Chapter 2
It’s Curiosity, Not Obsession
“Dude, you’ve got to get out of bed,” Josh said from my doorway.
In response, I groaned into my blankets. “I don’t feel like it.”
“Come on, man, it’s the first day of class.”
“It’s called syllabus day for a reason,” I said. “They go over the syllabus. It’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff. I can skip.”
“What’s eating him?” Kellan asked Josh from the other room.
“I don’t know,” Josh admitted. “Ever since Charlie’s—what happened Ethan?”
“Yeah, you seemed in a good mood before last call.” Kellan’s voice grew closer.
What had happened was I’d made the biggest idiot of myself in front of Grey. I’d barely let him tell me his name in return—which, of course, I’d already known—before fleeing the scene and going back to the table where Kellan and Josh had been waiting.
I could still remember the confusion that had crossed his face as I’d said, “Well, bye,” and left him at the bar.
His surprised look was emblazoned in my mind, like he was standing right in front of me as I lay in bed sulking.
And what was worse, I couldn’t quite pinpoint why I cared so much that I’d made a fool of myself.
It wasn’t like he was the type of person I would typically try to impress.
Yet there I was, in bed, replaying my greatest humiliation, like I had been for the past two days.
“Whatever it is, do you think you’re maybe being a bit dramatic about it?” Josh asked kindly.
That got me to remove the covers from my face and glare at him. “How dare you?”
Kellan came over from where he’d been standing behind Josh and sat at the foot of my bed.
He didn’t look as worried as Josh, but he was used to dealing with my theatrics.
Over the years, it had usually fallen to him to help me get through things while Josh was busy with his much more rigorous coursework.
“Hey, man,” he said in the gentlest of tones. “Whatever happened, it’s okay.”
No, it wasn’t.
“And before you try and fight me on that, it is.”
Whatever. I huffed at him instead of speaking.
“So, what do you say you get out of bed, and we go get some coffee before class?” he continued.
As much as I didn’t want to leave the safety of my covers, I knew he was right. They both were. It was the first day of class. And even if it was syllabus day, I had a history of doing poorly as soon as I permitted myself to skip one class.
“I could go for coffee,” I said slowly.
“Great!” Josh clapped behind Kellan. “Sounds like you two have it figured out. I’ve got to get to A&P.”
Josh left, and seconds later, I heard the door to the apartment close.
“Well, someone’s in a hurry.” I sank farther into my covers.
“He was already running late,” Kellan pointed out.
I didn’t say anything in response. I was grateful Josh had stalled his going to class for me. He was nothing if not punctual under normal circumstances.
“I’m giving you twenty minutes to get dressed,” Kellan said.
I nodded.
He got up and headed to the door, where he paused. “Oh, and, Ethan?”
“Yes?”
“You should probably hop in the shower while you’re at it.”
Showered, dressed, and coffee in hand, I walked through campus with Kellan.
It was a pleasantly warm late-August day, and the students milling about showed it.
People lay out, reading under the shade of trees.
Groups enjoyed food in the sun, and frat boys threw water balloons at each other in a field.
Everyone was still in the semester’s honeymoon phase—enjoying being out of the house and not yet bogged down by piles of coursework.
As I watched, campus security went to yell at the frat boys over their water balloon fight, earning them several balloons in the face as the guys ran to freedom.
I chuckled in spite of myself. Kellan shot me a hopeful look.
“Feeling better?”
I shrugged. “I guess.” That was as close as I could get to admitting that I was.
“Good.” Kellan seemed to take my words as true. “Anyway, I’ve got to get to class.” He pointed to the math building.
I grimaced. Somehow I’d almost forgotten that we were actually on our way to class, caught up as I was in the ambiance of campus. “Fine.” I did my best to not let it come out as a whine. I mostly succeeded.
“Bye, Ethan,” Kellan said in a singsong voice. “See you after class.”
He waved as he walked away, abandoning me at the writing department steps. My first class of the day was Fiction Writing, which had sounded fun when I’d signed up for classes but now felt like the hardest chore in the world.
I took a sip from my iced coffee and trudged up the stairs, thinking nothing could make coming to this class worth it.
As I entered the building and walked down the halls, I noticed more of Dreamscape’s posters on the community boards.
It was hard to look at them for too long.
Just the image of Grey was enough to make my cheeks flush with embarrassment over the other night.
God, I’m so stupid.
A couple of girls huddled around one of the posters, talking excitedly to each other.
“See what he posted on his Instagram?”
“His cat is so cute.”
“Are you talking about Grey?” The words leaped from my lips before I’d even thought to form them.
One of the girls, the pretty Black one, looked up at me, confused. Apparently, she hadn’t noticed my approach. “Uh, yeah,” she said uncertainly.
“What’s his handle?” I’d tried to find his social media after our fateful encounter, mostly as a way of ensuring he wasn’t obsessing over it as much as I had been. Not that he likely was.
“Are you a fan too?” The other girl, with jet-black hair, asked, excitement infusing her voice.
I nodded. “I saw them play Friday night. I wanted to find more of their stuff.”
The first girl got excited. “I was there too! I was so close, I could see the sweat on Grey’s face!” She tapped her phone quickly and showed me Grey’s Instagram.
“Greyhyundreams,” I read, pulling out my phone and following the account. “Awesome, thank you.”
“You should follow Dreamscapes hashtag too,” she offered. “And Grey’s. But that one gets a bit, um, thirsty.”
Heat rose to my face. I could only imagine what got posted about Grey. He was an attractive guy, after all. The internet would be all over that.
“Well, we better get to class,” the second girl said. “See you around.”
They walked off, going into a nearby classroom. I didn’t realize until they were already gone that I should’ve asked for their numbers. Or even their names. They were both gorgeous girls. Why had that slipped my mind?
I had no time to ponder that question because the clock on my phone hit nine. I swore and bolted, sprinting the rest of the way to my class. Thankfully, I still managed to get there before the professor called my name for attendance.
Class was as pointless as I’d thought it would be. As the teacher droned on about our books and writing assignments throughout the semester, I’d been glued to my phone, scrolling through old posts on Grey’s Instagram account.
The cat I’d heard the girls mention was all over his page, a gorgeous white-and-orange tabby named Kit.
His band seemed to be playing bigger and bigger venues judging from a post from a year ago, where he’d played to a mostly empty dive bar.
After reading a post about his family from a few months ago, I discovered he was a child who grew up in Seattle with his parents.
His grandparents lived in Seoul, and he’d visited them about two years ago.
I knew I was going overboard, but I couldn’t keep myself from searching his Instagram to look through his tag on Twitter.
I found the expected thirsty tweets, but between them was a lot of speculation about him, rumors that he was secretly a K-pop idol, rumors that he’d landed a record deal, speculation over who he was dating and his favorite restaurants, discussions about his outfits.
For all the fan information, I could find very little about his current personal life.
I had no idea what his major was. In fact, if I hadn’t known he went to Redmond, I wouldn’t have been able to learn that much.
When I finally pulled myself away from my phone, I was sitting in my living room, confused for a moment as to how I’d gotten there.
Kellan sat on the couch across from me, playing a game on his Switch.
Seconds later, I heard keys rattling in the door before Josh made his appearance.
“Hey, look who’s back to the land of the living!” he said by way of greeting.
“Don’t get too excited,” Kellan drawled without looking up from his game. “Ethan’s been in the ‘Grey Zone’ all day.”
“‘Grey Zone?’” Josh and I asked at the same time.
“It’s what I’m calling it,” Kellan said. “You haven’t said two words to me since this morning, and every time I see what you’re looking at on your phone, it’s Grey’s Instagram or a Twitter thread about him or something.”
“Isn’t all of this a bit much?” Josh raised a concerned eyebrow as he set his backpack on the dining room table. “I mean, this obsession can’t be healthy, can it?”
“It’s curiosity, not obsession,” I said defensively. “I didn’t realize how much the internet knew about him. He has his own hashtag!”
“Internet’s gonna simp,” Kellan said knowingly.
“Right,” Josh said. “But, Ethan, what about your plan?”
“My plan?”
“Yeah weren’t you going to go to parties, meet girls, and whatnot?” Kellan asked.
I blinked at my friends. I had told them about my plan for the semester at some point over the summer. I didn’t think they would remember it better than I apparently did.
“We’re just saying,” Josh said. “Maybe you’re a little overinvested in this Grey person.”
“You’ve been man-crushing on him for, like, three days,” Kellan chimed in helpfully.
“I—”