Chet Watakeekul

I walked into the cafeteria. It was strange. It had been awhile since I had eaten lunch there. I spotted Mateo right away and from the tight eyebrows and clenched jaw, he wasn't happy with me. Gareth wasn't there yet. I had invited him too because I couldn't tell Mateo without telling Gareth.

I took in a deep breath and went to the small, round table Mateo sat at. He pushed a slice of pizza on a paper plate across the table towards me and a bottled water. I didn't pick it up right away.

"How did Gareth know?" Mateo asked. "Did you tell him?"

"No," I rushed to say. I didn't want Mateo to think I told Gareth over him.

"Then why did he tell me to call you first thing this morning like he knew?"

"I don't know. I never told him. I mean, he figured out I had a crush on Vincent all on his own. I never told him we were actually dating. I...oh."

"Oh what?"

"He called me last night," I said. "Vincent started talking to me while I was still on the phone, but I didn't think Gareth heard his voice. He didn't act like he did, but maybe he did."

"I did," Gareth said as he came up to the table. He reached over Mateo, grabbed a slice of pizza and sat in the chair next to Mateo. He took a bite like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Why didn't you say anything last night?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I thought it would be funner this way. Kannika came over last night and..."

"My little sister went to your apartment? I guess I better talk to her about boundaries. She's starting to turn into a stalker."

Gareth shook his head. "It wasn't like that. It really didn't bother me that she came over last night. She didn't do anything inappropriate. She asked me if I knew who you were dating, but I didn't even know you were dating. She said you hardly slept at home anymore. I told her I only knew you had a crush, but not that you were dating and she left. But then I put two and two together and called you to see if I could confirm it without making you suspicious and then I heard Vincent's voice and voila."

"Voila?" Mateo asked. He was even more upset than before. "You didn't tell me he was dating Vincent. You didn't tell me any of that. You just told me to call him first thing in the morning. Like to ambush me or something."

"Like I said, it's funner this way."

"Funner for who?" Mateo asked in disbelief.

"Me of course," Gareth said.

I picked up the slice of pizza. Mateo turned to me and I froze as if his wrath couldn't be directed at me if I didn't move.

"And you," he said. "You just decided it would be fun to date the enemy? Date the guy that forced me to come out to my family? Who said I only was dating Alex for his money? Who tried to suggest I take Alex to a hotel?"

I put the slice of pizza back down. "It's not like that," I said.

"Then how is it?" Mateo demanded, "because for the life of me I cannot fathom how this happened."

"Everything he did was in a misguided attempt to save Alex. It came from a place of caring. He just didn't understand."

"That's a lame excuse. And now I can't help but wonder if his change in attitude towards me is sincere or if he's just trying to make it good with me to be on your good side."

"No," I said. "He's sincere. He knows he treated you wrongly. He knows you're not with Alex just for his money. He truly wants to prove himself to you."

Gareth finished his slice of pizza and reached for mine, but I slapped his hand. I was hungry too. Gareth frowned and slouched in his seat.

"Since when?" Mateo asked. "Since when have you two been together?"

"It was that night at the stadium parking lot," I said.

"The night he suggested I take Alex to a hotel?" Mateo sat up straight in his chair. His face darkened with anger. "The night of his deepest betrayal is the night you decide to date him?"

"It's not like that," I said. "He stopped himself. He knew it was wrong. You didn't see him. It almost destroyed him."

Mateo shook his head. His jaw clenched tight. "So how did it happen?" he asked. "You just saw him distraught and asked him to go out with you after seeing how mean he had been to me?"

"Mateo, I can understand you not trusting him after what he did, but trust me please."

He seemed taken back by my words. "Okay," he said without the angry tone this time.

"That night, Vincent knew he messed up. He thought he lost both of his best friends. He thought he was left with no one. I have never seen anyone in the state he was in and before you can tell me that my feelings are just confused because I wanted to help him, I can assure you I'm not confused. I started having feelings for him before that, I just didn't know it until he kissed me that night." I purposely left out the additional details of that night and the phone call from his family. Vincent didn't need me spreading his family drama to other people even if they were my best friends.

"He kissed you?" Mateo asked and Gareth sat up straighter.

"Yes," I said.

"He initiated this?" Gareth asked.

"Yes," I said. "I know it might be hard for you to believe," I said to Mateo, "but he is a good person at heart. He's trying everyday to be even better. And most importantly, I love him."

Both Gareth and Mateo softened at this.

"Still," Mateo said. "How can you have sex before me?" His forehead dropped to the table.

Gareth laughed. "Is that what all of this has been about?"

"No," Mateo said defensively. He sat up. "Maybe. I don't even know anymore. So how long have you been sleeping with him?"

"Sleep like sleep or sleep like sex?" I asked.

"Is there a difference?" Gareth asked.

"Of course," I said. "Sleep as in sleep, it's been a little while. Sex just since last night."

Now that everything seemed right with Mateo, I picked up the pizza and eagerly took a bite.

"I guess I support you," Mateo said. "But I'll be watching him."

"I think you two are going to make a cute couple," Gareth said. "But you know we all have to have dinner together so Mateo and I can interrogate him, right?"

I froze with a bite of pizza still in my mouth. Mateo smiled. "Yes, we have to have dinner so we can make sure he is good enough for you."

I tried to smile, but didn't think it made it to my lips. "I'll talk to him about it," I said. "It will have to wait until after the Division I tournament though."

The rest of the day passed as it normally did. Vincent greeted me at his door after soccer practice. He had dinner ready for me.

"How'd it go with Mateo and Gareth?" Vincent asked as we ate.

"Mateo was upset at first, but said he would support us in the end. They want to have a dinner all together so they can interrogate you though."

His expression showed his fear for one brief moment. "Okay," he agreed.

"I told them it would have to be after the Division I tournament. How did it go with Alex?" I asked.

Vincent smiled. "He was ecstatic. It's rare that he gets that excited about something."

At least Alex was happy about our relationship. He could help us win over Mateo.

The rest of our evening went the same as usual, we did homework, played some games got ready for bed. When we were in bed and settled, I stared at his handsome face as he stared back at me.

"I'm going to miss you," I said. "I love soccer and I am excited for the tournament, but I'm still going to miss you."

"Me too," he said. "I'll watch the game."

I reached up and caressed his jaw. I memorized every little detail about his face so I could take it with me when I was gone.

He leaned in and kissed me. It was gentle and sweet. He pulled away and brought his hand up to my cheek. His thumb rubbed gently on my skin. I leaned in and kissed him with more urgency. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him to me as we kissed on his bed. Our lips melded together, our tongues danced together in ecstacy. He shifted so he was above me. His lips moved away from mine and trailed down my neck to that spot by my collarbone. He licked me. I moaned and realized I was getting hard. I pushed him away slightly.

"We'd better not," I said. "I have a game tomorrow."

"Were you in pain today? Was practice hard?"

"Not really," I said, "but I don't want to take the chance I will be in pain or discomfort and have it affect the game."

He settled back on his side of the bed and I thought that would be it, but he opened the end table drawer and took out a condom and the lube. I was confused because I knew he would never go against what I wanted. He handed me the condom.

"Then do you want to do me?" he asked. He tried to mask it, but his eyes couldn't lie and I saw the vulnerability and want there. Just the thought of it made me hard.

I shifted above him and hovered there a moment just staring down at him. His hand reached up and caressed my cheek. I bent down and kissed him. His hand on my cheek slid around to cup the back of my neck.

His tongue slipped into my mouth and mine rolled with his. His lips were hot and wet. His hand trailed down my back until he reached the bottom hem. His fingers slid under the shirt and met my flesh. His touch heated my desire. I broke away from the kiss and pulled my shirt off. I flung it off somewhere. I tugged at Vincent's shirt and he sat up just enough where I could pull it completely off him. I tossed it somewhere in the direction I had tossed my own shirt.

My lips crashed against his again as my hands trailed down his bare chest. My fingers lingered on his nipple and he moaned against my lips. I broke away from his lips to kiss down his neck, to taste his skin. My kisses continued down over his collarbone, over his chest. I took his nipple in my mouth and swirled over it with my tongue. He shifted beneath me and another sound of ecstacy escaped his lips.

I remembered my first dream of him. In my dream, I had licked him from his stomach up to his neck. I couldn't taste him in my dream, but I could now. My kisses continued down over the muscles of his stomach until I almost reached the hem of his pants. His breath hitched. His stomach moved as it did. Every movement, every sound he made was fire in my blood. Just as I had in my dream, I licked him from the base of his stomach up through his neck. He shuddered beneath me and moaned. I brought my lips back to his. One of his hands fisted in my hair, the other gripped around my waist. He was hard. I was hard.

I pulled away from the kiss and studied him to determine if this was what he really wanted. He moved to take his pants and boxers off. I helped him and tossed them somewhere. Then I slipped mine off and tossed them.

I settled in beside him with his back to me instead of on top of him. He started to turn to me confused, but I held him in a way so his back was to me. I wanted to try one of the other positions I had read about.

I kissed his shoulder and back of the neck while my hand trailed down and cupped the curve of his butt. He moaned when I squeezed it. He shifted against me stirring my hard on. I put the lube on my fingers, readjusted his leg for easier access and began to slowly insert the first finger.

He made a small noise, but it didn't sound like a noise of pain. I placed little kisses on his shoulder and neck while I waited for him to relax a little. It didn't take long and I inserted another finger and then another. When I thought he was ready - although it was hard to judge since I'd never done this before - I put on the condom and lube.

I slowly started to enter. I stopped when he tightened. He didn't tell me to stop though. I kissed and licked the crook of his neck. He slowly relaxed and I slid the rest of the way in. This was a completely new experience for me - to be inside him, to have him all around me. It was euphoric. Erotic. I liked it.

I waited a moment before I began to move in and out. My hand traced his hip and moved forward until it wrapped around his hard on. He placed his hand over mine as I pumped him in time to my own rhythm of moving in and out. His warm back seemed to melt into me and little sounds of pleasure escaped his lips encouraging my movements.

"Chet," he said my name breathlessly. He released over my hand and his still wrapped together.

When he said my name a burst of ecstacy washed through me and I climaxed. I held still not wanting to let go of him. I didn't want to pull out of him. Our breaths slowly steadied as we stayed in that position.

I finally pulled out and took off the condom. I was going to reach over Vincent to get the tissues, but he beat me to it. He took the tissues and condom from me and tossed them into the garbage bin.

He rolled onto his back and pulled me into a hug. I rested my head on his chest. His heartbeat was steady in my ear. I threw my leg over his.

"My love," I said.

"My heart," he returned.