Caleb 01 - Awakening

She continued to grin at me.

"So, got your eye on anyone for tonight?" she asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "Are you coming to the party?"

"Hell, you know I am, but I was going to bring someone. Is that okay?" She looked worried for a second.

"Of course. You already told me that you are too much woman for me in any case. Anyone I know?"

"Gordon."

"He's a nice guy," I said. "Be gentle with him."

"I'll take that under advisement," she said dryly. Having finished her breakfast, she stood up. "Right, I need to get moving. I'll see you later."

I looked up at her, mocking a pout. "What, no kiss?"

She stuck her tongue out at me. "You've had your ration for today."

She cleared her tray and headed towards the exit. I finished the last of my juice and stood to do the same.

Myriad thoughts were running through my head as I walked through the corridor to my locker. It was clear to me that I was influencing things. Kyle and Jennifer had proven that to my satisfaction; the kiss from Susan had just been a little cherry on top. What had been interesting, there, was that she hadn't been particularly fazed by it, and seemed to have put it down to a sudden urge.

I got to the class and settled in. It was English. After having been horribly abused by an editor for months when I'd tried my hand at writing, I was painfully aware of how vital it was for native speakers to still take classes.

Mary, a girl I knew in passing, sat in front of me. As she prepared to sit, I noted a stain on the back of her trousers -- small, red, and highly visible against the light blue denim.

Of course I was looking at her butt. Why wouldn't I have been?

I heard a snort behind me and looked back to see Todd, the class asshole, pulling his face in disgust. I knew he would do something to embarrass the poor girl, who had either been caught short, or whose pad had leaked.

Looking at him, I imagined that, just as he was about to open his mouth to call her out, he suffered explosive diarrhea in his trousers. He would have to leave the classroom in a hurry.

The noise was astounding. It sounded like the biggest fart you could ever imagine. Todd yelped and stood up before rushing from the room. I smiled to myself before tapping Mary on the shoulder.

She leaned back to see what I wanted.

"I'm really sorry, but you have a bit of blood on the back of your trousers," I said quietly - so quietly I knew that nobody else could hear.

She blushed.

"Oh," was all she said before calling the teacher over and having a quiet word. The teacher nodded and then walked back to the front of the class.

Mary looked around, not wanting to stand up. I pulled off my sweatshirt and handed it to her.

"Tie this around your waist," I suggested.

Gratefully, she took the sweatshirt, then left the room.

In addition to being incredibly satisfying, my latest experiment had also been quite interesting. Explosive diarrhea wasn't exactly voluntary. I could do more than influence people to take conscious actions. I could make things happen to them, just by imagining them. That raised new questions, but it was a valuable bit of information in its own right.

I still needed more, though, clearly. Was it just people? Did it work on animals? Could I be the best animal trainer in the world? Did I need to be in the same room as the person, or would it work remotely? How did it affect that person? Did they know they were being manipulated? Would they suspect it if they took a conscious action, like Susan, but be less suspicious if their body just betrayed them, like Todd's just had? Could I affect my own body?

My mind immediately went there. I wasn't unhappy with my size, but hey, an extra inch or two would have been tops.

I determined there was a lot of experimentation I would have to do, but very carefully. I didn't want to hurt myself, or anyone else for that matter. Well, okay, maybe Todd's pride, his pants, and his butthole. Nothing serious is what I meant -- and I'd only humiliate people who really deserved it.

I also thought about how easy It would be to get laid. All I had to do would be to...

Immediately I was hit with a wave of revulsion. The thought of effectively raping someone by controlling their mind made me feel physically sick. I determined that I would never stoop to that. I promised myself, then and there, that I might use my new ability to nudge people or to find out information, but never to force someone to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do.

Then I thought back to Angela, Kyle, Jennifer, and Susan. Would they have ever done what I'd made them do? My stomach turned a little bit as I began to realize just how fraught my new situation might be. Mary came back into the classroom about twenty minutes later, and to be honest, that was one of the few events I actually paid attention to.

After English, I had a class on Concepts of Law, and then it was time for lunch.

Josh joined me at my table in the cafeteria. We had arranged to meet to discuss the party.

"No Louise today?" I asked.

He pointed behind me, and Louise walked around the table and dropped into the chair beside him.

She acknowledged me with a nod but then turned to Josh. "Come on, what's with you this morning? You look guilty. Did you get up to something after you left me last night? I know you left frustrated, but if you ended up with..."

"Louise," I said, "Josh got back to our room last night with the worst case of blue balls I think I have ever seen. It was both pathetic and hilarious."

She looked at me, and then at him. "I'm sorry, baby," she said. "I didn't expect my sister..."

He gave her a look. "It's fine," he said. His eyes flicked toward me it. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it in front of me. I could have left, but I wanted to hear, so I imagined that they both completely forgot that I was even there - that neither of them could see me or recognize my presence in any way at all.

Josh's face relaxed. "I had a dream," he said.

Louise looked nonplussed. "Go on," she said.

"This morning, just before I woke up, I started dreaming that I felt a hand on my cock. I must have been all backed up from last night, but it felt really good. It was stroking and playing with me, squeezing. Then I felt a mouth. Hot and tight, it took me inside and gave me the most amazing blowjob. I felt a hand on my balls stroking, and then the mouth let me go before moving down and licking my balls. You know how I like that."

Louise looked stunned, but also a little flushed. She seemed to be getting aroused by his description of his dream. I looked around quickly, making sure nobody else was hearing Josh's story; just for good measure, I imagined exactly that.

"After licking my balls, it went all the way back up, licking under and around the head before taking it back in and then deepthroating me. I could feel a face pressed right into my groin, and a throat working at the head of my cock. I came like I haven't ever come before. All that time, the mouth was licking and sucking at the head, eating my load.

"I woke being showered with my own cum," he finished.

"Wow," she said. "That was some dream. Did you see who it was that gave you such great head?"

His head dropped and his face blushed. "Right at the end, just before I woke up, I got a quick flash of a face, still holding my cock in their mouth."

"Not me, then," Louise said. She didn't seem too upset, but her voice was a little flat.

He shook his head.

"It was just a dream," he tried to explain. "I didn't do anything with anyone else."

"I know," she said, "but it would be nice to know who my competition is. Who is your subconscious pining after?"

He looked at her. "You won't be mad?" he asked.

She put her hand on his arm. "You can't control your dreams. If you had gone out and fucked some slut I would be mad, and you would be in the hospital. But dreams happen no matter what we want. If you are lucky, maybe I'll tell you a couple of mine one day." She smiled at him. I honestly had no idea if she was being sincere or setting a trap.

He still seemed uncertain of that himself.

"Come on, I won't be mad," she pressed. "Who gave you this magnificent dream blowjob?"

"Caleb," he said simply.

It was a good thing that I had made sure nobody else could hear us, otherwise the dual gasps of surprise would have drawn a lot of attention.

For a few seconds, Louise said nothing, but then she smiled. "That. Is. So. HOT!!" she exclaimed.

Both Josh and I looked at her in shock. Of course, neither of them noticed me.

"You think it's hot?" he asked, confused.

She looked at him. "Are you gay?" she asked. "Or bi?"

"I'm not gay," he said certainly, "and I didn't think I had any attraction to guys either. But for the last few months, I have been looking at Caleb and there is just something there. I never had any intention of acting on it. He is just such a nice person. The attraction was never sexual; it was just like he was my best friend."

"Until last night," she said.

He nodded.

"Is Caleb gay?" she asked.

"I don't honestly know," he replied. "He has a lot of friends of both sexes. I don't ever remember him bringing anyone back to the room. I think he might still be a virgin.

"Where is he, anyway? He was just here, then he was gone. He knows we need to talk about the arrangements."

"Umm right here?" I said. Neither of them reacted at all.

I filed that titbit away. Then I imagined that they could both see me and otherwise recognize me again.

"Umm, right here?" I said again. They both jumped.

"When did you get back?" Josh asked, blushing furiously.

"Just sat down again. Sorry, bathroom, couldn't wait. What were you guys talking about?"

Josh seemed tongue-tied, but Louise picked up the slack.

"Just talking about the party. Happy birthday, by the way." She grinned at me.

At that point, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and looked up to see Mary, from my English class, standing there.

"Hi Caleb," she said. "I wanted to thank you for earlier, and to return your sweatshirt. Don't worry, I didn't spill anything on it." She took a quick sidelong glance at Josh and Louise.

"Thanks," I said, taking the sweatshirt and putting it on. It smelled faintly of perfume, and I decided I rather liked it. "Listen," I said, "it's my birthday, and I'm having a party tonight. Why don't you come along?"

She smiled. "Well, since you know what you know, I assume your motives are pure, so okay."

"Awesome," I said, and then immediately wondered why I'd said it. It was a word I never used. "The party is at a friend's house." I gave her the address.

"I'll see you there," she said, smiling as she walked away. I couldn't resist a lingering look.

"So," Louise said, grinning, "is she the new girl?"

"No," I replied. "She is just someone from my English class."

"You don't lend your favorite sweatshirt to just anyone," Josh said. He was grinning too.

"How do you know it's my favorite?" I asked. The question was out before I thought about it.

He blushed and looked down.

Louise stepped in. "So why the clothing swap? Did you leave it at hers last night?"

"No," I said. "If you must know, she got very chilly in class, in that way that only women do, sometimes. She needed some extra cover."

"Ah, say no more," Louise replied. "It all makes sense now."

Josh was looking between us, utterly confused. "What makes sense?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when you're older, you big baby," she hissed. "All you need to know is that Caleb was very chivalrous. Don't you think that's a very attractive quality in a man?"

Josh shut up in a hurry, properly chastised and embarrassed -- probably terrified that Louise would spill his secret to me. Louise was very, very good. I filed that away too.

"So then," continued Louise, "since she isn't the one taking your V card tonight, who is?"

"What makes you so certain I still have my V card?" I asked. I kept it playful, letting her know I wasn't offended.

"Are you telling me you don't?"

"I'm not telling you anything," I said. "Why are you so interested in it, anyway?"

"We just want to help a friend in need," she said. "Don't we, Josh?"

Josh blushed again. He couldn't look at me. Louise was really, really good.

"Well don't start trying to line me up with someone," I said. "I'd like to be the one to choose who I have my first experience with, when I decide to do so. I doubt it will be tonight. I don't want it to be part of a drunken fumble. I want it to be special."

"Oooh, are you saving yourself for 'The One'?" she asked, thankfully not making air-quotes. I hated pretentious pricks that did that.

"No," I said, "I just want for it to be an experience I'll remember, not just some drunken episode I'd rather forget. Anyway, I thought we were supposed to be talking about arrangements for tonight."

"And I thought we already were," she replied playfully. "But alright, we can discuss streamers and fruit punch instead, I suppose."

Since we had spent rather too long on other things, we had only a few minutes to discuss the party, but it didn't seem to be a problem. Our friend Bob was hosting. His parents had leased him a large house, which he normally shared with three friends in his class.

Bob had said that we could use his downstairs for our party, but that the upstairs was off-limits. Apparently, the rest of my friends had taken care of most of the details. Louise asked me a few questions about music, snacks, drinks, and the like, and gently prodded as to whether there were to be any more last-minute invites. They did need to know roughly how many people they'd need to feed, after all.

That was fair. I did my best to quickly give her all the info she wanted.

As I headed to my next class, my phone beeped. It was a text from my mother.

_Happy birthday.

I thought back to my questions earlier. Do I need to be in the same location for my ability to work?

I grinned to myself.

I imagined myself at my mother's house, being presented with a new Ford GT Car. I saw it in royal blue with the GT Stripes. Mum was handing me the keys.

After a few seconds, my phone beeped again.

_Okay, you need to come home pronto. I know it's a long drive, but come this weekend. We NEED to talk. P.S. I know you wouldn't but DO NOT use it to get into some poor girls' pants. Do nothing. Tell no one. I'm serious.

I stopped in my tracks, stunned.

The implications of that text blew my mind and left me with so many questions -- but also the hope that I could get a lot of answers in a hurry. I wanted to call my mother right then and there, but I knew she would just tell me to wait until Saturday.

To say I was distracted in my next class would have been an understatement. In fact, I decided that I would skip the last class of the day and go back to my room to gather my thoughts.

I should have perhaps knocked, but, thinking that Josh was also in class, I accidentally barged in on Josh and Louise. Josh was down to his boxers, and was obviously aroused, and Louise had only on her bra and a red thong. Pretty much everything she had was on show.

"Oh God I am SOOO Sorry," I said, turning my back as Josh drew a blanket over the pair of them.

Josh looked embarrassed, but Louise just grinned.

"See anything you liked?" she asked mischievously.

I decided not to back down from her challenge.

"I did catch a glimpse of a very nice butt," I said, turning back around and looking her straight in the eye.

"Whose? Mine or Josh's?"

"Well since you were on top..." I didn't finish the sentence.

"See? He thinks I have a nice butt," she said to Josh with a grin.

"He has good taste," he replied. Josh had sense. That was a good answer.

She smiled and snuggled up against him under the blanket.

"I guess I'll go and leave you two to... it," I finished lamely.

"No, don't go," Louise said. "I don't want to push you out of your room. Besides, I want to talk to you."

I raised my eyebrows. "It's not quite 'we need to talk,' but it feels about as ominous."

She jumped out of bed, and, showing no signs of embarrassment, pulled Josh's bathrobe on.

"What?" she said, looking at my surprised expression. "You already saw it all anyway."

"I wasn't expecting a repeat performance," I replied.

She sat on the edge of Josh's bed. He scooted up behind her, head propped up on his elbow.

"Caleb, will you be honest with me?" she asked.

"And that's even more dark clouds on the horizon," I said. "Do I even want to have this conversation?"

"Caleb, are you gay?"

My jaw dropped. I had not expected her to be quite so forthright.

I considered my answer. I could feign outrage and deny it, but saw no reason for that. It was the twenty-first century after all, and we were on a university campus. I had no reason to hide my sexuality. I supposed I could tell her I was bi, which was the easiest way to understand it, but for some reason, I felt compelled to go with the whole truth.

"No," I said, but immediately went on to qualify. "I would describe myself as pansexual."

They both looked at me, waiting for me to explain further. I rolled my eyes first. I really didn't like this part. It was so... staid. It was boring.

"It just means that I can be attracted to anyone," I said. "Sex and gender aren't deal breakers. It doesn't mean I actually am into everyone. There has to be something. There has to be a spark. I will admit, though, I am something of an ass man." I gave Louise a grin. "But you never really know. It could be the eyes, the smile, the personality, or how they're really great with babies or puppies or what-have-you."

"Or their cock?" Louise asked suggestively.

"It could be, in a specific case, yes, Louise," I answered with a sigh. "It could be their cock. Someone might have a really, really nice cock, and it might set off that spark."

She bit her lip and squirmed a little. She clearly liked that answer -- which, given my spy mission earlier, came as no surprise.

"Well?" I asked. "Make sense?"

"Why did you never say anything?" asked Josh. I went ahead and assumed that was a 'yes' on getting it, even though, from experience, it wasn't necessarily so.

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable," I answered. "I didn't want you wondering if I was harboring nefarious thoughts about you, scared to relax in your own home. Also, I guess the stigma of alternate sexuality is still around, even today. You might have wanted to change rooms, or even if you didn't, there's guilt by association. You could have ended up getting hassled for sharing with me. You know what people are like. There would be snide comments about what was going on in here after lights out. It was just easier to say nothing."

"Have you ever been with a girl?" asked Louise. "Or a boy?"

I shook my head, not really knowing how this was any of her business, but suspecting she was leading up to something.

"Then you still have your V... no, you have two V cards then?" asked Louise. She was on Team Susan there, evidently.

"Two?" asked Josh, once again confirming that Louise was the brains of their operation.

I sighed. "One for boys and one for girls, I'm assuming she means. Aren't you forgetting the non-binary and trans and all the other identities, though?"

She thought about that for a moment. "That's far too complicated, so I'm sticking with two," she said.

That was probably the most honest answer I'd ever gotten about it.

"Have you ever given a blowjob?" she then asked. "Or had one?"

"Where are we going with this?" I asked. It wasn't that I minded too much, but given the circumstances, I could see trouble ahead.

"I had a dream," Josh said.

That threw me. I never would have thought he'd have spoken up about it. Cajoled -- bullied, really -- by Louise, sure, eventually. But just out of the blue? Never would have thought.