Labeled Dreams

Not The Change I Wanted

Harry lingered in the hall for a while. He'd just spilled his Starbucks coffee all over a boy he doesn't know the name of. Shaking his head and laughing to himself, Harry walks down the hall and opens the unlocked door, letting him know that his roommate beat him to the dorm.

Harry opens the door, revealing a tall and skinny, yet muscular, boy that he recognizes from the main office. "Luke, right?" The blonde boy jumps, surprised at how quietly Harry came in and smiles, awkwardly holding his penguin in his hand.

"Umm, y-yeah. Harry, was it?"

Harry smiled with his perfectly white teeth and nodded, putting his bag on the single bed on the opposite side of their dorm. "Er, nice penguins, mate." Harry pointed towards all of the stuffed penguins Luke had and blushed. I knew I shouldn't have brought them with me. "And shirt." His smile was humorous as he turned, unzipped his bag, and began to unpack. Luke looked down to see his t-shirt. It was a black shirt with a baby penguin on it, saying I love you a lottle. It's like a little, but a lot.

Harry threw most of his things onto the bed, hanging his nice shirts in the large closet they both share, and putting the rest of his clothes in the dresser.

Luke was doing the same, until something caught his eye. "A-Are those condoms?"

Harry looked up, confused. "Hmm?" Then he realized he was holding a large box containing 26 condoms, which use to have 48. "Oh! Yeah. Why? Do you need to borrow any? I mean, we're roommates so...."

Luke's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head.

"OH! OH! N-no. NO! That's not what I meant!" Harry shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I meant that we're roommates so we can share things. Not that we have sex together!" Harry laughed and waved it off as if what he said was nothing. Is he not fazed by humiliation?, Luke thought.

"Well, I guess since we're roommates we're going to have to set some ground rules?"

"O-okay."

Harry smiled and began to explain the "rules". "Well, for me, there is only one rule, and one rule only. When one of us has a lady friend over, the other roommate must not be allowed to stay in the room."

"You don't have to worry about me, I-"

"Also, I believe in sleeping naked, so I hope you don't mind."

"What?" Luke's mouth was open in surprise. How can someone be so blunt. So careless. So.....confident?

It's people like Harry that bring my self-esteem lower everyday.

*************************

About an hour later, Liam and Ashton arrived at the same time, bumping into each other actually.

"Oh my! I am so sorry!" Ashton gasps at the mess he has caused. Books and writing utensils were scattered everywhere across the schoolyard. Papers were flying away while Liam was trying to catch them. "Again, so sorry!"

"It's alright, mate. You're good. It's the first day here, I don't blame you. Oh, nice bandana." Their eyes met quickly and they both smiled. Not American, they both thought. "Where you from, mate?"

"Sydney, Australia. You from England?"

"Yeah, Wolverhampton. First time coming to LA. First time coming to America, actually."

Ashton quickly nodded. "Yeah. Me too." It was an awkward silence while Liam picked up his things and started walking in a past pace. Ashton caught up. "I'm Ashton by the way!"