The Valet

~ Can't believe it's been over a year since I posted - sorry! Anyway here's the next chapter of the story...I know it might seem like I'm going off track but don't worry, it's all part of the plan :) Enjoy! Sapphire ~

Jason took a deep breath and looked up at the building in front of him. Today was the first day of the rest of his life and he was excited and nervous all at the same time. The summer was over and he was finally beginning his degree in politics and economics at UCL, his dream university. It felt so unreal that Jason took a few moments to stand on the steps of his halls and drink it all in. He couldn't wait for the fresh start, to make new friends, see new places and learn new things. He felt a grin splitting his face and he shook his head, telling himself to get a grip before someone saw him acting like a total dork on his first day. He hauled his suitcase up the steps and walked into Comerford House, the place that would be his home for the next year.

He was greeted by some friendly older students who were helping out with inductions, and was shown the way to his room. He had decided to go for the cheaper option of sharing a room, as prices in London were ridiculous and he didn't want to blow all his money on rent. He hoped he wouldn't regret his choice when he met his room mate though. He cautiously opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like Jason's decision to move in on the Saturday before term started had paid off - his room mate hadn't arrived yet. There was nothing too special about the room; there were two beds, two wardrobes, a large sink by the window and a door that led to the adjoining bathroom which would be shared with the people in the room next door to his. All in all, not a bad arrangement for £90 a week.

Jason propped open the door to his room so that he could get acquainted with anyone else who was moving in, and began unpacking. As the day wore on, more and more students began to trickle in and the noise levels rose in the corridor. There were parents dropping off children, siblings arguing about clothes, kids running around and a general air of chaos. Jason was overwhelmed by all the friendly people he was meeting, and he could tell that it was going to be a good year. He had just finished unpacking and was trying to shove his empty suitcase under his bed when he heard a knock on his open door. He glanced around and if he was straight, he would have had the breath knocked out of him. A beautiful girl of his age stood at the door, her curvy figure accentuated by her stylish choice of clothes, an easy smile on her full lips and a sparkle in her hazel eyes.

"Hi," she said, in a musical voice. "I'm Megan."

Jason stood up and grinned, placing his hand in her outstretched one and shaking it firmly.

"Hi, I'm Jason."

"Nice name," she said, smiling more broadly.

"Thanks," Jason replied. "You're not my room mate are you?"

Megan burst out laughing and shook back her mane of chocolate brown locks.

"Of course not! I'm pretty sure it's against the rules to mix genders like that."

"Oh, thank god. I wouldn't be very pleased if you were to steal all the male attention around here, you see."

Megan frowned for a moment and then clasped her hand to her mouth.

"Ohmygosh! You're gay!"

"Aand, 10 points to Megan!" Jason called in a TV presenter's voice, laughing at her surprised expression.

"Dammit," Megan sighed. "I knew that handsome face and firm butt were too good to be true."

Jason smiled at the compliment and said, "I'm sure you won't have any trouble getting the attention of the next hot guy around."

Megan grinned and Jason grinned back, feeling as though he'd just been reunited with a long lost best friend.

The next day, Megan and Jason rounded up a group of people from halls and went exploring around London. Most of the people living in halls were not Londoners and had moved from all over the country to attend UCL. There were a couple of international students from Canada and America too, and for the day, they were all tourists in the capital city. They went on the London Eye and walked along the Thames, visited Madame Tussaud's and the London Dungeons, bought ice cream from an ice cream van and chased each other around Hyde Park.

As dusk approached, they spilled into a local pizza place to tuck into some good food before heading back to halls. As they were waiting for the food to arrive Sarah, who was one of the extroverts of the group, decided to ask the question that had apparently been on everyone's mind. Staring directly at Jason, she cleared her throat and said,

"So, how long have you two been together?"

For a second, Jason had no idea what she was talking about. Then he followed her gaze to Megan, who was leaning her head on his shoulder and resting a hand on his thigh.

He laughed and said, "Unfortunately for Megan, I'm gay."

Hearing this, Megan sat up and quipped, "And unfortunately for Jason, I'm not!"

Everyone around the table laughed, including Sarah who said, "So you're both single?"

"Yep," Jason replied, "and both only seeking male attention. Interested parties should apply within."

This brought another round of laughter and any awkwardness that had been felt as a result of Sarah's question quickly disappeared.

As Jason lay in bed that night mulling over Sarah's observation and his single status, he once more found himself thinking about Alex. Although the two had parted on friendly terms and a mutual agreement that nothing could happen between them, it still hadn't been easy. Not a day had gone by since his stint at the Palace finished that Jason didn't wish things could have been different. It was weird to miss something you'd never really had but Jason, despite trying to deny it, knew that he missed Alex. His dreams that were haunted by piercing blue eyes were confirmation of that.

Despite his better judgement, Jason picked up his smartphone and googled Alex's name, immediately pulling up an article in a tabloid newspaper which stated that Alex had indeed gone to study in America. Jason felt a pang of disappointment as he looked at Alex's picture which accompanied the article, remembering those beautiful eyes and high cheekbones. He sighed and put his phone down, recalling his promise to himself that London would be a fresh start.

He was awoken in the early hours of the morning by someone shuffling around the bedroom, dragging a heavy object and grunting with the effort. Jason rubbed his eyes and sat up to find himself looking at a young, East Asian guy trying to manoeuvre a huge suitcase around the beds. Seeing Jason sit up, the boy gave him a shy smile and held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Wang Ping," he said in strongly accented English.

Jason smiled back and shook Wang's hand. "Hi, I'm Jason. Need a hand with that?"

Without waiting for a response, he got out of bed and helped Wang move his suitcase around to his bed.

"I hope you don't mind that I took that bed," Jason said. Wang simply shook his head and smiled again, and Jason decided that opting for a shared room had been a wise choice after all - he didn't think Wang would be causing him much trouble.

After getting ready, he and Megan headed down to the main campus to begin the induction process. It was the first day of term and the campus was buzzing with life. Old friends greeted each other with hugs and handshakes, and the new students stood around awkwardly trying to blend in. Once they had finally been issued their ID cards, Jason and Megan headed over to the Freshers Fayre to see what the university had to offer in terms of clubs and extra curricular activities. Megan, who was studying music and art, immediately signed up to the Stage Crew, which was involved in hosting drama productions for the uni.

Jason wandered over to the sports section and was reading the board about the boat club when a deep voice behind him asked,

"Do you row?"

Jason turned around and found himself facing 6 ft of well defined, muscular English gentleman. The guy standing in front of him was not only tall and extremely physically fit, with broad shoulders that tapered down to narrow hips and long, strong legs, but he was also very good looking. He had a square jaw, and dirty blond hair that was cut short. His eyes were a deep, delicious brown and even his voice sent shivers down Jason's spine. Jason cleared his throat and tried to prevent his eyes from checking out the hot guy in front of him.

"Yep, I live in Oxford so rowing is pretty much a full time hobby for me," he answered.

The guy grinned and gave Jason the once over.

"I thought so," he said in that sexy baritone. "Your muscular build is a dead giveaway. I'm Evan by the way, captain of the boat club."

He thinks I'm muscular! squealed a girly voice in Jason's head but somehow, he kept his composure and shook Evan's hand, trying not to think about how warm and firm it felt, and how it might feel around his hardening cock.

"I'm Jason."

"Well Jason, I hope you intend on trying out for the boat club. It's usually pretty competitive but I've got a feeling you'll be ok." And with a grin to melt Jason's heart, Evan turned his attention back the stall, where more freshers were gathering.

Jason felt a tap on his arm and found Megan gawking at Evan's back. "Who is that hottie?!" she said in a theatrical whisper.

Jason rolled his eyes and smiled.

"That's Evan, captain of the boat club."

"Can I try out for the boat club?" she pouted.

Jason laughed and threw an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, I've got dibs on this one."

Freshers week passed in a blur of meeting new people, the flashing lights and thumping music of clubs and excessive consumption of alcohol. Lectures began in the second week of term, for which Jason was extremely grateful as his hangover had apparently become a permanent fixture. Thankfully, trying out for the boat club had not required any mental prowess and Jason had attended the trials on Friday along with about thirty other freshers. Only ten of them would make it on to the team, and they'd been told they'd hear back the following week.

As Jason was heading to his first ever lecture on Monday morning, he felt his phone buzz. It was a text: Congrats! You've made it into the boat club. Meet at the Union Bar for sports night on Wednesday where you will be initiated. Evan.

Jason felt happiness course through him, partly because he'd made it on to the team but more so because he now had Evan's number. It was lucky that his first lecture was a general introduction to the course rather than any specific course content because Jason spent most of it in a daydream about the yummy captain of the boat club.

As Wednesday evening approached, Jason began to grow more nervous; even after just over a week at UCL he'd already heard about sports night and just how crazy it could get. He could hold his own when it came to alcohol consumption thanks to his height and build, but he didn't want to get involved in anything too crazy or dangerous. When he entered the union bar at just after eight, he was assaulted by the noise and crush of the already rowdy crowd. He looked around and luckily spotted some members of the boat club he recognised from the trial. He wove his way over to them and was greeted with cheers and claps on the back.

"What's happening; have I missed anything?" He yelled to his neighbour, struggling to be heard over the noise in the bar.

His neighbour shook his head and yelled back, "we're just waiting for Evan and the rest of the team and then we'll get started."

His grin didn't give Jason much hope that the night would be uneventful but he maintained his easy demeanour and smiled back.

Half an hour later, all the team plus new members were gathered around Evan who was standing on a chair to make himself heard. It seemed as though all of UCL's sports clubs were holding initiations in the same place at the same time, as the crowd in the bar had fragmented into several groups clustered around their captains.

"Freshers!" Evan called. "You have already proven your rowing prowess in the trials, and for that, we are proud of you! However, there is more to being a team member of the boat club than being able to row; you must prove that you are a valuable team member in all challenges! This includes beer pong, ring of fire, and truth or dare; where by the way, the only option is dare!" This drew laughter from the teams.

"Your adversaries will be the other sports teams," he gestured around the room. "Succeed and you shall be revered, fail and you shall be shamed!" The team whooped and whistled as Evan shouted, "Let the games begin!"

All teams surged towards the ping pong table in the corner of the bar and the competition was on. Jason thankfully won his round and only had to down one pint, others were not so lucky and they were already one man down by the time the rugby team were declared the winners. The losers (golf) were eliminated and so the games went on. There were stupid dares such as running naked through the university square, and bleaching your hair and more demands to down pints as fast as possible than Jason could even count.

The crowd got rowdier but also smaller; the freshers were dropping like flies and a couple of teams were eliminated for being too boring. Eventually 'I have never...' began. The freshers were gathered into a circle and each sports captain shouted out something he had never done. If you'd done it, you had to drink, and if you finished your drink you were out. There were several targets on opposing teams which made things even trickier. The football captain shouted, "I have never rowed a boat," to which Evan quickly retorted, "I have never missed a penalty".

Suddenly the karate captain yelled, "I have never kissed a boy," and Jason found himself raising his cup to his lips. As he did so, he couldn't help but glance around to see who was drinking and who was watching. His gaze fell on his captain, and he was startled to see Evan's deep brown eyes staring right back at him. If he wasn't mistaken, there was a small smile playing on those hot lips as well. Jason's heart began to race but the next I have never was being called out and he tore his eyes away regretfully.

Jason had no idea how or when the night ended, or how he got back to his room in his inebriated state. The next thing he knew, he was awoken by bright sunlight streaming into his room and the feel of something vibrating in the region of his groin. He groaned and rolled over, trying to block out the light and winced as his head throbbed. He managed to open one bleary eye and looked at his alarm clock. Shit! It was already noon which meant he'd missed two lectures. He rolled over again and promptly fell on the floor, forgetting that his was no longer a double bed like the one he was used to at home. He sighed and pulled himself up into a sitting position. His roommate Wang was nowhere to be seen thankfully; Jason didn't want any witnesses of his hangover from hell. He shucked off his clothes from last night and braced himself for a cold shower.

Half an hour later, he looked presentable even if he didn't feel it. He downed some aspirin with a glass of water and headed out for campus, checking his phone as went. There were three texts and a missed call, which was probably what had woken him. One text and the call were from Megan wanting a low down on last night, another from his mum checking up on him (talk about timing) and the last was from a course mate asking if he wanted a copy of the notes from the lectures he'd missed. He quickly texted Megan back and agreed to meet her in the campus cafe for lunch.

Engrossed as he was in checking his phone, he wasn't really watching where he was going and so he had only himself to blame when he almost walked head first into a lamppost. He stopped himself just in time and swore, hoping that no one had seen. The sound of laughter indicated otherwise though and he glanced up to find Evan, of all people, watching him with a grin on his face. Despite his embarrassment, Jason couldn't help but grin back as Evan approached him.

"Looks like you're still feeling the effects of last night," he said with a smirk.

Jason grimaced. "Do you blame me? It was lethal! I don't even remember what happened after the 'I have never' game."

Jason was sure he saw a flicker in Evan's eyes at the mention of the game but when he spoke, his tone was neutral.

"Well, you held out pretty well. Better than most of the other freshers. Did you get back ok?"

"Yeah, somehow. I hope this doesn't happen every Wednesday though because I'm not sure my body could take it. I don't even want to see another pint of beer right now."

Evan laughed, a deep, sensuous sound that sent Jason's blood pounding down to his groin.

"No, initiation is as crazy as it gets. The rest of the time, you can choose how much you want to drink. Anyway, I better get going - I've got a class. See you at practice on Saturday," he said with a smile, and sauntered off.

Jason watched that sexy ass sway away from him and began counting down the hours until Saturday.

***

"Harder! Faster!" Evan yelled, his face flushed and sweaty.

It was a sunny Saturday a few weeks later and UCL were competing against Kings in the first freshers race of the year. There were only a few hundred metres of the race left and with both teams neck and neck, the pressure was on. Jason tried to block out the sight and sound of Evan because it was extremely distracting, and threw everything he had into his rowing.

"Come on!" He growled at his teammates. Collectively, they surged forward and then pulled back, their oars rippling through the blue water of the Thames. Ignoring the burn in his arm muscles, Jason persevered, refusing to look at the competitors. Forward, back, in, out...he repeated the motions methodically in time with his team mates, until finally they heard the whistle blow which meant they'd crossed the finish line. There was a tense moment of silence as neither team was sure who had won, and then the umpire raised the UCL flag in his right hand.

The crowd erupted in cheers and Evan pumped his fist in the air, yelling "Yes!!" over and over again. Jason and his team mates docked the boat and clambered out, hugging each other and the rest of the team who didn't seem to care that they were sweaty and stinky; everyone was just elated at the first victory of the year.

"Well done," said Evan as he hugged Jason.

"Thanks!" Jason replied. He wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline still coursing through his body, but he'd never seen Evan look hotter. His deep brown eyes were sparkling and his lips were a beautifully alluring red. Jason just wanted to capture them between his own lips and kiss Evan senseless. They stared at each other for a while and then suddenly realised that the rest of the team was slowly making their way back to the pavilion. Jason broke eye contact and blushed; Evan must think he was a perv. But suddenly, Evan touched his arm, sending jolts of electricity through Jason.

"Let's do brunch tomorrow," he said and with a smile, he was gone.

Jason wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he'd been so nervous about a date - if this even was a date? That thought just made him more nervous so he gave himself a mental shake and stepped into the cafe. He'd left the location of the brunch up to Evan who was bound to know the city better, and it looked like his decision had paid off. The cafe was warm and cosy whilst not being claustrophobic or dingy. There seemed to be some sort of Alice In Wonderland theme going on as books lined the walls and there was a huge hanging of the Queen of Hearts behind the cashier.

Jason glanced around and spotted Evan immediately, his heart leaping as he did so. He tried to maintain a casual expression as he sauntered over to the table and then suddenly panicked when he began to wonder how he should greet Evan. A handshake, a hug, a friendly nod? Thankfully, Evan seemed to read his mind and pulled Jason into a man-hug as he reached him.