8. Camden
Camden
I didn’t wait for the shuttle. I started jogging to the dorms since they were just over a mile away. That’d take me less than ten minutes. I just hoped Luke didn’t follow me. I thought he’d have to wait for Cassandra, anyway. They used a separate car service or something.
I didn’t even know what I was thinking. Well, that was a lie. I was trying to get out of the shower before Luke came into the locker room to avoid exactly what happened.
A frickin’ moment of weakness. It’s hard to be naked and near him. Literally. Hard. And as soon as his bare chest hit mine, and he dropped to his knees and stayed there, I opened my big mouth with the first thing that horny Cam could think of.
And then he blushed.
It had been a long time since I had seen that. I panicked and knew I had to get out of there. But then we bumped into each other again. When he licked his lips, I just remembered how good it felt to kiss them.
I still don’t know how I snapped myself out of it, but I did. After all, I was still hurt. Horny could wait. I wasn’t going to start something with him again because of my dick. My heart was going to need more than that to move on. Whether or not that was together was completely up to him.
That’s what I told myself, anyway.
I took the elevator to the seventh floor. I was ready to vent to Colton about the whole thing, but once I stepped in the room, I remembered why he wasn’t there, waiting for me. His family flew in today. He was likely with them. I put my bag down and flopped onto the bed to relax.
I had only met his parents and brother once, briefly.
It was the week I first met Colton when they were in Clearwater.
I joined them at the beach. I spent little time with them, but I remembered his dad seemed like a hard-ass, though I liked his mother.
And his brother, Beau, was, to be quite honest, spank-bank material, especially in a swimsuit.
An aged Colton, but with a beard and another few inches in height.
I met his sister, Madison, that same trip, and then a second time, when I went to stay with Colton in Dallas for one of my spring breaks.
She went to the University of Texas, same as him.
I got the distinct impression from her that she thought Colton and I were an item, and she was okay with it.
Based on her friend that was with her at the time, who wouldn’t stop eye-banging me but didn’t do anything about it, it was a realistic assumption.
She had said nothing to me about it, and I didn’t mention it to Colton either.
We were in the early pre-flirting stage of our friendship then.
It wasn’t until his semester at Florida University that we got handsy.
He had temporarily transferred for a semester to train at our facilities and with our staff to help him expand his potential.
Even though he stayed on campus, he had a car and he was over at my house almost every weekend.
It didn’t take long for two horny college guys filled with testosterone and semi-closeted libidos to get to the ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ routine.
Colton was uncircumcised like Luke and that contributed to my poor decision-making.
In the years since Brisbane, I hadn’t fooled around with anyone.
He wasn’t a virgin, having “explored” with a few guys in high school.
But one hormonally charged question from him about possibly seeing my dick and that led to us sitting side by side on my bed, jacking each other off.
It was exactly what I needed at the time.
A release. I had been thinking of getting on some apps, but it didn’t feel safe.
There had been some incidents on campus with catfishes and I wasn’t going to tempt fate.
As for old-fashioned dating, I thought about that too.
Not that I cared if people knew I was gay, but I thought a public coming out would bring up questions about Luke and I didn’t want that.
The next day with Colton was awkward. I realized pretty quickly that it was about the release of tension that had been building.
I was lonely, and Colton was a safe option as a friend, which then made me feel like I had taken advantage of him.
It didn’t help matters when he seemed enamored with me.
I valued his friendship though and over breakfast clarified that we needed to stay friends, if he could forgive a lonely, horny, gay boy.
He laughed it off, though I suspect that was for my benefit, and we’d been close friends ever since.
I still thought he had a crush on me, so I was happy when he and Zephyrus clicked. I was hopeful to see where that went.
My phone vibrated.
Speak of the devil.
Colton: Hey you, got plans tonight?
Cam: Nope.
Colton: Sweet. Wanna have dinner with the fam?
Cam: Sure.
He sent me the address of the restaurant and the time.
Now, I had to figure out what to wear.
The first half of dinner went well. Kendra and Harlan, Colton’s parents, asked us about training, the Olympic village, our coaches and what we had seen of London so far. Kendra asked about my mother and I told her about the flower shop and that she was arriving the next day.
I asked how things on the ranch were going, and Harlan and Beau spent ten minutes discussing that.
A lot of it went over my head, but it sounded like they were doing well and, based on the fanciness of the restaurant we were at, it was making them a lot of money.
Beau bragged about a possible acquisition of a smaller ranch which, if successful, would make them the second largest in north Texas.
I bit my tongue about the north Texas part, because I was curious how they compared to all of Texas. Colton’s sister, Madison, was mostly quiet, only piping in to rag on her brothers. We were about halfway through our meals when things went south.
“Do you like your teammates, honey?” Kendra asked.
“Yeah, they’re great, Momma. I think we’ve got a good shot at team gold.”
“Even with two queers?” Harlan added.
I stopped chewing and dropped my fork. It clanged against the plate. I saw Madison glare at her dad. Kendra seemed embarrassed, but Beau and Harlan’s faces were stoic. Colton was next to me, so I couldn’t see his face and didn’t turn to look.
“You can’t say things like that, Daddy,” Colton spoke up.
I had to put my hands in my lap. They were shaking.
“What? Is that not PC? I thought they liked that word. Okay, how about two gays? That better, son?”
“No, it’s not, Daddy. They’re people. And one of them is a veteran Olympian and medalist.” He paused. “And they’re my friends. They’ve got my back.”
Under his breath, I heard Beau mutter, “You sure that’s all they got?” and something in me snapped. I don’t even know who he was trying to make laugh with his comment. Madison still looked pissed, and Kendra looked mortified now.
“I’m going to go,” I said, taking my napkin off my lap and putting it on my plate.
“Oh no, Camden, please don’t g-” Kendra started.
I held my hands up to cut her off. “You see, the thing is, I’m one of the queers. I’m gay. And as much as I appreciate the dinner, I don’t feel like sitting here and listening to two grown men talk about gay people as if they’re in the middle of the playground during recess.”
“You’re gay?” Beau asked. “But you’re so-”.
Harlan actually stuttered, “I-I may have ha-had too much to drink.”
Colton snapped quickly, “You’re still on your first, Daddy.”
I turned to Beau and answered him. “Yeah, I’m gay, Beau. Were you going to say normal? Or masculine? Newsflash! Anyone can be gay. There’s all sorts of types. It’s not like there’s a uniform.”
“Good for you, Cam. You tell ‘em!”
All of us turned to look at Madison.
“Don’t let closed-minded conservatives get you down!”
“I’ll have you know that this closed-minded conservative pays for that college, filling you with all these...these...ideas!” Harlan half-yelled.
People around us were starting to watch. It was becoming a reality show - The Ugly Americans. Kendra and Beau got involved, and it turned to chaos. I took the opportunity to turn to Colton and quietly said, “See you back at the dorm.”
“Yeah. Thanks for speakin’ up. I...appreciate it.”
I gave his shoulder a squeeze and left.
I was scrolling through social media when I heard the familiar beeps of the keypad on the door. Ready for bed, I was in a t-shirt and boxers, but I knew Colton wouldn’t care. I headed to the doorway to see if he wanted to talk.
“Hey,” I said as the door closed behind him.
He just sighed, his shoulders sagging, and held his arms out. Before I could hug him though, I saw him smile, and he said, “Uh...your barn door’s open and your mule’s trying to run.”
I stopped, confused. “What?”
His grin widened. “Your dick’s hangin’ outta your shorts.”
I looked down, and sure enough. “Fuck.”
“Meh, I’ve seen it before,” he said, approaching me as I shoved it to the left of the opening. The button fell off this pair a while ago, but they were too comfy to throw away. I hugged him as tight as I could.
“How was the rest of dinner?” I asked.
I heard him sigh again. He felt tense, so I started rubbing his back slowly. He took a few deep breaths.
He finally said, “Like putting socks on a rooster.”
“That bad?”
“I mean, it was nice to see Madison defending us.”
“You told them?”
“Oh no. Sorry if that confused you. I just meant us as in ‘the queers’.”
I could hear the bitterness in his voice.
“I’m sure they’ll come around eventually. I might’ve been the first openly gay person they’ve actually talked to. We don’t know. And like you said, at least you’d likely have Madison on your side. Your mother seemed displeased with what they said too.”
“Displeased ain’t the right word. I could tell she was fixin’ to throw somethin’ at Daddy. The restaurant actually asked us to leave after you left.”
“Really?”
Colton nodded. “Yeah. The walk back to their hotel was awkward as fuck. Nobody said much.”
“Well, how did you leave things?”