Chapter Six Colin
Chapter Six
Colin
The summer sun is scorching as I jog across campus toward the residence hall in my exam robes. My last exam of the year is done, which means I have nothing left to do for the next twenty-four hours but spend time with my best friend.
He leaves tomorrow on the train headed north, and my mother will be in Oxford bright and early to take me home for the summer holiday.
To be honest, I’m dreading it. I don’t feel like the same man I was when she dropped me off. Save for the week I spent with her at Christmas, I’ve been here with Declan for nearly ten months.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I know myself. And I like myself.
I don’t want to return to the meaningless existence I knew before.
Their son. Dutiful. Obedient. Proper. Quiet. Allegiant.
Declan doesn’t have any classes today, so I know he should be in the room when I return. We can spend the rest of the day doing what we normally do. Get pissed somewhere in town and go home alone. We’ll probably stay up far too late talking and listening to music.
For the most part, I’ve been able to shove aside this growing crush on my friend. At first, I was afraid it would get in the way of our friendship, but it’s been fine. He spends all of his free time with me, so it’s like I’m getting the best of both worlds.
There’s a nagging part of me that worries about what Declan will do during the summer holiday. Will he have sex with someone? Fall in love? Get a girlfriend or a new best friend so he doesn’t want to spend time with me anymore? What will I do then? Who will I be?
The hallway to our room is quiet today. So many of the students are still in their exams or have already left campus. Normally, there’s more noise in the building just from people talking and music playing.
It’s mostly due to this unique silence that my ears pick up a distinct sound as I approach the quarters I share with Declan. Our door is open a mere inch, and just as my hand touches the knob, I freeze.
I hear a moan.
It’s not a sound I’ve heard Declan make before. It’s low and breathless with a hint of a grunt.
At first, I don’t think anything of it, but then he makes it again.
“Fuck,” he rasps quietly, and heat swells in my groin. He’s…getting himself off.
Is he alone? Did someone sneak into our room while I was gone?
But there are no other voices. Just his shallow groans and the distinct sound of quick movement of flesh on flesh.
My lips part, and my breathing grows heavy as I listen.
I should leave. My feet even shuffle for a moment as I prepare myself to run away and pretend this never happened. But then he does it again, this time with a hint of a whimper.
Instead of running, I let my eyes close and press my forehead to the wood of the doorframe, letting the sound of this gorgeous man pleasuring himself fill my ears and imagination.
I can’t see him, so I have to conjure up the image in my mind.
I picture him naked on his bed, sweat dripping from the pale skin of his chest and abs.
I can practically see his cock in my mind, strangled by his fist, as he pumps himself vigorously.
His back is arched off the bed, and his head is thrown back in elation, his eyes closed and his bottom lip pinched between his teeth.
My own cock reacts to the filthy fantasy, growing thick with desire.
This is so wrong of me. I’m terrible for this. Invading my friend’s privacy to lust after him without his knowledge or consent.
What is wrong with me?
His groans peak, stuttering as he reaches his climax. The sound is breathtaking. I’ve committed it to memory already, the sound and the fantasy.
It takes everything in me not to palm my own erection. Instead, I find myself leaning into the doorframe, subtly squeezing my cock between my body and the hardwood. The pain heightens the pleasure while also serving as a form of punishment for invading his privacy.
Once he’s finished, the room grows quiet. I don’t know what to do, and I don’t want to be caught standing here, so I turn from the door and make my way quickly down the hallway toward the exit. I make it all the way to the door before I hear his call.
“Hey, Shakespeare!”
Spinning on my heels, I turn back toward Declan, feeling flush in the face and still sporting a thick erection in my pants, which I hide with one of my textbooks.
“You done with your exams already?” he asks.
I clear my throat and shuffle my feet like I don’t know how to behave anymore. “Uh…yes, I am.”
As he reaches me at the end of the hall, there’s an unlit cigarette hanging between his lips and a charming grin on his face. There’s no evidence that he just orgasmed moments ago, and he doesn’t seem the least bit ashamed about it.
Me, on the other hand, I’m a wreck.
“Cheers, mate,” he says, throwing an arm over my shoulder. “Let’s get pissed then. It’s our last night together before the holiday.”
“Y-yeah,” I stutter, following his lead.
Even as we stand in the brick courtyard alone and he puffs on the cigarette, I can’t get the sound of his pleasure out of my head. As divine as it was, I’m so mad at myself for listening in. It’s gotten into my head. Changed everything.
Hearing Declan stroke himself has altered the chemistry in my brain, and I’m afraid I’ll never be able to right it again. I’m quite sure the lust is written all over my face.
“You won’t have any chance to get away this summer?” he asks, leaning against the brick wall with one hand in his pocket. It takes everything in me to keep from staring at him longingly.
“Not likely,” I reply, keeping my gaze down. “My mother likes to keep me close when I’m home from school.”
“And what about your dad?” he asks.
I shrug, kicking a pebble across the cobblestones. “He doesn’t come around much. Not anymore.”
“But they’re still married?”
“Yeah,” I answer.
Even as much as Declan and I have spoken this term, I’ve never once explained to him how my father doesn’t come around our family much and why. Truth be told, I’m a bit embarrassed by it, so I’ve kept the dirty details of it to myself.
“Well, it’s just three months,” he says, clapping his hand on my shoulder. I stiffen under his touch, remembering where that hand of his has just been and begging my cock not to react to that. He gives me a jovial shake as if trying to release me from my melancholy.
I think he can tell how downhearted I am about the long season away from school. Away from him. I feel pathetic for it.
Is he as sad as I am? Will he miss me? Or am I just another uni mate to him? He’s probably going home to a load of friends and a booming social life.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “Just three months.”
“But let’s make a deal,” he proposes. I perk my head up to listen. “Let’s see each other at least once this summer if we can. Fuck it, I’ll come to you if I have to.”
My brows lift in surprise. “What? Really?”
“Aye, you’re my best friend, Colin. I don’t want to spend a whole three months without you.”
“You called me Colin,” I reply with a laugh.
“Because I’m serious, you daft prick. Do we have a deal or not?”
I can’t help the smile that stretches across my face as he shakes me by the shoulder.
For a bloke who’s in love with his best friend, I really shouldn’t be so enamored by hearing him call me his best friend, but I am.
And not only that, but he wants to see me over the holiday.
This whole time, I was afraid this friendship was one-sided, but it’s not.
He’s going to miss me, and that sentiment is enough to get me through until we see each other again.
“Fine,” I say, feeling a whole lot lighter than I did a moment ago. “Deal.”
“Good.” He stubs out his cigarette and throws it in the bin. “Then, we’ll get drunk tonight, and after tomorrow, we only have to wait a month before we’ll see each other again.”
He flings an arm over my shoulder as we make our way out of the courtyard and down the road toward town. And suddenly, I’m not feeling quite as depressed as I was a moment ago. Declan Barclay made me a promise, and I know he would never let me down.