Wrestling With Love (45 page)

D.H. Starr

Wrestling With Love

Tyrell shrank away from him, but didn’t move away. Scott walked around Derek and pulled him in close, giving him a lingering kiss on the lips. “Come on over here, Baby. I got you a drink already.” Derek allowed himself to be led away. Once out of earshot, Scott turned to face Tyrell with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Tyrell stood motionless when Scott had kissed him, but Derek could feel the anger which had radiated off of him. “Do you think you should have done that in front of him? Kiss me, I mean.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask me that.” He took a full cup of beer and handed it to Derek.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Derek ran his fingers over the picture of the Tasmanian Devil, tickling his way across Scott’s chest and feeling Scott’s nipples harden under his touch. He then ran his hand over Scott’s bicep, squeezing at the firm, well-defined muscle. “You are too sexy. I almost want to ditch this party and go back to our room right now.”

Scott’s sexy grin slid into place and Derek could feel his own cock begin to stir.

“You’re one to talk. Everyone here has commented about how amazing you look in that shirt.”

Derek was about to respond when he heard a commotion from across the room. Turning to see what the problem was, his mouth dropped open. Tyrell was shrieking in a high-pitched voice and bent over. Beck, with a ferocious flame in her eyes, had one hand firmly grasping him by the balls. “Who in the fuck do you think you are? Do you really think anyone here believes a word you’re saying?”

Tyrell continued to squeal, begging for Beck to release him. “I’m not lying. It’s true.”

“Uh Beck?” Derek approached them warily, unsure what he could say or do to remedy the situation. “Is there a problem here?”

The crowd surrounding them stood by, silently watching what was taking place, too stunned to take any action. Beck turned to Derek. “Little Ms. Tyrell here is trying to tell everyone that the two of you have secretly been dating and having sex together. Since he doesn’t know me, I guess he assumed I would actually be interested in anything this miniscule little pin-dick has to say.” She tightened her grasp on Tyrell’s nuts and he bent over even further.

“But it is true. And that boyfriend of his should dump him if he knows what’s best for him. Derek’s told me over and over he wished they would just break up.” Tyrell was beginning to sweat.

Derek’s shock left him unable to speak. He looked at Scott who had turned red with fury. “Don’t,” was all Derek could manage as he watched Scott struggle with his temper. Scott’s fists clenched into tight balls, white with tension, but he made no move to attack.

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Beck, seeing that Derek had Scott under control, turned to Tyrell. “Okay little boy, I have some questions for you. First, you know as well as I do that you and Derek never had, and never will have, sex.”

Tyrell started to refute her comment, but she tightened her hold and he finally relinquished. “Fine, I just made it up.”

Beck continued as if she were interrogating a witness in a courtroom. The crowd began to murmur quietly, but Beck’s performance seemed to have them completely locked in rapt attention. “And why would you want to lie about something like that?”

“Because he ruined my life here on campus. He acted all nice to me and then made me look bad to my friends.”

“I see.” Beck’s face seemed to relax a bit, although she maintained her grip on Tyrell’s balls. “And why did you decide to wait for Derek outside his dorm to confront him?”

“Because I wanted to hurt him the way he hurt me. When he told my friends I had been lying, they told everyone and people began to look at me differently.” Tyrell’s face strained from the pain Beck was inflicting on him.

“So you admit you lied then too?”

“Yes! Please, let go of my balls.”

Beck smiled. “I’m not done. Now, I’m not going to bother about how you grabbed Derek, causing a physical injury to his arm. Instead, I’m going right for the milliondollar question. Were you the one who wrote the word faggot on Derek and Scott’s door?”

Tyrell’s eyes widened, then he recomposed himself as much as someone could whose nuts were in a vice grip. Everyone in the room fell silent. “No. I never did that.”

Beck tightened her grip and Derek could see she was beginning to twist her hand a little, causing Tyrell to gasp in pain. “Are you sure about that?”

Tyrell strained as he spoke. “Yessss!” The word dragged out as he hissed like a snake.

Beck calmly reached into her pocket, removing a pen. She placed the pointed end of it to Tyrell’s groin. “I’m only going to ask you one more time. If you lie to me again, I’m going to spear your nuts, add green peppers, pearl onions, and tomatoes, and barbecue them as a shish kebab.” With calculating precision, she asked the question one more time. “Were…you…the…one…who…vandalized…their…door?”

Tyrell stared at Beck, assessing how serious she was in her threat. When he didn’t respond, she applied pressure to the pen causing Tyrell to shout in pain. Derek looked around the room and everyone was as frozen in shock and intrigue as he was. Finally, Tyrell, panting and sweating profusely, answered. “Okay, Okay. Fine. I did do it. But I only did it to get back at him.”

Beck asked one last question. “Are you saying this because I’m hurting you or because it’s true?”

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Tyrell’s response was immediate. “I’m not lying. I wrote the word faggot on their door to get back at them. I wanted Derek to suffer like he made me suffer.”

She released her grip and Tyrell collapsed on the floor. Looking around, Derek could see that everyone was staring at Tyrell, who slowly stood up and squared his shoulders, trying to regain some composure. “What’s the big deal anyways? It’s just a word. I just wanted to make him feel like shit. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Jared stepped forward. “What’s the big deal? The big deal is that what you did is a hate crime. You vandalized school property. You’ve harassed another student. You’ve inflicted physical injury. Are you so dense and lost in your own miniscule head to realize your act of discrimination could have had significantly negative consequences for all of us who are gay on campus? What if other people who don’t like gay people decided to follow your lead and began to vandalize our rooms as well? What in the hell is wrong with you?” Jared was shaking at this point. “I think you need to leave. Before you do, please be very clear on one thing. On Monday, I’m going directly to the dean of the freshman class and reporting you. Enjoy your last two days as a student at BU

because I don’t believe you’ll be a student here after Monday.”

The room fell silent for a moment, then everyone broke into quiet conversations in groups of two or three. Derek turned to face Scott just as Beck walked up to them.

“Well, that went well, I think,” she said in a chipper voice, clapping Scott on the back. Derek looked at her, then Scott. “What did you do?”

Scott turned to Derek with an apologetic expression on his face. “Beck and planned how to get Tyrell to admit what he did. We knew he wouldn’t be able to resist talking shit about you to anyone who would listen and he doesn’t know Beck. We decided to have Beck talk to him, hoping he would spill something we could use against him since his guard wouldn’t be up with her.” He then turned to Beck. “What was up with grabbing his nuts though? That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“You two are the ones who say I’m constantly threatening violence against the male anatomy. I had to make an honest woman of myself.” She smiled an evil grin. Derek was still trying to process what had just happened. Once again, there was a commotion coming from behind Derek, then he heard someone shout, “Watch out!”

Derek whirled around just in time to see Tyrell charging towards him brandishing the pen Beck had just held to his groin. He was holding it like a knife and was moving in fast. Before he could move out of the way, Scott stepped forward, brushed Tyrell’s arm to the side, and punched him in the face. There was a loud crack and then Tyrell crumpled to the ground, clutching his face in his hands. Two other students grabbed Tyrell by each of his arms while Jared instructed someone else to call security. Ten minutes later, security was escorting Tyrell from the dorm. Once order had been restored, Jared looked at the crowd. What was supposed to be a celebratory party for the successes of the group had turned into a disaster and Derek somehow felt it was his fault.

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Finally, Jared spoke. “Obviously, this is not what I expected when I planned this party.” A few people laughed nervously. “But I think with all that’s been happening this year, it’s good that we were all together when the truth came out. This is something that affects us all. Not just those of us in this room, but everyone. We’ve all seen firsthand the danger of turning against one another. If this had continued, it would’ve reflected poorly on us and could have sent an entirely wrong message to the rest of the student body.” Jared paused, appearing thoughtful. “Tyrell is clearly sick and I’m sure he’ll get the help he needs. If we’re going to live by our words, we should hope for the best for him.” Jared paused again, looking like he was at a loss for words. Derek stepped forward. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but something inside of him felt a need to speak. He looked around the room at all of his new friends. He looked at Jared who had been such a good role model and mentor to him. Finally, he looked at Scott, the man he loved, and he felt a warmth and confidence fill him.

“I want to say something to everyone here. First, I kind of feel like this is all my fault.” Several people began to speak out in protest, but Derek raised his hand to silence them. “I only feel like it’s my fault because everyone who’s known about this problem has advised me to file a complaint and I haven’t. Maybe if I did, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Derek saw everyone was quietly watching him. Surprisingly, although he was the center of attention, his usual feelings of discomfort were absent. “When I started college, I felt this incredible urge to explore what it would be like to come out more publicly. In high school, I’d been very secretive about being gay and I didn’t want to anymore. Joining The Alliance has been a great experience for me. Although the year has presented a lot of challenges, and it’s only been a few months,” Derek laughed, realizing he had only begun school a little over three months ago. “I feel as if I’ve already grown and learned a lot about what it means to be myself.”

Everyone was silent, listening to what Derek had to say. “One of the things you’ve all shown me is it’s not being gay that takes courage; it’s being ourselves. It’s far gutsier to look inside and face who we are and how we need to change than to simply go along letting life happen to us. Jared’s goal of building understanding and integration is noble and we’re doing that, but being in the group is so much more than building a community. I’m proud to be a part of this group because each of you lives honestly and I’m learning how to do that too.”

Derek thought back to the first day he met Scott. His world had changed the moment Scott entered his English class and it had become more colorful and vibrant ever since. “What I’ve come to believe is that, although we’ve faced challenges by choosing to show courage, we’ve also been rewarded. Our reward is happiness. We can be ourselves and we don’t have to hide. That’s an amazing thing and maybe it takes something extreme, like what just happened, for us to appreciate just how amazing the courage we show really is.”

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Derek walked over to Scott. He was still talking to the whole group, but he was only looking at Scott. “My courage may have created a lot of drama, but I know what my reward is, and I’m looking at him right now.”

Scott placed his hands on Derek’s shoulders and slowly drew him in. Leaning forward, he kissed Derek softly, but with a deep passion filled with love. His mouth surrounded Derek’s and their lips pressed together in gentle warmth and tenderness. After a long moment, they pulled apart. The entire room began to whoop and cheer. Turning red, Derek faced his friends. “So, let’s all raise our beers or whatever else it is we’re drinking tonight, and drink to The Alliance.” Everyone raised their glasses and cheered again. Someone turned the music back on. After a while, the party was filled with laughter and dancing once again.

Jared walked up to Derek. “What you said was wonderful. I really hope you consider running for a leadership position next year. I think you’ll be able to lead this group in the right direction.” Grabbing Chad by the hand, Jared pulled him into the crowd and began to dance with the rest of the group.

Scott walked up behind Derek and hugged him, resting his chin on his shoulder.

“You’re amazing. I love you so much.”

Derek turned around and kissed Scott. “Come on. Let’s dance.” Derek pulled Scott into the middle of the room and began to dance to the rhythm and beat of the music. Beck joined them and, as they danced, she took both of their hands. Shaking her head and smiling, she said, “You guys are the cutest couple ever.” They continued dancing for the rest of the night.