How Strange is it to be Anything at all

Chapter 9

Hi everyone, quick A/N. My fibromyalgia got me bad at the end of last week and has been eating me alive to the point where I cannot even get up and walk around for hours at a time. Sorry that this chapter came out so late and that it's on the shorter side.

- Bonjournoh <3~ 

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A month had passed since Peter and Samuel had gone to the beach. Samuel didn't know if it was because of what had been said at the beach, or if it was just the passage of time, but he and Peter had been hanging out more often than usual. During this time, Samuel saw a different Peter than he had known from the beginning of the year. He was even more talkative, athletic, and flirty than Samuel had realized. When Peter and Samuel would hang out, Peter would non-stop talk to Samuel, telling him stories about his life, whether they were things about first coming to college and meeting Thomas and Nathan, or long rugby stories, one even ending in a trip to the hospital over a fractured collarbone in his second year at Redwood. Samuel didn't mind though and enjoyed listening to him talk, usually while he was cooking or working on assignments. Sometimes, though, when he worked, he would catch Peter watching him, but Samuel explained this to himself as Peter staring off into space and it would so be happening in his general direction.

It was now a weekend in mid-October and Kenna, Samuel, and Peter were studying for their psychological behaviors midterm. The three of them had been studying all morning, and Samuel was starting to feel burnt out from studying. The test wasn't until Monday afternoon and it was only Saturday, but Kenna was freaking out about the test so there they were, on Samuel's apartment floor.

"Can we take a break," Samuel asked, stretching.

"Yeah, I think we're good for today, it's already been like three hours," Kenna agreed. They all shut their computers with a satisfied sigh.

"Y'know, fall break is in two weekends, what if we took a little road trip," Peter suggested.

"Oh my god yes," Kenna exclaimed, "That would be so fun. There are so many places we could go and I could snack prep for the road and," Kenna went on to talk about where they might go and what she could wear to each place. Peter had joined her conversation. Places such as Santa Cruz and San Fransisco popped up, even Monterey, although that was shut down immediately by Kenna for being too gloomy.

"Any thoughts," Peter asked Samuel, who had not said anything in this conversation, which to him felt more like a word frenzy.

"What about," Samuel paused for a second before continuing, "Yosemite." Samuel had never been to Yosemite and had always wanted to go and hike its trails.

"Ooh, I love that, it's so pretty there," Kenna said.

"Yeah I'm down," Peter said grinning. Kenna got up and flicked some hair off of her shirt.

"I'm going to use the bathroom real quick, be right back." Samuel nodded and then asked, "What would we even do in Yosemite besides hiking?" He looked up, thinking about his question.

"You look so cute whenever you think like that," Peter said. Samuel looked back down, his face red.

"Wh-what," he managed to get out. All Peter did was shrug and smirk before saying, "There's lots to do in Yosemite, we can go rafting, hike..." Peter was giving more suggestions but Samuel was only thinking about what he had just said before. Fortunately for him, Kenna came out of the bathroom and joined Peter in planning their trip. By the end of the afternoon, they had found a steal of an Airbnb near the National Park and they had even booked a white what rafting session. Samuel, who had been anxious about the financial aspect was relieved when he saw his final portion of the costs. He would be able to afford it and still have wiggle room until he got paid next week.