The last thing I expected to see today was a random guy standing in my room. Worse than that, he's looking through my drawers, removing items then putting them back neatly. "Hey! What are you doing?"
"Oh, hi!" He rushes over to shake my hand. "My name's Evan. Evan Perry."
"I'm Finn. What are you doing in my room? Are you lost?"
"I'm your new roommate. Weren't you told that I was coming?"
"Nope." I must admit, this guy is quite cute. For a guy, I mean. "So, uh... do you need any help unpacking?" He shakes his head and picks up his large box of luggage. He neatly folds his clothes into the chest of drawers, placing each pair of socks neatly to take up less room. "You can keep your clothes on the floor if you want."
"Why would I put them on the floor?"
"That's what I do. It makes it easier to get dressed in the morning."
He looks over to my floordrobe with a concerned look on his face. "But don't your clothes get creased?"
"Yep. I don't mind though." I've never been very hygienic, which hopefully doesn't become a problem between us. If he wants the room to be clean, he'll just have to clean it himself.
"If I'd known you were coming, I might've cleaned up a bit." There are packets of food falling out of and surrounding the bin, pieces of paper stacked on my desk and a new stain on the floor, with an unknown origin. I've lived by myself for four months and I've grown to love it. I can keep my things anywhere I want, walk around naked and do embarrassing things without being laughed at, so I probably won't like having a roommate. And I know nothing about him, just his name.
"When you've done, do you wanna get lunch with me?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. We should probably get to know each other since you live here now. Meet me in the cafeteria if you know where it is."
"I will, thank you!" This guy is acting like eating with me is an honour. What was his name again? Evan? He seems a bit shy, I hope I can get him out of his shell soon. I never get on well with shy people, they're too quiet and aren't a lot of fun to be around. The cafeteria is on a different campus to our rooms, so it takes a few minutes to get there. When I reach the cafeteria, I see Oscar, Nate and Reuben sitting on a table by the wall and jog over to join them.
"Hey bro, how's it going? Tell me what you think of this." Nate shoves his phone in my face, showing me a picture of some Playboy model's boobs. "Smash or pass?"
"She looks like she has a bitchy personality. Pass."
"What? How can you say no to these?" He zooms in on her chest. "I'm pretty sure you're gay, dude." They all laugh and mime sucking a dick.
"I'm not gay."
"Come on, man! Every girl who sees you chases after you, you've never even had a girlfriend!"
"I don't want one."
"That's because he wants a boyfriend." Oscar sniggers and punches me on the shoulder.
"Shut up, man." Now that I think about it, I've never really had a crush on a girl, but that's just because none of them has ever interested me. At least that's what I've been telling everyone, how am I supposed to know if it's something else?
"Hey, guess what happened earlier? I found a random guy in my room just standing there looking through my stuff."
"He's probably an admirer of yours."
"I told you to stop with that." He raises his hands in surrender when he hears the anger in my voice. "Anyway, apparently he's my new roommate."
"You'd better invite me to the wedding."
"I swear to god-"
"Okay! Okay! It's just a joke, man!."
"I invited him to join us cause' he probably hasn't made any friends yet. He seems innocent, so please don't make him as dirty minded as you three are."
"Fine, we promise not to make him too dirty minded. Is that him?" He points over to Evan, who hasn't spotted us yet and looks extremely lost.
"Evan! Over here!" He smiles and quickly walks over to us, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. "This is Nate, Oscar and Reuben. You'll probably see a lot of them cause' they follow me around everywhere."
"Fuck you, dude. We only follow you to get with the girls you reject. It's easy to seduce girls with broken hearts." Oscar and Reuben laugh in agreement, winking at a group of girls who were listening to our conversation.
"That's pretty sad." Evan's voice is barely louder than a whisper. He's probably trying to make a good first impression despite how obviously uncomfortable he is. Nate stares at him for a second, creating a very awkward silence, but thankfully starts laughing along with me and the other two.
"That's a good way to describe them. Sad and desperate." I add, mouthing 'Don't mind them' to Evan.
"Again, fuck you." Reuben raises his eyebrow and bites his lip, gesturing to the corner of the room. "Look who just walked in." Trisha and her minions, Evelyn, Diana and Phoebe strut over to their usual table, waving at those who look their way. "Well, I'm off to work my seductive magic, see ya' later Finn." And with that, all three of them leave.
"Those are your friends?" Evan doesn't look very confident. This whole place must be quite daunting to someone who hasn't been here for very long. The entire school was rebuilt a few years ago, upgraded with high-tech computers, bigger rooms for the students to stay in and useless scenery, like random shrubs next to classrooms that guys piss in before the class starts.
"They'll find a way to grow on you, even if they seem like assholes. So what do you think of the place?"
"It's a lot bigger than my old college. I'll probably end up getting lost."
"Everyone thinks that at first, but you'll learn your way around pretty quickly. Do you want something to eat?"
"Oh, uh... maybe a sandwich."
"I'll get it for you. Lunch is free, but if you get here when it runs out you have to buy some from the shop. It'll make up those idiots making you uncomfortable."
"You noticed that?"
I laugh through my nose. "It would've been difficult not to notice it."
I walk to the small tuck shop in the cafeteria and pick out a turkey sandwich for Evan, thanking the lady behind the counter as I hand over my change. I get a can of Coke and a Snickers bar from the vending machine for myself, then turn to head back to the table.
A swarm of eleven or twelve people has engulfed the table in the small amount of time that I've been gone, Evan in the centre with a bowed head, looking extremely nervous. No, terrified is a better word to describe the look on his face. Each of them asks a different question at once, practically shouting over each other to get his attention. I push my way through and grab his arm, pulling him off the bench to safety. He tries to shake my arm away at first until he realises who's pulling him, gladly accepting the rescue.
"Hey! What are you doing? We're trying to talk to him!"
"Give him some space! Can't you see how uncomfortable you're making him?" They all stop talking and look down in shame as if they've just been told off by a parent. Evan turns his back to them and wipes his eyes, breathing heavily and staring at the ground intensely. I grab his arm and pull him to the corridor, out of sight from everyone in the cafeteria.
"T-Thank you." He smiles weakly, a single tear falling down his cheek. I instinctively wrap my arms around him and let him sob into my shoulder. Wait, what am I doing? I barely know him, yet I hug him without even hesitating. It must be because he's so innocent, it's like he's a little kid that needs protecting from the world.
It's been a long time since I've hugged anyone and it feels oddly comforting. I loosen my grip on him as voices start approaching from the cafeteria. Evan hides his face from them, wiping his eyes and taking deep breaths.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you were so shy."
"Don't blame yourself. You didn't know what would happen."
"I won't leave you again." I didn't realise how romantic it sounded until I said it. Evan smiles at me, not only with his mouth but with his eyes too. I hadn't had the chance to look into them until now, but his eyes are breathtaking. They're the colour of the ocean, a deep blue that you can drown in. I get lost in his eyes and feel my heart beat faster, while he stares back into mine.
"Thank you. I feel a lot better now."
I snap back to the conversation, feeling my face heat up even more. "S-sure, no problem." What just happened? I couldn't look away. For a few seconds, he was the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Maybe Nate was right- maybe I am gay. No, all it means is that he has nice eyes and that I got embarrassed. But then, why do I feel so happy?
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