Karl stared at the phone in his hand after flipping it closed. "Well this might be an interesting trip home after all," was the statement he made to the air in his empty living room. He had just finished up a three hour long, catch-up conversation with someone from his past. Someone he had shared more than just a dorm room and later a frat house double with at college. Much more. Much, much more.
As he tossed the cell to the coffee table and headed for the kitchen, he continued the one-sided conversation with the dust bunnies in the room. "So, Roger...after nearly no contact at all for over ten years, suddenly out-of-the-blue you just happen to stumble across me on Facebook and 'friend request' me a week ago? Then in the span of one phone call, you pick right up where we left off before I moved to LA. Talking like we were still twenty-year-old frat brothers helping plan a Saturday night party back at good old Delta Upsilon back in college." Karl paused his oratory long enough to drain the final dregs of lukewarm coffee from the pot on the counter to the cup in his hand. He swallowed a half mouthful as he wandered back to the couch in the living room. "So buddy, with me showing up back home after all these years away, you decide it's time for a reunion, eh?"
* * * * *
Karl and Roger had grown up together in the little wide-spot-in-the-road known as Centerville, Tennessee. It was referred to as 'the Buckle of the Bible Belt' by most of the residents thanks to the proliferation of churches in the small community. They had met in Vacation Bible School when they were four-years-old, and after Roger's parents joined the same congregation later that summer, they quickly became best friends. By the end of first grade, they were almost joined at the hip and remained that way through all twelve years of school.
Sleepovers at each others houses were almost a constant thing starting in junior high. They got jobs at the same supermarket Roger's family owned. They took the same classes. About the only thing they didn't share was Roger's jock status with sports and Karl's fixation with the drama club and working on the yearbook staff. They fished, hunted, and camped out together. They even lost their virginity together on a secluded back road in Roger's 1982 Firebird after their junior prom in 1985....Karl and his date folded up like yesterday's newspaper in the back seat and Roger and his date contorting themselves around the console and bucket seats in front. They double-dated so much, it was a running joke with the girls in high school, if you want to date one of them, you just accepted you will be dating both. By the time they graduated, they were the poster guys for what an unbreakable lifetime friendship that shared everything looked like. No one knew though, what all they did share.
It came as no surprise to anyone when they went off to college together too. After some fancy deal making when they checked into the dorms at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville the fall of 1986, they ended up as roommates their freshman and sophomore years. When the Deltas successfully recruited Roger during rushes two years later, he quickly let it be known he and Karl were a package deal. It took little more than mentioning Karl's 3.85 GPA and love of tutoring to convince them to extend a dual offer of membership. Unsurprisingly, they shared a room in the frat house when they moved in at the beginning of their junior year.
Joint tenancy of a room at the frat was not much different from how it had been in the dorms the two previous years. They still had the same sock-under-the-door signal that one or the other had a hot piece of ass inside. They both also still ignored the obvious clue if they had brought something equally hot and horny back to the room. The only unwritten rule they had about the compact room and dates, was 'Make sure you've told your chick total privacy may not happen and they won't be freaked out if fucking ends up going on in both beds.' It actually was a rule that worked, thanks in part to the reputation both had developed all over the UT campus of being two of the college's most talented studs.
Roger was known for being very creative with positions and also the ability to get a little kinky if encouraged to do so. Karl's rep centered around his 'Energizer Bunny' stamina and world class oral talents. The one thing about both that was eventually suspected by most of their frat brothers but never directly mentioned or tossed in their faces other than jokingly, was the belief that Roger was a little more kinky than he admitted and Karl's oral fixation wasn't limited to eating female pussy. On the rare occasions someone
would
make a crack about them being closet cases, everyone would laugh and Karl and Roger would just knowingly grin at each other. Even with their reps speaking for them, they had both know the truth since a late night, camp out jack off session turned into a 'buddies helping each other out' during the summer between their sophomore and junior years of high school. By the time they were half way through their freshman year at UT, Karl was already accepting his natural inclination moving ever so solidly into the 'sex-with-guys' column on the Kinsey scale, but maintained the 'mostly straight' facade to protect Roger. It was a major event when he finally managed to quietly mumble to Karl one night when they were cuddled up in afterglow following a particularly intense man-on-man session, "Maybe I'm bi." Roger never really broached the topic again and Karl respected his silence. That's what a fuck buddy does for for someone on the down-low he has fallen in love with.
And fallen in love was the definitive statement. Karl knew it and he figured Roger did too. Knew it; not just suspected it.
Karl tending to easily get a little overly passionate when they would make out was certainly a pretty substantial hint. Roger liked being held and his well-toned body touched and stroked. He responded very positively to the licks, nibbles, and nips to his neck and ears. It only took a light brush across his full lips to have him willingly trading spit during foreplay. Then there were all the times he blocked the internal questioning from his mind and totally relaxed into making love with another man. For Karl, it was utopia.
But Roger had a line in the sand with similar activities following orgasms. It was probably due partially to the self-realization he was as turned on...physically and emotionally...as he had been with any girl he had ever slept with. The one time they made a snowball after doing sixty-nine didn't help any either since Roger apparently suddenly realized he had not only, yet again, just taken his life-long best friend's load in his mouth, but had also just passionately co-mingled it on each others tongues before staring into each others eyes as they swallowed. Karl at least made him laugh and much calmer when he deadpanned, "It's just the gay version of becoming blood brothers, dude. It doesn't mean you aren't allowed to stick your dick in a wet twat again."
Roger responded with, "I know. And I couldn't love you any more if you were my actual brother. You know that, Karl." There had been a slightly sheepish smile on his face and he had totally ignored the word 'gay' in the statement from Karl. It was as if he didn't really want to deal with the fact he knew his best friend was changing teams and he was still sharing the same bed with him at least a couple times every week. He knew he wasn't gay too...he just liked getting totally physical with his best bud.
Growing up almost 100% straight in the hills of Tennessee in the 1980's was still in Roger's mind and bloodstream and he wasn't ready to grapple with all the possibilities and ramifications that came with the bisexual label either. Quite possibly, he never would be. Karl accepted that and never pushed for a discussion that might well end very badly. He grew up the same way with the same qualms, but he was close to ready to fully embrace the gay tag thanks to the emotions Roger had awaken within him. He also knew Roger was only bi at best. Yes, he would have given most anything for them to end up as lovers for life, but knew it wouldn't happen. Karl wasn't willing to chance losing what did exist between them with a conversation that would be a can of worms that didn't need opened.
A week later, that same can from way back when would be sitting dead center of the picnic table on Roger's...and his wife of more than twenty-five-years'...patio while they cranked up the grill for a private Labor Day cookout.
* * * * *
Several times during the flight from California and most of the drive in the rental car from the Nashville airport to Roger and Denise's country home outside Centerville, the same 'What if's?' kept surfacing in his thoughts. They had gotten married two years after he and Roger had graduated from UT. Roger had moved back to the small town with the ink still wet on his Bachelors in Business and Marketing. As the only son, he became the immediate heir-apparent to the family supermarket operation when he was brought back in as assistant manager. Denise was a year younger than him and they had dated for a while in high school. She had been one of the very few females from back then who never gave in to his overly active, testosterone-driven, teenage hormones. They started dating again and told him right off, she was still a virgin and would be when she walked down the aisle.
Karl, of course, had been Roger's best man. He had snagged a job in Nashville with a huge national company and would often come home for weekends to visit his parents and see his best bud. They also continued their physical relationship on those visits. He knew Roger was seeing Denise seriously, and Karl and her bonded well. So well he considered her his first 'fag hag.' But her "No pussy until I hear 'I do' " stance kept Roger horned up and more than willing to start things every time Karl hit town. Karl sure didn't complain or refuse him.
Even though he wasn't open about being gay, he knew Roger knew and something told him Denise had a good clue also. It just never got discussed. Between any of them. There was still that "Don't ask, don't tell, just get in bed with me," unstated agreement between him and Roger. When Karl was there for a weekend, it was just like back in high school again except there was no girl on Karl's arm this time. Karl, Roger, and Denise were more like a 'Threes Company' episode than a couple and a best friend out on the town together. Then came the weekend when Roger and Karl had their last romp in bed.
Roger had been the most passionate he had ever been. Even to the point of making out while he slowly and very lovingly worked his cock in and out of Karl's willing ass. Kissing during full-on sex was something Roger had never done before. Not with Karl anyway. Once the foreplay was over with, and it got to the down and dirty, Roger always shifted to the same "It's just two buddies helping each other out" mental state he had since they began their physical relationship back in high school. But this time he showed Karl a side he had wanted to see so badly...had fantasized about...had massive wet dreams about...had begged God to let him see: Roger truly making love to him. Roger even gently kissed him over and over afterwards as they held each other. Karl was beyond ecstatic and returned the passion in spades.
Then Roger dropped the bomb!
Still holding him like a three year old snuggles with a teddy bear, Roger spoke softly as he stroked the side of Karl's face. "I had to do that with you, Karl. I owed that to you. I needed you to know that I always did love you and always will. And I needed you to know that even though that was our last time, my feelings will always be there for you." After a short pause, he added, "I hope you will feel the same way and all that will change after tonight is we can't ever do this again."
Karl's brain was zinging back and forth between a virgin bride on her wedding night and the long term wife that's just been served divorce papers. He finally blurted out, "What the hell, Roger? Last time? Never again? What the fuck is going on?"
"Denise agreed to marry me tonight," was the overly simplistic answer he gave. "I have to be totally straight from this point on. You do understand don't you?"
