Chapter 12:
First semester was coming to a close with the harsh Utah winter coming in soon after the final leaves fell off the trees. The final leafs are fallen as well as the students taking their end of semester finals. Once the finals were over, Christmas and holiday parties began to pop up and happen before everyone left for home. A few weeks of sweet bliss away from school and learning with time to just relax, or to write a research paper or two in the meantime.
Kevin still had a paper due before he went home the following Friday with his dad. Saturday night meant no parties and straight working in his dorm room alone. Arnold had left that morning with Naba, leaving Kevin alone with the whole room to himself. A few others still hung back and around during the holiday break either because of dreading family or have nothing else better to do.
The first snow flurries of the season began to fall. Connor and Steve were already outside on their way to Greek row to a party. When he saw the first snow fall, Connor's face lit up in excitement.
"Finally! Snow!" he exclaimed happily.
"Great," Steve grumbled as he trudged along.
Connor looked up and saw a dimly lit dorm room. Only a few lights in the windows were on. He frowned a little, remembering that Kevin was stuck here till next week. The season of giving came over him and he dug his phone out of his pants pocket.
Steve groaned, "Connor, would you give it a rest with the phone already?"
"I'm just calling my friend to see if he's going to come to the party. Is that so wrong?" Connor was searching for Kevin's number in his phone.
"I wanna go to a party with my boyfriend. Not my boyfriend and his phone," he crossed his arms.
"I swear I'll put my phone away when I double check, ok?"
"Fine, just make it quick," he snapped.
Connor hit Kevin's phone number and put the phone to his ear. As he waited for the call to come through, he got to listen to a Ludo song as his ring back. Connor was jamming along to the song. Steve glanced over to his boyfriend a few times to see him enjoying him self. He rolled his eyes. The only time of year he hated. The holiday season.
In his room, Kevin was just getting out of the shower when he heard his phone ring on his night stand. He bolted to the bed and quickly answered his phone, trying not to get his books and papers wet from his dripping hair.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me."
"Hey, Con. What's up?"
"Just seeing if you'll be at the party tonight?"
Kevin laughed, "Which one?"
"The holiday party at Sigma. The one Schravis is going to be at. Schravis… remember? Eric and Oliver?"
"I know who you mean," a smile crept on his face, "I'd love to, really. I have to get this paper done before Tuesday. I'd love to, but I can't."
"I understand completely. I'll see you tomorrow then?"
Kevin smiled and held onto his towel a little tighter, "See ya then. Have fun."
"Later."
"See ya."
Connor hung up and turned to Steve. Being a sassy smartass, he showed Steve his phone and turn it off. Steve smirked at his act. Connor proceeded to put the phone in his pocket.
"Happy?" he asked with a sassy tone, but added a smirk.
"Yes," he nodded at Connor, and then snapped, "And don't get sassy with me."
Steve walked along to the frat house. Connor couldn't help but glare at him a little and follow after him anyway. "Scrooge," Connor muttered under his breath before chasing after him.
The frat house was all decked out for the holiday. Lights shone brightly with the dark clouds flurrying snow down at the earth. Most of Greek row was shinning brightly for the holiday season. Whilst admiring the row as a whole, Steve grabbed Connor's hand tightly and hurried him into the frat house.
They were greeted with silly string in the face. The couple smiled as they worked their way inside the house and go deeper into the party. Steve had gone off and gotten them some spiked eggnog. Once he handed Connor the drink, he had gone off again. Connor, lost, went to go find Schravis. They were busy downstairs in the basement setting up for the punk rock holiday concert they were about to put on.
Connor loved their matching ugly sweater t-shirts. Eric's was black with green designs of music notes while Oliver's was black and red with 8-bit video game designs on it. They were much cooler than Connor's red flannel with charcoal grey sweater vest over it. Good thing Kevin isn't here, Connor thought, He'd most certainly call me Richie Cunningham once he got a look at me…
Oliver and Eric waved him over to him and Connor smiled. It didn't take him long to maneuver his way over to them. After seeing the two from the waist down, Eric had red pants on and Oliver's were green. He shook his head with a laugh.
"Ohemgosh, guys," he laughed.
"I wouldn't be talkin, McKinley," Eric laughed, "You look like a prep with them khakis and sweater vest."
"Don't listen to him," Oliver smiled, "You look great, Richie." Eric did his best not to completely loose it at the comment.
Connor shook his head with a deadpan expression, "I hate you both."
Eric laughed again and went back to setting up. Oliver nudged Connor a little, "Come on, we're just joking. Besides, Kevin's not here to make the jokes. Just making up for lost time."
"Welp, either help out or leave," Eric took his glasses out of his back pocket and slid them onto his nose, "The rest of the guys are running late and we gotta set everything up in ten minutes. Not trying to be a dick, but seriously. Either leave or help."
He groaned loudly, "Alright, just tell me what to do."
"Thanks buddy," Eric patted his shoulder a few times before handing him a cord, "Now go hook the cords up into speakers like a good little boy."
Connor rolled his eyes with a smile and did as he was told. As he continued to plug things into speakers and hope that nothing short circuited, Connor felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around to his little blonde friend in a cute red sweater that hung down to her thighs and snowflake leggings on. She smiled brightly passed her red lipstick.
"Hey, Elle," he smiled and gave her a small hug.
"Hello, Con," she returned the hug with a smile, "Where's Kevin? I was hoping to see him tonight."
He gave her a sly look, "Someone has a little crush?"
She blushed pink, "No… I just wanted to talk to him… that's all."
"You like him! Awe!" he jumped up a little, "That's so adorable!"
"Oh please," she waved him off, "It's nothing… I mean, we've been texting for a while now and I dunno… He told me we could exchange gifts so I thought he'd be here…" she shrugged.
"You two? Exchanging gifts? That's so adorable!" he smiled, "What'd you get him? Huh, huh?"
She smiled and pulled a medium sized metallic green package out of her purse, "We agreed nothing much but I got him a book. It was easy and I know he'd probably read it anyway."
"Are you two like… a thing?" he asked, grinning like an idiot.
"Kinda sortta maybe?" she shrugged again, "We've gone out a few times but I don't know if we're like a thing. I kinda hope so," she smiled, "I like him."
"Ohemgosh I'm like dying over here! Go to him, Elle! Tell him these things!"
"Ya think?" she raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, a thousand times yes! Kevin's sitting alone in his room, there's no other perfect opportunity! Go!"
She smiled, "Alright. I'll go," she hugged Connor tightly, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he hugged back.
Elle pulled away and smiled brightly to him, "Oh, by the way, my brother is upstairs if you're looking for him."
"Thanks and good luck!"
She smiled and waved to him before scampering off. Connor smiled, happy for her that she finally found a good guy than that other loser she was with. But he did worry for Kevin that Steve could bash his face in for even touching his sister. He'd make sure Steve didn't hurt him.
Thinking of Steve, he mental noted where he was from his sister and went back to helping out Schravis. Within a few minutes everything was set up all neatly and orderly, well at least for college kids standards. Oliver settled himself down behind the mixing board to play with that the rest of the night. Eric walked over to him and kissed his head.
"Thanks for your help, Con," Eric nodded, "The guys are running late. Reminds me of someone else I know…"
"Oh shut up it was only one time," he crossed his arms in his defense.
"No it was not, it happened at least seven."
"Sure, sure…" Connor rolled his eyes.
Connor decided it was best to walk off for a while. He got himself a beer and found himself a little corner to stand around in for a while. The different type of Christmas song covers flowed through the speakers. A punk rock version of "Christmas Don't Be Late" poured out of the speakers.
He was jamming to the song when his phone went off. Connor dug his phone out of his pocket and saw Elle had texted him.
Ohmigod, thank u for tellin me that Kev was alone and to talk to him!
What happened? Connor texted back, curious with what happened between his friends.
He kissed me! She responded back within no time at all.
He smiled and responded; no way! That's great! Somehow he felt hurt inside. Just the fact that his boyfriends sister was now kinda a thing with the new kid and his friend was kinda weird.
"Hey," Oliver nudged Connor a little, "What's wrong?"
"What?" he look up to him," Oh. Nothing."
"Something's up," he grabbed Connor's beer and took a sip of it, "You never give me vague answers."
"Elle and Kevin are a thing… I think."
"That's awesome for them. What should we call them? Kelle? Ellvin? I like Ellvin," Oliver chuckled to himself, "So, you don't want them dating or what?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. I just don't."
Oliver paused a moment before asking, "Do you… like Kevin?"
"I like him as a friend," he said honestly, "That's all."
"Sure, sure. Well," he handed Connor his cup back, "the band's gonna go on in a few so I gotta go. Enjoy the party and just be happy for the two, alright Mr. Jealous-Pants?"
"I'm not jealous!" he called to Oliver as he walked away to the sound board. He pouted, "I'm not."
He sighed to himself and headed upstairs to look for Steve. With all the people in the house, it'd take a good twenty minutes to find one person in there. Connor wandered aimlessly around the frat house, attempting to look for Steve. He wanted to tell him that the band was going to be starting soon.
When he found Steve, Connor felt his heart sink to his foot, shimmy out his shoe and melt into a puddle on the floor. Sitting on the couch, Steve was shoving his tongue down some sorority girl's throat as they were practically getting hot and heavy in front of everyone at the party. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Connor was mentally kicking himself in the ass for not believe everyone that he was cheating.
They warned him, and he didn't listen. They all warned him… Connor couldn't speak he was so shocked at what he was seeing.
Once he found his voice, he put it to good use, "You dick!"
Steve pulled away just long enough to see Connor turn around and call from over his shoulder, "We're done! Merry fucking Christmas, asshole!"
The girl cupped his face and kissed him again. Steve went back and put his arms around her waist and went back to what he was doing, not even batting an eye that he and Connor broke up. Connor made his way out of the house without crying at least.
Once outside and the muffled party behind him, he let a few tears escape his eyes along with the snow falling from the sky. Connor found himself walking without thinking on where he was even going. His mind was astray and everywhere at once besides where it should be. Mixed emotions fill the gaps in his brain; anger, sadness, guilt, shock. He was more angry with himself than anything else. They warned me, he thought to himself, and I didn't listen…
Before he realized where he was going, he found himself on the way to Kevin's dorm room. He prayed Elle was already gone with every step he took towards his room.
Connor knocked on Kevin's dorm room and waited for him to answer. Kevin opened the door and he completely collapsed into his arms, crying. Connor didn't even get to see how adorable Kevin looked with his reading glasses on or even if Elle was still there or not. It didn't matter, he needed a friend, someone!
Without much question, but a lot of confusion, Kevin wrapped his arms around him in a hug. He pulled him in the door and shut it with his foot. He managed to get them both to the bed and sit down. Elle had already gone and his new book sat on his bed upside down to mark the page. Despite how confused he was, Kevin held Connor close as he let it all out.
Nothing was said between the two of them for a solid five minutes. They kept it silent as Connor cried it out. He needed a friend's shoulder to cry on and Kevin was just that shoulder. He was like the emotional rock of the group.
After another few minutes, Connor picked his head up and sniffled a few times. "I'm sorry about this, Kevin… I know with you and Elle and all…"
Kevin rubbed his shoulders comfortingly, "It's alright."
He shook his head a few times, "I'm sorry… I had a really bad night…" he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees as he hunched over. He ran his fingers through his hair a few times, he didn't even care that it was probably going to look like crap when he was done playing with it.
"Wanna talk about it?" Kevin asked carefully.
Connor didn't say anything for a few heart beats before saying, "I saw Steve shoving his tongue down another person's throat… I should've listened to Naba and Arnold… they were right," he put his face in his hands. He shook his head, "they were all right…"
"Don't say that now," he kept rubbing his shoulders.
"Kevin please… even you know it's true and you've been here for a semester…"
He held him close, "Please, Connor, don't think that way. You didn't know for a fact."
"Jazz knew! I should've known since Jazz saw him!" he exclaimed, "Jazz never lies! Ever!"
Kevin tightened his grip on him, "Connor, please, just take a deep breath and try to calm down."
"I don't know how! I just saw my," Connor had to choke out the next part, "boyfriend… shoving his tongue down some… sorority girls… throat…"
Connor broke down again and cried into his hands and leaned up against Kevin. He wrapped his arms tighter around his body. There was nothing to be said. He just had to let Connor cry it all on a friend's shoulder.
A couple of minutes passed and Connor picked his head up. He sniffled a few times and wiped his eyes with his sweater sleeves. He tried to calm down, taking deep breaths and attempting to stop shaking.
"I know this is a stupid question, but are you alright?" Kevin asked.
He sniffled, "I don't know…"
"Don't worry, everything will do great. From what I heard of Steve, and witnessed myself, you can do a helluva lot better than him."
"Really?" he looked up at him.
Kevin gave him a small, but reassuring smile, "Of course. There are plenty of other guys out there. You just have to find that right one."
Without a second thought, Connor sat up and kissed him. Kevin couldn't process what was happening. One second he was hugging and comforting Connor, the next second he was kissing him. Kevin found himself not pulling away from the kiss, but kissing back.
Connor put a hand on his chest and slowly started to push him back onto the bed. Slowly, Kevin put his hands on Connor's waist as he slowly pushed him back. With his other hand, Connor cupped the side of his face once Kevin was lying down on the bed. Kevin trailed his hands up his back and moved his shirt up bit by bit.
A few minutes of the two making out on the bed, Connor pulled away and slipped out of his grip. He haphazardly fixed his shirt on his way to the door.
"I-I have to go," Connor insisted, trying to find the door handle, but not finding it. He looked down and grabbed the handle, "I'm s-sorry," and with that, Connor rushed out and shut the door behind him.
Kevin stared to the door as Connor left in a rush. He was confused and yet felt right.
What just happened? Kevin thought, And why didn't I push him away…?
