Oh My God, They Were Roommates

2 | Come As You Are

First day of classes and Ray was already losing his mind again. It was the car ride all over again—dreamy, full of hopeful, lovely scenarios only to be crushed incessantly by his brain's inability to filter out the Worst Case Scenarios Of The Century. Ray, with his hair looking stunning (it was his best feature, by far, right next to his p e r s o n a l i t y) and brand new book bag to boot.

Ah, yes, Ray de Lucía was ready to kick his Official, Actual First Semester of Freshmen Year in the ass.

Ray swept his backpack onto his shoulders and swung open the bedroom door. The instant he did, Sora's door opened and Ray was reminded that he had a roommate he hadn't anticipated. He didn't expect that news to be so refreshing. A roommate. While it cancelled out every chance he had of calling this apartment a bachelor pad, it was still a relief to have a place occupied by someone else—anyone else.

He was sick of spending every morning, day, and evening alone. It wasn't at the fault of his aunt, by any means. Ever since his grandmother passed away—the soul subject of Ray's attention before and after grade school—Ray realized how much time Aunt Natalia spent away.

And, so, Ray stepped out with a cheery, "Good morning—!" like he was on a radio talkshow. He spun to the side and found Sora dressed in his everyday best, one strap of a backpack over his shoulder.

In that moment, Ray wondered why Sora being a student never crossed his mind.

"Wait—You're—" Ray started, and Sora sighed, walking ahead. Clearly, he was already done with the day. "You're going to class? You're a student?"

"Yes, I'm a student. I'm a freshmen, dude."

"What?!" Ray screamed, and Sora flinched. It was far too loud for the morning, but Ray's energy levels were skyrocketing faster than he anticipated that day. "What college?"

"USFC."

Ray's heart leapt into his throat. They went to the same college. Ray was so shocked by this that he didn't say a damn thing, not even as Sora started for the foyer and opened the door to leave.

Ray kicked back into gear. He leapt across the pathetically empty living room and to the door where he slipped on his sneakers and said, "Since we go to the same college, we should—"

"I'm not commuting with you," Sora said all matterof-factly. It came out in such a way that Ray felt borderline offended by it. Was there something wrong with him? Why wouldn't Sora want to commute together?

Sora turned to him, his hand on the door handle. Ray straightened, dropping his foot to the floor as Sora said, "And if you see me on campus, do me a favor and don't talk to me."

Sora punctuated the request by opening the door and promptly shutting it in Ray's face.

Ray collected every last shard of his self-worth that Sora shattered right then and then. With it, he mustered up his fury and muttered under his breath, "Well fine, wasn't like I wanted to walk with you anyway."

Campus wasn't all that far from their apartment, but in San Francisco's January temperatures, the Pacific brought a morbidly cold breeze through the city's streets. Ray was certain his car privileges would come in handy in winter and, for that reason and that reason alone, he was grateful to have brought it to the city. Traffic may have been shit and parking may have been even shittier, but at least he'd be warm.

Internally, Ray was just waiting for the day Sora would decide that he couldn't stand the cold walks anymore. Sora would have to depend on him to get to classes without freezing his butt off.