Lessons Learned

“So, you’re studying medicine?” Asked the girl with the pretty blue eyes whose name escaped him. Russell nodded, smiling politely as he took another sip of champagne. “And you’re a junior? So you’ve still got quite a ways to go before you become a doctor, huh?” She laughed. Russell cringed, but tried his best to laugh too.

“That’s what they tell me.”

“Boy, you certainly sound enthusiastic about it.” She elbowed him playfully in the side. “Being a doctor’s what you’re aiming for, right?” Russell nodded. “Then be excited about it! Embrace the work. It means you’ll get to save lives one day.”

“Yeah.” He smirked, a strange look in his eye that the girl couldn’t decipher. “Save lives.”

The girl eyed him with a decent amount of concern, from one stranger to another. “You okay?” She asked shyly. He blinked, smiling that same polite smile that’d had her talking to him in the first place. Of all the people at the New Year’s party, he’d seemed the most sane, the least rowdy. Almost as though his mind was somewhere else entirely. The mysteriousness of him was intriguing. And if that weren’t alluring enough, he was certainly attractive with his short-ish, spiky, brown hair and dressy-casual attire, his faraway eyes only adding to his sexiness. Russell, he’d said his name was. The girl smiled back.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Russell offered, downing the last of his champagne. “I just need another drink. Excuse me.”

“Sure.” The girl watched him leave, wondering what could possibly be more distracting than her.

Russell grabbed another flute of champagne off of the table. Like the rest of the room, it was decorated in black and gold, confetti strewn about the appetizers and drinks. He took a sip and grabbed a cookie shaped like the upcoming year, biting the two clean off. It tasted like a failed attempt at peanut butter and oatmeal. He sighed, throwing the rest of it in the garbage. This just wasn’t fun without him.

He scanned the crowd of decently dressed college students and their guests until he found Lea, his fellow pre-med student and lab partner, walking up to her and tapping her on the shoulder. “Russ!” She grinned. “You enjoying the party?”

“Every minute.” He replied half heartedly. When she’d invited him, he’d thought it could be fun. A nice distraction from the busy hours of studying. But the longer he wandered aimlessly from table to table, talking to no one about nothing, the more he wished he’d stayed at the lab. “I’m going out on the balcony for some air. Make sure to grab me before they start the countdown, 'kay?”

She nodded. “You got it, love. It should be another,” she glanced at the inside of her wrist, the watch face reflecting the light from the slowly spinning disco ball suspended from the ceiling. “Five minutes, maybe, so go air out some and I’ll make sure you’re back in before the ball drops.”

“Thanks, Lea.” Russell smiled, leaving her to her friends and escaping out onto the balcony, closing the door behind him. It was cold, the breeze at the thirty-first floor was much more frigid than the one at parking garage level. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest and closed his eyes, enjoying the bite in the night air. December 31st, 11:55 pm, and he was standing alone, on the balcony of a building he’d gotten severely lost trying to find, choosing to wallow in his own disappointment instead of enjoying what was probably a good party, all things considered. Sure that girl with the pretty blues eyes whose name escaped him was a little chatty, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have at least danced with her once before ditching her. And hell! Lea had invited him personally, but all he’d done was say two words to the girl and left her to her other friends. Russell leaned over the edge of the balcony, watching the cars go by like very fast, brightly lit ants, shooting down the highway that ran right past the building. In reality, it didn’t matter what he did or who he was with. It was New Year’s Eve, less than five minutes until the countdown, and Hal wasn’t standing beside him.

“That bastard.” Russell mumbled under his breath, the words escaping him in hot puffs of white. “Why the fuck aren’t you here?” He took another swig of champagne, thankful for the warmth it sent across his chest, but not really enjoying the taste. He’d never really liked champagne, but when you’re a couple of months twenty-one and they offer a table of free booze, you don’t say no. And what better way to drown your sorrows? He made to down the rest of the glass, but stopped, choosing instead to lean farther over the edge and pour the bubbling golden liquid over the balcony, watching as the wind whipped it into tiny, shining fragments that dripped downward towards the passerby like expensive, bubbly rain. “Bastard.” Russell sighed, turning the glass over and placing it on the balcony railing.

“Russell?” That girl with the pretty blue eyes appeared in the doorway. She was blushing, Russell thought. Though that might have just been the cold.

“Yeah?” He prompted when she didn’t speak right away.

“Your… uh… You’re date’s here?” She squeaked, clearly not comfortable about something. Russell raised an eyebrow at her, smirking, as she stepped out of the doorway, allowing for a tall man with glasses and longish brown hair streaked with blonde to walk past, hands in the pockets of his dressiest jeans and a suit jacket covering a casual-esque, buttoned up shirt.

“Thanks, Victoria.” Hal smiled that cocky-ass half smile Russell knew so well. The girl blushed deeper, in no way related to the cold, and nodded, looking at Russell and Hal as though she’d just discovered her favorite brand of lipstick had been discontinued. Still, she offered her best attempt at a smile before stumbling back inside.

“You’re late.” Russell tried to frown, though it came out as more of a half-smirked grimace than anything. Hal feigned a broken sigh.

“Grading papers is going to be the death of me, Russ.” He winked, Russell’s frown growing more legit.

“No matter which way you swing it, I still don’t think talk about your death is very funny.” He huffed. “And what papers? It’s winter break, isn’t it?”

“Midterm essays.” Hal explained, ignoring the jibe at his sense of dark humor. “Their assignment was to convince me that slang could be grammatically correct. The kids ate it up. Which is great for the grade, but not so much for the grader.” He winked, picking up Russell’s empty champagne glass and leaning back against the railing. “Sorry I was late.”

Russell smiled. “Better late than never.”

It had been three years already since Hal’s surgery, and while the initial few weeks of recuperation had been tough, both Hal and Russell had come out the better for it. It had been difficult, at first, for Hal to walk, the damage done to the brain during removal of the aneurism causing some temporary issues with his fine motor skills; a symptom the doctors had stressed more severely than any other. But after those first couple of weeks, his movements began to return to normal, and with it his mood. In what seemed like no time at all, Hal was back to work, and thusly, back to messing with Russell in all manners of the phrase. But no matter how right he had been, Russell never felt the need to say, “I told you so.” The doctors hadn’t been far off in Hal’s estimated due date, the damage he’d done to his body giving him no more than a couple of months. If Russell hadn’t convinced him to come in, they’d said, Hal wouldn’t have lasted to Christmas. Even if Hal refused to admit it, he was alive and more well than either of them could ever have hoped, and in all respects, it had been Russell who’d brought him there.

“So,” Russell started, breaking the silence between them. The sort of comfortable, intimate silence that only true closeness knew how to create. He grinned. “How’s the bike feel on the highway?”

Hal’s responding grin was almost lustful. “Orgasmic.” He replied, chuckling. As a toast to his renewed sense of life, Hal had traded in his hatchback for a Harley, using the idea of eventually riding it… and Russell… as motivations to bring his motor functions back up to par. Russell liked to think he had higher priority, but what could he say. That man really loved his bike.

“Is it now?” Russell smirked, sticking his hands in his pockets. “I know something else that’s pretty orgasmic.”

Hal jumped on the bait. “Oh really.” Hal’s grin turned breathtakingly sensual. “And what might that be?” Hal stepped in front of the boy---It shocked him to think he was no longer a boy, already twenty-one… which would make Hal almost thirty… He shivered---and pinned him lightly against the railing, leaning in to bite teasingly at Russell’s neck.

“Hey, Russ!” Lea’s voice appeared in the doorway. “The countdown’s about to-Oh shit… Sorry, Russell, I…” She cleared her throat, smiling politely through her embarrassment. “Hi, Hal.”

“Hi, Lea.” Hal spoke against Russell’s skin, the vibration making him shiver. “We can hear it from out here, thanks.”

“Um… Okay.” She squeaked before disappearing back into the building. “See you both next year then...”

“Poor girl.” Hal chuckled darkly, licking a trail from collarbone to earlobe that the breeze quickly ate up, goosebumps rising along the skin almost instantly as Hal nibbled on the tender flesh.

“I’m glad you came.” Russell breathed, closing his eyes, relishing in the feel of his lover, no longer his teacher, pressing lips, teeth, and tongue to his face and neck, lingering on the curve of his ear ever so tenderly. Russell could feel the man’s smile more than see it.

“I haven’t come yet.” He replied evilly.

Russell rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

At this, Hal pulled away, eyes locked on the boy’s in a way that made Russell’s heart pound. “You’re right. I do.” He said, completely serious all of a sudden, reaching a hand into his pocket for something Russell couldn’t see. “It’s New Year’s. Almost. And if I could have my way… Which I normally do,” he winked, the implications evident. “Then I wouldn’t miss another New Year’s with you.” He looked away as he held out the box for Russell to take, as though the words had been a confession Russell couldn’t seem to wrap his head around. A rehearsal for something Russell couldn’t allow himself to believe. “You gonna make me open the damn thing for you?” He growled, lifting the lid of the box to display a simple, silver band. “It’s not crazy expensive.” He shrugged. “But what can I say? Finding wedding rings on a teacher’s salary is NOT easy.”

Russell stared at the ring in awe, all possible reactions lost somewhere in his surprise. Until finally, Hal groaned, pulling the ring free from the cushion and returning the box to his pocket. “Give me your fucking finger, dipshit.” He rolled his eyes, grabbing Russell’s left hand and slipping the band onto his ring finger. As though flipping a switch, Russell finally caught up with himself, just in time for the countdown to begin.

“Ten! Nine! Eight!” Came the voices of his classmates and professors, their guests and friends from inside.

“Hal…” Russell whispered, his voice thick with too many emotions for him to register. Hal rolled his eyes again, agitation creeping into his words, a fallback to him being uncomfortable. Embarrassed... for once.

“If you start crying, I’m taking the thing back to the store.”

“Seven! Six! Five! Four!”

Russell blinked, beaming. “I don’t know what to say, I-” Hal leaned in.

“There is the OBVIOUS answer.” He smirked.

“Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” The crowd inside shouted in unison.

Russell grabbed Hal’s collar and pulled him close, kissing him deeply. “Yes. Definitely, yes. Fuck yes.” He practically growled against Hal’s lips. Hal chuckled, returning the kiss passionately and completely.

“Glad to hear it.” He said, sucking at Russell’s bottom lip for a moment before pulling away, his cocky-ass smirk softening into a loving, almost gentle smile. “Happy New Year, Russ.” He whispered, grabbing the boy’s hand and kissing first his fingers, then the ring.

Russell blushed, ecstatic. “Happy New Year.”


-FIN-