To Be Tall...

Chapter 5

"I can't believe her!" Nicholas growled as he stuffed his clothes into the dorm dresser, Keith sitting on Nicholas' bed. It was the only way he fit in the room without his head bumping into the ceiling or banging into the ceiling light. Even though the hallway ceiling was taller, Keith still had to bend his head down just to fit ducking under every ceiling light.

"It's probably for the best. I didn't even think about this but the rooms are probably even smaller than here. I'd break my neck living over there," Keith said with a chuckle, handing Nicholas more clothes who was still muttering under his breath about how rude that dorm supervisor was being.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell your mother about what happened? I'm sure she could make a call and get this straightened out," Nicholas asked as he stuffed more shirts into his drawer.

"I'm sure," Keith said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to forget the fear and anxiety he had felt from earlier. "Maybe that was too big a step for me. The dorm supervisors said they'll check to see if there's a room available for me here once everyone's settled in. If there isn't, I'll just have to find an apartment around here," Keith said with a shrug like it was no big deal but Nicholas could see the sad look on Keith's face a mile away.

Before Nicholas could say anything, the door opened revealing two young men who seemed to be having an argument. "I'm not taking her back. She was crazy! Why would I- OH MY GOD!" a young man was saying as he entered the room when he took one look at Keith and nearly jumped out of his skin, literally jumping away as he caught sight of the very large giant sitting on his roommates bed.

"What?" the guy's friend asked, peering around him. "Oh!" he gasped as he saw Keith too who looked down at the ground, looking depressed, when Nicholas was suddenly right up in their face giving them another scare.

"Hi! My name is Nick," Nicholas said as he shook his roommates hand, both young men staring wide eyed back at him without saying a word. "That's my friend Keith," Nicholas introduced, Keith forcing a smile as he gave them a little wave looking even more awkward then the two young men.

"Um... I'm Jasper. This is my friend George," Jasper introduced, both of them waving at Keith with their own forced smile.

"We should probably go. We have a lunch to get to, remember?" Keith said as he carefully stood up, placing his hand on the ceiling to make sure he didn't bump his head. The boys gawked up at him, their eyes getting wider the higher Keith's head went, with Nicholas quickly grabbing his jacket so they could go.

"It was nice to meet you, Jasper. We should hang out together later so we can get to know one another," Nicholas said chipperly as the boys scrambled back into the hallway to make room for Keith who had to step sideways through the doorway.

There were quite a lot of young men mulling around in the hallway, moving their own stuff in or walking in and out of rooms of old and new friends. They all froze where they were when Keith emerged from Nicholas' room, Keith just tall enough for him to need to duck his head a little so it didn't hit the ceiling. Keith suppressed a sigh as he was the center of attention again, people murmuring and talking quietly amongst one another as they stared at him, as it would probably be like if he was living in the Beta dorms with the rest of them. "Maybe I should just look for an apartment," Keith thought, his heart feeling heavy in his chest as he made his way down the hall with Nicholas behind him. Everyone quickly moved out of his way, ducking into rooms or backing out into the lounge area where there were several people mulling around already. As Keith was making his way down the hall, he noticed one of the doors open and a young man with fiery red hair come out talking a mile a minute about some show he was obsessed with.

"We should watch it!" the red head insisted as he whirled around but he suddenly stopped talking as he saw Keith who smiled awkwardly at him. "Wait!" the red head suddenly cried out, throwing his arms up in the air, but it was already too late.