Those Three Little Words

Oh no

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Eyes still closed, I sleepily reached my hand out, in a quest to mute the intolerable alarm clock. Finding it, I pressed the off button, and sluggishly rolled out of my bed. Being it a Wednesday, I had no classes until 5:00 PM, which gave me quite a while to do whatever I wanted. However, I had set an alarm because I wanted to finish the majority of my homework.

Fixing my bed head, I opened my door and walked into the kitchen to find Toris already up and eating a bagel with cream cheese. "Good morning Tino!" he replied cheerfully.

I smiled and repeated the greeting, while making my way over to the coffee pot. "You seem a lot happier than last night."

A sheepish look appeared on his face. "I'm sorry for last night and the...awkwardness that came from it."

I shook my head. "Oh, you're fine. I just..." I paused for a moment. "I'm just a bit curious. I didn't know Feliks was your boyfriend."

"I don't have a boyfriend," he responded. "Lately, I had been spending more time with him, after school and such. He told me he doesn't have a car, so I became his 'personal' chauffer. We didn't do anything special, just go out shopping or eat at a restaurant. I thought him as a friend, and nothing else."

Oh, so that's what Toris had been doing all this time.

"Well, apparently, he somehow got the idea that I was...into him," a deep blush spread over his face at this, "and last night, when we came back to my dorm to watch Project Runway, he suddenly...well...that's when you and Berwald walked in."

"Are you not into him?" I asked.

"Well, I'm not into guys. I'm straight...at least, that's what I thought when I first came to this university."

"And you're not now?" I asked again.

"I...I don't know. I mean, there's this one girl—Natalia is her name—and she's super pretty! She lives right down the hall, and sometimes she behaves like a crazy psycho ready to kill me, but if you look past that, she's amazing!" Toris suddenly burst out. "But then," he paused for a moment. "Feliks is different from another other guy I've ever met. And, well, there's what happened last night..."

Silence filled the room. "Well," I began, "Running after Feliks last night has to say something, right?"

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "I don't know." He suddenly looked at me. "Tino, I...have a personal question."

"Shoot!" I replied, smiling.

"I don't want to pry, but, what sexuality are you?"

He must've mistaken my silence for expiration, for he quickly said, "N-Never mind! I'm sorry if I upset you! You don't have to answer if you don't want to!"

I laughed quietly and shook my head. "I'm not upset; I'm straight," I responded.

I could've sworn that a look of disbelief or confusion came over Toris' face for a split second, but it was replaced with his normal, slightly nervous smile. "Ah, I see!" he replied. I must've imagined the doubting expression.

Toris suddenly stood up. "I need to get going, my trigonometry class starts soon." With that, he began walking to the door, which reminded me of something I wanted to ask him.

"Oh, Toris!"

He turned around with a kind smile. "Yeah, Tino?"

"I was just wondering...did you happen to catch Feliks yesterday night? You know, when he ran out the door?"