Section 13

Luke and Noah never really talked about that night again. Their love making was different from before. More free. Not quiet as gentle. The love was still there, but there was a new intensity. Luke didn't know what the cause was, but he liked it.

It was the night of the first intramural game. Luke sat in the section with the members of the G.L.A, when Roth came up next to him. "Luke can I sit with you?"

Luke looked up. "Sure" Luke slid over.

"Well, this is Eddie's big day."

Roth nodded. "Yeah, he's been pretty pumped all day."

The game started and Eddie started off with a quick steal and ran down the court to score the first two points. The first half was pretty close. There were 3 really good players on the other team, but Eddie, Noah and Bob matched them well. The other men on the two teams were equal as far as their abilities. It was the last few minutes of the second half, when all of Eddie's team's practicing paid off. The other team was noticeably tired and Eddie and Noah didn't even seem to be breathing hard. They finally began to pull away and ended up winning with an easy 10 point margin.

Luke and Roth stood and cheered with the rest of the group. Roth unthinking hugged Luke. He all of a sudden realized what he was doing and quickly put his hands down.

Luke looked at him. First he had a straight face, which slowly turned into a smile. He then hugged Roth. Roth was at first shocked then he hugged Luke back and they both began to jump up and down.

Luke let go of Roth. "Let's go down and congratulate them."

Roth picked up his backpack. "Sounds good."
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Eddie and the rest ran into the locker room. "That was so great."

Noah had a huge grin on his face. "Yeah, it was sweet."

The other guys had already headed into the shower. "It was like we were in tune with each other. You knew my moves before I made them."

Noah nodded "We certainly make a good team."

Eddie was pumped. "I tell you that was almost better than sex."

Eddie grabbed Noah by the face and planted a kiss on him. Taken by surprise, Noah grabbed a hold of his arms. It was then that Luke came walking into the locker room with Roth. Eddie released his grip on Noah. Noah turned and saw Luke. Luke stood there for a minute in shock and then turned and left the locker room.

Noah grabbed his bag and ran behind him. "Luke. No. It's not what it looks like."
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Roth watched Noah run out. "What was going on here?"

Eddie looked innocent. "Nothing. Just the excitement of the victory. You should be happy. It looks like you might be getting what you wanted. By the way, good to see you and Luke together."

Roth frowned at Eddie. "We weren't together. We sat together and watched the game."

Eddie smiled. "That's good. So he has forgiven you? Just like I said."

Roth nodded. "Yeah he did and he said we might be friends."

Eddie frowned. "Friends!"

Roth confirmed. "Yes, friends. He is a nice guy and except for you I don't really have many friends. I'm still attracted to him, but if that's all I can get, I'll take it."

Eddie threw up his hands. "What about your big plan."

Roth shook his head. "I changed my mind."

Eddie walked towards Roth. "Things couldn't have been any better if we had planned it that way. Luke probably won't forgive Noah for what he saw."

Roth grabbed Eddie's arm. "I hope you are wrong."

Eddie looked frowned at Roth. "What is this?"

Roth let go of Eddie. "I told you, Luke forgave me and I don't want to mess that up ."

Eddie pointed his finger at Roth. "You are mistaken if you think that he will ever think of you as a friend."

Roth shrugged. "Maybe, but I'll take that chance. I'll see you later Eddie."

"What about our celebration." Eddie shouted.

Roth didn't turn around. "Celebrate by yourself."

Eddie yelled behind Roth. "This was what you wanted."

Roth kept walking.
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Luke walked into the apartment. Noah close behind. "Luke stop and listen to me."

Luke went to the drawer and started to take out his clothes. "You don't have to explain anything to me."

Noah grabbed Luke's arm. "What are you doing. I wasn't kissing him. He was kissing me."

Luke snatched his arm away. "You weren't exactly pushing him away."

Noah took Luke's bag to stop him from packing. "I'm not going to let you do this."

Luke turned and sat on the bed. "I understand everything now. The ramming that you gave me the other day. You were imagining that I was Eddie. Weren't you?"

Noah sat next to Luke. "No, I wasn't thinking about Eddie. I wasn't thinking about anything.

Luke nodded. "Yeah right. I told you then that you were different. Your going to tell me Eddie had nothing to do with it."

Noah looked at the floor. "I didn't say that he had nothing to do with it. I said that I wasn't thinking about him. I walked into the locker room that day and I saw Eddie fucking another guy and it got to me."

Luke moved over away from Noah. "Why didn't you say that when I asked you what was wrong?"

Noah moved closer to Luke again. "Oh, you wanted to hear I got turned on by someone else and it made me screw you like a maniac."

Luke moved away again. "At least it would have been honest. You have been curious about Eddie for a while now. Why don't you go screw him and get it out of your system."

Noah moved closer again and touched Luke's arm. "Because I love you."

Luke moved away again. This time his back was against the headboard. "You love me, but obviously Eddie is in this room too."

Noah didn't move closer this time. "It's not like that. I would never cheat on you."

Luke looked at the lamp. He couldn't look at Noah. "I give you permission, so it wouldn't be cheating. You want him. Admit it. Your curious to know what it would be like to be with him. So go ahead and do it. It's not like it would happen more than once. Eddie isn't the type to get attached."

Noah tried to explain. "You don't understand. I told you that I was intrigued by how free Eddie is. Our love making has been wonderful. Everything I could ever have dreamed of, but like my life it was controlled, planned, thought out. Everything that I have done has been with the thought of what someone else would think of me or living up to someone else's expectations. My father, Maddie. That was how I approached our relationship. I wanted to make you happy and I always put you first, even when we made love."

Luke looked at Noah. "I never asked you to."

Noah nodded. "I know, but that is just the way I am. I've always kept everything locked up so that no one could really get to the real me. I walked in and saw Eddie that day. Sex to him is a freedom not an obligation. He gave everything to that guy and when he was done there was nothing left. He lived in the moment. When I came home to you that night. I wanted to feel like that. I want to fuck you like there was no tomorrow. To feel a total release. Not thinking about you or anything else. Afterwards I felt free. I could truly say that I was gay and not just going through the motions."

Luke nodded. "I could feel that. I kind of felt that way too. It was so intense that I couldn't think. All I could do was feel, but it would have been nice to know what was happening with you."

Noah let out a sigh. "I didn't know how to tell you. Everything with us was so good. It was just me and afterward I felt so guilty."

Luke looked at Noah "I don't think that was the only time. I could tell things were different."

Noah nodded. "Yeah, I think I started to love you more, because I felt more open with myself. The person that I was meant to be was finally released."

Luke smile. "Is that what you call it. The time in the kitchen."

Noah smiled. "Yeah, you were there and I couldn't help myself."

Luke took Noah's hand. "Noah. If you are having these feelings you should have said something. You can always talk to me."

Noah put his hand on Luke's. "Yeah I know. It was like a whole new world was opened to me or something. Luke, I want you to know that I would never cheat on you. I know how I would feel if I found out that you had slept with someone else. Or even kissed someone else."

Luke looked at the floor silent.

Noah noticed Luke's silence. "Luke you haven't been with anyone else? Have you?"

Luke shook his head. "No, not like that."

Noah took Luke's face and turned it towards him. "Like what then?"

Luke bit his lip. "I tried to tell you this before and then I decided it was better to forget it."

Noah was starting to get worried. "Tell me."

Luke looked at Noah. "It was Roth."

Noah started to get up. "Roth. I knew..."

Luke grabbed his arm. "It's not like that. It started at the Winter Solstice dance. I got a feeling that he liked me and he confirmed it the day of my last exam. He told me he wanted me and that you and I weren't going to make it. He said that you would want someone with more experience.

Noah interrupted. "That's were all the crazy talk came from."

Luke snapped back. "It's obviously wasn't crazy. I would have brushed it all off, but then you said that you were 'intrigued' by Eddie, just like Roth said that you would be. He said that we wouldn't be together." Luke let out a sigh and then continued. "Then we took the trip to Galena and I realized everything he said was just to try and come between us."

Noah was starting to get impatient. "So why did you kiss him."

Luke shook his head. "I never said that I kissed him. The day I moved in, when you went to practice with Eddie. Roth was here. He was high on something or a bunch of things. I told him about us being together and that he was wrong about us. That was when he grabbed me and kissed me.

Noah was starting to get anxious. "What did you do?"

Luke got smug. "I slugged him of course."

Noah perked up. "Good."

Luke took a deep breath. "That is when he grabbed me and threw me on the sofa. I swear it was like he had the strength of ten men. I wasn't sure what was on his mind."

Noah got worried. "Then what happened."

Luke took Noah's hand to reassure him. "Nothing. I got him off me and he snapped out of it. He apologized after he realized what he had done and left."

Noah was still confused. "There doesn't seem to be any problems with you and Roth now."

Luke shook his head. "No. We have talked it out. Unfortunately I know first hand the stupid things you can do when your are high. We have an understanding."

Noah nodded. "So you have thoughts of sleeping with Roth?"

Luke shook his head. "No, but I should have told you about it a long time ago and you should have told me about Eddie."

Noah looked at the floor. "Your right. I might have been attracted to Eddie, but I have no desire to be one of his trophies and my sleeping with him would not keep him from getting in between us, it would just serve to make things worse. You are the only one I want to be with."

Luke looked doubtful. "This was just the first game. You have games and practices through early March."

Noah took Luke's hand. "Eddie kissed me. When you came in I hadn't had time to react."

Luke pulled his hand away. "... and if you did."

Noah looked Luke in the eyes. "I probably wouldn't have slugged him, but I would have pushed him away. I am committed to you. The minute that I got those feelings when I was around Eddie, you popped into my head. I headed straight home to you. I know that the thoughts made me act strange, but it probably isn't any different than if I watched a porn movie."

Luke nodded. "Maybe, but you can't have what's in a porn movie. You CAN have Eddie."

Noah shook his head. "The only thing Eddie does is put thoughts in my head and the one that I want to act those thoughts out with is you."

Luke touched the side of Noah's face. "Okay if you say so. I guess we have to admit, we are both young men and this is our first relationship. There will probably be many Roths and Eddies in our future. I don't know and part of me doubts that we will be together forever, but can we make a promise to one another?"

Noah looked at Luke. "What?"

Luke took Noah's hand. "That the next time someone is threatening our relationship, we will tell the other."

Noah nodded. "Deal."

"Oh and one more thing." Luke continued.

"Yes dear" Noah said meekly.

Luke gave Noah a half smile. "If you ever call me Eddie during one of your fantasies..."

Noah interrupted. "Never would happen. Your much cuter." Noah smiled.

Luke kissed Noah. Noah wanting more pressed Luke's back against the headboard. Noah finally pulled back. "I love you."

Luke smiled. "I love you too."

Noah smelled his arm pit. "I better go take a shower."

Noah got up from the bed. Luke grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards him. He got up from the bed and lifted Noah's shirt over his head. He moved in towards Noah's neck and licked from his collar bone up the side to his ear. Noah moaned. "There's just something about a man's sweat that drives me wild."

Noah pulled Luke into a deep kiss. "I feel the same way. That's one of my fantasies. Making love after getting all sweaty after a game."

Luke smiled and pushed Noah on the bed. "That's one I'm more than willing to act out."

They removed each other's clothes and made sweaty love late into the night.

THE END
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