Ryan glared at his reflection in the mirror, and decided that there was a reason guys weren't supposed to wear flowy, puffy shirts or giant gold hoop earrings. It was the night of his first real college party, the Halloween party, and he felt pretty stupid looking as he put on his pirate costume. His roommate, Tony, had decided to go to the party "as a giant tool," and had asked to borrow some of Ryan's clothes. Ryan wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to interpret that, but he guessed that his costume efforts were a little much. In the end, he sighed, and decided to just go with it. He slipped on a bandana and an eye patch and headed out of his room, where Michael was waiting for him to walk to campus's party dorm, Branner.

"Oh my god! How are you!"

Ryan couldn't believe it. Two steps through the door and already Michael had been accosted by the same blond girl from Full Moon on the Quad, this time followed by an equally hyper friend. Both girls sported tank tops, angel wings, and ridiculous amounts of body glitter, and both seemed elated to see Michael arrive. What was so great about Michael anyway? Ryan glanced over at his friend, whose costume consisted of boots, plastic yellow fireman's pants, and suspenders over his bare chest. Oh. Right.

Ryan turned to survey the scene, and watched Michael and the girls head over to the dance floor. Loud music pumping, couples grinding, and what looked like a game of beer pong going on in the next room. It actually looked like it could be sort of fun to just go crazy and enjoy himself, like everyone else seemed to be doing. If only he could relax a little bit… He wandered over towards the room where a bunch of guys were starting a new game of beer pong, and grabbed a red, plastic cup of beer from a table in the corner. He downed about half before he heard his name and glanced up suddenly, sloshing beer onto his chest.

"Hey Ryan, buddy, come on and play with us!" Sean's voice was distinctive even though Ryan was pretty sure a couple of his words were slurring. Ryan made his way through the crowd over to where Sean was standing, leaning against a pool table.

"You've gotta play, Ryan, come on… I bet you're a natural." Sean made every effort to play it cool, but Ryan could tell that he was leaning menacingly over the table as much for support as to make himself seem more imposing. What the hell, one game couldn't hurt. And if he made a fool of himself, Sean hardly seemed to be in a state to notice.

"Uh, sure. How do you play, exactly?"

Forty minutes later, Ryan still wasn't sure exactly how one went about playing beer pong. All he knew was that for him, it involved throwing a ping-pong ball hopelessly far from a cup of beer, and being forced to chug his drink. He was starting to feel pretty out of it. And he thought he had lost his eye patch. Probably some fresh air would help. Yeah, that was definitely a good idea. Ryan made for the nearest door, and pushed it open unsteadily. The cool air swept over his face as Ryan took a few steps into the deserted courtyard outside the dorm. The throbbing beat of the speaker system was reduced to a dull thud from the outside, and, relieved, Ryan collapsed onto a bench and leaned his head back towards the sky, hoping to rest a little before heading home.

"Nice night for stargazing, huh Ryan?"

Ryan jerked his head around to see where the voice was coming from. Directly behind him, Jack stood staring upwards at the sky. Even in a cowboy hat and boots, he looked effortlessly cool. He smiled and sat down next to Ryan on the bench. "Thanks for coming to our party," Jack added. Ryan didn't say anything back, and Jack just stared at him for a moment and then tilted his head back again.

"It totally knocks me out. Back home, there's way too much ambient light and pollution to ever see the stars. Then all of a sudden, I get out here and I can see them so clearly." Jack paused at looked over at Ryan, his dark eyes flashing as they reflected the starlight. "Isn't that amazing, when you see something for the first time, even though it was there all along?"

Ryan looked up at the sky. "Yeah. I mean I guess so."

"So," Jack asked, "what do you think?"

Ryan squinted up at the sky a moment longer. "Um, I can't tell." He noticed his skin grow hot as he felt Jack's gaze on him and realized that he was the only one looking at the sky anymore. "I mean, I don't know the names of the constellations or anything." For some reason, Ryan felt like he had to keep talking.

"Except for, like, the Big Dipper, and you know, Orion…and the Little Dipper too, obviously…" he stammered. "But yeah, they're really pretty." He turned to face Jack, by now completely flushed. Jack was staring into Ryan's eyes in a way that Ryan found completely unnerving. "Yeah, they're…gorgeous," Jack muttered softly, and leaned forward a few inches to kiss Ryan on the lips.

Ryan wasn't sure what made him react the way he did. He could blame it on alcohol again, or the atmosphere, or just the fact that his heart was pumping like crazy and it was impossible to think straight. But this time, he knew that kissing Jack Kelly wasn't a mistake, and that he was definitely enjoying this. When Jack broke away, Ryan stared at him for a second, and then pulled Jack right back towards him for more.

This continued for what seemed like a lifetime until, suddenly, Ryan felt a sick twinge in his stomach. He pulled away and put a hand to his mouth.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jack asked, putting a hand on Ryan's arm.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Ryan stood up far too quickly, and realized he was suddenly dizzy. Jack stood up and steadied him.

"You don't look so great. How much did you have?"

"Um, I don't know, I was playing beer pong with Sean."

"Holy shit, no wonder!" Jack laughed. "Listen, I'll walk you home."

"No, you really don't have to do that," Ryan mumbled, looking at the ground in his mortification.

Jack reached out and lightly raised Ryan's chin so they were eye-to-eye. "It's no problem."

They didn't talk during the walk back to Ryan's dorm, mostly because Ryan was too busy focusing on not throwing up and not thinking too hard about what just happened.

"Here we are," Jack murmured when they reached the door of Ryan's dorm, Larkin. Ryan had hardly noticed.

"Thanks a lot for walking back with me," Ryan said.

"Anytime," Jack smiled lightly.

Ryan wanted to say something else, but he wasn't sure what. "I think I dropped my eye patch somewhere back there," he blurted. "Um, you know, if you see it lying around or something…it's not a big deal though…you know…" Ryan felt like kicking himself. Ugh, what was in that alcohol?

"Sure thing," Jack grinned. Ryan couldn't help smiling back.

"OK, so…See you around," Ryan said.

"G'night." Jack turned and Ryan watched him walk away until he couldn't see him anymore before unlocking the dorm door.