Arthur Sakho

"Alice has been weird the last few weeks," Samantha said. She sat across from me at one of the tables in the cafeteria. We both had a salad in front of us and a bottle of water. "Ever since you announced that Trevon loves you."

I shrugged. "She's always been weird."

"Yeah, but for awhile she seemed almost normal. Has she said anything to you or Trevon?"

"No," I said. "She tries to act like her normal self around me, but she scowls at me when she thinks I'm not looking. As far as I know, she hasn't spoken to Trevon at all. So much for bringing us cookies and wishing us no ill will."

"How were her cookies?"

"I don't know. We threw them out."

Sam paused with a bite of salad in her mouth and gave me a strange look. "Why?" she said after she swallowed.

"Trevon has a weird phobia about cookies. His sisters traumatized him."

She lifted an eyebrow at this, but didn't ask anymore about it.

"How has it been dancing with Alice?" I asked her.

"It's fine," she said. "We've got the choreo down and now we're just practicing it over and over."

"Me and Danny, too."

"Is Danny dating anyone now?" she asked nonchalantly, but the way she purposely looked at her salad while she asked made me suspicious.

"No," I said. "Why?" I couldn't hide the lilt in my voice now. "Do you liiiiike him?"

She rolled her eyes but didn't deny it.

I squealed and nudged her hand. She smiled a moment before she grew serious. "I don't think he's interested in me though," she said.

That might have been true. I'd never seen him look at her in that way.

"Do you want me to ask him? Test the waters?"

"No," she said flatly.

"I'll be discreet," I whined.

She snorted. "No you won't. I know you."

She was probably right.

"What does your family think about Trevon?"

"They haven't met him yet or spoken to him over the phone, but they tell me they like what I tell them about him."

"What about his family? Do they like you?"

"I think so," I said. "But again, I haven't met them yet. I did speak with his grandpa over the phone and he was nice to me."

We were almost finished with our salads when my phone rang. It was Scott. "I should take this," I said to Samantha.

She smiled at me and said, "I've got to get to my next class anyway." She stood up and waved to me as I answered the phone.

"Hi, Scotty."

"Hi. Listen, how can I tell if a guy is into me?"

"You've had boyfriends after me," I said. "How did you tell when they were interested in you?"

"I met them all at gay bars or clubs," he said. "And you were always open about your sexuality in high school so I never had to wonder."

"What happened to your ex that you were still pining over? Forgot him already?"

He sighed. "No, but there is nothing I can do at that moment. Coming out to my family while I'm living at home is not an option. It would be nice to have a boyfriend who understood that and would meet me discreetly. Having a 'friend' to hang out with would be less suspicious than me going 'camping' by myself all the time."

"Camping?"

"Driving up to the woods for a night to jerk off to gay porn in my truck."

"I see," I said. "So who is this guy you think might be interested in you?"

"He's in one of my night classes," he said. "He sits next to me at each class. He makes sure to ask how my day is going and talk to me for a bit after class. We walk out to the parking lot together."

"He could be interested," I said. I stood up and threw away the empty container my salad came in. I started the walk back to the parking lot and my car. "He could just want a friend though."

"So what can I do to find out?"

"Hmm," I thought about it. "Tell him you just reconnected with your gay best friend from high school and see how he reacts."

"You don't mind me using you like that?"

"Oh precious, you can use me anyway you want."

"Really?" his tone was suggestive.

"No. Not that way," I said.

He laughed. "Okay. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks."

I hung up with him. The rest of my day went as usual. When I got to the dance studio, Danny was already there stretching. I thought about asking him about Samantha anyway, but stopped myself. She would be angry with me and I didn't want that. But it would be adorable if he felt the same and then they could love each other and go on double dates with me and Trevon. Not that we went out much. We mostly stayed at his house or mine. We did watch the Hobbit movies with the hot guys and we finished the first Lord of the Rings movie. Trevon insisted we watch the longer cuts with the deleted scenes, but those movies were looooong. We had to break up each movie into several watching sessions.

I went to Danny and began to stretch. Alice came in shortly after that. She smiled at us and said hello, but when I turned my head away from her, I saw her scowling at the back of my head through the mirror. When was this lady going to move on? Trevon was mine now and had no interest in her. Samantha thankfully came in then and distracted Alice.

When we were through, I said quick goodbyes and headed out to Trevon's. Sometimes he came over to my house. Sometimes I went to his. But we spent everyday together and I loved it. I went home and showered. I dressed in fresh, clean clothes because chances were high that we were going to have sex. I loved his stamina. Not too many men could keep up with me. I made extra chicken and vegetables the previous night when he came to my place so instead of picking up something to eat, I just took the leftovers.

"Good evening, sir," the concierge greeted me when I entered Trevon's apartment building.

"It's a great evening," I beamed.

He smiled and said, "It is."

I waved goodbye to him and took the elevator to the top floor. Trevon answered his door almost immediately when I pressed the doorbell.

"Hi, beautiful," he said to me as I slipped passed him. He closed the door behind me. I kicked my shoes off. He leaned in and kissed me heatedly. His hands came around my waist and tugged me too him, but since both my hands were full - one holding the food, the other my bag which I didn't realize I could let drop until we were done kissing - I just kissed him back. He pulled away and licked his lips.

I smiled at him and squirmed out of his grasp. I put my bag on his couch and took the food into the kitchen. "Hungry?" I asked him. I put the food on plates and put it in the microwave to warm up.

"Yes." He came up behind me. His arms came around my waist and pulled my back into his chest as he planted little kisses along my neck.

I turned to face him. I lovingly cupped his cheeks in my hands and kissed him gently on the lips. I pulled away before it got heated. "I'm starving," I said.

He smiled got us glasses with water while I retrieved the food from the microwave.

We talked about each other's days while we ate. When we were through, we cleaned up and went to his couch. He read a book while I did my homework. I was almost finished with my homework when Trevon's phone rang. I looked over his shoulder to see who was calling. Aley.

"I want to talk to him," I said and reached for the phone, but he lifted it away from me.

"He's my friend. Let me talk to him first."

I pouted. "Fine."

"Hi, Aley," Trevon said when he answered and put the phone up to his ear. I leaned in real close so I would be able to hear too.

"I've had such a long day," Alex's quiet voice whined into the phone.

"Why? What happened?" Trevon asked.

"Vincent keeps trying to convince me to break up with Mateo and when that didn't work, he was going to out Mateo to his family."

"Vincent," Trevon sighed at the same time I said, "That's horrible. Let me talk to him."

I tried to take the phone away out of Trevon's grasp, but he moved it away from me.

"At least ask him if you can put it on speaker then," I pouted.

"Arthur wants me to put this call on speaker, are you okay with that?" Trevon said into the phone.

I didn't hear Alex's reply since Trevon had moved the phone to his other ear, but he lowered the phone and pushed the speaker button. I smiled and wrapped my arms around one of Trevon's.

"Vincent wouldn't really do that, would he?" Trevon asked the phone.

"He's blinded himself into thinking I'm going to get hurt again like what happened with...in highschool."

Ugh. He was being too careful with his words again. At this rate, I was never going to find out what happened in the past.

"So what are you going to do?" Trevon asked.

"We already did it. Tonight Mateo came out to his family at a family dinner. I went with him."

"How did it go?" I asked nervous for my new friend. I meant for Trevon's friend.

"It was weird. His uncle swore at Mateo. His grandpa started hitting his uncle. The babies started crying. His dad pounded his fist into the table and got up and walked out of the room. I almost had a heart attack. I thought his dad might hit me. Anyway, then his mother ushered us out of the house, but she apologized and said she liked me so there is that. When we were in the car getting ready to leave, his little sister and twin brothers came out of the house and said they liked me too."

"That's good anyway," Trevon said. "I wish it could have gone as well for him as it did with my own family."

"Me too," Alex said. "I feel like it's going to be okay in the end though. His uncle was the only one who said anything bigotted. It was just exhausting."

"Sounds like it," Trevon said. "Do you want me to talk to Vincent?"

"No," Alex said. "I'm trying to take care of things on my own now when I can. I still want support and help from family, friends and my boyfriend, but I think I've relied too much on that in the past and not enough on myself."

"Okay," Trevon said. "Let me know if I need to talk to him."

I could tell they were getting ready to say goodbye and that would mean I needed to finish my homework and I wasn't ready for that so I quickly said, "How's the sex?"

Trevon gave me a look.

"What?" I asked him. "I can't ask your best friend about his sex life?"

"No," Trevon said.

"It's nonexistent," Alex said.

"Why?" I asked. "You've been dating Mateo for about the same length as me and Trevon." I couldn't remember the exact timeline, but I thought they might have actually started dating before us.

Alex sighed into the phone. "I live at home and Mateo has a roommate. They made a rule that they wouldn't have sex in the apartment."

"You must be so frustrated," I said.

Trevon sighed.

"I am," Alex said. "But I love him so I'll live with it."

"Why don't you just go to a hotel?"

It got very quiet.

"Okay," Trevon said to the phone. "Arthur needs to finish his homework and then we are going to start watching The Two Towers."

"Alright. Have fun." They hung up and Trevon looked at me.

"What? What did I say wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my cheek. "Finish your homework."

I grumbled, but opened my book.