Strangely Comforting (boyxboy)

Chapter 8

The next day, I woke up as the morning sun pierced through our dorm window, causing me to squint as I rubbed my eyes, yawning. I was simply exhausted.

You can only imagine how tough it was for me to fall asleep after Hayden called me cute. That's all my helpless mind could think about no matter how hard I tried to dismiss it saying, he surely didn't mean it in the way I'd interpreted it.

I stretched before groggily climbing out of bed, and looked over to see Drey still sleeping with his mouth wide open and snoring. I noticed his glasses on his bed next to him and I was surprised he hadn't crushed them in his sleep. I walked over and lightly picked them up, careful not to wake him. He gave a loud snore and turned over, causing me to laugh quietly.

The sudden realization that I was running late hit me hard, as I quickly threw on an outfit and brushed my teeth before grabbing my backpack and walking out of the door.

I groaned as I thought about sitting in mathematics class, as that's where I was headed, but thought back to last night when Xander took a sudden, almost frantic leave from Hayden's.

"Shit, I've gotta go."

What was so urgent that such a collected guy had to leave immediately? My curiosity got the best of me, and as I walked into math class, I purposely sat in the same seat as I had previously. Xander's 'seat'.

He sauntered in a few minutes after I had sat down, his head downwards, as his dark hair fell across his face. He looked up shortly after to scan the room in order to find his seat. Sure enough, his light green eyes landed on me, as I was in the seat he was looking for.

He stalked passed me and sighed deeply as he sat down in the seat behind me. I thought he'd be irritated that I chose the same seat as I had in the last class, but he didn't say anything, and obediently sat in an empty seat.

I couldn't help myself from my impulsivity, and whirled around to face him. He leaned back in his chair, his green eyes piercing mine, daring me to speak. I was always pretty good at reading people, but Xander was an exception. He refused to let anyone know what he was feeling. And thus, the slight hint of solemnness  that I had seen when he walked in was quickly replaced by his usual smirk.

"What is it?" he asked.

I wasn't sure how to forwardly come out and ask Xander about last night, and immediately regretted turning around. But I couldn't possibly turn back around without saying anything to him and I figured that I'd never find out if I didn't ask him about it. Plus, Hayden wanted to know as well.

"What happened last night?" I asked. "You left so suddenly."

Xander's grin widened as he raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about me?"

My mouth dropped open as I couldn't believe what he'd just asked me.

"You're insane," I said and narrowed my eyes at him. "I was just wondering like the rest of the guys were."

"You're the first one to ask me about it," he replied, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his desk. His face was inches away from mine and I suddenly became frozen. "They could've called me, you know. But they didn't."

I stared at him for a second before replying. "They were worried, Xander."

Xander's eyes widened as a warm smile suddenly spread across his face. "You said my name."

"What?" I said. "I say everyone's names."

Xander laughed deeply. "It sounded nice is all I'm saying, jeez," he replied and removed his elbows from his desk.

"Creep," I muttered and went to turn away, but Xander's hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder, spinning me back around. He looked into my eyes momentarily before he spoke up again.

"Someone at home became ill," he said, still staring into my eyes. "That's why I left last night."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Xander shoved my shoulder and forced me to face forward. I whipped around again and Xander placed a finger over his lips as he motioned with his eyes towards the front of the room.

Professor Bennings walked in slowly, a pile of packets in his hands. He dropped them on his desk, creating a loud thunk, and scanned the classroom.

"As you all know, you have an exam today on units one through three," he said and my stomach dropped.

Since when?

My hands instantly started becoming moist as I glanced around trying to see if anyone was as surprised as I was. But nobody was. They all pulled out their calculators and pencils, ready to take the exam.

I heard deep laughter erupt softly behind me and spun around, facing Xander.

"You knew about this?" I whispered.

"Of course I did," Xander said as one side of his lips curled up. "It's on the syllabus."

"Fuck," I breathed and turned around. Even Xander was aware we had an exam. I contemplated leaving the class as my score on the exam wouldn't be great anyways. But I figured getting one question right was better than getting nothing right.

The exams were passed back row by row and as I received it from the person in front of me, I mumbled, "Shit."

I passed one back to Xander, who calmly took it from me and scribbled his name down. I started frantically scanning through the problems, searching for one that I had some idea how to do. I hadn't even asked Drey to tutor me because I had no idea we had an exam.

"Bring your test to me when you finish," Professor Bennings announced. "I will run it through the machine and you will know immediately what you got."

I was screwed.

---
Hi, please let me know if you liked the chapter by leaving a vote and comment! ~ thank you :)