“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
A typical college orientation
involves meeting after meeting followed by an assembly, a math placement exam,
a writing sample and eventually culminates with students selecting courses for
the semester. But San Diego State University is not a typical school, in fact,
in San Diego, school is a distant second to the blistering sun, sandy beaches,
palm trees and ocean. To be honest, it is not the sun, sand or even ocean that
distracts the students from their studies, (the average graduate takes six
years to finish a degree at SDSU) but it is what these natural wonders of Mother
Nature bring with them. Copper toned (surgically corrected) female beach bodies
in bikinis and shirtless (steroid enhanced) muscle men roam the campus during
the day and parties at night.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
Theron and Pete met for the first
time during orientation weekend for San Diego State University. Their first
exchange was a little odd, for Theron arrived to the room they were sharing before
Pete and had taken it over. The two freshmen were only staying for three days
and two nights, but Theron had enough clothes to last the semester and they
were spread across the room, accompanied by his toiletry bag which hung from
the closet door which contained: A tooth brush, whitening toothpaste, facial
cream, face cleaning pads, four different colognes (each gave a different vibe
for the mood he was in), a comb, four different hair products (once again for
the vibe yet his hair was no longer than a quarter inch), q-tips, mouthwash,
earplugs and 10 different varieties of condoms.
Not knowing which twin bed to
take, Pete chose the north-facing bed, removed Theron’s clothes by tossing them
from one bed to the other and staked his claim.
“What the hell man? I was getting
ready to hang those up.” Theron barked as he stood up from the only desk in the
room, walked to the other bed and straightened his clothes. “You wrinkled my
lucky shirt.”
Hearing Theron refer to a shirt as
his lucky one solidified in his mind the two of them would not get along. Although
Pete was rather modest, bringing only necessities for the weekend, the two men
had many similarities. They both were strikingly handsome, in great shape and
both planned on majoring in marketing. Yet for the similarities they shared,
there was something that each didn’t like about the other but neither could
pinpoint what it was they did not like.
“Look, we have to share this room.
So, you get your side and I get mine and all your bathroom shit gets the other
half.” Pete said with a smirk.
“Fuck you, I am taking that bed. I
was here first, it is my choice.”
It seemed as though the two men
were so worked up about which bed the other would be sleeping in, the only
logical answer was to fight. Both Theron and Pete were ready to fight to the
death until Theron diffused the situation by putting forth the idea which
settles all maters for 18 year old men on orientation weekend.
“Fuck it, let’s go see what the
freshmen talent pool has to offer.” Theron said with a smile.
“I’m in, let’s check it out!” Pete
replied. “Do you need a couple of hours to get ready?”
“Fuck you, let’s go.”
With the disaster of a fight to
the death behind them, the two men ventured onto the campus. The two had a bond
with one another that neither fully understood, yet they knew it would last a
lifetime. As the weekend progressed, both men slept with different women each
night and each morning went on a hunt for their next prey. Women filtered in
and out of the room for the three days of orientation, although they never slept
with the same woman twice. Both Pete and Theron had the gift of a silver tongue
and could talk the clothes off a manikin, a gift they abused as much as
possible.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
At the end of the weekend,
orientation was over but the two friends were just starting their journey
together. School was starting and they both decided to pledge the same
fraternity. The Sigma Alpha Mala fraternity (known around campus for their extravagant
parties), was a perfect fit for both Theron and Pete. Over the next six years,
not a weekend went by where the two men did not enjoy the company of a
different woman—once again, never sleeping with the same woman twice.
But at the end of their senior
year, Pete met “the one” and married her that very summer. The setting was
perfect for both Pete and his new wife Heather—a beach setting at a luxurious
hotel where the sun set the sky on fire as it neared the horizon and the smell
of the ocean breeze acted as an aphrodisiac for everyone in attendance—yet the
setting was more than perfect for Theron, it was pure bliss. Over the two day
wedding, Theron managed to bed each of the bridesmaids and two of the hotel
employees. It was a weekend to remember. Pete gave up his wild ways of his past
and began his new life with his stunning wife. But for Theron however, it was
just another weekend of many to come.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
The two men parted ways for thirty
years before they crossed paths again, Pete a new widower (his wife taken from
him by cancer well before her time), and Theron, the same player from years past.
“I’m sorry for your loss Pete” he
said as sincere as anything that had ever come out of his mouth before.
“Thanks Theron, it has been a
rough couple of months.”
“I know exactly what you need. A
new adventure, a new conquest and a little fun to get your mind off of the past.”
Theron said with a smile.
“What do you have in mind?” Pete
asked.
“We head to Old Mexico. There is a
girl there, Penny, we should go down and see her. She is getting married but
that hasn’t stopped us before.”
Pete liked the idea and was up for
the challenge. The two men got into Theron’s new BMW M5 convertible and sped
off down State Route 52 on their way to Tijuana. Feeling the warm summer air
flowing through his hair at 90 mph, Theron decided to let Penny know of their
plans to visit. Theron placed a call and wasn’t surprised when she answered on the
first ring. Theron informed Penny of their plans to visit for the wedding, and
being the womanizer that he is, Theron informed her of his plans to take her
back to San Diego with him. But what Theron and Pete did not know is the call
was on speaker-phone and her husband-to-be was listening to their every word.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
“Well of course you both are
welcome to join in on the festivities of our wedding,” Penny’s soon to be
husband David said without hesitation, (knowing full well the two men wanted to
take his woman and carry her off to the states), “It would be our pleasure to
have the two of you as our guests.”
Theron looked over at Pete, shrugged
his shoulders and took one hand off the steering wheel in an attempt to see how
Pete responded to the invitation. But before he got a response, the BMW drifted
to the edge of the road. Theron jerked the wheel to get the racing car back
into the lane and in doing so he over corrected which threw the car into the
median, directly into oncoming traffic.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
The car jumped through two lanes
of oncoming traffic and struck a tree, ejecting both Pete and Theron. Traffic
on both sides of the interstate stopped to help the two men who lay dying on
the side of the road. Multiple calls were made to the authorities and after
just under an hour, flight for life landed and took both Theron and Pete to the
hospital.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
The two men were alive but both
were in a coma. They shared one room with two beds—similarly to how they shared
a room the first weekend they met each other. Tubes were coming from their
mouths and were connected to machines, which not only fed them but forced air
into their lungs keeping them alive. The two men remained side by side in the
room for many years without a visitor and without any brain functions at all.
The first visitor, Harry, came on the just the right day. He entered the room
and spoke.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
As Harry spoke to Theron, he looked
at what was left of the man he once knew. Theron at one time was the perfect specimen
for man, but now, after years of lying lifeless on the hospital bed, he was a
withered shell of his former self with bed rashes covering his legs, back and
ass.
“Theron, wake up. Wake up Theron.”
Harry spoke these six words while
at the same time touching Theron on the arm. Theron had heard Harry speaking to
him and revived with his touch, chocking on the tubes inserted in his throat.
In an attempt to stop from choking, Theron tried to move his arms to pull the
tubes from his mouth, with no success. But Harry, seeing him struggle slowly
removed the tubes.
“Don’t move Theron, I am taking
you home.” Harry told Theron as he retrieved a wheelchair from the corner of
the room.
Theron could not move due to
muscle atrophy, as well as from being stuck to the bed from years of lying
there. As Harry lifted him from the bed and set him into the wheelchair, the
bedsores on his back stuck to the sheets, ripping the skin from his body,
leaving bloody puss stained ooze marks where his limbs once made their home.
But Theron was free from his lifeless state from years past thanks to Harry.
The same could not be said for Pete who spent the rest of his days in bed,
never to wake, doomed to die in that very bed.
