Campus Cravings: Off-Season

Excerpt From: Off-Season

Grabbing an ice cold beer out of the cooler, Demitri wandered over to the barbecue. It was an unseasonably warm day for this time of year. Demitri smiled to himself. Well at least that’s what everyone around him kept saying. He’d never been to Idaho in the fall before this year. He’d spent most of the past eight years in Greece, but he also had a New York apartment where he lived when he taught the odd class or two at NYU. He’d left it all behind, Greece, New York, all because of a man.

Shaking his head, he found a seat on the patio.

So here he sat, in a lawn chair in Idaho, surrounded by a bunch of good-looking gay men, one in particular kept catching his eye. He’d told himself for the past couple of weeks not to follow through on his attraction to Soccer Coach, Aaron Billings, but damn. He watched Aaron move effortlessly through the crowd of people. Talking and laughing like he didn’t have a care in the world. It felt like a lifetime since he’d had that feeling.

They talked on the phone most evenings until the nightly news was over. They enjoyed discussing the sports segment before saying their goodbyes for the night. Demitri thought they did it more out of a sense of mutual loneliness than anything else. The problem was, the more he talked to Aaron, the more he liked him and he wasn’t ready.

So, as he watched Aaron mingle with his friends, he reminded himself of Basil, it seemed to help get his mind back on track. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his brother, Theron standing over him.

“Someone sitting here?” he asked pointing to the empty chair beside Demitri.

“Does it look like someone’s sitting there?” he answered rolling his eyes. Theron was the family psychiatrist and he just loved to poke into people’s heads, which was exactly the reason he’d been avoiding him.

Settling into the seat, Theron eyed him a minute before the grin spread across his handsome face. “I just thought by the way you were laughing with that soccer guy earlier, maybe you were saving it for him.”

“We’re friends, and as you can see, he seems to make them easily,” Demitri gestured to the laughing crowd surrounding Aaron.

“Sorry to hear that. It was nice to see you laughing again.” Theron took a sip of iced tea, “So are you staying around here or are you coming back to New York?”

“I don’t know, I thought about asking Alec if there are any positions opening up at the college.” He looked at Theron. “We both know I don’t need to work to support myself financially, but I’ll never get out of this funk unless I find something to occupy my time.” He looked around the pretty yard. “Maybe I’ll buy a little house?”

Theron started laughing. “Really, Mr. High-Rise is going to buy a little house in the suburbs?” “Look around, Bean Head. Do you see any high-rises here? The whole damn town is a suburb.” He shrugged, “I like it, it’s peaceful.”

Shaking his head, Theron leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened in Greece last year? You’ve spent every spare minute away from teaching there for the past eight years. Suddenly, you’re back and withdrawn. What happened eight months ago that caused you to drop out of life and hide away in Idaho?”

Shrugging again, Demitri took a pull off his beer. He didn’t want to talk about this stuff, but he knew his brother. He was like a dog with a bone when he smelled emotional upheaval. This was his problem and no one else’s. He knew he had to tell Theron something though, so he simply told him what he needed to hear. “I had a very important relationship end. I guess it’s prompted me to re-evaluate my life. I decided I’d had enough wandering, enough parties.”

Narrowing his eyes, Theron seemed to be studying him. “I know there’s a lot more to it, but at least I understand the catalyst now. Are you expecting to find true love here?”

“No, it’s not worth looking for because it never lasts.” Demitri set his beer down and slumped down in his chair. Crossing his feet at the ankles, he leaned back and closed his eyes, hoping Theron would get the hint.

“It may not be worth looking for, but it’s worth having. Just look at Alec and Max. Have you ever seen our brother so happy? I’m sure if you’d asked him before he met Max if he’d ever find true love he’d have said the same damn thing.” Theron reached over and squeezed Demitri’s forearm. “The right man’s out there. You just haven’t met him yet.”

Demitri opened his eyes and looked at Theron with raised brows. How the hell… “What did you just say?”

Standing, Theron reached down and ruffled Demitri’s wayward black curls,

“You might fool some people, but you don’t fool me. I’ve known since you were a teenager.” He smiled in that damn smug way he had and walked off, leaving Demitri open mouthed.