Profile
Name: College Life
Author: KyleKamei
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Chapters: 11
Words: 15857
Published: 12/25/01
Updated: 5/25/02
Complete: No
Description: Slash is in Post-secondary, things happen, and people happen. A notice has been added!
Disclaimer (By Author): The characters in this story aren't mine. They belong to the people who created The snowboard kids, with the exception of Kyle, Chris, Danny and Greg and maybe others. This list may get longer.
Story
Chapter 1
I drop the box on the only really empty bed in the room, their were two and the other one was covered in the owners boxes and various other items. I open the box I had brought, I had only packed a few things because I lived over in the west and the school was over in the east. I pull out the first thing on top. It was a picture wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue paper. I unwrapped it, took one look and started feeling very home sick. It was a picture of my son, Kyle, and me. It had been taken about two years ago.
"Maybe my mom was right, I miss everyone all ready." I sigh and look down at the picture. I didn't know someone had entered the room until a voice by my ear replied.
"Well you'll miss no matter what but after a few weeks it won't be so bad." I spun around and found myself face to face with a blond haired, blue eyed man who was about two or so years older than me.
"Well I guess you probably know, unless this is your first year too." He smiled.
"Nope my second, who's that?" He pointed to the picture. I look down.
"Kyle, my son. And personally I think he's the sweetest little boy in the world. This was take about two years ago so he's older now." The man smiled and turned. He went through some stuff on his bed and turned back to me.
"Well I'm Daniel but everyone calls my Danny, and this is Chris, my son, and personally I think HE is the sweetest little boy in the world." He gives me a smug look.
"I'm Slash, and I'm sorry to say this but you are most diffenately wrong. Now I am sure that Chris is sweet but Kyle is sweeter." I turn around a continue unpacking. Their was a chuckle from the door.
"Let me guess a battle of the dads?" I look up from the box and smile.
"Yes, this freshman thinks his son is sweeter than mine." Danny put an arm around my shoulder. The new comer looked me over a second.
"Well, has his son smacked another baby on the head with a stuffed bear?" He asked. I look at Danny from the corner of my eye. He picks up the picture of Kyle and me.
"Well he doesn't look like the violent type." I take the picture from him and put it on the bedside table.
"No actually he prefers cuddling. Which I'm guessing you little boy doesn't do much if he's busy hitting others over the head." The man at the door chuckled some.
"I just have one question before this gets violent. Do get to be introduced to this guy or do I have to do everything myself?" Danny looks at me for a second.
"Right, this is Greg and he is an old friend of mine. We roomed last year, he's on the football team." I smile at him and extend my hand.
"Well I am Slash Kamei and I am more of a snowboarder than a football fan." Greg takes my hand, but instead of shaking it he bends over and kisses my fingers lightly.
"Well, now that we have been properly introduced perhaps you would like to escort me to the strip this evening. And for a beautiful creature such as your self I would willing score on my own team." I felt myself blush slightly. I have never had anyone say anything like that to me before. I looked over at Danny, he had a bit of an odd look on his face.
"Come off it Greg, you don't even know if the strip it his type of place. After all he does have a son." I roll my eyes. Greg looks back at him for a second.
"Well you don't know that, besides I was just asking."
"Well if someone wants to tell me what the strip is then I might actually be able to answere." I smile at Greg and he smiles back.
"The strip is a street of gay bars and hangouts." Danny said, "and Greg seems to automatically think every pretty guy he sees plays for that team." I smile him.
"Well I can understand, after all A guy can only hope." I turn to Greg, "And I would love to escourt to the strip provided you keep hands to your self unless other wise said and you let me get something to eat. I am starved." Greg gave Danny a smug look then smiled at me.
"Well when you are done unpacking just head down to room 233G and I will show you where the best food in the school can be found." I tell him ok, Danny and I reaturne to unpacking. I couldn't help but notice that Danny himself didn't seem to care weather something was done very neatly. I hand expected him to notice how I worked either but he mentioned it.
"Let me guess you are one of those neat freaks who need everything to be perfect." I turn around and see him sitting on the bed. At least it was made.
"'Fraid so, but I think everything will be fine if you can keep your mess on your side." I looked over the room, now that the two of us were unpacked it wasn't that hard to really tell who was on what side of the room, Danny's side was more or less just put together clean enough you could tell he just moved in but not so tidy that you'd think he spent hours doing it. My side was impecibly tidy. Everything was where it should be and not even a thread out of place.
"Just so long as I don't have to be keeping every little thing absolutely perfect. I smiled at him.
"Well I don't know about you but I am going to go find my tour guide and get something to eat. I started to reach for my winter coat but stopped. I reminded myself that I was no longer in the Canadian Rockies and that it was actually quite warm out side. Well hot if you used to live in a town that usually gets snow ten months out of the year.
"Well ok, but be careful. You new remember, if he tells you not to do something then don't. Other than that, have fun" he smiled at me. I waved and left. I walked a bit down the hall until I reached the room that Greg had mentioned. I looked it for a second and then knocked. The door opened to reveal Greg in cloths a bit nicer than the ones he had been wearing when he stopped by the room.
"Well now if I had know this would be a special occasion then I would have worn something nicer." He smiled and stepped back.
"No need, I just feel a tad inadequate next to such a delicate flower." I roll my eyes.
"Ok, I do like Shakespeare and all but it would be nice to have a normal conversation." I follow him into the room, unlike mine this room had only one bed.
"Well ok, But only since you asked nicely." I sit down in a chair.
"So where are we going to eat?" I ask. He continues to get ready.
"Well the only place around here that makes anything edible is The fishbowl. They make awesome sandwiches." He headed to the door and I followed.
The restaurant was good. Greg was right when he said the sandwiches were good. We stayed their for about an hour talking. Mostly he asked me questions about Kyle and what I was going to be studying, which was law. He did talk a bit about himself, mostly when I asked. After that we climbed into his car and headed for the strip.
The first club we entered was almost packed. The music was loud and people were crammed together on the dance floor. When we got inside Greg led me to the bar and bought me a drink. I sat down and looked out at everyone on the dance floor.
"So do you dance?" Greg practically had to yell in order for me to hear him.
"Not much, I've never really had anywhere to do it." He smiled impishly me before taking my hand and leading me to the dance floor. When we got their he turned to face me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He looked me right in the eye and told me to just follow him. So I did. I think at that moment I probably would have done just about anything for him. The feel of his larger, muscled body reminded me a lot of Jam, I suppose it is mostly because the only people who have been able to make me feel protected were Jam and now Greg. I think we danced a few hours before Greg and I left. I was tired and slightly drunk when we did leave. I was leaning on Greg, he was that much more steady than me. We took a cab home. Before I new it I was standing in front of my Dorm room leaning on the wall and looking into Greg's dark eyes. He did say anything, I was even a little afraid that he was going to leave me out here without so much as a goodbye. I don't even know why that worried me. However, instead of a goodbye he leaned in and Kissed me on the mouth. I am not to sure how long we stood their but when he finally pulled back I had my arms wrapped around his neck. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. He brought his lips up to my ear.
"Maybe we oughta get into bed." I moaned slightly.
"Do I hafta?" I asked half asleep. He chuckled and knocked lightly on the door. I heard Danny laugh a bit when he opened the door.
"Well it seems like Someone had a goodtime." I'm not sure how I managed it but in about fifteen minutes I was in my boxers and a tee-shirt and curled up in bed. The last thing I could remember thinking was that I was probably going to be hungover in the morning.
Chapter 2
I woke up the next morning with, of course, a hangover. I had been sort of expecting it but these things are always worse than you think they will be. I was still trying to determine weather or not my head was going to let me move when the door opened and a voice, that for some deranged reason was happy, cut through the silence.
"Rise and shine sleepyhead, the day's half over all ready." I right then decided that being nice in this situation was not an option. I grabbed the closest thing to my hand, which was a pillow, and threw it as hard as I could. The sound that followed was half way between a grunt and a laugh.
"Now that is what I call a good shot, now come on there is something you need to see." I push the cover back and glare at my roommate.
"How about the inside of my eye lids?" I grumbled. Danny laughed and I rolled over to sit on the edge of the bed. I glared at him.
"How can you be so happy at," I looked over at the clock, "eight o'clock in the morning?" even when I was feeling good I felt the day really shouldn't begin until at least ten, which is why most of my classes have been arranged to be either night or afternoon.
"Well first off I'm not the one who went out and got drunk last night and second I like the morning." I groaned and started to get dressed.
"What ever it is I have to see better be good or you will suffer." He waited until I was done dressing before replying.
"There really isn't anything to show you but I did get you dresses, beside don't you need a tour of this place? Being new and all." I sigh, groan and flop back on the bed, and regret the action.
"You are just evil." I say. I feel him climb on my bed next to me.
"I know, so what do you say to coffee and some breakfast." I look over at him.
"I guess that would be ok." I push myself up, my headach wasn't so bad anymore. I followed Danny out of the room. We walked for a while, passing the restaurant that Greg and I had eaten at the night before, it was closed. Danny pointed out pretty much anything he thought I would need to know like where the library was, and even pointed out the gym. When we finally stopped we were standing in front of a two story building. The sign said that it housed administration offices and a cafeteria. He pulled the door open and ushered me in. We walked up a set of stairs into a very cafeteria-like cafeteria. Most of the tables were pushed together and about half of them had students sitting at them. He lead me around the counter area telling me about everything the was to be served.
"Now I know someone who swears by these crossants and the hot chocolate, though how she can attend classes as early as she does without caffeine is beyond even me." I smile at him and pick up one of the crossants.
"Well if your friend thinks there worthy maybe I should try one, besides I don't think I could handle anything to heavy right now." I stop by the coffee machine and pour myself a cup. I was just pulling out my wallet when Danny told me to stop.
"I'll pay, after all I did wake you really early." I look at him, he had one of those 'your not saying no' looks on his face. I sighed, gave in and let him pay. We took a seat near the back at a booth that was meant for four people. We sat down and I started to eat, Danny just sat their looking at me. I looked back for a second.
"What?" I asked finally.
"So how was your night out with the local football star?" I roll my eyes.
"You really want all the perverse details?" I ask with a slight smerk. He chews his food for a second.
"Well when you put it that way then, no" he pushes some egg around his plate before skewering a piece of ham with his fork and eating it." I laugh.
"Well if really must know, I had fun. We danced and had a few drinks." Danny looks at me out of the corner of his eyes.
"A few? You weren't exactly sober last night. Personally I think you outghta be thankful you didn't wake up in someone elses bed." I smile at him.
"I would never do anything like that. Besides I don't think Greg would let that happen either. He didn't seem to drunk at least not to me." Danny smiled as me slightly.
"Well he wasn't, of course he's also a football player and likes to attenned mixers so he probably has pretty high tolerance." I smile at him.
"Well that makes me feel better, knowing I am in the hands of a drunk football player." Danny chuckles.
"Not hands I'd want my sister in but Greg's cool, he knows his limits." I smile. "Glad you care." Danny's watch beeped. I look at him, he looked at his watch.
"Uh, time for me to pay a visit to my old club. You might want to come. I have fun being the only straight guy who attends our schools Gay Straight Bisexual alliance." I think about it for a second. I had hear of clubs like that but being in a small town has prevented me for actually having first hand experience.
"Yeah, sure. I got to find something to keep me busy before classes start on Monday." We pack up our garbage and leave.
***
After the first week of school I pretty much understood how things worked. Friday was party day in the door, in other words I wouldn't be able to sleep Friday night unless I went to a hotel or something. The classes were pretty much sit and listen and Danny's girlfriend was a homophobic bitch. She was in one of my classes too. Although Greg and I had had fun that first night nothing ever came of it. It was Monday evening, I entered my room and flopped on to the bed. Danny entered with his books and a few flyers and his girlfriend. I half sat and greeted them. Janis, Danny's girlfriend, just smiled. Danny jumped on the bed beside me.
"Hey Slash, the school is hosting a blood drive tomorrow. Please say you'll donate." I bite my lip.
"um, I can't" Danny gives me an odd look. His girlfriend muttered something about AIDS, I glare at her.
"Why not?" He seems almost hurt. I lay back on the bed.
"Because when I was sixteen I was diagnosed with leukemia. I'm not allowed to donate. I wish I could, after all if it weren't for people giving blood I wouldn't even be alive today." I feel Danny look at me for a bit.
"Jeez that sucks. I've never known anyone who had been sick before." I shrug.
"Technically I am still sick, unless I stay in remission for five years then I'll still have leukemia. And I get to have monthly work ups done, well now it's every six months." I look over at him and smile. "But if you want me there to hold your hand while they stick the big scary needle in I'd bee happy to." Danny smacks me in the face with a pillow.
"I'm not afraid of needles." His girlfriend laughs. He looks over at her. "what?" He asks.
"Well if your not afraid of needles then I guess last year you where just acting when you gave blood." He sticks his tongue out at her. "Well Slash if you want you can volunteer. We need people to help with the food and even sit with people who are donateing." I think about it for a second.
"Sure, as long as I don't have to miss class." For the first time since I met her Janis smiled at me.
"You can come in the morning then." I smile back.
***
Later that evening Danny and I were in our room. I was just finishing up some reading and Danny was talking about his girlfriend.
"So anyway, I think Jannie kind of feels sorry for you and might start treating you a little better than before." I sigh, I really didn't like other people pitying me but if it means Janis will treat me better then I could deal with it.
"Well anything to be treated like a human being." I put my books away and settle myself beside him on his bed.
"So when were you going to buy that TV?" I ask, earlier that day he had told me he wanted to buy a TV so that he could hook up his playstation. Danny looked back at me.
"When I have the money preferably. But if you want to chip in some we could get it sooner." He smiles at me.
"That sounds like a good plan." Danny continued to look at me for a bit.
"What?" I ask.
"Just wondering. It's nothing though." I give him a look.
"Well why don't you just ask?" He looks at me for another second before sighing.
"Well I just wanted to know what it's like to actually like other guys, physical attraction you know?" He shrugs and stands up.
"Well haven't you ever though another guy was attractive? And don't lie." He looks back at me.
"Not that I can really remember. Why? Do you think I have?" I smile at him.
"Well have you every thought that your girlfriend would fall in love with another guy?" He sits back down beside me.
"Well yeah but that's normal. Isn't it?" He tilted his head.
"Yeah it is, but the thing is chances are you were feeling threatened because you recognized that the other guy was attractive. Although the way I see an attractive guy is different from how you see an attractive guy. You see him as a threat I see him as a good fuck." Danny laughs.
"I guess your right. Do you get irritated when guys your with start checking out girls?" I laid back on the bed.
"No I just start feeling left out. There all talking about how hot she is and I'm busy checking out her boyfriend." Again he chuckles.
"Well you do have to give Jannie some credit. With her parents she is doing good dealing with you and Greg." I smile slightly. I had heard stories about Jannis's parents and they where not pretty.
"I guess." Danny smiles at me, he then leans over and gives me a hug. Surprised, I ask him why he did that.
"You looked like you needed it." I smile again and get ready for bed. Just as I am gathering my stuff for brushing me teeth Danny gets up and stands in front of me.
"You know Slash, to tell the truth, I kind of think your attractive." I look up at him and blush. He is red too.
"Um, thanks." I smile and he steps back to let me out of the room.
Chapter 3
By the time my first class started the next day I was sick of feeding people and tired of seeing blood. Janis stopped me on my way out of my last class, it was the one we had together.
"Slash, it was really nice of you to help out today. Um, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for how I have been treating you and all that." She looked down at her hands and then back up at me and smiled. I smiled back.
"Don't worry about it Janis." I turn to leave. She puts a hand on my arm to stop me.
"You know Danny really respects you, I don't really know why, but he does." I smile at her, she smiles back, it looked forced to me. She turned around and headed off. I shook my head and started towards my dorm. I was walking through a small park area on campus when Greg found me.
"Slash!" I turn and see him jogging across the grass from the Library.
"Hey, Greg, how can I help you?" He stops and falls into step beside me.
"I was wondering what you would do if someone was kick out of a club because he or she was not straight?" I stop and look at him.
"Well it depends, if it where something like a small unofficial study group then all that can really be done is find another group. If it were something the school funded like, oh say, a sports team then the person has grounds the press charges." I look at him out of the corner of my eyes.
"Is there any particular reason you want to know." He gives me an odd look and then shakes his head.
"No, no reason. Just...curious. Thanks for your input." He breaks into a slow run and heads off away from the dorm. When I got back to my room Danny was laying on his bed with Janis talking about the drive. I look at her and the put my books away, I turn back towards them and look at her again.
"How did you do that?" I ask her. She looks up from where she was lying.
"How did I do what?" She asked.
"How did you get here before me. We left at the same time and I know you don't have a car, hell you even when the opposite way from the dorm." She sits up.
"I don't know. I took my time getting here though." I shake my head and put my books away. I flop back on to my bed.
"Hey, did you hear what happened to Greg?" Danny asked. I rolled over to face him and Janis.
"No, what happened?" Danny sat up and leaned back against the wall.
"He got kicked off the football team, lost his scholarship too. He said it happened after the coach caught him making out with some guy out side his room." I sat up.
"Really? Do you know what he is going to do?" Danny shrugged.
After Janis had gone back to her own room that night Danny and I were studying and writing a term paper respectively. As I busily typed away on my laptop (a gift from my dad, trying to buy my forgiveness) Danny mumbled to himself about the different effects of Haldol. I stop typing and look at him.
"Hey, Danny?" He looks up from his notes.
"Yeah?" I turn around and face him in my chair.
"Can you tell me something? What is Haldol, you've been talking about it for the last five minutes." He smiles.
"Wondering when you were going to ask. Haldol is a tranquilizer given to combative or violent patients. Now how about you tell me, what is the statute of limitations on a murder?" I grin back at him.
"There isn't one, a murderer is always a murderer." He glances up at a book open in front of him that he had been ignoring until now.
"Hey, I didn't know that. Cool!" Tired of working I get up and flop down on Danny's bed. He looks over at me.
"You have your own bed you know." I close my eyes and grope for the covers.
"Yeah but my bed is actually made, and I don't want to mess it until I go to bed." I hear Danny let out an exasperated sigh and feel him join me on the bed. I open my eyes and find myself staring right into his. Not for the first time I notice how incredibly sexy my roommate is. Before I knew what was happening Danny had closed the gap between us and had his lips pressed to mine.
Chapter 4
When I woke the next morning I had the vaguely familiar feeling of being in bed with someone. My first though was that I had some how been talked into going home with some guy I'd met at a club. Then I realized that I wasn't hung over and that the smell of the bedding was oddly familiar. I finally decided to open my eyes. The first thing I saw was my bed, across the room from where I was. Then memory of what happened hit me. Carefully I rolled over and faced my bed mate. I was only slightly surprised to find Danny sleeping peacefully. I was trying to decide weather or not I should get up and pretend nothing happened when he opened one blue eye. He buried his face in the pillow and then looked back at me.
"Your not Jannie" He stated. I sighed and stretched.
"Thanks for reminding me, but I figured that one out a long time ago." I smile at him. Again he buries his face in the pillow, and laughs.
"Ok then can you figure out why you're over here and not over there?" I sit up and wince slightly at the familiar pain in the backside.
"Well I can give a pretty accurate guess what we did, but I can't tell you why." Danny sits up to.
"I remember what we did, I wasn't drunk." He looked at me, "You're not going to tell Jannie are you?" I shook my head.
"She'd hurt me if I did." He smiled at me.
"OK, um, no offence or anything, but this is kind of making me nervous. You in my bed." I smile and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.
"None taken." I get up and pull on my boxers. When I look back I can tell that he knows I am hurt by his nervousness. He pulls on his own cloths. I flop back onto my own bed.
"Slash?" I sit up.
"Yeah?" Danny sits beside me.
"Are you ok? You look a little, I dunno, not right. Did I hurt you or something?" I smile at him.
"You didn't hurt me, all though I have to admit you're bigger than I'm used to." He blushed at that, "I'm just irritated with myself. I made a promise to myself when I realized my preference that I wouldn't sleep with anyone who, for some reason or another, wouldn't be comfortable with it." I smiled at him. I got up and hunted down some clean cloths. Just as I pulled my shirt on someone knocked on the door. Danny answered it.
"Jannie, hey hon, what are you doing here?" He stepped back and let his girlfriend in.
"I know I'm early but I couldn't wait. You know that Greg is actually going to try and sue the sports department for kicking him off the team? I mean it's not even their fault. He should know the consequences of his choice of lifestyle." Janis then noticed me. She smiled.
"Sorry Slash I didn't see you there." I shrug, but don't smile back. Instead I inform her.
"Just so you know the school can't leagally remove someone from a sports team just because of his sexual preferance." She forces another smile.
"Well it's not like anyone is going to actually side with Greg. After all nobody wants sissies on there football team." I grit me teeth, I guess the apology she issued the other day was just for show. I pick up my books.
"I'm going out with Greg tonight, don't wait up for me. I'll see you tomorrow Danny," I nod to Janis "Janis." With that I leave, aware that I let the door slam behind me. As I passed Greg's door, he came out looking rather distressed.
"Greg?" He looked up with a startled look in his eyes. "You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, where are you headed?" His eyes travel to my books.
"Your studying? Today?" I laugh.
"Yeah, you know some people actually care about their grades." He laughs and slings an arm around my shoulder. I catch the faint scent of alcohol on his breath.
"Slash, baby, you and I are still heading out tonight right?" I sigh.
"Depends." I let him steer me down the hall.
"On what?" He asks me.
"On weather or not you're going to let yourself sober up first?" He gives me an odd look.
"What do you mean? I haven't had that much to drink at all." I sigh, we had reached the common room. I manage to convince him to sit down.
"Look at me." His eyes wander down my body, I reach out and raise his chin so that he's looking me in the eye.
"First off, you are drunk I can tell, and it is only," I look at my watch, "Ten in the morning. And Second, I don't go clubbing with guys that drink before they even leave their place." He is silent for a bit.
"Ok, I'll sober up before tonight if you tell me on thing?" I sigh and let go of his chin.
"What?" He smiles slyly.
"Who'd you get it from last night?" Shocked I look at him.
"What are you talking about?" His smile turned to a grin.
"Come on Slash, I can tell when I guys been laid. And you have it written all over you." I sigh. I guess I can't get anything past this guy.
"I'll tell you when you're sober, I don't trust you when your drunk." He nods.
"All right, but you gotta say." I smile at him. Standing up I head over to the 'kitchen' area and start a pot of coffee. I lean back against the counter and study the lager man sitting on the couch.
""Greg, why are you drunk this early anyway?" I ask, I can tell that he needs to talk to someone. He shrugs.
"Cause I started drinking this early?" He looks at me with innocent eyes. I have to laugh.
"Then why did you start drinking this early?" His eyes change, they take on a troubled look.
"Cause everything is spinning out of control." He sound almost guilty. I sigh and sit down beside him.
"And I take it that this is how you handle things you can't control." He smiled at me.
"You should have seen me when I started realizing I liked other guys more than I liked the girls that where throwing them selves at me." I lean my head on his shoulder.
"You tell me your story and I'll tell you mine." He looks me in the eyes.
"Ok, fine. When I was a senior in high school. I started liking other boys. I was scared, I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me. So I did exactly what my dad did when he couldn't handle things. I started drinking. Nearly got my self kicked off the football team. Things didn't actually get better until I ended up spilling the whole thing to my dad one night when I was pissed. I was shocked the next morning when he was actually pretty accepting and actually wanted to help. Hell, he had even all ready called the local chapter of PFLAG." He smiled at me. "Now can I get you're story?" I smile back.
"That's what I said isn't it?" Move around so that I am laying on my back with my feet in his lap. "I was younger than you, fourteen, and my girlfriend was pregnant. Now trust me, when I started falling fro Jam I was scared out of my mind. My dad has always been one of those people who figured all fags should be hospitalized." I chuckle lightly.
"I guess I was lucky then," he says. I smile at him.
"I didn't actually come out to my parents until I was just about to head over here. I told me friends before Kyle was even born. Linda was pretty depressed about it, but her and the others where pretty understanding." I get up again and head to the little kitchen area. I pour the two of us coffee and make my way back to the couch. I hand one cup to him; he takes it and thanks me. I return to my seat beside him.
***
I had managed to avoid Janis the rest of the day, of course considering the size of the campus it wasn't that much of a surprise. I did, however, run into her as I was leaving the Law Library. I tried to sneak past her, but she wouldn't have it.
"Slash, I think you and I need to have a talk." I sigh and curse my bad luck. I really didn't want to hear what she had to say to me but I could tell that I didn't have much of a choice. I stop and sit on the steps in front of the building.
"All right then, talk." She sighs and sits beside me.
"Look, Slash. I know you have a bias, but you need to realize that there is a reason homosexuality is illegal in twenty one states." I sigh and look at her.
"And there is a reason that the cops do nothing about all the gay people in those twenty one states. Look just because you don't like me, or the fact that I like other guys doesn't mean you can treat me like shit. It is also no reason for you or anyone else to stop someone from doing something that they love to do." She gave me a sad smile.
"I'm not here to treat you bad, I just want to help you. I realize that Greg's, um, lifestyle is attractive. After all you don't have to worry about weather or not your being romantic enough for your girlfriend. You need to see that following him and his little group isn't a smart thing." Again she smiled at me. I looked at her for a second, raised and eyebrow and laughed. When I got my laughter under control I saw that she had an annoyed look on her face.
"Ok, I shouldn't have laughed at you, but what you just said was funny, at least to me. There are some things you need to know before you jump to any more conclusions. First, I'm not following his 'little group' because I think it would be fun. I have known I was gay since I was fourteen. Second I don't even really like most of Greg's friends." I stand up.
"I need to be off now." I start walking, I stop a few feet away and turn around. "And for the record, Janis, when it comes to romance, I am a hopeless case. I'll take chocolates and roses over football tickets and big macs any day" with that I head off towards my dorm to get ready for tonight. I decide to stop by Greg's place to make sure he kept up his part of the deal, I know I probably wont have to keep up mine because once the tinniest drop of alcohol passes his lips he remembers more or less nothing.
Chapter 5
It was pretty late when Greg and I finally decided to head home, I had learned a while ago that Greg never drives if he's had even one drink. Since I didn't have a valid licence here then that meant we had to find out own way home. The choice, a taxi, was just within out price range so we settled our selves in the back and I set to work trying to keep myself awake until I got home. Greg was trying to figure out exactly how much money he had on him.
"Thirty three," I look at him, He smiles.
"I got thirty three dollars. Cool huh?" I nod. Leaning back in my seat I watch the road through half closed eyelids. Greg nudged me; I look at him.
"Don't fall asleep cause I doubt I could carry you back to your room, unless you want me to carry you to my room." I laughed and was about to give a quick-witted response when the cab was hit hard from the side. Everything that happened went by so fast that it seemed like nothing had really happened. Then a realized that something warm was dripping down the side of my face. I shifted to get a better look at Greg; he was out cold. I tried moving over to his side of the car to see if he was still alive but a sharp pain in chest stopped me. I let out a breath and reach over with my left hand to feel for a pulse, it took me a second to realize that the blood covering my hand was my own. I relaxed against the back of the seat and try and figure out what happened. The ambulance workers pulled me from the car first. I tried telling them that Greg need help more than I did but I couldn't get the words out. They settled me on a gurney and I saw why they had gone for me first, the whole left side of the car was pinned to the brick wall of a building. To get to Greg they had to go through my side of the vehicle. Once in the ambulance I found that I could indeed talk, I just need some time to get things out. In what seemed like no time I was being taken out of the ambulance. I let everything happen around me until a doctor called me back to the real world.
"Slash? I need to know where it hurts." The young, blond doctor asked me. I blink a couple of times.
"Your not a natural blond are you?" was the first thing out of my mouth. The doctor laughed.
"No I'm not, now again, can you tell me where it hurts?" He was all ready treating my more obvious injuries.
"Well, my chest hurts, right side. So does my right leg. And now that I think about it, I've got one hell of a headache." I smile at him. He smiles.
"All right, I just need to ask a few questions. Some of them may seem a little dumb but I need to ask them." I try to nod and find that they have put a collar on me. I settle for a verbal answer.
"Fine, ask away, but I wanna know one thing." He stops and looks at me.
"What?" I smile.
"Well can I make it two?" he smiles.
"Sure," He starts checking me over again. Pressing on my chest, which made me swear and examining my leg.
"Well first, have you ever thought of dating patients? And second how's Greg? And know that I think about it who are you anyway?" He tells me to focus on the ceiling and shines a light in my eyes.
"Lets see, to the first question, you're not my type. I prefer cute, brunette girls."
"Damn" He smiles
"Second, I'm not sure how your friend is but I'm sure Helah here can check," The nurse nods and heads for the next room. "And finally you can call me Dr. Dave." He is handed a large envelope. He disappeared behind me for a second. When he came back into my sight he had a smile.
"Good news, your neck is clear, we can remove the collar, you leg is broke though and you have some cracked ribs, now all we have to do is rule out head trauma. Now as for the questions, can you tell me where you are?" I sigh and look around, now that I can move my neck.
"Gimme an address and I can give you a name, other wise the answer is a hospital." He gives me a look.
"So if I gave to address you could tell me what hospital?" I nod.
"I've only been in remission for two years, so my mom made me memorize every hospital and their addresses before I came." He nods.
"Understandable. Mom's can be worrywarts sometimes. Can you tell me the date?" I think for a second.
"I know its Saturday, is it the 19th?" I ask.
"Yeah, it is. You did well. You show no signs of head trauma, do you know if you passed out or not?" I remember back to the accident.
"No I don't think I did." He nods.
"All right well we're going to put you in a different bed and keep and eye on you for a while." Him and the nurse move the bed to another room with a couple of other beds, He then helps me move to one of the beds. The other nurse, Helah as Dr. Dave had called her, returned.
"So far your friend is good, they're taking him up for a CT." I nod.
"That's good, he was out when I last saw him." Helah stuck something into my IV, the pain in my leg and my ribs started to subside.
"I'm going to set your leg, Helah has just given you some painkillers but you'll still feel it a little." I lie back on the bed and wait. I stare at the ceiling for a while, finally Dr. Dave tells me he's done and has to see to other patients.
"I'll be back in a bit, we sent some of your blood work up to the lab so I'll return when we get the results in. Until then, get some sleep you look exhausted. Is there anyone you want me to call?" I nod and tell him to call my parents and Danny, I give him the numbers and close my eyes. I didn't sleep to well, with a new cast on one leg and worries about Greg I was too distracted to really sleep. I'm not too sure how long I had lain there before the doctor came back in. He had a look I had seen on other doctor's faces. I sighed.
"Something isn't good, is it?" It is more of a statement then a question. He sits down.
"I am afraid so. Your blood work came back, it contained fifty percent blasts." I sigh, lay back and close my eyes.
"I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, I just wish it would've been later." He shifts in his chair.
"I've called up to oncology, their going to send down a doctor to see how bad things are. Your parents are going to catch the first plane here." I open my eyes and look at him.
"Thanks, where is Greg?" I ask. I was starting to worry, I hadn't heard anything about him for a while.
"All I am really entitled to say is that he has been transferred to the ICU. You'll have to get the rest from his family." I nod.
"OK," I stare at the ceiling, I hear Dr. Dave get up and start to leave.
"If you wanna talk about anything or just need company tell the nurse to get me. It's a slow day, I could use the brake from paper work." I smile.
"Will do." He leaves. I lay there alone for god knows how long.
***
I fell asleep, I don't know how long I slept but when I awoke Danny was there. So was Janis. I decide the best thing to do would be to ignore her. I look at Danny.
"Hey, how long have you been here?" He sits up and looks at me, Janis excuses her self to go to the restroom.
"Not long, your parents aren't here yet though." I nod.
"How about Greg's?" I was beginning to wonder about him.
"They showed up about five minutes ago, they're up in the ICU talking to the doctor." I nod again. I shift positions so that I am sitting, I wince as my ribs remind me that there cracked.
"Are you ok?" Danny asks, with a worried look. I nodded.
"Fine, just a little sore." I smile at him.
"Well did the doctor say when you could be released?" He asked. I bit my lip.
"Um, not for a while." I turn away and study the wall. I hear Danny stand, he then enters my line of vision. I sigh and look up at him. He has a worried look in his face.
"I'm not in remission any more." I say quietly. Danny pulls up a chair and sits down. He is quiet for a while.
"You joking?" her finally says. I shake my head, I can feel tears starting to form. Danny leans over and pushes my hair behind my ear.
"I'm sure everything will be fine. No matter what the outcome. After all your parents are flying down anyway. Besides you had good luck last time didn't you?" I sigh and look at the ceiling.
"That means nothing, every time I come out of remission its going to get harder and hard to send the cancer back into remission. Eventually they won't be able to do anything for me other than shoot me full of painkillers so I don't suffer." He leans his head on the bed next to mine.
"Their is still a chance you can go into remission again and stay there. Besides their always coming up with new treatments. You can go on sounding so helpless." I give him a small smile. I head the door open.
"Slash?" I look up, instead of my mom or dad, Linda was standing their with Kyle holding on to her leg and Jam standing a few feet behind.
"What are you guys doing here?" I ask, surprised.
"Daddy, mommy said you got hurt." I smile as Kyle manages to climb onto the bed. I hug him.
"Just a little. But I'm ok." Kyle curls up on my good side and rests his head on my shoulder.
"That's good, 'cause my friend from school said her aunty got hurt and was in the hospital and when she came out she couldn't walk." I give him a kiss.
"Well I'm pretty sure I can walk. Or at least I will be able to when this cast comes off." Jam and Linda have moved into the room, I introduce them to Danny.
"Hm, that's not really allowed." Dr. Dave was standing in the door way."We aren't supposed to let anyone on the bed with a patient." Kyle looks up at him with a puppy dog look, one that I recognize as the same one I used to use on my own parents. The doctor closes his eyes and sighs.
"Ok, if anyone can resist that look? It's not me, but don't tell anyone I'm allowing it." Kyle smiles.
"Ok," he says and lays down again. Dr. Dave shakes his head.
Chapter 6
It took a while for them to get me admitted and up to my own room (my dad insisted AGAIN that I have my own room). Dr. Dave said it took long because transport was filled with a bunch of lazy couch potatoes, I figure he meant they where just backed up. By the time I was settled it was nearly supper the next day. Jam showed up not to long after I was settled and brought me some cloths. I was a little bit surprised. I had figured that Danny would bring me cloths. This hospital was different from the one I had been in when I was sixteen. Of course the fact that I was no longer a paediatrics patient probably had something to do with it. It was the next morning when I became aware that my treatment would be different to. The nurse came in and instead of the usual medication that I had gotten when I was younger she had a wheel chair with her. I asked her what it was for.
"You," she said, "Because it is going to be harder to get you into remission than before the doctor is going to give you stronger medicine. This means you get a ride to the treatment room." She smiled.
"First off, why can't they just do it in my room and second I can walk just fine thank you very much." To prove it I stood up and walked out of the room, the nurse followed with the chair.
"Well first off, it costs less to treat more than one patient at a time with one or two nurses watching. If everyone were treated in their room then each person would need their own nurse, not enough funding. Second, trust me today will most likely be the only day you can walk to treatment." I sigh and follow the nurse into another room. This one had a number of chairs in it. Some were occupied. She had me sit in one of the chairs and left, when she came back she had an IV with her. I eyed it wearily.
"You gonna stick me aren't you?" I asked. She chuckled.
"Yup," she went about setting up my arm and the IV. I lean back in the chair. It was actually pretty comfortable.
"You sounded a little too happy on that one." I smiled back at her. Whatever was in the IV it made me sick; it didn't take very long for it to start either. Once I was done, as the nurse had predicted, I was to weak to walk. I allowed myself to be pushed back to my room and helped into my bed. About five minutes after I got back Danny showed up. I was too weak to do anything but smile. He asked me if I was ok, I nodded as much as I could. After that Danny just sat there, every once in a while he would get up and wander the room and then sit back down. After about half an hour I fell asleep. When I awoke I was feeling a little better, but not much. Danny was fast asleep in the chair. I smile to my self before tossing a small stuffed animal that Jam had bought me at him. It hit him in the face and he woke, I pretended to sleep. I heard him laugh a bit.
"Nice try Slash, but you can't convince me you didn't do it." He said. I opened my eyes and gave him and innocent look. He smiled at me.
"I'm glad that you're ok though." I smile back. I was still pretty weak so when I decided to sit up it didn't work to well, in the end Danny had to help me.
"So, um, how was the chemo?" He asked a little nervous, it was obvious that he was a little uncomfortable.
"Worse than a remember, but then they are using more powerful drugs." Just then the nurse walked in with a dinner tray. She put it on the table and told me to eat up. I took one look at it and my stomach rejected the idea so much that I almost didn't get the bucket in time. When I managed to compose myself I noticed that Danny was seated there looking pale with his eyes closed. I lay back in the bed and take a deep breath. I, myself, had a real problem with people getting sick until I was sixteen and exposed to it everyday.
"You ok?" I ask. He nods slightly. He opens his eyes and gives me a slight smile.
"I'm fine, just not used to having some one get sick in front of it." I close my eyes and try to block out the tray that was still sitting in front of me.
"Well you better get used to it cause from what I hear doctors have to deal with that a lot." I open my eyes and notice that Danny had moved the tray to the other side of the room. I smile.
"Thanks." He smiles back.
"You're welcome. An I have been trying to deal with it since I was a teenager." He stands up.
"I should probably go, I have a test tomorrow. By the way, Greg is awake. He is still recovering. He said that if they let him, he'll come and see you." I smile.
"Ok," I had been lucky enough with this that all the friends I have haven't given up on me. Danny stood there for a second.
"Um, Slash, I was kind of hoping to talk to you about something. It can wait until next time, but I just thought I would let you know that there is something I wanted to discuss." I nod.
"All right, well I'll see you later then." Danny smiled, what I said seems to have put him at rest.
"Sure thing, I'll catch ya later." Danny left the room.
***
What surprised me was that at about three that night (or the next morning however you look at it) Dr. Dave came to visit. I had been counting the ceiling tiles because I couldn't sleep when he crept into my room. I looked over at him and gave him a questioning look.
"Hey, thought you would be a sleep." I turned on my bedside lamp and walked to the end of my bed and picked up my chart. He made a face.
"They're actually giving you doxorubicin ? That sucks." I smile slightly at him.
"Yeah, to you it sucks. To me it is cruel and unusual punishment," Dr. Dave laughed a bit.
"You have a point." He sat down in the chair by the bed. He looks around the room for a second; his eyes rest on the tray that the nurse had yet to take away.
"Didn't eat your dinner I see." He said. I sigh.
"Well it is pretty hard to eat when you're puking your stomach out." He nodded. I sit back and the two of us sit there silent for a second.
"Dr. Dave?" He looks up at me.
"Just call me Dave, I'm not your Doctor anymore." He smiles.
"All right. Dave, why did you even bother to come check on me?" I ask. He shrugs.
"I dunno, guess because every once in a while a doctor comes across a patient that they can't get out of their head. You seem to be the kind person that people don't forget anyway." I smile.
"Well I'm flattered. Are you sure you don't wanna go out?" I ask with a sly smile. He laughs.
"Sorry like I said before you are not my type." I pout, "But if you where then I would definitely take you up on that offer." He said. We talked for about half an hour before a nurse came in for a check. When she saw Dave she sighed.
"Dr. Malucci you shouldn't be here. Besides Slash needs to sleep." Dave smiled.
"Yeah, I shouldn't be here and I actually need to get back to work. And for the record he was awake when I got here. I will see you later Slash." He smiled at me a left the room. The nurse insisted that I get to sleep though it was a while before sleep actually found me.
***
I was there a week before Greg could actually come and visit me. Jam, Danny, Dave, my parents and even Kyle came to see me regularly. When Greg showed up I was happy, he was in a wheelchair and accompanied by a nurse who insisted on staying in the room. He and I didn't have much to talk about; we tried to avoid the accident. I asked how he was, which was fine considering he had to have surgery on his leg and would probably never be able to play football again. And he asked how I was, which was the best I could be considering. We where silent again finally Greg spoke up.
"I don't think I'm going to go through with the law suit." He said. I looked up.
"Why?" I asked, he had been rather angry about being kicked off the team.
"Because I can't play any way, besides my lawyer said that after the accident we probably wouldn't win anyway because of my knee." I gave him a hard look.
"Yeah well your lawyer is probably too chicken shit to take on the case. You need to talk to one of the law professors they might be able to find you someone who ISN'T to scared to take the case." I said. He sighed and slouched in his chair.
"I doubt it besides, I don't want to deal with it anymore." I bit my lower lip. I could tell that Greg was starting to slip into a depression.
"Get it all over with and you won't have to. But if you leave it then you will probably regret not pursuing it." He looked at me.
"And what if I loose? Then all that will be for nothing." He said. I shook my head.
"No it won't, it will show people that if they want to do something like that then they might end up having to pay." I tell him he nods slowly. His nurse informed us that Greg had to get back.
"Look, I'll think about it, ok?" He looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Fine," I sighed, I had a feeling that he wouldn't reconsider so easily.
Chapter 7
When Danny showed up at my room later I decided to talk to him about Greg's choice to not go with the lawsuit. I knew that Danny would be on my side and that he had a better chance of convincing Greg of following through with his original choice. He agreed to talk to Greg about it and even discuss it with one of the law professors at the school before hand to see if there is an actual chance. I then decided to ask him what he had wanted to speak to me about before.
"Danny," He looked up from the TV guide. "Well a week ago you said you wanted to talk to me about something but we haven't yet, and since no one else is around don't you think that now would be good?" I ask. He looks at me and shifts in his chair; I can tell that he is nervous.
"Well, um, I really just wanted to tell you that I, uh, broke up with Jannie." He looked down at his hands. I stare at him for a second.
"Some how I don't think that that is a whole story. Why did you brake up with her?" I ask.
"Because everything is so damned confusing, how did you ever do it? And at fourteen too?" He looks up at me, I know exactly what he is talking about. I shrug.
"I dunno, I guess it was easier because everything else going on in my life was harder or something. I can't really tell you why I could." I sigh and lean back, " I guess people can't handle the same things at the same time. Besides, that doesn't mean you have to brake it off with Janis. Hell you screwed another guy, of course you're going to be confused. Putting the relationship on hiatus would have been smarter. But then I guess that is more or less exactly the same thing." I suddenly shut my mouth. In my attempt to make Danny feel a little more comfortable I had started babbling, I'm not even sure why. I was also starting to get really nervous, or was that excitement. Man, now I was getting confused.
"I should probably go, and I'll talk to Greg about the suit, ok?" I nodded. He stood for a second. Suddenly he leaned over and kissed me, by the time the whole idea that he had actually done that hit me he was gone. I shook my head and laid back. Letting out a sigh, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.
***
The next morning I was greeted by the sight of Kyle standing by my bed with a finger in his mouth. I reached out in pulled it out.
"Didn't your mom tell you it's not good to suck on you finger?" I ask him. He crawls into my bed.
"I missed you daddy." He said, it was the same thing he had been saying every visit.
"You saw me yesterday." He curls up in my lap. I wrap my arms around him.
"Yeah, but he's worried that he will come to see you and you'll be gone." Linda replied. I could understand, after I had gone into remission initially a friend I had made in the hospital passed on. I didn't find out until I when to visit him. I hug Kyle. Linda takes the seat by my bed.
"So what's up today?" I ask. Linda smiles at me.
"Well I was going to take Kyle s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g for s-h-o-e-s." She says. I laugh a little remembering when my parents would spell things out when talking in front of me. It usually meant I had to have a nap. Kyle hated shopping in general; it meant he had to actually be good for once.
"Well good luck then." I say, I had the joy of taking the little guy shopping before and had one hell of a time just keeping him nearby.
"Thanks. So what have you been up to?" She asked; I rolled my eyes.
"I really don't think you need to know." I tell her. She laughs.
"Well anything happening that I might want to know? Or is it all a secret." I bit my lip and looked up.
"Well, there are twenty three tiles on the ceiling." I tell her.
"Right, I didn't particularly want to know that. I was talking about that look in you eyes." I gave her an odd look, she smiled "you have the same look in your eyes that you had when you and Jam started seeing each other. In other words I get the feeling you are stuck on someone and I want to know who." She settled back and crossed her arms.
"Well for your information I am not dating anyone. However, my roommate has been confusing me. Maybe I have that look because I'm more or less feeling the same way." Linda raised and eyebrow.
"Oh really? In other word you like him and he's straight but he's starting to like you?" I looked at her for a second and laughed. Sometimes she scares me with her intuition.
"You are unnatural." She smiled at me.
"No, I'm a mother." I smiled back at her.
"And I am tired so I'm gonna have to kick you two out, and Kyle," He looked up at me, "I want you to be good for you mommy and I promise I'll be here tomorrow too." He nodded and hugged me.
"Ok daddy." He crawled out of the bed and followed Linda out of the room.
"And Slash, don't be afraid to take a jump." She said before closing the door and leaving.
***
The next time Danny showed up he had Greg with him. Greg positioned his wheelchair across the room for me and sat there glaring. Danny took the seat by my bed.
"So Greg has relented and agreed that if the law profs can find some one take the case then he'd go along with it. It might be hard though, because lots of people can't really understand how cutting him for something that is illegal in twenty-one states when less that two days later he is injured in a way that keeps him from playing for the rest of his life." I nodded.
"You have a point. But if a student is going to take the case then you might have a better chance of finding someone, law students are young and they want to change the world." There was a groan from across the room. I smile at Greg. He rolled his eyes and rolled himself forward.
"Why do I get the feeling that if you weren't sick you'd jump at the opportunity?" He asked. I smiled cheekly at him.
"Because I would." I say. Greg chuckled slightly.
"Well I'll tell the professor all right." I nod.
"All right." I lay back in the bed.
Click Here For Part 2
Name: College Life
Author: KyleKamei
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Chapters: 11
Words: 15857
Published: 12/25/01
Updated: 5/25/02
Complete: No
Description: Slash is in Post-secondary, things happen, and people happen. A notice has been added!
Disclaimer (By Author): The characters in this story aren't mine. They belong to the people who created The snowboard kids, with the exception of Kyle, Chris, Danny and Greg and maybe others. This list may get longer.
Story
Chapter 1
I drop the box on the only really empty bed in the room, their were two and the other one was covered in the owners boxes and various other items. I open the box I had brought, I had only packed a few things because I lived over in the west and the school was over in the east. I pull out the first thing on top. It was a picture wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue paper. I unwrapped it, took one look and started feeling very home sick. It was a picture of my son, Kyle, and me. It had been taken about two years ago.
"Maybe my mom was right, I miss everyone all ready." I sigh and look down at the picture. I didn't know someone had entered the room until a voice by my ear replied.
"Well you'll miss no matter what but after a few weeks it won't be so bad." I spun around and found myself face to face with a blond haired, blue eyed man who was about two or so years older than me.
"Well I guess you probably know, unless this is your first year too." He smiled.
"Nope my second, who's that?" He pointed to the picture. I look down.
"Kyle, my son. And personally I think he's the sweetest little boy in the world. This was take about two years ago so he's older now." The man smiled and turned. He went through some stuff on his bed and turned back to me.
"Well I'm Daniel but everyone calls my Danny, and this is Chris, my son, and personally I think HE is the sweetest little boy in the world." He gives me a smug look.
"I'm Slash, and I'm sorry to say this but you are most diffenately wrong. Now I am sure that Chris is sweet but Kyle is sweeter." I turn around a continue unpacking. Their was a chuckle from the door.
"Let me guess a battle of the dads?" I look up from the box and smile.
"Yes, this freshman thinks his son is sweeter than mine." Danny put an arm around my shoulder. The new comer looked me over a second.
"Well, has his son smacked another baby on the head with a stuffed bear?" He asked. I look at Danny from the corner of my eye. He picks up the picture of Kyle and me.
"Well he doesn't look like the violent type." I take the picture from him and put it on the bedside table.
"No actually he prefers cuddling. Which I'm guessing you little boy doesn't do much if he's busy hitting others over the head." The man at the door chuckled some.
"I just have one question before this gets violent. Do get to be introduced to this guy or do I have to do everything myself?" Danny looks at me for a second.
"Right, this is Greg and he is an old friend of mine. We roomed last year, he's on the football team." I smile at him and extend my hand.
"Well I am Slash Kamei and I am more of a snowboarder than a football fan." Greg takes my hand, but instead of shaking it he bends over and kisses my fingers lightly.
"Well, now that we have been properly introduced perhaps you would like to escort me to the strip this evening. And for a beautiful creature such as your self I would willing score on my own team." I felt myself blush slightly. I have never had anyone say anything like that to me before. I looked over at Danny, he had a bit of an odd look on his face.
"Come off it Greg, you don't even know if the strip it his type of place. After all he does have a son." I roll my eyes. Greg looks back at him for a second.
"Well you don't know that, besides I was just asking."
"Well if someone wants to tell me what the strip is then I might actually be able to answere." I smile at Greg and he smiles back.
"The strip is a street of gay bars and hangouts." Danny said, "and Greg seems to automatically think every pretty guy he sees plays for that team." I smile him.
"Well I can understand, after all A guy can only hope." I turn to Greg, "And I would love to escourt to the strip provided you keep hands to your self unless other wise said and you let me get something to eat. I am starved." Greg gave Danny a smug look then smiled at me.
"Well when you are done unpacking just head down to room 233G and I will show you where the best food in the school can be found." I tell him ok, Danny and I reaturne to unpacking. I couldn't help but notice that Danny himself didn't seem to care weather something was done very neatly. I hand expected him to notice how I worked either but he mentioned it.
"Let me guess you are one of those neat freaks who need everything to be perfect." I turn around and see him sitting on the bed. At least it was made.
"'Fraid so, but I think everything will be fine if you can keep your mess on your side." I looked over the room, now that the two of us were unpacked it wasn't that hard to really tell who was on what side of the room, Danny's side was more or less just put together clean enough you could tell he just moved in but not so tidy that you'd think he spent hours doing it. My side was impecibly tidy. Everything was where it should be and not even a thread out of place.
"Just so long as I don't have to be keeping every little thing absolutely perfect. I smiled at him.
"Well I don't know about you but I am going to go find my tour guide and get something to eat. I started to reach for my winter coat but stopped. I reminded myself that I was no longer in the Canadian Rockies and that it was actually quite warm out side. Well hot if you used to live in a town that usually gets snow ten months out of the year.
"Well ok, but be careful. You new remember, if he tells you not to do something then don't. Other than that, have fun" he smiled at me. I waved and left. I walked a bit down the hall until I reached the room that Greg had mentioned. I looked it for a second and then knocked. The door opened to reveal Greg in cloths a bit nicer than the ones he had been wearing when he stopped by the room.
"Well now if I had know this would be a special occasion then I would have worn something nicer." He smiled and stepped back.
"No need, I just feel a tad inadequate next to such a delicate flower." I roll my eyes.
"Ok, I do like Shakespeare and all but it would be nice to have a normal conversation." I follow him into the room, unlike mine this room had only one bed.
"Well ok, But only since you asked nicely." I sit down in a chair.
"So where are we going to eat?" I ask. He continues to get ready.
"Well the only place around here that makes anything edible is The fishbowl. They make awesome sandwiches." He headed to the door and I followed.
The restaurant was good. Greg was right when he said the sandwiches were good. We stayed their for about an hour talking. Mostly he asked me questions about Kyle and what I was going to be studying, which was law. He did talk a bit about himself, mostly when I asked. After that we climbed into his car and headed for the strip.
The first club we entered was almost packed. The music was loud and people were crammed together on the dance floor. When we got inside Greg led me to the bar and bought me a drink. I sat down and looked out at everyone on the dance floor.
"So do you dance?" Greg practically had to yell in order for me to hear him.
"Not much, I've never really had anywhere to do it." He smiled impishly me before taking my hand and leading me to the dance floor. When we got their he turned to face me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He looked me right in the eye and told me to just follow him. So I did. I think at that moment I probably would have done just about anything for him. The feel of his larger, muscled body reminded me a lot of Jam, I suppose it is mostly because the only people who have been able to make me feel protected were Jam and now Greg. I think we danced a few hours before Greg and I left. I was tired and slightly drunk when we did leave. I was leaning on Greg, he was that much more steady than me. We took a cab home. Before I new it I was standing in front of my Dorm room leaning on the wall and looking into Greg's dark eyes. He did say anything, I was even a little afraid that he was going to leave me out here without so much as a goodbye. I don't even know why that worried me. However, instead of a goodbye he leaned in and Kissed me on the mouth. I am not to sure how long we stood their but when he finally pulled back I had my arms wrapped around his neck. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. He brought his lips up to my ear.
"Maybe we oughta get into bed." I moaned slightly.
"Do I hafta?" I asked half asleep. He chuckled and knocked lightly on the door. I heard Danny laugh a bit when he opened the door.
"Well it seems like Someone had a goodtime." I'm not sure how I managed it but in about fifteen minutes I was in my boxers and a tee-shirt and curled up in bed. The last thing I could remember thinking was that I was probably going to be hungover in the morning.
Chapter 2
I woke up the next morning with, of course, a hangover. I had been sort of expecting it but these things are always worse than you think they will be. I was still trying to determine weather or not my head was going to let me move when the door opened and a voice, that for some deranged reason was happy, cut through the silence.
"Rise and shine sleepyhead, the day's half over all ready." I right then decided that being nice in this situation was not an option. I grabbed the closest thing to my hand, which was a pillow, and threw it as hard as I could. The sound that followed was half way between a grunt and a laugh.
"Now that is what I call a good shot, now come on there is something you need to see." I push the cover back and glare at my roommate.
"How about the inside of my eye lids?" I grumbled. Danny laughed and I rolled over to sit on the edge of the bed. I glared at him.
"How can you be so happy at," I looked over at the clock, "eight o'clock in the morning?" even when I was feeling good I felt the day really shouldn't begin until at least ten, which is why most of my classes have been arranged to be either night or afternoon.
"Well first off I'm not the one who went out and got drunk last night and second I like the morning." I groaned and started to get dressed.
"What ever it is I have to see better be good or you will suffer." He waited until I was done dressing before replying.
"There really isn't anything to show you but I did get you dresses, beside don't you need a tour of this place? Being new and all." I sigh, groan and flop back on the bed, and regret the action.
"You are just evil." I say. I feel him climb on my bed next to me.
"I know, so what do you say to coffee and some breakfast." I look over at him.
"I guess that would be ok." I push myself up, my headach wasn't so bad anymore. I followed Danny out of the room. We walked for a while, passing the restaurant that Greg and I had eaten at the night before, it was closed. Danny pointed out pretty much anything he thought I would need to know like where the library was, and even pointed out the gym. When we finally stopped we were standing in front of a two story building. The sign said that it housed administration offices and a cafeteria. He pulled the door open and ushered me in. We walked up a set of stairs into a very cafeteria-like cafeteria. Most of the tables were pushed together and about half of them had students sitting at them. He lead me around the counter area telling me about everything the was to be served.
"Now I know someone who swears by these crossants and the hot chocolate, though how she can attend classes as early as she does without caffeine is beyond even me." I smile at him and pick up one of the crossants.
"Well if your friend thinks there worthy maybe I should try one, besides I don't think I could handle anything to heavy right now." I stop by the coffee machine and pour myself a cup. I was just pulling out my wallet when Danny told me to stop.
"I'll pay, after all I did wake you really early." I look at him, he had one of those 'your not saying no' looks on his face. I sighed, gave in and let him pay. We took a seat near the back at a booth that was meant for four people. We sat down and I started to eat, Danny just sat their looking at me. I looked back for a second.
"What?" I asked finally.
"So how was your night out with the local football star?" I roll my eyes.
"You really want all the perverse details?" I ask with a slight smerk. He chews his food for a second.
"Well when you put it that way then, no" he pushes some egg around his plate before skewering a piece of ham with his fork and eating it." I laugh.
"Well if really must know, I had fun. We danced and had a few drinks." Danny looks at me out of the corner of his eyes.
"A few? You weren't exactly sober last night. Personally I think you outghta be thankful you didn't wake up in someone elses bed." I smile at him.
"I would never do anything like that. Besides I don't think Greg would let that happen either. He didn't seem to drunk at least not to me." Danny smiled as me slightly.
"Well he wasn't, of course he's also a football player and likes to attenned mixers so he probably has pretty high tolerance." I smile at him.
"Well that makes me feel better, knowing I am in the hands of a drunk football player." Danny chuckles.
"Not hands I'd want my sister in but Greg's cool, he knows his limits." I smile. "Glad you care." Danny's watch beeped. I look at him, he looked at his watch.
"Uh, time for me to pay a visit to my old club. You might want to come. I have fun being the only straight guy who attends our schools Gay Straight Bisexual alliance." I think about it for a second. I had hear of clubs like that but being in a small town has prevented me for actually having first hand experience.
"Yeah, sure. I got to find something to keep me busy before classes start on Monday." We pack up our garbage and leave.
***
After the first week of school I pretty much understood how things worked. Friday was party day in the door, in other words I wouldn't be able to sleep Friday night unless I went to a hotel or something. The classes were pretty much sit and listen and Danny's girlfriend was a homophobic bitch. She was in one of my classes too. Although Greg and I had had fun that first night nothing ever came of it. It was Monday evening, I entered my room and flopped on to the bed. Danny entered with his books and a few flyers and his girlfriend. I half sat and greeted them. Janis, Danny's girlfriend, just smiled. Danny jumped on the bed beside me.
"Hey Slash, the school is hosting a blood drive tomorrow. Please say you'll donate." I bite my lip.
"um, I can't" Danny gives me an odd look. His girlfriend muttered something about AIDS, I glare at her.
"Why not?" He seems almost hurt. I lay back on the bed.
"Because when I was sixteen I was diagnosed with leukemia. I'm not allowed to donate. I wish I could, after all if it weren't for people giving blood I wouldn't even be alive today." I feel Danny look at me for a bit.
"Jeez that sucks. I've never known anyone who had been sick before." I shrug.
"Technically I am still sick, unless I stay in remission for five years then I'll still have leukemia. And I get to have monthly work ups done, well now it's every six months." I look over at him and smile. "But if you want me there to hold your hand while they stick the big scary needle in I'd bee happy to." Danny smacks me in the face with a pillow.
"I'm not afraid of needles." His girlfriend laughs. He looks over at her. "what?" He asks.
"Well if your not afraid of needles then I guess last year you where just acting when you gave blood." He sticks his tongue out at her. "Well Slash if you want you can volunteer. We need people to help with the food and even sit with people who are donateing." I think about it for a second.
"Sure, as long as I don't have to miss class." For the first time since I met her Janis smiled at me.
"You can come in the morning then." I smile back.
***
Later that evening Danny and I were in our room. I was just finishing up some reading and Danny was talking about his girlfriend.
"So anyway, I think Jannie kind of feels sorry for you and might start treating you a little better than before." I sigh, I really didn't like other people pitying me but if it means Janis will treat me better then I could deal with it.
"Well anything to be treated like a human being." I put my books away and settle myself beside him on his bed.
"So when were you going to buy that TV?" I ask, earlier that day he had told me he wanted to buy a TV so that he could hook up his playstation. Danny looked back at me.
"When I have the money preferably. But if you want to chip in some we could get it sooner." He smiles at me.
"That sounds like a good plan." Danny continued to look at me for a bit.
"What?" I ask.
"Just wondering. It's nothing though." I give him a look.
"Well why don't you just ask?" He looks at me for another second before sighing.
"Well I just wanted to know what it's like to actually like other guys, physical attraction you know?" He shrugs and stands up.
"Well haven't you ever though another guy was attractive? And don't lie." He looks back at me.
"Not that I can really remember. Why? Do you think I have?" I smile at him.
"Well have you every thought that your girlfriend would fall in love with another guy?" He sits back down beside me.
"Well yeah but that's normal. Isn't it?" He tilted his head.
"Yeah it is, but the thing is chances are you were feeling threatened because you recognized that the other guy was attractive. Although the way I see an attractive guy is different from how you see an attractive guy. You see him as a threat I see him as a good fuck." Danny laughs.
"I guess your right. Do you get irritated when guys your with start checking out girls?" I laid back on the bed.
"No I just start feeling left out. There all talking about how hot she is and I'm busy checking out her boyfriend." Again he chuckles.
"Well you do have to give Jannie some credit. With her parents she is doing good dealing with you and Greg." I smile slightly. I had heard stories about Jannis's parents and they where not pretty.
"I guess." Danny smiles at me, he then leans over and gives me a hug. Surprised, I ask him why he did that.
"You looked like you needed it." I smile again and get ready for bed. Just as I am gathering my stuff for brushing me teeth Danny gets up and stands in front of me.
"You know Slash, to tell the truth, I kind of think your attractive." I look up at him and blush. He is red too.
"Um, thanks." I smile and he steps back to let me out of the room.
Chapter 3
By the time my first class started the next day I was sick of feeding people and tired of seeing blood. Janis stopped me on my way out of my last class, it was the one we had together.
"Slash, it was really nice of you to help out today. Um, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for how I have been treating you and all that." She looked down at her hands and then back up at me and smiled. I smiled back.
"Don't worry about it Janis." I turn to leave. She puts a hand on my arm to stop me.
"You know Danny really respects you, I don't really know why, but he does." I smile at her, she smiles back, it looked forced to me. She turned around and headed off. I shook my head and started towards my dorm. I was walking through a small park area on campus when Greg found me.
"Slash!" I turn and see him jogging across the grass from the Library.
"Hey, Greg, how can I help you?" He stops and falls into step beside me.
"I was wondering what you would do if someone was kick out of a club because he or she was not straight?" I stop and look at him.
"Well it depends, if it where something like a small unofficial study group then all that can really be done is find another group. If it were something the school funded like, oh say, a sports team then the person has grounds the press charges." I look at him out of the corner of my eyes.
"Is there any particular reason you want to know." He gives me an odd look and then shakes his head.
"No, no reason. Just...curious. Thanks for your input." He breaks into a slow run and heads off away from the dorm. When I got back to my room Danny was laying on his bed with Janis talking about the drive. I look at her and the put my books away, I turn back towards them and look at her again.
"How did you do that?" I ask her. She looks up from where she was lying.
"How did I do what?" She asked.
"How did you get here before me. We left at the same time and I know you don't have a car, hell you even when the opposite way from the dorm." She sits up.
"I don't know. I took my time getting here though." I shake my head and put my books away. I flop back on to my bed.
"Hey, did you hear what happened to Greg?" Danny asked. I rolled over to face him and Janis.
"No, what happened?" Danny sat up and leaned back against the wall.
"He got kicked off the football team, lost his scholarship too. He said it happened after the coach caught him making out with some guy out side his room." I sat up.
"Really? Do you know what he is going to do?" Danny shrugged.
After Janis had gone back to her own room that night Danny and I were studying and writing a term paper respectively. As I busily typed away on my laptop (a gift from my dad, trying to buy my forgiveness) Danny mumbled to himself about the different effects of Haldol. I stop typing and look at him.
"Hey, Danny?" He looks up from his notes.
"Yeah?" I turn around and face him in my chair.
"Can you tell me something? What is Haldol, you've been talking about it for the last five minutes." He smiles.
"Wondering when you were going to ask. Haldol is a tranquilizer given to combative or violent patients. Now how about you tell me, what is the statute of limitations on a murder?" I grin back at him.
"There isn't one, a murderer is always a murderer." He glances up at a book open in front of him that he had been ignoring until now.
"Hey, I didn't know that. Cool!" Tired of working I get up and flop down on Danny's bed. He looks over at me.
"You have your own bed you know." I close my eyes and grope for the covers.
"Yeah but my bed is actually made, and I don't want to mess it until I go to bed." I hear Danny let out an exasperated sigh and feel him join me on the bed. I open my eyes and find myself staring right into his. Not for the first time I notice how incredibly sexy my roommate is. Before I knew what was happening Danny had closed the gap between us and had his lips pressed to mine.
Chapter 4
When I woke the next morning I had the vaguely familiar feeling of being in bed with someone. My first though was that I had some how been talked into going home with some guy I'd met at a club. Then I realized that I wasn't hung over and that the smell of the bedding was oddly familiar. I finally decided to open my eyes. The first thing I saw was my bed, across the room from where I was. Then memory of what happened hit me. Carefully I rolled over and faced my bed mate. I was only slightly surprised to find Danny sleeping peacefully. I was trying to decide weather or not I should get up and pretend nothing happened when he opened one blue eye. He buried his face in the pillow and then looked back at me.
"Your not Jannie" He stated. I sighed and stretched.
"Thanks for reminding me, but I figured that one out a long time ago." I smile at him. Again he buries his face in the pillow, and laughs.
"Ok then can you figure out why you're over here and not over there?" I sit up and wince slightly at the familiar pain in the backside.
"Well I can give a pretty accurate guess what we did, but I can't tell you why." Danny sits up to.
"I remember what we did, I wasn't drunk." He looked at me, "You're not going to tell Jannie are you?" I shook my head.
"She'd hurt me if I did." He smiled at me.
"OK, um, no offence or anything, but this is kind of making me nervous. You in my bed." I smile and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.
"None taken." I get up and pull on my boxers. When I look back I can tell that he knows I am hurt by his nervousness. He pulls on his own cloths. I flop back onto my own bed.
"Slash?" I sit up.
"Yeah?" Danny sits beside me.
"Are you ok? You look a little, I dunno, not right. Did I hurt you or something?" I smile at him.
"You didn't hurt me, all though I have to admit you're bigger than I'm used to." He blushed at that, "I'm just irritated with myself. I made a promise to myself when I realized my preference that I wouldn't sleep with anyone who, for some reason or another, wouldn't be comfortable with it." I smiled at him. I got up and hunted down some clean cloths. Just as I pulled my shirt on someone knocked on the door. Danny answered it.
"Jannie, hey hon, what are you doing here?" He stepped back and let his girlfriend in.
"I know I'm early but I couldn't wait. You know that Greg is actually going to try and sue the sports department for kicking him off the team? I mean it's not even their fault. He should know the consequences of his choice of lifestyle." Janis then noticed me. She smiled.
"Sorry Slash I didn't see you there." I shrug, but don't smile back. Instead I inform her.
"Just so you know the school can't leagally remove someone from a sports team just because of his sexual preferance." She forces another smile.
"Well it's not like anyone is going to actually side with Greg. After all nobody wants sissies on there football team." I grit me teeth, I guess the apology she issued the other day was just for show. I pick up my books.
"I'm going out with Greg tonight, don't wait up for me. I'll see you tomorrow Danny," I nod to Janis "Janis." With that I leave, aware that I let the door slam behind me. As I passed Greg's door, he came out looking rather distressed.
"Greg?" He looked up with a startled look in his eyes. "You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, where are you headed?" His eyes travel to my books.
"Your studying? Today?" I laugh.
"Yeah, you know some people actually care about their grades." He laughs and slings an arm around my shoulder. I catch the faint scent of alcohol on his breath.
"Slash, baby, you and I are still heading out tonight right?" I sigh.
"Depends." I let him steer me down the hall.
"On what?" He asks me.
"On weather or not you're going to let yourself sober up first?" He gives me an odd look.
"What do you mean? I haven't had that much to drink at all." I sigh, we had reached the common room. I manage to convince him to sit down.
"Look at me." His eyes wander down my body, I reach out and raise his chin so that he's looking me in the eye.
"First off, you are drunk I can tell, and it is only," I look at my watch, "Ten in the morning. And Second, I don't go clubbing with guys that drink before they even leave their place." He is silent for a bit.
"Ok, I'll sober up before tonight if you tell me on thing?" I sigh and let go of his chin.
"What?" He smiles slyly.
"Who'd you get it from last night?" Shocked I look at him.
"What are you talking about?" His smile turned to a grin.
"Come on Slash, I can tell when I guys been laid. And you have it written all over you." I sigh. I guess I can't get anything past this guy.
"I'll tell you when you're sober, I don't trust you when your drunk." He nods.
"All right, but you gotta say." I smile at him. Standing up I head over to the 'kitchen' area and start a pot of coffee. I lean back against the counter and study the lager man sitting on the couch.
""Greg, why are you drunk this early anyway?" I ask, I can tell that he needs to talk to someone. He shrugs.
"Cause I started drinking this early?" He looks at me with innocent eyes. I have to laugh.
"Then why did you start drinking this early?" His eyes change, they take on a troubled look.
"Cause everything is spinning out of control." He sound almost guilty. I sigh and sit down beside him.
"And I take it that this is how you handle things you can't control." He smiled at me.
"You should have seen me when I started realizing I liked other guys more than I liked the girls that where throwing them selves at me." I lean my head on his shoulder.
"You tell me your story and I'll tell you mine." He looks me in the eyes.
"Ok, fine. When I was a senior in high school. I started liking other boys. I was scared, I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me. So I did exactly what my dad did when he couldn't handle things. I started drinking. Nearly got my self kicked off the football team. Things didn't actually get better until I ended up spilling the whole thing to my dad one night when I was pissed. I was shocked the next morning when he was actually pretty accepting and actually wanted to help. Hell, he had even all ready called the local chapter of PFLAG." He smiled at me. "Now can I get you're story?" I smile back.
"That's what I said isn't it?" Move around so that I am laying on my back with my feet in his lap. "I was younger than you, fourteen, and my girlfriend was pregnant. Now trust me, when I started falling fro Jam I was scared out of my mind. My dad has always been one of those people who figured all fags should be hospitalized." I chuckle lightly.
"I guess I was lucky then," he says. I smile at him.
"I didn't actually come out to my parents until I was just about to head over here. I told me friends before Kyle was even born. Linda was pretty depressed about it, but her and the others where pretty understanding." I get up again and head to the little kitchen area. I pour the two of us coffee and make my way back to the couch. I hand one cup to him; he takes it and thanks me. I return to my seat beside him.
***
I had managed to avoid Janis the rest of the day, of course considering the size of the campus it wasn't that much of a surprise. I did, however, run into her as I was leaving the Law Library. I tried to sneak past her, but she wouldn't have it.
"Slash, I think you and I need to have a talk." I sigh and curse my bad luck. I really didn't want to hear what she had to say to me but I could tell that I didn't have much of a choice. I stop and sit on the steps in front of the building.
"All right then, talk." She sighs and sits beside me.
"Look, Slash. I know you have a bias, but you need to realize that there is a reason homosexuality is illegal in twenty one states." I sigh and look at her.
"And there is a reason that the cops do nothing about all the gay people in those twenty one states. Look just because you don't like me, or the fact that I like other guys doesn't mean you can treat me like shit. It is also no reason for you or anyone else to stop someone from doing something that they love to do." She gave me a sad smile.
"I'm not here to treat you bad, I just want to help you. I realize that Greg's, um, lifestyle is attractive. After all you don't have to worry about weather or not your being romantic enough for your girlfriend. You need to see that following him and his little group isn't a smart thing." Again she smiled at me. I looked at her for a second, raised and eyebrow and laughed. When I got my laughter under control I saw that she had an annoyed look on her face.
"Ok, I shouldn't have laughed at you, but what you just said was funny, at least to me. There are some things you need to know before you jump to any more conclusions. First, I'm not following his 'little group' because I think it would be fun. I have known I was gay since I was fourteen. Second I don't even really like most of Greg's friends." I stand up.
"I need to be off now." I start walking, I stop a few feet away and turn around. "And for the record, Janis, when it comes to romance, I am a hopeless case. I'll take chocolates and roses over football tickets and big macs any day" with that I head off towards my dorm to get ready for tonight. I decide to stop by Greg's place to make sure he kept up his part of the deal, I know I probably wont have to keep up mine because once the tinniest drop of alcohol passes his lips he remembers more or less nothing.
Chapter 5
It was pretty late when Greg and I finally decided to head home, I had learned a while ago that Greg never drives if he's had even one drink. Since I didn't have a valid licence here then that meant we had to find out own way home. The choice, a taxi, was just within out price range so we settled our selves in the back and I set to work trying to keep myself awake until I got home. Greg was trying to figure out exactly how much money he had on him.
"Thirty three," I look at him, He smiles.
"I got thirty three dollars. Cool huh?" I nod. Leaning back in my seat I watch the road through half closed eyelids. Greg nudged me; I look at him.
"Don't fall asleep cause I doubt I could carry you back to your room, unless you want me to carry you to my room." I laughed and was about to give a quick-witted response when the cab was hit hard from the side. Everything that happened went by so fast that it seemed like nothing had really happened. Then a realized that something warm was dripping down the side of my face. I shifted to get a better look at Greg; he was out cold. I tried moving over to his side of the car to see if he was still alive but a sharp pain in chest stopped me. I let out a breath and reach over with my left hand to feel for a pulse, it took me a second to realize that the blood covering my hand was my own. I relaxed against the back of the seat and try and figure out what happened. The ambulance workers pulled me from the car first. I tried telling them that Greg need help more than I did but I couldn't get the words out. They settled me on a gurney and I saw why they had gone for me first, the whole left side of the car was pinned to the brick wall of a building. To get to Greg they had to go through my side of the vehicle. Once in the ambulance I found that I could indeed talk, I just need some time to get things out. In what seemed like no time I was being taken out of the ambulance. I let everything happen around me until a doctor called me back to the real world.
"Slash? I need to know where it hurts." The young, blond doctor asked me. I blink a couple of times.
"Your not a natural blond are you?" was the first thing out of my mouth. The doctor laughed.
"No I'm not, now again, can you tell me where it hurts?" He was all ready treating my more obvious injuries.
"Well, my chest hurts, right side. So does my right leg. And now that I think about it, I've got one hell of a headache." I smile at him. He smiles.
"All right, I just need to ask a few questions. Some of them may seem a little dumb but I need to ask them." I try to nod and find that they have put a collar on me. I settle for a verbal answer.
"Fine, ask away, but I wanna know one thing." He stops and looks at me.
"What?" I smile.
"Well can I make it two?" he smiles.
"Sure," He starts checking me over again. Pressing on my chest, which made me swear and examining my leg.
"Well first, have you ever thought of dating patients? And second how's Greg? And know that I think about it who are you anyway?" He tells me to focus on the ceiling and shines a light in my eyes.
"Lets see, to the first question, you're not my type. I prefer cute, brunette girls."
"Damn" He smiles
"Second, I'm not sure how your friend is but I'm sure Helah here can check," The nurse nods and heads for the next room. "And finally you can call me Dr. Dave." He is handed a large envelope. He disappeared behind me for a second. When he came back into my sight he had a smile.
"Good news, your neck is clear, we can remove the collar, you leg is broke though and you have some cracked ribs, now all we have to do is rule out head trauma. Now as for the questions, can you tell me where you are?" I sigh and look around, now that I can move my neck.
"Gimme an address and I can give you a name, other wise the answer is a hospital." He gives me a look.
"So if I gave to address you could tell me what hospital?" I nod.
"I've only been in remission for two years, so my mom made me memorize every hospital and their addresses before I came." He nods.
"Understandable. Mom's can be worrywarts sometimes. Can you tell me the date?" I think for a second.
"I know its Saturday, is it the 19th?" I ask.
"Yeah, it is. You did well. You show no signs of head trauma, do you know if you passed out or not?" I remember back to the accident.
"No I don't think I did." He nods.
"All right well we're going to put you in a different bed and keep and eye on you for a while." Him and the nurse move the bed to another room with a couple of other beds, He then helps me move to one of the beds. The other nurse, Helah as Dr. Dave had called her, returned.
"So far your friend is good, they're taking him up for a CT." I nod.
"That's good, he was out when I last saw him." Helah stuck something into my IV, the pain in my leg and my ribs started to subside.
"I'm going to set your leg, Helah has just given you some painkillers but you'll still feel it a little." I lie back on the bed and wait. I stare at the ceiling for a while, finally Dr. Dave tells me he's done and has to see to other patients.
"I'll be back in a bit, we sent some of your blood work up to the lab so I'll return when we get the results in. Until then, get some sleep you look exhausted. Is there anyone you want me to call?" I nod and tell him to call my parents and Danny, I give him the numbers and close my eyes. I didn't sleep to well, with a new cast on one leg and worries about Greg I was too distracted to really sleep. I'm not too sure how long I had lain there before the doctor came back in. He had a look I had seen on other doctor's faces. I sighed.
"Something isn't good, is it?" It is more of a statement then a question. He sits down.
"I am afraid so. Your blood work came back, it contained fifty percent blasts." I sigh, lay back and close my eyes.
"I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, I just wish it would've been later." He shifts in his chair.
"I've called up to oncology, their going to send down a doctor to see how bad things are. Your parents are going to catch the first plane here." I open my eyes and look at him.
"Thanks, where is Greg?" I ask. I was starting to worry, I hadn't heard anything about him for a while.
"All I am really entitled to say is that he has been transferred to the ICU. You'll have to get the rest from his family." I nod.
"OK," I stare at the ceiling, I hear Dr. Dave get up and start to leave.
"If you wanna talk about anything or just need company tell the nurse to get me. It's a slow day, I could use the brake from paper work." I smile.
"Will do." He leaves. I lay there alone for god knows how long.
***
I fell asleep, I don't know how long I slept but when I awoke Danny was there. So was Janis. I decide the best thing to do would be to ignore her. I look at Danny.
"Hey, how long have you been here?" He sits up and looks at me, Janis excuses her self to go to the restroom.
"Not long, your parents aren't here yet though." I nod.
"How about Greg's?" I was beginning to wonder about him.
"They showed up about five minutes ago, they're up in the ICU talking to the doctor." I nod again. I shift positions so that I am sitting, I wince as my ribs remind me that there cracked.
"Are you ok?" Danny asks, with a worried look. I nodded.
"Fine, just a little sore." I smile at him.
"Well did the doctor say when you could be released?" He asked. I bit my lip.
"Um, not for a while." I turn away and study the wall. I hear Danny stand, he then enters my line of vision. I sigh and look up at him. He has a worried look in his face.
"I'm not in remission any more." I say quietly. Danny pulls up a chair and sits down. He is quiet for a while.
"You joking?" her finally says. I shake my head, I can feel tears starting to form. Danny leans over and pushes my hair behind my ear.
"I'm sure everything will be fine. No matter what the outcome. After all your parents are flying down anyway. Besides you had good luck last time didn't you?" I sigh and look at the ceiling.
"That means nothing, every time I come out of remission its going to get harder and hard to send the cancer back into remission. Eventually they won't be able to do anything for me other than shoot me full of painkillers so I don't suffer." He leans his head on the bed next to mine.
"Their is still a chance you can go into remission again and stay there. Besides their always coming up with new treatments. You can go on sounding so helpless." I give him a small smile. I head the door open.
"Slash?" I look up, instead of my mom or dad, Linda was standing their with Kyle holding on to her leg and Jam standing a few feet behind.
"What are you guys doing here?" I ask, surprised.
"Daddy, mommy said you got hurt." I smile as Kyle manages to climb onto the bed. I hug him.
"Just a little. But I'm ok." Kyle curls up on my good side and rests his head on my shoulder.
"That's good, 'cause my friend from school said her aunty got hurt and was in the hospital and when she came out she couldn't walk." I give him a kiss.
"Well I'm pretty sure I can walk. Or at least I will be able to when this cast comes off." Jam and Linda have moved into the room, I introduce them to Danny.
"Hm, that's not really allowed." Dr. Dave was standing in the door way."We aren't supposed to let anyone on the bed with a patient." Kyle looks up at him with a puppy dog look, one that I recognize as the same one I used to use on my own parents. The doctor closes his eyes and sighs.
"Ok, if anyone can resist that look? It's not me, but don't tell anyone I'm allowing it." Kyle smiles.
"Ok," he says and lays down again. Dr. Dave shakes his head.
Chapter 6
It took a while for them to get me admitted and up to my own room (my dad insisted AGAIN that I have my own room). Dr. Dave said it took long because transport was filled with a bunch of lazy couch potatoes, I figure he meant they where just backed up. By the time I was settled it was nearly supper the next day. Jam showed up not to long after I was settled and brought me some cloths. I was a little bit surprised. I had figured that Danny would bring me cloths. This hospital was different from the one I had been in when I was sixteen. Of course the fact that I was no longer a paediatrics patient probably had something to do with it. It was the next morning when I became aware that my treatment would be different to. The nurse came in and instead of the usual medication that I had gotten when I was younger she had a wheel chair with her. I asked her what it was for.
"You," she said, "Because it is going to be harder to get you into remission than before the doctor is going to give you stronger medicine. This means you get a ride to the treatment room." She smiled.
"First off, why can't they just do it in my room and second I can walk just fine thank you very much." To prove it I stood up and walked out of the room, the nurse followed with the chair.
"Well first off, it costs less to treat more than one patient at a time with one or two nurses watching. If everyone were treated in their room then each person would need their own nurse, not enough funding. Second, trust me today will most likely be the only day you can walk to treatment." I sigh and follow the nurse into another room. This one had a number of chairs in it. Some were occupied. She had me sit in one of the chairs and left, when she came back she had an IV with her. I eyed it wearily.
"You gonna stick me aren't you?" I asked. She chuckled.
"Yup," she went about setting up my arm and the IV. I lean back in the chair. It was actually pretty comfortable.
"You sounded a little too happy on that one." I smiled back at her. Whatever was in the IV it made me sick; it didn't take very long for it to start either. Once I was done, as the nurse had predicted, I was to weak to walk. I allowed myself to be pushed back to my room and helped into my bed. About five minutes after I got back Danny showed up. I was too weak to do anything but smile. He asked me if I was ok, I nodded as much as I could. After that Danny just sat there, every once in a while he would get up and wander the room and then sit back down. After about half an hour I fell asleep. When I awoke I was feeling a little better, but not much. Danny was fast asleep in the chair. I smile to my self before tossing a small stuffed animal that Jam had bought me at him. It hit him in the face and he woke, I pretended to sleep. I heard him laugh a bit.
"Nice try Slash, but you can't convince me you didn't do it." He said. I opened my eyes and gave him and innocent look. He smiled at me.
"I'm glad that you're ok though." I smile back. I was still pretty weak so when I decided to sit up it didn't work to well, in the end Danny had to help me.
"So, um, how was the chemo?" He asked a little nervous, it was obvious that he was a little uncomfortable.
"Worse than a remember, but then they are using more powerful drugs." Just then the nurse walked in with a dinner tray. She put it on the table and told me to eat up. I took one look at it and my stomach rejected the idea so much that I almost didn't get the bucket in time. When I managed to compose myself I noticed that Danny was seated there looking pale with his eyes closed. I lay back in the bed and take a deep breath. I, myself, had a real problem with people getting sick until I was sixteen and exposed to it everyday.
"You ok?" I ask. He nods slightly. He opens his eyes and gives me a slight smile.
"I'm fine, just not used to having some one get sick in front of it." I close my eyes and try to block out the tray that was still sitting in front of me.
"Well you better get used to it cause from what I hear doctors have to deal with that a lot." I open my eyes and notice that Danny had moved the tray to the other side of the room. I smile.
"Thanks." He smiles back.
"You're welcome. An I have been trying to deal with it since I was a teenager." He stands up.
"I should probably go, I have a test tomorrow. By the way, Greg is awake. He is still recovering. He said that if they let him, he'll come and see you." I smile.
"Ok," I had been lucky enough with this that all the friends I have haven't given up on me. Danny stood there for a second.
"Um, Slash, I was kind of hoping to talk to you about something. It can wait until next time, but I just thought I would let you know that there is something I wanted to discuss." I nod.
"All right, well I'll see you later then." Danny smiled, what I said seems to have put him at rest.
"Sure thing, I'll catch ya later." Danny left the room.
***
What surprised me was that at about three that night (or the next morning however you look at it) Dr. Dave came to visit. I had been counting the ceiling tiles because I couldn't sleep when he crept into my room. I looked over at him and gave him a questioning look.
"Hey, thought you would be a sleep." I turned on my bedside lamp and walked to the end of my bed and picked up my chart. He made a face.
"They're actually giving you doxorubicin ? That sucks." I smile slightly at him.
"Yeah, to you it sucks. To me it is cruel and unusual punishment," Dr. Dave laughed a bit.
"You have a point." He sat down in the chair by the bed. He looks around the room for a second; his eyes rest on the tray that the nurse had yet to take away.
"Didn't eat your dinner I see." He said. I sigh.
"Well it is pretty hard to eat when you're puking your stomach out." He nodded. I sit back and the two of us sit there silent for a second.
"Dr. Dave?" He looks up at me.
"Just call me Dave, I'm not your Doctor anymore." He smiles.
"All right. Dave, why did you even bother to come check on me?" I ask. He shrugs.
"I dunno, guess because every once in a while a doctor comes across a patient that they can't get out of their head. You seem to be the kind person that people don't forget anyway." I smile.
"Well I'm flattered. Are you sure you don't wanna go out?" I ask with a sly smile. He laughs.
"Sorry like I said before you are not my type." I pout, "But if you where then I would definitely take you up on that offer." He said. We talked for about half an hour before a nurse came in for a check. When she saw Dave she sighed.
"Dr. Malucci you shouldn't be here. Besides Slash needs to sleep." Dave smiled.
"Yeah, I shouldn't be here and I actually need to get back to work. And for the record he was awake when I got here. I will see you later Slash." He smiled at me a left the room. The nurse insisted that I get to sleep though it was a while before sleep actually found me.
***
I was there a week before Greg could actually come and visit me. Jam, Danny, Dave, my parents and even Kyle came to see me regularly. When Greg showed up I was happy, he was in a wheelchair and accompanied by a nurse who insisted on staying in the room. He and I didn't have much to talk about; we tried to avoid the accident. I asked how he was, which was fine considering he had to have surgery on his leg and would probably never be able to play football again. And he asked how I was, which was the best I could be considering. We where silent again finally Greg spoke up.
"I don't think I'm going to go through with the law suit." He said. I looked up.
"Why?" I asked, he had been rather angry about being kicked off the team.
"Because I can't play any way, besides my lawyer said that after the accident we probably wouldn't win anyway because of my knee." I gave him a hard look.
"Yeah well your lawyer is probably too chicken shit to take on the case. You need to talk to one of the law professors they might be able to find you someone who ISN'T to scared to take the case." I said. He sighed and slouched in his chair.
"I doubt it besides, I don't want to deal with it anymore." I bit my lower lip. I could tell that Greg was starting to slip into a depression.
"Get it all over with and you won't have to. But if you leave it then you will probably regret not pursuing it." He looked at me.
"And what if I loose? Then all that will be for nothing." He said. I shook my head.
"No it won't, it will show people that if they want to do something like that then they might end up having to pay." I tell him he nods slowly. His nurse informed us that Greg had to get back.
"Look, I'll think about it, ok?" He looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Fine," I sighed, I had a feeling that he wouldn't reconsider so easily.
Chapter 7
When Danny showed up at my room later I decided to talk to him about Greg's choice to not go with the lawsuit. I knew that Danny would be on my side and that he had a better chance of convincing Greg of following through with his original choice. He agreed to talk to Greg about it and even discuss it with one of the law professors at the school before hand to see if there is an actual chance. I then decided to ask him what he had wanted to speak to me about before.
"Danny," He looked up from the TV guide. "Well a week ago you said you wanted to talk to me about something but we haven't yet, and since no one else is around don't you think that now would be good?" I ask. He looks at me and shifts in his chair; I can tell that he is nervous.
"Well, um, I really just wanted to tell you that I, uh, broke up with Jannie." He looked down at his hands. I stare at him for a second.
"Some how I don't think that that is a whole story. Why did you brake up with her?" I ask.
"Because everything is so damned confusing, how did you ever do it? And at fourteen too?" He looks up at me, I know exactly what he is talking about. I shrug.
"I dunno, I guess it was easier because everything else going on in my life was harder or something. I can't really tell you why I could." I sigh and lean back, " I guess people can't handle the same things at the same time. Besides, that doesn't mean you have to brake it off with Janis. Hell you screwed another guy, of course you're going to be confused. Putting the relationship on hiatus would have been smarter. But then I guess that is more or less exactly the same thing." I suddenly shut my mouth. In my attempt to make Danny feel a little more comfortable I had started babbling, I'm not even sure why. I was also starting to get really nervous, or was that excitement. Man, now I was getting confused.
"I should probably go, and I'll talk to Greg about the suit, ok?" I nodded. He stood for a second. Suddenly he leaned over and kissed me, by the time the whole idea that he had actually done that hit me he was gone. I shook my head and laid back. Letting out a sigh, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.
***
The next morning I was greeted by the sight of Kyle standing by my bed with a finger in his mouth. I reached out in pulled it out.
"Didn't your mom tell you it's not good to suck on you finger?" I ask him. He crawls into my bed.
"I missed you daddy." He said, it was the same thing he had been saying every visit.
"You saw me yesterday." He curls up in my lap. I wrap my arms around him.
"Yeah, but he's worried that he will come to see you and you'll be gone." Linda replied. I could understand, after I had gone into remission initially a friend I had made in the hospital passed on. I didn't find out until I when to visit him. I hug Kyle. Linda takes the seat by my bed.
"So what's up today?" I ask. Linda smiles at me.
"Well I was going to take Kyle s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g for s-h-o-e-s." She says. I laugh a little remembering when my parents would spell things out when talking in front of me. It usually meant I had to have a nap. Kyle hated shopping in general; it meant he had to actually be good for once.
"Well good luck then." I say, I had the joy of taking the little guy shopping before and had one hell of a time just keeping him nearby.
"Thanks. So what have you been up to?" She asked; I rolled my eyes.
"I really don't think you need to know." I tell her. She laughs.
"Well anything happening that I might want to know? Or is it all a secret." I bit my lip and looked up.
"Well, there are twenty three tiles on the ceiling." I tell her.
"Right, I didn't particularly want to know that. I was talking about that look in you eyes." I gave her an odd look, she smiled "you have the same look in your eyes that you had when you and Jam started seeing each other. In other words I get the feeling you are stuck on someone and I want to know who." She settled back and crossed her arms.
"Well for your information I am not dating anyone. However, my roommate has been confusing me. Maybe I have that look because I'm more or less feeling the same way." Linda raised and eyebrow.
"Oh really? In other word you like him and he's straight but he's starting to like you?" I looked at her for a second and laughed. Sometimes she scares me with her intuition.
"You are unnatural." She smiled at me.
"No, I'm a mother." I smiled back at her.
"And I am tired so I'm gonna have to kick you two out, and Kyle," He looked up at me, "I want you to be good for you mommy and I promise I'll be here tomorrow too." He nodded and hugged me.
"Ok daddy." He crawled out of the bed and followed Linda out of the room.
"And Slash, don't be afraid to take a jump." She said before closing the door and leaving.
***
The next time Danny showed up he had Greg with him. Greg positioned his wheelchair across the room for me and sat there glaring. Danny took the seat by my bed.
"So Greg has relented and agreed that if the law profs can find some one take the case then he'd go along with it. It might be hard though, because lots of people can't really understand how cutting him for something that is illegal in twenty-one states when less that two days later he is injured in a way that keeps him from playing for the rest of his life." I nodded.
"You have a point. But if a student is going to take the case then you might have a better chance of finding someone, law students are young and they want to change the world." There was a groan from across the room. I smile at Greg. He rolled his eyes and rolled himself forward.
"Why do I get the feeling that if you weren't sick you'd jump at the opportunity?" He asked. I smiled cheekly at him.
"Because I would." I say. Greg chuckled slightly.
"Well I'll tell the professor all right." I nod.
"All right." I lay back in the bed.
Click Here For Part 2
