"I love you too, Mom. I'll call Sarah tonight, okay? It's fine, you guys can leave."
"But we haven't met your roommate yet."
"No, it's okay, Mom. You guys really don't have to stay and meet him."
"But I wanna meet him! What if he's cool and I miss it?"
"Les, you'll meet him when you guys come up for Family Weekend. Okay?"
"Okay…"
"Come on, Martha. Let the boy unpack. Good bye, David. Keep your grades up."
"Bye, Dad. And I will. See ya, Les. And bye, Mom, I love you."
"I love you too, David. Call us if you need anything."
"I will, okay? Bye!"
David shut the dorm room door behind his family, sighing with relief. His mom was way too emotional about him going to college. Thank God for his dad. He didn't prolong the good byes.
David surveyed the room, with all his boxes and suitcases stacked around the bed on the right side of the room. He hadn't wanted to claim a bed before his roommate arrived, but there was no sign of the Jack who was named on the other door tag for room 314.
Well, he would arrive eventually. In the meantime, David would unpack. The beds were exactly the same; Jack probably wouldn't care which side of the room he ended up with.
David was just putting the last few shirts away in his dresser when the door swung open, revealing a tall boy with longish brown hair that kept falling in his eyes. He grinned at David then called over his shoulder, "Yeah, I found my room! You're two doors down? That's great? Where's Race?"
David raised his eyebrows and continued to unpack his clothing as he listened, amused, to his roommate's shouted conversation down the hall. Evidently, he had half a dozen friends going to college here, possibly more, but David couldn't keep track of all the names tossed about. Great. David had hoped he and his roommate would be friends, since he was out of state and didn't know anyone, but it was clear Jack already had an established group.
"Hey. I'm Jack. Jack Kelly. Nice to meet you." Jack had stopped shouting down the hall and made his way over to David, holding out his hand.
"David Jacobs. Likewise." David shook Jack's hand and returned to digging around in one of his suitcases for his bedding.
"Likewise…" Jack chuckled and returned to the door to get his suitcases, lugging them over to the empty bed.
"What's funny about that?" David raised an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder at Jack.
"Nothing, nothing…" Jack shrugged, grinning. "It's nothing."
"Okay…" David shook his head and tossed his bedding up onto the lofted led, climbing up the ladder to wrestle with the sheets.
Jack had left the door open, and soon a few boys stopped by, poking their heads in the door and grinning when they saw Jack.
"Heya Jack." A boy on crutches smiled and hobbled into the room to drop into Jack's desk chair. The other boys followed, greeting Jack with punches on the shoulder or slaps to the back. David ignored them, still focused on getting his sheets to cooperate.
"Hey, Crutchy. So did you guys end up with strangers too?"
"Nah. I'm with Skittery." Crutchy shrugged, stretching out his leg, the one in a cast.
"How'd I get stuck with the dumb crip?" Skittery muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Hey, lighten up, Glum and Dumb. I'm rooming with Spot. I'll trade you."
"Uh, that's okay Racetrack." Skittery shuddered. "Crutchy is better than Spot."
"Gee, thanks…" Crutchy rolled his eyes.
"Me and Mush are rooming together." A boy with an eyepatch grinned, one arm draped around another boy's neck. David guessed that was Mush.
"Which is perfect. Me and Blink already pushed the beds together." Mush wrapped his arms around Blink's waist, beaming.
"As long as you two don't break up, that is." Skittery pointed out, which made Mush wrinkle his nose and stick out his tongue.
"Nuh uh. Me and Blink are going to be together forever!"
"Sure are. You're just jealous, Skitts."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Skittery rolled his eyes.
David had just finished making his bed and climbed down the ladder. "Uh, grammatically speaking, 'Me and Blink' should be 'Blink and I'…" He trailed off, then lamely added, "I'm David. I'm Jack's roommate. I like grammar."
"We can tell." Racetrack raised an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with Skittery.
"Are you gonna be like this all year?" Jack chuckled, looking David over curiously.
"Um… Probably. Sorry. I'll try to keep my obsessive need for correct grammar to myself."
Jack laughed at that. "You're weird, but you're okay Davey."
"David," he corrected. "Only my brother calls me Davey."
Jack shrugged. "This here's Crutchy, Skittery, Racetrack, Blink, and Mush. We all went to high school together." He turned back to the others. "So, I say we find a frat tonight. We might have to pick up some girls to get in, but there's a bunch on the floor below us and you know how much girls love the Cowboy."
"God, are you going to start using that stupid nickname again? You tried that freshman year, and if it didn't stick then, it's not going to stick now," Skittery groaned, earning a punch in the arm from Jack.
"Shut up, Skitts. You're such a downer."
"Do you know where the frats are, Jack?" Mush asked. "Because that's not something they point out on the orientation tour."
"Well, no. But they can't be that hard to find."
"I'm not walking all over campus to try and find a stupid party." Racetrack crossed his arms.
"Well, what do you want me to do?"
"Um… I could call my sister?" All eyes turned to David, who blushed. "My older sister, Sarah… She's a junior here, and she's in a sorority. She… She thinks I need to loosen up-"
"She's right."
"So she told me to call her if I ever wanted to party and she'd tell me where to go…" He trailed off and shrugged. "I mean, if you want me to?"
Racetrack clapped him on the shoulder. "David, my man, welcome to the group. You have just saved us hours of walking and potentially lame parties."
"Hey, hey," Jack interrupted. "Sure, he has a connection. But we'll see how tonight goes and then we'll decide if he's in the group."
"Sure. That's fair." Blink nodded.
Mush grinned. "So, call your sister, Davey! We're going out tonight!"
"It's David…" he muttered, but still pulled out his cell phone and hit 4 to speed dial Sarah's number.
"Hey."
"Hi." David didn't look up from his laptop, too intent on writing this essay to spare more than a word for his roommate. Not that they had really spoken much since the party two weeks ago. David spent as much time as possible in the library working on homework, and Jack was always in and out of his friend's rooms down the hall. When they were both in the room, things were… well, awkward. Overly-polite questions and one-word answers awkward.
Jack shut the door and made his way over to his desk, dropping his backpack to the floor. He stood still for a moment, staring at the desktop, before spinning around and demanding of David, "Why aren't you talking to me?"
"What?"
"You heard me. Why won't you say two words to me?"
"Um…" David trailed off, looking between Jack and his laptop as if he couldn't decide which one deserved his attention more. "Because…. Um…" After a moment, David saved his essay and shut his computer so he could focus on Jack. "You haven't exactly been talking to me either, you know."
"I've been trying!"
"How? "I'm going to turn off the lights now" is not exactly a conversation starter, is it?"
"Well, you won't even ask me before turning off the lights, so don't try and say it's all on me."
"I just figured… after that party…. You know what? Forget it."
"What? What did you figure?" Jack leaned against David's lofted bed, crossing his arms as he waited for a reply.
"It's not important, okay?"
"Like hell it isn't. You haven't spoken to me for two weeks, it sure as hell is important."
David shook his head, opening his laptop again. "No, it's not, really. Now, I have an essay to write, so if you'll excuse me-" He was interrupted by Jack closing his laptop, leaning down to glare at David.
"Look, we need to talk about this. So why aren't you talking to me?"
David stared incredulously at Jack. "You don't remember."
"I don't remember what? Did something happen at the party?"
"God…" David laughed. "I should have known you were drunk."
"I wasn't that drunk. Refresh my memory, what did I do that made you mad at me?"
"If you don't remember, it's not important."
"Damn it, David, just tell me! You've been dwelling on this for two weeks and I was to know what I did!"
"You kissed me, okay?" David pushed his chair back from his desk, getting up to grab his backpack and shove his laptop and notes in it.
"I… what? Where are you going?" Jack took a few steps back, his eyes flickering between the floor and David.
"You were drunk and you kissed me. I should have known that it was just because you had about ten beers at the party and it meant nothing. I'm going to the library." With that, David strode out of the room.
"David, wait…" Jack flinched as the door slammed shut, then dropped to sit at his desk with his head in his hands. Crap. Why did he do such stupid things while drunk?
As he was wallowing in self-pity, there was a knock at the door. After a moment, Jack stood and opened the door to see Blink and Mush, both gazing at him in concern.
"Did you and Davey have a nice argument?"
"We could hear you all the way down the hall."
Jack groaned and slumped back to his desk, collapsing into his chair. Blink followed him and took a seat at David's desk and Mush quietly shut the door before moving to lean against the bed.
"So." Blink raised an eyebrow at Jack, who merely groaned again in response. Blink sighed. "Look, we know you were drunk at the party and that was part of the reason why you kissed him."
"Only part? God, if I was sober I never would have done that."
"Yeah, but that's because drinking lowers your inhibitions. You do things you normally want to do but would never actually do if you were sober. You know, like making out with guys you're attracted to."
"Shut up, Mush. I thought we decided I was straight."
"We never decided that, you decided that. And we think you're bi, or at least bicurious. Hell, when you're drunk you always go for guys, so you're a little less than straight." Blink shrugged, as if this was perfectly logical and Jack just hadn't examined the logic of it yet.
"But I've had girlfriends…."
"Hence the 'bi' part. Look, you like David, right?"
"As a friend, yeah. Or I would, if he wasn't acting like such an asshole and giving me the silent treatment."
"He's gay. He figured that you were too, and it meant something, and when you didn't talk about it the next morning, he figured you didn't like him or something." Mush crossed his arms, gazing intently at Jack. "So he was hurt. I don't blame him. It fucking sucks, to have a guy act interested in you at a party and then you find out it was only the alcohol."
"I didn't mean to do it…" Jack looked over at Mush, silently pleading with him to drop the whole thing.
Mush shook his head. "But you did do it. So you need to figure out if you like David as more than a friend or not. Because Blink and I are sick and tired of you constantly invading our room because you're trying to avoid him."
"Yeah. There is a reason, Jacky-boy, why we requested to room together. And you invading our room every day makes that reason very difficult."
"Okay, okay! God, I do not need to know what the two of you get up to in your room when you're alone. Okay?"
"We meant Disney movie marathons. God, Jacky, what were you thinking?" Mush raised an eyebrow at his friend, smirking slightly.
"You pervert." Blink grinned, standing and patting Jack's back as he moved to the door, Mush following him.
"Figure it out, Jack, okay? We like David, he's smart. And Blink's failing Calc, so we need you two to make up so we can exploit his smartness. Deal?"
"Deal…" Jack muttered wearily, waving them out of his room. They were right, but why did they have to be such smart-asses about it?
David had spent most of the afternoon and evening in the library, skipping dinner on the off chance that Jack would be in the dining hall. He had meant to work on his essay, figuring that the further away from Jack he was, the better he would be able to focus. It wasn't working. He would type a sentence, stare at it for twenty minutes, then slowly hit backspace and go back where he started. By the time he finally decided to go back to his dorm room and get some sleep, he had written a grand total of three sentences, one of which was a quote from a news article.
Biting his lip, he carefully unlocked the door, hoping Jack would be asleep or gone. No such luck. Jack was sitting at his desk, staring at his computer. He looked up when David entered the room, grinning cheerfully. David shrugged in greeting and dropped his backpack by his desk.
"Hey, David?"
"What?" David didn't look at Jack. He walked over to the closet to find his shower caddy and towel. He would shower and go right to bed and not spend any more time talking to Jack than necessary.
"Um… I'm sorry, I guess. I was talking to Blink and Mush, and-"
"You were, were you? You can talk about this with them, but you won't talk about it with me?" David squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I interrupted you."
"Um, yeah." Jack nodded, licking his lips nervously. "And I tend to do that when I'm drunk. I mean, I flirt with guys and lead them on and I don't know why I do it, but I feel horrible that I did it to you." He took a deep breath and continued, speaking to his desktop so he didn't have to look at David. "I mean, I've always thought of myself as straight, but Blink and Mush are right, I do that every time I'm drunk so I can't be completely straight, right? There has to be some part of me that likes guys."
David shrugged, still facing away from Jack. "I'm gay. But I'm not really out yet, you know? My parents think I'm straight. They thought one of my female friends was my girlfriend because we spent so much time together and I let them believe it, because it was easier. So it's not like I have any experience in this area…" He shrugged awkwardly, finally facing Jack and leaning against the wall, his arms crossed loosely over his chest.
"Huh…" Jack glanced up at David for a moment, then returned to looking at his desk. "So, um…. I like you, David. You're a great guy. I mean, we haven't really spoken… because of this… but I can tell you're a great guy. And I'm trying to figure this all out, and I shouldn't be having this much trouble because most of my friends are gay and they have it figured out, but I'm just… I don't know. I'm mixed up and I just want to be able to talk to you."
David bit his lip, eyes darting to the floor then back to Jack, and he grinned crookedly. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry I stopped talking to you. It's hard, I know. I'll just be here for you, okay?"
Jack nodded, looking up from the desk to smile at David. "Thanks. For understanding."
"No problem." David patted Jack's back before walking to the door, grabbing his key and heading to the bathroom to shower.
Jack let out his breath, unaware he had been so nervous for this conversation.
"Davey?"
"Mhmm?"
"Can you just shoot me? Please?"
"Finals are not a reason to contemplate assisted suicide, Jack. We've been over this."
"But my head is going to explode! I can't do this. Kill me, please."
"No."
"But you're my friend…." Jack whined, hanging over the edge of his bed to peer down at David, calmly sitting at his desk and typing away at a final essay.
"Friends don't help their friends kill themselves over finals. Take a break, watch some Spongebob or something." David looked up at Jack, grinning.
"I wanna get wasted and not think about chem ever again."
"You can get wasted after your last final."
"What are you, my mother?"
"It seems like I've become that to you, yes. Keep studying or watch cartoons. I am trying to write an essay."
"But you can type and talk to me at the same time."
"It's a gift. But I need to focus, this essay is 50% of my grade."
"Why? You can write what you call crap and still get an A." Jack sighed and climbed off his bed to stand behind David, leaning over his shoulder to see what he was writing.
"What can I say? It's a gift. But I'd like to get extra credit on this essay, so I do need to focus."
"But I'm bored…"
"You are such a five year old. Go bother Blink and Mush if this is your way of de-stressing."
"But you're much more fun to annoy."
"Gee, thanks. Weren't you complaining earlier about how the chemistry exam was tomorrow?"
"Yeah?"
"Then study for it and leave me alone!"
"Aww, Davey, I'm hurt."
"Go away, Jack. I may still be able to work, but you standing right there is not exactly conducive to writing brilliance."
"So I'm distracting you?"
"A bit, yes."
"Would it be more or less distracting if I did this?" Jack wrapped his arms around David's shoulders, leaning down so their cheeks were pressed together.
"More, I think. I can't move my shoulders." David's voice was steady, but his cheeks quickly flushed red and he stared more intently at the laptop screen, his fingers hovering over the keys as if not sure what to type.
"What about this…." Jack nuzzled into David's neck, kissing it lightly.
"I… um…"
"That's not an answer…"
"I… thought you didn't have this figured out yet?" David's voice was strained, as if he was trying very hard to pretend everything was normal.
"Well, I've thought about it, and I think that I like you as more than a friend."
"Oh? Well… Um…" David was desperately trying to form coherent words, but Jack had moved to spin David's chair around and look in his eyes. Jack smirked, then leaned in to press his lips to David's, deepening the kiss when David didn't pull away and burying one hand in David's dark curls, the other hand cradling his neck.
David, after a moment of hesitation, wrapped his arms around Jack's waist, pulling him closer. He had been telling himself for the entire first semester that he definitely wasn't attracted to Jack, that he was fine with just being friends. He hadn't wanted things to get awkward again. But this…. This just felt right, kissing Jack and feeling the heat of their bodies pressed together.
Jack was the one to pull away, grinning as he gazed into David's eyes, their foreheads leaning against each other, both breathless and flushed.
"So, Davey?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"What are we going to do about this? Are we, like, dating or whatever?"
"Um…. I don't know? Do you want to be dating?" David turned slightly away from Jack to grab a pack of gum from his desk, popping a piece in his mouth as he waited for a response.
"Maybe?" Jack shrugged, releasing David and leaning back against the wall. "I mean, I like you, but it's not like I have any idea how to do this whole dating other guys thing."
"Neither do I…" David shrugged, eyes roaming to rest on a poster next to Jack's head. "I like you. Honestly, I've pretty much had a crush on you since that first night but I've spent all semester telling myself to stop thinking about it."
Jack smirked, running a hand through my hair. "It's understandable, Davey. It's hard to resist my good looks and natural charms."
David snorted. "Yeah, that, your ego? Definitely a turn off, unless you're joking."
Jack shrugged, his smirk falling for a moment. "Oh, yeah, totally joking." He chuckled softly before grinning at David. "Anyway, I've thought about it, and you're a great guy, I like you. So…"
"So?" David let himself look at Jack, raising an eyebrow.
"Um… God, this is really weird. I've never done this before." He laughed nervously. "God. Um… Yes? Maybe?"
"Yes what?" David grinned in spite of himself, amused by Jack's discomfort.
"God, why are you making me say it?"
"Because it's good for you to use complete sentences and thoughts every so often. And because you're so uncomfortable."
"Fuck it. Fine. Yes-I-think-I-want-you-to-be-my-boyfriend." Jack said the last sentence in a rush, his cheeks slowly turning red.
"Come again?" David leaned back in his chair, eyebrows raised in innocent confusion. "I didn't quite catch that."
"Goddamnit, Davey. I want you to be my boyfriend! Okay?" Jack's voice had risen throughout the exchange, and as he finally shouted out the last sentence, they heard a loud whoop from outside the door.
"You owe me twenty bucks!"
"Damn it, Skits, shut up!"
"Yeah fucker, they'll hear you!"
"Shut up, all of you!"
"You shut up!"
"No, you shut up!"
"Don't talk to Blink like that!"
"Oh. Hi Davey… Jack…." Crutchy smiled nervously.
David and Jack had both stood and moved to the door, opening it to reveal Jack's friends crowded around it to listen in.
"Um… What exactly were you betting on?" David's eyes darted to each of the boys, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Jack had merely thrown his hands in the air in frustration and returned to collapse in his desk chair, trying not to catch any of the looks Blink and Mush were giving him.
"Oh, see, Skittery and Race bet whether Jack would ask you out, or if you would ask him. Skittery won."
"But I beat Skits because I said he would use the word 'boyfriend' and Skits just said he would use 'go out'. So Skits owes me fifteen bucks." Spot smirked over at Skittery, who made a face.
"But then you bet Race that it would take until after finals were over, and they aren't, so you own him twenty…"
"Okay, okay! I'm really disturbed by all this, just so you know." David was evidently torn between finding out all the different bets and throwing them out of his room, but Blink and Mush pushed past him to crowd Jack.
"So, did he say yes?"
"Of course he said yes, you idiot, he's only liked Jack since he met him."
"But he's still in the closet to his family, so maybe he doesn't want to date anyone yet?"
"Oh, God, that'd be awkward."
"Tell me about it."
"Oh my God, you all are worse than Sarah and her sorority sisters!" David rolled his eyes and moved back to his desk, evidently set on returning to his essay.
"So did you say yes?" Mush turned his questioning on David, grinning expectantly.
"I didn't have a chance to answer, since you morons decided to interrupt."
"Hey, you didn't have to open the door." Mush shrugged, leaning against David's desk. "So?"
"So what?"
"Are you going to be Jacky-boy's boyfriend?" Spot teased from by the door.
"Why are you all in our room?" David neatly avoiding the question, though his cheeks were starting to turn red again.
"Because dating drama is much more interesting that studying for finals." Blink shrugged.
"He's right, you know." Jack added, looking over at David with an expectant look on his face.
"Worse than sorority girls…." David muttered under his breath, but he stood and crossed the room to bury his hands in Jack's hair, pressing a deep kiss to his lips, determinedly ignoring the hoots and cheers of the other boys.
As David pulled away, Jack grinned at him. "I take it that's a yes?" In response, David just smiled and pressed his lips to Jack's again.
"Whoo! Go Cowboy!" Spot whooped. In response, David and Jack flipped him off simultaneously and continued kissing, David parting his lips in response to Jack's tongue gently teasing.
David had to smile as he heard the boys filter from the room, shutting the door to give them some privacy. This roommate situation had certainly turned out better than he expected.