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It’s the third day of finals week. Ryan, as a senior, has mostly essays due, as opposed to tests. Thank god for that, he thought to himself, Tests give me such shitty anxiety. Ryan is a chill dude, even though his friends consider him a homicidal maniac when he puts cows in holes in Minecraft.
“Hey asshat.” Geoff, his roommate, interrupted his train of thought. “You gotta hit the road.”
Ryan looked to the clock. 9:00 pm. Normally, Geoff wouldn’t kick him out so late. “What? Why?”
“Griffon is coming in. And I haven’t seen her in a while…” Geoff’s long term girlfriend, Griffon, worked as a pilot in the Air Force. She had been on leave for a few weeks now, but she has been busy visiting with her family. Ryan liked Griffon a lot and wouldn’t mind spending time with her, however, he understood that they would need their “alone” time.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay. Not a problem. How long?” Ryan asked.
“Could you come back in like… two and a half hours? She’s bringing dinner that her mother made for us. I’ll save you some.” Geoff bribed and walked to Ryan, giving him a huge, gross kiss on the cheek.
Ryan jokingly grumbled, shoving him away affectionately. “Okay okay stop. You’re disgusting. Let me just pack up my backpack.”
About three minutes later, Ryan was halfway to the library. He was playing a game as he walked, counting how many sleep deprived college students he saw. There were at least ten asleep, the rest of the students holding some sort of caffeinated drink.
When he actually entered the library, he sat at an empty table and pulled out his laptop. He started writing his paper for his required English course. Not that Ryan really minded, it was a screenplay peer review. The play itself was poorly written, so he had a lot to edit.
Ryan jumped when he heard a book slam on the table across from him. He looked up to see a thin, hispanic student with messy dark hair and dark circles under his eyes. He looked absolutely exhausted. He opened his textbook, yawning and stretching.
He watched the strange man for a moment, admiring his features. He had a light beard, rubbing it as he turned the page. Ryan looked back at his computer, continuing to type, until he heard a thump.
The other student’s head hit the book as he fell unconscious. He was snoring lightly, which let Ryan stop his panicking. He wondered if he should wake him up, or just let him sleep.
Before he could decide, the kid woke up and looked to Ryan. “How long was I out?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Only a few moments.” Ryan said, feeling bad for him.
“Oh good. I have a final tomorrow.” He held his hand out for Ryan to shake. “I’m Ray.”
He shook his hand gently. “I’m Ryan. What class is your final for tomorrow?”
“Economics. I hate it so much it makes me sick.” He grumbled, pulling a thermos out of his messenger bag.
Ryan chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I didn’t like it much either. I can help you, if you want. I only took it last year.”
Ray grinned. “Really? I kinda suck at it. It may be a bit of a bore to help.”
“I don’t mind. My paper isn’t due for a week anyway.”
Ray looked surprised, eyebrows crinkling up. Cute. “Yeah? Why are you here then?”
Ryan explained Geoff and Griffon’s situation, which then turned into a big discussion on what their hobbies were. They started talking about video games, which turned into a “who is better” fight.
“I happen to have all of the achievements in Halo.” Ryan said proudly.
“Okay, me too. And within the first week of its release.” Ray countered.
“Well, my gamerscore is almost 100,000.”
Ray laughed a little. “My gamerscore is about to reach 600,000.”
“Oh. Okay… Um… Maybe you win.”
Ray threw his hands in the air in happiness, smiling. “Told you!”
Ryan felt himself growing fond of Ray as he watched him continue to study. He thought about how excited he got while talking about games, how dramatic he was, how often he exaggerated... He was really quite cute- What is he doing?
Ray reached into his bag and pull out a can of Red Bull, even though he wasn’t done with his coffee. He unscrewed the lid of the coffee and dumped the Red Bull into the Thermos.
Ryan watched in horror as Ray looked at him and said, “I am going to die,” before chugging the drink. The entire drink. Shit, this kid is going to have a heart attack. Especially if he had any caffeine before that.
Ray put the thermos down and wiped his mouth. “No, I’ll be good. Maybe.” He checked his watch and cursed. “I have a study session with my roommate in five minutes ago.” He packed his bag quickly.
“I… um.”
“Yeah?” Ray questioned.
“Would you… like to play Halo sometime?” Ryan asked, shy.
Ray stopped what he was doing and looked up. “Uhh… sure.” he had a small blush on his cheeks. “I’d love too.”
Ryan stood and put his number in Ray’s phone. “Just text me.” he said softly.
Ray waved as he left, hurrying to his room to make it in time for his study session.
Maybe being locked out of my room isn’t so bad after all. Ryan thought as he got back to writing his paper.