How good it feels to get back into this. I hope you all have been having a great spring. This semester should be a great section to write so I hope you all are eager to read it :-D
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I. Love. You. I love you. Was it true? Did Kyle mean what he said when he laid on me? It seemed like a long time ago, this summer seemingly endless; the months, weeks, and days countless hours that never ended. I had talked with Tay about it but he wasn't as useful as I had hoped. He was still in his relationship with Ryan, and somehow, had miraculously been able to hold it as a long distance. I envied him for making it work but I had to remind myself that it was one thing that I couldn't do in a relationship... which made me feel guilty about having Kyle say he loved me then I turn around a leave. Was it really fair to do that?
As it was, did Kyle rush into it too soon like I had? As I analyzed and overanalyzed the situation more and more it frustrated me to no end. The two of us did talk over summer break but we never had the chance to actually see each other. Skype text messages and calls only go so far in the realm of relationships and while they are good mediums to stay in contact, the physicality of the relationship is just as important if not more. In a way though this was probably best for the two of us, considering that the last time we were a "thing" we DID rush into it and we all know how that turned out. Still... Gha it was frustrating to not be able to see him, hold him, or snuggle with him in a romantic manner.
When we did have the chance to possibly see each other, either him coming up near me or vice versa, coincidentally one of us would be either too busy to meet up or out of town to hang out. I still had not met his parents, which while some guys get nervous over, me not so much. I actually really wanted to meet them, see how similar he might have been to them. Also I really wanted Tay to meet him. I knew Tay was worried for me over Kyle, most because everytime I would bring him up, he would make a slightly whiny noise, a cute high pitched grumble that let me know to change the subject. It didn't have to last long for Tay though as summer was finally ending and school was about to start.
After the long drive down to Long Beach, I was ready for the semester. Looking around me as the eager freshmen stumbled out of their cars and parents fretted about what might have been forgotten or what might need to be bought, it was a clear sign that the school season was in full swing. As I moved slowly around the hustle and bustle of people around me, I took note of what all I had in Ally's, er my, trunk. Even though it was my car now, I still looked at it as Ally's car; her blue sedan still holding her air fresheners in it.
I didn't have to bring much down this time, my first year telling me what all I needed and what all I didn't. Towels-check, clothes- obvious check, binders- erm... yea yes I have those in my backpack, random ass toiletries- yep... I knew I had packed enough to last a few weeks before I really needed to head out and hunt for supplies that I might have forgotten. It was nice though that during this season many stores dropped their prices and help sales on school supplies.
Lugging out my suitcase, I drop the wheels on the ground and dive into the trunk to fish out my duffel bag, its contents more important that my suitcase. While it was a decently sized bag, it held most to all of my clothes, my suitcase carrying my paper and portable printer, among other small supplies. I was now ready to move to my room. While Bryan, Zach, and I were all in the same room again, we decided to move up to a suite.
Walking through the parking lot I was reminded why I loved this campus; all around me there were students helping each other out and Long Beach staff directing newcomers to their respective hall. the doe faces that these students had on were completely adorable. Even though they were just a year younger, I felt that my year here had taught me so much, maybe I can pass some of that knowledge to them. It did feel kind of weird that I hadn't seen anyone that I knew yet but with all the faces moving around it was hard to keep track of everyone. Last year though by this time I had met a good friend who would end up to become my sister's boyfriend. Disgarding the nostalgia, I shut the car and moved on my way.
After registering in and receiving my hall key, I made my way to my new room, the comfort of the enclosure enticing. Opening it up I was slightly surprised that Bryan and Zach were already here, the two of them face first in some video game that one of them had gotten over the break. It looked to be a first person shoot game but after watching them for a few seconds I realized they where running from zombies. Probably some mod to the game. "Hey guys." I spoke out to break the silence.
Our room was a whole lot bigger this time, in actuality, three small rooms joined by a living room. The living room was small as well, barely larger than the room that we had last year but it was enough to have friends over. The two of them barely murmured as I started to move toward my room. Bryan waved his hand from his control to me only to elicit a sharp response from Zach, "Hi Chris- rooms on the right. Brian STOP WAVING AND SHOOT THE ZOMBIE!" His squeak could'nt have come at a more perfect time, the two of them were getting swarmed by a huge hoard of Walkers.
Rolling my eyes, I lugged my stuff into my room, noting the almost closet style room it appeared to be. Mumbling to myself, I toss the luggage up onto the bed with a groan, "I left the metaphorical closet to physically be stuck in a real closet... really?" Apparently my grumbling was loud enough for my roommates to head because a hushed chuckle came from our living room and I can tell you it wasn't because of zombies. The room was smaller than the previous year but I was glad to have it to myself, mostly because it meant that I could bring Kyle over whenever I wanted and didn't have to worry about making it awkward for him or my friends.
It didn't take me long to settle in, my flag now hanging from my wall, my pictures on my miniature desk. It literally barely fit between my bed and the wall, at most it was 3 feet from side to side. The width from front to back was a little smaller, barely surpassing maybe 2 feet. My bed was a single, the standard blue sheets oversized for the mattress. At around 5 in the afternoon, Byran stuck his head in the door, "Hey we just finished killing zombies. Wanna go throw around?" The way he said it could have been taking a multitude of ways, especially with his straight as stone face; I couldn't resist from chuckling.
"Umm sure, let me find my cleats." I glanced around my room, trying to figure out where I had just placed them.
Zach stuck his head in as well, commenting in the process, "You won't need them we are just throwing around. It's not like we're practicing or anything." Shrugging my shoulders, I followed them out, closing the door behind us.
By now most of the students had moved out from the parking lot and into their dorms. A few stragglers here and there were stumbling about, their overloaded bodies struggling to hold the immense packages that they were carrying. Moving close to the parking lot, the three of us started throwing the disk back and forth.
It felt great to get back into throwing the disk, something that I hadn't actually done much of during the summer. Pike had warned us that we need to find a pick up group or the training would be harder but after looking around relentlessly, there were no Frisbee groups in my part of town. So instead I "practiced" it on Tay's Wii, finding some low key game that could be torrented to give you the experience of Frisbee Golf without actually leaving your house. It wasn't the same though as I recalibrated the weight of the disk back into my head.
It felt heavier than normal but after checking the weight I saw that it was the regulation size of 175 grams. Bryan and Zach both noticed my unease about handing the disk and began to unleash their unrelenting jokes and taunts. Bryan broke into me first, "You didn't play at all during summer did you? Pike's going to grill you." He let out a chuckle as he passed the disk to me.
Clapping my hands down on it only to have it fold out, I quickly pick it up to toss it to Zach. The disk wobbles in the air but manages to make it... barely. Zach reaches out to grab the disk before it drops by him, commenting in the process, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you lost a step over summer."
Snearing at him, I watch as he moves the disk to Bryan, prepping to catch it from him again. Bryan tosses the disk but instead of it flying towards me, it banks off and flies way off to my left. "Looks like Bryan's lost a step as well." I comment as I look to where the disk went. Looking around, I see that it was about to fall onto a girl so I shouted out, "Heads up!" It was a futile effort as the disk tapped her squarely in the back, startling her enough to drop all her items. "Crap," I mutter as I run over to her.
She was a beautiful girl, nice brown hair, a little curl to it but straightened enough to hide it. Her small petite frame was crouching over her cluster of mixed papers as Bryan and I moved to help. Bryan squatted next to her to see if she was ok as I started to collect her papers. Bryan, I could tell, was smitten the moment she brushed back her hair, "Hey are you alright? I'm sorry about that."
The girl rubbed her back, putting more thought into the injury than was needed but it was a guilt trip meant for Byran. She smiled as we finished collecting her things and then spoke out in a playful voice, "You gotta watch where you throw those disks. You never know when you might hit an unsuspecting girl."
Zach had walked over by now and was getting up to date on the happenings. Bryan picked up the disk and twirled it in a jock style fashion. "What if I meant to do it to get your number?" Zach and I both rolled our eyes at each other as we watched Bryan try to woo this girl.
Cockblocking my friend, I stepped forward to introduce us all, "Excuse Bryan, it's not too often he gets to talk with girls. I'm Chris and this is Zach." The three of us take amusement as Bryan's face drops into embarrassment.
The girl took the most amusement out of it, chuckling as she extends her hand to shake each of ours. "I'm Christine but my friends call me Chris as well." Bryan's eyes twinkled when he got her name.
Bryan did the most expected thing next, not wanting to lose her so easily. "So, do you need help moving some of this stuff to your hall?" It was obvious he was nervous now, the wionder of if he was going to be shot down unnerving him.
Christine looked at our hall and shrugged, "I'm right here so it's not too far. If it's not too much trouble." Bryan's eyes shot open at the realization that she was staying in our hall.
Without even consulting Zach or me, Bryan hastily blurts out, "Yea, we were just finishing up anyways." We had been out here less than ten minutes. Zach starts to protest but Bryan quickly shoots him down with a challenging look. I could only shrug my shoulders at the situation.
Walking with her back to our hall, Bryan starts up small talk, learning what year she was in and where she was originally from. Noticing Michael emerge from his car out in the lot, I let them all know I was breaking off to see Michael. Zach gave me a "please don't leave me as the third wheel" but I smiled at them as I waved myself away.
Waving out to Michael, I caught his attention. He didn't have much to carry so while I offered to help, there wasn't much I could do. Locking eyes with him though I could tell something was up. It didn't have the luster that I had seen last semester. "Hey how was your summer?" I try to prod him for the information but his responce is what I hate most to hear.
Michael looked away from me and simply said, "Fine."
"Umm. Ok." He'd open up when he feels like it. Was it Skyler? I hadn't really talked with either of them during summer so I didn't know how they were doing.
Moving into his room, I saw that Kevin had moved in as his new roommate. I could tell there was some instant unease between the two of them. Kevin waved and said hi as I walked in but didn't look too long at Michael. Michael sulked to his corner and started to unpack. Not taking it anymore I ask the question openly, "What's going on?"
Kevin looked at me standing in the middle of the room, then to Michael's back. "He hasn't told you? Wow Michael really?"
Michael turned around and snapped out, "It's none of his business Kevin!"
Completely confused and hurt slightly, I look at Michael squarely and asked, "What's none of my business?"
Kevin blurts it out for Michael, shaming him in the process. "He and Skyler are on rocky ground at the moment, mostly because this dumbass, and he knows he's a dumbass so he has no right to talk, hooked up with a different guy during summer. He's lucky Skyler's still talking with him."
I was surprised that Michael would so that, so the recoil took a few seconds to sit in. The taste of betrail stung my tongue. "Really Michael?"
Michael collapses onto his bed and holds his head low. "It was a mistake. I feel horrible over it. I told Skyler because I care about him. I could have kept this to myself. I should have kept this to myself."
Moving to sit next to him, I rub his shoulder. "Michael, it would have gotten out one way or another. Let me talk with Skyler to see if I can smoothen things out a little for you two."
Kevin scoffed a little at my offer and Michael looked over at me with slightly sunken eyes, "Please, don't get involved in this Chris. This is my issue to clean up." Even though he warned me not to, I knew I had to do something.
Patting his leg, I stand up then make my way to the door. "Watch over him could you, Kevin?" Kevin nods his head as he glares at Michael. "We all make mistakes. Hopefully he comes around."
Leaving his room, I make my way back to my hall to regroup with Bryan and Zach. It was no surprise to see them back behind the TV, shooting up noobs this time on some Call of Duty game. "Hey when did you guys want to get dinner?"
Unlike the last time when they were engrossed in the game, it didn't take much to avert their attention. As Zach shot down a player Bryan answered, "We were just waiting for you to return." Bryan refocused on the game to fire at an opponent. After a few more kills the round was over and they had won.
Exiting, they gathered their stuff together and prepped to leave. Bryan grabs a Frisbee in the process, looking at us an commenting, "We might as well hit up the rooms to see if they want to come out tomorrow for a throw around." Both Zach and I knew there was an alternative mision at stake tonight, and it most likely involved Christine.
While we did move around the hall as he had said, it was of no surprise that we did end up at Christine's open door. Bryan knocked softly, enough though to catch her attention. Christine pipped up once she saw him, "Just couldn't get enough of me could you?"
Bryan stumbled for his words so Zach interjected, "What my friend is trying to say is, would you be interested in coming out to Frisbee tomorrow? He promises not to hit you again." Bryan squints at Zach for stealing his limelight then looks back at Christine.
Christine giggles a little then looks at her calendar. Directing the message to Bryan, she speaks to Zach and I, "Tell your mute friend that I might be able to make time for him, er it tomorrow." It was an obvious mistake that she meant to make, playing around with Bryan ever more.
Bryan starts to protest his 'muteness', but Zach cuts him off before he could make a fool of himself. "Great, well he looks forward to seeing you then." Zach elbows Bryan in the side to leave. Hanging his head low, Bryan exits with shame, Zach and I amused. Christine winks her eye at Bryan then turns her back to finish what she was doing.
Dinner that night was small, the staff just returning as well. Most of the food was either overcooked or just over the raw status, edible nonetheless. Calling it an early night the three of us moved to our rooms. Sending out a quick text to Kyle, I didn't expect an immediate responce. I just told him, "I hope your break was nice. Hope to see you soon. Miss you and love you." I was a man of few words when it came to texts.
The following day was slow, just prepping for the semeseter to start on Wednesday. I looked over the internet for my classes, figuring out what books I needed and where to best buy them.
Practice, more of a throw around for the team, was in the afternoon. Most of the team was present, and a few new faces as well. It was going to take me a while to get to know the new guys and girls, though when Christine showed up, I smiled. Looking to Bryan, I wasn't surprised when he broke off from his group to throw with her alone.
She had some skill, knowing how to toss an effective backhand and forehand. Surprising us all, she extended her right arm back as if she were going to throw a flick but instead threw a new throw that some of us hadn't seen before. Pike was impressed with it and commented, "Nice chicken wing. Where'd you learn that? I'm Pike by the way, team captain."
Chrstine extended her hand and made the introduction back, then informed him, "My dad actually taught me when I was younger. It's a fun throw to toss off the opponents." Bryan beamed with pleasure of his find, hoping she would now want to stay around for the team.
That night was slow, the three of us taking it easy before the semester would start. Lying in my bed with my door open, I surfed the net looking for things to do. Off to my side my phone rang, "Hello?"
Kyle was on the other side, his voice encountering a little static, "Hey babe, glad to be back here?"
Leaning up from my computer, I shifted my attention from the screen to the call. "Yea actually. I've missed you. The semester should be fun as well."
Kyle piped up at that statement, "Yea I was actually wanting to ask, before the semester starts, do you want to grab dinner or something?" The eagerness in his voice was recognizable and adorable.
"Sure I would love to." I couldn't wait to see my boyfriend.
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I hope to have the chapters be back to their normal lengthy status so there will be a lot more packed into these chapters from now on (hopefully). Having said that, this semester for me is really busy (prepping for graduation and all) so I might take longer on some chapters than others. Let me know what you thought and stay tuned for the next chapter.