Chapter Fifteen: That's when I run to you

One month later

Freddie couldn't shake the image of Sam's face when they had agreed to end things. She let him walk out the room and they hadn't spoken since, in the weeks since that night, he had often wondered if she regretted her decision, if she had at any point considered reaching out to reconcile. She hadn't. Freddie hadn't heard from Sam since that night and in the time since then he had moved out to California to begin his new adventure at Caltech, his attempts to put Sam out of his mind has so far been unsuccessful, but he had tried.

College had been something Freddie had been thinking about for years, it had been a time in his life he had always earmarked as the time he would finally figure out who he was and how he would spend the rest of his life, he hadn't expected to spend the first weeks of his freshman year mourning a failed relationship. His mind wouldn't stay on Sam forever, he had four years of experiences ahead of him that he would miss out on if he spent them wallowing in his dorm room. His roommate had already made several comments about how miserable he looked and while Freddie had so far avoided filling him in on the details he knew he couldn't keep it from him for much longer if he continued to wander around their shared dorm as if someone had died.

Freddie knew he could spend his time moping in his dorm room, he had to get out and see the campus and his new surroundings or he ran the risk of no one knowing who he was by the time he was ready to return home for Christmas and that would feel all too familiar to his early high school days. Just as he was willing himself to get up from his bed and go do something, anything beyond the walls of his dorm, his roommate came bursting through the door.

"Dude, are you still mopping about your ex?" He asked closing the door behind him and throwing his messenger bag onto his bed.

"I was just getting up," Freddie sighed, he had only known the boy a few weeks and yet he spoke to him like they were old friends. Freddie had found it unsettling at first, it felt like an eternity since he had made a new friend, and none had ever felt as close to him as Sam and Carly had. After he got used to his brash nature, he came to appreciate the way he spoke to him.

"Planning to leave the room today?" He offered.

"That would require having somewhere to go,"

"Ah, that's where I come in," He walked over to his bag and pulled out a crumbled flyer that looked as if it had been folded and scrunched up several times. "There's a party tonight, might be the perfect excuse for you to get out," He handed the flyer to Freddie.

"Another one?"

"It's college dude, some people spend more time at parties than in class," He laughed. Freddie looked down at the flyer, other than a handful of freshman mixers during orientation he hadn't partaken in college nightlife having not only not been in the mood, but Freddie had never been much of a party guy, maybe it was time to step out of his comfort zone what better way to get over a breakup?

"Fine," Freddie sighed as if defeated in his acceptance of the party invite.

"My dude, I'm gonna run out but I'll be back in a couple of hours and then we'll head out, be ready," Before Freddie had fully digested what he'd agreed to the door opened and closed and his roommate was gone. Freddie laid back on his bed and closed his eyes, his mission to leave the room had been delayed, but now he had two hours to psych himself up to face a campus party and he wasn't sure he was up to it.

The music was louder than anything Freddie had heard before. He had been to a handful of parties during his later years of high school but they were nothing like what he found himself in the middle of. His roommate had disappeared into the crowd no sooner than they had arrived, it became clear to Freddie quickly that he was a social butterfly and in their few short weeks on campus, he seemed to have made friends from every corner of the college which meant on the rare occasion he and Freddie were out on campus he would often be pulled away by someone who recognised him. It left Freddie to navigate the party alone which he didn't feel equipped for. He gravitated to the kitchen of the large house where the party was being held and helped himself to a drink. The kitchen seemed to be one of the rooms where it was socially acceptable to be alone, it seemed to be where a lot of people peeled off their groups before transitioning to a new one so Freddie could blend in with that crowd while he decided what he was going to do until he thought it was acceptable to leave.

Jennette had kept a pretty low profile since she started at Caltech but her roommates had twisted her arm and convinced her to attend the latest campus party. It wasn't really her scene but college was about new experiences and Jennette considered herself open-minded enough to push herself out of her comfort zone and follow her friends to the large house just off campus. Her social circle in the first few weeks of the semester was small so she wasn't expecting to see people she knew at the party, but not only did she see a familiar face, she saw the last person she would have wanted to see. Her ex-boyfriend.

"Shit," Jennette didn't swear often but if there was ever a time for it to slip from her mouth it was seeing Freddie across a crowded room. Thankfully he hadn't spotted her but she had to move as it would only be a matter of time before he looked up. She turned back and tried to hide in the crowd of party-goers in the hallway which caught the attention of her friends.

"What are you doing?" One of her roommates, Ashley, asked.

"You remember me saying that my ex-boyfriend was also studying here?" Ashley and the others nodded. "He's here,"

"Well shit," Kira, one of the other girls said.

"Which one is he?" Ashley did her best to not be obvious as she scanned the surrounding area trying to guess who the famous ex-boyfriend was.

"The one by the table in the kitchen, right behind me," Jennette mumbled to her roommates as she tried not to draw attention to herself, but they were not making it easier for her as they craned their necks to get a good look at Freddie who must have noticed the rather obvious group of girls staring at him.

"Shit," Freddie cursed to himself as out of the corner of his eye he spotted an all too familiar face, in his weeks-long pity party he had almost forgotten that Jennete was also attending Caltech. He hadn't been prepared for what he would do or say when he ran into her, despite knowing it would be inevitable, the campus was only so big after all. Approaching her would be a bad idea, but he had had enough to drink that despite knowing better he found himself doing it anyway. "Hey," Freddie said awkwardly as he approached her with two drinks in his hand. "Drink?" He handed her the red solo cup in a pathetic attempt at a peace offering. They would have to learn to co-exist in some form while they were on the same campus, in all likelihood their paths wouldn't cross all that much but on the off chance it did, Freddie didn't want things to be awkward. Despite everything that happened between them he still had a great deal of affection for Jennette, there had been nothing wrong with her or their relationship, ultimately her only crime had been she wasn't Sam.

"Thanks," Jennette reached out and took the cup from him, she looked around at her friends who abruptly made themselves scarce, she hadn't wanted to be left alone at first but was grateful they wouldn't be able to use whatever was said during the awkward encounter against her later. The air between them was thick with tension as neither knew what to say to each other, neither wanted to be the one to speak first and the longer the silence went on the harder it was for someone to break it.

"How are you settling in?" Fredd broke first, he hated the silence and the feeling of being uncomfortable around someone who used to be so easy to talk to.

"It's definitely different here, not as much rain as back home," Jennette laughed awkwardly, she had been reduced to talking about the weather with someone she had once shared everything with.

"Net, I'm sorry," Freddie said, unable to continue with the small talk while so much went unsaid.

"You want to do this here?" She asked looking around as a handful of couples snuck upstairs to fool around.

"Would you prefer we went somewhere quieter?"

"If you insist on having this conversation then yes,"

"Okay, let's go for a walk," Freddie led Jennette out of the house and away from the raucous party atmosphere. They were back on campus before either of them said a word.