Officers' Boy
By: Kenneth Kirk
(© 2022 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

kkirk@tickiestories.us

Chapter 26

My parents never figured out I had not gone to O’Leno State Park with Roger and Donovan that weekend.  Donovan was off to Asheville on Monday (Labor Day) and Roger and I returned to the campus of the University of South Florida on Tuesday.  Most of the week we were able to carpool, so I rode with Roger unless a particular situation required us to have different schedules.  On those days I was generally able to take Mom’s Caddy if I could give her sufficient notice.  Occasionally it was difficult for me to get home in time to make it to Starbuck’s for my shift.

After a few weeks, Dad and I decided transportation issues necessitated that I get my own car.  It just so happened that Mr. Rooney at church needed to sell his mother’s car since she needed to go to assisted living and no one in the family needed the car.  So, for the low price of $1,350 I became the proud owner of a tan-colored 2002 Ford Fiesta.  It had no personality but it also only had 29,000 miles after 12 years and that car served me very well as long as I owned it.

The car, which I named Sophia after the woman who had owned it before, allowed me considerably more freedom of movement about town, which helped me work in occasional visits to the ‘River House’ as I began calling it.  With labs, library study times, project group meetings, campus athletic events, my work schedule, and a variety of other collegiate happenings, I fabricated a schedule that actually allowed me quite a bit of time to enjoy the other side of my life.  I didn’t stop being a serious student, so I learned how to be phenomenally efficient with my study and am pleased to say my grades didn’t suffer from all the activity I crammed into my weeks.

Frequent trips to the River House actually helped me save time in one major way.  The constant availability of sex with 4 spectacular men helped me to fulfill all my needs (sometimes to excess) while eliminating the need, or even the desire, to find other guys to date or to service.  The campus was filled from parking garages to classrooms to the Marshall Student Center to the athletic fields with masculine beauty in all its forms.  It was almost like being immersed in an erotic candy store sometimes.  But I was so satisfied by the officers that I had no particular interest in searching out other sexual opportunities.  Besides, I had no experience with meeting strangers or even knowing who might be interested in me.

Roger and I managed to have a couple of courses together (English and Calculus) so we saw each other on campus and often studied together, too.  That repeated contact helped us maintain the close friendship we’d had for years.  He always wanted to know all the details of my visits to the River House and seemed to relish my torrid tales without any hints of judgment or jealousy.  He was the ideal friend! 

During that first semester, I did make a few new friends amongst the staff.  There was Dr. Jacoby, my advisor in the Biomed Engineering program.  We didn’t hang out together, but I could tell he really cared about me and my progress on my courses as well as my adjustment to life on campus.  He was as cool and kind as he was good-looking and sexy.  There was an Arabian PhD student in math named Fahad who was the TA for Calculus.  He seemed fascinated by Roger’s and my blondish hair but also helped us tremendously with conquering those confusing problems in the first part of Calculus.  Every day after class Fahad would walk over to the SUB for a tall coffee.  He would talk with any of the students who wanted to join him and discuss homework or life.  I really liked Fahad, not just because he made my juices flow.  My English prof, Dr. Elizabeth Crown, was from South Hampton and told us many interesting stories about the British Isles along with discussing the great literature from England and America.  She was cool outside of class, too, and was impressed that Roger and I, her ‘science nerds’ could keep pace with the English majors so easily.

And there were new friendships amongst students, too.  It seemed to me that freshmen like me were so intimidated by the college experience that we were desperate for new friends.  Therefore, I soon counted among my circle of friends Eric Spencer (our similar names helped us bond), Stella Valenzuela, and Isaac Benson from our Calculus class; Rachel Florissant and Dianna Miller from English; and Paul Grisham and Jim Pulaski from Intro to Biomedical Engineering.  Although I found myself quite attracted to both Paul (pictured) and Isaac, I didn’t get any gay vibes from any of them.  At first Rachel seemed to be crushing on me, but when I didn’t seize the day, she began paying a lot of attention to Roger, who frequently mentioned his girl-friend Carrie Umberger.  Even when Roger brought Carrie to a lunch meet with several of us, Rachel never cooled her interest.  Who could blame her?  Roger is a catch!

In late October, Carrie dumped Roger after about 3 and a half years together.  She wanted to be free to date some of the new guys she was meeting and Roger, though hurt and bewildered, agreed to take a hiatus.  Within a couple of weeks, Carrie was going steady with a Junior frat rat from Miami.  (As a matter of fact, Carrie wound up marrying him after he graduated in 2016.  Four months later they welcomed a bouncing baby girl who weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces.)  Afterwards, Roger spent some extra time with me and the officers (although he always left when things became sexy).  They, especially Robert, cared deeply for Roger and I loved them all for accepting him so completely.  Of course, it didn’t take Rachel two weeks to con Roger into going out with her and instantly they were an item.

I was healthy, happy, learning a lot, liking my early exposure to engineering, and completely content with my romantic and sexual life.  Until, that is, Friday, November 21, 2014. 

********* 

Friday, November 21, 2014 was another day that completely changed my life, although, as you will soon see, I never saw it coming.  Not the way it actually happened anyhow.

That evening I had gone to a movie with Roger along with Rachel and Dianna from English class.  We saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, which suggested we might eventually have to see Part 2 sometime later.  Although Dianna has a long-term boyfriend at Florida International, she is willing to let my parents think we are dating in order to help me.  She claims she sometimes feels like a spy and loves the adrenalin rush.  I think she’s full of shit when she says that, but I’m happy she’s such a willing accomplice to my subterfuges.  After the movie we took the girls to Mimi’s for pie and coffee.  They laughed and teased us about being the last of the big spenders, but they didn’t care.  We all knew the pie was delicious there.

I’d eaten about half my apple pie ala mode when my phone sounded.  Glancing at the time, I thought 11:15 was a little late for most callers.  It was a number I didn’t recognize, but I answered anyway while the conversation around the table ceased.

“Hello?”

“Eric?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Mike, uhm, Dancer.”

Instantly I recognized his voice although we had never spoken on the phone before.  He sounded distracted and nervous.

“Hi, Mike.  What’s up?”

“Uhm,” he hesitated, “I have some bad news.”

My heart thumped.  “What?” I demanded.

“Racer has been in an accident.”

My heart stopped.  “Wha-a-a…  Is he…okay?”

“He’s gonna live, but he’s got some serious injuries and is in surgery right now.”

“Oh, my God!”  Everyone around the table stared at me, waiting to know what had happened.  “What happened, Mike?”

“He had to fly to California and back today so he just left base about 9:30.  As he was coming up Dale Mabry, a drunk ran the redlight at Kennedy Boulevard and plowed into him.”

Tears were running down my cheek.  What if he didn’t make it?  How could I deal with this?  Oh, poor Rafe.  I couldn’t speak.

“What is it?” Roger whispered across the table.

“Are you there, Eric?” Mike asked.

“Uh, yeah,” I mumbled into the phone.  “Just a sec.”  I looked across the table at Roger.  “Rafael’s in the hospital.”  Turning back to the phone, I asked, “Can I see him?”

“He’s in surgery.  His kidney was damaged.  It’ll be a while yet before he’s out.”

“I want to be there.  Where is he?”

“Tampa General.  Tony and I are on our way over there now.”

“I’ll be there, uhm, as soon as I can.”

“Good.  Be careful.”

“Tell us,” Roger said as I clicked off.

Haltingly, I explained the little I knew about Rafael’s situation.

“We’ll take you over.” 

********* 

Finding the correct waiting room in the massive hospital was surprisingly easy.  Roger did the talking and the four of us walked into the room only a couple of minutes behind Tony and Mike.  When they saw me, the officers stood and rushed over, grabbing me in a 3-way hug that surrounded me with support and concern.  We stood together for a minute or two as the bigger (but not taller) men rubbed my back and enveloped me in their warmth.

Tony cooed into my ear, “He’ll be okay.  Just be calm.”

When they finally released me, Mike and Tony greeted Roger who introduced them to Rachel and Dianna.  I could tell from the girls’ expressions they were very impressed with the two older men.  We all sat down for a few minutes before Dianna said she needed to get home.  After a brief discussion and a quick round of goodbyes, they departed, leaving me with Mike and Tony.  The three of us sat in a corner of the waiting room, alternately dozing and worrying, until a little after 6 a.m. when a doctor came out to give us a report.  

The young Dr. Kramer greeted us with a broad smile as he sat atop a cabinet to tell us that Rafe had done very well in surgery and that the damage, though not insignificant, had all been repaired by the hospital’s number one surgeon, Dr. Abramson.  In addition to a damaged kidney, Rafe had broken his left leg and his left forearm in the accident and had a broken rib.  The arm and leg were clean fractures and both were being put into casts at the moment.  Dr. Kramer thought we would be able to visit Rafael in about an hour and a half when he should get to his room.  He told us the room number and answered a couple of questions before he said, “Rafael’s lucky to have good friends to lean on at a time like this.  Why don’t you head down to the cafeteria and get some breakfast?  They should be open now.”

Flooded with relief by the doctor’s report, I began to sob quietly.  Dr. Kramer patted my arm as he started to leave.  “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s going to be good as new after a couple of months.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Tony answered for us all.

“And,” Dr. Kramer’s eyes twinkled, “there was no damage to his handsome face.”

Everyone laughed as my face turned scarlet.

Just as we exited the elevator and started toward the cafeteria, my phone pinged.  It was a message from Dad.

DAD: Where are you?

“Ooops,” I said.  “My dad.”

“Does he not know where you are?” Tony asked.

“Uhm, there wasn’t a good time to tell him.”

“I’d suggest now,” the Major said.

“Yes, sir.”

As Tony suggested, I texted Dad.

ME: Tampa General.  A friend was in a car accident last night.  I’ll be home by noon and explain.

DAD: Be careful.

ME: Thanks

To be continued...

Posted: 0923/2022