Chapter 20: Love in the Late Afternoon

In the Office

“Have you seen it?” Terri Friedmann asked walking into the UGLBA office holding a copy of The Patriot over her head.  The office was on the main mezzanine at the Student Union.  It shared quarters with the Radical Students Union who had a small walled-in area at front of the office. Only the RSU quarters could be seen through the window, ensuring the anonymity of any of the UGLBA members.   There were only two people in the office at the moment: her ex-girlfriend Heather and one of the new kids. 

Heather held up her own copy. “The YouCons were thoughtful enough to leave a bundle outside our door, just for us,” Heather said. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised.  It’s just the usual bullshit.” 

“They piss me off is why,” Terri said.

“That’s why they keep doing it,” Heather said.  The guy sitting next to her looked confused.

“But it’s personal,” Terri said. “And they shouldn’t be allowed.”

Last semester there had been an article about the dropout rate of the UGLBA presidents, a true fact that was a stain on the UGBLA’s record.  Terri had been named as the UGLBA’s “least likely to graduate.”   Not only had the paper published Terri’s name, but they were also right about the grade point average: a low 1.5.  After a discussion with the Student Affairs coordinator, Terri was told there was little she could do.  So at the end of the semester, in order to look better in the eyes of the University and to try and save their own academic careers, the UGLBA had formed a five-person steering committee. 

“Now we can all fail out together,” Tobe had said.

Terri looked at the paper again and threw it against the newly painted lavender wall.

“Terri, this is Darin. Darin, this is my ex-girlfriend Terri,” Heather said. 

Darin held out his hand but Terri walked by.

“Terri…” Heather said.

Terri looked up. “I’m sorry, I am not with it today.”

Today? Heather thought.

Terri took Darin’s hand. “Hi Darin, do you want to go break some Young Conservative skulls as an act of initiation?”

“Why not?” Darin said.

 “Are you just coming out?” Terri asked, looking around to see where she had put the “So You’re Coming Out” pamphlets that she’d ordered.  Not the cheap folded paper ones that came out of the Center and looked as though they’d been designed in the 70s by a hippie collective, but the professional ones she’d ordered.

“Kind of,” Darin said. “But I was involved with a group in Boston.”

Heather’s eyes lit up. “BAGLY?”

Darin nodded. “Yeah, I went to some meetings there every once in a while.” Until he met William and he’d stopped attending, because William thought the group was for losers who couldn’t find a date.  Darin never asked William why a 37 year old should have such a strong opinion on a youth group.

“Welcome to the office, we’re always hanging out here,” Terri went over to the desk and started dialing the phone. “We have general meetings once a month which anybody can attend, and open and closed meetings for the steering committee. So please come.”

“Who are you calling?” Heather asked.

“I’m going to see if I can reach Guinevere at the paper,” Terri said. “Let her know that the Cons are striking.”

“I’m sure she knows,” Heather said.  She turned back to Darin. “Don’t mind her, she’s always like this.”

“I’ve noticed,” Darin said. “She doesn’t stop?”

“No,” Heather said. “She doesn’t.  You should see her when she gets worked up.” And that’s why we’re no longer together.

Darin pulled out a lighter. “Can I smoke in here?”

“No,” Heather said. “New rule is you have to go out to the mezzanine.  It’s not so bad, because you can look down right into the snack store.  Tobe used to drop pennies down there onto the girls with big hair to see if they’d stick, but it’s not as much fun now that hairstyles are flattening out.”

Terri put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “Speaking of Tobe, has he been here today?”

“No, why?”

“He needed a ride out to the mall.”

“Is he allowed back there?” Heather looked at Darin and shook her head. “You have to know Tobe.”

“He's changed his hair color since, so he’s sure they won’t recognize him anymore.”

“It’s going to take more than a change of hair color for them to forget Tobe,” Heather took Darin’s hand. “Come on, I’ll walk out to the mezzanine with you.  There may still be some big haired people left.”

Cedrick Says

Ben dreaded coming home to see if he would have another note from Edgar but there hadn’t been any reappearance.  Thank god the RA had put just his first name on the door tag so Edgar couldn’t look him up in the phone directory. 

“You ever hook up with that guy who came by?” Cedrick asked one of the rare nights when he was home early.  He was lounging on his bed in his black briefs. 

Ben forced himself to look away. “No, I don’t think I will.”

“You don’t want to get laid?” Cedrick laughed at Ben’s expression. “Oh come on, we all know you’re gay.”

Was it that obvious? Could people tell? There was no point in denying it; Cedrick could apparently handle it.  “He’s not my type,” Ben said.

“How do you know?  He may have a big dick!”  Cedrick chuckled. “Don’t look so offended.”

“He’s not my type,” Ben repeated.

Cedrick turned onto his stomach, ass in the air. “You’ll never know what you’ve missed.”

“Thank god.”  Was Edgar the kind of guy Cedrick thought he’d be compatible with, that it was the best Ben was going to do?  Surely he could do a lot better than Edgar.  Jeremy was the perfect guy despite always wearing those shorts everywhere.  But he was taken.

“I’ve made you self-conscious, haven’t I?” Cedrick said. “I see you looking in the mirror.”

 “No, you haven’t.”  Ben grabbed his Shakespeare text. If he had to watch Cedrick undulate on the bed in his briefs all night, he'd go crazy.  Better to read in the lounge at the end of the hallway.

“You’re going to go to the payphone on the first floor and call him, aren’t you?” Cedrick said. “I knew you couldn’t resist that fedora.”

“Shut up.”  It was hard not to smile.

Ben could hear Cedrick laughing after he’d closed the door.

Weirdo.  Beautiful, sexy weirdo. 

Love in the Late Afternoon

“Ow! Don’t bite! Christ.”

Arturo lifted his head up from between Jeremy’s thighs. “I wasn’t biting, it was a nibble.”

“Whatever it was, don’t do that,” Jeremy looked over at the wall clock. “We need to start heading out.”

Arturo knelt in front of Jeremy, dick wilting, the unopened condom on the floor.  Goddamn Jeremy; always thinking about what needed to be done and never enjoying the moment. Jeremy was so young and inexperienced when they’d met that Arturo knew immediately that Jeremy wouldn’t be his most exciting lover, but now after two years, bed death had set in. If Arturo hadn’t jumped on him tonight, they would have waited until Wednesday for sex.  Wednesday:  the sex night.  Arturo wasn’t sure how that specific day became the day but it was the only time when Jeremy was horny, although even Wednesdays were starting to get overlooked. Jeremy was constantly worrying about departmental baloney, his projects, his grad school applications which still wouldn’t be due for another year.

“I don’t want to go to the party,” Arturo said.

“I do, and so do you. You’re just being contrary because I don’t want to be nibbled.”

Jeremy stood up and walked over to the dresser.  No matter how frustrating Jeremy could be, he had a magnificent ass.  Arturo started getting hard again. 

Jeremy tossed a cashmere sweater he’d bought for Arturo at Christmas over at him. “Wear this …” 

Jeremy bent over at the drawers and Arturo watched his ass spread every so slightly.  Enough was enough.  He opened the condom, stood up and shoved him against the dresser. 

“But first,” Arturo said and he shoved his dick right up inside Jeremy. Instead of the expected protestation, Jeremy inhaled sharply, and then moaned.

 “I thought so,” Arturo said, leaning over to kiss him on the neck.

Afterward, they lay on the bed.  Jeremy propped himself up on one elbow and tweaked Arturo’s nipple.  “Now, we need to go,” he said. “But forget about the sweater.  This,” He pulled out the one he’d tossed at Arturo earlier from underneath him; it was rumpled, “Won’t do anymore.”

Arturo sat up and kissed Jeremy. “I’m ready.”

Chapter 17: Egg Toss

Egg Toss

Sabra Gould didn’t notice that the Diversity Center had been egged until she got up to the front steps.  She looked around as though the perpetrators were hiding somewhere, but that was ridiculous.  This was definitely a middle of the night prank.

“Fucking assholes,” she muttered. Not  9 a.m. and I’m already pissed off.

She put down the two heavy boxes containing the October newsletter she’d been carrying and fumbled in her jeans pocket for her keys.  College students or not,  Dickinson residents or not, ignorance was no excuse for this happening again.  Since the Center had been established in this residential area, there had been broken windows, nasty phone calls, most of it originating from drunken frat boys but there were never any witnesses.  The attacks were often on weekends, and were never discovered until much later, usually by Sabra. 

“There’s nothing we can do except report it,” the campus cop had said the day the overhead window above the couch in the main room had been kicked in. The cop appeared uncomfortable and once he looked around, he went back and stood in the doorway. “We’ll never be able to find whoever did it.”

“But this isn’t the first time,” Sabra said.

“That’s not a homophobic incident, most likely,” the cop had said. “The sidewalk is up the slope from here. That just looks like a basement window from where they walk by, they most likely kicked it in because it was there. Drunken antics.”  It may not have been a homophobic incident, but the problem was that the cops downplayed everything.  They may as well have been on the side of the aggressors.  What the fuck, it’s a state school, Sabra thought, it's not like any rich parents were withholding endowments in lieu of things being swept under the rug.

A report was completed, the glass was replaced, the University “looked into it” and that was it. 

Sabra wouldn’t call the cops about the egging; they didn’t respond kindly to calls about events of this small magnitude.   Sandy the grouchy maintenance woman could clean up the egg when she came to empty the wastebaskets at noon. Sandy wouldn’t be happy but unlike the cops, Sandy on occasion showed a little bit of sympathy.  

Sabra opened the front door to the office slowly.  There was no draft of air; nothing was open or broken but the sliding patio doors had all been egged as well, every last one.   If somebody had been at the office when it happened, they could have recorded it in the incident book.  Sabra had created the book herself and encouraged any students to report homophobic encounters in it.  The incidents recorded were one more thing for the end of year report Sabra would submit to prove the campus was a hostile environment, and that it was necessary to give the Center more funding in the next go-round.

Two minutes past nine.  Another day.  Turn on the coffeemaker, turn on the lights, put lunch in the fridge, and get it together without losing your mind. 

Shit, I left the boxes on the steps.

She walked out of the small kitchenette and jumped. Somebody was standing outside on the patio.  It was Julia Wood. 

Sabra pushed the eggy glass door open. “Why are you standing out here?”

Julia slid in past Sabra. “I forgot my key and nobody ever hears me when I knock on the door,” she said, throwing her bag in the nearest chair.  Julia walked into the kitchen and opened the top cabinet looking for teabags. “That’s a nice present they left for us out there.”

“You didn’t lose your key did you?”

Julia pulled out a box and put in on the counter. “No, I just misplaced it.  I’ll find it.  Do you think we’ll have time to talk about the newsletter today?” 

Julia had been hired last week; admitting in the interview that it was only the third time she’d ever come over to the Center, but she wanted to use her work study money for the undergraduate PR job.  Basically, PR for the Center amounted to working on the newsletter.  Carlos, a grad student getting his MFA, handled most of the press releases when he wasn’t hung over.

 “I don’t know, maybe this afternoon,” Sabra said. “There’s a new work study student named Ben starting later this morning that I need to train. Do you know him?”

 “Tall guy?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty tall.  If you’re here when he arrives, welcome him, don’t scare him off…”

Julia looked mock offended. “Never!” she said. “And then will you have time to sit down with me?”

“Maybe,” Sabra said.  “I have a lot of things to get together.”

“How many undergrads are you going to hire?”

Sabra shrugged. “You, Macon Brigham and Ben.  I think that’s it. I don’t have to pay you, so it doesn’t matter to me.”   And thank god. Undergrads were just a waste of time anyway, but it was good to pass the shit-work off on them.

Sabra went out to get the boxes. When she came back in, Julia was on the phone at the front desk.  Sabra deposited the boxes on the desk. “Thanks for the help.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Julia picked up the newsletter and looked at it frowning.

“So, do you think you can do a better job on that this year?”

“Oh definitely,” Julia said. “It’ll be like going from a church bulletin to The New Yorker.”

Sabra, who had been producing the newsletter from the start, glared at her. 

Cocky bitch.

Encounter at The Blue Book

“Todd, right?”  Ben something-or-other stood by the table holding a cup of coffee and his bright red backpack. 

“Yes,” Todd said, not thrilled at being interrupted. “And you’re Ben?”

“Yeah.  I’ve been seeing you everywhere,” Ben said. “So I wanted to introduce myself.”  Ben stood there smiling, waiting for the invite to sit down. 

Todd sighed inwardly.   So much for being alone.  “Sit down if you want,” Todd said. “I’m just studying.  I have a big test.”  Which was a lie. 

Ben threw his backpack in an empty chair.  The table wiggled and the coffee splashed out of Ben’s cup onto the table. “Damn,” Ben said. “Do you have an extra napkin?”

Todd handed him one.

“Hot chocolate,” Ben explained. “I’m too much of a wimp for coffee.”

 “Keeps you up?” Todd asked.

“That and I just never acquired a taste for it,” Ben said. “If I’m bothering you I’ll leave. I just wanted to say hi.”

Todd looked at him again.  Ben seemed normal enough.  Plus, Darin was the only person he’d gotten to know so far, and that was already going to shit.  Time to meet new people.

“No, go ahead, stay,” Todd said. “I’ll be here for a while anyway.”  He pushed his book to the side.  He’d been trying to write a sentence for the last ten minutes and he still couldn’t make it sound right. “You’re new here too, right?  It’s big, huh?”

“It’s not as big as I’d expected it to be,” Ben said. “Just different. I transferred here from another school. I’ve been coming here to the Blue Book at night to be around people.  The dorm room is suffocating.”

“Oh god, you don’t know suffocation until you’ve been in my room,” Todd said.

“How so?”

“It’s a long story.”

 “You’re roommates with Darin?” Ben asked. “You don’t get along?”

“It’s not a good sign when it’s not yet October and I’m ready to kill him.  I’ve tried to do something about the situation but nothing’s helped.”  

“What’s he done?”

“Do you want a list?”

Ben sat back with a puzzled expression. “I thought you guys were boyfriends.”

Todd sighed. “No, we fooled around but we weren’t boyfriends.  I’m beginning to regret I ever did anything with him.  Does everybody think that?”  That would make the next coffee social uncomfortable.

“I haven’t taken a survey, but people know you hooked up.”

“Great.” Word had traveled. “No, we’re definitely not boyfriends.  I don’t think we’re even friends.”

Ben shook his head. “How they can expect people to get along in a room the size of a postage stamp is something only they know.”

 “I’m glad I’m not going out with him anyway,” Todd said. “There are too many cute guys here.”

“At school or here at the Blue Book?”

“Both, don’t you think so?”

“Yeah … yeah,” Ben said. “And I can’t believe I’m talking about it so openly with somebody.  I’m still new at all this stuff.  I got a job at the Center as the staff librarian.  It sounds better than it is.”

“They have a library there?”

“Small one,” Ben said. “But it’s good.  You should check it out.”

 “Maybe.  I’m new to all of this too,” Todd said. “For the most part.”  Do family members count?

Ben glanced over at what Todd was working on; it didn’t look like an assignment, but a letter.  There was an addressed envelope half-hidden under a notebook but Ben made out the city.

It was addressed to Buffalo.