Greener on the Other Side Chapter 2: Making Buds
Scooter walked over to answer the door and let his guests in. Sam looked around Scooter in an attempt to get a look at the new arrivals’ faces as Scooter was opening the door. His heart sank as he realized he didn't know any of them. In walked a short boyish looking girl, a large Hispanic woman, and a skinny black man. They all hugged Scooter as they entered the apartment and then awkwardly stared at Sam for a few moments before Scooter took the queue and introduced Sam. The short boyish girl's name was Jordan, and Scooter proudly declared they were best friends and in the same major. She looked like a short, punk music lover with the assortment of tattoos of both arms, gauges in her ears, super skinny jeans, and a shirt with the sleeves ripped off. The other girl’s name was Maria, a heavyset hispanic girl with a plaid button up shirt and the sleeves rolled up to show off her tattoos. She almost gave off a chola vibe with her facial expression and heavy eyeliner. The third member was Stephan, he took it upon himself to introduce himself with a flowery bow. Within a few seconds of Stephan opening his mouth Sam could tell how flamboyantly gay he was. Sam noticed that he was dressed incredibly well for a night hanging out with friends; in fact, Stephan looked like he had just come from some semi formal event with his sharp leather shoes, his form fitting slacks, and his plaid button up and cardigan combo. He also had a neatly trimmed scalp and incredibly white teeth. As soon as the introductions were over, there was yet another knock on the door. Scooter ran back over to the door to answer and opened up to reveal Heather.
"Hey hon, long time no see! "Heather exclaimed to Scooter. "Love bug! You made it! I wasn't sure if you were going to come!" Yelled Heather as she ran across the room to embrace Sam.
As Heather wrapped Sam in a large hug, another person slinked in through the door, and gave Scooter a halfhearted hug before walking on in. He was wearing a bright purple shirt covered with kittens shooting laser beams out of their mouth's. He completed his outfit with some skinny jeans and DC shoes. His outfit screamed skater to Sam, but he carried himself in an aloof or distant manner that came across as distracted. Scooter pointed out his name was Brad, which prompted a slight wave as Brad made himself at home in Scooter’s sofa chair.
"Well the gang's all here! "Scooter exclaimed. "Guess we can get this party started! "
Scooter made his way to his kitchen to grab several bottles of liquor out of the freezer and all the mixers for drinks from in the fridge. He mixed what seemed to Sam like tons of vodka and some kind of mix in several Dixie cups before handing out drinks to everyone including Sam. "Don't worry, it's tasty I promise!" Scooter assured Sam. "If you don't like it I'll make something else!" Sam took a sip and it tasted like sour cherries but had a bitter after bite. He looked up at Scooter questioningly "cherry vodka sours!" declared Scooter "my favorite drink when i’m at the clubs." Before anyone had a chance to make a dent in their drinks, Scooter grabbed some vodka and shot glasses and started pouring out shots for everyone, which, Sam noted, included him.
Before Scooter got to to the last shots, Sam tried to stop him. "Oh, Scooter I'm not ready for a shot yet!" Sam called out, but Scooter just looked at him and stated "you agreed to have fun tonight, and you aren't driving home anyways remember?" Sam continued to object "I just haven't done a shot before, but I don't think I'll like it. I'm good with this drink you made me. Please don’t make me take a shot too!" Scooter ignored Sam and poured the shot. "Just take this first one, and if you ABSOLUTELY hate it, I won't make you take any more tonight. Okay?" Sam blanched but resigned to his fate "Fine, but just this once! That's it! May be my last drink for the night...for all I know, I'm a lightweight!" Sam joked.
"Shots everyone!" Scooter announced as everyone piled into the kitchen to grab their glasses. After everyone had grabbed their glass, including Sam, Scooter toasted "Here's to our new gayby and alcohol virgin... Also regular virgin, Sam!" At the second half of toast Sam blushed bright red with embarrassment.
Everyone cheered the toast and downed their shots in one gulp. Sam choked as the vodka burned on its way down its throat and collided into his stomach. It wasn't as bad as expected, but he certainly didn't enjoy it. Scooter ignored Sam’s dissatisfaction and decided to start up some drinking games. He grabbed his deck of cards set up the table while Jordan started up her “party music” consisting mostly of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. Halfway through the first drinking game, Scooter needed a smoke break and convinced Jordan, Maria, and Stephan to join him out on the patio while Sam, Heather, and Brad stayed inside.
Brad seemed content to keep to himself, but as soon as everyone was outside and the door was closed, Heather moved over to Sam with a concerned look on her face. "Are you actually staying here tonight? Surely you're not actually going to sleep with Scooter!? I told you he's been with everyone, and you said you wanted your first time to be special. Don't throw that away lovebug!" Sam was appalled at the suggestion "No! Heck No! I'm just sleeping on the couch! I just don't wanna drive home after drinking. That’s how people get in wrecks and die! Plus, you’re right; I’m saving my first for someone special."
Heather hugged Sam "Good! I'm glad lovebug!" At that, Heather got up to make herself a stronger drink consisting of 98% gin and 2% ginger ale which she sarcastically dubbed “Ginny's gin.” Sam nosily asked "Why is it everyone feels the need to drink at these things? I mean all it seems to do is make everyone act stupid and have hangovers the next day. I can't imagine why you would want to purposely lose all self control and not even remember it the next morning."
Heather pondered for a minute before replying "well...sometimes people drink to forget the shit in their life.” she shrugged and added “that, and sometimes it's easier to have fun when you don't let all of life's worries weigh you down. Maybe you should drink more!" She joked.
Sam let out a snort "yeah....right!"
Brad, Who had been sitting in silence chimed in "maybe she has a point Sam... You could stand to loosen up a bit!" Sam blushed as he realized they had been talking around him for the past few minutes. The room transitioned into awkward silence until the rest of the group walked back in. Yet again, Sam kept his disgust for cigarette smoke in check. Son as everyone was situated, the festivities resumed.
Several games later, Scooter suggested that they break out the bongs and everyone, excluding Sam, let out a cheer. Sam didn't have a clue as to what a bong was, and he had never even been around weed before. Even when Scooter pulled out the so called bong, Sam was still clueless as to what was going. He decided to go along with it, he was there to have a good time after all. It wasn't until Scooter pulled out his stash of weed, that Sam realized what was going on. Brad pulled out a personal pipe in the shape of a cat with an indention on its back for the weed and a tail that doubled as the mouthpiece. After seeing Brad's pipe, Sam let out a nervous chuckle and interjected "I don't really want to try any weed tonight, sorry guys."
To Sam’ surprise, Scooter actually agreed with him. Scooter pointed out that Sam shouldn't be trying alcohol and weed in the same night or he would be too far gone to have any fun. It wasn't the reason Sam was objecting, but he was glad Scooter was willing to let him to sit this out without a fight. The girls gathered around the bong and started passing around as they took turns “tapping it”. Scooter and Stephan agreed to just share with Brad and his cute little kitten glass pipe. After several rounds of puffing and passing, everyone started getting a glassy eyed look. At one point, Scooter started giggling for no other reason than the sudden hilarity of a kitten pipe.
The rancid Skunky stench of pot was starting to get to Sam, so he made up an excuse to go look in his car for his phone. He excused himself and walked out to his car and pretended to search around for a few minutes just trying to buy more time away from the smell. He took in a breath of fresh air and wondered why anyone would want to smoke something that stank so much. He didn't want to get a secondhand high just because they wanted to “party it up” with weed. Eventually, he took one last deep breath of clean air and went back into the apartment.
By the time Sam re-entered the apartment, everyone had wrapped up smoking and started setting up yet another card game. This time they were going to play spoons and the losers had to drink. Sam was perfectly OK with that because he actually knew that game already. Once again, Sam got lucky on the game and ended up not having to drink as much as everyone else. Thankfully the weed had made everyone incredibly sluggish, so victory was easily his. The less he had to drink, the better!
At some point Jordan and Maria had gotten so bored of losing they went back to smoking the bong. Heather, not wanting to be left out, went over and joined them after a while so as to leave the guys playing spoons. After a couple more rounds, Stephan spoke up and suggested that they play poker instead. The girls perked up and walked back over to the kitchen to grab some shots before joining in to play poker. After the cards were dealt, Stephan got a devilish look in his eye. “How about instead of just a drinking game, we pick this boring party up a notch….How about strip poker?”
Scooter and Brad immediately agreed, but the lesbians gave each other reluctant looks and the three of them simultaneously declined. Sam jumped in "i'm with the girls on this" and Scooter offered that the three guys could play strip poker while everyone else had to drink...even Sam. Sam was going to object, but realized that he wasn't even tipsy and he didn't have a valid reason to contest the idea, If anything, he was about to get a free strip tease. He had never been around any other guys naked, and he was getting excited at the prospect. Stephan, however, was pissed about the turn of events. He objected to only getting the three of them to strip.
"Scooter this isn’t going to be any fun! Everyone here has seen you naked!" looking over Sam’s direction “Sam, you should atleast have to strip”.
At this comment, Sam’ face blushed bright red with embarrassment, he wanted to object but no sound came out. Thankfully for him, Scooter spoke up. “Well, I don’t think he’s quite ready for that...maybe next time?” Begrudgingly Stephan accepted as Scooter dealt the cards. Sam let out a sigh of relief, but his heart was still pounding in his chest; he was so glad he hadn’t been forced to join in. Sam wasn’t sure what he would’ve done.
The first few hands went without any major changes as Scooter was winning most the hands and the two people participating in the strip game were just sacrificing a shoe, sock, or belt at a time to prolong the inevitable. The girls and Sam were finding themselves drinking more than expected however. Then, Sam won a hand. Admittedly, it was due to everyone else having horrible hands, but he won nonetheless. At this, Scooter cheered “Bout time you won one kiddo!” Since, Brad and Stephan had already used all of their unessential clothing items, they finally had to strip, and Scooter also had to strip since he hadn’t been wearing shoes, socks, or a belt. Almost in unison the three guys ripped off their shirts.
Sam was taken aback by how the shape that all three of them were in. He figured Brad was most likely to be a little “skinny fat”, but all three of them looked like they worked out regularly. It was also fairly evident that either none of them grew body hair, or they all groomed really well. Stephan and Brad both were incredibly lithe with plenty of definition. Scooter, on the other hand, had the muscular bulk of someone who could lift bales of hay all day without breaking a sweat. Not to mention, Scooter’s pecs jutted out from the rest of his body and his biceps bulged showing his upper body strength. As he was observing the newly revealed body of Scooter, Sam finally caught a glimpse of his tattoos. Until then, Sam had only glanced at the two tats covering the tops of Scooters feet with “I just want to be perfect.” and “Love heals all wounds.” Scooter’s shirtless torso now drew in Sam’s attention to the remaining three. One side had the outline of the “nobody” symbol from kingdom hearts around the intersection of his ribcage and abdomen. On the exact opposite side was the “heartless” symbol from the same game. As Scooter turned to throw his shirt across the living room, Sam saw the writing on Scooter’s upper back. In cursive font it read “We’re all mad here!”. Overall Sam was incredibly impressed with Scooters tat’s now that he was seeing them instead of just hearing about them.
Sam flushed, he realized how glad he was he hadn’t agreed to strip. He definitely would have stuck out. Between his slightly hairy chest and beginnings of a belly and moobs, he had some serious work to do if he were to ever feel comfortable showing off his body in front of these guys. A few seconds later he realized he was staring at them, and everyone was looking at him. The realization he had zoned out while staring made him look away in shame and everyone bust out laughing. Scooter broke the tension by teasing Sam “If you think that’s impressive, just wait till you see the rest!” he joked. At this, even Sam bust out laughing. They quickly resumed the game, with Sam throwing sideways glances at the three shirtless boys so as to continue looking at them without drawing attention.
Brad won the next round, which meant everyone drank and Stephan and Scooter would have to take off their pants. Sam held his breath as the two stood up to disrobe. Stephan was faster about it and turned around so his smooth black back was facing the group as he slid out of his slacks and revealed a pair of form fitting white briefs. The contrast between his amazingly smooth alabaster skin and the bleached white underwear drew Sam everyone’s gaze until he gave his own ass a smack “ I wanted to be first before Scooter got allllll the attention!” He sat back down in just his underwear at the table as Scooter finally got his pants undone and seductively dropped his pants. He also had on a pair of form fitting briefs that looked like they were painted on his muscled body. They were multi color and revealed that Scooter wasn’t only blessed from the backside. Scooter had been gifted from both sides and the straining underwear showed it. His massive ass stuck out and his package was full. He did a quick turn to give everyone a view and Sam had to struggle not to stare too long at the beautiful man in front of him. When Sam finally broke his gaze, he noticed even the lesbians had been staring at Scooter. This made him chuckle.
In response to the chuckle Stephan’s anger flared up once more. “Why are you laughing?” Taken aback by the sudden rage, Sam stammered “I...I um...was...I was noticing that even the girls were staring?” He realized how stupid he must have sounded at the moment. Once more Stephan got angry that the others hadn’t been participating. He pointed at Maria and Jordan shouting, “Why aren’t you two participating anyways!?!?! I mean if you’re gonna stare at us you should at least join in!”
Everyone was shocked at the sudden outburst. Heather piped up “Aren’t you gay? I mean you’re screaming that you want the girls to join in, but seriously only you wanted this anyways! We just came for to drink, smoke and have a good time! Get off our backs!”
Stephan was more furious than ever. “I don’t care if it’s a girl or a guy! Fair is fair! If i’m gonna let loose and have fun, then other people should join in! I don’t care that much about seeing you fat bitches, but I came to have a gay time and you lesbians are stinking it up just cause you’re shy! Probably cause no one wants to look at you when sober!”
At this comment, Maria stood up and cracked her knuckles. She had a murderous look in her eye, and Stephan wasn’t backing down. “What’s your problem little man? Why you have to dis us, just cause no one likes your idea of a good time? You need to watch what you say!” People on both sides of the table tried to stop the impending fight. Brad and Scooter were attempting to shut Stephan up, and Heather and Jordan we’re trying to calm Maria down. It was obvious Maria had enough muscle in her frame that she could take Stephan down in one hit, but he wasn’t letting go. “You gotta a problem fatty!? Too scared to strip for us, but you don’t mind acting all big and tough now?”
Both Stephan and Maria made their way away from the table and towards the floor by the T.V. People were attempting to talk them down on both sides, but it was clear Stephan was too drunk to reason, and Maria was too pissed off to care. Sam, tried to be a sober voice of reason “Look, Stephan, calm down. It’s not that important. It’s just a silly game, it’s not important. Calm down.” As Sam got near Stephan, he exploded. “Shut the fuck up! You’re such a prude little baby! Too good to strip, too good to smoke, what the fuck!? Fuck you!” At this Stephan swung out at Sam. Since he was clearly tipsy he completely missed Sam, but hit the TV stand with the giant screen TV back against the wall.
Sam, thinking he had dodged the blow held up his hands to calm Stephan before realizing the TV stand behind him was falling forward right into him. It crashed down and knocked Sam down with it pinning his arm under the stand and TV. At this, Scooter and Brad jumped Stephan and grabbed his arms dragging him all the way outside the apartment. Maria swung for a punch, but Scooter and Brad dragged him out just in time. Maria, realizing Stephan had been kicked out fumed and raged, but didn’t attempt to fight further. Heather helped move the TV and TV stand off Sam and attempted to help him.
Slightly dazed, Sam got back up. As soon as the adrenaline wore off, his shoulder started throbbing. The stand had scraped it pretty bad and there was a small cut in his shoulder. He pulled down the collar of his shirt to get a look at it and to keep blood off his shirt. His shoulder was in pain, but he wasn’t too hurt, and he definitely didn’t need to go to the hospital.
Scooter and Brad had finished throwing Stephan outside and locked the door. He was standing outside in just his underwear still fuming and pounding on the door. Brad went and grabbed Stephan’s clothes in a ball, opened the door and threw them out on the grass. “Get a cab and go home! You’re drunk and you’re not welcome here anymore!” Maria and Jordan were sitting on the couch as Jordan reassured her while calming her down. Scooter made his way into the kitchen and brought back the bottle of vodka with a rag and a shot glass. He poured a shot and poured some vodka on the rag. He offered the shot to Sam “Drink up, maybe it’ll help the pain kiddo.” Sam accepted the shot, still dazed and took it without any argument. Sam focused on the burning sensation, and it distracted from the increasing ache in his shoulder. Scooter then pushed the vodka soaked rag up against Sam’s shoulder “Here’ let's prevent infection.” Sam nodded numbly with a weak “Thank you”
As the tension dissipated Scooter decided to calm down for the rest of the night. He told everyone they were welcome to hang out and do whatever, but no more card games. Heather and Scooter alternated taking care of Sam, while Jordan and Maria decided to finish up their weed in the bong. Everyone except Sam took a turn tapping the bong. Brad took to the couch chair as the alcohol set in, and the girls started packing up. Sam spent the rest of the night in a half daze, but attempting to make the best of what was left of the night. Scooter had put the TV back up, and was glad it hadn’t been damaged. “Guess it’s as tough as Sam over there!” he joked. He grabbed a few DVD’s and the group settled on a “gay classic” about a girl from Africa trying to fit in in an American school. Scooter was shocked that Sam had never seen it, and insisted it was “vital for your education Kiddo!”
Everyone settled down, and the girls packed up and left so that only Scooter and Brad were left watching the movie. During the movie Scooter took another smoke break, and upon returning convinced Brad to take a few shots and one more drink so they could wrap up the last bottle of vodka. When the movie was finally over, Scooter had regained the glassy eyed look of someone not all there, and Brad looked just as zoned out as he had been before. Despite both of them being quite obviously intoxicated, they agreed Brad should head home so everyone could get there rest. Brad and Scooter walked out to the porch to say goodbye. As Scooter was walking him out, he closed the door behind him. He had obviously forgotten the shades on the sliding glass door had been left half open. Sam looked over and could hear them drunkenly discussing something. He saw them both look back at the door as if discussing Sam, and then Scooter slipped Brad some money. Brad then reached around in his pockets and handed Scooter what Sam could only assume to be more pot. They then hugged and said goodbye, and Scooter walked back inside.
Sam turned and pretended to be intensely focused on his drink as Scooter made his way back in. He had put on the ass hugging sweatpants at some point during the movie to regain some sense of decency, and Sam couldn’t help but notice his nice ass as he walked by to his bedroom. Scooter returned with a sheet, blanket, and pillow. He then set up the couch like a bed while Sam watched. Once he was finally completed he turned to Sam “I guess it’s bed time! I’m gonna get ready for bed, you should too!” Scooter walked into the bathroom while Sam gathered his backpack with his toiletries to prepare for bed. Scooter walked back out in some wire frame glasses, his hoodie, and his sweats. Sam hadn’t realized Scooter wore contacts! He made his way into the restroom to brush his teeth and take out his contacts as well. He noticed their contact cases matched as he was closing up his own and set his on the right hand side of Scooters while making a mental note of which case was his own. He put his own black plastic framed glasses on, packed up all his toiletries back into his backpack and went back out to the living room.
Scooter was sitting in the couch chair lighting up his own glass pipe with what he assumed was the weed he had just purchased. Sam braced for the skunk smell, but instead was hit with a pleasing aroma of cherries. The second whiff smelt just as good, but there was an underlying aroma of vodka and cigarettes. Sam still didn’t like the smell, but the cherry scent more than made up for it. He was glad Scooter wasn’t going to stink up the room right before bed. Sam set his black and red backpack next to Scooter’s black and pink one by the door before turning around “Now you sure you don’t mind me sleeping over…”. Scooter had walked up behind Sam and locked lips with Sam before he could finish his sentence.
Sam was caught off guard and his mouth was open mid sentence when Scooter kissed him. Still shocked Sam did the first thing that came to mind, he kissed back. Scooter was holding his pipe in one hand still lit, and the other reached behind Sam’ head to lock him into the kiss. As Sam kissed back he realized his mouth was filling with the cherry flavored smoke. He tried to move away, but Scooter’s grip was too strong. He couldn’t break away and as his mouth filled with the smoke it seemed to work on autopilot. Scooter was pushing the smoke into Sam’s mouth, and it was quickly filling up his lungs. He became trapped in the electric sensation of his first kiss, and his mind was starting to cloud. When Sam stopped fighting and gave into the kiss Scooter let go and gave him a smile. Sam coughed out as much of the smoke as he could. His eyes were watering, and his lungs were burning, but the sensation of his lips on another man’s had him reeling.
“See, it wasn’t too bad was it? Not a bad way to try both for the first time is it huh kiddo?” Sam wanted to be upset that Scooter had forced his pot habit on him, but he was in too much shock about his first kiss. He was even more surprised when, without thinking about it, he grabbed Scooter’s pipe and took an incredibly long drag before once more locking lips with the man. This time, it was Sam’s turn to grab Scooter by the back of his neck and force him into a smoky kiss. He blew the smoke in Scooter’s awaiting mouth and Scooter gladly breathed it in. Their tongues intertwined in fiery passion. Scooter grabbed Sam’s ass, and Sam just pulled Scooter closer, savoring the moment. When Sam finally loosed his grip on Scooter, they pulled away. The shock of having his first kiss was finally wearing off as Sam realized what he had done. “You know this doesn’t mean anything..”Sam stated. Scooter winked “I know, but just thought I’d give you a preview of what you’re missing!” Scooter grabbed the pipe, to go put it out, and walked into his bedroom before shutting the door. Sam sat on the couch bed and touched his lips in a daze. He had just had his first kiss, and it was....AMAZING! He still didn’t see Scooter as more than a friend, but that kiss was mindblowing. In fact, his mind was swimming. He realized it was probably the weed and alcohol kicking in. Right as he was about to lay down, Scooter cracked open the door, clearly shirtless.
“Hey! When you wake up in the morning, feel free to let yourself out. I’ll have a hangover so you don’t need to wake me. Plus, don’t forget, I sleep in the nude! You’ve been warned, so don’t come in here...or do...I won’t mind!” Scooter teased and with a wink Scooter pulled his head back in the room and closed the door with a “Good night kiddo!”
Sam sat stunned on the couch before laying down. His mind swam with all the thoughts recounting the evening. It had been a crazy night full of firsts, and he was glad to have come. He thought for a bit before deciding all in all, the night had been fun, but the party life was definitely not for him. He still smelled like cherries, vodka, and cigarettes after that kiss. He placed a hand on his lips, they still felt electric from the smoke and the kiss. A dull throbbing pain in his shoulder reminded him of the downsides of partying too hard. He knew he’d be feeling that in the morning. “No more “gay parties” for a while” he stated to the empty living room before turning out the light and passing out on the couch.