GAY AS A MEATBALL (Scomiche)

Not Singing Back-Up

Scott's POV

I groaned, rolling over and silencing my phone. I loved Ariana, and "Into You" was a jam, but setting it as my alarm was probably a bad call, since I was starting to hate it. First day of classes had come way too quickly, and I was so not ready to get up this early every day. Really, I just wished I'd gotten a little more sleep last night. I probably shouldn't have had that iced coffee in the afternoon, and I'd been worrying about too many things.

I peered out of my bunk at the little light on in the corner. It looked like Mitch had clipped a booklight to the top of his mirror so he could get ready without turning the light on while I was still asleep. That was sweet, I should tell him that he didn't have to do that. I slept like a log, according to my mom, and a light probably wouldn't wake me up. Why was Mitch up before me? I had set my alarm in plenty of time for a shower and even a quick breakfast, and he tended to sleep on days when we had nowhere to be.

I looked over again and now Mitch was in front of the lowly illuminated mirror. I could see that his blond strands were wet, and he was leaning over towards his mirror, applying make-up. Why did he bother? I thought he looked fine normally, and I'm sure people thought he looked weird with it on. I'd only ever worn make-up in musicals, and I knew it was a real pain to get right and then take off later. God, he was such a strange kid. Although I knew when I was applying to music school in California that I'd certainly be surrounded by plenty of more... out-there people than myself, and while I never really knew what to talk to him about, he'd never done or said anything that I actually had a problem with.

I'd spent far too long watching him apply his make-up. He probably knew I was awake, since I'd turned my alarm off. Embarrassed, I grabbed my towel and rushed into the bathroom to take my shower.

As I let the hot water wash over me, I thought about Alex. We'd made plans in advance to Skype at a specific time, and I'd even made Mitch leave the room so I'd have some privacy because I thought she'd like that. She often complained if I had things distracting me from her, and I wanted to make sure she knew she had my undivided attention. She did not give me the same courtesy at all. She was on her roommate's bed when she answered the call, with a couple of her new friends all gathered around so she could show them all "how hot I was." They left the screen after the first minute, but I could hear them still laughing in the room, and Alex kept talking to them, even when I was talking.

I felt awkward telling stories about my first few days when I knew everyone could hear me, so I just kept asking Alex about hers. She rattled off the names of all her new friends, and kept gushing about her cool RA, Jake, and how he'd gotten all the girls alcohol on Saturday night. At one point I heard one of her friends say in the background, "He only did it because he has a crush on you, Allie," but she just gave a short, fake laugh, and shot her friend a look. I'd asked her if that was true, and she said she didn't know but that I wasn't allowed to be jealous because that meant I didn't trust her. That made me mad because we'd been together for almost a year, and I'd lost my virginity to her, and I wouldn't do that with someone I didn't trust. I couldn't say all that, though, because her friends were right there. It had barely even been ten minutes into the damn call and I felt like I badly needed a shower or a nap. So when she'd said she had to go, I barely put up a fight, even though we'd promised to set aside a whole hour.

Ugh. I hated fighting with Alex. I loved being with her, but the second we were apart she tended to make everything really hard. She took the things I said really personally, but felt like she could say mean things to me, like I was the Man and I could Take It. Well, I am a man, but it doesn't mean I'm completely devoid of feelings. I got out of the shower and was wrapping my towel around my waist when I heard a knock, but I couldn't tell which side it had come from.