Roommates & Soulmates

Ch59: Simon's Shock

Red and orange leaves littered every inch of the ground as Simon walked home from class. It was early October and Simon was getting used to school again, the routine of going to classes, doing homework, seeing his friends, and practicing his music. Eric had easily agreed to have Jordan join their band once he'd heard the guy sing. The only challenge now was getting Jordan to sing something other than depressing love songs. Simon had to admit that even he wasn't that hung up on his ex, though Simon suspected it helped quite a bit knowing his ex had never really loved him romantically.

Twice now Simon had seen Clary in the halls, and though he'd smiled back at her when she did, he was glad she wasn't being as weirdly friendly as usual. It seemed that the last time she'd meddled in his life, had actually been the last time like he'd wanted. Simon did hope to be friends with her again someday, but not now. Now he had a very needy roommate to take care of, or rather clean up after. Simon was by no means a neat freak, but he had to admit, even he wasn't fond of his roommate's mess, and couldn't blame Jordan's ex for disliking it either. Simon supposed it was different dating a messy person than just rooming with one, but if this didn't get better soon, he was going to have to do something about it, even if that something was cleaning while his roommate was asleep or out.

Entering the dorm room, Simon turned away from the disaster on his left and headed right to the clean side of the room. With a sigh, Simon got out his homework. He was in his second year now and had to start thinking about what he wanted to major in, which was a daunting prospect to say the least. Simon was worried that if he picked a major he was interested in rather than one with a specific career in mind, that he'd end up as the most educated employee at a fast food joint. But if he picked one based on a job in mind, and then hated the job, he'd be stuck just the same. He still had a year to figure it out, but somehow a year didn't feel like it would be very long. All the same, Simon didn't want to be stuck in genetic classes forever. He was halfway through his major non specific essay when Jordan arrived home.

"How was class?" Simon asked his roommate half out of interest, and half out of a desire to turn away from his homework.

"No idea," Jordan sighed, before collapsing on top of the pile of clothes that covered his bed.

"Please don't tell me you skipped class to stalk your ex," Simon sighed, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. This guy needed a twelve step problem, not that Simon was complaining, since every moment with Jordan made him feel less and less pathetic about being hung up on Clary. At least Simon wasn't pining. He'd accepted his miserable fate.

"No," Jordan admitted. "I just spaced out at the wall and thought about her the whole time."

"Try actually taking notes," Simon advised. "You don't have to listen, just copy and paste with your hands. That way you can at least study for tests." Jordan laughed, though it quickly turned into a groan.

"You either have to talk to her or give up," Simon stated after a moment's silence.

"I can't give up," Jordan replied quickly.

"Okay, then speak to her," Simon reasoned, but Jordan just shook his head.

"I can't take the rejection right now," he argued. "I need to come up with a way for her not to reject me before I talk to her."

"Oh is that all?" Simon sighed. Jordan covered his face in a pillow, and Simon suppressed a smile. It wasn't always like this. Most day's Jordan was actually functional. When they weren't practicing band with Eric, they often watched movies together; Simon was working on turning his roommate into a Trekie, though with only minimal success. Jordan didn't seem to understand the brilliance that was Captain Picard. He had better luck getting Jordan to watch Sense8 on Netflix, though he suspected that was mostly for all the sex scenes rather than the amazing storyline, characterization, plot points, and cinematography. However, Simon refused to give up. If anyone could turn someone else into a nerd, it was Simon Lewis.