Chapter Twenty-Five
B.D.
After I returned to campus after a five-day road trip and winning streak, with basketball games in St. Louis, Chicago, and Indianapolis, I sent Larenz a message, eager to see him as soon as he was able to have me over.
B.D.: I’m back. Free anytime today?
Larenz: What’s up?
B.D.: I’d like to stop by and sit in the chair.
Larenz: I’ll be back in my dorm around eight. If you can hold out for a few hours.
B.D.: Been five days. A couple hours won’t hurt…or maybe it will.
Larenz: Yum. Can’t wait.
B.D.: Me either. I missed you.
Larenz: I missed you, too.
B.D.: I had lots of pineapple today and yesterday.
Larenz: Sweet, lol.
B.D.: I hope it is.
Larenz: Can’t wait. I’ll message when I’m heading to my room.
B.D.: For sure.
Like clockwork, Larenz messaged me when he was back in his room, and I made the twenty-minute trek across campus from the athletes’ dorm to his.
“Missed you,” I said when I got to his room, after a student front desk worker let me sign in without Larenz needing to go downstairs.
Shirtless, and dressed in just boxer briefs, Larenz shut the door behind us.
I caressed the side of his face and leaned in for a kiss.
Like usual, a tear formed in my eye as I thought about how much it meant for me to kiss another man. “Missed your lips.”
“Missed these kisses,” Larenz said, sliding my jacket and backpack down to the floor.
He hit a light switch, and the blue and white holiday lights he had hanging around the room glowed seductively around us.
Gently, he slipped his hands inside the waistband of my sweats and reached for my dick, which leaped with his touch. “Missed this B.D., too.”
“Oh yeah? Show me.”
“I will, babe.” He helped me out of my T-shirt, tank top, and sweatpants.
He gently pushed me over to the desk chair, where he kneeled before me as I sat and opened my legs the way he liked.
He kissed my chain and pendant and then lowered himself to lick my abs while kneading and squeezing my dick.
“Let’s get this underwear off so I can handle business. ”
As I pulled on my briefs, I said, “I’m warning you this is probably going to be a quick nut, since I haven’t come in a few days. Don’t judge.”
Larenz smiled, kissed me, and said, “It is what it is. I know what keeps you coming back.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was coming back down to earth after exploding in his mouth.
Recovering, we moved from the chair to Larenz’s bed, both in just our underwear, and sat hand in hand, our backs against the wall with our legs dangling off the edge.
Whitney Houston’s Just Whitney album played in the background, and we both bopped our heads to “Love That Man” before lowering the volume.
“I got you something while I was on the road.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Mind handing me my backpack? I’m still zoning out from that head you gave me and can barely move.”
“You so stupid, B.D., we just moved to the bed.”
Larenz rested my bag across both our laps. I reached inside and grabbed a brown paper bag.
“I ain’t have time to wrap it, but just think of the bag as country wrapping paper,” I said as I handed the package to Larenz. “I hope you like.”
Larenz opened the top, reached in, and pulled out three books.
“Oh wow. E. Lynn Harris books.”
“Not just any E. Lynn Harris books. Open up to the pages with the bookmarks sticking out.”
Larenz’s jaw dropped and he beamed joyfully. “These are signed to me. No way.”
“Yeah way.”
“How?”
I had been eager to tell him the story for days but had to hold it in for the element of surprise. I told him about a Black-owned bookstore down the street from our team’s hotel in Chicago with a sign announcing an E. Lynn Harris book event conveniently happening the evening after a game.
“So I skipped the team dinner after the game to go to the event, and voilà,” I said, pointing to the books. “I told him about how I read his books for the Black Lit class, how you helped me pass it, and how summer orientation and studying brought us together.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, and so he told the bookseller he’d pay for and personalize our books. Can you get my digital camera out of my bag?”
Larenz did and we waited for the camera to buzz and warm up.
“Oh my goodness,” Larenz said when he saw the screen light up with event photos, including one with the author, me, and the books. “I am so happily jealous. I love E. Lynn Harris. I love you, B.D. I mean I like you, B.D. Thank you so much.”
I loved the way Larenz kissed and hugged on me after I gave him the autographed books and showed him the event photos.
No one I’d dated or been with doted on me like he did.
Ever. It made me feel good. I just wasn’t sure how I felt about the “love” word coming up after just a few months of hanging out with him in his dorm room after hours or whenever our schedules met.
Still, I felt enough for him not to want to hurt his feelings.
I reached for his hand and intertwined our fingers. He leaned his head on my shoulder.
“You know you’re my guy, right? I play you at the five.”
“Play me at the five?”
“You’re at the center of my life. My only guy. Got it?”
“Of course.”
“I just want you to know that. There will be no other guy for me.”
“For sure.”
“I appreciate how you like me for me. The little country boy from St. Louis. The foster kid with no real connections. The man trying to find himself and figure out who he is. I never expected a relationship like this in college. Ever in my life, for that matter.”
“I appreciate how you like me for me. The nerdy Black boy from Detroit. The one who knows everyone on campus and who everyone on campus knows. The campus poster child who unexpectedly fell for the campus basketball star.”
“So much for friendly, but not friends.”
“Please don’t report me to Dean, my hall director.”
I turned my head, lifted Larenz’s, and kissed him.
“I might not see you for a few weeks. With us making March Madness, our coaches are going to have us on a super-regimented curfew, sleep, and workout routine before our travel begins.”
“I know. I was at the campus watch party when it happened. Congratulations. That’s big news.”
“I wish we made big money like the school is about to do off of us, but that’s a whole ’nother story,” I said. “This is something I’ve always dreamed of.”
“I’m happy for you. I’ll go to the campus viewing parties and cheer you on from afar.”
“Wish you could travel with the team and be with me, but you know how things are. Sometimes I wish I could do more for you, for us, than a few stolen moments in your dorm room or working out when no one is in the gym. This is more than sex to me, in case you ever wondered.”
“Even if it is just sex, I know what I signed up for getting involved with someone like you.” He gripped my hand tighter.
“Besides, I’m not sitting in my room making microwave popcorn and waiting for you to message me when you want some ass.
I’m all over campus, too, and I’m about to run for student body president. ”
“What? For real? I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t trip, now. Diego is going to be my running mate.”
“Your little Latin lover, huh?” I laughed. “You get a pass with him if you need. Just as long as your heart stays with me.”
“My heart will always be with you, B.D.”
We kissed and Larenz unlocked his hand from mine, ran it up and down my thigh, and rested it on my dick print. I knew what he was trying to do, and I was all for getting another round in before our weeks-long hiatus from each other.
“Maybe one day things will be different for guys like me,” I said, closing my eyes as Larenz massaged me to hardness once again. “What do you think?”
“I’m sure one day things will be a lot different than they are now in the 2000s,” he said as he pulled my dick out of my underwear. “Like twenty years from now when we’re in our forties. Imagine.”
“Yeah, and Beyoncé will make a country album one day,” I said with a chuckle.
“You never know. I could see her doing house music or rock ’n’ roll one day. But anyway…”
“I don’t know if I want to think that far into the future,” I said as I enjoyed Larenz’s hands on me. The way this man turned me on. “I kinda like what’s happening right here and now, if you know what I mean.”
Larenz leaned down and kissed the tip.
“I know exactly what you mean.”