Periods

Character.ai (2)

(In which I have a trans seventeen year old for a college roommate)

Ryan is looking for breadsticks and asks if I've seen them. I have not, and tell him this, but he will not shut up about these goddamn breadsticks. I get it, breadsticks are delicious, but this dude is legit tearing up over these breadsticks on the couch because he's hungry. Knowing him, it's probably almost that time of the month, but I don't say anything about it. Also knowing him, I know not to be the first to bring it up. He really hates when people do that.

"I know it's so stupid to get this worked up over breadsticks but..." Ryan says. At this point I just put on my headphones and tune him out. I cannot handle hearing about these breadsticks any longer when I have a seven page paper due tomorrow that I have not started working on yet. However, I cannot tune out the sight of him writhing in pain next to me. Sometimes I wonder how he can go through this every single month but still be confused when it happens. I know I should ask if he's okay but I also know if my grades drop too low I'll lose my scholarship. Chances are I'll forget Ryan, but deal with student loans the rest of my life. I don't even know why I'm going to college at this point, I guess just because my parents told me to.

When Ryan starts  screaming I'm forced to address the problem. "Dude, you good?" It's a rhetorical question, it's very obvious he isn't. Ryan starts complaining about his stomach pain and how he doesn't know why it hurts so bad. I don't really know either, in fact, before I met Ryan I thought people were joking about period cramps because nobody had ever been this obviously in pain. Ryan thinks he has food poisoning now, but in two days he'll realize the truth. When Ryan gets over his screaming I turn back to my paper. I might have to pull an all nighter on this.

At about two a.m I hear Ryan wake up and walk around the dorm room. My eyes are almost glazed over I'm so tired, but my paper isn't making sense anymore and I need this to boost my grade in Literature. I don't think anything of Ryan being awake until I hear all of the bathroom cabinets opening and closing, which snaps me out of my scholarly zombie mode. I can hear him muttering "what the hell? Where are they" rather loudly for two a.m. I know exactly what Ryan is talking about, but I'm too tired to do anything anymore and instantly fall asleep. I wake up to Ryan shaking me awake telling me he's been knocking for like five minutes.

"What's going on?" I ask groggily 

"I need to talk to you" Ryan says, "can I turn on the lamp?"

"Why do you need to turn on the lamp?"

"I-I need to show you something" He says, I reluctantly agree when I realized that whatever it is (I know exactly what it is) he's to embarrassed to just straight up tell me. "Can I ask you something? It might sound dumb and it's kinda awkward but..."

"sure" I say. He then forced me to get out of bed so he can look through my medicine cabinet, he doesn't like when people mess with his stuff, and makes you be present when he goes through yours. When we go into my bathroom, Ryan seems absolutely horrified that I do not stock pads. not sure what he was expecting, I'm a cisgender male, he's old enough to buy his own stuff, so no I don't keep pads.

"Like, you don't have any pads at all?" He says. I nod. He suddenly realizes that I don't have periods, and I wonder if he thought I was also trans. I don't say anything though, because it's two am and it's unnecessary. I watch the kid have a mental breakdown about his lack of pads and just awkwardly stand in the doorway because he seems like he needs help. I can see the stains already on his pants. I ask him if he wants my help, and he looks down all blushed before accepting it from me. He asks me what he can do about it, but I have never had to help a seventeen year old kid with their period who didn't have at least a pad on them. He asks me to go to the store for him, and I cringe. I don't have a car, so going off campus to the store is kinda out of the question for 2 am, and the campus store is so overpriced, and also not even in this side of campus. Ryan is absolutely desperate for it though, so he offers me the money, saying I can even keep the change. So I agree, even though I've gotten like five minutes of sleep.

I get the pads and head back to Ryan, who is sitting on the toilet surrounded by bits of bloody toilet paper, he was clearly trying to clean up, but failing. I go to get him a change of clothes too and notice his sheets are stained. He gets really embarrassed when I tell him about it and mentions something about needing to do laundry. I go back to sleep, needing any bits I can get. Then Ryan's mom calls. I swear she always calls at the most random times for any reason, just checking up on her barely adult son. I fake sleep, but in reality I can hear the whole conversation between the two. It started off with the normal, how is college treating you, are you eating enough, mom worries type of stuff. Then his mom started telling a story about how he bled through his pants every day of seventh grade, which I really did not need to know and wish to unhear. I start panicking that I'm not sleeping convincingly enough and Ryan will later tell me to pretend this never happened, which will only cement it in my brain as That Time My College Roommate's Mom Told Him About The Time He Bled Through His Pants In Seventh Grade. 

(Side note, when doing the character ai that came up naturally. Not really sure how.)