Chapter 1 –– Elliot Meets Carter

When I met Carter Fullerton, I definitely didn’t know what I was getting myself into. He was a classmate of mine in my community college Spanish 102 class. I was a 19-year-old tryna beef up my resume to get into a 4-year college. He was a 27-year-old lawyer at a big firm trying to learn a new language to expand his clientele. You’d think there wouldn’t be a whole lot in common between the two of us––and you’d be right to think that! We were at two completely different stages in our lives.

We were paired up for a couple of group projects. At first, the professor paired us together, and since then we’ve decided to continue pairing up with each other. I learned he became a lawyer fairly young. He graduated undergrad at USC in just two years and immediately went to USC law school that following year. Hearing him talk about the university (in Spanish at first––then in English once we started hanging out after class) sounded really fucking cool: super easy to make friends, frat life, and the DTLA scene––all of it sounded amazing.

Honestly, looking back, the idea of independence was what was really appealing to me. I never had a great relationship with my parents. My mom worked long hours. My dad worked the regular 9-5, but would come home, plop his ass on the sofa, order me to get a beer for him––some snacks too––and he’d sit there until Mom came home with some takeout for him to gobble up. When I was younger, I guess I “bothered” him enough that I got a few beatings here and there, but I ended up learning what buttons I shouldn’t press at an early age.

So spending the next three years of my life in downtown, away from my family, sounded really fucking sweet.

Weeks went by, and Carter and I actually grew closer. We no longer associated solely on campus. We weren’t just classmates. We were friends! After our late night Spanish class, the two of us would hang out at the empty parking lot near campus talking over a couple of beers. I could hear my aunt’s voice ringing in my ear to push away bad influences that tempted me with “sin,” but I just laughed it off.

Our late-night parking lot conversations grew more and more frequent as the semester went on. I learned he actually moved to LA to get away from family and that it was the best decision he’d ever made. His mom was controlling and his dad was never around. He kinda felt bad for ditching his younger sister, but he says he still stays in touch with her to see if she needs any help with anything––which is nice I guess.

One night, when I was particularly tipsy, I let it slip I was gay. I kinda caught myself off guard when I confessed it. My mouth moved faster than my thoughts did, and it just slipped out. I really didn’t intend to come out to Carter. He was a pretty rugged looking guy with a gruff and raspy voice. He’d always wear a buttoned up shirt with the first couple of buttons undone, which revealed a pretty hairy chest. The other buttons that weren’t undone but they were close to popping though. He was a very muscular man with a Herculean physique: broad shoulders, large chest and pecs, and sculpted biceps. Definitely the type to potentially hate crime someone! Okay maybe that’s a bit too harsh of a thing to say, but that’s just my sense of humor––you’ll get used to it.

Thankfully though, I wasn’t my face wasn’t plastered on the news the following morning as some homophobe’s latest victim. Instead the right side of Carter’s lip curled upward, he looked me up and down, and said, “Heh, no kidding. So am I.”

That night ended with the two of us in his car, with a couple of extra beers, and then… well I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

***

A couple weeks and a lot of hook ups later, I told Carter some big news: I got into USC!

“I knew you’d get in!” Carter said punching me in the shoulder playfully.

“That’s not all––nearly with a full ride too!”

“Oh, this calls for a celebration, FOR SURE!” Carter said. “You told your family yet?”

“No, not yet. Though I don’t even think they’d care.”

“Nah, what makes you say that? I’m sure they would.”

Then that’s when I told Carter I barely even speak to my parents anymore. Earlier into the semester, I was outed by my brother to my parents and all hell broke loose. It was fucking embarrassing––getting beaten up by your drunken dad for something you weren’t even ready to admit was the worst. I was actually kicked out of the house that day, but my Mom managed to convince him to let me stay until I find a place of my own. He gave me till the end of the semester.

“Dude, are you okay?”

“Never been better,” I responded.

“I’m being serious,” Carter said, looking more assertive.

“Whoah, take it easy, it’s whatever,” I said. “But, the semester ends in a couple weeks, and I’m no closer to finding a cheap place to stay near USC. Downtown is fucking expensive. I don’t know what to do.”

“I’ve got an idea that could help solve that,” Carter said.

“Oh yeah? What’s that? You gonna pay for my housing?” I laughed.

“Move in with me,” he said.

“Come again?”

“Move in with me.”

“Wh-What? You’re fucking with me right now.”

“Trust me, I know what that’s like––and that’s not what’s happening right now,” he said, smiling.

I blushed. Fuck, he’s hot.

“I’m dead serious. You can move in as soon as you’d like. I got a spare room at my place in Pasadena––it’s just a half hour drive to USC. And you don’t even need to pay me rent.”

To be honest I didn’t know how to react to that. Was he being for real? I couldn’t believe it! “Thanks, but… moving in with my situantionship hardly sounds like the best idea… but the no-rent… There’s gotta be a catch. What aren’t you telling me?”

“I do have a few conditions.”

“Let’s hear ‘em.”

“First, I don’t wanna be your ‘situationship’ anymore. If you wanna move in, we gotta start going on proper dates. I’d like to show my man off to more than just an empty parking lot.” He winked.

My cheeks flushed red.

“Second,” he said, before I could get a single word in, “I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but on top of the Spanish classes I take every Tuesday and Thursday night here, I’ve been also taking some cooking and baking classes here. If you move in, I expect you to be okay with eating my food, you hear? Any and everything I make you. And of course, I wouldn’t expect you be compensating me for any of that––free of charge as well.”

“So free food, free housing, AND I get to see you more often.”

“Sounds like a sweet deal, no?”

I walked up to him and kissed him. I held his cheeks, running my fingers through his coarse stubble. I then looked him in the eyes and said, “Of course it is. I’m in!”

And just like that, I walked straight into a new chapter of my life.