Rainbow: A GLBTQ Soap Opera
Alphabet Soup
His vision grew spotty, his muscles tightened and he thrust upwards against the warm body above him. And the next thing he knew, Ryan was coming.
Time grew meaningless and the world was just him and the boy on top of him, and it was on fire with the sensation of his orgasm.
Finally, his muscles feeling like jelly, he collapsed onto the unfamiliar bed, and his partner sat up, pulled out, and Ryan rolled over to watch as he disposed of the dripping condom and found a tissue to clean himself up. He tossed the tissue box to Ryan as well, who mumbled, embarrassed, "Sorry about the sheets."
"No problem."
Ryan forced himself to sit up, despite his exhaustion, took a tissue from the box, and began to clean up the foamy liquid that had dripped on himself and the bed. He took a few tissues to do it, and tossed them into the waste basket when he was done, then glanced up at his partner.
"Good?"
Ryan nodded.
"Your name is Ryan, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Nick."
Ryan nodded, feeling awkward that he hadn't asked that detail before following Nick back to his room, shedding his clothing and losing his virginity.
He wondered if this was what college was going to be like for the next four years, but somehow, he doubted it. Though it was a pretty good beginning.
"You should come to the meeting tonight," Nick said, sitting down on the bed next to him, putting a hand with a sweaty palm on his shoulder.
"Meeting?"
"Rainbow," Nick explained. "The GLBTQ group, we meet once a week. Our first meeting for new freshman is tonight." He kissed Ryan's neck. "You should come."
"Okay." Ryan sighed a little.
"Great. It's in Albarn 110, nine o'clock. Free food, too."
"Sweet."
"So I guess I'll see you there?"
"Yeah."
Nick stood up, and Ryan did too, awkwardly reaching for his boxers, which lay discarded on the floor, and then his pants, which had somehow ended up strewn across Nick's desk lamp. They were uncomfortably warm from the lamp's heat as he pulled them on, and in the back of his mind he wondered about the fire hazard that probably had created.
Nick kissed him again as he swung the door open. "See you tonight."
"Yeah... Bye."
Nick shut the door after him.
Ryan, slightly dazed, wandered back to his dorm.
*
"I am not gay."
David crossed his arms huffily and glowered at his older sister.
"Did I say you were?" she asked airily, tossing her hair over one shoulder.
"You said--"
"I just said you should come to the meeting, I didn't imply anything else."
"Except for when you said you wanted to set me up!"
"Well, Jack would be perfect for you," she answered. "I mean, Jack is perfect for anyone. I love Jack, and I don't even like boys." She flounced down on the couch and, as if to demonstrate how little she liked boys, threw an arm around the girl who had been sitting next to her, book open and held in one hand, but watching the argument instead of reading. "Wouldn't Jack and Davey be wonderful together?"
"Absolutely," the girl--Amy, Sarah's girlfriend--answered, looking far too amused.
David glowered at her. "Well, of course you take her side, you're biased."
"Yeah, pretty much." Amy nodded. "But Jack isn't bad. For a boy."
"Shouldn't you be out riding a motorcycle or fixing something?"
"Bite me," Amy answered.
"David--"
"Sarah, we've been through this a million times. I'm not gay. I like girls."
"You think you like girls, but I've seen you with girls." Sarah shook her head. "Not a very convincing act, David."
"Sarah!" His voice was sounding more and more strangled as the conversation went on.
"Will you at least come to the meeting?"
"Why would I--"
"Straight is part of the alphabet soup," she interrupted. "And so is questioning."
"I'm not--"
"If you go, she'll probably stop bothering you," Amy put in. "And you might meet someone."
"Not someone I'd be interested in," David muttered.
"I dunno, we have a few straight girls," Sarah said. "And straight girls love gay men."
"I'm not gay!"
"Uh huh."
He glared some more, and she looked amused. Finally, he let out a slightly strangled breath. "Fine, but just the one!"
"Good. It's in Albarn 110--I'm sure you'll love it."
*
"Don't tell me we've already lost a roommate," Diego said, glancing around at the room, which was much more empty than it had been when he left.
His roommate rolled onto his side on his bed and nodded, then propped his head up with his arm, striking a slight pose. His blond hair fell in his eyes, and as he shifted slightly, the sheet that had covered up to his waist slipped off.
Diego raised an eyebrow. "Don't you ever wear clothing, Rob?"
"Why would I want to do that?"
"You know that's how we scared him off."
"Well, you're the one who never remembers to shut the door when we have sex."
"We wouldn't have so much sex if you'd just wear clothing occasionally."
"If me being naked is why we have sex, then why aren't we having sex right now?"
Diego blinked. "You know," he mused, as he reached down to pull his shirt off, "that's a very good question."
Moments later he sank onto Rob's bed, their lips met, and Rob (began to helpfully undo the button of his pants, and unzipped his fly.
"You do realize," Diego mumbled against Rob's shoulder, as he pushed Rob onto his back and trailed a finger down his chest, "we're going to be," he ground their hips together and Rob moaned tantalizingly, "very late to the meeting."
"Fuck the meeting," Rob answered, wrapping his pale fingers around Diego's much darker shoulders, pushing downwards urgently.
Diego understood but didn't answer, because a second later, his mouth was full.
*
Ryan settled into one of the uncomfortable desks and glanced around. The room was a lecture hall, though someone had bothered to hang up a rainbow banner over the chalkboard. A few students stood near the front, by the lecture podium; most of them were sitting in the first few rows, talking and laughing. Ryan could tell the freshman from the rest because the freshman, like him, were sitting further back, looking more nervous, and not talking much because they didn't know anyone.
There had only been one day of classes and three days of orientation. Most freshman only knew the people on their halls.
Ryan spotted Nick up near the front, leaning against the chalkboard and looking fairly at ease, talking to a girl with remarkably pretty hair, a boy with large teeth, and a boy whose hair refused to stop falling in his eyes.
"Can I, uh... Is anyone sitting here?"
Ryan glanced up to see a boy--presumably another freshman--with curly dark hair, looking nervous and standing in the aisle.
"Nope, go ahead," Ryan answered, gesturing to the empty seat next to him.
The boy looked a little relieved as he stepped past Ryan and settled into the chair. "David Jacobs," he said, offering a hand.
"Ryan Ballatt," Ryan answered.
"I, uh... I don't think I belong here. My sister made me come."
"Uh... Okay."
David pointed towards the girl in the front, talking to Nick. "She thinks I'm gay."
"You're not?"
"Nope."
Ryan shrugged a little, and tried to get comfortable by kicking his feet up over the chair in front of him. "Worried you'll get hit on?" he guessed.
"Not really." David laughed. "I'm not that cute. She wants to set me up on a date."
"...With a boy?" Ryan guessed.
"Yeah." David laughed. "She's convinced I'm in denial."
Ryan started to answer, but the girl David had pointed out before waved up at them, then made not very subtle gestures pointing to the boy with the overly long hair, who didn't notice because he was busy writing something in large letters on the board. David rolled his eyes.
"That him?"
"I guess."
"He's cute."
"I... guess."
Ryan laughed a little, and David smiled sheepishly, and up at the front of the room Nick stepped up to the podium.
"Hey... Hey, guys? Hey... Everyone, shut the hell up! Okay." He grinned, and the room fell silent. "My name is Nick Meyers, but the group calls me Mush. I'm your president this year, but in all fairness, I rigged the election." He leaned forward. "I got people's votes by sleeping with them."
The returning students laughed. Ryan wondered if that was true or if he was just playing for laughs, but found himself smiling anyway.
"Aaaand, the less important people behind me are our VP, Cowboy; our treasurer, Snitch--who thinks he'll get away with stealing from the treasury, and probably will--and Lace, our secretary. Or I guess, Jack, Aaron and Sarah, if you want to talk to them outside of here.
"Yeah, the nickname thing is kind of stupid." He shot the watchers that grin again, and Blink inhaled sharply, feeling something in the pit of his stomach. "But the rumor is that the group was founded back in the day before it was okay to come out, so all the members used nicknames to keep anonymous. The rumor is also bullshit, but on the other hand, who doesn't love campy nicknames?"
Another laugh. Nick--Mush--seemed to like playing off of those. "Anyway, welcome to the first meeting of Rainbow, we're going to do the alphabet soup thing, and then let other people talk." He gestured slightly towards Jack, who pointed back at the chalkboard.
Ryan read the scrawled handwriting: GLBTTTQSS. He had seen it before on the fliers for the meeting, but only knew what part of it stood for.
"So, I'm Jack," Jack started, stepping forward and speaking loudly. "And that's the alphabet soup that no one understands. Mush is making me do it because he can't remember what it stands for." He took a deep breath, then said, "Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, transvestite, queer, straight supporters. It's really not that hard.
"It's sort of our motto--we welcome anyone, we don't judge anyone. And this is a totally safe zone, so it's important to remember that things people say in meetings don't go outside of meetings, ever. It's like the nicknames--people can get embarrassed, or offended, or scared, so don't repeat anything said in confidence. We trust you, so please don't abuse that trust. Okay?"
Mush nodded.
"Okay, well, now everyone gets to introduce himself," Mush declared. "And I like talking, so I'll start. I'm a senior this year, I'm gay, and I'm majoring in art because I really like anatomy classes. Any cute boys who want to help me study should feel free to say hi after the meeting."
Another laugh, and Mush passed the introductions off to the rest of the officers, and then down through the auditorium. Ryan listened half-heartedly, then not at all, because this was just like every other round of introductions he'd heard in the last four days: not very interesting, and full of people whose names he wouldn't remember anyway.
The only thing that broke up the monotony of it was a hurried arrival by two boys, who scurried in hand in hand to take seats near the front. Whoever was talking at the time--some Italian kid--stopped what he was saying and raised an eyebrow.
"So the resident nymphomaniacs decided to join us," he said.
"I even got Dutchy to put on clothes and everything," one of them answered cheerfully. A few people laughed at that; Ryan supposed it was an in-joke he was missing out on.
"Isn't there supposed to be pizza or something here?" the other one--presumably Dutchy--put in.
"Yeah, yeah, it's coming."
"Good, 'cause I'd hate to have gotten all dressed up for nothing."
The Italian kid raised an eyebrow. "'All dressed up' in a dirty t-shirt and jeans?"
"It's clothing, isn't it?"
His companion snickered, and they sat, and introductions were continued. They introduced themselves as Dutchy and Bumlets (real names Rob and Diego, Ryan noted) and were apparently dating. Or so Ryan assumed, as they didn't seem to be able to keep their hands off each other for periods of longer than ten seconds.
The introductions wore on, up the rows, until it was Ryan's turn. He shrugged a little. "Um... I'm Ryan Ballatt, I'm a freshman and... uh..." He shrugged. "I have a glass eye. That's about it."
He elbowed David to take over, who let out a fast, "I'm David, I'm here because Sarah made me." Then he looked kind of horrified at what he'd said and quickly amended with, "I mean... Yeah, um... My name is David. I'm... straight, but my sister isn't, so I guess I'm here to support her."
"Aww, thanks Davey!" one of the girls--the secretary, Ryan remembered--cooed from the front.
The line of introductions moved on, and finally came to a rather lame ending, followed directly by Snitch, the treasurer, yelling, "Pizza!" and bouncing out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with a generous number of pizza boxes and Mush announced that they'd be hanging out for awhile so people could ask questions, get to know each other, and find out what the group was about.
From what Ryan could tell, as he ate pizza and listened to other people talk, the group was about ways to meet the other gay kids on campus, and keeping tabs on who was sleeping with who, and the occasional social event was thrown in for good measure. Which was about what he'd expected.
He tried to catch Nick, but Nick didn't seem to notice him; he was busy being presidential--or something like it--and flirting with essentially everyone male he spoke to. Ryan sighed a little.
It wasn't like he'd thought it was true love or anything, but it would have been nice if Nick had acknowledged him. But he saw a few people begin to slip out, tried and failed to get Nick's attention again, and decided to give up for the night. He'd go to the next meeting--no real reason not to--and see if an actual meeting, not focused so much on getting to know people, was any better.
He stopped on the front steps of the building and looked out at the quad, tried to figure out the quickest path back to his dorm. He hadn't had any classes in this particular quad yet--though he had one scheduled for the next day--so it took him a minute to get his bearings.
"Lost?"
Ryan jumped a little, startled, and turned to see the Italian kid he'd noticed earlier was standing not far away, smoking a cigarette and looking up at the sky.
"Not... Not exactly," Ryan answered.
The kid was clearly about to reply, but the door swung open and the both glanced over to see Nick and a few others heading out, laughing about something. But Nick stopped, saw Ryan, and grinned. "See, wasn't that great? I told you you'd like it!" he said enthusiastically.
"Uh, yeah." Ryan smiled. "Yeah, it was fun. So, um... Maybe I'll see you around some time?"
"Sure, why not? 'Night, Ryan... Tony, hey! See you tomorrow." He waved at the other boy on the steps, then was off and down the path that lead out of the quad.
The smoker, Tony apparently, gave Ryan an appraising look. "Let me guess; little Nicky Meyers breaks another heart? His mother would be so proud."
Ryan laughed a little, half-heartedly. "I wouldn't say it's broken. Maybe a little bruised."
"Too bad. Though..." And now Tony gave him an appraising look, and nodded a little bit. "You're pretty cute and you've got a nice ass. I'm sure if you introduce yourself at the next meeting, Mush will want to get to know you."
"He, uh... Already did."
"Oh, I see. Well... Second time's the charm, huh?"
"I dunno." Ryan shrugged. "He, uh..."
"Yeah." Tony nodded. "Mush is a good guy, but not exactly the relationship type, ya know? And he likes freshman." He rolled his eyes. "They should warn everyone about him, really. I don't know how many poor froshies have fallen for him."
"Guess I'm not even special, then." Ryan paused. "You sound like you... Know from experience or something."
Tony smiled a little. "What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good smile." He dropped his cigarette on the cement stairs and stepped on it, the held out a hand. "Tony Higgins. Racetrack, if you're into the nickname thing."
"Ryan Ballatt." Ryan shook his hand. "I, uh... Don't have a nickname."
"I'm sure they'll come up with someth--"
A loud moan came from nearby, and a bush started shaking rather violently. Ryan's eyes opened wide, and Tony started to laugh.
"Diego, Rob, get a room," he called.
The reply was muffled and degenerated into a groan anyway. Tony shook his head a little.
"It's probably best to ignore them," he noted. "Come on, I'll point you towards the freshman quad."
"Okay." Ryan cast a last glance at the bush and was pretty sure he saw someone's foot sticking out from behind it, but the skin was a shade of brown that didn't stand out too much in shadows.
"You get used to that," Tony added, gesturing vaguely back towards the shaking, moaning bushes.
"Really?"
"Sure." He laughed. "Naked men in the bushes is nothing compared to your Gen Chem final, trust me."
"Oh, great." But Ryan found himself laughing anyway, and saw a ghost of a smile on Tony's face as they walked down the dirt path.