Screwups (8 page)

“A man’s gotta have dreams.”

“What about you?”

Jake frowned and sighed. “I’ll start out as some low-level manager at my dad’s company—he’s the CEO of 4Tran.”

“Dude!” Danny exclaimed. “Seriously?”

“Yes.”

Danny’s first thought was
Your family must be loaded!
But he had enough manners not to say that out loud. Though he did wonder why the son of a prominent business executive didn’t have his own car. “Then you’re planning on rising up through the ranks and taking over?”

“One of my brothers will probably do that—after they duel to the death to see who gets top position. They’re twins, and they’re insanely competitive. I’m doomed to be middle management until I either go to another company or put a bullet in my brain.”

The thought of Jake killing himself didn’t strike Danny as particularly funny, so he changed the subject. “When did you first start drawing?”

“In high school,” Jake replied, “I had a really cool art teacher—Mrs. Dougherty—who thought I had some talent. She really encouraged me.”

“But your father didn’t want you to ‘waste your time’ on it in college?” Danny guessed.

Jakes eyes flicked up at him briefly. “No.” He paused for a moment to erase something with the gum eraser he had on the desk beside him. Then he picked up the pencil and returned to sketching. “I once spent a week sketching a little potted rosebush Mrs. Dougherty brought into class so I could give it to my mom for her birthday. I even spent my lunch breaks working on it. I’d never shown my mom anything I’d drawn before and I wanted it to be perfect. She said she loved it, and she put it on the fridge. Then a few days after her birthday, it disappeared.” Jake looked up at Danny with a peculiarly cold expression in his eyes. “My mom asked us all at dinner if anybody knew what happened to it. My father told her it was past her birthday… so he threw it away.”

“Nice” was all Danny could think of to say, though he was thinking
What a fucking asshole.
“I just live with my mom. My dad left when I was a kid—I have no idea where he is now—and I don’t have any brothers or sisters.”

Jake nodded and closed the sketchbook. “I guess I’m done. You can relax.”

“Can I see it?” Danny asked, standing up to stretch his cramped legs.

Jake looked reluctant, but he opened the sketchbook again and let Danny come over to look at it. Danny leaned over his shoulder, conscious of the fact that he was still naked. If he leaned an inch or two closer, his dick would be resting on Jake’s elbow. But though it was… interesting… to be naked and this close to Jake, Danny didn’t want to totally wig the guy out.

“It’s really nice,” he said, and it was true. For one thing, it was a very good likeness, unmistakably Danny. But Jake also had a beautiful soft touch that Danny found appealing. It made Danny look ethereal and… beautiful.
Is that really how I look to you?
he wondered. But instead he said, “That’s really awesome! You’ve definitely got talent.”

“Thanks.” Jake didn’t seem to believe him, but he smiled as he put the sketchbook aside.

When he moved his arm, his elbow nudged Danny’s penis.

“Oh, sorry!” Danny said, pulling away quickly. It was one thing to tease Jake a little, another to actually rub up against him.

“Don’t apologize. I’m the one who touched you.”

“I shouldn’t have been standing so close.”

Jake laughed quietly, though he still seemed distracted. “Dude, I’m not freaked out about you being naked. If I was, I wouldn’t have asked you to pose for me.”

“I’ll put my shorts back on.” He bent to pick up the shorts he’d kicked off near the door.

“Don’t.”

Danny stopped, the shorts in his hand, and glanced up at him. Jake looked puzzled, as though he wasn’t sure exactly why he’d said that, and Danny was sure he looked just as confused. But before either could say anything, there was a loud knock on the door. Eva called to them. “Hey! Come on, you guys! Holly and I are going for ice cream!”

“Ice cream,” Danny said, almost as if it were an apology.

Jake nodded. “Yeah.”

J
AKE
HAD
almost told Danny right there. The difference between “I don’t mind if you’re naked” and “I like it when you’re naked” had seemed so slight. What normally seemed like a giant, epic announcement had suddenly seemed casual and easy. Just a shrug and a few words.
I like looking at you.

I think you’re beautiful.

But… ice cream. It was actually pretty chilly at night for an ice cream run, being late November and all. But Jake was learning that people in Eaton House often did things precisely because they were bizarre. The ice cream bar at the train station had closed for the season, but there was a combination coffee shop and ice cream parlor in downtown Durham that was open year-round. Since there was no permanent parking near the minidorms, Eva’s car was parked in A Lot, which would take longer to walk to than it would take to just walk directly to the ice cream place.

But that meant fifteen minutes of walking across campus in the dark, when the temperature had dropped to just a wee bit under freezing. By the time they got to their destination, Eva was the only one who still insisted upon ice cream. Paul, Danny, Wallace, Jake, and Holly—a theater major who lived in the room opposite Eva’s—all opted for coffee or hot chocolate.

“Eva,” Danny said, warming his hands on his hot chocolate cup, “have I ever told you you’re insane?”

“Frequently.”

“Just so we’re clear on that.”

“So I was thinking,” Eva said, “since tomorrow night is our last night in the dorm—”

“Until Sunday.”

“—we could have a party.”

“How brilliantly original,” Paul murmured, sipping his decaf coffee.

Holly seemed to consider the idea while she attempted to fold her napkin into something. Jake couldn’t tell what—maybe a bird. “We shouldn’t just have a party. That’s boring. We should do something original—have a theme.”

“Like what?” Eva asked.

“I don’t know. Costumes?”

“Come dressed as your favorite nudist!” Danny exclaimed gleefully.

Jake laughed, even as he felt his dick stiffening in his pants again.
Jesus.
Danny didn’t even have to actually take his clothes off to get Jake hard. All he had to do was
mention
taking his clothes off. Jake had had an erection the entire time he’d been sketching him.

“I like it!” Wallace said, giving Danny a high five.

Holly grimaced. “You would. Guys are always willing to get naked if it will get girls naked too.” Eva nodded in agreement.

“Not me!” Paul exclaimed. He looked panic-stricken. “I don’t want anyone looking at my fat ass naked.”

“I keep telling you,” Eva said, “you’re not as bad looking as you think. You probably have an adorable ass.”

“What if I pop a boner?”

“There might be a definite risk of bone-age,” Wallace agreed.

Holly and Eva both snorted and had to take a minute to stop snickering. At last Holly said, “Erections can’t always be helped, so I think we can overlook them.”

“As long as nobody starts masturbating or humping furniture,” Eva added, giving Paul a stern look.

Paul looked scandalized. “Don’t look at me! I won’t even be there!”

“Oh come on, Paul. You have to be there.”

“What if Holly and Eva lose control and start having wild lesbian sex?” Danny asked Paul. “You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?”

“I
already
have a boner,” Jake said, causing everyone to laugh. But he felt stupid for making the joke. At this point, he doubted he was fooling anyone with his masquerade of heterosexuality. Certainly he wasn’t fooling Danny. He could tell by the way Danny smirked at him.

T
HE
PARTY
was held the next evening in Danny and Jake’s room. They were the only ones in the group with a double. In addition to Eva, Holly, Wallace, Jake, and Danny, Holly’s boyfriend Kevin had joined them. He actually lived in Hall House, the outdoor activities minidorm, but they could hardly tell him he wasn’t invited to a nude party with his girlfriend. Fortunately, he was cool. He didn’t even act jealous of Wallace—and for all he knew, Jake—ogling his girlfriend’s breasts. Danny also couldn’t say he objected to a buff, physically fit guy stripping down with them. Wallace was okay—just an average-looking guy, not unpleasant to look at—but Kevin was definitely hot.

Paul did show up, reluctantly. He tried to just strip to his underwear at first but finally had to cave to Eva and Holly’s badgering and take those off. He then promptly grabbed a pillow and hid his crotch under it for most of the evening. That was fine with Danny, even though it was
his
pillow Paul was rubbing his crotch against. Paul wasn’t exactly disgusting to look at—more just pudgy and kind of shapeless—but he was a bit on the grubby side. One of those college students who took advantage of the lack of parental oversight to avoid showering except when absolutely necessary. Not at all appealing. Eva had launched a campaign to cure him of this behavior, but it didn’t appear to be having much impact.

By far the most attractive man in the room was Jake. Kevin was sexy, but Jake was… unbelievable. Sure, Danny had seen him naked a lot lately, before bed and in the mornings, but he never got tired of looking. Jake wasn’t really “jacked,” as Danny had accused him of when they first met, but he was definitely well-defined and muscular, his pale skin making him resemble a Greek statue carved out of marble—except for patches of red hair in interesting places.

The comparison to a marble statue was apropos in another way was well, since it turned out the only guy present who seemed to have a problem keeping his erection in check was Jake. Well, Paul might have had trouble, but nobody could tell, thanks to the pillow. But Jake’s was right out there on display. Considering how chronically shy he’d been about showering a few weeks ago, he no longer seemed to give a damn. He smiled shyly when the girls teased him about it, but he made no move to cover himself. And that made it very hard for Danny to keep himself under control.

They pooled their money and ordered four large pizzas and three two-liter bottles of soda. They debated flashing the pizza delivery guy, but if one of the guys did it, they’d be brought up on sexual harassment charges. Holly argued that one of the girls might be able to get away with it, but ultimately Danny and Jake dressed for a few minutes to go out and retrieve the pizzas from the end of the hall.

They did, however, all end up streaking through the dorm in a long conga line—all but Paul—which horrified the people in the downstairs lounge who were trying to watch
Blue Velvet
for the tenth time. Somebody fetched Sonny, who put on his best stern-parent voice and ordered them back to their rooms if they didn’t want to be written up. But he was having so much trouble keeping a straight face they obeyed more because the novelty had worn off and they were getting cold than for fear of disciplinary action.

Overall, though it had consisted of little more than eating pizza and enjoying being naked around other people, the party was declared a huge success. Wallace and Kevin seemed to have been hoping for some kind of orgy to break out, but they were willing to call the party “fun” even when that didn’t happen.

Jake remained naked while their friends all dressed and left, and since he clearly didn’t care, Danny stayed naked too.

“You still look ready for action,” Danny teased as he picked up the pizza boxes their friends had kindly left scattered all over the floor.

Jake had sprawled out on his own bed, and now he raised his head to look down at his disobedient erection. “The stupid thing won’t go down.”

“Must be all those hot naked girls you were surrounded by,” Danny replied. He didn’t bother hiding the sarcasm in his voice.

Jake didn’t rise to the bait. All he said was “Must be.”

Danny decided he didn’t need to be a jerk about it. He was getting a nice view of a gorgeous man with an erection. He might as well just appreciate it. Jake could decide to come out or not as he saw fit.

After the pizza boxes had been cleared out of the center of the room, he tried to make some kind of order out of his bed. People had been sitting on both his and Jake’s beds all night, so the blankets were all messed up. But the big thing was his pillow. He picked it up and noticed a dark pube on it. Yay. Not knowing why he was stupid enough to do so, he took a tentative whiff of the pillowcase. Yep. That was crotch smell all right. Not really bad, but knowing it had been Paul’s crotch, he decided against resting his face on it. He stripped the pillowcase off and turned to pull a new one out of his drawer.

That’s when he caught sight of Jake lying on his bed, watching him and… jerking off.

Okay, are we going to pretend straight guys do
that
now?

Jake wasn’t going full at it. He was just holding himself and slowly moving his hand back and forth. But it wasn’t subtle enough to fool anyone into thinking he was just scratching himself or something. Now that Danny was looking directly at him, he asked, “Do you mind? I’m really horny.”

“Do I mind what?” Danny asked. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if Jake was asking him to
do
something.

“If I jerk off. I mean… I can wait ’til the lights are off, if you don’t like me being this blatant about it.”

Danny thought about it for a second. Not because he minded—it was really starting to make him horny too, which would be difficult to hide in a minute—but because he wasn’t sure where this was going. “If you don’t mind me watching,” he said finally.

“I want you to watch,” Jake said. “I’m hoping you’ll do it too. We’ve never done it with the lights on.”

“Jesus, guy. If I didn’t know there hadn’t been anything in that soda, I’d swear you were drunk right now.”

Jake smiled. “Not drunk. Just… so horny my judgment’s kind of flown out the window.”

“All right. Sure. Why not?”