Adrien's POV

Later that evening, after making myself some dinner and working on my sketch of Luka from earlier, I got a FaceTime call from Preston on my laptop.

For the last few weeks, we've barely had time to talk, only texting each other from time to time throughout the week, so we both agreed to plan a day and time that we could set aside to talk to each other face to face online. Today was that day.

"Hey, Adrien," Preston said, a smile on his face when his visual appeared on my laptop screen. I smiled back at him.

He looked great, as always. His dark hair was swept back out of his face, and he wore a simple light grey t-shirt that was slightly baggy, but also accentuated his muscles quite well. His pale blue eyes were light and vibrant all the same, and I couldn't help but bite my lip. I felt like I haven't seen his face in forever. We've always been talking in text messages, so I never got to see his face, except for when he would post photos of himself on his Instagram, either by himself or with his roommates.

Ugh, I missed him so much. I wanted to see him again. In person. And hug him. Feel his comforting arms around me, holding me tight. Hear his smile and laugh in person. Smell his favourite cologne.

"Hey," I replied, "how has your week been?"

Preston laughed, "Uhhh, very busy. Taking three science courses and a math course, it really takes up my time. I have so many lab assignments due every week, plus quizzes, so my hands are always full it seems."

"Ugh, yeah, that does sound tough," I nodded.

"Yeah. What about you?" Preston asked, "been busy over there? Are you still taking your meds?"

I rolled my eyes slightly at his last question, smiling lightly, "Yes, I'm always on top of my meds. And I'm not as busy as you seem to be, but yeah. I've got a lot of art projects that I need to work on still."

"Hey, don't roll your eyes at me, I just want to make sure you're taking care of yourself, ya know? Gotta make sure you're doing okay," Preston chuckled.

"And I'm doing fine, you don't have to worry about me," I told him.

Preston opened his mouth to reply before he was interrupted as I heard an unfamiliar male's voice on his end.

"Preston! What are you doing?" A male came into view, as he plopped down next to Preston on his bed, staring into the laptop, "oh! Is this the little ole famous Adrien?"

Preston rolled his eyes, "yes, Elijah, this is Adrien."

Elijah. I recognized him from Preston's Instagram photos, and I remember Preston mentioning an Elijah guy, but I never put a name to the face or a face to the name.

Elijah grinned, waving at me through the screen, "Hello, Adrien! So nice to finally see your face, even though it's through a laptop screen. Preston talks a lot about you!"

"He does?" I chuckled, raising a brow curiously. Elijah laughed.

"Psh, are you kidding? Of course he does. It's like he's in love with you or something."

I laughed. Preston smacked Elijah on the shoulder, "don't you, I don't know, have calculus homework to do or something?"

"Ow! Why are you so mean to me?" Elijah pouted at him. Preston scoffed.

"Because you're like a bug, you're everywhere and almost impossible to get rid of."

"Wow, that's so mean. I'm deeply hurt," Elijah whined, placing a hand to his chest, "my heart aches, Preston."

I couldn't help but laugh at them. I covered my mouth with my hand, hiding the wide smile on my face while trying to hold back my laughter.

"Yeah well, go do your calculus homework. Eat some brownies."

Elijah shook his head in feigned disbelief. He stuck his tongue out at Preston, who stuck his tongue out back at him. Elijah then waved at me through the screen, saying his goodbyes before Preston pushed him off the bed, and out of camera sight. Eventually, I heard footsteps leave and a door close.

"Elijah is...something," I commented with a laugh. Preston shook his head and chuckled.

"Yeah, he really is," Preston smiled crookedly, "are your roommates just as weird as mine are?"

"Maybe just a little," I grinned, "but, actually...I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Preston raised a brow.

"It's about the whole making friends thing...and how I was nervous about making friends because well, people don't really tend to like me?" I laughed slightly, "well...I guess you were right."

"Oh?" Preston chuckled, tilting his head, "why's that? Did you meet someone?"

I nodded with a smile, "Yeah, actually. On the first day of classes, I bumped into this king. His name is Luka. I was so embarrassed when I bumped into him cause his books fell on the ground, but he was really nice about it. And uh, well...we actually had the same class after that, so we started talking, and now we pretty much hang out every day at lunch. He's really nice and I like him a lot. I think you would like him too."

Preston was quiet for a moment, listening intently. He seemed to be processing what I said before he hummed, and flashed me a light smile, "yeah? That's great. I'm really glad that you're starting to make friends. It's good."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, of course," Preston nodded, "I told you, you're likable. You're going to make friends, even if it's hard at first. So I'm glad that you're meeting new people."

"Thanks, Preston," I said, "means a lot to me. And I can't wait to see you again. I miss you a lot."

"I miss you a lot too, Adrien."

Preston and I talked for a couple of hours, and by the time we ended the call, I closed my laptop and laid back on my bed, my back hitting the mattress. I looked up at the ceiling, a soft smile on my face.

Maybe this college thing wasn't going to be so bad after all.