𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐁𝐗𝐁

ＳＩＸ

After the awkward breakfast, I asked Matt for a ride to Luke's dorm. For some unknown reason, he didn't like it, and as soon as I got out of the car and said goodbye to him, he mysteriously suggested that I take care of myself. What's going on?

After telling the guard who I was coming to see, I walked in, leaving behind a few athletes who were wandering the dormitory halls almost naked. I knew some of them through Matt, they were friends from the school team. When I finally got to Luke's door, I knocked and had to wait a while, thinking I should stop moving my eyes so I wouldn't see another man with no clothes on. It's not that I have a problem with nudity or that I'm ashamed of it or anything. Just because I found it strange enough to know the size of the dozen men that came to our house.

"Wait a minute, I'm coming now!"

I smiled at Luke's urgent voice coming from behind the door. He's always been a good friend, and after what happened with Matt at home, I'm a little ashamed of him. The idea that my roommate was a literal caveman must have been drilled into his mind, so our next date was scheduled at his dorm. After all, coming to my house meant having to face some wild asshole for him. Nobody wants this.

I was a little surprised when Luke opened the door with a sight I had never seen before. His damp blonde hair was wet enough to emphasize that he had just taken a shower. His glasses were gone and he was wearing sportswear consisting of a black T-shirt and gray sweatpants. I found this a little odd since Luke was one of those clean-cut guys who usually came across as your typical campus kid, but I still thought it looked good on him, so I smiled and waved the bags at him, "I'm here to return the favor, do you like croissants?"

"Not my favorite," he quipped, reaching into my hands to take the bags from me, "Come in, Ben."

When I walked in he closed the door and I stood in the middle of Luke's tidy room, I grinned breathlessly, "Matt and I went to breakfast, I got the croissants there."

Setting the bags down on the table, Luke slowly turned to me, his face decidedly awkward, "Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with your roommate, Ben, but what happened that night..."

"Oh!" I was suddenly so embarrassed that I completely forgot to apologize for what Matt had put him through, "I know how that sounds, Luke, but Matt isn't always a real shithead. I'm sorry on his behalf."

"You don't need to do this," he came over to clap his hand on my shoulder, "After all, you weren't the cause of this."

I wrapped my arms around his torso to give him a nice, friendly hug before stepping back, "Why don't you make us some coffee? I hear it pairs incredibly well with croissants. Plus, it's our tradition to drink coffee while we study."

"I didn't invite you to study, Ben."

"Isn't it for studying?" I looked at him with a confused and wrinkled face.

"I thought we could watch the rest of Back to the Future and maybe chat a little."

Wait, this was definitely something new. What's wrong with the people around me today? Luke and I were always good friends, good study buddies. But you know, we didn't do anything to take things any further than that. We were friends who shared the same class rather than just friends who hung out with each other, and it was unexpected but nice that Luke wanted to take things a step further. It somehow came at the same time as Matt's outstretched hand of friendship, but I was happy so I didn't dig too deep in my mind.

"You have a nice room, do you stay alone?" I said as I sat on Luke's bed.

Meanwhile, Luke, who had already moved to pour some coffee into the machine, nodded quickly, "I'm completely on my own. It's good for me when I want to study."