Prologue
I was just starting my junior year at a four-year prep school in New England. The dorm rooms each housed two boys and were all paired off with an adjoining bathroom. The common rule was that bathroom doors were always kept closed and, when in use, locked, if privacy was desired. During your freshman year, however, you soon learned that you had to allow others free access to the bathroom and overcome your shyness. You became nonchalant, for example, about a "roomie" coming in during your shower to piss, shave, brush teeth, etc., and vice-versa. Bathroom doors were usually locked for only one reason-well, two, really, but one was a pretense for the other. Of course, we occasionally saw each other naked when dressing or sharing the bathroom, but, otherwise, we practiced common modesty and decorum. My friend and roommate, Brent, was also a junior, and two seniors resided in our mate room. I think the school administrators tried to pair upper- and lower classmen, for the "mentoring" factor. It being a somewhat small school, and with most students starting as freshmen or sophomores, we had, all four of us, known each other to some degree for two years or more.
The first weekend after the start of classes was the long Labor Day weekend, during which most students went home. Since it was just a week into the first semester, and my family lived far away in New Orleans, I always stayed at school that first weekend. That Friday night, when I returned from chow to the seemingly deserted dorm, I entered my room, kicked off my Nikes, turned on the stereo, then opened the bathroom door. Strangely, the other door was open and, in the other room, I could see Winston, wearing only a T-shirt and boxers, sitting at his computer-ever the diligent student, I mused.
I knew Winston was staying over the weekend because he had mentioned that morning that his parents were in Africa, and that he didn't feel like driving hundreds of miles to his empty house in Pennsylvania and back. I told him that I would be staying, too. I had, momentarily, imagined hanging out with him, going to a movie or something, but, though he was gregarious and friendly with everyone, he usually only associated with those his classmen or older. Besides that, it was well-known that he dated several different girls-some from the nearby girls' school, a couple of local high school girls, even a local college freshman-and I assumed he probably had dates every night that weekend.. As well as being a serious, straight-A student, and chess club champion, Winston was a fairly good-looking guy, well-liked, well-built (but not athletic), and was commonly seen outside of school in the company of one or more girls, from the plain to the gorgeous.
I, on the other hand, had only resumed exclusively seeing the same girl (from the girls' school) I had dated most of my sophomore year. And her parents had insisted she go home to New Jersey that weekend, for a family gathering.
The Incident
When I stepped over to close their door, I could see, in the high-intensity desk lamp light flooding his lap, that he was fondling, with his left hand, a quite large erection. I blinked and squinted, questioning what I was seeing. But, there it was! Now, ...I've masturbated ever since I can remember, but, having never seen an erect penis other than my own, outside of porn videos, this sight startled and embarrassed me. I swung the door with normal force, catching it just before it closed, and pushed it shut as quietly as I could. I immediately tried to put the incident out of my mind, discounting it as an unfortunate happenstance.
When I returned to my room, however, my mind was, unavoidably, flooded with questions, the possible answers to which further perplexed and perturbed me: Had he not KNOWN I was standing there, perhaps blinded by his lamp?
Surely he had heard my stereo when I opened my door. But he had just stared straight ahead, not typing or mousing, just...stroking. WHY was he at the computer? Was it ON? Yes, I'm SURE it was. If he was unaware of my presence at the time, HE IS NOW! Maybe he's hoping I didn't notice what he was doing. No, he MUST know that I saw him! He was right THERE, not four feet in front of me! Is he embarrassed? How can I FACE him again? I can't POSSIBLY avoid him all year! How utterly awkward! Dammit! Why wasn't he on his BED, where I wouldn't have been able to see him? Why was the door open at ALL? Did he WANT me to see him? THAT couldn't be! Don't even THINK that!
During the first hour or so of mulling over these questions, I heard Winston taking a shower, then running the sink faucet off and on. Finally, there was a knock on the inside of my bathroom door. I bolted out of my uneasy meditation. What now? Already I had to face him?
"Come in!" I blurted out, with trepidation.
Winston appeared, neatly coifed and dressed.
"Hey, dude, I'm going out. Could you do me a favor and answer my phone, in case my parents call, so they don't just get my machine? They hate that, when they're abroad. I'll leave the doors open, since nobody else is here."
The stark contrast between the scene I had witnessed just an hour before, with the bland, normalcy of everyday conversation with which Winston approached me, almost made his words sound foreign. Struggling out of its internal confusion, my reeling brain slowly deciphered his request.