Young & Trendy

           I lost my virginity on a stormy night in early autumn. It was near the middle of my first semester at Calhoun University and I can honestly say the timing was right. There was a combination of reasons why I hadn’t had sex before age nineteen but the prominent reason was timing. I had quite a few opportunities in high school but the timing was never right or I missed signs that I didn’t know at the time were signs. I literally met the guy I would lose my virginity to at freshman orientation.

           He walked up to me and said, “You’re the only black dude here who hasn’t given me weird looks.”

           I smiled and introduced myself and we ended up doing the rest of orientation together. His name was Jabari Davis and he was funny and cute and just cool to be around. When I learned we would be staying on the same floor of the same dorm hall, I got a little geeked but I put up a front and was blasé about it. After orientation when I was back home, he sent me a friend request on Facebook and that was the beginning of it all. That led to us exchanging numbers and texting and talking all the time all the way until move-in day. He gave me a hug in front of my family on move-in day and had my overprotective brothers ready to jump him!

           So, we’re deep into our first semester and we’re like new best friends doing everything together. We were literally scheduling our daily routines around our friendship and I didn’t even notice it at the time. I felt as though we were becoming more than friends but I wasn’t sure if Jabari was feeling that way for a while. It wasn’t until he began being blatantly affectionate that I knew for sure he was into other guys. I’d had gay friendly straight friends before and even some who were touchy-feely type guys, but he was different. No matter where we were, this boy would put an arm around me or hug me. Anytime I ran into a guy I knew from a class or a guy I’d become friends with on-campus and Jabari was around, he’d either get jealous or he’d keep asking me how I felt about the guy.

           The biggest confirmation came the night we actually had sex. There was a thunderstorm wreaking havoc that night and most of us were in our dorm rooms studying because midterms were like less than two weeks away. My roommate Gavin was busy on his laptop with his headphones plugged in listening to loud rock music and I was taking a break from studying and being silly as usual, taking selfies and texting friends.

                                           Me (Brayden Campbell)

           So, I get this notification saying Jabari had just posted a video to his Facebook wall. The caption said he’d just got back from the gym and the video was him in the bathroom shirtless. Naturally, my hormones took over and I liked the video without any hesitation. I watched it quite a few times and got turned on more and more each time I watched it. He licked his lips in the video the same way he always did whenever we were talking face to face. His body looked sexy as usual and I noticed his dick print as I always did whenever he wore gym shorts or sweatpants or pajama bottoms.

                                                Jabari Davis

           Not long after I liked the video, he sent me a text asking me what I was up to. I sent him one of my selfies and replied that I was just having fun and waiting out the storm. Immediately, he sent me another text telling me to come to his room. I did have a feeling something was different that night but I wasn’t nervous at all at that point. I slid on my slippers, grabbed my keys, and left my room and headed up the hall to his. He had the door propped open so I just went in.

           I opened my eyes for the third time to see I was now shirtless and standing on a balcony overlooking a courtyard on a beautiful warm morning. This reality was definitely more pleasant than the previous two and I didn’t feel a strange vibe as I had with the others. The air was so fresh and everything looked new around me, including the outdoor bamboo wicker chair I realized I was leaning against. I was careful this time not to do anything that would cause me to black out again because I remembered what would happen if I ventured further than three different realities. With that in mind, I decided to remain exactly how I arrived and waited for the essence of that reality to approach me.

                                                  Jordan (Me)

           “Are you ready, Jordan?” a man’s voice asked me from within the room that the balcony was attached to. “Don’t be afraid. Come on in and learn why you’re here.”

           Slowly, I backed away from the bamboo wicker chair and immediately noticed my navel was pierced. I’d always wanted it pierced but never had it done because I was afraid of what people would think if they ever saw it. I stopped thinking about it as I proceeded into the room. Unlike the previous two realities, nothing seemed familiar at first. I’d never seen the outside nor the inside of that room before in my life. However, when I noticed who was lying on the bed, I realized familiarity had taken the form of someone from my personal life. His name was Bryce and he was my girlfriend’s best friend and roommate. I had no idea why he was appearing to me in nothing but a pair of yellow briefs but there he was.

           “What is this?” I asked him.

           Keeping his attention on the large uncovered windows that showed the other side of whatever building we were in, he sighed and told me, “As with your last journey and the one before that, there can only be one way forward. If you make a mistake then you will proceed to your fourth and we both know what that means.”

                                                   Bryce

           “Bryce, what do you have to do with any of this?”

           “You tell me. I’m in your process, not the other way around. If I’m here then it means you want me here.”

           “That doesn’t make any sense. It would make more sense if Rochelle was here half-naked.”

           “Why am I here then? Make it make sense, Jordan.”

           As I tried to think of a reason for why he was there, I noticed how the morning sunrise caused a singular beam of light to bounce off of his golden skin. He was as heavenly pure as a virgin in holy water and as hauntingly beautiful as honey being harvested from a honeycomb covered in killer bees. I knew I was meant to admire him in that moment; however, the thought of going past admiring him seemed dangerous. I’d never wanted to see him that way before; yet somehow, that was the way he appeared to me. If this was truly my mind’s doing, I indeed wanted him as he was.