Alone Together: Chapter Four
“Another party, Dick?” Harry Welsh, Dick’s roommate asked with a raised eyebrow.
Dick ran a towel through his wet hair and shrugged. The welcome party the night before had been a hit, the last people had cleared out of the common room around three in the morning after an unexpected Twister tournament had started up. Brad Colbert had to almost forcibly remove George and Ray from the common room after they insisted that the party must go on until sunup. Everything seemed to have gone well, everyone appeared to have gotten along well, no fights broke out, and the only real incident had been between Babe Heffron and the twister mat but if that was the worst thing he was ever going to see then Dick felt like this year was going to go well.
He had an idea to have a party at the nearby beach. Now that everyone knew each other a little better, Dick felt like the next party would be an even bigger success. He felt extremely lucky to find so many people who just seemed to get along with each other.
“What’s wrong with another party?” Dick asked as he tossed the towel into his clothes hamper. “Last night was fun and everyone seemed to get along together really well. Why not? Me and Andrew were talking about having a party at the beach. I thought you of all people would appreciate a little extra fun.”
“It’s just, I feel a little cheated,” Harry said with a small grimace, the gap in-between his front teeth were clearly visible.
“Dick, I’ve known you since freshmen year of high school and in all those years of high school and last year of college, I’ve managed to drag you to exactly two parties. And now all of a sudden, you’re the one throwing the parties!”
“These aren’t keggars that you’re dragging me to, Harry,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “These are just nice get-together Good, harmless fun.”
“Sure. That’s what you plan them to be, good harmless fun, but then the next thing you know it’s six in the morning, you wake up passed out in a field with a sorority t-shirt on as a skirt and a traffic cone on your head with a friend’s phone number written on your arm in permanent maker with the words ‘Hi. If you find me, call this number’.”
“And that’s why I never came to parties with you, Harry,” he said as he sat down on his bed across from Harry. “But this isn’t going to end like that. It’ll be fun.”
“Can’t we do a little bit of a middle ground here?” Harry asked with a shrug. “You know, not full keggar black out, wake up in a field kind of event, but like, there’s the possibility you wake up in your bed with no idea how you got there…?” Dick shot Harry a stern look that made Harry’s hopeful smile slide off of his face. “Well I guess this is the reason they made you R.A. and not me.”
“I think there are a couple reasons why they didn’t let you become R.A.,” Dick quipped with a grin.
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Classes at Pacific Coast University would start the next day, which sent the majority of the students into a frenzy. Some spent the day inside, silently panicking while they read over their text books and anything that might give them an edge in their classes and others ran around the campus like idiots while they did their best to enjoy their last day of summer and freedom from classes but most of the students sat inside in A.C. or out on the quad while they took in their last chance to relax and get to know their new roommates and classmates.
“I don’t understand why people are hiding in their rooms or in the library, studying, when classes haven’t even started yet,” Skip said to Penkala as he lay on his back under the shade of a low-hanging tree. “Poor bastards.”
“Yeah well someone’s gotta get their shit together so they can tutor your dumbass,” said a familiar voice above Skip.
Skip opened his eyes and sat up to find a red haired guy who lived in the room next to him and Alex, Don Malarkey. After the party in the common room had ended, Alex and Skip had been invited into neighbors room, who was in the middle of a game of Call of Duty with his roommate, a tall and muscular guy with bright blue eyes and bleach blond hair, stating he needed another player because his roommate had baseball practice early in the morning. Alex, Skip, and Muck had gotten along perfectly, spending hours switching from game to game; it seemed that half of the things Don had brought to school were games. Needless to say when Alex and Skip finally crawled out of his room and into their own as the sun came up, Skip knew that they had both made a very good friend in Don Malarkey.
“Heya, Malark,” Skip said as his new friend and floor mate sat down next to him. “What are you up to on the fine, last day of summer?”
“Just ran out and got some grub,” Malarkey said as he sat down next to the two friends. “What are you two doing?” He glanced at Skip, raised up on his arms while Alex sat against the tree, texting someone on his phone. “Looks like I’m crashing a cozy little date.”
“Oh fuck off,” Alex said with a small smile on his face and a shake of his head.
“Yeah he wishes he were dating me,” Skip said with a cocky grin to which Penkala rolled his eyes. He turned back to Malarkey. “We’re just enjoying the last couple of hours of panic free, study free we have left. You?”
“Well me and a couple of people from Hanks House were talking about taking a trip up to the beach. Really end the summer with some style,” he said with a shrug. “Figured I’d find you guys see if you wanted in.”
“Oh hells yeah,” Skip said as he glanced to Penk, who nodded in agreement. “When we shipping off?”
“Not for a couple hours. Gonna wait until sun down,” he said with a shrug. “In the meantime, you guys wanna chill in my room? I want a rematch from last night.”
“You don’t know when to admit defeat, do you, Don?” Penkala said with a smile and a shake of his head.
“Sounds to me like you’re scared, Penk.”
“Okay, enough talk, let’s get to it.”
________________________________________________________-
Dick looked up from his seat at his desk to find Lew leaning against the door frame, looking a little hesitant but there was still a smile on a face that made Dick smile in a return. He closed his laptop and turned in his chair to face the dark haired man.
Nixon hovered in the doorway for a moment before he moved inside and sat down on his roommate’s desk chair. He leaned back in the chair, trying his best to relax when in reality his nerves were running rampant through his body.
“So, uh, I was wondering if you’d wanna come grab a bite to eat with me,” Nix asked in a tone of voice that sounded a lot calmer than what he felt.
“That’d be great,” he said with a wider smile. “I know a great place on campus to eat.”
“Great,” Nix said, not caring how excited he sounded and how idiotic he probably looked as he sprung up from his seat. “You good to go right now?”
“Yeah, let’s go,” he said as he got up from his seat and stood rather close to Lewis.
“Am I interrupting?” Harry asked as he stepped into the room, curly hair wet, a towel draped around his neck.
“No, we were just on our way out,” Dick said with a smile. “Lewis Nixon this is Harry Welsh. Harry and I are friends from Pennsylvania. Me and Lew were just about to get something to eat.”
“Well, have fun,” Harry said as he sat down on the edge of his bed. “Hey did you hear that there’s going to be some sort of get together at the beach tonight?”
“Figured you’d want to know, since you’re so into partying now,” Harry added with a little pout, looking every bit like an overgrown child.
“Thanks for telling me,” Dick said with he gave Harry his quit-pouting-like-a-child look. “I’ll think about it.”
Together, Dick and Lew walked down the stairs of the building and walked outside into the bright, hot sunshine. All over students were moving about, some just trying to get from one air-conditioned room to another while others purposely laid out in the direct sunlight, determined to get a tan that would last through the cooler months.
Lew glanced at Dick out of the corner of his eyes as they walked silently but happily down the sidewalk. The summer sun hit Dick’s hair and made his red hair even more vibrant and he could help but let his eyes fall from his hair, to his face, to his neck, and then his body. Nix flicked his eyes upwards again only to find that Dick had been watching him stare; he turned away, feeling rather embarrassed.
“Um…” Nix mumbled out while he tried to think of a good explanation but was saved when Dick began to laugh, which caused Nix to let out a soft chuckle too. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” he said with a slight shake of his head. He raised his arm and motioned to a nearby building. “Here’s the place.”
It was a one-story brick building that seemed to carry a certain hole-in-the-wall feel. Most of the people who passed the building didn’t glance at it and only a few people could be seen inside through the tinted windows. As Dick and Nix walked up the steps he noticed that there wasn’t even a sign denoting that this place was in fact a place to eat or even had a name. If Dick didn’t give off such non-serial killer vibes, Nix would probably feel a little worried by now.
Inside the building it was a little dark and not the kind of place Nix would have expected Dick to go to, but it smelled of delicious food so he guessed maybe this place was alright. After they ordered their burgers and fries, which Dick claimed were the best thing here and probably the best burgers on campus, they took their seats by the window. Once seated, Nix took a large bite of his glorious-looking hamburger and let out an involuntary moan of pleasure as the food hit his taste buds.
“Good, isn’t it?” Dick asked with a small chuckle, his brown eyes twinkling at him from across the table.
“Best burger I’ve had in a while,” Nix said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, not caring about the noise that had just came out of his mouth.
“Told you this place was good.”
“Didn’t doubt you for a minute, Dick,” Nix said as he continued to eat.
“So, Lew,” he said as he slowly at his french-fries.
“You’re a sophomore, right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Lew said after he took a long drink of his soda to help wash down the burger that was already half gone. “Transferred from my school back home this year.”
“What, you haven’t already stalked my facebook page to find out my life story yet?” Nixon teased while he mentally patted himself on the back for not doing that to Dick yet.
“No, I’d much rather talk to you to find out who you are,” Dick said as he leaned a little closer to Nix with a soft look on his face that only succeeded in making his pulse rocket. “So where you from?”
“New Jersey,” Nix managed to choke out. “Nixon, New Jersey.”
“Uh, yeah, kinda weird but, whatever,” Nix mumbled with a shrug.
“Where’d you go to school before this coming here to Pacific?”
“Yale,” Dick repeated as if he hadn’t heard it right.
“What, didn’t realize you were on a date with an Ivy League guy?” Nix said slyly while he did his best to not freak out about calling this little food run a date; Dick didn’t seem to mind that he called it that.
“Just surprising is all. Don’t meet an Ivy League every day,” he said. “Why’d you leave Yale? PCU is a pretty good school but it’s no Ivy League.”
Nix dropped his gaze to the table and felt a frown form on his face. He thought back to his father, who was everything he never wanted to be and how his father was hell bent on turning him into another version of himself. He remembered how at the end of the second semester, how he realized he couldn’t stay there anymore.
He was broken out of his thoughts as a gentle hand reached across the table and wrapped around his fist. Lew looked up in surprise and saw Dick smiling kindly at him, looking a little concerned.
“Just thinking…” he sighed as he used his available hand to run through his dark locks. He glanced back down at Dick’s hand on his own and then flicked his eyes back up to Dick, who quickly retracted his hand, as if he had just realized it was still there and that it was wrong.
“Sorry,” Dick apologized.
“No it’s alright. I liked it,” Lew admitted quietly as he reached out and grabbed Dick’s retracting hand. He placed their joint hands back on top of the table and smiled. “As long as you’re okay with it.”
“Yeah, yeah I’m good,” Dick said with the slightest of shaky sighs. “It’s just this is still kinda new to me.”
“Like, us being new or like, the whole two guys thing?”
“Both,” Dick admitted. “I just, I always knew I wasn’t like all the other guys but I finally came out to my family when I came back from school last semester.”
“Well on one side they both kinda figured something like this might happen, but on the other side they’re sort of conservative and religious so they’re having some trouble with it,” Dick said, his brow crinkling from his thoughts; Lew wanted to reach across the table and smooth it out with his fingers. “But they’re warming up to it. I know eventually they’ll be okay with it but right now they’re a little leery of it. They also asked me to try to not date while I’m home, even though most of Lancaster knows. Could be worse though. What about you?”
“Uh well, my parents…” Nix started off before he let out a large sigh and sat back in his chair, feeling suddenly exhausted. “They just don’t care. About like, anything. Ever.”
“That’s just who they are,” Nix said with a shrug while he remember his parent’s neutral expressions, theie lack of interest when it came to what their only son did when not in school, how there was no real reaction when his mother came into his room to find him kissing a boy from his private school and only asked that if he was going to have a guest they go into the living room. “Well, no, they care about things, just not things that they should.”
“Well, Stan, my dad, all he ever cared about was molding me into his little clone,” he said. “He’s the CEO for Nixon Nitration Works, it’s really the only thing in Nixon, New Jersey, and he expects me to run it someday. But he went to Yale, his father, went to Yale, his father went to Yale, so I was supposed to go to Yale, whether I liked it or not. I needed to be molded into the perfect CEO and since I guess sexual orientation doesn’t affect becoming CEO, they didn’t care. Hardly batted and eyelid or asked me if it was a phase or whatever. They just asked that I used protection and kept it out of the local papers.”
Dick let out a small chuckle at the comment, which made Nixon smile.
“But so why are you here and not at Yale?” he asked. “You didn’t really answer me.”
“I didn’t want to become my dad,” Lewis declared as he fiddled with Dick’s hand in his. “I don’t want to become a CEO. I didn’t want to become yet another Nixon to graduate from Yale just because their father before them told them to.” Lew looked up at Dick after a pause and gave him a slightly apologetic face. “Sorry. Guess I don’t like being told what to do.”
“Who says that’s a bad thing?” Dick said before he grinned. “It’s kinda hot.”
Nix broke their eye contact as he felt his face heat up but he squeezed Dick’s hand as he dug into his fries.
“So,” Lew started after a long pause between them, “what was growing up in Lancaster like?”
________________________________________________________
“Come on, dude, you can’t just sit inside all the time,” Leckie told Webster as they walked through the campus and headed for the beach where there was a last minute dorm party happening. “You’re at college. Live a little. Break out of that prep school shell. You’re free now! Free to be who you wanna be, do what you wanna do, free to enjoy this campus and all the beautiful young co-eds who inhabit it.”
“And what if what I want to do is stay inside and study so that I’m prepared for class tomorrow?” Webster asked grumpily as he walked next to his roommate while he wondered if he’d be able to sneak away from him at the party.
“Dave,” Leckie said as he stopped and placed his hand on Web’s shoulders so that he would have his full attention. “It’s the last day of summer, you’re at college, where you’re finally free from your shitty parents. Live a little, just for one day. You might find you like it. You can spend the rest of the school year indoors with your face in a book but tonight, just give me tonight and I promise I will never ever drag you to another party again.”
“Fine,” David sighed heavily while he realized he’d need to get Leckie to write that promise down when they got back to the room for posterity. “I’ll go.”
“And I’ll have fun,” David said begrudgingly. “Or at least I’ll try to.”
“I’m sure you’ll have a blast,” Leckie said as he wrapped an arm around his neck and began leading him toward the beach. “Fresh, young college kid from an ultra-conservative, overbearing family going to their first party? How could you not have fun?”
David didn’t say anything in response. In fact, he didn’t say anything until they finally arrived at the beach and saw the party going on in full swing. The majority of the people in attendance were students from Hanks House but there were a few faces he didn’t recognize. Leckie led them to where a bunch of coolers were set up and grabbed a beer for Web and himself. Web hadn’t really drank before, only glasses of wine at fancy parties, but in the spirit of getting Leckie off of his back, he opened the beer and took a pull.
It was disgusting, like fizzy, stale bile. How did anyone find this appealing?
“Just keep drinking,” Leckie said with a grin as he looked at the disgusted expression on Webster’s face. “It tastes better the more you drink.”
“I highly doubt anything would make this better.”
“It’s part of the college experience,” Leckie said before someone shouted out to Bob.
David watched over his shoulder as three guys made their way over to David and Leckie. Leading the group was a tall, muscular, and grinning guy who was waving a beer in his hand. A short and skinny guy with a thin face followed behind him while a guy with blond curls and brown eyes and who looked like he wanted to be here as much as David did brought up the rear.
“Glad to see you made it out, Lucky,” the tall said as he shook Leckie’s hand enthusiastically.
“Wouldn’t miss this, you bastards,” Leckie said before he motioned to David. “This is Dave, my roommate. Had to pry him away from the books to get him here. Try and make sure he has a good night, alright? I want to see him at more parties this year.” Leckie shot David a wide grin before he motioned to the three guys. “Dave, this is Chuckler,” he motioned to the tallest who grinned wider at him, “Runner,” he pointed to the smallest, who nodded, “and Hoosier,” he finally landed on the blond haired boy, who was too busy lighting a cigarette to acknowledge them. “Hoosier lives on the fourth floor and Runner and Chuckler are both stuck on the third floor.”
While the three friends talked loudly, David stood next to Hoosier, who didn’t seem up to talking or being even remotely social, and couldn’t help but wonder what the hell their real names were and where they had gotten such ridiculous nicknames.
_______________________________________________________
Harry glanced into the half-open dorm room and looked at the back of the guy as he sat at his computer. He looked busy but in Harry’s mind, who the hell could be busy now before classes even started yet? Figuring that this kid needed a break, he knocked loudly on the door, causing the kid to jump slightly.
“Yes?” he asked as he turned around in his seat and inspected Harry with tired-looking brown eyes.
“Hey, kid, what are you doing spending you last day in front of a computer for,” Harry asked as he walked into the room and sat on one of the beds, not caring if he appeared pushy to the kid. “Don’t you know there’s a party going on tonight? Whole dorm’s invited.”
“Not really in the mood for it,” the kid said quietly with a shrug.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Harry insisted as he got up and walked over the seated guy. “Just go for an hour, it won’t kill you. You’re supposed to go out and do new things when you’re in college.”
Harry watched the indecision flicker across his face for a moment before he reached out, gripped the guys arm, and yanked him upwards, which elicited a cry from him.
“Just, come on,” Harry said. “I need a wingman since my roommate decided to up and leave me for some other guy.”
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“Just- just stop watching porn or whatever it is that you’re doing for an hour so we can talk to pretty girls, okay?” Harry cried with a roll of his eyes.
“Fine,” he said after a huff while he shook his arm out of Harry’s grip. “But after one hour I’m free to leave your ass without feeling bad.”
“Done and done,” he said with and as he slapped the kid’s laptop closed while he ignored the look he received. “So what’s your name, kid?”
“Carwood Lipton,” he said as he shoved his feet into his shoes.
“Well I’m Harry Welsh, Lip,” he said as he patted the kid, Carwood, on the back. “Roommate’s the R.A. just as an F.Y.I.; got some friends in high places if you ever find yourself in a sticky situation.”
Carwood fixed Harry with a disapproving look that gave him the distinct feeling that his mother was about to scold him. He shook his head to rid himself of the thought before he wrapped an arm around the guy’s shoulders and led him toward the door.
“You’re gonna have a great time, Lip.”
“Is that what you say to all of the people you kidnap or am I special?”
“Gee, thanks,” Lip said as they walked down the stairs. “That’s what my mom tells me.”
Harry stopped and looked at the kid before he laughed, shaking his head.
“You know what, I like you, Lip,” Harry said with a nod of his head. “I’m gonna have to drag you out of that box more often.”
____________________________________________________
Leckie was moving around the crowd, third beer, maybe fourth, he wasn’t really keeping track, in hand, while he smiled at his fellow students, feeling on top of the fucking world. He had lost Web sometime after his second beer and he doubted the kid was even still at the party but at least Leckie managed to get him out of the room for an hour at least.
“Lucky!” Chuckler shouted to him as he barreled through the crowd towards him, a pretty, giggling, brunette on his arm. “Thought I lost you man.”
“Nah just got a little turned around in the crowd,” Leckie said as he watched a group of pretty girls pass him. “Hello ladies.”
“Do you know where Hoosier went to?” he asked as he scanned the crowd in search of their blond friend.
“Probably ditched the party already,” Leckie said as he pulled out a pack of cigarette and lite one. “Same with Dave. Party poopers.”
“Ah, let ‘em be,” Chuckler said.
Leckie opened his mouth, planning on asking where the hell Runner had gone off to as well, when his entire focus was thrown out the window at the sight of a girl who had just passed by. She had long, dark, curly hair and pale skin and by the direction she was headed, looked as if she was on her way out of the party.
“Hey, where you running off to?!” Chuckled yelled as Leckie began running after the girl as fast as he could, which really wasn’t fast at all between the beers and the clusters of people in the way and all the damn sand.
“Hey!” Leckie called after the girl as he maneuvered through the people. “Hey! Wait up!”
The girl stopped, looked at Leckie over her shoulder for a moment, before she shook her head slightly, and began walking away from the party. Once Leckie reached the edge of the party where there are less people and less sand, he managed to speed up and reach the girl, but not without falling flat on his face first.
“Are you okay?” she asked as Leckie tried to stand up but fumbled.
“I’m better now that I caught up to you,” he said while he smiled up to her. “Why were you leaving the party so early?”
“I have class at eight in the morning tomorrow,” she said with a small smile. “I thought it’d be nice to get some sleep.”
“I’ve got class at eight in the morning too,” Leckie said with a grin. “What class?”
“You’re going to have some trouble getting there in the morning,” she said with a shake of her head.
“What’s your first class?” Leckie repeated. “Maybe we have the same class or I can walk you there or we can grab coffee on the way.”
The girl smiled down at him for a moment before she sighed and shook her head again, but it seemed to be more a gesture to herself than a denial of Leckie’s offers.
“I’ve got English in Matilda Hall,” she answered.
“Well what a coincidence, so do I,” Leckie said with a grin as he managed to stand up correctly. “So I’ll see you in the morning?”
The girl stared at him for a long moment before she smiled again and let out a sigh. She started to dig through her purse before she pulled out a slip of paper and a pen and began to write sometime down. She handed him the slip, gripping his hand for a moment longer than necessary.
“You’re a bold one, drunk,” she said. “Let’s see how you do tomorrow when you’re sober. I’m in room 208.”
Leckie glanced at the paper, ten digits that clearly were her phone number, before he felt a wide smile grow on his face. The girl giggled at him before she turned and began walking away once again.
“My name’s Stella by the way! In case you were wondering,” she called over her shoulder before she picked up her pace.
“I’ll see you bright and early, Stella!” he called before he turned around to find Chuckler and Runner staring at him impressed.
“Impressive,” Runner said with a nod.
“That made my night, Leckie!” Chuckler yelled as he slapped him on the back.
Leckie returned to the party, grinning ear to ear, but all he could think about for the rest of the night was Stella and how he had never been more excited to have an eight in the morning class.
________________________________________________________
“See, Lip, this is what fun looks like,” Harry said as he and his new friend reached the party, which was now in full swing. The sun had just gone down and someone had built a large bon fire. Music blasted from somewhere within the party and students ran around, laughing, shouting, drinking, and dancing, knowing tonight was their last night of freedom.
“Oh really now?” Lip asked. “Eighteen years of life and I never encountered fun before.”
“No one likes sassy bitch,” Harry said after a pause. “Now let’s go get some drinks and scope out the place.”
Lip followed Harry to the coolers, where Harry offered him a cold beer but he kindly refused and grabbed a soda out of a lonely, neighboring cooler instead. He was glad that Harry didn’t press him to drink; even though he knew he could say no, he had said no to friends before, it always left things a little awkward.
He scanned the crowd, looking for a familiar face, maybe his roommate, Jay, since he said he was going out for a bit, but no one’s name came to mind. A lot of the guys seemed familiar, probably from his floor, but he just wasn’t the kind of guy to go up to another person he didn’t know and start shooting the shit.
“Hey! Ron!” Harry called out as he cracked open his beer, spraying some into the air.
Carwood watched as a dark-haired guy stopped and turned to look at Harry. He was handsome, no one could deny that, with dark hair and sharp green eyes. He looked at Harry and Carwood for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to go over to them, before he closed the couple of feet that had been between them.
“Didn’t think you’d be out here in this mob, Ron,” Harry said as he smiled at the grim-faced young man.
“I was just on my way out, actually,” Ron said.
“What no bites tonight?” Harry teased. “Figured you might get something with this new crowd.”
“Not everyone goes out in search of a hook up, Harry,” he said in a disapproving tone.
“Yeah and those people are either lying or in a relationship,” he said before he smiled and added, “Or lying about being in a relationship.”
“No one thinks you’re funny, Harry,” Ron said in his slightly harsh business-man tone of voice. “I thought we asked you to stop trying to be.”
“I’m funny dammit,” Harry said. “Just because you wouldn’t know a joke if it started dancing on a stripper pole in front of you in drag doesn’t mean the rest of us are as oblivious.”
Harry turned to Lip, who hadn’t said anything since Ron’s arrival, and motioned to him with his beer can.
“Ron, this is Lip, he’s a freshman on our floor,” Harry introduced. “Lip, Ron’s a sophomore, watch out, he bites.”
If looks could kill Lipton was rather sure that the expression on Ron’s face would have sent Harry six feet under in a heartbeat. Harry didn’t seem concerned by the look however, as he continued on drinking.
“You haven’t seen Dick, have you?” Harry asked.
“If you’re surprised I’m here why would you ever think Dick would be here?” Ron asked.
“I don’t know where he ran off to,” Harry said with a shrug. “He ran off a couple hours ago with that kid you’re rooming with, Lew or something, and I haven’t seen him since. Thought maybe you two met up and decided to come to this party without me.”
“Don’t get a girlfriend, Harry, you’ll be jealous of every guy who comes within a city block of her,” Ron mused, causing Carwood to chuckle quietly.
Ron turned to look at Lip, who stared back, unabashed. Lip watched as the corner of Ron’s lips quirked up into the faintest of smirks. Lipton watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
“Cigarette?” he asked with the hint of a smile still on his face.
“Oh come on now, Ron, there’s no point in trying to scare the kid,” Harry said in exasperation. “Most of the newbies don’t know your little stories so there’s no point. Put them away.”
“Who says I was trying to scare him,” Ron said as he pulled one out for himself and lit it before he motioned the pack back to Lip.
“No thanks,” he said. “I don’t smoke.”
“Oh so you’ll offer him a smoke but not me,” Harry said as Ron stowed away the pack. “I see how it is.”
“Yup,” Ron said as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“I don’t need this,” Harry grumbled before he downed the rest of his drink and dove into the crowd of people, leaving Carwood alone with Ron.
________________________________________________________
“Thought you were gonna miss the whole party, Bill,” Julian said as Bill sat down in between his two friends, a fresh beer in hand.
“Excuse me, princess, I was busy,” Bill hissed as he cracked open the beer, drinking it down quickly so that the foam wouldn’t go all over.
“Doing what?” Babe asked as he stared at the roaring campfire in front of them.
“I was talking to Henry, okay you little shits,” Bill growled.
“What the hell?” Babe cried. “When the hell did this happen?”
“Why didn’t you tell us, man?” Julian cried.
“Hey, Bill, you made it!” Spina said as he sat down on Babe’s other side.
“Yeah, he made it and this fucker didn’t tell us that Henry was gonna call,” Julian said as he pointed an accusatory finger at Bill, who swatted it away.
“What?” Spina asked. “Why didn’t you tell us? We would have waited to leave.”
“If he had more time I would have fucking told you I was talking to Henry, alright?!” Bill cried in annoyance. “But he didn’t have long so I wasn’t gonna get your hopes up when I barely had a minute to talk to him.”
Henry was one of Bill’s older siblings and was the closest in age to Bill, with Bill being the youngest of ten Guarnere children. The four of them loved Henry and Henry loved them all as if they were all his bratty little brothers; they were a package deal after all. Henry was in the army and had been redeployed to somewhere in the Middle East halfway through their senior year of high school. Bill and Henry had always been close, even for sibling standards. Whenever Henry could manage, he tried to get a hold of Bill, even if they could just talk for a minute or two. Babe knew that even though Bill kept most of his feelings deep inside, he was always extremely worried about his brother, especially since he got redeployed to such a war-torn area. It surprised Babe if a day passed where Bill didn’t check the news about the war.
“How’s Henry doing?” Babe asked.
“He’s fine, I guess, I don’t know,” Bill muttered as he drank his beer. “Can’t say much of course but he sounded alright, tired, but alright.”
“Do you know where he’s gonna get to go on leave?” Spina asked.
“No,” Bill answered with a heavy sigh. “But he’ll let me know when he knows so… so I’ll let you dumbasses know so you can bother him when he comes home.”
“We do not bother him,” Julian yelled. “He loves us more than he loves you.”
“That’s the worse lie I’ve ever heard you say, Jules,” Bill said with a shake of his head. “And I was there when you tried to convince Maggie that Santa Claus lived on 15th street above the bowling alley.”
“I fucking know what I saw and no one can tell me different,” Julian said firmly.
“How the fuck did this idiot get into college?” Babe asked Spina and Bill, who laughed while Julian pouted and hit Babe up the side of his head.
Feeling happy and content, Babe leaned back to lay on the sand, letting the warmth of the sand and the fire cover him like a warm blanket while he closed his eyes. His peace was disrupted a moment later when clumps of sand started to rain down on him.
“What the fuck guys?! I’m relaxing here!”
“And you can relax if you’re buried so quit fucking moving around,” Bill said with a shit eating grin as he began pushing mounds of sand onto him. “Julian, hold him down!”
“What the fuck?!” Babe shouted, not caring who was looking at them or what the thought. “I’m gonna kill you assholes!”
“This is just like fucking Coney Island when we were kids,” Julian laughed as he sat on Babe’s legs.
“Except now I’m getting some fucking payback,” Bill growled.
“I fucking hate all of you!” Babe yelled furiously, all of them knowing that Babe meant the very opposite in his heart.
_________________________________________________________
“’scuse me,” Harry said as he maneuvered through the crowd with a fresh beer in hand. “Pardon. Ah! Fucking watch where you’re going, ass.”
Harry attempted to swerve around three idiotic guys who were running around like three year olds hyped up on sugar (Dammit, Luz! Slow down I’m fucking sick of being ‘it’) but ended up being knocked out of the way anyhow and slammed right into the side of a girl.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Harry said as he got up from the ground and watched as the girl tried to get up, noticing that the sleeve of her sweater appeared to be soaked with fresh beer. “Are you okay? Let me help you up.”
“I’m okay,” the girl said as she gripped onto Harry’s hand and he helped her up.
“Sorry, it was an accident,” Harry apologized, feeling like an asshole even though it had been someone else’s fault.
“Oh, it’s okay,” the girl said as she finally looked up at him with a smile on her face. “No harm done.”
Harry felt his jaw drop as he took in the girl’s appearance. She was short, pixie-like, with a heart-shaped face, big green eyes, curly golden blond hair, and long dark eyelashes. Her cheeks were red, whether from blush, booze, or if that was just how they always looked he didn’t know, but Harry liked it, a lot. He felt his heart stutter in his chest and felt as if he had tunnel vision just for this girl, this beautiful girl with a warm smile and a beer-stained sweater.
“Uh…” Harry stuttered as he felt his mouth go suddenly dry as the fucking Sahara. “I’m Harry. Sorry I spilled my drink on you.”
“I’m Kitty,” she said with a smile before she added with a shrug. “And don’t worry about the sweater. I borrowed it from my roommate.”
“Well I bet it looks better on you than it does on her,” Harry said.
Kitty blushed and hid her face behind her hair for a moment before she looked back up at Harry and nodded.
“Smooth line, do you use that on all the other girls that are here?” Kitty asked in a teasing tone.
“What other girls?” Harry asked honestly; he only had eyes for one girl and she was standing right in front of him.
“You are one sly little devil, aren’t you, Harry?” Kitty asked calmly, still blushing bright red.
“Maybe,” he said as he leaned a little closer to her.
________________________________________________________
He didn’t even know why he was at the party. It was just filled with idiots who were drunk on one cheap beer and blaming all their overly idiotic behavior on the end of summer.
“You know you look like the creepy guy parents tell you to avoid at parties, right?”
Snafu glanced out of the corner of his eye as his new acquaintance, Burgin, stops and stands next to him, new drink in hand.
“Who says I give a fuck,” he asked as he pulled out his dwindling cigarettes and lit up a new one.
“Don’t bite my head off, Snaf,” Burgin said as he pulled out a pack of his own smokes. “Just telling it like it is.”
“Whatever, you idiot,” he sighed as he took a long drag from his cigarette.
Snafu and Burgin both turn to see their friend Jay followed by a guy Shelton was pretty sure was on his floor. Jay and Burgin were friends from back home or something so when Merriel started talking to Burgin, he got Jay too. Jay wasn’t annoying or anything, he just wasn’t used to so many people his age that willingly talked to him and acted as if he was a normal person.
“This is Lip,” Jay said as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the guy, who raises a hand in hello. “He’s my roommate.”
“Heya, Lip,” Burgin said with a nod. “You can call me Burgin or Burgy, whatever.”
“Anyhow, guess where I just recused Lip from,” Jay said as he stole a swig from Burgin’s beer.
“Where? And damn Jay, get your own damn drink. I don’t know where your mouth has been.”
“Dude, Lip was chilling by Spiers,” Jay said with wide eyes.
“Why the hell was he by Spiers?” Burgin asked before he addressed Lip. “Loose a bet or something?”
“What? No,” Lip said, clearly confused. “What’s wrong with the guy?”
“Haven’t you heard the rumors?”
“What rumors?” Snafu asked, feeling mildly curious about what they were talking about.
“Damn, Snaf, you have Spiers on your own floor and you don’t know about him?” Burgin asked. “Kids across campus know about Spiers.”
“Guess I’m not one for rumors,” Merriel mumbled while he thought this is what kids back home must had said about him. (Don’t you know who that is? Didn’t you hear what he did? How could you not know?)
“Anyways, I guess sometime last year Spiers’s roommate got wasted and so he threw him out the fucking window or something,” Burgin said.
“That’s a load of shit,” Shelton said with a lazy grin. “The fucking windows don’t open. Don’t wanna let kids jump during finals week.”
“They don’t open this year,” Jay said. “But I heard they changed it after last year. Check out the windows, they’re all brand new.”
“I got better things to do than checking out my windows,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“Well that’s not the only thing that he’s done.”
“Oh really now?” Lip asked, who did not look as if he was actually interested.
“Yeah. I heard some kid at a party was smoking all up in his face and so Spiers made the kid eat his pack of smokes.”
“Heard he beat up an entire fraternity during a party at a frat house.”
Whatever else Spiers apparently did, Lip didn’t want to hear. Muttering an excuse that no one heard or cared about, he turned around and began walking away from the group. He had been at the party long enough. Harry had disappeared some time ago and it was actually getting a little late for someone who had to be up for an eight a.m. class. Feeling exasperated over the stories Jay and Burgin said, Lip let out a huff and left the party, unaware that a pair of eyes were following him as he left.
_______________________________________________________
Babe stopped, looked into the open dorm room, and found Eugene Sledge sitting on one of the beds, a decent-sized television set glowing in the dim room. Babe had talked to Eugene a couple of times, mainly because so many people were so interested in the fact that they rather looked similar, and he seemed like a good kid.
“What’s up, Eugene?” Babe asked as he leaned against the doorframe.
“Ah, I’m just freaking bored as hell,” Eugene said with a shrug as he flipped his television remote in his hand. “Almost everyone went to that party thing tonight.”
“Yeah I was just there,” Babe said as he took as step into the room. “Why didn’t you go?”
“Didn’t feel like it,” he sighed. “Figured I should probably try to get some rest before classes start, you know? Why did you come back early?”
“Ehh, I just… just felt like coming back,” Babe mumbled as he scratched his head. “Don’t really feel like going to bed though so I don’t know why I did.”
“Well, wanna watch a movie or something?” Eugene offered.
“Sure why not?” Babe said with a shrug as he sat down next to Eugene. “What movies you got?”
They ended up settling on the Avengers because Babe had seen it half a dozen times and figured if he ended up falling asleep early he wouldn’t miss anything. Half an hour into the movie and the two guys are disrupted by a knock on the door.
“Hey, guys, what’s going on here?” George Luz asked while his roommate, Frank, and another guy from another floor, Ray, stand behind him.
“Watching the Avengers,” Eugene answered. “Wanna join?”
“Oh hells yeah,” Ray said as he bounded into the room and jumped on the bed without a care in the world. “Love me some superheroes.”
“Move over, fat-ass,” Luz said as he gave the guy a shove while Frank sat down on the other side of Babe.
“Dude can we start this movie over?” Ray yelled. “I always miss the first ten minutes cus every time I went to see it some retard in the theater was always yacking away.”
“You sure it wasn’t you?” Babe quipped as Sledge started the movie over again.
The group was interrupted an hour later by Sidney, Eugene’s roommate, who was only momentarily started by the amount of guys in his room before he shrugged and laid down on top of his bed while he watched the movie. Fifteen minutes after that Babe looked up just in time to see Bill, Julian, and Spina as they stopped at the open door with a curious look on their face. After a nod from Eugene, the three boys entered and took their seats on the floor. Ten minutes after that bought the room Skip, Don Malarkey, and Alex Penkala and they were forced to pause the movie while the three new additions jostled for a spot on one of the beds.
As movie progressed, more and more of the boys from the fifth floor, along with some from the others, slowly filtered into the room until it was close to bursting capacity. Everyone was squashed next to someone or had someone’s feet in their lap or laid pressed up next to another guy because no one seemed to want to sit on the floor, no matter if there was more room there. No one seemed to have a problem with it.
Feeling warm, tired, and content, Babe closed his eyes and let himself fall into a doze and not caring that someone’s foot was jabbing him in the kidney and Ray kept shouting ‘no homo’ whenever he readjusted his feet that had been resting in his lap for the majority of the movie and some of the guys really needed to wear more deodorant. Everything as it was in that moment was perfect to him and if he had his way, he probably would have wished to stay there forever.
_______________________________________________________
“Aw, would you look at this, Dick,” Nixon said as he leaned against the doorframe of room 506 and stared at the mass of twenty or so guys that had fallen asleep inside.
“What is it?” Dick asked, looking slightly concerned, probably because the floor appeared empty for once, which at this hour was troubling to an R.A.
“Look at them all,” Lew said with a grin. “Precious little assholes.”
“Hey, they’re good kids,” Dick said as he peered inside with a soft smile on his face. “Couple days together and the building’s still standing? I think we’re doing just fine here.”
Lew looked up at Dick and because he was so damn close and the entire floor appeared to be passed out, he tilted his face upwards and kissed Dick, who responded positively.
“You guys are gross,” Harry declared bluntly as he stood in the doorway of 501, not looking the least bit surprised. “It’s like you’re fucking parents goo-gooing over your brats after they’ve passed out.”
“You’re just jealous, Welshie,” Nix said with a smirk.
“Jealous of what? You guys just inherited a butt load of kids and you haven’t even banged or get to enjoy the tax deduction that come with kids,” he said as he leaned against the frame.
“Geez, you’re such a cheery little Leprechaun,” Nix quipped.
Harry grinned, the rather obvious gap in his teeth was visible from where Lew stood down the hall, before he raised his hand and flipped Nixon off.
Laughing, Nix gripped Dick’s hand and led them down the hall toward their respective rooms. Standing in the gap in-between the two rooms, Nix gripped the back of Dick’s head and kissed him once again, feeling warm and tingly all over.
“Do you mind making out somewhere else?” Ron asked as he stuck his head outside his room and gave the two a flat look. “There are approximately nine other rooms on the floor that are unoccupied and you have to do that in front of the two that have people in them?”
“Fucking thank you, Ron!” Harry cried from inside his own room.
“Night, Dick,” Nix said with a sigh as he slowly slipped away from him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Grab some breakfast before class?” Dick offered as he continued to grip Nix’s hand.
Grinning like an idiot, Lewis walked into his room and collapsed on top of his bed. If anyone told them that they had had a better day than him today, he would have severely doubted it. Nothing could bring him down.
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