Roommates // DNF

2

George pushed the bedroom door open with his hip, carrying in the last of his belongings from his car. As he brought the bag over to his bed, he shot an annoyed glance over at Clay, who hadn't even offered to help.

Instead, the blonde was lying in bed on his back, eyes glued to the screen of the laptop that was balanced on his stomach.

George huffed in annoyance as he began unpacking his things, throwing glances over his shoulder at Clay as he moved around his side of the room.

George was determined to make the remainder of his school year a good one, and a big part of that would mean getting along with his roommate. He might be rude, but George was still willing to try.

He was standing by his bed folding clothes, his body angled slightly so that he could see Clay. His eyes kept drifting from his clothes to the blonde, who still was paying no attention to George.

He finally tried clearing his throat, attempting to grab Clay's attention. When that didn't work, he settled for simply saying, "Clay?"

Clay's eyes flickered over to George, his eyebrows knit together as he responded, "huh? Oh, you can call me Dream, it's what all my friends call me."

George nodded slightly before letting the name slip out of his mouth, "alright, Dream."

Dream pulled his attention back to his laptop, already seeming to lose interest in the conversation so George spoke up again, "uhm, so Dream. You're from America?"

Dream scoffed slightly before looking back over at George and saying, "yeah, what gave it away?"

George felt his face heat up at the response. Dream clearly wasn't going to make it easy to be his friend, but George was feeling persistent. He chose to ignore the comment and continued by asking, "what made you choose a school all the way in England?"

Dream let out a long sigh as he registered that George wasn't going to give up easily.

"I got kicked out of my school in the US and honestly, I just wanted to get as far away from home as I could."

George hummed in response, falling silent as he continued folding his clothes. Just as George had predicted, Dream was trouble, exactly what George didn't want.

"Why did you get kicked out?" George asked, curiosity taking hold.

"I dunno, I guess they don't like when you skip class and party all the time," Dream said with a shrug as his eyes moved back to the screen of his laptop.

Assuming the conversation was over, George focused back on organizing his things, putting clothes away into drawers and placing various items on his small desk.

He was surprised to hear Dream's voice behind him as he asked, "what about you? Why did you transfer here midyear?"

George froze, not sure how to answer the question. He didn't want to give Dream the truth, to let him know that his roommate had been bullying him because he was gay. Truthfully, he didn't want Dream to know that much about him, so he settled for a different answer.

"I don't know, I guess my old university just wasn't a good fit for me," George answered quickly, hoping Dream wouldn't push any further on the subject.

He was relieved when he was greeted with silence, a breath of relief escaping from him as he resumed his organizing.

~

For a majority of the winter break, George barely saw Clay. It seemed like the blonde was always out, and George couldn't help but wonder how he already had so many places to be when he had only just moved to the country.

George, on the other hand, kept to himself and rarely left the dorm room. He spent his time registering for his classes, getting all of his books and supplies, and preparing himself for classes to start up.

It was a Friday afternoon, and the beginning of classes were only about a week away. George was feeling nervous at the prospect of being thrown into a room with all new faces, having to start from scratch with making friends.

He was sat at his desk, his textbooks piled neatly beside his open laptop as his eyes scanned over the syllabus for his first class. He heard the door swing open, and turned his head to see Dream enter the room. George refocused on his laptop, not bothering to greet the blonde.

He heard Dream drop down onto his bed before saying, "you know classes don't start for another week, right George?"

George rolled his eyes in response, eyes still scanning over his screen as he responded, "I know that. But some of us like to actually be prepared, Dream."

He heard Dream chuckle from behind him, his voice dropping low as he mumbled, "alright, nerd."

George spun around in his chair, eyes narrowing as they settled on Dream.

"I'm not a nerd, I'm just nervous about classes," George responded in an annoyed tone.

Dream propped himself up on his elbows, a grin on his face as he said, "oh yeah? If you're not a nerd, then why don't you come to a party with me tonight?"

George hesitated, swallowing hard as he considered the challenge. He knew it wasn't the best idea, but he refused to back down so he answered with, "fine, I'll go to your stupid party if you stop calling me a nerd."

"Good," Dream said with a satisfied smile as he lay back down, pulling his laptop onto his stomach.

George rolled his eyes and turned back to his own laptop, annoyance still coursing through his body as he closed out of the syllabus. He opened Minecraft, it was his favorite game and he always felt better after playing it.

But as he ran around the game, he couldn't help but think about what he had just agreed to. George didn't typically go to parties; he hated the cramped rooms filled with people, and he didn't really even like the taste of alcohol. Plus, he wouldn't even know anyone besides Dream, who he doubted was planning on hanging out with him once they got there.

George tried to shake the doubt, instead trying to look on the positive side of things. Maybe this would be a good opportunity for him to meet some new friends before classes started. And besides, George hadn't really gotten out of the dorm since he had arrived, leaving only when he needed to pick up food or other necessary items.

So really, what was the worst that could happen?