It was 6:00 when Ian made the call to the local pizza place to get an order in for the social at 7:00. He ordered several pepperoni pizzas as well as a couple of cheese pizzas along with enough sodas for 20 guys—all to be charged to the university. This was going to be his first event as a dorm advisor. As an advisor, he was required to hold three get togethers for the guys under his purview.

  The first one was an introductory meeting within the first two days of the arrival of freshmen. The second was to be a week after classes started to see how things were going. The third was to be a month after the second. He was glad the university required these meetings. It was something that he would have wanted to do but couldn’t afford on his own. Attendance was not required for freshman, but he was not going to tell the freshmen that. He wanted everyone to attend—after all, it was all for the incoming students.

  The pizzas were going to be delivered to the dorm at 7 which would be perfect timing. His plan for the meeting would be to have everything set up just in time to start. He had an introduction he prepared about himself. He was going to hand out the pamphlets about the university’s health and counseling services. He would say something about mental health. The university had a few suggested icebreakers. He chose the one where guys break off into pairs to introduce themselves to their partner. The partner then would introduce them to the group.

  He had an hour to spare. The first thing he set up in his room was his stereo equipment. He had a decent Aiwa system with a CD and dual cassette player. He put in the Dookie album by Green Day which he had played so much lately that the writing on the CD was beginning to wear off. He cracked open his window and packed his little pipe with a bit of weed to calm his nerves. He took a deep hit, held it, and slowly exhaled straight out the window opening. He took a second hit by the time “Burnout” ended and put his pipe on his dresser. When “Chump” started, the weed had taken effect chilling him ever so slightly.

  Ian decided around 6:30 to go down to the common room to make sure everything was set up. He was not high, but he was feeling good and steady at this point. He had a silly grin on his face, and his hunger was starting to kick in. The pizzas were not going to arrive until close to 7, so he got some tortilla chips from the vending machine in the common room.

  The common room was a large multipurpose room in the basement with a large TV and several couches and chairs scattered about. There was a pool table with a large rip in the felt. Off to the side was a small kitchenette. Ian found a table to set the pizzas on and another for the drinks. He pulled some foldup chairs from the closet and started to situate the seating into a rough circle.

  He turned the TV on after he had situated the room how he liked. He had fifteen minutes until the meeting would start. He was watching an evening game show when Chris wondered into the room. Ian looked up and turned the TV off.

  “Hey Chris!” Ian said happily.

  “Hey man. I’m early,” Chris said noticing no one was in the room.

  “Yeah, but it’s no problem. I’m just waiting on the pizzas and sodas to get here,” Ian said resting his feet on a coffee table. “Sit down. In the excitement of freshmen move-in, I haven’t had a chance to chat to get know my guys.”

  Chris walked in and sat down on one of the loveseats. He was facing Ian. Ian’s bleached hair was a spectacle. In all his years in high school, he had never known any guy who bleached their hair. He had seen the style on TV more and more but never in person. It didn’t match his dark brown eyebrows, his dark stubble, or his dark green eyes. It didn’t look awful to Chris. It just didn’t look natural--it was a golden brassy tone with dark roots starting to show.

  “How are you and Cal getting along?” Ian asked putting his hands behind his head.

  “Meh, he’s alright,” Chris said looking around the room.

  “That’s not the sound of life-long friends,” Ian chuckled.

  “He’s a bit…” Chris searched for some diplomatic words. “Conservative?”

  “You said like you are asking,” Ian said smiling. “How do you really feel about him?”

  “Well,” Chris looked around the room. “I get the feeling he’s homophobic.”

  Ian took his feet off the table and sat up. “Did he say something specific?”

  “I was telling him about my friend in high school who dated a guy. He didn’t seem open to it,” Chris said. “He actually used the word queer.”

  Ian’s face turned serious. “Oh, I see.” Ian breathed in deliberately and exhaled. “Listen, there are all types of people here at Wellington. There’s going to be some that are going say things that are offensive.”

  “Yeah,” Chris said. “I know. I just didn’t expect it on the first day.”

  “Maybe he was just putting on a front since he’s on the football team. Guys like that have to give off a macho persona,” Ian explained.

  Chris wanted to get into what Cal told him about Ian but didn’t want to make Ian uncomfortable or embarrassed. Chris was feeling very comfortable around Ian and didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. There was something about looking into Ian’s green eyes that excited Chris—something he hadn’t ever experienced.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I guess he just gave a bad first impression,” Chris thought.

  “Yeah, he might come around. I get a feeling that you are a sensitive guy. You pick up on a lot of stuff,” Ian said leaning in closer to Chris.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Chris looked up at Ian. Chris could feel butterflies in his stomach.

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  “Macho guys get scared around us sensitive guys. They think we want something from them,” Ian said.

  “Like what?” Chris asked with a puzzled look.

  Ian started to blush. He looked around the room then straight into Chris’s eyes. “Like we want to seduce them—be their boyfriends.”

  Chris crossed his legs and started to feel uncomfortable where the conversation was going. He looked down at the floor. “I don’t want to be Cal’s boyfriend.”

  “Oh, I know,” Ian said sitting back in his chair.

  Chris sat silently for a moment, uncomfortably looking at the floor. He cleared his throat and looked up at Ian. “I know you’re gay,” Chris said quietly.

  Ian was surprised at the direction the conversation took. “How did you know I’m gay?” Ian asked.

  Chris sighed heavily and thought he might as well fess up. “Well, Cal told me he heard about how you were crying in the hallway last year about being gay.” Ian looked away.

  Chris continued, “I think it’s terrible that people treated you like a disease after that. I think it’s sickening that Cal thought it was funny. I want you to know, I don’t care. I already think you are a cool guy, and I really want to be your friend. I want to be your ally.”

  Ian was deeply embarrassed but looked up at Chris. “You do?”

  “Absolutely!” Chris exclaimed. “Truth be told, I’m not so sure I’m 100% straight. I’d be curious to try it out.” Chris felt an instant relief in admitting this to another person. It was especially pleasing that the other person was Ian.

  Ian burst into laughter. Chris gave Ian a look of shock. “Oh, Chris. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. It’s just that there’s a lot more to being gay than curiosity.”

  “I’m sorry,” Chris said looking crestfallen.

  “Okay,” Ian said. “It’s very admirable that you have such an open mind. And I would love to hang out and be friends.”

  Chris gave Ian a smile and nodded. At that point, one of the guys in the dorm entered.

  “Did you order a bunch of pizzas?” the guy said looking at Chris and Ian.

  “That would be dinner,” Ian said. “Chris, do you mind helping me out?”

  “Sure!” Chris said. “What can I do?”

  “Just tell the guys to have a seat and stay put while I take care of the pizzas,” Ian said. Chris gave him a thumbs up sign. Ian went to the front of the building and led the pizza guy to where the food and drinks were to be set up.

  Other freshmen started to show up. Chris told them to take a seat just as he was instructed. Ian and the pizza guy set up the pizzas and sodas. The delivery guy handed Ian a receipt for him to sign so that the university would get the bill.

  Now that the pizzas and sodas were in place and the room was full, Ian was ready to get started.

  “Hey guys, welcome to Wellington and welcome to the lovely Stoggard Hall,” Ian started. Most of the guys were attentive although a few looked annoyed—Cal being one of them. “My name is Ian Primerton. I’ll be your Dorm Advisor this year. I met all of you when you got here to get your keys. I hope everyone is at least somewhat moved in. I’m a sophomore, and my major is undeclared. I’m thinking of majoring in French. I’m not sure what I’ll do with that, but we shall see how it goes. This is not meant to be anything formal. I’ll tell you some stuff the university wants me to tell you, we will do an icebreaker, and then you can stick around, or you are free to go.”

  Ian passed out the brochures. He went over the information as well as what everyone should do in case of a fire, a tornado, and any other emergency. He went into a little bit about social life and the Greek system as well as sports and other extracurricular activities. Finally, he handed out schedules for the freshman for the next couple of days. The new students had been assigned an academic advisor who would enroll them in class.

  “Okay, I’m going to pair you up with another guy. I want you to get to know each other. Then I’ll have you introduce each other to the group,” Ian said. He randomly chose a partner for the first half of the guys in the room trying to make sure guys weren’t paired with their roommates. Chris was paired with Joe King. Ian instructed all the guys to get pizza and sit off with their partner to work on the introduction assignment.

  Once the guys were settled with their partner and their pizza, Ian got everyone’s attention. “Okay, I’d like for your partner to find out where you are from, what your hobbies are, what activities you were good at in high school, and what you might major in.”

  Ian sat down as the room filled with chatter. He looked around. Several of the pairs were already engaged in laughter and talk. There were only a couple of pairs that were quietly eating.

  “Why don’t you go first,” Joe said to Chris.

  Chris put his pizza down. “My name is Chris Smith and I’m from Miners Creek, Tennessee.”

  “Where’s that?” Joe asked.

  “It’s about an hour from Chattanooga,” Chris replied.

  “I’ve heard of Chattanooga, but I don’t think I know where that is,” Joe said.

  Chris flattened out his hand. “Imagine my hand is Tennessee. Here is where Memphis is.” He pointed at one corner of his hand. “Here is where Nashville is.” He pointed in the middle of his hand. “Here is where Chattanooga is.” He pointed at the corner opposite of where Memphis was located on his hand.

  “So, Miners Creek is here?” Joe pointed at a spot on Chris’s hand where he thought it would be.

  “Yeah, close enough,” Chris said. Joe was far off the mark, but it didn’t really matter.

  “And hobbies?” Joe said taking a bite of pizza.

  “Well, I played baseball in high school, and I played in a band,” Chris said.

  “No way? What kind of music did you play? What did you play?” Joe was clearly interested.

  “I was the drummer. We played alternative music,” Chris answered.

  “Sweet! I always wanted to play in a band,” Joe attentively said.

  “Well, what about you? Where are you from and all that?” Chris said picking up his pizza to take a bite.

  “I’m Joe King. I’m from Chicago. You know where that is, right?” Joe said sarcastically. Chris laughed. “My only real hobby is skateboarding. I’m into punk music.”

  “No shit? I tried to skateboard but wasn’t at all successful,” Chris said lightly.

  “Yeah, it’s just something I like,” Joe said. “I get a feeling the kids at this university aren’t too much into that kind of thing.”

  “Yeah, what do you think about this place?” Chris asked.

  “Trust fund babies,” Joe said. “I think these kids are into tennis, polo, and country clubs.”

  “Yeah,” Chris sighed. “I think you are right. How did guys like us end up here?”

  “Good financial aid packages!” Joe said. The two laughed as they continued to talk. Chris and Joe clicked well together. Joe made him miss home. He was the type of guy that Chris hung out with. They didn’t get to the rest of the questions before Ian stopped them to get the meeting back on track.

  “So, I’m going to pick a pair to start the introductions. Chris and Joe, why don’t you get started?” Ian said.

  Joe put his empty plate on his chair as he stood up. “This is Chris Smith. He’s from Miners Village, Tennessee—”

  “Creek. Miners Creek,” Chris corrected him.

  “Oh, yeah, Miners Creek. He likes baseball and playing drums in a band,” Joe said to the group.

  “And possible major?” Ian asked.

  Joe looked at Chris and shrugged. “Um, not sure?” Joe asked Chris. Chris nodded his head. “We didn’t get to that question.”

  “No problem,” Ian said. “Chris?”

  Chris stood up. “This is Joe King from Chicago. He’s into skateboarding. I found out we like the same music…Green Day, Weezer, Nirvana…we were both wrecked when he killed himself.” There were some nods of agreement in the room. “Joe wants to major in PE.” Joe started to laugh.

  “Sure, and concentrate on the shred arts,” Joe joked. No one in the room except Ian and Chris got the joke.

  “Okay, thanks Chris,” Ian said as Chris sat down.

  The other guys did their introductions leading into the 8 o’clock hour. By the time the last group was presenting, the rest of the room was getting anxious to leave.

  “Alright, I’m going to pass around a sign in sheet. If you want to hang out, feel free. If you want to get some more pizza and leave, that’s fine too. We are done for the night,” Ian said.

  Most of the guys left. Only five guys stayed in the common room—Ian, Chris, and Joe among the five. They continued to eat the remaining pizza and watch TV as they chatted. Chris was feeling good that he had met some new friends that night.