Serpentine Walls (9 page)

“Okay. Hey, Pete, I’m gonna go shoot some hoops with Leo, so bye if I don’t see ya later.”

“Take care, little brother.” Pete hugged him. “See you at Thanksgiving. Or sooner, if you want to come visit me at school.”

Nate loped into the house, and as soon as the door shut behind him, Pete said to Missy, “So tell me. How’s Mom doing, really?”

Missy bit her lip. “Not very good. She gets herself up and out to work every day, but when she’s home, she goes into her bedroom and stays there. I think she’s seriously depressed.”

“Yeah.”
Fuck Dad and that fucking bitch he ran off with.
“How’re you doing?”

Missy’s eyes filled. “It’s hard, you know? I miss Dad, but I’m so mad at him. And I worry about Nate. He doesn’t show it, he’s his happy-go-lucky self, but it’s got to be affecting him. He’s basically lost both his parents his senior year of high school.”

Pete put his arm around her. “I wish I could be around more. Help you out.”

“I know,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder. “Sometimes I wish I was at U.Va. instead of Mason and could escape all this drama. But I couldn’t leave Nate, not now. I’m cooking dinner most nights as it is, because Mom can’t seem to get herself out of bed.”

“It sucks. Are Rob or Austin around at all to help?”

“Not much. They’re both busy. Austin’s schedule is insane with the elections coming up. And Rob is busy being married and all that good stuff.” She smiled wryly. “I guess none of us thought we’d be dealing with our parents getting divorced this year.”

“True,” Pete said, hugging her to his side. “We didn’t schedule it in, did we?”

“H
EY
,
roomie,” Pete said as he came into the apartment. Angie and Brian sat in the living room, McDonald’s bags on the table. “Hi, Brian.”

“Yay, it’s Pete! The party can begin.” Angie waved the french fry in her hand. “Come have some junk food.”

“I’m good.” Pete dropped his duffel. “Mom made us sandwiches for the road.”

“Your mom rocks,” Angie said. “How’s she doing?

“Fair. It’s pretty rough right now.” Pete stretched and groaned. “Man, I’m sore. Nothing like setting up and taking down a garage sale and hauling all of Bud’s crap back to school.”

“What should we do tonight?” Angie asked.

“Another wild backgammon tournament?” Brian suggested.

“Kill me now.” Angie made a face. “You always win too.”

“Oh,” Pete said, “before I forget, Bud says we need to come to The Cellar tonight and hang out with him and the rugby team.”

“Bud?” Angie and Brian said in unison. “Why should we go anywhere Bud is?” Angie continued.

“He’s got a guy for me to meet.”

“Oh, really?” Angie perked up.

“Yeah. Some guy named Jed who’s on the team. Bud said I met him at that frat party, but I don’t remember.”

“Well, you were a tad inebriated, as I recall.”

“Those frat parties can be dangerous,” Brian said.

“No lie. Anyway, this guy apparently is gay and he told Bud he wanted to see me again.”

Angie stared at him. “Wow, Pete, what is this year? You’ve got men interested in you all over the place.”

“I have no idea.” It was unreal.
Am I emitting a sex pheromone or something? Two years of nothing, and now it’s raining men
. Although he could do without creepy come-ons from his professors.

As if reading his mind, Angie said, “Oh, I meant to ask you how your meeting went with Professor R.”

“Interesting.” He said it in a dry voice, but Angie seemed oblivious to the sarcasm.

“Isn’t he amazing? He’s so intelligent.”

“I don’t know, he seems creepy to me,” Brian said.

“You don’t even know him! He’s been helping me out a ton on my independent study. He’s so nice, and so handsome….” She heaved a sigh.

“And so hitting on his students,” Pete couldn’t help saying.

“What?” Angie’s face flushed. “I’ve heard those rumors, but I don’t believe it. He’s a great teacher and really helpful.”

“So I guess he was just being ‘helpful’ when he asked me out for drinks and put his hand on my knee.”

“See?” Brian said to Angie. “I knew there was something off about him.”

Angie stood up abruptly, her face bright red. “You must have misinterpreted things. And I don’t want to hear any more of this conversation.” She stalked out of the living room and slammed the door to her bedroom. Pete and Brian looked at the hallway and then at each other.

“O-kayyy…,” Pete said.

“PMS, perhaps?”

“Beats me.” Pete walked down the hall and knocked on her door. “Hey, Ang! We’re sorry, conversation abandoned. You coming to The Cellar? I need you there for moral support. Cleo and John are coming too.”

After a pause, Angie said in a muffled voice, “Okay, fine. I’m mad, but I’m gonna be there for you. You owe me a beer.”

“P
ETE
!
Get your ass over here!”

Bud’s booming voice sounded from across The Cellar. He sat at a table with six other guys, all in their rugby uniforms, and Pete supposed that if his type extended to jocks, they’d make an appealing picture.

“Go ahead.” Back to being her bubbly self, Angie gave him a little push in Bud’s direction. “Brian and I’ll find a table. Get us a pitcher while you’re at it.”

Pete walked over to Bud somewhat reluctantly. The guys were loud, laughing and talking, and he didn’t recognize anyone else, but when Bud nudged the guy next to him so hard he almost sent him sprawling, Pete guessed this would be Jed. Jed had medium-brown hair and average looks, and Pete could see why he didn’t remember him. But as Jed scowled at Bud, his face red, Pete caught a glimpse of his muscular physique and finally recalled talking to him for a minute at that awful frat party.

“Pete, Jed Carter. Jed, meet my cuz, Pete Morgan. You guys have a
lot
in common.” Bud gave them a suggestive wink.

Taking pity on him for being at Bud’s mercy, Pete nodded at Jed and said hello. Jed said hello back and then looked down at his drink.

“I’m gonna go get a pitcher for me and my roommate,” Pete tried again, letting Jed decide what to do from there. He had started walking to the bar when he heard the scraping of a chair and Bud’s obnoxious “Woooo, get it!” behind him. He turned to see Jed coming after him, stopped, and waited for him.

“Sorry about my cousin,” Pete said. Jed’s face opened, and he smiled sheepishly.
Okay, yeah, he’s pretty cute when he smiles.

Just then, Pete spied Aidan entering the club entwined with yet another guy, this time a tall, stylish theater major.
Wonderful.
Pete turned his back to him, hoping Jed could distract him from his Aidan obsession.

“How about coming over to my table so we can talk without Bud breathing down our necks?” he asked Jed. Jed nodded, looking so happy that Burt Reynolds’s line from some movie popped into Pete’s head: “Relax, I’m not
that
good.”

After getting the pitcher, they sat down at the table that now included John and Cleo. The conversation between Pete and Jed progressed slowly, due to Jed’s inarticulateness and the fact that they couldn’t seem to find one thing in common to talk about. But Jed was kind of hot in a jock sort of way and seemed eagerly interested in everything Pete had to say. Pete tried to overlook the fact that the last movie Jed had seen was
Transformers 3
. John was always telling him to stop being such a film snob.

Karaoke provided a welcome distraction. The machine at the front was in constant use, and as they talked, they were subjected to off-key renditions of everything from “Billie Jean” to “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Matthew, who Pete hadn’t even realized was there, ran up to the front with a couple of other grad students. Donning sunglasses, they gave a rousing performance of “Great Balls of Fire.” Pete smiled, enjoying the sight of Matthew jumping all over, making a fool of himself and getting the whole place laughing.

In contrast, Aidan lounged against a wall the entire evening, letting the guy he was with hang all over him as he surveyed the room. Finally, he sauntered to the front and took the microphone while the crowd paused expectantly. Aidan’s vocal prowess was well known. As he karaoked the shit out of “Sexual Healing,” Pete let his eyes wander to the bulge in Aidan’s skin-tight pants and stifled a groan.

To his surprise, Aidan eventually came over to their table (the guy he was with having disappeared somewhere), along with Matthew. Angie invited them to sit down, moving over to make room for Matthew, who was being his friendly and funny self and soon had her doubling up with laughter. Pete was glad for Angie that a guy was paying her attention, even as he felt for Brian, who gazed morosely into his glass of 7-Up.

As the drinks flowed and the conversation got more lively, Pete tried not to stare too much at Aidan, who sat across from him, leaning back in his chair and looking good enough to eat. They were debating the merits and drawbacks of their professors, with Matthew throwing in jokes and Jed, who was in the business school, watching silently.

“Constantine’s a pretentious git,” Brian said, Angie giggling at his vehemence. “I mean it. Just because his name is the same as a famous Roman emperor, doesn’t make him God’s gift to the history department.”

“What about Professor R?” Aidan asked, and Pete winced inwardly. “Didn’t you say you’re in his Film Aesthetics, Pete?”

“Yeah, me and Angie are.”

The color rose in Angie’s cheeks. “Well, I like Professor R.” She gazed around the table with a defiant air.

Pete was about to change the subject when Cleo frowned. “I really detest the guy.” She said to Matthew, “I don’t know how you could stand working with him on the film fest last year.”

Matthew shrugged. “He’s not that bad. The guy’s brilliant.” He then turned to greet some third-year girls who had stopped to say hi to him.

Aidan favored Pete with a green-eyed stare, lips curved in a small smile. “What do
you
think of Professor R, Pete? I saw him ‘advising’ you at the amphitheater last week.” There was a world of innuendo in the way Aidan said the word “advising.”

Matthew turned back to the table and looked sharply at Aidan before glancing over at Pete, while at the same time Cleo gave an angry snort. Angie appeared mutinous, and Brian studied her with a worried expression. The only ones at the table who seemed unaffected by Aidan’s mention of Professor R were Jed, who was yawning and looking bored, and John, who was stroking Cleo’s hair while he swigged his beer.

Pete felt his face flush as everyone waited for his answer. Aidan in particular appeared to be watching him closely, which didn’t help his composure.

“Um. Yeah, he’s okay. I mean, he’s a good teacher and… yeah.” He gulped down some beer, feeling like a bonehead, but after Angie’s reaction at the apartment, he knew enough not to say what he really thought of Professor R.

“What did y’all think of
Ruby Sparks
?” Matthew asked. Pete shot him a grateful glance and jumped into an animated debate with him and Aidan about the best and worst movies they’d seen that summer.

At some point, Pete realized he was being kind of rude to Jed, who’d been sitting there in silence, listening to the three of them argue and laugh, and said to him, “Hey. How’re you doing?”

“I’m cool.” Jed smiled. “Y’all are making me want to see some of these movies.” He stood up and grabbed the empty pitcher. “My turn for the refill.”

Matthew stood up. “Better let me get the beer just in case they’re checking IDs tonight.”

“Okay,” Jed said. “I’ll get another pitcher of 7-Up.”

When Jed and Matthew walked off in the direction of the bar, Pete went to pee, sighing in relief as he emptied his full bladder. He came out of the bathroom and stopped short. Aidan was lounging against the opposite wall.

“Oh, hi.” Pete stepped aside to let Aidan enter, but he put a hand on Pete’s arm and moved him farther down the dark hallway. Pete walked with him, skin tingling, cock springing to attention.
God
. He was so ready to be with Aidan again, he could taste it.

Aidan paused and stared down at him with those gorgeous eyes. “Listen, I just wanted to warn you about Rodney.”

Rodney?
Pete was confused until he realized he meant Professor R. Aidan had taken him down this dark hallway to talk to him about Professor R?

“He likes to get close to his students. Very close,” Aidan continued, looking at him meaningfully. “Just thought you might like to know.”

“Yeah. Fine.” Pete turned to leave.
Screw you. Warn me? You’re the one who should come with a warning: Will Give You the Best Sex of Your Life and Never Call.

Aidan stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Are you mad? Hey, look at me.” He brought his face closer to peer at Pete’s in the darkness of the hallway. “God, you’re adorable. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. And don’t be mad,” he whispered, moving his face closer still.

Pete hesitated. He wasn’t mad enough at Aidan to pass up kissing him, that was for damn sure. He grabbed Aidan’s arm, ready to feel his sinful lips, and the next moment he heard his name being called.

“Pete! Hey, asshole!” Bud and Jed were heading down the hallway toward the bathroom, and Bud’s grating voice had never been less welcome.

He and Aidan pulled apart. He wanted to kill his dickwad of a cousin.

The spell broken, Aidan moved around him and walked by Jed and Bud, saying over his shoulder, “I gotta go. Think about what I said, okay?”

Bud stared after him. “Sure, Princess,” he lisped, a little too softly for Aidan to hear, and then seemed to remember his company. “Sorry, guys.”

Jed and Pete exchanged a look. Pete pushed past them both to return to the club, in serious need of more beer.

“We’re taking off,” John told him when he reached the table. “Catch you later.”

“Matthew, let me know what you think about that footage I sent you,” Cleo said, and Matthew gave her a salute in response.

Pete said good-bye to John and Cleo, still angry about his interrupted almost-kiss. His eyes fell on Matthew, who was lounging in his seat in his blue jeans and
Mystery Science Theater
T-shirt, laughing at something Brian was saying.