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"If I give up on you I give up on me A little bell rang as I open the door. So much for not drawing much attention to myself as half the people in the room turn to look. Just curiosity, I hope. I probably will do the same thing the next time the door opens. I make my way over to the desk and stand there waiting for the woman behind the counter to finish writing something down. "Can I help you?" She asks as she puts down the pen she is using. "I'm here for the intro class," I reply shifting on my feet. Nothing like being on the spot. "Name?" "Travato. Kevyn Travato." She scans down a piece of paper on the counter. She grabs her pen and makes a mark on the paper. "Over there. The class will begin in a few minutes." "Thanks," I answer. I turn away from the desk and head over to the area of the floor she indicated. There were a dozen or so people in the area. A few kids, probably ten to twelve years old, a couple of young women, a few older folks and him. A guy around my age, or so it seems. He is cute. I notice him looking at me so I turn away. It wouldn't do good to get beaten up before I learn my self defense moves. Hopefully he just thinks I was looking at the others to see who's in the class. Yup, if you haven't guessed it already, I'm into guys. The big Q. Or at least I would be into guys, if I actually dated one. But that's for another time, now it's time to stretch for class. I drop my backpack on the edge of the mat with the others and move over to an area of the floor not quite as occupied. I do some stretching, not wanting to pull anything on my first day. After stretching for a few minutes the instructor comes over and starts the class. An hour and a half later the class ends. The instructor reminds us to be on-time each week and that it would be a good idea to get a partner to practice with. Most of the others in the class gather together and start to try to figure out who to partner with. I pull away from them, not eager to really talk to anyone. I was never big in crowds before, but especially now, I'd rather not have to deal with people any more than I have to. I walk over to the water bubbler and suck down some water. I guess I'm going to have to work on my stamina too. This was just the first class and I'm out of breath. I can feel someone come up behind me as I take a drink from the bubbler. I turn around quickly and probably knock a few years off the kid's life expectancy. It's the cute one. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." "It's ok. I'm just not big on people coming up behind me so quietly." I move back a little. "Sorry." He moves into the bubbler and takes a drink. I start to move away as he finishes up. "Hey, wait up." "Yeah?" "I was wondering if you wanted to be partners. You're the only guy near my age, I think, and I'd rather not practice with a girl." My mind starts to spin. He's not pegging my gaydar. Well, let's check something. "Don't like girls?" "No, it's not that. I just don't want to be accused of doing something I didn't, or be tempted to do something I shouldn't." Oh well. So much for wishful thinking. "I guess that makes sense." I look over at the area where the class was. Most of the rest of them are gone. A few are left and they all seem to be paired up. Well, at least I'll get to touch him, even if it's just in practice. "It looks like you're stuck with me," I say gesturing to the class area. "Everyone else seems to have paired up." "Sweet. I'm really looking forward to this class." "Do you have a name?" "What? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. How stupid of me. I'm Bastian," he replies extending his hand. I take his hand and feel a little something. A tingling. His hand feels warm and a little rough. We shake and he leaves his hand in mine a little longer than would seem necessary. "I'm Kevyn. With a Y. Do you live around here?" "Kinda. I'm a student at the university across town." "Oh? I've not seen you around campus. I go there too." "Well, actually I just started a couple of weeks ago. I'm a freshman." "What are you studying?" "I'm majoring in Business." "Me too. I'm a junior." "Kewl. Maybe you can help me out in my classes if I get stuck." "We'll see. I gotta get going. I've got a lot of homework already." "Oh, ok. You got time for a cup of coffee first?" "Unfortunately not today. Some other time maybe." His face falls a little bit. "Ok. See you next week?" "Yeah, I'll be here." "Great! See ya." He grabs his bag and heads out the door. I stand there and watch him leave. He's wearing somewhat baggy jeans and a sweatshirt. He looks like he might have a nice body and he's definitely cute. Too bad he's straight. Not that I'm looking for a relationship. I've got a great one going with my right hand. We know each other well and we've never let each other down. I grab my backpack and head out side. It's still fairly light out, and the weather is still mild for mid September. I unlock my bike from the rack outside of the studio and climb on. I ride back to my apartment thinking about the class and Bastian. The studio is the same distance from my apartment that school is, just in a different direction. It makes a big triangle, if you were to look at it that way. You head south from my apartment to get to campus and head east from my apartment to get to the karate studio. So you'd head southwest from the studio to get to school. Fifteen minutes later I turn into the driveway of the house that my apartment is in. It's an older two family house and I live in the three bedroom apartment upstairs. Yeah, it's a lot bigger than I need but the price is good and my landlady is a sweet old lady. All of her kids are grown and live out of state. She's kinda adopted me as an unofficial grandson. She gives me a break on the rent and I help her with stuff around the house. I put my bike into the garage and head up the back stairs to my balcony. I grab my keys out of my backpack and open the locks on the door. I shut the door behind me and relock it. I drop the keys on the table next to the mail and open the freezer. I grab one of the microwave dinners and pop it in the microwave. While that's cooking I go around pulling the shades down. I'm just finishing up in the bathroom when the microwave signals that it's done. Walking past the answering machine, I notice the light is blinking. It wasn't blinking when I left to go to the karate lesson. I hit the play button as I head toward the microwave. "Hi Kevyn," the voice comes out after a couple of seconds. "This is Abby from the clinic. Please give me a call when you have a chance. The results of your test are in." I stop what I'm doing as the message ends. That's it? Shit, it can't be good if they won't tell me over the phone. I turn and go sit in the recliner in the living room, my dinner forgotten. |