Full Moon on the Quad
Disclaimer: We own nothing of Newsies, and any resemblance to actual people is purely coincidental.
"Shit. What have I gotten myself into?" Ryan Ballatt closed his eyes and silently willed the ground to stop moving. When he opened them, though, he was none to pleased to find that nothing had changed. And if anything, it seemed like the masses of freshmen around him were even drunker than they were before.
He didn't think that when his parents dropped him off four days earlier they pictured this as being part of his Stanford University education. But one of the first things Ryan heard about when New Student Orientation began was that the first day of school also happened to be the first full moon of the quarter. And as per the annual Stanford tradition, that could only mean one thing: Full Moon on the Quad.
It didn't sound like such a bad idea when a smiling R.A. explained it during an orientation info session: freshmen weren't considered true Stanford students unless they kissed a senior at midnight in the quad on the first full moon of the quarter. Two days ago, making out with hot senior girls didn't sound half bad. But even with a couple of beers behind him (more than he had ever drunk in high school, of course) Full Moon on the Quad was a lot more awkward than he anticipated.
"Hey, dude, whassup?" slurred a kid behind Ryan, slapping him on the shoulder. Ryan recognized the kid—Michael, maybe?—from his dorm. Of course, when Ryan had seen him the hall earlier, he had been wearing a blue polo shirt with popped collar. Now, the kid was shirtless--probably just to show off his abs for anybody who was interested.
"Isn't this great, man? College is freaking awesome!" Michael shouted.
"Yeah, man. Awesome," Ryan responded weakly. He glanced at Michael and noticed that he was gazing intently somewhere behind Ryan's left shoulder. Ryan turned and found himself staring face-to-face with an overly-made up blond in a tiara.
"Hey," she said, staring at Michael. "You a senior?"
"For you I am," Michael grinned.
"Okay, um, see you man!" Ryan said, probably a little louder than was actually necessary. Michael was too occupied to notice, though. Ryan turned and walked away as quickly as he could, towards a less mobbed part of the quad.
At the edge of the quad, Ryan could observe what was going on a little more clearly. If he stepped onto one of the stone planters, he could probably even locate Michael and that girl among the crush… Ryan shakily stepped backwards, rammed into something solid, and started to trip over his own feet. He could feel himself losing balance when someone grabbed his shoulder to steady him.
"Hey, easy there! You okay?"
Ryan focused his vision and looked up into a pair of concerned brown eyes. His rescuer was a tall, tanned guy with sandy brown hair, definitely nobody that Ryan knew. He felt a blush creep across his cheeks. Probably due to the alcohol.
Ryan paused. "Yeah, I'm fine. Uh, thanks." Ryan had to shout to be heard. He noticed that this guy was still holding onto his shoulder.
"No problem. So, are you a freshman?" he replied.
"Uh, yeah. But…" Ryan trailed off. He barely had time to register his confusion before the other boy grinned and leaned forward.
Ryan wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up kissing a strange boy in the middle of the crowd, in front of a building where he was pretty sure he'd had math lecture earlier that day. But in addition to his surprise, Ryan was able to detect how soft those lips felt on his, and the urgency with which the other boy deepened the kiss and pushed his tongue past Ryan's lips.
The boy finally pulled away and flashed a grin at Ryan. Ryan watched, frozen to the spot, as he turned and vanished into the crowd. Behind the spot where the other boy had stood, Ryan noticed a poster that spelled out "Queer Moon on the Quad" in silver paint. So that explained why the guy had kissed him. In fact, as Ryan looked around, he noticed several same-sex couples kissing on this part of the quad. What it didn't explain, though, was why Ryan was feeling so unfazed after kissing a guy. Must be what happens when you drink, he thought. After all, Ryan knew people did all kinds of things while drunk at college that they would never otherwise consider. Kissing another guy hardly seemed like a big deal.
Ryan broke his gaze from the spot where the other boy had disappeared to check his watch. 1:15. Shit, and he had to make a chem lecture at nine tomorrow, hung over or not.
He turned from the quad and stumbled back to his dorm. Ryan was pretty relived that he remembered the way home.