Page 3 of The Swap Masquerade

“However, if nailing boards together isn’t your kind of thing, then there are plenty of other options like providing meals to area shut-ins, providing activities at nursing homes, and even helping out at the local animal shelter. If there is something you’d like to do and you don’t see it back there, let me know and we’ll see what we can get set up. I want this to be a fun and valuable experience for everyone.”

The rest of the hour flew by and before I knew it, class was over. Usually, I was anxious to get out the door as soon as a class ended, but for some reason, I felt strangely disappointed when he dismissed us. I made my way to the back of the room, following Brett who’d kept his arm slung around the brunette. He slipped past a few people and put his name on a list, adding Kelly’s name on the line below his.

Brett gave me an impatient look when I didn’t immediately do the same. “Come on, man. Just sign up for the animal shelter. We deserve something easy so we can focus on baseball and how hard can it be? All you have to do is show up a couple times and play with the little furballs. Easy peasy.”

I stared back at him. It would be a waste of breath to try and explain to him that I didn’t want easy. No doubt, he would think I’d lost my mind if I admitted that Professor Holt’s impassioned speech had inspired me, and I actually wanted to participate in something that might make a difference. In fact, he’d probably tell me I was “being gay.”

“I want to look a few of them over before I decide. You go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you later,” I said instead.

He shrugged. “Suit yourself, Stoner. I’ll catch you at practice.”

I watched as he turned and led Kelly out of the room. I waited until the last few students finished signing up and then scanned over the choices. Finally, I scrawled my name on a line. I told myself I had a knowledge of tools and building things my father had passed on to me, a set of skills that could be very helpful at a place like Habitat for Humanity, but I knew that wasn’t the only reason I’d chosen that for my assignment. With my pulse pounding inside my ears, I turned and raced out of the room before I could change my mind.

* * *

“Five more minutes, dear,” someone whispered. I jerked my head up from my laptop screen and found myself staring into the eyes of Eleanor, the head librarian. She reminded me of somebody’s grandma with her warm smile and colorful sweaters she always wore. In all the years I’d been going to Bradbury College, I’d never seen her lose her patience with any of the students.

I glanced at my watch, surprised to see how late it had gotten. “Thanks, Eleanor. I need to print this out really quick and then I’ll be out of your hair.” I used a post-it tab to mark where I’d left off then stretched my arms over my head, wincing at the tightness in my back and arms.

Practice had taken up most of the afternoon with the coach working us hard in order to get us back into game shape. No matter how much we continued to work out in the off-season, nothing compared to the intensity of team conditioning and by the end, we were all a panting, sweaty mass of quivering muscles. A couple of the freshmen had ended up throwing up in the bushes, which seemed to please Coach Reynolds and only served him pushing us even harder. The man truly seemed to get his kicks from causing us pain.

Afterward, we’d all slunk to the locker room where we’d showered, letting the steam and hot water soothe our aches and pains. A couple of guys had asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat, but I’d chosen to head to the library instead, wanting to get ahead in some of my reading.

Hours later, I realized I’d skipped dinner and by the sounds of things, my stomach was not happy about it. I thought over what food was available at my apartment, but knew there wasn’t much as neither me nor my roommate, Adam, had gone to the grocery store in the last week. As much as I wanted a big, greasy pizza, I knew I’d be better off stopping and grabbing a grilled chicken salad on the way home. My body would thank me for it the next day at practice.

With only a few minutes left, I quickly finished typing out the assignment I’d been working on, glad to be ahead of schedule in at least one of my classes. Spring semester was always my busiest because of baseball so I liked to get an early jump on my assignments. I finished clearing my area, shoving all my books and notebooks back into my bookbag, along with my laptop. When I was finished, I made my way over to the row of copiers and printers the school provided for students to use.

Grabbing the stack of papers off the tray, I sorted through them, making sure they’d printed correctly. My last page, however, was stuck to another paper that must have already been in the tray. It looked like some sort of party invitation but when I glanced around for the owner, I realized the library was completely empty except for Eleanor who I could hear humming to herself as she moved around the room, picking up wadded papers and pushing in chairs.

She knew every person who came and went from her library. She’d be able to give it back to them if I could figure out who it belonged to. I took a closer look, hoping to see a name on it somewhere, but what I saw instead made my jaw drop. It was no ordinary invitation, and from what I could tell, no ordinary party either.

My eyes darted around the room, making sure Eleanor was nowhere near and then I turned back to the invitation, my hands shaking so bad it made it hard to read the words. Was this thing even for real? I was familiar with the town where it was being held. Anyone who had grown up around there knew it was one of the ritzier areas in Indiana, home to lots of doctors, lawyers, and company CEOs. Homes around there would cost you a couple of million dollars, and that was for one of the smaller houses. I had no doubt that any party being held there would be amazing, but it wasn’t the location that had captured my attention.

This was an exclusive party for gay men only. An exclusive SEX party for gay men only. Sweat beaded across my forehead and my skin suddenly felt too tight. I’d never heard of a swap party before, but the thought of being randomly paired up with a man and then spending the night doing god knows what with that man was enough to make my head spin. The idea intrigued me, probably more than it should have. Even more intriguing was that the guests were required to wear masks. That meant no one would know who their partner would be, but more importantly, their partner wouldn’t be able to recognize them either. No one would.

A tremor raced down my spine. What would it be like to have the freedom to explore your deepest desires and have complete anonymity while doing so? To be with a man, like really be with a man, and not have to worry that anyone would ever find out who you were? It sounded almost too good to be true and I felt a wave of jealousy toward whomever the invitation belonged to.

There was no name on it, only an email address, so I had no idea who the owner was. Who would print something off like that at school and just leave it there? With no name on it, anyone could pick it up and use it to get into the party if they wanted to. They probably don’t realize it’s missing. Either way, there was no way I was handing something like this over to Eleanor. The description alone might give her a heart attack. Especially at her age.

“Are you finished with the printer?” I jumped a mile. I hadn’t even heard the older woman walking up. I was sure my face was a deep shade of red as I shoved the invitation behind my back. Luckily, she didn’t notice my reaction as she began cleaning up the table near the copiers, throwing away papers left behind.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I was getting ready to head out,” I stammered as I slid the invitation in between my other papers and shoved them all inside my bookbag.

“Well, have a good night, dear.” Eleanor looked up at me and smiled, then went back to her work.

“You too.” I rushed out of the library, not stopping until I’d made it outside. The cool night air felt good on my overheated skin and I breathed it in, trying to calm my racing heart. The invitation hadn’t even been meant for me, but simply knowing such a thing existed was enough to set my imagination wild. I would never attend a party like that but as I set off for my apartment, I decided it couldn’t hurt to enjoy the fantasy for a while.

Chapter 2

GAVIN

A soft rap on the door had me looking up from the email I’d been typing. “Excuse me, Professor Holt? I’m sorry to interrupt.” Terrance gave me an apologetic look as he stood in the doorway. His glasses sat crooked on his freckled face and he reached up to fix them. He’d been an invaluable teaching assistant to me for the past three and a half years and I honestly wasn’t sure how I would manage to get everything done without him once he graduated at the end of the year.

My workload was overflowing as it was, what with Dean Kirkland adding two more classes than I’d had the semester before. According to her, the courses I taught were in high demand and she hated to turn any students away if she could help it. Of course, I was flattered, but it had still left me scrambling to figure out how to make it all work. I made a mental note to start interviewing T.A. candidates right away for the following year.

I tilted my head at him. “Hey! I thought you’d left already.”

“No, I decided to go ahead and get a little more done, that way I’ll have less to do on Monday. I just finished up and was going to leave, but I didn’t want to leave you here all alone without seeing if you needed any more help first.”

---