Omar and Barry were my neighbors in DC before they moved to California 10 years back.
They lived in my building complex and we hit it off immediately after meeting at a mutual friend's dinner party.
Barry and I quickly connected over our love of team sports. At nearly 6ft, he was a big man but surprisingly agile on the field. He joined my soccer team. Barry was also a very handsome man with a thick rugby player build that I got an eyeful of whenever he stripped off his soccer jersey to reveal his muscular back and well as his torso and chest which were covered in thick brown curls. He had short buzzed salt and pepper hair, a square jaw, and steely blue eyes. Omar was a handsome guy too. He did more solitary activities like long distance running and swimming. Since we were never on a team together I got fewer glimpses of his body and he always made an effort to stay covered up—even at the beach! But it was clear he was in good shape from the way his clothes hung on him. While Barry was outgoing and talkative in any setting, Omar was a little more reserved. Omar was harder to read than Barry but over time we became good friends as well. People who didn't know him sometimes construed his reserved nature for aloofness, but he was a sincere friend who I think just found it easier to have one-on-one conversations. While they were certainly easy on the eyes I had never entertained any thoughts beyond that with them. The affection I shared with them bordered on brotherly.
They now lived in the Santa Cruz mountains about 1 ½ hours south of San Francisco. I had visited them a couple of times and stayed at their place, which was a modest sized but gorgeous modern ranch house that had spectacular views from the bed rooms of which there were two.
It was oddly situated up above the road. Like other neighboring houses you had to park your car on the side of the road below and make your way up a wide two story wooden staircase that left you at the back of the property. A stone path alongside the property fence wound slightly uphill and brought you around to the front door. The views from the guest room which was next to the main bedroom were amazing—you looked out at a seemingly endless expanse of Redwood trees that disappeared into the fog that rolled in. And the place was totally private with trees blocking the views from the road.
I had stayed a week each of the two times I had stayed with them and more or less had the house to myself to decompress since Omar and Barry were out much of the day. Omar was a professor at UC Santa Cruz in Economics and Barry worked at an education focused start-up down in Santa Cruz. I would run into town myself for a change of pace whenever I needed to, so I was never bored and we always made dinner together. It had been a couple of years since I had last visited.
This past fall I had a conference to attend in Santa Cruz for work. I called Barry and Omar to see if I could stay with them.
"Of course" said Omar on the other end of the line.
"But I hope you're okay on the couch" he started. "We've rented out the guest room to a kid who attends UC Santa Cruz. His name is Noah. He's the son of on one of Barry's friends from the neighborhood where he grew up.
I had to admit that I was a little disappointed to be displaced from "my" room with a view. But I would only be out there for a few days.
"No problem," I answered trying to sound nonchalant. "I'm just looking forward to seeing you guys."
"Great!" responded Omar. "And don't worry about Noah, he's a nice kid and he won't be in your way."
"Cool," I said, "It'll be great to catch up."
"I'll let Barry know you are coming. He'll be thrilled." Omar replied.
I arrived for my visit a few weeks later.
After flying into SFO early in the morning, I headed down the coast to Barry and Omar's place. My goal was to get there before 11am when Omar said he had to head down to campus for a class. I was supposed to meet two other colleagues later that day to get ready for our presentation at the conference the next day. I figured I would get settled in and head out quickly to meet up with them.
I made it up to their house with only about 15 minutes to spare. When I got there to their house, I parked my car below and made my way up the staircase, around the path and to the doorway.
I rang the bell.
Omar answered the door with a big smile. "Hey! You made it! Come on in."
After a quick hug he grabbed my carry-on suitcase and we walked inside. It had been an early flight and I was beat. I sunk down into the sofa of their living room while Omar went to get me a glass of water from the kitchen.
"How was your flight?" Omar asked when he returned and handed me the glass.
"No problems. But it's just so long when you fly from the East Coast." I answered, loosening my tie.
"I know what you mean. It's like you lose a whole day in transit." He asked about the ride down and started to ask about my conference the next day. I noticed Omar look at his watch nervously as we caught up.
"Sorry buddy," he said. "I gotta get down to campus for my class."
"Let me get you some towels and stuff. I hope that it's okay that we catch up later when I get back and I'm not so rushed."
"No worries," I replied. "But we may have to wait to catch up till the morning. I need to meet some colleagues to go over the presentation so I think it's going to be a late night. I doubt that I will be back before 11."
"Not a problem." Omar replied. "We stay up pretty late.
As he left the living room to go down the hall, he added "Hey. I'm sorry to put you on the couch too. I know how much you love the view from the guest room."
As he came back he yelled "Hey Noah. I'm heading out. If you want a ride we need to go NOW."
I heard a voice answer, "I'll be right there," and then I heard some things being moved around in the guest room which was just off the living room.
"Kids these days," Omar said with a slight laugh as came to the sofa and handed me the towel and sheets he had brought back.
"Don't worry. He won't get in your way," he said.
"He's the son of one of Barry's oldest friends. We hadn't thought of renting the room out. But he just transferred here and needed a cheap place while he got settled. He looked around and all he found in his price range were dumps so his dad asked about the possibility of him renting out the room. We just figured it would work out for us, since our schedules don't overlap so much during the day and we are always looking for someone to house sit during the semester vacations. It's actually worked out pretty well so far. He mostly keeps to himself. He's a little on the quiet side."
As he finished his sentence, Noah emerged from the guest room in just a pair of board shorts.
As he got closer I got a good look at him. He looked like he was in his early 20s, with a head of light brown curls tucked under a backwards baseball cap and the fullest, most erotic lips I had ever seen. I guessed that he was maybe an inch or two taller than me. He had a lean athletic body with nicely defined muscles—clearly in shape but not ripped. His arms and legs where covered in light hair. And there was a thin dusting of hair on his chest that trailed in an even thinner line running down his torso where it ended in a triangle of thicker hair that disappeared under the top of his shorts.
Hanging from his neck was a silver cross.
In one hand he had his backpack and the other hand held what looked like a shirt.
