Room 116 (Austin Carlile + Alan Ashby)

II

Great, just when I thought I'd bagged myself my own room. I nodded and he began to pay attention to Del and Ron. By now they'd have been talking about the safety precautions and so on. I was so engrossed by the droned sound of them talking that I had become oblivious to a tugging of my right sleeve.

I looked to my side to see Austin pulling my sleeve to get my attention. Unintentionally aggressively, I yanked my arm from him so he'd let go. "What?" I asked trying not to be rude to Del and Ron and talking over them. "Look at those guys there," he whispered. "They're holding hands!" Austin pointed to two boys who were 'secretly' holding each others hands behind their chairs.

I smacked Austin's hand and like a child, he made a 'tsss' sound and pulled his hand away as if I'd hurt him. "It's rude to point." I criticised and the careless boy shook his head. "Whatever, I just thought it was weird." he retorted, causing me to shake my head.

"There's nothing wrong with it, leave them alone and listen." I said with the look of a teacher. He raised his eyebrow as if to say 'Wow, you support that?' but the blush on his cheeks revealed that it was just an act upon himself.

Soon enough, the guys were done talking and people were lining up to eat. I stood up and straightened my shirt before going over to Del, Austin following closely behind me. "I'm going to go to my room." I told Del, and he nodded. "That's okay, kiddo. Don't forget to help Austin around." he said, ruffling a hand through my hair.

Patting down my hair I argued, "I'm 17, I'm not a kid. And yeah, I know." Del laughed and walked off. I turned around to see Austin still waiting behind me. "Right, yeah. We have the same room, coincidentally." I muttered and Austin's eyes widened as I held the door open for him.

"We're going to be roommates?" he said, sounding quite shocked. I nodded and he trailed behind me. The walk from the luncheon hall back to the dorms wasn't far. Plus, the weather was lovely outside for going for night walks weren't bad ideas. It was almost 6pm so it was still light outside seeing as it was summer.

"How old are you?" I asked Austin to break the awkward silence. "17, I'm turning 18 in September." he replied and I returned him a nod. "That's cool.." I dreaded awkwardness. The worst thing is not getting along with your roommate.

You have to see them everyday and fear falling asleep before them. Austin didn't seem like a bad guy but it's not like you can decide what someone's like before you even get to know them. I do want to get to know Austin. If he'd let me? That's a different story.

Some people don't like opening up to strangers. Everyone's a stranger at first right? How do you expect to get along with someone if you wont even speak to them? How can you trust anyone?

We got to our room and I unlocked the door. "You've got your own set of keys right?" I asked and he nodded, realising that I had already occupied the bottom bunk. "Do these separate?" he asked quietly, scratching his neck.

I groaned and tried seeing if the top bunk would lift. "Nope, why? Is it a problem?" I asked with slight cynicism. "Uh, I guess not. It's just, a bit weird. A guy sleeping in technically the same bed as another guy." he mumbled, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Oh my God, what is your problem?" I said feeling quite aggravated. I think you could tell that I was annoyed because he turned around gave me a weird look. I sighed and shook my head. "What do you mean?" he said with a raised eyebrow. I walked over to my bag and grabbed the latest book I was reading and went to the window, sat on the window sill and opened a page.

"I mean, what is it with you and ideas of homosexuality?" I grumbled. The dimming light of the sun was barely helping me read so I ended up just looking out the window. Austin began walking up to me, I could tell from his reflection in the mirror. "It's weird. What, are you gay or something?" he questioned as if being gay was bad thing.

"No, I'm not. I just don't see why you should judge someone by what gender they like." I grumbled and he scoffed. He returned back to the bunk bed and hopped up to his bunk. I watched as the sun set and the sky became darker and darker to a point where I'd been sat there for 2 hours. My eyes became droopy and I thought it was the best time to sleep. I figured Austin had gotten the wi-fi password off the card on the desk as his face was lit by the screen of his phone in the darkness.

I saw his eyes direct at mine but then drift away slowly. I wish there was something I could actually like about him because right now he's giving me no reason to. I sorted out my bed and went to wash my face. I turned on the light and left the door agape behind me.

Cold water droplets fell off the edges of my face after I threw the water on my face after brushing my teeth. My eyes widened by the coldness and small particles hung onto my skin. I grabbed my face towel and wiped my face while I turned off the light and returned to my bed. Austin was still on his phone.

I laid down onto my bed and shuffled around a little. I got comfortable and tried drifting off to sleep but I knew I probably wouldn't. Insomnia isn't the type to go away with such ease. "Hey, Alan." I heard the voice above me speak quietly. "Yes?" I replied.

Austin cleared his throat before continuing. "Sorry, about earlier. I was being stupid and inconsiderate." he mumbled. I was astonished. What was he doing on his phone, reading up reasons why homosexuality isn't wrong? "Uh, it's okay." I said back. I heard him shuffle slightly as if to sit up.

"Do you ever think about it though?" he asked. "What? Think about what?" was my reply. What the hell is this guy talking about? "You know, a guy and a guy. Wouldn't it be.. weird?" he said.

"What am I supposed to know?" I asked and he laughed. He didn't speak for a bit and then climbed out of his bunk. When he got down, he turned the lamp on beside my bunk which cause me to squint having to adjust to the change in lighting. To my surprise, Austin got into my bunk and crawled over me, his face virtually over mine. "Uh, what are you doing?" I asked and he had a mischievous smile written on his face.

"Don't you want to try it out?" Austin said, his eyebrows furrowing. What the fuck?! Okay, first this guy is 100% homophobic and now he's trying to get it on with someone he know's nothing about expect that he is 100% straight. "Are you high on something?" I groaned trying to push him off me. He rested his elbows besides my chest on the mattress causing me to rest back on my elbows. I gulped and he laughed again.

"I'm not high on anything, I just want to know what it's like." he chuckled. "Is everything okay up in there? One minute you're homophobic and next you're trying to kiss me? Not forgetting the fact that dude, I'm straight!" I whisper shouted. Why hadn't I thrown a fist at this guy's face already.

"I'm straight too," he answered before I scoffed. "Besides, you don't have to be gay to kiss another guy. I just want to know what it's like, nothing more." he retorted. Before I could protest again, Austin had already connected his surprisingly soft lips with mine. I mumbled trying to push him off but he wouldn't budge. While his eyes were tight shut, mine were wide open. His lips tasted like mint as he'd brushed his teeth not long before I'd brushed mine. For some reason, I began to kiss back. Wait, why was I kissing back? My eyes slowly began to close but Austin broke the kiss, opening his eyes and taking short, paced breaths. I looked into his eyes in shock, his brown eyes reflected my appearance.

"Uh, uhm.." I mumbled before he smiled. "I don't know why you were protesting, you did happen to kiss back, you obviously enjoyed it." he chuckled before climbing out of my bunk. I scoffed and spluttered out random words trying to defend my case. "What?!" I shouted and he giggled before climbing back to into his bunk.

I heard him giggling still so I shouted, "I did not enjoy it!" He laughed louder this time. "Whatever, goodnight." I sighed and turned out the light.

What had just happened? As weird as it was, I'm not going to lie when I say I slept with a smile on my face that night.

(tbc)