Chapter 1

It started off as a normal day. The sun was out, there was a slight breeze and the light scent of flowers and fresh grass mixed together in a winding wisp in the air. Summer was ending and fall was going to begin soon. The school year had just started.

A man named Freddie Benson was diving up to his dorm building at LA Tech. he was in a 2017 black Kia Soul with red trim. It was a graduation gift from his mother. Freddie was excited as well as nervous. Sure, he has been away from home a few times, hell he even went to Japan, but this was his first time leaving his home in Seattle to start making his own life. A life away from everyone. A life away from Carly, away from Sam, and especially away from his mother. It scared him, but he knew eventually he had to do it one day.

Freddie received a full ride scholarship to LA Tech. He was going to major in Mechanical Engineering. He had already qualified and passed the Trigonometry and Communications classes earlier in the summer, but this was it now. He wasn't going back until maybe Thanksgiving, or even Christmas, but even that was a stretch. He needed to find a job so he could have some spending money and so he could start saving up for an apartment so next year he wouldn't be in the dorms.

As all these thoughts were swirling around in his head he pulled up to his Dorm building. It was a lovely 2 story building that was enormous in width. The grass was kept neat and there were a few trees around the building that made the whole place seem less intimidating and more peaceful. Freddie relaxed and thought, "Well this is it. No turning back now. Let's do this!"

With his new-found motivation, Freddie walked into the building and up to the front desk. He spoke to the receptionist there, "Excuse me Ma'am?"

"Yes sir, how may I help you?"

"I'm trying to locate my room. My name is Fredward Benson."

"Ah yes Mr. Benson. Let me look it up for you really quick." The receptionist clacked on the keyboard without looking up from the screen. "Yes, your room is number 135. You're one of the lucky ones you get to be on the first floor."

"Thank you, Ma'am. Oh! Before I forget who is my roommate?"

"It says his name is Andrew Smith. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No ma'am, you have been more than helpful." Freddie said as he walked away.

Freddie headed back to his car when something caught his eye. It was a man, but not any man. It was a soldier. Freddie knew this because of the uniform he was wearing. You had to be an idiot to not be able to tell. Freddie stared at the soldier carrying his boxes to the dorm. Freddie couldn't take his eyes off of him. He didn't know why but he just loved to stare at the guy. Freddie had to rip his eyes away and focus on getting his stuff into the dorm. That was easier said than done. Every time he tried to get his stuff from his car he just kept thinking about the soldier.

Freddie finally managed to get one of his heavy boxes in his hands. Freddie started to head into the dorms to get to his room. He passed the receptionist and took a right at the hallway. He searched for his room. "135, 135" he said to himself as he scavenged the walls looking for his number.

Finally, he found it, the door was open so Freddie just walked in and hurried to put his stuff on the empty bed. As he was turning around to head back out he heard a voice, "You must be Freddie Benson."

Once fully turned around Freddie was greeted by the soldier with his hand out as to shake Freddie's hand. "Nice to meet you my name is Andrew Smith but everyone in my old unit called me Sweet Pickle, so if you want you can too."

Freddie stared at the soldier's hand then back up to his face. He paused for a second then grasped the open hand. "Nice to meet you Sweet Pickle."

"I just finished bringing in my things, do you need any help with your stuff?"

"Yeah thanks!" Freddie replied.

"No problem dude. We are roommates now."

They both headed out to go get the rest of Freddie's stuff, and as they unpacked his car they talked, and it turns out that Andrew was majoring in History and is here on an ROTC Scholarship and something provided by his military called "National Guard Tuition Exemption". He seemed like a nice guy. Andrew was 5'10" with brown hair and brown eyes. He was clean shaven, and was built like a truck, not like he was nothing but muscle but was broad shoulders and looked like a brick wall or a tank. Freddie liked that about him and he didn't know why. However, it wasn't the only thing Freddie enjoyed about him. Freddie pretty much enjoyed everything about Andrew including his dark humor jokes.

They finally brought in the last box and started to unpack them all little by little. Freddie realized it was 5:00pm and they both had to be at an orientation for 5:30. "Hey, Andrew were going to be late to the orientation meeting if we don't leave now. "

"Yeah you're right." Andrew replied. They walked down to the student center and saw about 100+ fellow freshman waiting for orientation to begin. Andrew and Freddie were in there for about an hour. They were told the basic stuff like where the cafeteria was and where the different buildings were and were even given their own schedules. Freddie and Andrew walked back to the dorms together cracking jokes and laughing. When they got back Andrew asked Freddie "Hey, how old are you Freddie?"

"I'm 18. Why you ask?"

"Well I was wondering if you were legally able to go get some drinks with me tonight at the club down the road, but seeing as urn not 21, would u want to go to buffalo wild wings for dinner?"

"I'd love to, but I don't have money to do that."

"It's cool dude, it's on me. Don't worry about the check, just seeing if you were interested."

"Oh, well yeah. I suppose if you are paying then yeah."

"Sweet. Once we finish putting up our stuff we can head out." Andrew said.

"Cool." Freddie replied.

The guys hurried up putting away everything. By the time, they were done it was 7:30 pm. Andrew was still in his uniform and Freddie was still in his clothes from earlier.

"Hey you want to shower up before we head out? I know I need to after sweating this afternoon." said Andrew.

"Yeah sure. Hey what you going to wear to go out there?"

"Hmmmm, I was thinking either some civvies clothes or, my dress blues."

"Civvies clothes?" Asked Freddie

"Oh sorry. It's what we call clothes that aren't a uniform. I was thinking about a grey and green polo shirt with my khaki shorts and either my running shoes, or black sneakers."

"Nice. Go with the civvies."

"Alright." Andrew says as he starts to grab a towel, and a robe. "Oh. Hey I almost forgot. Are you ok with us changing together in this room? I know some people feel awkward about it."

How did Freddie feel about it? Was it really something he was ok with? Did he mind seeing another guy naked? Freddie never really did gym in high school so he never saw another guy naked before. "Screw it. I'm in college away from my old life, might as well try new things." Freddie thought.

"Sure, dude its fine with me."

"Cool." Andrew replied and started to strip down to nothing. Freddie tried to look away but Freddie looked from the corner of his eye and checked out Andrew. Andrew was now fully nude, and stood up and met Freddie's eyes. Freddie quickly looked away.

"Like what you see Freddie?" Andrew snickered as he wrapped himself in his robe and walked to the showers. Freddie's heart was beating fast. Did he like what he saw. He replayed what just happened in his mind. The worst part was that after replaying everything he looked down and saw a tent in his pants.

"Oh no!" Freddie thought. He was hard as a rock. He ran to his desk where he put his phone and plugged in his headphones then started to listen to some music to get his mind off what he saw. Luckily his boner went away just before Andrew walked back in.

"Hey you better go hurry up and take a shower we leave in 15 minutes." said Andrew.

"Yeah I am on my way" said Freddie as he quickly grabbed hi robe and shower stuff and quickly changed with his back to Andrew. Freddie rushed to the bathrooms where he saw that the showers were stalls.

"Thank god!" thought Freddie as he rushed in. Freddie was getting a slight hard on but the hot shower took care of it and he quickly washed up and got back to the room. When he arrived he saw a fully dressed Andrew? He looked so handsome and there was this smell in the air.

"What's that smell?" asked Freddie?

"Oh, that's just my cologne. Is it too strong?"

"No. It smells nice."

"Thanks. Now get dressed. I'm starving."

"Yeah I am." said Freddie as he turned away to get dressed.

"Hey you know you don't have to turn away from me when you change. I understand if you don't want to but, I guess what I'm trying to say is you don't need to be ashamed and hide anything from me. I am your roommate after all."

"I guess you're right." said Freddie. He began to change normally and noticed Andrew was looking at him while trying to hide it by seeming like he was only looking at his phone. Freddie hurried up and put on some grey cargo shorts with a light blue striped polo shirt. And some black sneakers.

"Alright. Ready Andrew?"

'Yeah, we're going to take my car. That cool with you?"

"Yeah sure."

They both walked out of the dorms and headed to the parking lot. Andrew lead Freddie to a dark blue 2016 Honda Civic. It was a nice-looking car. Freddie really liked that shade of blue.

"Hey nice car!" Freddie said.

"Thanks, I bought it because I liked the color. It's one of my favorite shades of blue."

Andrew unlocked the doors, started the engines and drove out of the parking lot. It took them 5 minutes to get to Buffalo Wild Wings. Andrew quickly parked and they both hopped out of the car. They walked into the restaurant and they were quickly seated to their table.

"Hey don't worry about prices on anything I got it covered and if u want some alcohol I'll buy it for me and u can have some."

"Thanks Andrew. I think I'll have this pink one." Said Freddie.

"Ah sex on the beach. Nice choice It's fruity, and actually pretty tasty."

"Really? I just picked it because it is colorful."

"I bet you're a lady drinker huh?" laughed Andrew.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Freddie asked with a tone.

"Nothing dude. I'm a lady drinker too. I don't like too much of a strong taste of alcohol."

"Oh. okay." replied Freddie.

Andrew ordered the drinks and food when the waitress finally came. She was white with dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes. Her name was Erica and she was really sweet. As she left after taking their order she winked at Andrew. He just calmly sipped at his drink with his eyes closed.

"Dude," Freddie began, "I think that chick is into you."

"Yeah I know she is."

"So, are you going to ask her for her number?"

"Nah." said Andrew.

"Why not? She seems cute."

"True, but I don't find girls attractive." Andrew said nonchalantly while once again sipping from his drink with his eyes closed.

"You what?!" Freddie asked in surprise."

"Yeah. I am gay."

"Wait you really..."

"Yes." Andrew interrupted. "I am gay."

"Woah. I guess that's why you unit called you Sweet Pickle." said Freddie.

Andrew laughed loudly for a little bit. Freddie asked, "What's so funny?"

Andrew paused from his laughing long enough to say, "Out of every one I have told you are the sharpest. That's exactly why they called me Sweet Pickle. You figured it out immediately and it took other people months to realize that."

The food started to arrive and the boys continued to talk well into the night. They didn't get home till 1:30 am and Freddie was plastered. He was a light weight. So, Andrew had to pick him and bring him to his bed. Andrew had to be up at 5:30 am so he decided to just stay up and drink water.

While still up Andrew decided to leave a trashcan next to Freddie's bed and a couple of Aspirin. Andrew then started to watch Netflix on his phone for the next few hours, and then got changed into his PT uniform. The shirt was cotton and black with yellow letters spelling "Army" on the front. His shorts were also black that had spandex on the inside and also had the yellow "Army" on the front of the left leg. Andrew then put on his yellow reflective belt and head outside to do Physical Training with the other cadets.

PT lasted about an hour and Andrew took a few minutes longer on the way back so when he got back to the dorm at 7 am. Freddie had class at 8 am so Andrew decided to cook Freddie some breakfast and sleep just a few minutes longer. Andrew made some eggs, and toast for him. After breakfast was made Andrew walked over to Freddie's bed and shook him awake.

"Hey Freddie. It's time to wake up."

"Ugh, I don't feel so good."

"Here take this." Andrew said as he handed Freddie the trashcan. Freddie threw up a lot.

"Ugh. my head hurts." Freddie said.

"Here" Andrew handed Freddie the Aspirin, and a glass of water. Freddie took the tablets and drank the water.

"Come on its time to get up. I made you a breakfast that will help your situation." Andrew got Freddie up and escorted him to the table where Freddie started to eat.

"Hey I got to go to class, and so do you, so if you want to talk to me I left my number on your bag. I'll see you later." Andrew then left to go to class.

Freddie was left alone in the dorm. He was trying to remember what happened last night. Last thing he remembers before it got fuzzy was that Andrew said that he was gay.

"Oh, my god!" Freddie thought, "Please tell me I didn't do what I think I did!"

Freddie got up and went to his bag and grabbed the note to text Andrew. Freddie took the paper and immediately typed in the number. However, he paused.

Freddie thought to himself, "How am I going to ask this? Am I going to be like 'Hey I remember you saying you were gay and then I can't remember anything else. Did we have sex?' No I can't say that. What am I going to do?"

Freddie pondered this thought for a while. He checked the time on his alarm clock. It read "7:50 AM"

"Oh shit! I'm going to be late!" Freddie screamed. He rushed to get changed and ran to his first class. He made it just barely in time. He got there at exactly 7:59 AM.

For the rest of the day Freddie was too busy to really focus on Andrew. Lunch came though and since Freddie had a meal plan set up he went to the cafeteria to eat. Today they were serving spaghetti and meatballs, however Freddie was too nervous to eat. He finally had a moment to think and all he could focus on was Andrew. Did he really have sex last night? Did he really lose his virginity to a guy he just met? If so why were his clothes still on?

All of these thoughts ran through Freddie's mind. He didn't know if he was overreacting or was he being rational. Either way he knew that he needed answers and soon. Freddie decided that asking through a text message probably wasn't the best way to go around this. So, Freddie decided that after dinner he would wait in the dorm room for Andrew to get back and will ask him face to face.

The rest of the day dragged on slower then Freddie thought it would. Granted Freddie expect the day to go by slow, but this was ridiculous. He looked at the clock in the classroom.

"Tick. Tick. Tick" the clock droned on giving Freddie the tease of a lifetime.

It was only 3 PM and dinner didn't start until 6 PM. He had his elective to do then all that was left was to eat dinner and wait in the dorm. Freddie just had to get through one more class. The only problem was that Freddie couldn't stop daydreaming. He just kept thinking of Andrew, and how amazing he looked. Freddie recalled yesterday when he saw Andrew changing out of his clothes. There was one specific part that he just couldn't stop focusing on Andrew's amazing piece of equipment.

"No!" Freddie thought, "No! I can't be gay! I like girls. I dated several of them in high school. There is no way in hell that I am gay. There can't be! I don't want to be!"

"Freddie." the professor called out.

"Homosexuality!" Fred screamed as a reply.

"No way! Did I really just blurt that out in front of everyone! Holy shit! Fuck now everyone is going to laugh at me now."

"Correct Mr. Benson. Now if you don't mind please pay attention to class." The professor replied back.

"No way!" Freddie thought. "Did I really just get that lucky? There is no way that I could be that lucky."

The rest of class flew by quicker cause all Freddie thought about was what he just said rather than thinking of Andrew. Freddie droned like a zombie towards the cafeteria and got in line. He didn't really pay attention to what he got on his plate. He was still in shock about everything that had just happened in the past 24 hours. He had questions that needed to be answered and soon. Little did Freddie know that he was going to get his answers sooner than he thought.