Chapter Six - Stanford
Sam picked up his bags from the seat beside him and dragged himself off the bus. He had been on a bus for hours and hours, his back hurt and legs and ass were asleep and his head was pounding, he just wanted to get somewhere he could just lay down, stretch out and get some proper sleep. He stumbled down the steps of the bus and lets out a sigh as he takes in the grounds of Stanford University. He's so amazed that he is actually here, he made it, he did it. Bobby had helped him with his enrolments, his accommodation, his books and everything he would need to live in a dorm room and spend most of his time studying.
He had never lived on his own before and he was looking forward to the solitude and the quiet moments of reflection and just enjoy the time to do something that he had always wanted to do. He wasn't going to let anything get in his way and he wasn't going to be lured in by the typical college experience of parties with alcohol, drugs and underage sex. He wanted to focus all his energy on his studies, he wasn't going to go crawling back as a failure so noting was getting in his way.
By the afternoon, he had finally completed all his orientation and was sitting on his mattress looking at his empty room. He really should unpack his bags and settle in but he looked at his phone, he had sent Bobby a message to say he had made it in one piece and was now hovering over Deans contact details unsure whether he should message him or not. "Fuck it!" he says to the empty room as he brings up a message screen for Dean, he types out 'Hey Dean, I'm finally starting student life, thanks for your help in making it happen' and hesitated for 1 second then presses Send and flings his phone to the bed "Shit" he said out loud.
Sam lays down and just looks up at the ceiling and after a few minutes he is shocked by the buzz buss of his phone as a new message comes through. He hadn't realised he had closed his eyes as sits up and rubs at his eyes as he tries to read the message 'Hey Sammy, I'm glad you're following your dreams, you really need to decorate you room Sammy, it has no personality'
Sam looks around the room and gets up to look out the window and when he doesn't see anything he looks out the door and no one is there. How the hell does Dean know that his room was bare. 'Are you here?' Sam messages to Dean excitedly.
Dean's reply comes back quickly 'I don't know what you're talking about?' he says with an emoji with sunglasses.
'How do you know I have nothing in my room?' Sam asks and he looks back out the window and looks at all the people who were milling around outside
'Well, you're a nerd and I didn't think you'd have much on your duffle bags' Dean replied sarcastically
Sam looks down through the window and just looks around again and he can see in the far corner of the park is a black Impala 'I see you' Sam types quickly
A few moments go by and he doesn't get a reply 'Why didn't you come in and see me?' Sam asks in another message.
A few more minutes go by with no new messages and Sam watches the Impala as it drives away and when it disappears Sam gets another message 'I'll come by again soon, study hard and look after yourself. You can do this Sammy' Sam smiled at that, he wished he'd had an opportunity to speak to Dean but he could wait until next time.
'Thanks Dean' Sam replied and when he didn't get a response he got up from the bed and started to put his things away and make his bed and make it look like someone was actually staying there.
Three weeks later Sam was walking out of his last afternoon class and as he walked around a corner he bumped right into a tall brunette "Whoa!" Sam exclaimed as everything he was holding fell to the floor with a clatter.
"Shit!" came from the other man who after a more thorough look was a tall, long haired sharp chinned man who must have been holding a coffee because during their collision the coffee had splashed all down his own front staining his white t-shirt
"Oh god I'm so sorry" Sam exclaimed when he saw the large brown stain on the front.
"Wow, look at the state of me…" the other man exclaimed laughing.
"I am so sorry; I was in my own little world… I would suggest soda water, but I really don't think that t-shirt can be saved" Sam said apologetically but with a laugh.
"Yeah, I'm glad I'm not going to an interview or a date" he said smiling at Sam flirtatiously
"Well, I'm really sorry about your coffee, I can't do anything about your t-shirt, but can I get you a new coffee?" Sam asks smiling back at the man a little flirtatiously
"Please, I literally only had 1 sip of it until I wore it" He says back eyes sparkling "My name is Sebastian Hammond" he says putting his hand out to the other man
Sam puts his hand out and shakes the warm hand offered to him, sparks shot up his arm and the other man took a little longer to let go. "Let's go and get that coffee then"
They both walked outside and over to the coffee cart in the far-left corner of the courtyard. They talked all the way there and found that they had a lot in common. Sam was getting a flirty vibe from Sebastian, whenever he smiled at him, Sam got tingly all over, and his cheeks flushed pink.
When they stopped at the coffee cart Sam asked, "Alright what can I get you?"
"A soy Cappuccino please with no sugar" Sebastian asked with a smile small smile
Once Sam bought the coffee, they walked around the grounds and just talked a laughed and when they made their way back to the library, they exchanged phone numbers and made a plan to meet up for lunch the next day.
The smile didn't leave Sam's face for the rest of the day and after his last class he messaged Sebastian that he was looking forward to their date. The smile started to leave Sam's face the longer it remained silent as Sebastian didn't reply.
Sam talked himself down from a full-blown panic spiral as he worried that he was being too needy and clingy. He put his phone away and tried to not think about Sebastian for the rest of the day.
When Sam walked to the café at lunch time the following day, he started to have doubts about Sebastian and whether he really wanted to date him. The initial flirtation had turned into a weird feeling that he was being played, Sebastian hadn't replied to his messages at all the previous day or evening.
Sam sat down in a booth and ordered himself a coffee. He sat their people watching and drinking his coffee and after about 20 minutes he hoped that he hadn't got the date or location mixed up, so he messaged Sebastian and waited another 10 minutes without a reply, before he got up from his chair in a frustrated sigh and left some money on the table for his coffee. He was embarrassed and angry that he been stood up and as he walked outside, he chided himself for putting himself out there again and expecting too much.
As he walked down the street, he saw someone across the street who looked a lot like Sebastian. The man was talking flirtatiously with a woman with curly blond hair. They were standing closely together; her delicate hand was resting on Sebastian arm, and he had him arm resting on the wall above her head.
"Sebastian?" Sam called tentatively, as he walked across the street towards them.
"Oh hey" Sebastian replied and looked around anxiously
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked with his brows furrowed.
"Oh yeah, I'm on a date with Alison?" Sebastian replied looking around the street
"My name is Marisa" the woman said taking her hand of his arm unhappily.
"Did you forget that you had a date with me?" Sam asked angrily pointing at himself, not caring if he caused a scene.
"What? Why would I go on a date with you… I'm not gay" Sebastian replied defensively.
"Ok… so why did you say you would go on a date with me then?" Sam asked accusatorily.
"I don't know what you're talking about… I'm on a date with Mary" Sebastian said grabbing onto Maria's arm and bringer her closer as she tried to pull her arm out of his grip.
"Marisa!" she said angrily in a shrill voice.
"Whatever… It's not my fault you misinterpreted what I said" Sebastian said angrily to hi date then looked back at Sam
Sam stood back and decided he didn't want anything else to do with Sebastian. "Whatever… Goodluck with this one Marisa, goodbye Sebastian" Sam turns to walk back to his apartment, and he can hear the couple arguing as he walks away. He hears the woman scream at Sebastian and the sound of a slap and as Sam keeps walking, he can hear the woman's clicky clacky heals as she stormed away.
"Hey! Sam wait up… I'm free for that date now" Sebastian tries as he runs to catch up with Sam.
Sam keeps walking and ignores Sebastian. "Sam!" he calls again, Sam turns down the street to his apartment, a hand grabs Sam's arm and pulls him back abruptly "Sam, you can't just walk away from me" Sebastian insisted as he squeezed Sam's arm hard enough to cause bruises.
"Yes, I can, I don't want anything to do with you... you stood me up and tried to ghost me" Sam said as he tried to pull his arm away
Sebastian looked around and hissed to Sam in a whisper "Sam, I know you like me, why can't you just give it a go first before you say no"
"Because you just lied to me… to my face!" Sam says vehemently "I'm not what you're looking for, find someone else" Sam turns and quickly walks away, not listening when Sebastian calls his name again
The next time Sam sees Sebastian is at the student cafeteria, 3 weeks later, Sam was in line to pay for his fruit salad that he had on his tray and as the stepped forward to be closer to the cashier someone had come right up behind him and had tapped him on the shoulder "Hi" the person said and as Sam turned to see it was Sebastian he took a small step back.
"Hello?" Sam said in surprise.
"Do you want to meet up with me after you've had your breakfast?" Sebastian asked with a smile
"Why would I want to do that?" Sam asked raising his eyebrows
"So, we can talk a little more, I know last time you didn't really let me explain" Sebastian said with a smile
"I don't want you to explain, you stood me up so you could go on a date with some bimbo" Sam replied stepping away from him "I'm not interested"
Sebastian stepped forward and grabbed Sam's elbow "Hey, come on, I know you are interested, you flirted with me, I know you want to be with me" he held onto Sam's elbow tightly
"My god, how many times do I have to say, I don't want anything with you?" Sam said trying to get his arm out of Sebastian's grip.
"Just come with me so we can talk about it OK" Sebastian said not letting go of his elbow "Come on, I really like you"
Sam looked at him and could see him look around to make sure no one was looking at them. Sam shook his head, but he also wanted to give Sebastian the benefit of the doubt, he did understand about not being ready to come out to everyone you know but now that Sam was out, he didn't want to hide again. "Fine… just let me pay for this" Sam really hoped that he didn't just make a huge mistake.
When Sebastian nodded and stood back, Sam paid for his fruit salad and walked over to Sebastian with his tray and followed the other man as he walked a few paces in front of him through the cafeteria and down the hallway into an empty room. Sebastian walked into the room and turned to face Sam as he walked in after him, closed the door and put his tray on a table so they could face each other. "So…" Sam started as Sebastian had closed the distance between them and shut him up by pulling Sam to him and giving him a hard and demanding kiss, with one hand groping at his ass.
"Wha?" Sam said as he attempted to push Sebastian away from him.
"I know you like me Sam, I could tell the other day how much you liked me and you wanted to kiss me… so I wanted to give you one" Sebastian said as he leaned forward to kiss him again, this time pushing his tongue into his mouth with very little finesse, the hand on his ass squeezed it, his fingers probing between his cheeks.
Sam tried to get out of his grip and take step back "Stop, I don't want this. You can't force someone to be with you because you want to 'give it a try'. You just want to put your toe in the homosexual water but I'm sorry I won't be your experiment"
"You can't force me to come out, come on I know you like me, we can experiment together" Sebastian said softly still holding him in a tight grip.
"I'm not forcing you to do anything, but you can't use people because you're trying to figure yourself out and you want to experiment" Sam replied incredulously trying to get out of the man's grip
Sebastian looked down at Sam's body "I can feel how much you like me Sam… Come on, we can both have fun" he said seductively as he moves his hand down to grope at Sam's crotch.
"Stop! Please, I DON'T want have fun with you… I DON'T want to be anyone's experiment" Sam was getting scared that Sebastian was going to take this too far.
Sebastian grabs Sam's hair and kisses him down his neck "Don't be such a prude" he says and bites down on Sam's neck making him cry out in pain.
Sam has had enough, he pushes back a little and lifts his leg and knees Sebastian in the groin as hard as he can and Sebastian lets go of him with a cry of pain, he moved his hands protect his manhood and groans. Sam takes a step back, fixing his clothing and with tears in his eyes, his hands shaking in shock. "You can't treat people like that Sebastian and expect them to just be Ok with it. I said NO! my god, I can't believe… just leave me alone…" Sam said tearily, pushing past Sebastian and tries to hide the tears streaming down his face as he runs out of the cafeteria.
"Hey Dean, it's Garth, just calling you for an update, your boy is being harassed by some creep, he's standing up for himself, but this guy doesn't seem to take NO for an answer"
"Damn, OK, thanks Garth, just keep an eye on him for me and I'll try and get back there when I've finished here" Dean replied
"Ok Deano, look after self, speak soon" Garth said with a salute then hung up.
Dean looked at his phone worriedly, he was still in the middle of this hunt and couldn't really leave at this stage. He needed to reach out to Sam without coming off over protective or too stalkery.
-
Sam concentrates on his classes; he's tried to make a few friends, but he mainly keeps to himself. He just keeps on top of his reading and his studies to stay busy, so he doesn't have to think about what had happened. He hasn't seen Sebastian again since their last encounter and he hadn't really gone out to any parties or to any bars so Sam could remain in his own little bubble.
Sam was walking back to his room one afternoon when the TA came over to him. "Hey Sam, I've got a package for you" he said handing over a rather large box.
Sam grabbed the box awkwardly and walked to his room and attempted to open his door one handed. When he eventually got the door open, he stumbled inside and practically threw the box onto his bad and let out a sigh. "Who the hell sent me this?" Sam asked the empty room
Sam grabbed his pocket knife and ran it along the tape along the top to open the box and inside was an assortment of objects, multiple packs of candy bars and fruit and nuts trail mix, as well as a new set of bed sheets, a sandwich press, an alarm clock, 6 books by his favourite author and some vouchers so Sam could purchase some groceries as well as some student vouchers for the cafeteria. On the bottom of the box was a letter with Sam written on the front in Dean's messy scrawl. Opening the letter, he smiled as he started reading 'Hey Sammy, This is your first care package of many from yours truly. Everything in the package is to help you to enjoy your university experience, instead of just studying your arse off with your head in a book. So… I've organised a mini fridge to be delivered to your room, so go fill it up with your rabbit food and have a little nerdy party with your friends' Sam laughed at that and pulled out his phone to write a message to Dean.
'Oh my god, thank you so much for my care package… I can't believe you did that' Sam typed and pressed send.
A whole 10 second later Sam's phone pinged as Dean answered 'Well I knew you wouldn't look after yourself when you were studying so I wanted to help you out. I'm glad you liked it, it will be the first of many'
Sam smiles at that 'I'm feeling a little spoiled… thanks ' he types back in response
Dean replied 'You deserve it, I'm really proud of you'
Sam smiled tearily at that and types back 'That's so sweet' Sam wiped his eyes as he presses send.
"Don't tell anyone I have a reputation to uphold" Dean messaged back
"I won't tell anyone your secret… thank you so much" Sam messaged in reply
'You're welcome… now get back to work' Dean replied with a laughing emoji.
Sam chuckled and turned his phone off and started to unpack the care package and thought how he could make his space more personal.
TBC