The Birthday Boys Ch. 02

I watch her leave and wonder if every girl I'm going to meet from now on is going to be smoking hot. "Hey," I hear from inside the room.

I turn and step inside, the way the room is set up is that there is a small common space and then two, two person rooms. "We were just trying to figure out who is going to bunk with who," the guy says.

He and two other guys are sitting around on the couches. "Good idea," I say as I sit down on the couch with them next to the guy who is talking.

"I am Franklin," he says, giving me a charming smile.

He's black and very handsome, he's a bit shorter than me at about six feet flat, and he has a lot less muscle mass. In fact, it would be accurate to call the guy scrawny if not for the fact that he's six foot.

"John," I respond and then add. "I'm on the basketball team."

He laughs. "I'm certainly not. Business major," he explains.

"Miguel," the guy sitting directly across from me, a Latino guy who is much more in line with my body type. He's jacked with a boyish face and kind eyes, and he looks like he's about 5'10''. "I am on the basketball team."

I laugh. "Right on."

"Gideon," the last guy says. "I have no idea what I'm doing, like at all." He laughs.

"So, how do we decide this?" I ask. "It's kind of a big decision to make when we barely know each other," I say.

"Well, we'll have similar schedules," Miguel says to me.

"That's a good point," Gideon comments. "Are y'all single? I got a boyfriend who'll be around a lot" he says.

"I have a girlfriend," Franklin says. "What about you two?"

"No girlfriend," I say. "No plan to have one either."

"Me too man," Miguel says and then gets a little nervous. "Well, I wouldn't mind one, but if we're both single, both gonna be on the basketball team..."

"Let's do it," I say to him. "Besides if we hate each other, we can always switch," I say as I stand up and turn to him. "I got a lot of shit in my car, you mind giving me a hand with it?"

"Sounds good, roomie," he says.

*** TOM -- Tom Gets a Job ***

My goal is to become an actor, but one thing I have learned from barely being able to pass school is that preparation is everything. In school, I was never naturally inclined toward academics, which meant that the only real way I was able to get through it was keeping a schedule and sticking to it, making sure I had everything I needed so that when it did come time to study I didn't have to worry about anything else. I figure that with making it in this town, the same principal may apply.

I figure that before I spend time going out and becoming a famous actor it would be best to make sure that I have a job and that I have some roommates. The first thing I need to do is become fully independent of my parents and then I can worry less about not getting rich fast enough for my Dad and focus entirely on going to every single audition that I can.

A diner just a block away seems like the perfect opportunity for me to get my first job and so the first thing I do relaxing on the couch is make my way down to the street.

I look around, really taking in the vertical nature of the city for the first time. The buildings are so tall that I have to crane my neck up as far as it'll go to see the tops of them. The streets are dirty, with litter all over, but in fairness I am renting this apartment in the run-down cheap area of town, one day when I have more money, I'll rent a place downtown where the actors and supermodels live.

Jess hadn't been super clear about where the diner was when she suggested it, but I figure I can just pick a direction and walk. Soon enough I find myself in front of a diner staring at a help wanted sign.

"How may I help you?" a tall blonde girl asks me when I enter the joint, she's holding a couple of menus in her hands and she's wearing a name tag that says Caroline.

"Hi," I say as I nervously smile at her. "I was actually hoping to get a job."

She stares at me. "You, want a job here?" she asks me.

I nod slowly. "Is that bad or something?"

"It's not bad, it's just really dumb," another waitress says as she leans against one of the booths and looks over at us.

I look over at her; her voice is high pitched and squeaky, an annoying combination. My eyes search for her name tag and I find it: 'Max', but while they're there, they can't help but stare at her massive tits, tightly kept inside of an ugly yellow and red uniform. The zip at the front can't even make it all the way up like it does with Caroline's.

"Is it?" I ask as I look back up at her eyes. "But don't you two work here?"

"As a last resort," Max says, she's wearing an unimpressed expression as if my asking for a job here is somehow offensive to her, I notice that she has an incredible set of thick lips that she cakes in deep red lipstick which is contrasted to her pale white skin.

"Yeah," Caroline interjects. "I only work here because I lost everything and know nobody important will ever walk in and see me here, and Max here just hates herself."

"Not just myself," Max explains. "But everyone else too and this is the only place that won't fire me for reminding people of that."

"Excuse me mam, but can you please finish taking my order?" a man sitting at a booth near Max asks.

She doesn't even look at him, instead she raises a middle finger at him. "Wait your turn."

"It was my turn!" They exclaim.

"What is going on here?" a short Asian man asks as he storms out of the kitchen.

"This woman just turned around half way through taking my order," the guy explains.

"I don't care about that," the Asian man says, shaking his head and directing his attention at me. "Are you applying for a job?"

I am a little taken aback by all of this, but figure that there might be some utility in a place where no one famous is likely to walk in. "Yes," I say as I hold my hand out to shake the Asian guy's hand.

"I am," I say simply, watching as Max shakes her head and walks away, past the guy wanting an order and into the back.

"Welcome to the team," the Asian guy says. "I am Han, your new boss."

"It's that easy?" I ask as he walks toward the back office.

"You start tomorrow night, you're a dishwasher and bus boy," he says as he leaves.

I look at Caroline. "He's hired you because he thinks you're hot and wants to see you covered in water," she says as someone else steps into the diner and she directs her attention toward him.

I nod to myself, thinking about how cool it is that I got a job so quick, maybe everything else will come quickly as well.

*** PAUL -- The Chess Master ***

Alex and I managed to fuck a few times before it finally came time for her dorm mate to show up, and Alex definitely did not want me there when her dorm mate arrived, so she directed me toward the admissions building and told me she'd meet me later.

It didn't take long for admissions to get me set up in a dorm. I am here a little bit early, so they have very few new students to actually place. The dorm they put me in doesn't look very different to the room I'd just spent hours fucking Alex inside of, everything is just on the other wall and has a view of the courtyard instead of the mountain range.

"Your dorm mate will be here tomorrow," the head of admissions tells me as they see me situated. "Feel free to explore the campus all week but don't miss out on the orientation activities we have planned before classes start next week," they say before leaving me alone in the room.

I look out the window; the courtyard is dead, and a couple of people here and there. I take out my phone and sit myself down on a bed, claiming it.

'Hey, I'm all set, where am I meeting you?' I text Alex.

She texts back. 'Courtyard.'

Should be simple enough, the place we're meeting is right outside my window, how hard could it possibly be to find? I make my way downstairs, nodding at various people that I walk past, some are staff and some are students. I am excited that Alex is introducing me to people, meeting people on my own has never been my strong suit, so it's nice to let someone else take charge of that part.

I approach her and see that she's changed her outfit, wearing a casual white tee with brown shorts, and outfit I'm all too familiar with from her walking around Mike's place. "Hey," I say as I lean in to give her a kiss.

She leans back. "Hey," she says.

I pull back. "What's wrong?" I ask.

"I'm just not into the whole PDA thing," she says with an awkward smile.

"But you jerked me off on a plane last night," I say.

She smiles. "And yes, that was fun, but there are people I know here and I don't want anyone thinking that I'm tied down or anything."

"Oh," I say, a little wounded by her words.

"You know this is just a casual thing, right?" she asks.

I had not known that; from the amount of sex we'd had and the way that she looked at me, I thought that she was going to be my girlfriend. "Yeah, of course, can't exactly date my best friend's sister properly," I lie, though the last part is kind of true, this being casual makes that part easier.

"Great," she says. "Well in that case, I want to introduce you to some of my friends," she continues as she turns and leads me toward the library.

I let the frustration ruminate in my mind, caught between two competing ideas: one is that I am actually starting to really like Alex, and beyond my fascination with her tits, I am actually enjoying her company. The second is that if she is going to be in charge of introducing me to people, does that mean all of the women I meet will be her friends, and will they be off limits?

The path to the library is short and sweet, and on the way there we pass so many attractive women that my fears and frustrations about not being Alex's boyfriend are more or less replaced with a desire to fuck as many of them as possible. We saw just as many hot guys too. I wonder if this is Alex's motivation as well, maybe she just wants to fuck a lot of different guys. We are young and in college after all.

By the time we're inside of in a small room filled with bean bags in the library, a meeting room that is separate from the rest of the space, I am feeling an awful lot better about the whole thing. Alex's friends are all hanging out on bean bags, chatting, no doubt catching with each other.

"Hey guys," Alex says as we enter the space.

Her friends all look over at us, except for one, a redhead who is not seated in a bean bag but is seated at a table in the corner. She has a chess set in front of us, but she appears to be playing alone. "Alex," one of the girls says, a larger girl with a beautiful porcelain face who stands up and brings Alex into a bear hug.

Alex hugs her back deeply. "Kat! You look so beautiful, summer has been good for you," Alex says.

I look around the room, nervously, trying not to make a bad first impression. "This is my brother's friend Paul," she says as she pulls away from Kat. "This is Kat," she says as she holds an arm around Kat's waist. "She's a fiction writer."

"Fan fiction mostly," she says with a little laugh.

"Good fan fiction," Alex adds as she gestures towards a girl who's sitting on a bean bag, who looks like she could be albino, platinum blonde hair, the palest skin tone I've ever seen on a person and dark make up. She has dark eyebrows however and looks tiny. "This is Liv," she says.

"Hi," Liv says with a small smirk. "I'm the resident science nerd, obsessed with science fiction and actual literal science," she says.

"She's pre-med," Alex explains.

"Only because I don't know what else to do," Liv states.

Alex moves on to the two guys in the room: Sean and Bradley, who are both interested in fiction, one who writes mystery stuff and the other writes autobiographical fiction.

"And then finally, there's Beth," Alex says, though she looks displeased to have to introduce Beth, the redhead in the corner playing chess with herself. "Beth is my dorm mate," Alex says. "She mostly hangs out and beats everyone at chess."

I look over at Beth, she's a way across the room, not exactly out of earshot but far enough away that we would have to speak up to get her attention.

"What does she write?" I ask.

"Horror," Alex responds. "But we've never actually read any of her work, she gets very good grades in class, but refuses to show any of us."

"So, she's in a writing club, but never shares her writing?" I ask Alex.

"I asked her on day one if she wanted to join, she came and beat us all pretty badly at chess and now she won't stop coming," Alex explains.

"Should we be whispering?" I ask, looking at Beth, she's far away, but not that far.

"She can't hear us," Kat explains. "When she's playing chess against herself, she's completely zoned in."

"It's best not to engage," Sean says to me from the bean bag. "She pretty much won't talk to you unless you're good at chess."

"Are any of you good at chess?" I ask.

They all shake their heads. "Are you?" Sean asks.

I look over at Beth and then decides to approach her. "Hey," I say as I stare down at her.

It takes her a moment, but she turns her head up to me and looks me over. It's now that I realise that this girl is drop dead gorgeous. From the way they were describing her, I thought that she was some sort of shy, ugly girl, but with her giant doe eyes, beautiful red hair, pronounced but shapely nose, strong jaw line and her lips, the upper being thin and the lower being thick. She looks like a super model.

"What?" she asks.

She asked me that with genuine contempt in her voice, as if interrupting her was the worst thing I could possibly do. "I was wondering if you wanted to play a game of chess?"

She sizes me up and gestures to the seat across from her.

I sit down and watch her as she resets the board. "What do I get when I win?" she asks.

"Whatever you want," I say, a little too taken aback by her beauty to be thinking properly; I already would give her anything she wants.

"What do you want if you win?" she asks me as she gestures toward the rest of the group. "They always ask to see my writing," she explains. "Needless to say, they've never read a word."

"That then," I say as I look at the board, I have played a fair amount of chess in my life, everyone that I have played I have beaten. "I have to warn you, I'm pretty good."

"That's a shame," she says as she stares at me. "I'm extremely good."

The game is over before it can even start, she has me in a check mate barely ten moves in, and when I say ten moves, I mean all up. The game takes only about three minutes, she beats me so easily, it makes me wonder if I was ever even that good.

She looks extremely annoyed when she wins, glaring at the board. "Go away," she says.

I stand up and leave her alone, not only does she have to beat me so harshly, but does she really have to be such a poor winner as well? I sit down in one of the bean bags and everyone is just staring at me in complete shock.

"I know," I say as I look over at her, her head in her hands as she stares at the board. "How embarrassing."

"Paul," Alex says. "That's the first time any of us has ever seen someone last more than five turns."

I am shocked to hear this, looking back at her again, is it possible that she's frustrated that I am actually better than expected?

The rest of the afternoon goes smoothly, with the six of us all comparing what we wrote over the summer, I don't have anything to share but Alex does a good job of talking about my skills. The other writers are not so bad, with Liv being the obvious weak link of the group, it's clear she's better at explaining science fiction than she is a writing it.

Some time later we're standing and making our way into the library proper, leaving Beth all alone in the meeting room, still playing chess alone. "We're all gonna head into town and grab a drink," Bradley says to me. "You wanna come?" he asks.

"To be honest," I say. "I haven't had a proper sleep in two days," I laugh. "I think I'm gonna just go back to my room."

"Good idea," Alex says as she pats me on the arm.

Her and the rest of them all make their way out of the library but I hang back to borrow a book, I'm not nearly as tired as I let them believe, there's just something I want to do tonight. Truthfully being beaten so bad at chess was humiliating, even though I did pretty good apparently, but something tells me the rest of them are just beginners at chess. I find myself a couple of books about chess strategy and take them right to the counter.

"I'm sorry," the librarian says. "You need a student card to borrow these out."

"I get my card tomorrow though, you don't think you could just, be cool about this?" I ask.

They shake their head. "No."

"What are you borrowing those for?" Beth asks, now standing behind me, a couple of horror books in her hands.

I turn to her and shake my head. "I think it's pretty obvious that I want to get good enough to beat you."

She looks at the books I picked up. "You're not going to do it with those," she says, holding back laughter. "I know those books back to front."

"There's such a thing as a sore winner you know," I say to her.

"You aren't bad," she says. "I would have been able to beat you when I was six, but you're not bad," she explains. "If you want a real book on chess, I have one in my room."

"One you've also read?" I ask. "I'll still be behind you."

"You'll always be behind me, but maybe if you read this book, you'll last a little longer," she says. "Besides, you have to come to my room; that's the terms of the game, remember. Anything I want."

"And what you want is to further humiliate me?" I ask.

She nods. "Don't be like that," she says as she turns to the librarian and borrows out the books in her hands. "If you can last fifteen turns, I'll let you read my writing," she says.

The two of us walk to her room, we don't talk much, all she wants to know is how I got into chess, how many different people I've played with, who taught me etc. she is obsessed with chess and to be honest it's a little grating. But she's very hot and now that she's standing, it's noticeable that she's taller than me and that her body is as perfect as her face, a nice shapely ass and big tits which she keeps in a tight sleeveless button up dress.

"This is me," she says as she opens the dorm room door and lets me inside.

"Oh yeah," I say as I look around the room, it's the same room as Alex's, the exact same. "You're Alex's dorm mate."

"You've been in here before?" she asks as she sits down on her bed.

I nod. "Alex and I flew in this morning, admissions wasn't open so she let me... sleep here," I say as I look down at Beth.

"So," she says as she kicks off her heels. "You might have noticed that nobody likes me."

"I..." I have noticed it. "I uh... well..."

"It's fine, I don't care, people are boring. Especially compared to chess and horror," she says. "But it does get lonely sometimes."

"Have you tried being a bit more..." I start.

"No," she says. "I don't care, do you find me attractive?" she asks.

"I... do..." I say, wondering where this is going.

"Good because I was going to ask you to do something, which would have been awkward if you didn't want to," she states.

"Okay," I say, confused.

"Obviously you do have to, because you said you'd do anything I wanted, but I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do," she says.

"Beth," I say. "What are you talking about?"

Beth unbuttons her dress, showing off her bra and panties, her legs have nylon on. "I have sexual needs, I was hoping you could eat my pussy," she says.

"I..." I swallow. "Okay, yes, yes please," I say as I drop down to my knees in front of her.

"Oh good," she says as she runs her hands through my hair as I pull down her panties. "I've always wanted to try it," she says.