Hey guys! Here's another chapter of Facing the Frat Boy. I'm pretty overwhelmed by the responses for the first few chapters. I read every single comment and love hearing what you guys think. Thanks for all the favorites too. Let me know what you think of this one.
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Ch. 03: You're like a Rubik's cube that moves every time I think I'm close to solving you
The following week felt like a detox for Ryan as he slowly weaned himself off the frat boy and the power he had over him. He mulled over Levi's words for hours after he left. That night, he laid in bed, softly replaying each phrase like it was a chant.
"You're mine now."
"You're so cute when you're all pouty"
"Maybe I'm not so straight after all."
"
And the latest one:
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
He repeated those words softly to himself until it lured him to sleep..
Ryan woke up the next morning, feeling the boy's dried cum on his leg and seeing his clothes in the same piles he'd left them last night. He got up, slipping on a towel as he walked to the communal bathroom to shower. Under the stream, he scrubbed himself clean, hoping to wash away the false promises that Levi was giving him. He watched them wash away down the drain as he dried himself off and headed back to his room.
He needed to get the straight boy out of his head- knowing that no good would come from getting mixed up with a guy who hadn't fully realized who he was. He'd played that game in high school, and refused to spend his college years lusting over closet cases who'd only push him back into that confinement.
Still, he decided to take the boy's advice. He showed up at the quad just after his first class later that week, seeing the open grass filled to the brim with colorful tables and herds of students. He walked past the entrance with a sign proudly reading "Involvement Fair" as he shuffled through the lines to look at what the school had to offer. There was a club for pretty much any interest- everything from anime to ping pong to poetry. He by-passed a lot of those, finding most of the people manning the tables to come on too strong and be just too excited at the prospect of him joining.
Ten minutes passed by and Ryan was still clubless- not seeing anything that really sparked his interest.He figured that he'd at least head over to the edge of the grass where they were passing out hamburgers and hotdogs to everyone there. If he wasn't going to find his place, he'd at least take a free lunch. Like fate, he saw a large husky run across the field with its leash flowing in the wind behind it. It stopped at his feet, lowering its head as the boy crouched down.
"Hey there girl." He said as the dog licked his palm. "You look like you could use a belly rub."
The dog excitedly turned over, laying on the perfectly green grass as Ryan ran his hands over her. He smiled wide as the dog barked happily. A petite girl came running over wearing a bright red shirt with the letters PAWS spelled out in the front.
"I'm so sorry!" She said as she got close, "I really thought I could handle her, but she's a lot stronger than she looks." The girl crouched down to pet the dog who'd licked her hand excitedly. "Aren't you, Nova?"
"Is she yours?" Ryan asked, feeling her soft fur. Apart from his friends and family, he missed their dog, Asiga, the most. It meant "salt" in Chamorro, with his parents naming her that after all the days she'd spend running through the beaches, and in and out of the water. Ryan could always smell the faint scent of seawater on her even when they'd go weeks without a trip.
"Not exactly." The girl got to her feet with the leash in hand. "She's a mainstay at the local animal shelter. They let us bring them down for events like these to showcase our club."
Confused, Ryan asked, "And what is it you guys do?"
The girl smiled wide, "We volunteer there a couple times a month- help clean out the kennels, assist with adoptions." She chuckled, "Sometimes they have us come down just to play with them."
"I didn't realize that was a club." He admitted.
Nova barked, seemingly agreeing. "Neither did I when I first joined." She said as she motioned towards the far end of the quad just by the lines of students waiting for free food. "If you're interested, stop by our table to get some more info. We could always use more hands."
"I will." The boy said happily as he leaned down to pet the dog once more. He started walking in that direction, seeing a crowd of people hunched down to pet all kinds of cats, dogs and other furry friends they brought.
Ryan looked over to his right, seeing a large gathering of guys dressed in bright blue t-shirts and backwards baseball caps. "Pi Kappa Phi" he read in gold letters, as he noticed the loud table that had its own sizable crowd. He filtered through the sea of blue shirts until he recognized Levi, standing behind the table and chatting up a tall boy who looked like a perfect fit for the frat. Even though he was dressed like everyone else, the Vietnamese boy managed to stand out- looking impossibly good as he saw traces of that white smile as he spoke.
"Technically I'm not avoiding him." The freshman argued, as he turned his back and walked towards the other booth.
***
Ryan did end up joining PAWS that day, after having talked it up with a couple of the members who seemed really nice and far less intense than everyone else who manned a table.. He attended their first meeting later that week, and after a slightly awkward ice-breaker, was able to meet a bunch of new people who seemed just as eager to make friends. They wouldn't be getting matching tattoos anytime soon, but it was a start.
One afternoon, he had checked his school email to find a message from his Ethics professor, saying they'd be switching classrooms permanently. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the one guaranteed chance of seeing Levi was no more. He still wrestled with the thought of what he even was, but at least now he could do that without seeing his cocky face every Tuesday and Thursday.
Things went silent for a few days- with Levi only crossing the boy's mind once every few hours at best. He tried to think of other things: hang out with new people, explore the city- all of it seemed to work for a bit. That was until Friday night when he'd just gotten back from an afternoon at the animal shelter.
Ryan opened the door to his room, smelling like pet hair and dog food. He was in desperate need of a shower, but wanted to wait a little bit for all the guys on his floor getting ready for another night out. He sat back on his desk chair, taking a load off after having been standing on the bus for the past half hour. He scrolled through his phone to pass time
A red notification popped up at the top of his screen. He clicked on the icon to see that youngtruong had sent him a message. He hovered his finger over the screen name for a while- knowing that he could close the app out and leave the message unread without being penalized. He felt like he was being offered a drink, after weeks of sobriety Levi did that to him- with that infectious smile and relaxed personality- almost to a fault. He clicked it, caving in,
"I feel like I haven't seen you in a while."
"Come to the Pi Kapp house at 9 for a party."
"I promise to be nicer this time."
The messages actually made him smile as he pictured the handsome boy biting down on his lip with that upturned smirk like he'd just served the first round of ping pong. He did that every time- giving the boy a chance to reply just so he could go back with another serve of playful banter. Ryan started to type out a message, but deleted it, not wanting to fall victim of taking the bait- no matter how enticing. He tried again, but couldn't manage to hit enter- knowing that Levi wouldn't accept any lame excuse he could muster. So he set his phone to charge on his bed and stripped down to his boxers. He reached for his shower tote and flung the blue towel over his shoulder.
"Time to wash away the frat boy." He said to himself as he headed to the bathroom.
Hours later, Ryan was headed back from the cafeteria. He had a sudden craving for ice cream, so he rushed out of his room, eager to catch them before they closed. He had a pint of Chunky Monkey in one hand and a bunch of plastic spoons for his stash in the other. The boy was binging Schitt's Creek before he left, and had already planned to finish out the season before he'd go to bed.
As he walked closer to his dorm he saw a lonely soul, sitting at the park bench just outside the double doors. It was dark outside- with their bright blue shirt as the only indication that someone was there.
"I don't get you, Ryan." He heard as he walked closer, recognizing Levi's voice.
"We hook up, then you ignore me in the halls." He put his hands up "Fine I get it, a hook up doesn't mean we have to be friends. But then we talk again and hook up again.." He breathed, "You make it seem like things are good, but then you don't bother to reply to my messages and instead attempt to type a reply three times before just ignoring me"
Even slurring some of his words, Ryan knew the boy is coherent enough to mean what he says. He felt a wash of guilt at what he figured were mixed signals he didn't mean to send.
Levi leaned into the boy like he was divulging a secret, "Tell me if I misread any of this and I...I promise I'll leave you alone." He exhaled, filling the space between them with the scent of vodka and god knows what other liquor he'd consumed.
Ryan froze, still in disbelief that Levi had showed up here. The other boy gave a defeated sigh as he tried to walk off, nearly falling on his face in the process.
"Levi." Ryan said, offering a hand. "Let's talk about this upstairs." He slung Levi's arm over his shoulder, "You can't possibly make it all the way home."
"I'm not as think as you drunk I am." He replied, almost comically.
The older boy mumbled something incoherently as he was escorted into the building. Ryan was thankful that the front desk worker didn't give him a hard time- likely too lazy to file a report or have to call campus security. She waved them off as the freshman muttered "thank you" before walking them to the elevator.
Levi leaned against the cold metal wall as the younger boy took a breath.
"You could have just said you didn't want to see me."
Ryan leaned back, feeling the pattern of the wall press into his back like a hundred fingers pointing back at him.
"I didn't think it mattered if I showed up or not." He said weakly.
Levi sneered, "Why would I have asked you to come if I didn't want you there?" Managing to get those words out clearer than ever.
The elevator rang, saving Ryan from giving another lame excuse. He pulled Levi into him and walked them down the empty hall until he got to his door. Once inside, the older boy fell back on the bed, taking up most of what the twin mattress had to offer. Ryan stuck the pint of ice cream into the small compartment of his mini fridge and closed his laptop.
"Just get comfortable and we can talk about it in the morning."
