Oh My God, They Were Roommates

14 | Smells Like Teen Spirit

Sora was beyond desperate. He was so desperate, in fact, that he nearly got Charlie on the phone to call off the date. Logic caught up to him fast, though. If he did that, he was just admitting to Charlie that he knew Ray, and that Ray had the potential to ruin his life. He wasn't quite sure what Charlie would do with that information, but it couldn't be good.

And now he had a stage that night, all thanks to Charlie bailing for the date.

I need to bail, too, he realized. How could he work when Charlie was off on a date with his roommate? Charlie! God, Sora wanted to punch him in the nuts so badly. Instead of doing that, he called up dancers who had contracts with Ambrose and tried to get one to cover for him.

He spent the morning on his way to class making calls and borderline-begging for someone to fill his stage. When that was sorted out, he called up Ambrose to confirm the changes.

"Hey, just wanted to let you know that I won't be filling Charlie's stage tonight," Sora said, and gave the name of the dancer who would be filling the stage.

Ambrose sighed and said, "Alright, I'll put it on the schedule. You two really have to stop giving me the run-around on this shit."

"Hey, I rarely ask off," Sora insisted, and he could practically hear Ambrose rolling his eyes. "And if anything you can thank Charlie for this. That rat bastard is going on a date with my roommate so I gotta be on high alert."

"Well, have fun with that. I'll see you tomorrow," Ambrose said, and hung up.

Sora put his phone in his lap, relief lulling through him on the bus seat. His expectations for that day had dramatically shifted, and it left his brain exhausted before the day could begin.

Sora sat through studio with his eyes trained on his professor. Every so often, his scowl unintentionally gravitated towards the back of Ray's head. He wanted to throw something at him. Maybe a pen? Sora wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was so damn pissed that Ray was even into 22-year-olds. Why did Ray set his Tinder age-range to 22?

For a brief stint there, Sora had set his Tinder to 22... Maybe a 22-year-old had a full-time job! It'd be great if he didn't have to pay for dates, if he was being honest... But that didn't change the fact that they were freshmen and Charlie—were he in university—would be graduating.

Sora shook his head. It was hypocritical of him to scorn Ray for this when he, himself, had a crush on Charlie no more than a year ago.

Studio ended, and Sora didn't realize it until he saw Ray packing up. Sora hastily slung his backpack over his shoulder and stood, keeping Ray's spiky black hair at the corner of his eye. He followed at a great distance—at least half of the class between them upon exiting—and continued at that distance out of the building and down the sidewalk.

Ray was walking with Huey, who had the build of a goddamn gymnast—stocky, buff, but with a narrow waist and, oddly enough, defined calves. It was easier, though, to keep his eyes on Huey since the guy stood a whole head taller than Ray.

At the lights, Ray paused to wait for the crosswalk and waved farewell to Huey, who slapped him on the back. Sora heard the distant, "Good luck on your date!" before Huey jogged off towards the USFC track arena.

Sora slowed at the corner of the street. They were across the road from the parking structure, just a block away from his bus stop, and Sora cursed internally. Ray had a car. Sora couldn't follow Ray in a car—unless—

Ray let out a startled scream, slapping a hand to his chest. Sora looked at him as Ray gasped out, "God, you scared me. I didn't know you were standing there."