Chapter Text
"Are you sure you don't want me to stick around and help?" Maddie asked, pulling the last box out of the boot.
Buck smiled at her in the most insincere way he knew how, a smile Maddie knew all too well, and shook his head. "Don't worry. You've helped me enough already."
Maddie sighed and forced him into a hug. "It'll never be enough."
Buck patted her on the back, keeping his emotions in check because that was the last thing he needed. Maddie pulled away and headed for the door of her car. She took each step slowly, trying to get Buck to change his mind, but he had his eyes fixed elsewhere.
"Call me after dinner," she reminded him.
"I know," he replied reluctantly as he bent down to pick up his things.
Maddie wanted to stay a few seconds longer, making sure her brother didn't break down the second he said goodbye. Whenever she made an important decision in her life, he was there to prevent her from leaving his side. After all, she was his only pillar of support, the one who held him steady and never abandoned him completely. Except for the time she went off to university, that month was tragic for Buck, even if no one around him noticed.
But with quick, uncertain steps, Buck walked away without looking back.
The building in front of him, where he would live for the next four years, was a typical student residence on campus. It was somewhat old, but imposing and large. His room was 118, and as he had already been informed in an email, he would have to share it with two other people. At first he didn't mind, but the closer he got to his destination, the more his nerves grew exponentially as he came to terms with the idea that the concept of privacy would be far from him for a long time.
The hallway was crowded with people, going back and forth, shouting and laughing. The journey had already given him a bit of a headache, so he felt like he was about to explode. When he arrived at his room, the door was open, and inside there was a boy of the same age moving furniture around in the common room. Buck entered slowly, carrying the boxes in one hand and his suitcase in the other. The boy turned around enthusiastically and approached him with a big smile.
"Hello!" he exclaimed as he went straight for a hug.
Buck handed him the boxes and he opened his eyes wide, surprised by the weight. Buck breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wow! What have you got in there?"
"My whole life," he replied, without irony. His parents had made it clear that he would have to empty the room completely before leaving. It was like a clean slate, but with the existence of their son.
The boy laughed and put the boxes aside. Then he hugged Buck and introduced himself. "My name is Ravi, nice to meet you."
"Buck," he replied, getting used to Ravi's energy.
"Man," sighed Ravi, sitting down on the sofa he had been rearranging a few minutes earlier. "This is crazy. University!" He said it with the tone of an acquaintance who is always surprised by the obviousness of the passage of time. But of course, they didn't know each other at all.
"Yeah..." he replied without thinking as he glanced around the room. There were three bedrooms, two on the left and one on the right. The common room in the middle was spacious, although it needed some decorating. There were a few plants, probably Ravi's, and several boxes stacked in a corner.
Ravi hurried to grab a container of biscuits from the coffee table and held it out to Buck. "My mother insisted on making a small gift for my roommates."
Buck shook his head politely; his stomach was so upset that the idea of eating anything made him feel nauseous.
Ravi put the container down after taking a biscuit. "So, what are you going to study?"
"Er... I have to think about my optional subjects, but, in theory, art history and classical culture."
"An artist, I like that," he said genuinely. "I'm studying business. I know, boring," he said sadly.
"No way," Buck sat down on the sofa opposite him, making himself comfortable. "You look smart."
"And like a fool who studies what his parents force him to."
Another boy appeared in the doorway, interrupting the conversation. Buck noticed him and looked at him strangely. "Albert? What are you doing here?"
"Buck?" Albert started laughing and left his bags by the door. "I can't believe it. Of all the rooms in this uni, I end up with you."
Buck rolled his eyes and Ravi got up with the biscuits in his hand. "Did you two already know each other?"
"Yes, he's my sister's boyfriend's annoying brother," replied Buck.
"I love you too, man," smiled Albert.
Ravi held out the cookies, but Albert shook his head. ‘Later, I just got offered too much food at those stalls on campus. Lots of people want me to join their clubs, but I don't think I have the voice for the a cappella choir.’ He sat down next to Buck.
"You're doing us all a favour if you keep quiet."
Albert tried to kiss Buck on the cheek to annoy him even more, but he quickly turned away from him, grinning with displeasure. Ravi laughed at them, but was surprised to see a new boy standing like a statue in the doorway.
He carried a bag hanging from his shoulder, plus a suitcase on each side. He looked like an athlete; muscular (though not as much as Buck), brown hair and round brown eyes. But with an unfriendly expression.
Buck and Albert had stopped fooling around on the couch and were also looking forward.
The new guy just said, "this must be a joke."
None said anything in the face of this new and clearly annoying appearance. Except for Ravi, who said with a small polite smile, "Cookies?"
If a particular place within the university was a tunnel of terror, it would be the student aid center, and the cause of that title: Taylor Kelly.
At the front desk, Eddie left his suitcases and bag on the side, exhausted from the journey he had to make from the residence to the building where he was. Impatient, he looked everywhere for someone who could serve him, until a redheaded girl appeared with a somewhat false smile.
"Great," muttered Eddie. "You still work here."
"Eddie, did you have a good summer?"
"Like you care," answered. "Look, Taylor. There must have been some mistake in my request for room transfer, because you’ve assigned me to a room of three, and I’m the fourth. Also, I asked for a single room."
"Aha," she said with a grimace. "You see, we are overcrowded with new students and you’ve lost your priority of choosing room. Also with..." She began to list, putting it grudges and constraints.
"In conclusion, you hate me and that’s why you’re going to make my life impossible." Eddie repressed his anger and tried to count to ten.
"You can always go back to your room in the fraternity," she suggested, implying that it was more of an ultimatum than a suggestion.
Eddie smiled and took a deep breath. "I keep the new one. Thank you for nothing."
Taylor said goodbye with her hand, like a queen greeting her commoners. "A pleasure to help."
[118 BOYS!!]
Ravi: We have to add the new one. I don’t even know his name.
Albert: There must be some mistake. The room is only for three.
Buck: It better be. That was super rude.
He should have listened to Maddie, because walking around campus without knowing where he was was too much for him. Some would see Albert as a good support in his new college life, but he feared that he would become an annoyance.
His mobile vibrated and there was a new message in the group.
Ravi: Buck, go ask for an extra bed. We have a new roommate!
Buck sighed and, after a long search, found the student help center, hopefully there they could give him directions or just end his suffering.
He approached the counter and glanced at the adjoining room, a sort of common room where several students were chatting on sofas. A group of girls noticed him and started whispering. From there, one of them approached him, a red-haired girl with a pretty smile and bowing her curious head.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh... is there any way we could get an extra bed for the room?"
"Oh, no problem," she said standing behind the counter, starting to type something on the computer.
Buck noticed that the group of girls were still looking at him.
"Don’t pay attention to them," said the girl. "We’re just snooping around with the new guys."
"Am I so obvious?" laughed Buck.
"This is the first time you’ve been here, and I wouldn’t forget a face like yours."
Buck smiled and shook his head. He didn’t expect on his first day to flirt so quickly.
"What room?" she asked without paying attention to his blush.
"118."
The girl looked at him with a curious expression, as if she had information that he did not have, then smiled a little. "Fixed." She leaned on the counter and smiled at Buck nicely.
"Thank you," replied Buck, feeling he should leave before making a fool of himself.
Once out, he took out the phone and informed the guys that it was already solved. Ravi answered him with many hearts and Albert with a photo of his face too close to the camera, making a strange smile that made Buck uncomfortable. It seemed to him that everything was going very fast, he was there for less than an hour and already had something like two friends, although Albert did not count at all.
In high school he never formed a lasting friendship. Most people saw him as the super hunchbacked basketball player who could get all the girls he wanted without the slightest effort. And even if it were true, it was all a facade. A defense mechanism. Or so said the school psychologist with whom he shared a revealing three sessions.
If there was one thing he knew when he finished high school and entered this adult stage, it was that he hated basketball and was bisexual. No one knew this information, not even his sister, but he would do nothing until it was inevitable to talk about it.
He’d like to think that his parents would be disappointed more by the basketball than by the latter.
Eddie waited in front of the medical school, with two shakes and his mood down. His encounter with Taylor only brought back bad memories from the previous year, and he regretted not applying for a college transfer when he had the chance. But seeing the big smile of her best friend, Hen, when they first met after a whole summer of endless video calls, his negative thoughts dissipated for a moment.
Hen lived far from Eddie’s new home, another downside to this development, but she found the situation quite comical.
"Not a day has passed and you already want to punch Taylor Kelly," she laughed leaving the smoothie on the bench.
"Ugh, you should have seen her."
"No, thank you."
"She still hates me for the club thing. As if she’s to blame me for having common sense and not wanting to spend another second with those brainless people."
Hen frowned. "I knew the whole thing ended badly, but that bad?
Eddie bowed his eyebrows and tilted his head, thinking it was pretty obvious.
Hen got it. "Oh... that. I remember." Eddie nodded and Hen couldn’t help laughing. "Sorry, but I have to laugh."
"Yeah, well, when I inevitably cross paths with Tommy and the rest of the 'sect', we’ll see who laughs."
"Eddie, you are in your right to cut all relationships with those people. Besides, your new roommates seem a love."
"I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m sure they think I’m an asshole." He crossed his arms.
"Well, that’s the first impression we usually make," she said making Eddie look at her in horror. "But then we love you like no one else!" She tried to give him a hug but he turned away offended. "Seriously, try to be nice. Be the aspirational figure you wish you had in your first year."
Eddie took a last sip of his shake and noticed that Hen was looking at her phone again, as if waiting for something.
"What about you. You haven’t told me anything in the half hour we’ve been here."
Hen burst out laughing. "Because there is literally nothing to tell."
"Oh, right? And what about the girl you met last year that you fell madly in love with?"
"One, I didn’t fall madly in love with her. And two, I haven’t talked to her all summer. I don’t even know if she finally changed or not from uni."
"Wow, I’m sorry."
"Hey, it doesn’t matter! This will be our year. We’ll go to all the parties and I don’t want to hear a single excuse from you. You and I will find our great college love."
"Eh, eh," he interrupted.
"Okay, well, we’ll get a lot of hooking up. No pressure. No commitment."
Eddie sighed.
When the extra bed was installed in the room on the right, the most spacious one, Ravi and Albert started to assing rooms. They took care of putting the suitcases in the respective rooms, to have the living room more clear and prevent it from looking like a storage room on the first day.
At dinner time, neither Buck nor the nameless boy to them, Eddie, showed up in the dining room. So Ravi and Albert got to know each other a little better.
"How do you know the campus by heart?" asked Albert. "This is your first year, like me."
Ravi rolled his eyes and put the fork aside. "Ugh, my parents had me for hours walking and visiting every building yesterday. I might be proclaimed guide of this place..."
"Well you could take a little ride with Buck, the guy seems to be lost."
"Or he avoids us. Do you think I’ve been too enthusiastic? They say it a lot to me, some people are afraid of so much energy."
"Nah, Buck’s a good guy. Not like... the other one."
"Uh, that one does avoid us." Ravi nodded. "Did you see how he came out of the room and then told us super dry that he would live with us?"
"I understand that you'd like to have a room of your own, but come on, at least don't let it be obvious!"
Ravi put his hand to his mouth, hiding his surprise at seeing Eddie approach the table where they were, directly towards them. He hoped he hadn’t heard a word of it, it would be pretty weird and Ravi couldn’t start the year with 'weird'. Albert frowned and caught Ravi’s unobtrusive signals too late. Eddie stood in front of them in the hallway and they both pretended not to talk about him.
"Hey, guys," Eddie started. "I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, I’ve had a busy day. I’m Eddie." Something in his tone denoted... That the apologize seemed rehearsed.
Ravi looked at Albert and he smiled sharing his surprise.
"I’m Ravi, this is Albert. We left you the room next to Buck’s, the other guy. We thought you’d be fine."
"Yeah, sure. Great, thanks." Eddie was about to turn around and leave but Ravi stopped him.
"Oh, and... Can I have your number?" he asked pointing to his phone.
Eddie blinked like a cartoon character trying to process the information. "Hey, I don’t-"
"For the group," he interrupted.
Eddie relaxed and frowned. "What group?"
Buck, after walking around the university trying to accept the fact that he would have to get used to the new normal sooner or later, found his suitcases in one of the two individual rooms on the left. Assumed that Ravi and Albert had stayed the one with two beds, something he appreciated. He couldn’t bear to have to share the same space with a stranger, least of all Albert.
He sat in bed with a salad he bought along the way and turned on the computer. He called Maddie without thinking. It took a few seconds for her to answer, and that put a little strain on him. But in the end her face appeared on the screen.
"There’s my college boy," she greeted him proudly. "How have you been?"
"I am... exhausted."
"I can imagine. But you can do this and more. At first it will be hard and you’ll wonder what you’re doing. But let the days pass, take it easy."
He was grateful for his words, although at the time they did not have any effect. He continued to feel that pressure on my chest like sharp needles. Suddenly he heard voices in the living room behind the door.
"Hey, you know what? One of my roommates is Albert."
Maddie opened her eyes wide. "Albert? Like Albert Han?"
"The one and only," he replied with laughter.
"Chim!" Maddie called away from the screen.
Buck’s cell phone vibrated. He read: [RAVI has added EDDIE to 118 BOYS!!]
Eddie.
So that’s his name.
Before breakfast in the dining room, everyone was gathered in the living room except Eddie. Buck was going for his third cookie and Albert kept throwing kisses at Ravi. "Tell your mother she has golden hands. This is delicious," he exclaimed, not at all overstated.
"I told you guys, you had to try them."
The door to the hallway opened and Eddie came in, wearing nothing but sweatpants and wet hair, combed backwards. A lock of hair hung over his forehead. The three boys stared at him, waiting for him to move or something.
"Uh..." he began to say.
"Man, what a body," said Albert.
Buck almost chokes on a crumb.
Eddie hid his smile. "Now that you’re all here, I apologize again for being an idiot. I’ll have to get used to this after living with the fraternity."
"Fraternity?" interrupted Ravi.
"Yes," he replied embarrassed. "But thank you for having me here."
Albert smiled and clapped. "No problem, man, matter settled." He took the cookies and handed them to him. " But you have to try them, really."
Eddie came over and took one. He thanked him with a gesture and went into his room. Buck stood for a few seconds staring at his door, totally absorbed in his thoughts.
"Sounds like a good start, doesn’t it?" said Albert.
"I think so, and you Buck?"
Buck went out of his mind and nodded. He had to listen to Maddie. Take it easy. Who knows what it will bring in the next few months, it might even be a good year.