Page 28 of Footlights and Forever

Dylan

High school never really prepares you for the realities of college. In high school you sometimes have the constant presence of parents to be your unpaid but ever-present cheerleaders when you mess up, who keep the fridge stocked, the lights on and the heat going. When you get to college you not only have to feed yourself, make your own money and remember to do your own laundry, but crazily enough they expect you to go to class, study and do well.It’s a god-damned conspiracy I tell you.

I’d been at NYU now for about six month and in that time you could say I’d settled in. My roommate had arrived and lasted for maybe three months before the pressure got too much and the next thing I knew his parents were packing his stuff back into boxes and getting him the hell out of there. I’d asked the RA if Iwas being assigned another roommate but as it turned out there was no scope for placing anyone into housing this late into the year. So I had this big ass room to myself, which was handy for whenever Austin wanted to crash at my place, which he tended to do a few nights a week. He technically wasn’t allowed to do so, but the RA was charmed by his ruggedly handsome charm and, let’s be honest, hotness.

A knock at my door jolted me awake, and I snapped my head up from where it had been resting on a textbook flat on the desk in front of me. I groaned as I stared into the mirror above my desk to see an indent line molded perfectly on my cheek.

“Come in,” I yelled through the door. The only person considerate enough to knock was my boyfriend. Natalie seemed to believe it was her god-given right to just walk into my room whenever the mood took her. She had taken to calling me in advance of late, ever since she had walked in as I was jacking off with a finger up my butt. I’d had headphones in so had only realized she was there after a deathly scream had alerted me to her presence.

The sight of my studly boyfriend had me breathing a sigh of relief. I hadn’t seen him for a few days thanks to excessive studying and overlapping midterms and classes. He dropped his bag at the end of my bed and swooped down to press a deep kiss against my lips. “Hey baby,” his lips mumbled against my own before resuming kissing.

I pulled back, thoroughly kissed and slightly dizzy. “Hi,” I sighed.I love that he can still do this to me.

“Still grinding those gears huh?” he smiled, reaching down to thumb through my textbook. “Surely you have done enough without all this extra studying you’re doing.”

“Always be prepared,” I smiled, holding my two fingers up in a salute.

“You were never a boy scout,” he guffawed.

“No I was not,” I scoffed, “far too gay.”

“But the idea of you in short shorts and a tight matching shirt is definitely doing it for me.” He leaned down to kiss me again. His hands came up to grip my bicep as he pulled back from the kiss. “You need to stop tempting me with those devil lips, this is not what I’m here for.”

“It isn’t?” I could feel the frown marring my forehead.

“I thought I’d take you out on a date.” A shy smile played on his lips.

My eyes flitted back to my laptop and open textbook on the desk in front of me. He must have caught my eyeline as his big palm slammed across the page and closed the book shut tight. “Uh no, you have studied and studied. I need an evening uninterrupted with my boyfriend.” He pulled me from my chair and into his arms. I didn’t put up much of a fight because, who the hell would? My arms immediately wrapped around his waist.

“I guess I could be persuaded to give it a rest for the evening.” I tightened my arms around him, my chin pressed into his chest as I peered up at him. The way he looked at me, the affection and possessiveness etched into his features made my heart flutter every time.

“Good, because I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

“So where did you want to take me?”

An hour and a half later I was bouncing on my heels on the sidewalk of 200 W 45th street, outside of the Minskoff Theatre. “Seriously, how did you even get us tickets for the The ?”

He stood behind me, his hand around my waist, his palm splayed across my stomach, almost tethering me to the ground to stop me from vibrating away. “Kyle hooked me up,” Austin beamed, “he knows a guy.”

His smile fell slowly from his face, likely in response to my grimace at the mention of Satan’s human form, Kyle LeBeau. Kyle was one of Austin’s roommates, and While he was notthe only douche nozzle to reside within the house, he did hold the title for biggest dickwad. Kyle had made it abundantly clear on several occasions his opinion on Austin still dating his high school boyfriend. He would call it ‘quaint’, or ‘darling’. He would say things like,It’s so nice to see a couple making it after high school when every study says that they are doomed to fail and end up hindering growth in college. It’s nice to see someone buck that trend,and my personal favorite,You must feel so lucky to have landed someone like Austin.

I didn’t need Kyle or anyone telling me how out of Austin’s league I truly was. I had nightmares every now and again where the blinkers were suddenly removed from his eyes and he saw me as the geek I truly was, and left me for someone like Kyle or one of the other classically handsome men he chose to spend half his time with.

Kyle amongst all of them, save Austin, was truly amongst the most drop-dead gorgeous person I’d ever had the unfortunate luck to lay eyes upon. He was tall and broad, with light, almost powder blue eyes set against his Italian olive skin. His dark hair seemed to fall in place almost effortlessly with a loose strand dangling over one eye like some fucking James Dean wannabe. I hated him passionately and I knew the feeling was mutual.

“Don’t give me that face,” Austin frowned.

“I’m not giving you any face.” I shrugged, turning my attention to the front of the line.

“You have Kyle all wrong you know.” Austin pulled me tighter against himself. “He is a good guy, and he really likes you.”

“Sure he does.” I have had this argument with Austin too many times. I’m also now well-versed in Austin’s defense of his roommate buddies and the passionate way in which he extolls their virtues. “Anyway I don’t want to talk about Kyle,” I turned in his arms and tried my best for a sultry look, biting my bottomlip between my teeth, “I want to think about us, and I also want you think about how well I am going to thank you later.”

“Be still my heart.” He smiled, dipping down to run his tongue gently against my own.

I caught a glimpse out the corner of my eye of a girl with two other friends. They were staring at me with a confused expression. That’s when I hear it,He must be rich.Of course, how could a guy like me land Austin? He must be a gold digger and I must have a cheque book like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

“You know that I know that I’m lucky right?” I hate how shaky my voice was in that moment.

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