Freshman Year, Fall Semester

Chapter Two: A Great Day to be a Wildcat

"Welcome to Weber State University!" The girl at the Residence Life check-in desk flashed Kevin a smile so bright it put even his own pearly whites to shame. "It's a great day to be a wildcat. Can I get your name?"

Though Kevin still couldn't quite believe he was here, no amount of pleading over the weeks (and no one could say he hadn't tried) would change his parents' minds. Kevin had barely gotten the requested information out to the girl when he heard a shout of "BEST FRIEND!" from behind him and was promptly engulfed in Arnold's tight hug. "Kevin, buddy, you're here! I haven't seen you in so long! Like, three whole weeks!"

"Hey, I missed you too, Arn," Kevin chuckled, giving him a pat on the back and trying to extricate himself from Arnold's vice-like grip.

"I still can't believe you're here; how awesome is that?! At first, when I thought you were moving across the country, I was like, aww, my best friend's leaving me. But then you called and I was like, oh yeah, now he's not!"

Two years ago, Arnold's clinginess and excessive enthusiasm would've annoyed Kevin beyond belief. Now, though, he gave his friend a warm smile; at least someone could be happy about the situation. "I have to finish checking in, Arnold."

"Oh! Oh yeah, I gotta check in, too." Arnold looked over to the girl. "I'm Arnold Cunningham, his roommate. Can you believe it, Kev? We get to be roomies again!"

"Welcome to Weber State, Arnold. It's a great day to be a wildcat." She marked his name off the roster. "You two are on the third floor, so head on up there and your RA Cody will get you taken care of. Here's your lanyard, bumper sticker, mug, and planner. Can I get your shirt sizes?"

Arnold turned to Kevin in glee. "I love college. Look at all this free stuff we get! You're right, lady; it is a great day to be a wildcat!"

She laughed. "I still need your shirt sizes."

"Medium, thanks," Kevin said.

"And I need extra large—no, extra-extra large, just in case. Better too big than too small, right? And he's probably not gonna wear his, so give him extra-extra large, too. That way I get two shirts. No wait, Naba might want one. Give him small."

After receiving their mugs full of freebies, a viable tent, and a piece of shirt-shaped fabric roughly the size of a washcloth, the two started toward the elevators.

"Oh man, this is it, we're actually moving in to college!" Arnold was bouncing with excitement as they stepped onto the lift. What d'you think our room's gonna be like? Probably better than the one in Uganda—oh boy, I hope we get bunk beds! I wasn't really paying attention at orientation, so I don't know the layout."

"Don't get too excited; it's just a dorm room. Didn't you ever go to camp?"

"Connor says they're called residence halls, not dorms. Hey, I forgot to tell him you were coming here! Did you tell him you were coming here?"

"I haven't really talked to him recently," Kevin said as the elevator doors opened onto the fourth floor. Funny how he could go months without speaking to his former district leader, yet the prospect of seeing him again produced a weird, inexplicable flip of excitement in his stomach. He squashed down the memories of their last meeting, just like he had been doing all summer, and tried to sound nonchalant. "So he decided to enroll here, then? I knew he applied."

"Yeah! Poptarts too, but he's living at home. So now we're all here! And to think, you were gonna be all the way on the east coast at Harvard—"

"Johns Hopkins," Kevin corrected.

"Who's John Hopkins? Your advisor?"

"It's a place, not a person. Johns Hopkins University, the college I was going to. Not Harvard. Remember?"

"Never heard of it. Should've stuck with Harvard, buddy."

Kevin was about to ask how Arnold had never heard of a school the other had talked about nonstop since he'd been accepted, but then thought better of it and headed toward the RA's open door.

"Do you think my roommate likes me?" Connor McKinley as he hung up the last of his clothes.

Nabulungi took a seat on his newly made bed. "Do you mean likes you likes you? No, definitely not."

"No, I mean that he's slightly terrifying, and do you think I'll be spared if and when he inevitably ransacks the floor?"

"Oh, I see. You'll probably be okay, but it's too soon to tell."

"Eh, I'll take it." Connor took a step back and surveyed his new living space. "Okay, I think that's everything! I mean, I should probably put a few things up on the walls, but honestly I can't be bothered right now. Thanks for helping me out, Naba."

"It was no problem; I was happy to help. I miss seeing you every day."

"I know, it's been way too long. Promise me you'll come up from Salt Lake to visit on the weekends."

Naba laughed. "Of course. It'll be weird living with Arnold's parents without him in the house. I can't wait until I get my GED and can join you boys here. This is a nice college."

Connor shrugged. "I like it." Not that he had much choice in where he went. Once he came out to his parents he was swiftly disowned, losing any college savings they had for him in the process. Luckily he was able to secure a decent enough financial aid package, and his former mission companion, Christopher Thomas, had agreed to let him stay with his family fifteen minutes away in Layton over summers and holiday breaks. It wasn't quite enough to make up for the fact that he essentially didn't have a family anymore, but it helped, and he didn't like dwelling on the unfortunate situation. "We should probably track Arnold down. Is he in this hall?"

"I'm not sure. I will text him," Naba replied. She pulled out her phone (a much-appreciated gift from the Cunninghams) and then continued, "I doubt he even knows, actually. I left him with his parents and figured he'd run into Kevin at some point."

Connor was in the middle of digging around for his keys, but stopped abruptly at her words. "Wait," he said, spinning around to face her. "Kevin's here? When did that happen?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "You didn't know? They're roommates."

"Since when? I thought he was going to—was it Georgetown?"

"Some fancy school in Ohio, I think," Naba shrugged. "But his parents wanted to keep an eye on him and said he had to stay here."

"That's a shame. He must be devastated."

"He was upset, yes. I figured he would have told you."

Connor shook his head. He hadn't heard from Kevin since their last 24 hours in Uganda, when several of the elders decided to sample the assortment of beer at the village's going-away party. In his drunken state, Kevin had whisked him away from the crowd and, much to Connor's surprise, kissed him with fierce urgency. The excitement was short-lived, however; though he didn't outright ignore Connor the next day, Kevin clearly avoided him the entire trip back to the States.

The obnoxious sound of Naba's phone jerked him out of his reverie—much to the disdain of everyone around her, she took great delight in the variety of ringtones available and felt compelled to try them all. She briefly scanned the message before hopping up off the bed and starting for the door. "They're here, on the third floor," she said. "Let's go see them."

She hovered in the open doorway, waiting for him to follow. "Come on," she said, grinning at his hesitance. "Be excited, you get to see your boyfriend again." Though Connor hadn't told her about the party incident, she'd long ago picked up on his crush.

"He's not my boyfriend," Connor feigned annoyance, snatching up his keys and giving her playful shove when she laughed. "And he never will be." Whatever motivation Kevin had for his avoidance, be it an inability to come to terms with hidden feelings or mere embarrassment that he'd kissed Connor in a drunken state of stupidity, Connor wasn't going to mess with it. He was through hiding, after all.

They pushed open the door to the stairwell. "Arnold's going to hate climbing up these stairs," Naba remarked as they began the trek from the first to the third floor.

"There's an elevator. It's bound to break at some point, though. They always do."

When they reached the third floor hallway they heard Arnold before they saw either of the two, his loud, excited voice making it clear which of the many open doors led to their room.

"Okay, okay, I've got it!" he was saying. "Why don't we shove the beds together to make one big bed? Then we can turn that side of the room into a blanket fort."

"We are not making one big bed, Arnold."

"But why not? We'll have a blanket fort!"

"Because I want my own bed, that's why."

Connor and Naba reached the doorway just in time to see Arnold throwing up his hands in frustration. "You always do this! I have really good ideas and you just shoot them down. Why you gotta dull my sparkle?"

"Nobody can dull your sparkle." Naba reached behind him to give him a hug.

"Oh, hey guys," Arnold said cheerfully. "And he did! Look at how boring this room is; just look at it!"

"It's fine," Kevin sighed.

"You only think it's fine because you have a simple mind."

"Look, it won't be so plain after you get all your stuff up, and—wait, did you just call me stupid?"

"Not stupid, just basic. So you almost went to Carnegie Mellon, big whoop. Doesn't mean you can think outside the box. Seriously, we've gotta do something about this room. I can't believe it didn't even have bunk beds!"

Connor cleared his throat. "You know, if you want the beds bunked, all you have to do is..." He trailed off at Kevin's hasty don't tell him gesture.

"You can worry about where to put the furniture later," Naba laughed and moved a box aside to sit on Arnold's desk chair. "I'm sorry about your fancy school, Kevin, but I'm so happy you're here! I was going to miss you."

Kevin grinned (goodness, Connor loved that grin) and said, "Aw, I would've missed you too, Naba."

A tense silence followed, with both Arnold and Naba clearly waiting for Kevin and Connor to acknowledge each other while each of the two men waited for the other to take initiative. Connor finally decided to start. "It's great to see you again, Kevin," he chirped, just as Kevin spoke up, cheerful tone a bit too exaggerated, with "So Connor, how's it going?"

Both awkwardly laughed, and Connor found it difficult to look Kevin in the eye, so he settled with nervously scratching the back of his neck and focusing on one of the bedposts. "I'm good," he said. "Excellent, really. You look great. I mean, you know," he coughed. "Healthy."

"Um, yeah, thanks. You look…healthy, too," Kevin replied, and damn it, why couldn't they both have held their liquor and kept to themselves that night? It didn't matter to Connor how good how good Kevin's lips had felt against his own; he'd gladly give that up just to end the tension they were facing now.

Arnold guessed he should be confused right now. He figured that, like Naba who was quizzically glancing between Kevin and Connor, he should be wondering why the two were sloppily stumbling through their conversation. But no, he knew exactly what was going on. They thought he didn't know, because Arnold had been clever and covered his tracks, but oh yes, he was indeed aware.

It all started during their last night in Uganda, when the villagers threw a totally awesome going-away party for Naba and the departing missionaries. After only one sip of beer, Arnold decided that alcohol was disgusting and declined any more. Kevin had done the same until Mutumbo began teasing him about being unable to handle it, and then his competitive side kicked in. It wasn't long until he was completely wasted, laughing loudly at everything being said and taking over the karaoke machine, his highlight of the evening being an off-key rendition of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," with Kevin enthusiastically shrieking out the female vocals while the General hesitantly mumbled the male part alongside him.

Once that tragic display was over, however, Kevin disappeared. Arnold—who, by the way, was thoroughly enjoying the shitshow and proud to add this to the short list of times he was the one better put together—waited a few minutes before excusing himself from the festivities to track down his companion.

"Best friend?" he called as soon as he'd stepped outside the giant tent they'd pitched for the occasion. When he got no response, he ventured out a bit further.

He was just rounding a patch of shrubbery when he spotted Kevin with his back against Gotswana's empty hut. Only he wasn't alone; standing in front of him was his district leader, in very close proximity with their lips locked, Connor combing his fingers through Kevin's hair and Kevin resting one hand on Connor's waist and gripping Connor's tie with the other.

Arnold quickly ducked back out of sight unnoticed, his mind full of questions. Did this mean Kevin was gay, or was he just that drunk? What if Connor had been his boyfriend this whole time and he hadn't even told Arnold? Did Kevin not trust him enough? But they were supposed to be friends, weren't they?

Regardless of the reason, they clearly didn't want to be seen, not by Arnold or anyone else. Oh no, Arnold wondered, what if someone else came looking for them—or came looking for him? An idea struck him, and he took a few steps back. "Elder Price!" he called out, feeling quite clever. "Best friend, where are you? Elder Price?"

When he rounded the shrubbery once more, the two were separated, Kevin still leaning against the hut with uncharacteristically disheveled hair while Connor discreetly straightened his tie. "Oh, hello, Elder," Connor said brightly when he spotted Arnold. "Elder Price and I were just…having a little chat."

At that, Kevin dissolved into a fit of giggles and slid down to the ground. "Having a chat," he slurred. "Hey, hey, Arnold—hey, that was a TV show!" Another eruption of laugher burst from his lips. "I love Uganda, and I love you both so much, and I never wanna go home. I wanna stay here forever and ever all my life, and then I wanna go to Orlando and stay there forever and ever all my life." He squinted up at both of them from his seated position. "You guys are so tall. Hey, let's call Dominos and order a pizza! I want pepperoni and pineapple; that's just really what I want right now."

Needless to say, Kevin was so hung-over the next morning that it took all of his strength just to pull himself out of bed and onto the bus. By the time they'd reached the airport and he'd had a chance to recover a bit, Arnold had a much firmer grasp of the situation. The fact that Kevin went out of his way to sit on the opposite end of the plane from their district leader combined with their brief but awkward farewell at the SLC airport—complete with blundering handshakes and an insincere "Keep in touch!" on Kevin's part—proved that this was indeed the first time such an incident had occurred. Only one question remained: was Kevin simply mortified by his drunken antics, or was he burying feelings he wasn't ready to face?

Either way, Arnold wished he'd gotten over it by now. They were in college to have fun, dang it, and they couldn't do that if Kevin and Connor could barely even speak to each other. "Okay!" he said now, hopping up and breaking the silence that had settled in their room. "I'm hungry, is everyone else hungry? Let's find my folks and get some food!"

"We still have to unpack," Kevin pointed out. "And I have to make another trip back home to grab the rest of my stuff."

"We have all year to unpack and get your stuff and build our blanket fort! Come on, you heard that lady back there; it's a great day to be a wildcat. Now let's go!"

He started for the door with the others in tow, ignoring Kevin's "We are not taking all year" behind him.

A/N: As always, thanks for reading, and reviews are greatly appreciated!