OLD Campus Crush (boyxboy)

"Hold onto your brother, Cas," Dad told me, holding his iPhone close to his eye as he recorded the process of my move to college. "This one's a picture," he informed as I put an arm around my little brother's shoulder, dragging him in close.

We smiled into the camera of my father's phone just as Mom rushed out, grasping her sequined black clutch and practically hopping on her heels.

"I'm ready!" She announced, a wide smile spreading across her blood red lips.

"Sweetheart, our son is going to college," Dad reminded, eyeing my mom's attire.

"I know. Gotta look good for the occasion." She came over to me, held my face gingerly and gave me an air kiss, so as to not stain my face with her lip stick or whatever it was she liked to put on her lips.

"Let's go, let's go!" Mom squealed. "We've got a two hour drive ahead of us, babies!" She tousled my brother's brown hair with one and a half inch scarlet nails and he squirmed out of her clawy grasp.

"Alright, boys. Let's get this show on the road. Not forgetting anything, Cas?" Dad asked me.

"No, Dad," I quietly responded as we all entered the loaded family van.

"I know you're going off to learn and explore bigger and better things, Cas, but don't forget to make friends. I know it'll do you good."

I grimaced and stared out of the window, looking towards my house and saying my silent good byes to it. I'd be back, of course, but it'd be a couple more months before that happened.

"I don't know, Dad," I replied.

"You've gotta start somewhere, so just get along with your roommate, okay?"

"He probably wouldn't wanna hang with the likes of me, Dad." I drew my seat belt across my body and fastened it, reminding my thirteen year old brother Dawson to do the same.

"The likes of you? What does that mean? You're a highly decent, educated young gentleman. Of course he'd want to be your friend; he's your roommate."

I didn't bother to argue with him. My Dad had strong opinions about literally everything, and while that wasn't awful, it was his first flaw. But he was an awesome Dad, no doubt about it. He'd do whatever in his power to help me with my education.

Anyway, I knew I was right. My roommate was named Nash McAvoy. I managed to find him on social media–Instagram–and there was a lot I could infer about him just from his account. One, I noticed he had x thousand followers, which was quite a lot. To me, anyway.

So from that, I figured he must have been pretty popular back in high school.

Next, his pictures. There were some where he was playing on a football field, in a game, holding or tossing a ball, and there was this particular one where he was pouring a bottle of water down his neck and chest. His head had been thrown back and one could see the droplets rolling down his naked torso as his skin glistened golden in the sunlight. It looked like a work of art, especially since it was a still picture that had been captured at just the right moment.

That let me know he was a jock (obviously) and from the looks of it, sort of a heartthrob too. Seeing that picture of him with water running in rivulets down his upper body made my heart jump. It was hypnotizing. He was hypnotizing, and I couldn't wait to meet him.

The drive was a long one, but it wasn't uneventful. My mother was a very loud and eccentric woman, which was literally the polar opposite of my personality.

She talked for half the drive, trying to keep Dawson and I awake and taking our minds off of the fact I was moving on to a higher education. As excited as she was for me, she didn't want to let her "little boy" go.

"Do you have to go, Cas?" Dawson asked, pouting at me.

I smiled and stroked his short hair. "It's college, Dawson."

"But I wanna go, too. I'm gonna be doing all the chores and mom's gonna talk my ears off."

That made me laugh to myself. "You'll live. And one day, it'll be your turn. I know you're smart."

He smiled at me then sighed, leaning his head against the window to fall asleep. I quickly followed his lead, decidedly tired of Mom's stories.

:::

My move-in time was earlier than my roommate's as he'd informed me. We had only ever talked through our emails because I didn't own a single social media account. It wasn't that I had no interest in that stuff (even though it didn't matter to me), but I had a little number of friends. What I was trying to explain was, he didn't know how I looked, or how I sounded. He probably didn't know the first thing about me, like my passions or peeves. I mean, I got the idea that his passion was football simply because of his Instagram.

I was quick to get checked in and receive my room key. Afterwards I headed back out to the car where we drove to the co-ed residence hall I was staying in and unloaded my possessions.

I didn't bring my entire house with me like some others visibly did, but I did have a lot to remind me of home.

"I'm on the fourth floor," I informed my Dad as he lifted my suitcase with my help, putting it into the large carts that were provided for the incoming residents.

He also helped me get the mini-fridge inside the cart and extra things that I brought along then we rolled the cart into the tall building. We made it onto the elevator, to the 4th floor, and to my room.

"This is it, Cas," my father declared. "You're in college."

I didn't respond to him, instead I thrust my key into the hole and struggled to open it. I was so not doing the 'you're-an-adult now' talk.

Once I did succeed in opening the lock I walked through the door and scanned the room.

As expected, it was blank and bland. There were two beds right across from each other on opposite sides of the room and against the walls. Also as expected, there were only mattresses on them, waiting to be made up.

"Your roommate's coming later on, right?"

"Right." We unloaded the cart and I sighed. "I'll take it from here, I guess."

"You didn't say your goodbyes to your mom and Dawson."

"I swore they were right behind us." I stepped out the room to look down the hall and saw my mom and brother rushing to catch up.

Of course, in those heels, Mom wasn't doing a very good job.

"Don't shut the door sweetie!" She called out.

Dawson had a dejected expression on his chubby face. I walked over to him and he just hugged me silently, his face buried in my chest.

I stroked his hair in a soothing manner before he let go, the pout returning to his clear-skinned face. "I hate you," he falsely claimed.

I chuckled. "Love you too, Dawson."

My mother caught up to us and squeezed me real tight. "I love you, my little grown man!"

"I love you too, Mom."

They spent a little more time with me, helping me set a few things up before it was time for them to hit the road again.

Dawson struggled to let go of me but I promised him that we'd video chat and talk everyday.

"Text us when your roomie comes!" Mom told me, blowing a kiss before she took Dawson by the shoulders and led him out. Dad smiled at me with a proud glint in his eyes, the same look he'd always give me when I was on honor rolls or when I got inducted into the National Honors Society at high school. He was proud of my academic achievements because they gave him bragging rights.

I was going to become a surgeon and majoring in Anatomy, so that was something he loved to boast about.

"We're gonna miss you, Cas. We'll talk later." He patted my shoulder firmly before heading out the door.

:::

I finished unpacking my belongings, my heart slightly heavy from the absence of my family and the absence of home. Hopefully when my roommate arrived, that homesick feeling would dissipate. I knew it'd always be there, but I needed at least one friend to take my mind off of everything.

Maybe he'd go somewhere to eat with me so we could hang out and get to know each other a little bit better. I mean, I was quite socially awkward with how little I talked and how softly I spoke, but he wouldn't mind, would he? Or maybe we could just go for a relaxing walk to explore the beautiful campus since it was our new home. I knew I'd doubted he would want to hang out with the likes of me, but I figured I'd at least try to not be a boring, pessimistic waste of shit.

The thought made me smile. I might actually have a chance at a real friend. I never had someone close or true.

Funny, at that thought, I heard a cacophony of voices nearing my door and something heavy being rolled. I figured it was him so I quickly shoved my empty suitcase under my bed right before I heard the knob shaking a little.

I held my breath, my heart beat accelerating and a rush of color swirling through my cheeks. This reaction was very typical of an introvert like me, so I totally expected it.

The door opened and I stood, frozen and rooted in the dead center of the small room, as he walked in.

Our eyes locked and I could feel my palms start to sweat and tremble ever so subtly. In the next two, barely three seconds, we assessed each other.

His hair was just as perfect as it had been in all of his social media pictures - probably better in person. It was brown and windswept, and from the looks of it, very silky. His eyes were small, fierce, and blue with a silver tint to them, and they glistened, as if he'd just seen something very marvelous. His lips were pink and lush, and his jaw was chiseled. He was art. Just like his photos.

Yes, it took two to three measly seconds for me to take that all into account.

But I was afraid he didn't like what he was seeing.

::::::::::