Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
KEVIN
I stayed in bed for the rest of Sunday, only leaving for bathroom breaks and to eat the takeout Bernie had brought over.
He looked just as hungover as I felt, but he still took the time to bring me food when I texted him that I didn’t want to leave my dorm today.
Bernie was a little spoiled—a product of his upbringing—and liked going with his own flow, but he was one of the best people I knew. He was always there and took care of me without me even needing to ask for it.
Sometimes I wondered why I couldn’t just have feelings for him instead of all the unattainable crushes I’d had in my life. It would make my life so much easier.
But the thought of being with Bernie made me want to puke, and I was sure he felt the same. We were practically brothers.
Bernie had dropped off the food and left just as quickly, which was odd. He usually stayed to hang out or chat for a bit when he came over, but his shadow was gone before I could even ask what was wrong.
He sent a quick answer when I texted him to ask what the hell was going on, but his reply was a curt ‘ Nothing ’ that made me know for sure that something was definitely up.
I didn’t push and enjoyed my Pad Thai instead. Bernie would tell me when he was ready.
The next morning, I finally dragged myself out of my room. I had an early chem class I regretted letting Bernie convince me to take.
Mornings were meant for sleeping in and lazing in bed until it was time for lunch, not listening to a monotone-sounding man drone on about chemical reactions and compounds.
Bernie slipped into the seat beside me right before our professor reached his spot behind the podium and began his lecture.
“Are you okay?” I asked when I turned to look at him. He looked like shit. If possible, his dark circles were even darker than they were last night.
“Fine,” he muttered, but the way he flopped over his textbooks wasn’t convincing.
He was asleep within seconds, blowing out soft snores.
It was a good thing we sat at the back of the big lecture hall, and even more lucky that a giant of a man sat in the seat right in front of Bernie.
I didn’t know what the hell my best friend was doing for him to be this tired, but I let him be and slipped his clicker out of his backpack to help him answer the mini quiz our professor gave us at the start of every class.
Bernie was still sleeping by the time the lecture was over. It took a couple of tries shaking his arm before I was able to wake him.
He stood and stretched his arms over his head. His shirt rode up to expose the hard abs I’d always been jealous of.
Bernie and I were about the same build. We were both thin, but while I looked like a skeleton with human skin hanging off it, Bernie hid tight bundles of muscles under his skin.
Genetics were so unfair.
“There’s nothing like a science lecture to put you to sleep,” Bernie joked as we gathered our items.
Science wasn’t really Bernie’s thing. He wasn’t bad at it; in fact, it was the opposite, but he’d once told me he thought watching the morning grass grow was more interesting.
I found it hilarious, considering he was in the same premed program I was in and science was practically going to consume our lives for the foreseeable future.
“Why are you so tired, anyway? What did you do last night?”
“Nothing!” he peeped out.
The way he said that had my suspicions rising. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Bernie…don’t tell me you stayed up all night spam-texting your ex-girlfriend again.”
“What? No! And that was only one time, okay?” he said with a frustrated growl.
The look I shot him clearly stated I didn’t believe him. His girlfriend broke up with him right before winter break, saying that she couldn’t deal with his clinginess any longer. Bernie was still trying to get over the relationship, and I’d caught him texting her during a weak moment more than once over the past few months.
“I really didn’t! You can check my phone if you want!”
He unlocked his phone and showed me his last text conversations. As he’d said, he hadn’t texted his ex.
At that moment, a text notification popped up from Lance. I only read the word ‘… tonight ’ before Bernie jerked the phone back and slid it into his pocket without even reading the text first.
He’d never been this secretive with this phone before, and that had me even more curious.
I didn’t want to ask about Lance since I’d vowed I was going to steer clear of him for the rest of time. I couldn’t face him again after what happened yesterday…
“Are you meeting up with Lance tonight or something?” I found myself asking before I could think better of it.
It seemed I was intent on torturing myself with news about the man.
“Or something,” Bernie replied. He slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Gotta head to my next class. See you at lunch!”
He was gone before I could grill him to give me a better answer. Grumbling, I headed back to my dorm room. My next class had been canceled, so I was planning on napping for a couple more hours.
One of the things I loved about living at Magnolia Park was the beautiful scenery that surrounded the building. The building felt like it was tucked in the middle of a forest, since it was right next to the giant park.
It was about a fifteen-minute walk from the science building, but the time passed quickly with all the interesting sights on the path.
Ducks, and even the occasional swan, swam in the lake. The way they could glide over the water without leaving a single ripple on the surface had always fascinated me.
Eta Gamma hosted a barbecue here last summer. It was a smaller gathering since most people were home for summer vacation.
I’d stayed with Bernie that week, so I’d attended the event. Lance was there, too. He’d been in charge of the barbecuing, which meant I spent the majority of my day staring at him.
His face had been flushed from the heat of the grill. A bead of sweat had trickled down his face. Even I’d felt the heat, not from the glaring sun, but from how smoking hot he was.
Lance had been mesmerizing in the tight tank he wore that showed off all those delicious arm muscles. I could’ve just drooled from the sight, and I remembered making a huge fool of myself that day— actually drooling—as I watched Lance stride toward me to give me a burger. I’d been half-tempted to ask him to hand-feed it to me but had just managed to stop myself.
I shook my head.
Thinking about Lance and making a fool of myself in front of him was the last thing I needed right now, so I cleared my mind and focused on the squirrel that was currently running parallel to me.
My brief companion abandoned me for a magnolia tree right as I passed the spot where the barbecue took place last year. It was like even the wildlife on campus was telling me to go fuck myself…and there went my vow to not think about Lance again.
I was unsuccessful at keeping Lance from my thoughts for the rest of the day.
At lunch, I tried to probe Bernie about the text message from this morning.
Why were they meeting up tonight? Was it frat business or something else entirely?
Bernie evaded my question, which didn’t help with my curiosity. I tried every possible way to get an answer out of him, but his lips were sealed.
And that meant it was even harder to keep Lance off my mind. I was still unsuccessful in clearing my thoughts when my last class finished and I went back to my dorm room for the night.
After showering, I looked around the room, trying to look for something to distract me until I fell asleep. But before I could decide if I wanted to watch a movie on my laptop or actually finish up the homework that was due later this week, there was a knock on my door.
I hadn’t made plans with anyone, not that I could remember anyway, so I figured it was my RA delivering some news or something.
Instead, Bernie was the one standing outside. He was dressed in one of the outfits his frat had for the Valentine’s telegram charity they were doing this week. He wore the accurate heart one.
“What are you?—”
Before I got the last of the words out, more of his frat bros popped up from beside the door. I jumped back in surprise when they broke out in song and dance.
There were ten of them, including Bernie, all dressed in those Valentine’s Day costumes, and singing ‘ All I Want For Christmas ,’ but instead of Christmas , they substituted Valentine’s .
Their synchronized dancing was a lot better than their off-key singing, but the show was amusing, nevertheless. People from other dorm rooms on my floor popped their heads out of their room to watch the show too, and before I knew it, a crowd had gathered.
I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but with all the eyes that were currently on us, I was feeling a bit shy about the whole thing.
That was until Bernie and his bros parted in the middle to reveal a man in a suit, holding a bouquet of red roses in front of him, covering his face.
The others stopped singing, and the suited man lowered the roses. Everything else faded away as I feasted my eyes on Lance. I’d never seen him in a suit before, and that was a damn shame because he looked fine . More than fine. The most handsome person I’d ever seen.
I wasn’t able to stare long before Lance was opening his mouth and singing, perfectly on key, about how I could make his wish come true by being his Valentine.
He took another step closer and held the bouquet out toward me.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t brave enough to ask you out sooner, but I meant what I said yesterday. I like you, Kevin. I’ve liked you for a long time, and I know I’m an idiot for not asking you out earlier, but I hope I’m not so much of an idiot that you won’t give me another chance. So will you be my Valentine?”
I could practically feel everyone’s eyes on me as he waited for my answer. I didn’t make him wait long before I was jumping into his arms and crushing our lips together.
There was a brief nugget of worry that I was taking this too fast. This was our first kiss, after all, and here I was, rushing into it before we even got to our first date—and in front of all these people to boot!
They were clapping and cheering now. And I believe I heard one of Lance’s frat bros jokingly yell for us to get a room.
But then Lance wrapped his free arm around me, and everything else faded away. His grip was tight on my lower back as he pulled me until our fronts were flushed.
I yelped when he bent me backward.My arms wrapped around his neck as I held on tight, and then laughed as he kissed me senseless.
When he finally pulled back and put me steady on my feet, I murmured, “Yes, I want to be yours and for you to be mine. Probably since the moment I first laid eyes on you, all I’ve wanted is you.”