Chapter 20
MASON
The rest of the weekend passes with no appalling disturbances from Mason’s family or Joel.
He feels giddy on the drive back to campus.
His dad going on about how much he loves Joel doesn’t even deter him.
There’s so much opportunity in his future with Callum before he returns home for Thanksgiving next month. At least there’s one thing he can look forward to when he goes back home.
Even if everything hits the fan, at least Callum will be there.
It’s been such a long time since he has.
He breathes a sigh of relief when he walks into his dorm room and sees his bed and his desk.
He plunks all of his bags down and runs over to his bed.
“I missed you,” he says as he flops onto it onto his stomach and does a snow angel in it.
He smiles, loving how much he feels more relaxed and being out of Northwood and away from his family. Montgomery is starting to feel like home, and he isn’t sure he ever wants to leave.
The door opens.
“What are you doing?” his roommate’s disembodied voice asks.
Mason jolts out of his daze and picks himself back up, seeing Simon’s concerned stare from the doorframe.
“Just testing out the… mattress,” Mason says, averting his eyes from his him.
“I’m gonna… go…” Mason says as he picks up his book bag and runs off, hoping that Jenna is in her dorm or find somewhere to go for as long as possible, so his roommate doesn’t think he’s the weirdest person on campus.
He instead is already going into full-on midterms mode and wants to start studying as soon as he can.
Even though it’s late on a Sunday night, he needs to get his mind off of Callum, and it’s a slippery slope to getting involved with him, still.
They might be starting something, but Callum is still a sought-after quarterback and one of the most popular guys in the college.
He has other things to focus on, and Mason doesn’t want to be a distraction.
The warm glow of the Freeman Library in all of its brick and ivy glory comes into view as he pulls his plaid jacket closer to him, the fresh October wind making him only more motivated to study.
He bursts through the mahogany doors, the tantalizing feeling of heaters blowing onto his skin relaxing him almost instantly.
He makes his way to the third floor where he and Jenna’s self-designated study spot is and finds his usual spot tucked away in the corner beside the stained-glass windows.
He plunks his bag down on the table but immediately realizes by how light the bag is that he forgot his Modern Physics textbook at his dorm, and considering how he feels lazy, he isn’t going to go back.
He sighs and asks a nearby student to watch his things as he slinks through the stacks of books looking for the physics section.
Mason zips his hoodie zipper up and down as he scans the books.
He’s never actually utilized the library for its main purpose—to read books. He can get his textbooks for free if he got them from the library, but he mostly just relies on his own money to pay for used ones.
He runs a finger along each textbook in the physics section, but something catches his eye. He turns and notices a hulking frame make its way into the same row as him on the other end.
His breath catches in his throat as he realizes without having to fully look that it’s Callum.
He lowers his hand from the bookshelf and turns his full body to Callum, suddenly forgetting what he’s doing in the first place.
Callum slowly walks over to Mason with a tentative smile playing on his lips, like he’s been waiting ages for this moment.
“What are you doing here?” Mason whispers, trying to keep himself from smiling like an idiot at Callum.
It’s been just over a day since their kiss, and it almost feels like it didn’t happen, but being within feet of Callum makes the reality come rushing back.
It did happen, and Callum isn’t ignoring him.
He’s staying, just like he promised.
Callum raises a playful eyebrow like Mason’s stupid for even asking such a question, and yeah, maybe he is. Callum has no business being in the library let alone looking for a textbook except for one on football team slang or playbooks.
“Did Coach make you get some playbooks or something? Or did you—”
Realization tackles Mason to the ground. A smirk plays on his lips. “Did you follow me?” Mason asks a bit more loudly this time, raising an eyebrow.
Callum brushes the back of his neck, his black sweater rising and exposing the smallest sliver of skin that Mason refuses to look at directly, like it can only exist in his periphery.
“Maybe. I—I know you like to come here and—”
Callum fully blushes and turns his head away, not fully finishing his sentence.
Mason’s cheeks flush as he realizes that Callum looks like a shy little boy again, the one he knew like the back of his hand. The cocky, confident, and intense persona he usually puts on is nowhere to be seen, and it’s all because of Mason.
“What was your plan exactly?” Mason asks, taking a step closer to Callum.
Callum snorts and shakes his head. “I’m really not sure. I just wanted to see your face. Even if just for a second.”
Heat pulses through Mason’s body. He wants to be closer to Callum. He wants to feel Callum’s hands in his. To intertwine their fingers. To feel his strong, resolute, body against his.
“You’re going to have to watch me study, cause midterms are this week, and I’m so far behind after this weekend,” Mason says as he notices the textbook he needs right next to Callum and reaches for it, softly brushing Callum’s arm with his own as he takes it off its shelf.
Callum’s breath shudders slightly at Mason’s touch and Mason’s almost taken aback at Callum’s demeanor changing so quickly.
Callum swallows hard and avoids Mason’s gaze as he places his book in the crook of his arm.
“You okay there, champ?” Mason asks. Callum finally looks up from the floor and at Mason and nods, swallowing hard and blinking rapidly.
Mason raises an eyebrow questioningly at Callum, hoping to probe something out of him as to why he’s suddenly so sensitive.
“Sorry. I—I don’t really—I don’t know how I feel—”
Mason puts his hand on Callum’s arm, making him go completely still.
“Callum. We’re just hanging out in the library right now. We don’t have to know anything about anything. I don’t even know how I feel.”
Callum swallows and nods, his arm relaxing in Mason’s soft grip as Mason keeps talking like he’s an emollient.
Mason studies Callum like he’s a spooked animal that he’s taking into his care. Clearly, Callum hasn’t dealt with his feelings like this before or in a very long time, and it’s clear that Mason makes him nervous.
“I—thank you, Mase. I—I really needed that. I want to be around you, but I really don’t know…”
Mason tilts his head slightly as Callum licks his lips and winces.
“It’s just been a long time, you know. You and me.”
Mason sighs and nods. He knows that it was Callum’s decision to create schism between them, but what matters is that he’s back now, and where they’ll go next will take a lot of conversations like this to know how to proceed.
Callum rubs his face. “And I—I’ve never felt this way about another… guy, I—”
Callum runs a hand through his hair.
Mason can tell he’s starting to get overwhelmed. He needs to reel Callum in.
Mason lets go of Callum’s arm. “Look, I have my book. If you want, you can just sit with me and study or whatever it is football players do in their downtime. We can just be around each other.”
Mason smirks. “You do take classes, don’t you?”
Callum snorts and nods. “Yes, smart-ass. I do. I just have to go back to my dorm really quickly, but just—stay here and I’ll get my stuff. I’ll be back in a second, I’m in the dorms next to the library. I’ll only be a few seconds.”
Mason nods and Callum bestows Mason with a wide grin as he peels off out of the library like he’s on the football field and has the ball, ready to make a touchdown as the other team tries to tackle him down.
Mason shakes his head as his face flushes again and sits back in his usual spot, unable to fully concentrate on his problems after he opens his textbook.
They are playing a treacherous game. Not many people are in the library on a Sunday at nine o’clock at night, but he wonders what people will think when they see the two of them together.
Someone who used to write good things about him in the paper and then stopped, and now they’re back to being friendly again.
It can go either way. If they spend time in public together, people will talk. If they spend any time together things might implode, and then people will talk even more.
It seems like all people did was give their opinion on him and Callum. Joel. Craig. Jenna. Fiona. His parents. Callum’s parents. All of Northwood.
He just hopes that wherever he and Callum end up, that eventually they’ll be able to exist without the whispers and treachery of the school and town.