(SO, I DECIDED TO GO A BIT LIGHT ON THE 1960 WAY OF SPEAKING SEEING AS LOTS OF US COULD BARELY UNDERSTAND AND ESPECIALLY THE HOT-BLOODED ONES LIKE ME….. HAHAHA)
He set Tommy back on the chair, but the tension between them remained thick.
"Scram, kid!" Benjamin ordered, his voice dripping with disdain. "And don't forget this little run-in, Tommy boy. Next time, things might not go so swell for ya!"
Tommy didn't need to be told twice. He turned to leave.
But just as Tommy was about to walk out, Benjamin ordered, "Go take a bath in my shower room. You stink like a gym locker!"
Annoyed but not wanting to provoke Benjamin further, Tommy obeyed. He turned back and walked through the door that was obviously the bathroom.
Just as Tommy walked into the bathroom, Benjamin smirked. The smirk broke into a smile as he took his middle finger up to stare at it.
Ignorantly, he placed it under his nose, sniffing it. "Ugh," he growled as he thought of what had just happened.
While Tommy wriggled, Benjamin had sinisterly used his middle finger to stroke in between Tommy's ass.
Just one stroke, through Tommy's pants, had sent a weird thrill through him. It wasn't physical contact, but still, Benjamin was feeling really strange and hot.
"Oh boy," he looked down at his crotch, bulging almost threatening to burst out of his pants.
He quickly unbuckled and stuck his left hand in, tightly squeezing his crotch. "Ugh," he growled loudly, not caring if Tommy heard it.
The black boy should consider it a privilege hearing him groan and growl!
"Not good enough," he muttered. He picked up his phone and placed a call. "If you're not here in thirty seconds, you're off the cheerleaders squad. You'd be cheering from the sidelines, got it?!"
***
Tommy had barely had time to get himself together, turning the shower on when he began hearing loud noises. 'Was the devil's spawn smashing something?' he wondered.
He turned off the water, worried and wanting to go out of the bathroom, but then he heard a girl's voice moaning, "Oh, Benji."
It hurt more than he expected. 'Hmph! F**king player! I hate you 'em' he thought, feeling a sharp pang of jealousy. He didn't understand why, but it hurt so much.
He had always disliked girls who didn't know their boundaries, who clung to men and fought for attention.
He had hated competing with them for Billy's attention back in Kentucky, and now this!
'Come on, Tommy, the devil's spawn ain't your type,' he tried to convince himself, turning the shower back on.
But was he just going to let the girls win again? They had already won Billy. 'No! Tommy, you need to get what's yours!' he thought determinedly.
'Don't overthink it, Tommy! Benjamin seems like a big cheese, what with knowin' all about Mr. Charlene and your old man, and carryin' weight at school too. So we'll just play it smart and use him to get what we want. Yeah! We'll make him an offer he can't refuse - he's gonna choose me, and that's the way it's gonna be!'
Conflicted in his own thoughts, Tommy couldn't decide if it was jealousy driving him or something else.
He was just as confused as we are.. or… as all knowing as we are…
Game on!
He turned off the shower, smiling widely like a psycho under madness control.
He stomped his foot hard on the bathtub. It didn't end there; he stomped his foot again, even harder.
The loud thumps echoed in the small bedroom, reverberating through the walls.
Benjamin, still occupied with the girl in the outside room, paused for a moment, his attention drawn to the noise.
He pushed the girl aside, frustration etched on his face. "What in the hell is he doing in there?" he muttered under his breath.
Tommy, satisfied with the noise he'd made, stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off.
He wrapped the towel around his waist and flung the bathroom door open, his eyes locking onto Benjamin's.
The girl, startled by Tommy's sudden entrance, looked at Tommy with wide eyes containing rage and disgust.
"Benjamin, what in the world were you thinkin'?! Letting a black use your bathroom, in your dorm room of all places! And in his birthday suit, no less?!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with shock and disdain.
Benjamin's eyes flashed with anger, and he turned to the girl, his expression hardening. "Pipe down, Lisa. This is none of your business, got it? And keep it between us," he snapped.
Lisa looked between Benjamin and Tommy, her face a mixture of confusion and disgust.
"I can't believe my ears! You're telling me…wow," she muttered, quickly gathering her things and hurrying out of the room.
As the door closed behind her, Benjamin turned his attention back to Tommy, his jaw clenched. "You're making a mess of a mistake," he said, his voice low and dangerous.
"Maybe I am," Tommy shot back, his voice steady but his heart pounding with so much fear and uncertainty. "But maybe you shoulda thought of that before you invited me over and then brought her around, man."
Benjamin took a step closer to Tommy, only clad in his white shirt and a boxer which was kind of heating for the tension between them.
"You're trying my patience, new kid," he said through gritted teeth.
"Good," Tommy replied, his voice filled with defiance. "Because I'm done being pushed around. you think you can treat folks like they ain't nothin'? Not me, brother!"
For a moment, neither of them moved. The room was stuck with tension, their glares locked in a silent battle.
Then, Benjamin's expression softens, just a fraction. He took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure.
"You think you're tough, huh?" Benjamin said, his voice calmer but still filled with an edge. "Let's see how long that lasts. Now get dressed and get outta of my sight before I loose my cool."
Tommy didn't move immediately.
Instead, he held Benjamin's gaze for a moment longer, filling a strange mix of anger and something else you couldn't quite identify.
Then he turned away, walking back into the bathroom to get dressed, his mind replaying what had just transpired and what it might mean for them later in the future.