Synopsis

“On Todd Salazar’s first day of college, while his belongings were still in neatly labeled boxes on the dorm room floor, he had sex with his new roommate Darin.”

From the first line of the first page of Semesters, a loopy, original novel about gay life at a large New England state university during the early ‘90s, it's clear that the people populating this novel certainly are more interesting that those saintly, asexual members of the class of 10 percent portrayed in heterosexual college novels. Set against an era when gay marriage is a pipe dream and being “out” is still a precarious choice, the students of Semesters feel safe enough in their campus microcosm to be Here and Queer—so get used to it! They have sex, do drugs, have sex again, make all the wrong decisions, wage war against their conservative enemies, bum cigarettes, have more sex, all the while struggling with questions universal to young Americans. The writing is breezy and the drama generous. You'll encounter scandalous revelations, parties out of bounds, back stabbing, and an unforgettable, topsy-turvy final confrontation. Has it been mentioned that there is sex? Lots of it!

The protagonists are three gay men: BEN BRISTOL, the transfer student looking for sex or love, whichever comes first, TODD SALAZAR, the freshman who already has quite the track record but is looking for new conquests, and DARIN BURKETT, Todd’s whiny and underhanded first semester roommate, the self-appointed perpetual victim.

Ben Bristol is the heart of the novel. After two years of living closeted at home and attending a local community college to save money, Ben has high expectations for his junior year. But despite having a hot, straight British roommate who has a habit of walking around in his underwear, Ben’s only affections are from a fedora-wearing Trekker named EDGAR whom he met during orientation. Undeterred, Ben joins the University Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Alliance (UGLBA), writes a column for a newsletter, and falls hard for a guy who barely knows he exists—and that’s only in the first month of school. We follow the uninitiated Ben as he discovers the thrill of off-campus parties, drinks bad sangria and goes to the UGLBA-sponsored dances. Finally an active member of a gay community is Ben happy? And what if his quest for love ends with Ben in the arms of somebody he’d never expected?

Among Ben’s new college friends are: JULIA, a fellow member of the UGLBA whose claims of bisexuality are suspect; JEREMY and ARTURO, who are at a crisis point in their relationship, which Arturo relieves by hitting on other men in front of Jeremy, oblivious to Jeremy’s growing attraction to a sexy TA; TOBE, the self-appointed DJ who plays music nobody requests and refuses to wear weight-appropriate clothing; and TERRI, the beleaguered leader of the UGLBA who discovers her ex-girlfriend is in an abusive relationship and finds herself thrust into a brutal life or death situation.

Countering Ben’s cautious and naive romantic tendencies, Todd Salazar is all magnetic sexual appeal. Todd can’t help but oblige the men who line up the moment he steps on campus in September. In addition to sleeping with his roommate, Darin, Todd seduces super-senior RICHARD, who already has a boyfriend. No matter. After Richard, there’s KIRK, a golden boy from California, who has his own apartment. But Todd is carrying a dark secret about a taboo relationship he had over the summer. There’s a problem with secrets, though ... they have a funny way of being exposed at just the wrong times.

And then there’s Darin Burkett, a weaselly freshman from the suburbs of Boston not thrilled to be stuck in a provincial western Massachusetts state school. The relationship between roommates Darin and Todd, at first full of passion, quickly dissolves as Darin’s inconsiderate habits drive anal retentive Todd crazy; Darin doesn’t make his bed, breaks Todd’s lamp [gasp!], smokes in the dorm room, and has people in at all hours, notably MARIA, the cynical fellow UGLBA member who lives down the hall. Together, Darin and Maria bring their own half-baked brand of stoner politics to a campus that Darin feels is too complacent. Eventually Darin takes up with the mysterious revolutionary and begins a prank campaign against the Young Conservatives Club. Darin also manages to acquire a boyfriend, the sexy LARS, a former swim team member with a great tan line who doesn’t seem to know why he's dating Darin. Tensions between Darin and Todd explode into a nasty fist fight which ends the first semester with a bang and sets the tone for an even larger confrontation just before Spring Break, the ramifications of which send shock waves through the campus.

So take a study break, wring out your wet Speedo and grab a cup of coffee and peanut butter chocolate chip cookie at the Blue Book Café. Semesters demonstrates how much fun college can be when you’re not attending class.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Chapter 5: He and She

He
There weren’t many people left on the floor from last semester, but he swore he could hear everybody whispering when he walked to his room carrying his boxes.  He had to carry them one by one because his fat aunt Rose was waiting in the car and couldn’t walk up the five front steps. 
“It’s the crazy one,” he imagined them saying. “Is he going to freak out on us again?”
No, I’m not.  I’m completely healed. 
But that was a lie.  He did feel better.  Somewhat.  But there were times when he’d still wake up at night and tremble, feeling that the walls were closing in on him.   His mother was a nurse, but even she couldn’t do anything for him.  She came and got him last April after the Resident Director had called, informing her that he’d been locked in his room for three days after some students found him crying in the shower.  He only grew worse after he went home.  He didn’t leave his bedroom for two weeks and his mother had to request that he be withdrawn for the remainder of the semester.  That was good, as he didn’t want to go back right away; it was too humiliating to face anybody.  He hoped they’d forget over the summer.
The medicine helped, and he neither suffered weight gain or loss of sexual appetite, for all the good that did him.  After a long summer, the doctor said it was fine if he went back to school.  He and his mother were both relieved.  So here he was, starting to feel paranoid as soon as he walked through the door of the dorm.
Aunt Rose sat in her car, door open so she could stretch her legs.  Her left pant leg was hitched up and he could see the blue veins against her pale white skin. 
Gross.
“You all set?” Rose asked, falsely cheery.  She always had an undertone of concern in her voice.  It was possible he scared her.  Aunt Rose and her five happy, healthy kids, who felt bad for her sister’s one crazy child. Yay for normal.
“I’m fine, I have my own room this year,” he said. “Medical reasons.”
Rose’s face twitched. “Um hmm,” she said. “Well, that’s good.  You know, I think Jordan lived in one of these dorms.”
“Did she?” he asked.
“She might have,” Rose said. “I should get going.  I’ll tell your mom everything went well.  She loves you, we all do.”
“I know,” he said. “I’m okay.  I start practice soon.  That’ll keep me occupied.”
There were silent for a moment.
“Okay,” Rose said. “I’m going to go before traffic gets ridiculous.” She blew him a kiss, then pulled her car door shut.  It closed with a clang.
He watched Rose drive off.  If anything, the semester would be better than spending time in the house, having everybody treat him as though he was going to break.  It had to be better.


She
A dish shattered in the other room, smashed into who knows how many pieces.  The force of it hitting the wall was enough to shake the apartment.  She closed her eyes. 
What now, what now?
A face peered around the doorframe, red and crinkled: “crepe-paper face” she had taken to calling that look.
“You didn’t buy any milk?”
“I forgot, but there was a little bit left in the carton,” she answered. 
“Which I just spilled on the floor because somebody, some dumb ass left the spout open.”  The entire figure was in the doorway now, the doorway that led to the front door and out of the apartment.
“I’ll get some right now,” she said, starting to get up.
“Forget it, I’ll go.” A hand on her chest shoved her back into her seat.  Rougher than usual, this shove hurt. “You’ll just fuck that up too.”  The slow retreat of the heavy footsteps as they walked out of the room.
“I’m sorry,” she called out.
“No, you’re not sorry, you’re just a loser.”
She waited a few more minutes for the door to slam shut, and then sat back, rubbing her wrist where it had been grabbed and twisted last night until she thought it was going to break.  She looked around at the messy apartment.
It was hardly a life.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)