Living Your Lie (boyxboy)

Chapter 36

Part Three: Harley

"Dude, I'm so fucking glad it's you and me, bro!"

Nathan emphasized his words with a few rougher than necessary claps to my back. I shrugged him off and gave him a glare, awkwardly twisting my arm around to try and rub on the sore spot.

"Calm down, doofus," I said affectionately.

His eyes were sparkling and his expression was filled with awe as he looked around us.

We had spent the last couple days driving up the coast from home to Seattle where we were both going to UW. I was nervous, but excited to start a new chapter of my life.

The summer had flown by, and Anthony was back home going to UCLA. Corian and Andrew had left for Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago, wanting to have a romantic road trip before they started school.

Nathan liked to say that he and I had just done the same thing, to which I responded every time with a swift punch, a scowl, and, "There's no fucking romance."

Nathan always smirked and then whined, pretending he was seriously injured. I never felt guilty and I knew he was just putting on a show. Ever dramatic, that one.

Currently, we were parked outside of the residence hall we'd both be living in for our freshman year. We weren't rooming together, though. Nathan was sharing with some guy named Noel, and I apparently had the worst luck because when I went to check in for my room, we had to spend twenty-five confusing minutes trying to find my assignment that had somehow gotten mixed up in the database.

I had thought everything was sorted before we even arrived, considering it was for every other person there, but I was wrong.

"Okay, so we have extras set up for situations like this," a can-I-see-the-manager type woman had eventually told me, sliding a set of keys and a notecard with my room info on it over to me. The sticker on her shirt read Tina. "You know it's all a part of the new adventure, sweetie. You might not even get a roommate. How fun would that be? Cross your fingers!"

I had wanted to roll my eyes at her at the time because I had just been so annoyed by the mix up in the first place and her obnoxious optimism. But instead, I had smiled politely and just walked away, going back to meet Nathan at the car with the U-haul attached to the back.

Now, we were waiting for our turn for the volunteers to free up and help us move our things into the building.

The campus was gorgeous--part of the reason I decided to go there in the first place--so I understood why Nathan was so mesmerized by our surroundings.

He looked back at me with a grin. "Seriously, Harley, this is going to be the best year ever."

I chuckled. On the inside, I hoped he was going to be right.

"You know, since Jason dumped me, we can gay it the fuck up this year!"

I burst out laughing as a girl about ten feet away gave him a shocked look that he was oblivious to. I gave him a side hug, wheezing for air. "You're so fucking stupid, Nate, I love you."

He grinned wider and hugged me back. "Love you too."

A couple hours later we had more or less settled Nathan in, opting to just drop my things in my room and then go set up his stuff first.

His roommate, Noel, had seemed like a really chill dude. And he was also hot as fuck, which had not been overlooked by Nathan, who had mouthed to me, I'm falling in love, the second Noel turned his back on us.

I barely held in my laughter and thought about how horribly things could go if Nathan started to hit on him.

So, as soon as we were done, I pulled him out of the room and we weaved our way through the craziness in the halls and up a couple floors to where my room was.

"Do not," I said, turning to fix Nathan with a stare as I fished my keys out of my pocket. "I repeat, do not go for it."

Nathan smirked at me, leaning against the wall next to my door. "What?"

"You know what, idiot."

His smirk widened. "He's fucking hot, dude. Did you see him?" he asked, hooking a thumb over his shoulder and raising his brows.

I chuckled, snorting, and put my key into the lock, twisting it. "Yes, and I also think he's out of your league. Plus, you don't want to fuck up your first year getting into a messy relationship with your roommate. And that's all dependent on whether or not he likes dick."

Nathan stuck his tongue out at me and crossed his arms. "You're so fucking boring, Sinclair."

I sent him a wink and opened my door, ducking a playful punch as we stepped inside.

I froze as soon as I realized there was already another guy in the room. He had his back to us as he lifted a box up onto the shelf in his wardrobe.

Without warning Nathan slammed into my back and I tripped forward, catching my balance and quickly standing upright as the guy turned his head to look at us. He dropped his box, notebooks and pens falling noisily out onto the floor at his feet.

"Holy fucking shit," Nathan drawled behind me.

My ears began to ring as Dante's navy eyes settled on mine. Suddenly I felt like we were right back at the beginning after that lacrosse game a few years ago. We were back to where everything was fresh and exciting and all I wanted to do was find out what it felt like to touch him.

"Hey," he said quietly.

I could tell he was nervous, hesitant, but I saw that familiar glimmer of zeal in his eyes.

I swallowed, suddenly feeling exhilarated for the first time in a while. My lips twitched with the urge to smile at him and I was pretty sure I sounded breathless when I responded to him.

"Hey, Dante."

AN: this is the final chapter. After many years this story is finally complete. I'm sorry for how long it took and how frustrating the several year/month gaps in chapters was, but this is it! Thanks to everyone for reading and enjoying. Love you much 🥰