(A note to readers: Yes, I know this story does not have any gay sex in it, but it is primarily setting the stage for chapters to come. That being said, let me know what you think. A big thanks to LaRascasse for her editing.)
*
I stood at the bottom of the hill, facing my dorm. I had just arrived at college. It was mid August and my truck was packed full. I took a big breath as I just stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, taking it all in. The trees were still green and the grass had just been mowed, the sent still lingering on the slight breeze wafting lazily through the valley in which the college was located. There were very few vehicles and people around, as it was still a week before freshman orientation began and two weeks before classes actually started. The only people who would be on campus in the coming week were those playing a fall sport. Even with that group coming in, many athletes would not arrive until much later in the afternoon. I, however, was eager to get started on this next chapter of my life.
I looked back into my truck to all my belongings packed away in there. I knew there was no way I wanted to start unpacking now, especially when I didn't even know where I was located in the building, so I made my way up the hill and through the open front door. I was greeted by a friendly face: female, obviously mid to late twenties, bright green eyes behind a pair of glasses, full, red lips and a nose with a slight left crook to it. Silver loops hung from each ear and her hair, about shoulder length, bounced as she spoke.
"Hi there, I'm Ricky. I'm your RD. Who are you?" she asked as she held out her hand.
"Xander. Xander McMullen. Nice to meet you, Ricky" came my reply as I shook her hand. The handshake was a brief, professional one and once it stopped, Ricky looked down to the table in front of her to find my name and key. As she was searching her lists, I took a moment to look around. The table was positioned in the entrance to what seemed to be the common room. A well worn pool table was positioned right behind her chair. A couple couches, stuffed chairs and a low table lay beyond the pool table and a television sat elevated on a little loft in the far corner. Ricky speaking brought me out of my observations.
"Looks like you are in room 112. Go through this door, take a right, and it will be the last door on the left at the end of the hall" she said, as she indicated a door just to my right, leading into the main hallway. I thanked her and made my way to my room. As I walked down the corridor, I was constantly looking to my left and right, exploring the new place that would be my home for the next year. I saw a half-finished bulletin board, partially filled with information about the offices on campus. I passed by Ricky's room, made fully noticeable by the big cut-out of the Survivor logo with the surrounding circle saying "RD Erika 'Ricky' Jane." I also made a mental note that the RA for my floor was located only a few rooms down, in 117, and that his name was Ryan.
As I reached my room, I looked at the door. There was one name tag, mine, on the door. Remnants of tape on the door to the right of my tag reminded me that I was supposed to have a roommate, but that he would not be there, which brought back bad memories. Jonathan, one of my good friends from high school, was supposed to be my roommate. We had known each other since the second grade and grew up taking the same classes, playing the same sports and hanging out a lot after school. I was the goalie on our high school football team and he was the center fullback, or stopper. With the two of us together on the field, not a single goal was scored, and our high school team won the sectional title three years in a row while only letting two goals be scored against us, and both of those happened in the same game junior year when I was out due to a stomach bug that had me puking every five minutes and my coach wouldn't let me play. Jonathan had applied and been accepted into the college and recruited for the soccer team, just like me. We both planned on keeping our shut-out streak alive well through our college years, but unfortunately, his life was cut short.
I stood, still as a statue as I remembered that night, merely a week ago, when my friends and I were all partying. We were at Gerald's house. His family had a large back yard and his parents didn't mind our partying, so long as we stayed safe. We were all pretty wasted when Jon got a text from his girlfriend, asking him to come over and fuck her. He got up to go, letting us know what was up, but we pulled him back down and made him sit. We were not about to let him go off and drive in his condition. We told him to text his girlfriend and tell her he would be over as soon as he sobered up, and he thumbed around on his phone for a moment. About five minutes later, he excused himself to go to the bathroom and headed into the house and we lost track of him. Not even two minutes later, we heard his car engine roar to life. Registering the noise, Gerald, another one of our soccer buddies, and I sprang up and started running for where we knew his car was parked. By the time we got there, Jon was already two blocks down the street and headed for his girlfriends house. His glowing red tail lights were still in sight as we saw him run a stop sign at the intersection to the main street and get hit on the driver side by a tractor-trailer. The sound of distant crunching metal was playing in my head as I heard someone saying "Hey, are you ok?"
I snapped out of my memory and looked into the face of a man not much older than me. "You ok man?" he asked as I quickly re-familiarized myself with my current surroundings.
"Yeah, a little shaken, but I'll be fine. Got lost in a memory." I watched as he studied me. A look of knowing came across his face when he looked at the door. I knew that some people at the college must know of what happened to Jon, and this man looked as if he could be my RA, which would make him one that may have been told the story.
"Ok. Xander, is it?" I nodded to confirm that he was correct. "I'm Ryan, the RA for this floor. If you need to talk to someone about what happened, I am here. Just come over and knock on my door." His expression showed genuine concern and I thanked him for the offer and excused myself to enter my room. He turned around and left as I took my key and opened up my door.
I entered the room just far enough to allow the door to shut behind me and surveyed my room. There were two beds, both with mattresses still in a plastic wrapping, a comforting sight, as I knew that the beds were new and didn't have to wonder about what was done on them before. I also cracked a slightly evil smile, thinking about ways to break the mattress in. There were also two desks, each equipped with a chair, two sets of drawers on the wall opposite the desks, with a counter above them that housed the cable hookup and mirror. I looked in the mirror for a moment and admired myself, as I tend to do from time to time. My short, dirty-blonde hair was perfectly spiked in the front. My bright green eyes were at the perfect angle to catch a glint from the light. My nose had a slight crook in it from an injury when I was 14: I took a soccer ball square to the face when trying to block a penalty kick. My face was smooth, having just shaved earlier in the morning.
When I finally had enough of myself, I finished inspecting the rest of the room. A sliding door closet stood on either side of the drawers. A single window was on the wall directly opposite the door and a radiator heater sat just below it. I walked around and inspected everything and debated, in my head which, bed I would take. I decided on the far bed, as it was closer to the window and was also positioned in a way that aligned with how I slept, liking to lay on my stomach with my head turned to the right and not facing directly into a wall.
With my bed choice made, I headed back out to start unloading my stuff from my truck. Being on the first floor was very welcome. As I exited my room, I noticed a door leading outside to my left. I went over to it, opened it up and checked outside. The door led out the side of the building, and from there, I could clearly see a road with parking spaces that ran behind my dorm. I went back into the building and down the hall to the main entrance, where Ricky was still sitting, thought she was watching a show on the television in the common room. I asked her if I could prop the side door open to make unloading easier. She told me that she would go prop it open and I should just go get my truck and bring it around. By the time I was parked behind the dorm, the side door was wide open, and Ryan was standing in the door way. He came over to my truck and asked if I wanted him to help me move my stuff in and I graciously accepted his offer. We had all my stuff moved into my room within fifteen minutes, and he left me to set everything up in my room.
I took my time unpacking. It was 10:00AM when I arrived and even with everything that already happened, I knew that there was no way an hour had passed yet, but I checked my phone anyway. 10:48AM is what it read, a little later than what I thought, but still plenty of time to casually unpack and not have to frantically get everything ready before a short practice later tonight. I started by positioning my fridge so I could get it plugged in and cooling down and could put drinks in it later. I then set up my television and gaming system and turned the TV on to have a show playing in the background while I continued settling into my new surroundings. I settled on CMT and let the country music flow in the room while I unpacked all of my clothes and got them hung up in the closet or folded and placed neatly in a drawer.
*****
I lost all track of time. My room was now almost entirely put together, with a few minor things to take care of here and there, but my stomach was rumbling terribly. I checked my phone. 1:33PM. No wonder I was so hungry. I had a small bowl of cereal in the morning before leaving home, and that was well before 9. I decided that the rest of the unpacking could wait and I headed down to the main street of the town to find a place to eat. I settled on the local diner, the Jet, as I was really itching for a burger and nice cold chocolate milkshake.
As I walked into the college town diner, the smell of fryer grease and coffee quickly assaulted my nostrils, and made me even hungrier. I took a seat at the bar and an older waitress, probably later 30s, came over and handed me a menu. I took a quick look at their selection of burgers and decided to just go with a classic cheeseburger: beef, cheese, lettuce, ketchup. I got the waitress' attention and ordered my burger, which came with fries, and added my milkshake to the order. A couple minutes later, my drink was set in front of me and my food arrived less than ten minutes after that. The place was virtually dead at this time of day with so few college students in town, so my waitress was just idling behind the counter and struck up a conversation with me as I ate. She asked what sport I played, which then trailed off into further questions about my history in the sport, why I chose the college I did and if I had any future career plans. The conversation was enjoyable and I ended up staying in the diner for about a half hour after I finished my meal, just talking with the waitress. When I paid my tab, I added in an extra five dollars as a tip to the kind waitress and headed back to my room.
There were a few more cars parked behind the dorm when I got back. More athletes must have arrived within the past hour or so. As I was walking to the side door, which was propped open again, two broad shouldered, muscled men walked out of the door. They looked identical in all aspects except for the fact that one had his dirty-blonde hair short and spiked and the other wore his longer, just shorter than shoulder length. As they walked out, I asked them if they needed a hand. They accepted my offer and I followed them over to their vehicles and helped them unload. They lived on the third floor and had quite a bit of stuff, but we still managed to get it all up in their room within a half hour.
"Thanks a lot for all the help, man" the longer haired guy said.
The shorter haired man chimed in "Yeah man, thanks. Shit Vik, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet" he said as he hit long hair's arm. "I'm Vinny. You can call me Vin. And this is my brother, Viktor. You can call him Vik."
"Nice to meet you Vin and Vik. I'm Xander."