Luke yelled at him, before running towards his bed.

Nate washed his face a little bit more, and then went out, got his jacket, backpack, and threw some clothes inside with the notebooks he needed to study a little more. When he got his back pack on he looked at Luke’s bed and saw that he was lying on his stomach covering his head with his pillow. “Don’t worry I’ve had enough of you and all of your bullshit,” Nate said before he started walking towards the door.

Luke decided to take a look and saw him carrying his back pack and jacked and panicked. “Nate, I didn’t really mean that thing about leaving… I mean…” he started to say.

“You never mean anything Luke I already know that,” Nate said sternly without looking back and then he left the room. He went straight to the stairs without stopping to face any of the people that stopped and stared at the scrape on his face as he walked by. He got to the stairs and walked without stopping until he reached Martin’s floor, then he walked all the way to his room and knocked on the door, hoping that he would be there. After a few seconds Martin opened the door and almost gasped when he saw Nate’s face. “For the record I tried talking to him, so now it’s your turn to keep your word, send my petition. Oh, can I crash here?” he asked before going in.

“That little shit, I’m going to…” Martin started saying before punching the door.

“Don’t do anything, I already have enough in my head and I have to study a little more,” Nate said harshly and Martin acquiesced, even though he really wanted to go down and break Luke’s nose.

“Ok, but if he thinks he’s going to get away with this…” Martin started saying.

“Don’t start getting involved, the one thing you can do is tell him to get out of the room when I gather my stuff on Friday so I can just leave on Saturday… or maybe I can call Dylan and we can leave on Friday afternoon…” Nate told him.

“Ok, but my god I so want to kick his ass. Wait I’m going to get some stuff to clean that up, how did he do it?” Martin asked him.

“He threw one of his snow boots at my face, that’s how. It looked like a fucking baseball. Now I remember he says he used to play baseball in junior high…” Nate said as he felt the swelling area of his face.

“God I’m gonna fucking kill him for this… ok so did you start anything or did he just blow up when you tried talking to him?” Martin asked.

“I tried talking to him but he used his i-pod to try and ignore me so I had to yell in his ear and then he started yelling at me and I at him and he threw the boot… he said it’s my fault for making him angry…” Nate said looking at Martin as he knelt in front of him and started applying some alcohol to his face. Nate scrunched his face at the burning the alcohol caused.

“Sorry about that, but I gotta clean it, I am going to have a little talk with Luke once you’re away, whether you like it or not, I’ve let him act like a fucktard for too long already,” Martin told him.

“Whatever just do it when I’m not here ok?” Nate asked him.

“You can stay here as long as you want, I’m sure Brent won’t mind,” Martin told him.

“I hadn’t even thought about Brent yet, I’m sorry Martin,” Nate confessed.

“Do you really want to live in a different building and all?” Martin asked looking him in the eye.

“Well it would be nice to have you guys around, but I can’t stay with him, not if things are going to stay this way anymore…” Nate told him.

“I know, I’ll ask them to keep you in the building, I know of a few free rooms in Becca’s floor, and I love you buddy, no matter what, I love Luke too, but he’s being an asshole at the moment and he might be my cousin but you’re my best friend,” Martin told him.

“Thanks man, I really think he could use some of his mom’s professional help right now…” Nate told him.

“If aunt Marla knew the way his acting she’d have an aneurism…” Martin thought aloud. “Let’s just finish studying and get to sleep buddy,” Martin told him and Nate nodded.

* * * * *

“Is this the last box?” Dylan asked Martin.

“Yeah, we’ve got all of it now,” Martin said as he put the last box in the back of the car and then looked back to see Nate come out of the building with his backpack on.

“Take care of him man, I’m gonna take care of Luke, but you try to keep him company ok?” Martin asked Dylan.

“I will, I still think that this is partially my fault too…” Dylan said.

“Nah, things were bad before you and Julian came in the picture, and hopefully they’ll get better,” Martin told him.

“All set?” Nate asked Dylan when he got to them.

“Yeah, we’re just missing you in the back with the boxes so I can take Martin on my lap.” Dylan jokingly said.

“And where would you take me?” Becca said from behind Nate.

“Wow, I’d throw Martin in the back with Nate and you can take my lap,” Dylan said winking and looking at her up and down.

“Sorry, I’m sort of considering dating someone right now,” she said.

Nate looked at her wide eyed and asked. “Really? Who and why don’t I know about him?” he asked in surprise.

“She’ll tell you about him in an e-mail, he’s Brent’s roommate and his hot in a sort of bohemian way,” Martin said as he pushed towards the passenger door.

“Love you Natey! I’m sure things will get better,” she yelled from behind Martin blowing a kiss at him.

“Nice to finally meet you Becca,” Dylan said, winked at her and got on the car.

“Take care boys!” Martin said waving at them.

“Bye guys, I’ll see you in a few weeks,” Nate said waving as the car started to drive away.

“You’ve got some great friends Natey,” Dylan said.

“Yup,” was all Nate said as he felt tears coming to his eyes.

 

[Craiger]

Sad! I hope the boxes aren't packed for good... Sounds like both are being stubborn and neither will give in. Things have to get better. Good chapter though.

Craiger

 

[hungbuzz]

i hope the boys can work things out


mikko

 

[kcm17480]

Wow, how sad. Now you have me waiting impatiently for the next chapter.

 

[subfer1]

I'm working on it, get in a christmas mood 'cause that's what's coming.

 

[hungbuzz]

ho ho ho! tis the season

 

[sheep]

I thought a kiss was just a kiss

 

[subfer1]

I'm with ya Sheep, though Luke is being kind of an ass and Nate is considering the whole thing cheating, maybe because it wasn't consented by Luke, though there was passion in it, so, lol they are kids! And Luke was looking for a fighting reason, just wait.

 

[smile86]

i don't wanna wait! lol, it's very good as always. and damn you you're putting me in a christmas mood. the question is will there be much joy for them at christmas? and will it be a time of forgiveness??

personally if my boyfriend kissed another guy yeah i'd be pissed off but mainly because if it was that passionate i'd be worried about the feelings he might have for somebody else and that that might mean he would rather be with somebody else. but considering nate and luke were kinda going through a rough patch, i think they're both being a bit stupid. but luke is the one who's not willing to listen to nate and is not showing any signs that he's even considering forgiving him, and that actually he's hurt nate's feelings too. if i was nate i'd be pissed off. they seem to be in that situation where they love each other but they kinda hate each other's guts too. which is never good!!

 

[robbieadam]

fantastic chapter, i hope Nate and Luke work things out
thanks and can't wait for the next chapter!

 

[caddymac]

Okay please don't leave us hanging on this chapter. Things are not going well and it was a killer chapter.

 

[subfer1]

Patience my friends, Luke and Nate will get back together only and only if they each learn their lessons, now on merrier subjects here you have a new chapter, next week you will have christmas and new years celebrations.

Chapter 17––Almost Christmas––

“He needs to shave, it’s your turn to convince him,” Dylan said before sipping his coffee.

“I know, but then you have to start convincing him of going with us tomorrow,” Julian said as he poured himself some coffee. The steam of the hot coffee danced around in the cold air. The snow had been falling heavy for the last days, and just as the weather had turned everything around them white, Nate had drawn into a shell of loneliness as he stayed in his room for most of the day. Reading repeatedly his favorite classics and some of the newer novels, he liked. Great Expectations, The Feast of All Saints and now he had begun to read The Lives of the Mayfair Witches.

He had read most of the first tome and the more they begged him to come out of the room the more he read. The scrape on his face was healing nicely and it seemed as if there wasn’t going to be any visible scars afterwards and the bruising had started to subside, first it looked of a pale purple and then it began to change tonalities until its actual bright red tone. When he heard what Luke had done to Nate he felt like calling Luke and telling him it was all his fault and to leave Nate alone, but he almost lost it when he saw Nate walk in the door and noticed the bruising and scrape in Nate’s face. He had to control himself for he was about to drive up there and hunt the bastard down.

It had been almost a week since Nate had gotten there and Christmas was right around the corner. He would still stay at his room, they couldn’t get him to do much, after being kicked out of his house, and losing two boyfriends in one year Jules couldn’t really blame him. He actually felt guilty for not doing more, but in reality, he didn’t know what he could do to help him. All he thought he could do was stay beside him and keep him company. And to top it all up he was beginning to feel the effects of what would be his and Dylan’s first Christmas without their dad. ‘Quite the trio we are’ he thought as he grabbed another mug, filled it with coffee and added a teaspoon of sugar to it.

“You gonna take that up to him?” Dylan asked him.

“Yeah, I hope he’s in a better mood today… hey I’m getting an idea why don’t we plan a small dinner for Christmas on Saturday? We could invite some of our friends and the added company might get Nate to come out of his shell,” Julian asked him back.

“That could be a good idea; do you think we can prepare something nice in time?” Dylan asked him.

“Well today’s Wednesday, Saturday will be the twenty fifth, I think we could keep it small and that way we can spend Friday night just the three of us, you know in case anyone gets emotional… or we all get emotional…” he said as he realized how much he missed his father’s presence in the house.

“I know man, it’s gonna be tough without dad around,” Dylan said before looking around the room and then down at his coffee mug.

“I still can’t understand how it is that you can’t even tell when I’m pissed sometimes and then other times it’s just as if you’d read my mind,” Julian said smiling and shaking his head.

“Me neither, most of the time you’re the freak that tells me what I’m thinking. I guess I’m just not that perceptive most of the time,” Dylan said smiling up at him.

“Has the tech called?” Julian asked him.

“Yes, and he said the laptop will be ready tomorrow, he’s updated it as best as he could. I think I should go get the book and the other present today, while you try to get him out,” Dylan told him.

“Yeah, I think I can get him out for a couple of hours, I’ll convince him to go out with me and we’ll probably be back by lunch time so try to be back by then,” Julian asked him.

“Ok, I’ll get going and you try to get him outside for a while, he’s going to grow roots at this rate,” Dylan said as he dumped his mug in the sink and kissed Julian’s cheek before leaving.

“Ok, time to do my job,” Julian said to the empty room as he took Nate’s mug and went out of the kitchen, then up the stairs and down the hall to the guestroom where Nate was. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“You should know better than to knock, it’s your house,” Nate said from inside.

“Ok then,” he said as he opened the door and walked in to find Nate with a good amount of beard covering his face. He still was surprised when he’d see how grown it made Nate look, the reddish tone of the hair on his chin only accentuated the fact that even though he wasn’t even nineteen, he had enough beard for people to think of him as older. But older wasn’t the word that came to Julian’s mind whenever he’d see Nate with his facial hair, masculine was the first impression he’d get from his cousin’s almost fully beard covered face. With the obvious exception of his forehead, nose and a few spots in between his lower lip and his chin, the rest of his face was covered in dark brown hair and in the case of his chin and the area around his mouth, it was red.

“Thanks for the coffee,” Nate said smiling at him. He took the mug from his hand and walked to the bed, sitting on the edge and moving the book he was reading to one of his sides.

“You’re almost done with that one too huh?” Julian asked him.

“Not really, I’m finishing the family history, then the books tells about the current day events,” Nate told him smiling.

“You and your books,” Julian said smiling at him.

“I hope I’m not getting you guys bored,” Nate said after he took a sip of his coffee.

“Not really, but we are leaving for a while, I’ll take you to meet a friend of mine, Dyl and I were thinking of having a small diner or lunch this Saturday with some friends, and you. I want to see if he wants to help and that way the two of you can meet too,” Julian told him as he sat down next to him.

“So this friend is this guy you’ve been seeing,” Nate asked him.

“Actually he is,” Julian answered.

“And he knows you and I kissed, right?” Nate asked.

“Yes, that too, but he is cool, he even asked how it felt and stuff,” Julian said smiling.

“Sounds unconventional, which means we’ll probably get along,” Nate said.

“Yes, this means you are going!” Julian said pumping his fist in the air.

“I am a little sick of being here all the time,” Nate confessed before staring out the window and looking at a tree covered in snow. “Though seeing how cold it must be outside I wish I could just wrap myself in a blanket and stay here…” He said with a smirk on his face.

“Nah, forget about the cold it’ll be fun, let’s go,” Julian said as he got up and Nate downed what was last of his coffee before getting up and following Julian.

* * * * *

“Excuse me ma’am, do you have any copies of a book called A Density of Souls? It’s by Christopher Rice,” Dylan asked the short, curly haired woman that was behind one of the counters of the bookstore.

“Give me a second and I’ll check in the computer for you sweetie,” The woman answered as she moved to a smallish computer to her side, she typed and waited for a few seconds before she leaned in to read the contents on the screen more carefully. “Yes we do have it, at the moment we only have it in hardcover presentation, all the paperback and pocket ones are sold,” She answered as she scrolled down once again and shook her head.

“That’s all right, the hardcover one will be just fine,” he answered.

“Ok, then come with me, it’s right down a few aisles,” she said as she rounded her way to a small exit in between the counter and the wall, then she walked down a few aisles and gave a few steps inside as she searched with her eyes and pointed to the books until she stopped at one. “Uhu, here you have it,” she said as she stood on the tips of her toes to reach for the book, it was a black cover book with a picture of an angel statue, a cemetery kind of statue that stood on the background of the book’s title and author written in bold golden capital letters.

“Thank you very much ma’am,” Dylan thanked her as he eyed the book.

“Oh, anytime sweetie, your brother comes here all the time and he’s a very good client, I can see you’re just as sweet as he is,” she said winking at him.

“So you know Julian huh?” he asked smiling. “He sure loves to read doesn’t he, though I don’t quite know how you noticed I’m not him,” he said wondering aloud.

“Julian always comes in, says hello and then just goes and browses the store on his own to then come and pay for all the books he finds. You came and asked for the book rather than looking for it on your own like he would, and he mentioned having a twin, though I must say the resemblance is incredible,” she said smiling.

“I see now, yeah he tends to be a little bit more direct doesn’t he?” he asked smiling down at her.

“Yes, but if you ask me you’re both just as cute,” she said laughing before slapping him on the back and going back to her counter.

“Dylan or Julian?” asked a familiar voice from behind him.

“Dylan, hey Tommy, how’s it going?” he asked as he saw who it was. Tommy was and had been since he moved to Missouri, his best friend and closest person, besides from Julian. He was taller than both the twins by about an inch, he had dark short hair and shiny gray eyes. He had a strong jaw line and a killer smile. He had been in the school football team with Dylan since they both joined during their Freshmen high school year. Football training had done as much good to him as it had to Dylan he had an incredible body. Besides, to make it all better he had been the first person outside the family to find out about Julian’s preferences and had become a part of the family and equal friend to the two of them since he had said that he didn’t give a shit. After this he had become a very close friend of Julian as well.

“I’m ok, are you getting Julian his present?” Tommy asked him.

“Yup, and my cousin’s. He’s going to be spending Christmas break with us,” Dylan answered.

“The cousin that was there a few weeks ago?” Tommy asked him arching his eyebrows.

“Yeah, the same,” Dylan answered.

“And how did things work out for him after… well you know,” he asked.

“Not so good, his boyfriend has been really pissy at him and he even threw a boot at his face, poor Nate has a scrape and some bruising on his right cheek,” Dylan told him.

“Sounds like the guy needs to grow up, yeah Julian and… Nate kissed,” he said taking some time to remember Nate’s name. “But if you ask me, a kiss isn’t all that much, I wouldn’t think of it as cheating, I think the guy is just trying to make your cousin look bad to try and get off the hook from flirting with everyone,” Tommy said.

“And here I thought you don’t listen half of the time I talk to you,” Dylan said shaking his head.

“Well I do listen you bitch, now let’s go get lunch, you decide either your house or we eat here, I’m starving man,” Tommy said rubbing his stomach through his football jacket.

“Well weren’t you going to buy something?” Dylan asked him.

“Oh yeah, a cooking book for my dad, he’s been wanting it for a while so I thought I’d get it for him,” he said as he started searching among the bookshelves until he spotted the one where the cooking books were on display. Besides his dad, Tommy had no other family, his mom had died of leukemia when he was two years old and he didn’t really have any memories of her. That was another thing that had made the bond between him and Dylan grow so tight, Dylan and Julian’s mother had died due to complications during labor. They had managed to save the twins but they couldn’t stabilize their mother’s condition and so she died after giving birth to them.

“Got it?” Dylan asked him as he walked back to where Dylan was standing waiting so they could pay and leave.

“Yup, last one they had, good thing you reminded me about it,” Tommy said scratching his head as they walked to the counter where the short woman waited for them with a grin on her face.

* * * * *

“So what did Martin say?” Julian asked.

“Well… he wanted to tell me he got the room assignments and to tell me I was assigned a new room on Becca’s floor,” Nate confessed as he remembered he had stayed in his room and hadn’t come out after Julian had come to tell him that Martin was on the phone for him.

“So, Tommy and Dylan are downstairs and we were about to watch a movie,” Julian started to say, then he moved closer to Nate and wrapped his arms from behind him after sitting down on the bed next to him. “Please cous, join us, I hate how long you’ve spent alone up here, just try to have fun for a while please,” Julian asked him as he gently said the words while he had his head nest to Nate’s left ear.

“Ok, I guess I should just stop sulking about it, besides it’s barely Wednesday, if I keep this up I’ll be catatonic for Saturday,” Nate told him as he got up and followed him downstairs.

*Columbia, MO*

As he sat and on his bed, wrapped meticulously in his thick black bed quilt, he thought the same thing that he had been thinking ever since he saw Nate leave their room with his backpack and the nasty scrape that his rage had turned into. “He’s not coming back…” he had even said that when his mother had asked him if Nate had gone to spend Christmas with his family down in Austin.

“What do you mean?” she had immediately asked him.

“It means what it means,” he answered dully before getting his luggage and entering the house, leaving her in shock without the answers he was sure she would like to have. And truth be told, he was terrified of having his parents find out how much of a scumbag he had been. Not only that, Martin knew, he had to know, the icy look he had given him when he came to say goodbye before he came home.

“I called Aunt Marla, I’m going to get there next week I’ll spend a few days with my grandparents and then I’ll stay with you guys,” he said without looking at him. “I’ll show up probably on Thursday or Friday, we’ll talk then,” he said before slapping him in the back without making any eye contact at all and then he went back in the building.

Now as he realized that Martin might be showing up any minute he felt his stomach churning and the hairs on the back of his neck standing. He knew that he had screwed up, but he had stubbornly denied his mistakes expecting everyone to let it pass, something his high school friends had learned to do quickly. Every time he’d screw up he’d just fight and pretend he hadn’t done anything wrong until they’d drop it and then he’d try to not make the same mistakes and so his friends wouldn’t have any reason to bring it up again. This time, however, he hadn’t done his part, he had kept at flirting with all the attractive guys that came into his path even though Nate had realized what he was doing and had shared his thoughts on the what Luke was doing, he hadn’t stopped his flirting. “Big headed idiot,” he said as he spotted his reflection in the cold window of his room.

The snow had become steady and he remembered having promised Nate that they would play in the snow as soon as it started. Nate had never seen snow and he just remembered that it started snowing probably just when he had pushed Nate to the ground on the street where they had been looking at the Mississippi. Nate had never seen snow before in his life and Luke had actually talked him into a few ideas because Nate sounded terrified of even having to go out in the snow, and it started snowing just when he had decided to turn psycho on him. Now he assumed that Nate was probably playing in the snow with… Julian.

“Luke, honey, Martin’s here,” his mom called from downstairs.

How could Martin be there already? He hadn’t even heard the front gate open, or any car honking. He had to give it to Martin, he had been smooth, probably wanted to catch him off guard. Yet he felt like he was about to get the ass kicking he disserved, when he started thinking about the confrontation he had with Becca, he thought it would be easy, that she’d back off on him, but she didn’t. She held her ground and fought back as hard as she could, and he felt so worthless that he knew he had no will to fight with anyone, not Martin, not Nate, not his parents, not anymore.

He heard footsteps approaching his room and froze when he heard them at his doorway. “Can I come in?” Martin asked from outside.

“Yeah, you don’t have to ask,” Luke answered.

“I just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t get a boot thrown at my face you know,” Martin said as he opened the door and started walking in.

Luke chuckled. “Sly cos, very sly,” Luke said as he let himself fall on the bed, he was lying with his back to the door and staring out the window, his blue eyes following the fall of snowflakes hoping Martin wouldn’t make him look back.

“So, Aunt Marla tells me your new favorite hobby is to stay up here wrapped in your blanket, not eating, not talking, not doing anything,” Martin told him.

He turned around feeling a sting of anger from Martin’s words, Martin wasn’t even looking at him, his hair was longer now, not really long, but long enough for him to turn it into a spiky mess that actually made him more appealing. His brown eyes were drifting around the room, and then all of a sudden with a slight turn of his head, his eyes locked on Luke, staring right into his eyes. “Leave me alone, I’m not in the mood for company,” Luke said, he was about to turn around but Martin reached out with his hand and grabbed him by the chin, keeping him from looking away.

“I think I’ve let you run rampant long enough little cousin,” Martin said looking deep into his eyes with a slight smile forming.

“Let me go,” Luke said before he grabbed Martin’s hand and tried to push it away, but Martin struggled back, the sleeve of his black sweater rolled down enough for Luke to see that the veins in Martin’s arm swelled and its muscles looked hard as rock.

“I might not be as buff or muscled as you are, but I sure won’t let you have your way like Nate and Becca did,” he said before pulling his arm away from Luke.

“Why won’t y’all just leave me alone,” Luke muttered before trying to cover himself with his quilt.

“Because you screwed up, that’s why, and not only did you screw up, you used what Nate did to pretend like he’s the only one that did something wrong,” Martin started saying before Luke sat up on the bed.

“Stop it already, I don’t want to hear this bullshit anymore,” Luke said with tears starting to roll down his face.

“No, you will listen this time and I don’t give a shit if you try to attack me, I’ll fight back and make you regret it…” Martin said before Luke jumped on him. However Martin already thought it’d be coming so he jumped forward and met Luke halfway in the air, they struggled a bit before Martin managed to push Luke onto his back.

“Get the fuck off me!” Luke yelled.

“In your dreams tardboy, now I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but I am sick of all of this shit,” Martin said as Luke started to struggle again with tears rolling freely down his face. “Stop it, damn it! I love you, but I don’t know what’s happened to you, we’re your friends, me and Becca but you treated her like shit when she wanted to know what happened and you avoided me up until now, but I don’t care what you say or how hard you fight back you have to stop this now!” Martin said as he felt himself begin to cry.

Luke took the opportunity and pushed him to the left, making Martin land on the floor. “Leave me alone, I’ll work things out with Nate once we’re back at the dorm after the break,” he said before he started working towards the door.

“That’s where you’re wrong, if you think you can work things out the way you’ve been trying you’ll fail, and second of all, Nate asked to be reassigned to a new room and got it, he won’t be back at your room after the break,” Martin said breaking the promise he’d made to Nate of not telling Luke about it.

Luke froze and felt a chill go down his spine and spread through his whole body. “No! He wouldn’t… he can’t have…” he started saying before he remembered his own words when he had yelled them at Nate -I wish you would just leave and not come back!- He felt like throwing up and heard his first sob escape as he fell to the ground. “I’m such a fucking idiot…,” he said before he started crying loudly. He heard his bedroom’s door close and saw Martin standing before him. Martin got on his knees and wrapped his arms around him. He tried to escape his embrace but Martin wrapped his arms tightly around him and then placed a kiss on his cheek.

“I know, but at least admitting it is a start,” Martin said before he chuckled.

Luke chuckled despite himself. “You suck… please hug me…” he said before he turned around to face Martin and hugged him tightly.

 

[Craiger]

Well, finally, both Nate and Luke are coming to life again. Hopefully Nate will come out of his shell for Christmas and Luke, hopefully, has learned a very good lesson.

I had to laugh when I read about the snow. Believe it or not, it snowed in the Sierras around Lake Tahoe area just a couple of days ago. It's supposed to be summer........damn!

Great chapter and on to New Years.

Craiger

 

[mexamor]

Wow, this is such a great story, wow awesome...thanks so much

 

[harry113]

Wow!! Thanks Luis. Very well written.
Can they get back together now things have gone this far ??
I certainly hope so.
Please tell us soon
Harry

 

[subfer1]

Hmmm I'm not sure guys, just wait and read, christmas and new years eve are coming and then when they get back to the dorms we'll see what happens.

 

[kcm17480]

Awesome, just awesome. Can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[caddymac]

Oh come on Martin, get Luke back on track.

Thank you for another wonderful chapter!!!!!!

 

[robbieadam]

yey, at least Luke has finally came around and realised what an idiot he has been
thanks for the new chapter, can't wait for the next!