Timestopper Ch. 10: Jackpot

"You've obviously never had him pin you," Sean laughed, "but back to your night. So you play some truth or dare and get stoned, what next?"

"Truth or dare didn't last long. Some freshman girl got too drunk and Katrina and Dion had to deal with her. And then I puked my guts out."

Sean laughed at that, "Glad I'm not the only one who got to know a toilet bowl."

"What'd Rich call it--I boot and rallied! Like it sucked for ten minutes then I just kept going and drank and danced more."

"Ah so I just got the boot and missed the rally, no wonder it sucked," Sean said, "But I feel like we're missing a piece here man, how'd you and Dion hook up?"

Zach blushed, unsure of how much detail to go into. "Yeah, that was the end of the night. He got back from helping with the freshman girl and he invited me up to his room to smoke a little more. We ended up playing truth or dare just the two of us, which is when I found out he was bi and, uh, yeah that led to more stuff and staying the night." Zach hated how red his cheeks felt as he avoided making eye contact with Sean.

"Good for you man," Sean said smiling, "No homo or anything but even I can tell he's crazy attractive. And his girlfriend, fuckin wow. Talk about a power couple, it was honestly intimidating."

"Yeah you definitely seemed a bit shyer than usual."

Now it was Sean's turn to blush, "I don't know man, PDA can make me a bit uncomfortable. Like Emily is totally not into it and I just never really saw it growing up, our town was too small and full of prudes."

"Have you talked to Emily recently?"

"Yeah, I called her last night. Told her about my crappy rush night too. She was really understanding. We planned a visit, she should be here for midterm break," Sean said, "She's really excited to meet you."

"I'm excited to meet her too," Zach said.

"Sweet," Sean said, then looking a little uncomfortable he slapped his knees and said, "Alright let's start it up," and he played the movie.

It didn't take long for them both to be engrossed. Zach particularly enjoyed when the old prospector struck gold and did a happy dance, realizing he'd done the exact same dance when he first discovered his watch's power. But as the gold fever set in and Bogart became greedy and paranoid a less pleasant memory came to mind, and Zach remembered he hadn't seen Dave since he'd rewound their little incident. He took his phone from his pocket.

Zach: "Hey how's it going? Sorry dropped off the grid this weekend, I've been busy"

Dave started responding almost immediately.

Dave: "It's np! Everything ok? Been kinda worried, you weren't in the best spot last time I saw you"

Zach: "Yeah I've been good, and that whole thing was a misunderstanding, I'm actually watching a movie with that friend now"

Dave: "That's awesome! Good weekend otherwise? Get to any rush parties?"

Zach: "Yeah I went to sig chi. Been getting to know Dion, I heard you guys are friends"

Dave: "!!!!!

"Of course you are, the fucking charmer. Kat and I are actually friends from high school. No wonder I haven't heard from you bet he's kept you busy ;P"

Zach: "a lil bit lol"

Dave: "gah my brain can't even comprehend that much dick in a room"

Zach: "lmfao"

Dave: "speaking of dick on the brain...god do I fucking want your dick in me. Going from 3 of your loads a day to 0 has me in like withdrawal lol"

Zach felt his dick start to rise in his shorts. He tried to subtly adjust himself as he replied.

Zach: "And I'm missing your hot little ass. I gotta go to a poker tournament at sig chi tonight but we should be done before midnight, think I could swing by after?"

Dave: "yes fucking please"

And then Dave sent a pic of him in front of a bathroom mirror showing off the top half of his ass.

Sean whistled.

"Man everybody's reading over my shoulder," Zach said laughing and blushing as he put his phone away.

"Sorry Zach, it was right there. Besides movie's almost over, figured you must've been reading something good to distract you. And it looks like you were, that was a tight ass," Sean laughed.

"Guess you're more an ass man than a boob man is that it?"

"Not even close dude, give me a hot booty any day."

"Just need to look in the mirror for that," Zach said giving Sean a wink.

Sean blushed at that and pushed Zach's arm, "Don't tease me man."

Zach raised his eyebrows and said in a Larry David impression "Ok, ok," as they got back to watching the movie, Sean crossing his legs.

Once it was finished they went to Jake's room and played some Nintendo with him and Tim till they had to leave for poker. Zach invited Tim to join them and the guys headed over to sig chi.

When they arrived the front door was open and the brothers were out back having burgers and beer. The freshmen joined them, filling out name tags on the way. A good number of the brothers seemed to remember Zach and he'd done a good job of remembering their names as he introduced his dorm mates and shot the shit. They lost Tim pretty early as he got caught talking about DnD with a brother he'd met in compsci, and shortly after that Dion came over and peeled Jake and Sean away to introduce them to the couple of wrestler and soccer players in the frat (he did sneak Zach a wink before he walked away). Eventually Zach spotted Rich and when he went over to greet him he was surprised to see Rich talking with Mike.

"Oh, sup roomie!" Mike said when he saw Zach approaching. Zach gave them both a hand clasp/half hug, Rich giving Zach a stoned, "Suuup my dude."

"Didn't expect to see you here," Zach said to Mike.

"Yeah Rich and me have been playing some basketball, he brought me along. How you guys know each other?"

"We have lit together," Zach said, "And we hung out a good bit Friday."

"Got lit you mean haha," Rich laughed, "Zach popped his bong cherry Friday, got fucking faced it was great."

"Fuck man we need to get stoned together," Mike said, "was worried you may be a narc."

"Shit, do I give narc vibes?"

Rich looked shocked, "Nahhh, no way dude."

Mike laughed, "Sorry bro just fucking with you."

Rich pulled a small vape pen from his pocket and offered it to Zach with a, "Go light on it, that shit's strong."

Zach took a small puff but that was all he needed for his head to start feeling like a balloon. He started coughing as he handed the vape back to Rich.

"Good shit, right?" Mike said.

"Fuck yeah," Zach said pulling himself together.

"Ooo, who wants to get brownie points with a brother," Zach looked up and saw Jack, the guy who in a different universe he did an Eiffel Tower on another freshman with, come up to them. Zach had forgotten how tall he was, towering over even Rich and Mike who were both well over six feet, and he had a cigarette dangling loosely in his mouth. Rich passed him the vape and Jack took a deep hit before he also broke into a coughing fit.

"God damn the kids these days getting the good shit, when I was a freshman we were lucky to get a apple to smoke some skunk weed," Jack said.

"Yeah but when you were a freshman you could only light it up by rubbing some sticks together," Zach felt a heavy hand grasp his shoulder and looked around to see Brian. Zach was a little surprised at how happy he was to see him.

"And what happened to the bashful little freshman you used to be huh," Jack reached over and pinched Brian's cheek.

"Bitch," Brian laughed as he slapped Jack's hand away.

"You guys should've seen him, came to every rush party and couldn't say a word till he was blackout, and then he went right to singing sea shanties, that shit was hilarious," Jack said.

"Aren't you guys in the same class?" Zach asked.

"Jack's a super senior. He took a couple semesters off," Brian said.

"You'd think that'd make me a senior statesman around here, but no all I get are old people jokes," Jack said.

"Wait, bro, I wanna hear a sea shanty," Rich said.

Then Brian realized he hadn't met Mike yet and introduced himself while taking a hit from the pen Rich offered him. The guys talked for a bit getting a little stoned till they heard Dion call out over the crowd from the upstairs porch, "Let's go ladies, give your $10 on the way in, take a number then find your seat in the basement."

They filed downstairs and it looked weird without the dance lights on, like some community center, and there were tables and chairs set up all over the room with piles of chips at every seat. Zach looked at the slip of paper he'd been handed and went looking for his table and chair.

When he found it half the seats were filled already, and he was a little concerned he didn't recognize any of the guys. *Guess that's kinda the point* Zach thought as he took his seat.

Zach had come a long way from the terribly shy kid he'd been exactly 1 week earlier, but then it hadn't really been a week had it--he figured at least a month, maybe even several--and when he joined the guys he was quick to introduce himself to the couple freshmen and multiple frat brothers already sitting. If anything he quickly became the center of conversation, going through and talking to all the guys one by one, stopping time with every new name so he could commit it to memory. The brothers were a good mix of years and backgrounds, but it became clear Brian wasn't kidding that the frat was basically theater kids and frisbee players as all of the bros were either one or the other. Dylan and Colin, the two freshmen, were both theater kids, and were eager to discuss their anticipation about the cast list coming out tomorrow.

"Well Zach's all set on that front," Rob, a junior and another theater kid, said as he fiddled with his poker chips, "Congrats by the way, D told me."

"Thanks," Zach said.

"Wait, do you know you got a part? Seriously? Who'd you get?" Colin asked.

Zach blushed a bit, "The Stage Manager."

"No fuckin way," Dylan said in awe.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Rob said giving Zach an odd look, half amused half annoyed, "No offense Zach, but D is really really good. And basically the whole thing sucks if the Stage Manager isn't at least really good. And you've never even done a play before, so I hope you didn't bite off more than you can chew."

"Booooring," Jack suddenly plopped down in the last open seat at the table next to Zach, looking too big for his chair. "Drama, drama, drama ain't nobody got time for that Bobby," Jack said, taking a gulp from his beer. The other brothers laughed but Rob went to full on annoyed.

"What drama bro?"

"I mean just listen to what you're saying, that drama," Jack said casually as he took a puff on his juul and then he turned to the freshmen. "Look little theater dorks--sorry but I'm assuming you're all little theater dorks," he pointed at Zach, "and you I know are a little theater dork--this is the genius of sig chi: you know why you do theater dorks and awesome stoner frisbee dudes? Because they compliment each other. That's why we got the theater guys to join a few years ago, the stoners were like 'recruitment, yeah whatever dude', but the theater people are all like 'look at how awesome we are come join.' So it's like good cop bad cop, we're cool and don't care, but also we're cool and you should join. Or when the frisbee guys are like 'let's have a jump off the roof competition' you get the prop and stunt guy to be like 'let's make it the second story porch and put down some pads.' Mutually beneficial arrangement."

"Wait, jump off the roof competition?" Colin asked looking horrified.

"And when the theater dorks do what they can't help but do, and start gettin gossipy and dramatic," Jack barreled on, "the super awesome stoner frisbee dudes provide them a solution--drugs." And he stuck a weed vape in Rob's hand. The brothers and freshmen laughed at Jack's little monologue, and even Rob begrudgingly smiled as he took a hit from the pen.

"Was that like actually why you guys got the theater kids to join?" Scott, a sophomore brother asked.

"Well that and they all fuck like rabbits so that keeps things interesting," Jack said.

Suddenly they heard Dion's voice from the speakers at the end of the room, "Alright guys let's get started. Texas hold 'em, big blind is 2 chips and it increases by 2 every 20 minutes. If you bust out feel free to stick around and chill, we got pool upstairs, a fire pit out back, and beer is all you can drink, just remember it's Sunday so if you got classes tomorrow don't go too crazy. Prize money is $20 for top 10, $50 for the runner up, and jackpot is $500. Let's go."

A cheer went up around the room at that and then things quickly quieted to a low but constant drone of rustling chips and cards and conversation.

Zach got several terrible hands in a row and folded right away while the table went through a few smaller pots. When he got a pocket pair of 10s Zach did a min raise, which knocked the two other freshmen and 2 seniors out. Jack called, but then Rob, who was the big blind, doubled Zach's raise with a grin.

Without even really thinking about it Zach curled his hand and felt the cool, reassuring heft of the watch as he stopped time. Zach reached across the table and looked at Rob's cards--a 7/2 off suit. "Jerk," Zach said laughing as he put them back and restarted time.

"Call," Zach said throwing in his chips.

"Y'all got shit but I got even less shit," Jack said as he folded.

The flop was ace jack 2. Rob raised the pot and Zach called again. The turn was a 10, Zach had it, but when Rob checked so did Zach. The river was a 7.

"All in," Rob said pushing his whole pile.

"Call," Zach immediately said and flipped his cards.

"Fuck," Rob said as he turned over his and the brothers started laughing.

"That's what you get for bluffing a 7 deuce," Jack said.

"And a stone cold check on that turn, damn," Scott added.

Zach smiled as he collected his chips, but as Rob leaned over to shake his hand and then left the table looking disappointed he felt a pang of guilt. Would he've called on the flop if he hadn't looked at Rob's cards? Sure Zach felt comfortable calling anything after the turn, but he felt a little scummy looking at the ace and jack, thinking maybe that would've scared him off. Zach became quiet and introspective as the game continued, and he decided he wouldn't be using his watch the rest of the tournament.

Over the next few hands Zach slowly lost chips. The freshman Colin was on fire, winning multiple pots in a row. About an hour into the game, down to about his original chip count, Zach, Colin and Jack pushed all in on a river. Zach felt confident revealing his queen high flush, but then Jack showed his king high flush, and then Colin laughed triumphantly as he turned over his full house.

"God fucking dammit," Jack said as he threw his cards at the dealer and stood up, "I need a smoke."

"Could I bum one?" Zach asked standing up too after he shook Colin's hand.

"Fineee," Jack said around the cigarette already in his lips. Before he left Jack said to Colin, "And you better win the whole damn thing." The two of them walked outside, Jack grabbing two cans of natty on the way out.

"If I'm not getting $500 you can be damn sure I'm getting drunk," Jack said as they went up to the back porch. He punched a hole in the bottom of both cans and passed one to Zach.

"Bottoms up," Jack said as he started shotgunning and Zach followed. Again Zach made a mess and beer ran down his shirt.

"Fuck," Zach said as he gripped the watch and paused before turning back time a minute.

"If I'm not getting $500 you can be damn sure I'm getting drunk," Jack said again, and again Zach made a mess. It took another two redos before he was able to finish the beer without spilling a drop.

"That's what I'm talkin bout boy," Jack said as Zach crushed the empty can under his sneaker, then passed him a cig.

The two chatted while they enjoyed their smoke, Zach asking about Jack's off year and Jack telling him some stories about his cross country trip in an old VW van, the highlight being an ayahuasca trip with some Indians on a New Mexico reservation.

As they started having a second cigarette Jack said, "So, uh, you and D?" Jack raised his eyebrows and made an ok sign with one hand and put his index finger through the hole while making moaning sounds.

Zach laughed and blushed, "We're friends."

"Sure," Jack said, openly incredulous, "fuck friends."

"So is this just like common knowledge then?"

"Eh, kinda. Not like D has been bragging or whatever but you did sleep over, people notice," Jack said taking a drag.

"Fuck," Zach said as he smoked too. He wasn't thrilled at the prospect of the whole frat knowing about his sex life.

"What, it's no big deal. I wasn't kidding about you theater dorks, you fuck like rabbits. I've fucked like half a dozen bros. I fucked that freshman I was playing pong with Friday," Jack said blithely.

"Seriously?" Zach said, obviously knowing about it but surprised at the casualness with which Jack shared it.

"Yup. He was a moaner too," Jack said looking cocky with his cigarette sticking out the corner of his mouth. The atmosphere flipped on a dime, and suddenly Zach was very conscious of Jack's physicality, the way he towered over him by nearly a foot, the casual confidence with which he leaned on the railing and stared into Zach's eyes.

"Are you gay?" Zach asked.

"As a fruit cake," Jack said, "I'd guess like 10% of the brothers are batting on our team, and close to 50 are swinging for both. You get the guys drunk and horny enough you can boost it even more."

"So what, are y'all just fucking all the time?"

"Not too much. Kinda a once in a blue moon thing for me. We try to avoid drama remember? Plenty of other boys to fuck. And the straights appreciate more girls to choose from."

"How bout for D?"

Jack grinned at him, "Nah, I don't gossip bout brothers cept with other brothers. Sorry, bud. Try me again if you pledge."

"Fair enough," Zach said as he put his elbows on the railing and leaned over it to smoke, subtly arching his back so Jack could have a nice view of his ass.

He could tell it worked as he heard Jack stutter a bit before his next question, "S-so how bout it? Think you'll pledge?"

"I'm definitely thinking about it," Zach said giving Jack some side eye.

Jack stood up from the railing and snuffed out his cigarette. "I know what you're thinking about," Jack said, his voice completely changed from the boyish nasally pitch he'd had the whole evening and back to the deep timbre Zach had heard as he gagged Austin on Zach's dick. Jack put his hand on Zach's ass and squeezed it. Unconsciously Zach arched his back and leaned into his grip.

Jack smiled at that, "Come on," he said and rather than go down the stairs Jack hopped the railing on the other side and walked along the roof line at the back of the house. He popped a window and gestured for Zach to follow.

When Zach hopped in after Jack he saw the whole floor of the room was covered in clothes and generally a mess, but he could give a shit. Jack grabbed him by the waist and had to nearly double over to bring his lips to Zach's. When he kissed him it wasn't sensual like with Dion, it was raw, like he wanted to fuck Zach's mouth with his tongue. Jack reached down and grabbed Zach's hand, placing it on his already rock hard dick, and Zach immediately started stroking it as Jack continued to tongue rape his mouth.

Jack pushed Zach down on his knees and took out his dick. Zach barely had time to look at it before Jack grabbed the back of his head and pulled him onto it. It was so fucking thick Zach couldn't even wrap his lips around it, he just covered his teeth with his lips and let Jack fuck his mouth, loving the taste of his pre on his tongue.

Jack didn't face fuck him long before he pulled Zach back onto his feet. Jack swept his desk clear of the papers and books and empty wrappers that cluttered it and bent Zach over it, then ripped down his shorts and underwear in one motion. Before Zach even realized what was happening he felt Jack's big hands spread his cheeks and felt Jack's tongue at his hole, as powerful and aggressive as it'd been in his mouth.