A World Of Opportunities - Part 9 {gay}

 

Part 9

"Twenty-one days," Dennis said in my direction as he walked past. I was sitting with my friends as we compared and traded notes. We were seated at one of the three sets of tables and benches behind the library. I looked up to see a smile plastered across his face before he turned away and continued to walk on with his teammates. 

"Is he counting down to something?" Tiffiny asked as she continued to look in Dennis' direction. 

"Twenty-one days?" two others asked me at the same time. 

"Why are you looking at me?" I asked them. 

"He was talking to you," Eli said as he now joined in. 

"He was talking to John," I lied. 

"Me?" John quickly asked back. "Why would he be talking to me?" 

"Aren't you on a team too?" I asked, knowing it wasn't true. 

"I don't have time for clubs never mind teams," John replied. "Besides, he was clearly talking to you," he added on. 

"Why clearly?" I asked them. "Why would he be talking to me?" I put out there as I pulled another notebook closer to copy it into my laptop. 

"We've seen you two hanging out," Eli answered. 

"Hanging out?" I asked without looking up as I tried to concentrate on what I was trying to type. 

"I've seen you watching them practice," Ivy offered up. 

"I wasn't watching them practice," I told her. "I'm sure you saw my studying. The stands aren't that bad of a place, and after a while, you don't hear the team," I answered as I tried to look calm as I continued to type. 

"A few weeks ago I saw you eating together at Violet's," John now said. "Off of the same plate," he added to make it seem more damning. I rested my hands on my keyboard as I looked at him. 

"Firstly, Violet's is the school's cafeteria, don't make it sounds like you saw us out at some restaurant. And secondly, you should have noticed that he just sat down and started to eat my food and I pulled it away from him before he tackled it from me. I think," I said as I once again tried to remember how I ended up on the floor. 

"I heard he pushed you to the floor," Tiffany said. 

"See," I said as I pointed in her direction. 

"Is he bullying you?" Tiffany continued. "Is he counting down to a fight?" she asked before turning to look in the direction Dennis had walked off in. 

"Counting down to a fight?" Eli asked. "We aren't in high school," he informed the group before looking over his shoulder too. 

"No," I said as I realized they were moving this from grown-up teasing, into assault territory. "He apologized for knocking me down. Something about not knowing his own strength and he got me a fresh plate," I said before I started to type again. 

"So why did he sit with you?" Tiffany asked. I thought for a while about how to answer that. As quickly as it crossed my mind to say he was drinking, I didn't want him to be known as a drinker. I didn't even know if I've ever seen him drink anything as strong as a hard lemonade. I ended up shrugging to answer Tiffany. 

"Notes guys," I said to get their minds off Dennis. 

"Are you really alright?" Ivy asked me. 

"Why wouldn't I be alright?" I asked as it sunk in that I didn't understand what I just typed and concentrated on the screen. I turned towards the book I was copying it from and read it over to see what I got wrong. 

Sometimes, a powerful one-time pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus can establish a new and immediate association. An example of this would be a terrifying event that evokes a fear response and leads to a long-term phobia. If a child gets scratched by a cat, they may develop a phobia of cats due to that one experience. 

Yeah, I typed the whole thing wrong. I pressed down on the backspace key to delete it all and tried to make myself concentrate. 

"So he isn't bulling you?" Ivy asked. 

"Ha?" I asked before realizing that she was still going on about Dennis. "No," I answered. "He was just being a jerk that day," I told her before rubbing my eyes and concentrating on the notebook to try this again. 

===

Four Days later

===

I told everyone that I was going to be at the library late tonight, so I didn't check my phone until I was lying across my bed after taking a shower. There was a text from Mom saying my dinner would be in the oven for when I got home and to place it in the fridge if I was getting something to eat before I got home. I groaned in hunger at the same time my stomach did. But I stayed where I was and continued to check the rest of my messages. 

There was one from Mac reminding me to send him a copy of my notes for our quiz. Then there were the handful of texts from Dennis. Most I had already seen this morning. The first said seventeen in the form of birthday candles and the words good morning right under it. I laughed and sent back a gif of a girl leaving lipstick kiss marks all over a guy's face. Then the next one came in around twelve thirty asking me if we could have lunch. I asked him, his car or mine. He then asked me where I parked. 

The new ones were a little odd. The first showed a video of a guy threatening to burn his book because he couldn't understand the material. I didn't recognize him, but I heard Dennis quietly laughing the whole time. Then he turned the cam on himself and wished me better luck with my studying. I smiled as I thought about answering him when a new text popped up from him. 

Sixteen. 

I sent him a pumping heart GIF before plugging my phone in to charge and pulling myself off my bed. I then grabbed some shorts before heading down for some very late dinner. 

===

Two Days Later

===

"Why am I in a jewelry shop?" Dennis asks me as I continue to move him forward. 

"You said you wanted to spend time with me today, and today Adam asked me to pick something up for him," I told him. 

"You told me that and I thought you meant like a PS5 or his dry cleaning," Dennis continued as he looked around as I walked up to the counter. I didn't tell him I was picking up rings for Adam and Taylor since Adam was still keeping it under wraps. 

"Good afternoon," the guy at the counter said in greeting. 

"Hello," I answered back. "I'm here to pick up something for Adam Doxon," I explained. 

"Can you write out the last name for me please and I'll go back and check," he tells me as he hands me a pen and a blue Post-it note. 

"Sure," I told him as I took the pen and wrote it out in block letters for him. 

"Thank you, Sir," he said as I gave him everything back. "Just one moment," he told me before leaving to get the rings. I wondered how Adam got Taylor's ring size before turning around to look for Dennis. I found him looking into a case about six feet away from me. I went to see what caught his eye. They were male rings, but they weren't only gold or silver like I thought. Some were made of what looked like wood. Others had inlays of wood, something that looked like it could be bone, glass, shell, if not mother of pearl, or other metals. Some even had diamonds. More than one had diamonds encircling the band, but the width of the band kept you from thinking it was a woman's ring.

"Is Adam going to propose tonight?" Dennis asked as he looked at me for a moment. I shrugged my shoulders. 

"He didn't tell me and I didn't ask," I confessed. 

"You didn't ask?" Dennis asked me as we continued looking over the display. I saw a shiny black one that looked more rounded than flat. 

"I didn't ask," I answered back. "I was more surprised at how fast he's been moving with this whole thing," I said before leaning in to see a ring that seemed to have someone's fingerprint pressed into the gray metal.

"Sir," the store attendant called out, and I turned to see if he was talking to me. I saw no one else in the store and moved back across the store to where he was standing as another employee walked out onto the floor. 

"Adam Doxon, correct?" he asked me as he placed a box on his side of the counter. I nodded my head. 

"Okay, I'm just going to need your ID and a copy of the in-store pickup notification email," he said with a smile. 

"I have the notification email," I told him as I reached into my back pocket to get the paper Adam gave me. "But it's not in my name," I confessed. "I'm his brother," I said as I handed him the paper and then reached for my wallet to get my ID. 

"Thank you," he said as he took it from me and walked into the back again, holding the note, my ID, and the jewelry box. After a minute or two, I turned around to see where and what Dennis was doing. I saw him talking to that other store attendant and trying on rings. I was about to walk over there when the guy came back.

"Everything appears to be in order," he told him as he handed me back the email printout and my ID. He then opened the box to show me the rings. "Just to make sure for yourself before leaving the store," he tells me as he tries to hand me the box. I took it from him and looked down at two gold wedding bands. Each sporting a different large fingerprint design on an otherwise plain band. 

"Hey Dennis," I called out as something occurred to me. 

"Yeah," he answers a minute later as he steps up to my side and looks into the box. 

"I think Adam already asked him," I said as the rings reflected the light to prove they were there. 

===

Two Days Later

===

"Is it just me, or do you think they are moving too fast?" I asked Dennis as he walked me to my car. We didn't plan it. But he saw me walking ahead of him off campus, and he jogged to catch up. It was late, so there weren't that many people still around. 

"You've only met my family, and they're planning a wedding," Dennis answered as he adjusted the backpack over his shoulder. "And we all got together at the same time. I think they are going a little fast, but sometimes...," Dennis paused, and I looked over at him as we continued to walk. 

"Sometimes what?" I asked. By the time Dennis spoke again, his voice bounced off the walls as we entered the parking tower. 

"I feel like a spaz for not already being out. At least," he said without looking at me. 

"But you are coming out in two weeks," I told him. 

"Twelve days," Dennis corrected me. 

"Twelve days," I said back at him. "Even better." Dennis half smiled in my direction, but he didn't say anything. "Spaz?" I asked him as we neared my car which was on the first floor today. 

"Yeah, I think spaz is the right word," Dennis answered. "A scatter brained person. Not getting one thing done for what ever reason," he explained. "Not focusing."

I leaned on my car as I thought it over. Dennis parked his cute ass next to mine as he waited for something. 

"One, you think that way about yourself? And two you're kinda using the word wrong and three-"

"There's a three?" he cut me off with. 

"Three," I singled out with the tone of my voice. "It isn't a word you should be using anyway," I informed him. 

"Like taking the Lord's name in vain bad?" Dennis managed to ask in a serious tone. We've both done it, so that wasn't much of a deterrent. 

"More like calling a black person a nigger," I enlightened him. 

"What?!" he quickly asked. "Why?" was his follow-up question. 

"Well, it might not be that bad, but a few people have caused a huff over it being in entertainment, so that was the vibe I got. As for the meaning, one moment," I said as I pulled my phone out to make sure I got it right. A few clicks later I was reading off my screen. "It says here, While the term has been used as an ableist slur in numerous situations, and is considered derogatory in the United Kingdom among other places, it does not have the same connotations in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The origins of the term, however, are undisputed. Then further down it says that The Cambridge Dictionary describes it as "an extremely offensive word for a person who has cerebral palsy [...] a condition of the body that makes it difficult to control the muscles." " I ended. I looked over at him as he took it all in. 

"Are you upset at me for using that word?" Dennis turned to look at me again. 

"No," I told him. "Words and meaning change as time moves along, but I wouldn't want you saying that around other people and having them think you're some kind of asshole," I told him as I slid my arm around his waist. "Besides, even with your meaning, which does come close to what others think it means, it doesn't describe you. Tell me deep down you know that?" I asked as I tugged at his waist a little. 

"Yeah. Mostly," Dennis admitted before laying his arm around my shoulders after he pulled it free. "But I do feel like I should be further along. Especially compared to your brother," Dennis confessed. 

"Stop right there," I warned him. "I've been comparing myself to him for most of my life, and it's done me no good. I don't want you falling into that mental trap."

"A trap that you escaped?" Dennis asked after a moment of silence. 

"Well, Adam told me, after he hooked up with Jamie, that he's sorry that I ever felt that I had to." I rested my head on his shoulder. "He said that he wasn't trying to live up to anyone or anyone's idea of what he was suppose to be when he did what he wanted to do. What he was best at doing, and that I shouldn't be doing that either." I pushed off the hood and turned with Dennis' arm still holding onto my shoulder. I gently settled against his waist with my own after he opened his legs wide with little prodding. 

"So I don't want you calling yourself a spaz or thinking you have to try to keep up with Adam or anyone else for that matter. It's not a race," I said before slowly kissing him. Dennis kissed me back just as gradually without pushing for more. I felt his hands sliding up and down my sides while creasing and smoothing out my shirt as I gently rocked into him. When I found myself starting to push myself away from taking more, I took a step back. Physically. 

"We'll get where we're going when we get there?" Dennis asked as his hands continued to travel up and down my torso. "Is that what you were going to say?" Dennis asked before he kissed my chin. 

"Actually, I was going to ask you how tired you were," I confessed as a smile twisted up my lips before I gave into the action.