“Dr. Avery?” I stood by the door and looked questioningly at the president of the university. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you think I’m doing here?” he responded scornfully. “I’m not at all pleased with your behavior last night.”
I asked nervously, “What did I do?”
“What did you do?” he barked as he rose and stood before me. “What did you do? I ordered you to leave the meeting with me and you refused.” His eyes narrowed as he continued to stare down at me.
I hung my head and muttered softly, “I’m sorry, Sir,” I apologized, “but I didn’t understand why I had to leave. I wasn’t causing any problems.”
“Jesus Christ!” he shouted angrily. “You just don’t get it do you?”
“Get what?”
Dr. Avery roared, “Your father is running for goddamned vice president of the United States! Everything he does or says is being vetted by the media.” He moved closer and poked his finger into my chest. “That also includes his family.”
“But how will they know what I’m doing?” I asked. “It was just a meeting. No one from the media was there. I don’t even think anyone from the school newspaper attended.”
He sat down at my desk and sighed. “They have their ways,” he replied. “They know when you last took a shit.”
“I’m still not causing any problems,” I insisted. “I’m going to classes and completing my assignments. Most people don’t even know who I am.”
He looked up and added, “And you’re becoming involved in a gay group.”
“I still don’t see what harm that causes,” I replied. “I just went because my friends wanted me to go.”
He shook his head and then motioned for me to sit on the bed. I had to move some of Travis’s clothing before I could sit down. “Jesus,” he remarked as he looked around the room. “Do all you boys keep your rooms as messy as this one?”
“It’s my roommate, Sir,” I replied. “He’s a slob.”
“Obviously,” Dr. Avery remarked as he shook his head. He then scooted his chair until he was sitting directly in front of me.
“Dorian,” he began, “I don’t have to tell you what a situation you’re placing your father in. I have known him for over twenty years, and he’s always had his eyes on someday becoming a big player. This is his chance.”
“But...” I started to speak, but Dr. Avery cut me off.
“You’re a part of this, whether you want to be or not,” he warned. “You’re his son, and that carries a burden.”
I jumped up and glared down at Dr. Avery. “A burden!” I shouted. “For nineteen years he didn’t even know he had a son. Now that he wants to run for vice president, I have to live my life the way he wants me to?” I picked up Travis’s pillow and threw it against the wall. I turned, faced Dr. Avery and shouted, “Fuck him!”
Dr. Avery’s face reddened as he stood before me. He pointed to the bed and yelled, “Sit down!” I stood defiantly for about ten seconds before I nervously sat back down.
He sat back in the chair and faced me. “I was going to give you a chance to play ball, but it seems like you don’t want to play.”
“But...”
His eyes narrowed as he continued to stare into my face. “You will not participate in Campus Pride,” he stated forcefully. I started to object, but I changed my mind.
“Furthermore,” he continued, “I’ll be watching every move you make. If you as much as piss in the wrong direction, I’ll have your ass. Do you understand me?”
I was trying hard to hold back the tears of anger I felt emerging. I knew if I said anything that resembled defiance, then I would probably be gone by morning. Dr. Avery would call my father, and he would send Carlton to get me.
I jumped when he shouted, “Well!” I hung my head and nodded.
“Good,” he remarked as he stood. “There’s too much at stake for the university. Your father has been a generous benefactor, and he’s worked hard in the Senate to get us grants and special funding.” He stood towering over me. “I’m not going to let you ruin that.”
He walked over to the door and stopped. “Tell your roommate to clean this fucking room.” He then exited and slammed the door behind him.
I was extremely upset after he left. I paced around, and I eventually picked Travis’s clothes strewn around the dorm room and tossed them into his closet. Even though I was now eighty miles away from home, my father had more influence over my life than ever.
When I was in high school, Mom usually kept a close eye on me to make sure I didn’t do anything that could embarrass my father. I never understood why they worried anyway. I hardly had a life outside of school. It wasn’t like I was going to wild parties, getting drunk, removing my clothes and jumping into someone’s pool.
Now that I was in college, I had not even thought about doing anything to bring attention to myself. I knew the routine: be a good, little boy and don’t do anything that could jeopardize my father’s political ambitions. I had been warned often that the media loves dirty family scandals. They could make the front page and keep a politician off message for weeks.
But what had I done? I went with friends to one gay meeting. What harm could that be? It didn’t threaten my father. Just because I was there didn’t mean I was gay. Seth and Sydney were there, and they were straight.
Besides, what if I happened to be gay? To most people involved in politics, that would generally be an asset to a candidate. However, my father was an extremist. His constituents admired his conservative stances. His campaign speeches were filled with states’ rights, pro-gun, anti-abortion and anti-gay rhetoric. I had sat uncomfortably and listened to several speeches over the years when he spouted his views on how America was going to hell because gays and lesbians were threatening the sanctity of marriage.
And the whole time I thought to myself, what bullshit. Sanctity of marriage. The wonderful example of marriage that my mother and father exhibited? When he was home, they argued constantly. My mother had a law degree from Georgetown University. However, once she married my father, he made her give up a promising career with a law firm. He thought it would ruin his image if she didn’t appear as the devoted housewife and mother.
When I was younger, I was paraded before audiences, and I was forced to attend fundraisers to show what a loving family he had. As I became older, and my appearance remained boyish and feminine, he hid me away in my bedroom, away from the scrutinizing eyes of the media. If I had been a strong, athletic quarterback for our school, he would have displayed my talents and abilities with admiration before the media.
However, I was petite, girlish and exhibited no interest in sports. By the time I was twelve, I knew I had become an embarrassment to him. He no longer took me on the campaign trail proudly introducing me as his son. In fact, when guests were invited to our home, I was usually ordered to stay in my room and told not to come down and socialize. Out of sight, out of mind became my life. And I grew to hate him.
Now that I had an opportunity to start my life anew, he was trying to control my life more than ever before. I now had to find a way to balance a desired freedom without angering my father.
As I was sitting at my desk brooding over my life, my cell phone rang. “Where are you?” asked Sydney.
“In my room,” I informed her. I looked at the clock. It was 4:22.
“Well, come downstairs to the lobby,” she insisted. “Everyone’s here and we’re going out for dinner.”
“But...” I started to protest because after Dr. Avery’s visit I was upset, but Sydney hung up before I could complete my sentence.
I stopped suddenly when I got off the elevator. Besides Amanda standing next to Jade, Jerry was also waiting. He grinned at me as I approached.
“Hey,” he said hesitantly.
“Hi, Jerry,” I responded as I glanced over angrily at Jade. I knew it was her idea to invite him to join us for dinner.
“How’s Italian sound tonight?” Seth asked cheerfully as he rubbed his stomach. “I’ve been dying for a good plate of spaghetti all week.”
Everyone laughed when Sydney added, “You’ve been dying to eat anything all week.”
Her face reddened when Jade laughed and said, “We all know what his favorite thing to eat is this week.”
“Jesus,” I huffed. “Is sex all you guys think about?” I turned and stormed off toward the lobby door. Jerry ran up beside me.
“Oh, lighten up, Dorian,” he remarked. “We’re just having fun.” He backed away when I scowled at him.
My mood still hadn’t changed since my encounter with Dr. Avery. All during dinner, I was quiet and hardly participated in the jovial conversation at the table.
When I pushed myself away from the table and announced I had to go to the bathroom, Jade jumped up and told me she also had to go. As we walked down the aisle toward the restrooms, she took my hand and pulled me toward the exit. Once outside, she turned and asked, “What is wrong with you tonight? What has happened?”
I looked around and headed to a nearby bench. I sat down, bent over and placed my head in my hands. Jade sat down and rubbed my back gently. “What’s wrong, Dorian?”
I didn’t know if I should tell her about Dr. Avery’s visit to my room. Knowing Jade, she would be upset and would want to go to his office and tell him to leave me alone. But I knew I had to talk about it to someone. “Dr. Avery came to my room this afternoon,” I muttered softly.
“Dr. Avery?” she asked surprisingly. “What did he want?”
I sat back, looked out across the street and laughed nervously. “I guess I haven’t been the best boy lately.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I looked over and exclaimed, “He didn’t like me being at the Campus Pride meeting.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “Why would he care?”
“He’s a good friend of my father,” I replied. “He thinks my involvement might hurt my father’s campaign.”
“So?”
“So,” I replied, “He’s ordered me not to attend any more meetings.”
“Son of a bitch!” she spat. “He can’t do that.” I then told her how he was going to start monitoring my activities and report back to my father. “Son of a bitch!” she repeated angrily.
“I don’t know what to do,” I moaned. “I thought by coming to college I’d get away from him. Now it’s even worse.”
Jade suggested, “Maybe if you talk to him.”
I sat back and roared with laughter. “Yeah, Jade,” I remarked. “Good idea. Hey, Dad. I’m a fag, and I belong to this faggy group at school. You’ve been a homophobic bastard for as long as I can remember, so you won’t mind, will you?”
“Is he really that bad?”
I laughed again. “You’ve obviously never read any of his campaign literature or attended one of his speeches.” I looked over at her. “Yeah, Jade. He is that bad... and worse.”
“So what are you going to do?”
I let out a deep sigh. “I guess I’ll just go back home. At least he left me alone there.”
Jade jumped to her feet and shouted, “No!” She sat back down and gripped my hand. “You can’t do that, Dorian.”
“It’s the only solution,” I replied sadly.
“We’ll think of something,” she assured me. “Maybe things will die down soon. It’s only been a week since he was nominated.”
“Trust me,” I replied as I squeezed her hand tightly. “I’ve been through these things before. It only gets worse as the election approaches. His opponent will dig deep to find every skeleton you have in your closet.” I laughed nervously. “And right now, I’m a skeleton in my father’s closet. He’ll do anything to keep it from being discovered.”
“That is so fucked up,” Jade muttered angrily.
“I’m used to it,” I replied.
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I responded sadly. “I’ll just have to keep a low profile as long as I can. If I become a delicate situation for my father, then I guess I’ll have to quit school.”
Jade looked at me worriedly, “Would you get mad if I said I hate your father?”
I sat back and laughed. “Why should I? I’ve hated him almost all my life.” She leaned over and gave me a hug.
“Let’s get back inside,” she suggested, “before people start wondering where we are.”
“Jade?” I squeezed her hand tightly. “Please don’t tell anyone what we just talked about, okay?”
“Sure,” she assured me as she kissed me on my cheek. We stood and entered the restaurant still holding hands.
Sydney gave us a puzzled look as we approached. “Where have you two been?”
Amanda leaned over and said softly when Jade was seated, “You better not be two timing me.”
“I won’t, Baby,” Jade assured her as she gave her a kiss on the cheek. I noticed that Seth looked quickly around the room to see if anyone saw them.
I didn’t feel much like talking during dinner even though Sydney and Jerry kept attempting to get me to say something. Seth would look worriedly at me and tell everyone to leave me alone. “He’ll say something when he wants to.” I wasn’t sure, but I think Seth instinctively knew what was going on. He was becoming more and more like a big brother I never had. I knew it wouldn’t do much good, but I planned to talk to him and tell him what was going on as soon as we could find time to be alone. He was smart, and maybe he would have some good suggestions.
When the waitress brought the bill, I grabbed for it, but Jade yanked it from my hand. “You’re not paying this time,” she insisted. “We’re going dutch tonight.” She studied the tab, and then told everyone what he or she owed. Naturally, Seth paid for Sydney’s meal, even though she insisted she could pay her own.
“Don’t worry, Sydney,” Jade giggled as she took his money. “He’ll get repaid later.” We laughed when Sydney’s face turned a bright red, and Seth vigorously denied it.
I watched as Jerry opened his wallet and pulled out a five. His portion of the bill was $13. He looked over at me and frowned, “I’m a little short. Do you think you could help me out?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied as I handed Jade my credit card. “This is for me and Jerry.”
Jade grinned, and I knew what was coming next. “I guess he’ll have to repay you later?” My face reddened as Seth, Sydney and Amanda laughed loudly. I looked over and Jerry wiggled his eyebrows. It only made them laugh louder.
Once outside, Seth and Sydney said they were going back to Sydney’s dorm and do some studying. “I know what they’ll be studying,” Jade giggled as they walked away. Sydney turned and flipped her off.
“What’s everyone in the mood for?” Jade looked questioningly at Amanda, Jerry and me.
“I really should go back to my room and study,” I informed her. “We’ve got that test in world civilization next week.”
“That’s next week,” she responded. “You can study Sunday night.” She gripped Amanda’s hand. “What do you want to do, Hun?”
“How about a movie?” She looked around at us. “There’s a new one that came out recently. I’d love to see it.”
“Me, too!” Jerry shouted excitedly. “We can walk back to the dorm and get my car.”
The walk to his dorm took twenty minutes. Jade checked her Blackberry and found out that the movie would start in another forty minutes. We got into Jerry’s old Chevy Malibu and headed to the theater that was located about ten miles from the campus. Jade and Amanda sat in the back and made out most of the way there. I was afraid to turn around and look for fear of seeing something I might not want to see.
As we stood in line to purchase our tickets, Jerry pulled out the five he had earlier and handed it to me. “Do you think you could loan me three more dollars? I’m kind of short.”
I nodded and told him to keep his money. Once inside, I even bought him a box of popcorn and a large drink. It had been a few years since I had been to a movie theater, and I was surprised how much things cost.
Since it was a week night, the movie was sparsely populated. Amanda and Jade headed toward the back. I started to follow, but Jerry stopped me and led me into a row in the middle of the theater. “We’ll let them be alone,” he laughed. “Besides, I want us to be by ourselves.” I thought nothing of it as I took a seat beside him.
We watched the previews of several movies that were coming up, and Jerry commented that he would like to see a couple. Most were action movies, and they did look rather exciting. I turned once to see what Jade and Amanda were doing, and they appeared to be sitting back enjoying the previews. I giggled when Jade flipped me off.
The theater darkened and the movie began. It was exciting to see the changes in sound and video technology that had occurred since I last attended a movie. I must have been nine or ten when my mother took me to see a children’s film I had begged her to let me see. It had been so long ago I couldn’t remember what it was.
I was enjoying the movie, when about half way through it Jerry sat back and stretched out his long legs. I thought nothing of it until I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he had reached down and had started rubbing himself. I froze and wondered what he was doing. It didn’t take me long to find out when he reached over, grabbed my hand and placed it against his hard cock. I quickly withdrew my hand and looked over at him.
“What are you doing?” I whispered angrily.
He reached for my hand and attempted to pull it back toward his pants. “I’m horny,” he replied seductively.
“We’re in a theater,” I responded nervously as I looked around to see if anyone noticed us. Except for Jade and Amanda sitting behind us, there were four other couples scattered throughout the theater. None of them, though, could see what he was doing.
I couldn’t believe it when Jerry unbuckled his jeans, pulled down the zipper, rose off his seat and pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees. His erect cock sprung to attention.
I gasped as it extended about seven inches and rested against his tight stomach. “What are you doing?” I shrieked softly.
He grabbed his hard cock and started stroking it as I looked around again to see if anyone could see what he was doing. I was afraid to look back at Jade and Amanda because I thought if I did, then they might suspect we were doing something.
“Help me out, Dorian,” he pleaded softly. “Please.” He grabbed my hand and directed it toward his erection. I tried to pull away, but he gripped my hand tightly and let my knuckles rub against it. “Please?” He moaned when I released my tight fist and wrapped it around his cock.
I didn’t know what to do. I felt uncomfortable as I continued to stroke it slowly while I pretended to watch the movie ahead. He stretched out even more and muttered for me to do it faster. After a couple of minutes, he sat back up. He then put his arm around my shoulder and attempted to pull me toward him.
“What are you doing?” I whispered as I attempted to resist. By now, I was sure that Jade and Amanda could see what we were doing.
“Suck it, Dorian,” he pleaded as he attempted to pull my head down into his lap. “You can do it, Baby. Please?” he begged.
“No!” I insisted as I tried to pull away from him.
He grabbed my head and pulled it down toward his lap. “You can do it, Dorian. No one will see us.” He pushed on my head harder, and a sharp pain went through my neck.
“Stop it!” I shouted as I pushed his hand away and sat up. I didn’t care if the others in the theater heard me. I then stood and moved two seats away from him. He looked over angrily as he pulled his pants up.
I wanted to walk out, but I didn’t have a way back to the dorm. Besides, it was late, and I was afraid to walk the streets by myself. I was angry with Jerry because he had tried to force me to have sex again with him. He knew by my reaction in Amanda’s apartment that I wasn’t ready yet. I couldn’t concentrate on the movie. I wanted the movie to end so I could get away from him.
Jerry got up and left the theater quickly when the movie was over. We waited outside without speaking for Jade and Amanda to come out. Jade took one look at us and knew something had happened. I know she wanted to say something, but she didn’t as we walked to Jerry’s car.
Jade asked him to drop her off at Amanda’s apartment. When we were alone, he continued to remain silent. Occasionally, he would glance over at me, but I refused to look at him. If he wanted to act like a prick, then so could I.
On the way back to the dorm, he pulled into a filling station. Before getting out, he looked over, held out his hand and said, “Give me your credit card. I need gas, and I don’t have any money.” I was going to refuse, but I didn’t feel like walking back to the dorm.
I sat quietly and waited. When he finished, I turned to see how much he had put in: $36.48. He had filled the tank with my money. I just assumed he would put in enough gas to get us home.
When he got in the car, he threw my credit card into my lap without even thanking me. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t. All I wanted was for him to drop me off at my dorm. I didn’t care if I ever saw Jerry again. When he pulled up outside my dorm, I jumped out of the car and hurried into the building. Before entering, I turned and watched him speed away.