We returned from dinner very full, and very happy. Knowing that my mom was happy for me - for us - was a little surreal. When we arrived back at my dorm, I gently kissed Marcus, then spoke to him.
"Do you want to call your parents now?"
"Yes," he replied, "but first, I think we should tell my roommate."
"Ryan?"
"Well, yeah," he said a little cautiously.
"Why your roommate?"
I could certainly understand telling Ryan at some point, but why would Marcus want to tell him before he told his parents? Surely his roommate wasn't that important to him. My question seemed to make Marcus nervous, though.
"Well, I thought I should tell him not to worry if I don't come back to the room each night. That is," he added hastily, "if it's okay that I stay here with you sometimes."
This was one of those times when Marcus being naïve was definitely adorable.
"Sometimes? I want you to stay here as often as possible. I could get used to waking up next to my Prince Charming," I said with a smile. Marcus smiled back at me.
"Prince Charming?" he asked coyly. He wrapped his arms around me and brought me in for a kiss.
"That's you."
I kissed him back.
"Now," I said, "lets go tell Ryan that you'll be sleeping here, with me, from now on."
"Okay," he said playfully, taking my hand and leading me out into the hall. We walked hand in hand down the stairs to the second floor. There weren't that many people around, but we definitely got some weird looks. Marcus didn't seem to care about that, or maybe he didn't notice. I was surprisingly (perhaps defiantly) fine with it; I'd just come out to my Mom, so what did I care that a bunch of people I didn't know were staring at me and Marcus.
Marcus' room was a little more than half-way down the hall. The door was wide open, which was how his roommate, Ryan, usually liked it.
"Hey guys," Ryan said warmly.
"Hey," Marcus and I both said.
"I need to tell you something," said Marcus.
"Okay, what's up?"
"I thought you should know that I probably won't be sleeping here much from now on. You're a great roommate, don't get me wrong. It's just that Cieran and I are dating now and I think I'll be spending most nights in his room."
Ryan looked very confused.
"Wait. You two are dating? You're gay?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I guess I got a little ahead of myself there," said Marcus.
Ryan's look shifted from confusion to disgust as he glanced back and forth from Marcus to myself.
"Well," he said, clearly upset, "just keep it to yourself. I don't want to hear about it. Damn! I never thought I'd end up rooming with some fucking fagot!"
Now, I pride myself on keeping cool in tense situations, but Ryan's comment really pissed me off. Marcus stepped back, clearly hurt by his roommate's scorn, and I stepped forward to put myself between the two of them.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" I was furious. I spoke with such force, I felt like I could've been shouting commands to a hurricane. "Don't ever talk to him like that again! You can keep your ignorant comments to yourself!"
This shocked Ryan; apparently, he wasn't expecting me to react so decisively. He stepped back a bit, wide-eyed.
"Okay," he said as he looked intently at the floor.
"And?" This little shit wasn't about to get off the hook that easily.
"And," he continued, "I'm sorry."
"Good."
I stood glaring at Ryan for several more moments before Marcus took my hand and led me out into the hall. We walked all the way back to my room before either of us spoke. Once inside, Marcus shut and locked the door as I stood, staring at nothing, still furious.
I turned to look at Marcus. He had tears welling up in his eyes.
"I'm sorry. I had no idea he would react that way," I said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said, "I'll be fine."
Marcus moved over to sit on the loveseat, and I took a seat on the bed. I could tell he wasn't fine. He looked shocked. After several moments, I noticed that Marcus was still teary-eyed.
"Hey," I said, moving over to sit next to him, "I'm really, really sorry about that. Ryan was being total ass."
"I know. It's not him, though."
I was confused. Marcus wasn't upset about what Ryan said? Why the hell not?!
"It was you," he said, looking me directly in the eyes.
"Me?"
"Yeah," he said. "I've never seen you like that before. You were scary. Nobody has ever stood up for me like that..." he trailed off.
I understood now.
"Marcus, no one will ever talk to you like that if I can help it."
I moved in and kissed him. We kissed slowly, our hands moving softly around each other's arms, shoulders, neck, hair. Although we didn't say anything, we seemed to reach an understanding in our kiss. We were speaking without words; it was a truly beautiful moment. After a time, we broke apart. With our eyes closed, and foreheads resting against one another's, I spoke.
"Do you still want to call your parents tonight?"
"Yeah," he said, "I might as well."
Marcus took his phone from his pocket and dialed his parents.