bros (a bxb story)

Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen: Moving Past the Theory: Time for Hands on Learning

I followed Mike down the four flights of stairs.

We walked a short five minutes to the cafeteria, grabbed some basic dorm food, baked chicken and overcooked carrots. I got iced tea. He got a soda. I hadn't completely ditched the diet, but I wasn't quite as hard core as I was a month ago. I'd lost the knife blade jaw line, and any semblance of abs. But I was still fit and looked good.

I wondered why I cared about that in this moment.

I knew why...duh..but...still...

We sat at a table, in the corner. Not too many people here. There were far better places to eat on campus. This place served generic meals and if you wanted something good you had to..

Mike nudged my tray with his, smirking. "Hey." Getting my attention.

"Hey." I said, then took a bite of my food. I hoped to god I wasn't blushing. God. Fuck. Or that my ears were turning red. He might not even think of me that way. He might just be being polite. Maybe I'd completely misread what I'd thought was a flirty something upstairs.

"You're quiet." He began to eat too. "I've watched most of your videos. You didn't seem like the quiet type."

I frowned. Then froze. Then got sick to my stomach.

"Are you...is this...are you just trying to screw with me?" Is that what this was?  Some kind of shit prank?  

He snorted, ate a few more bites, then looked up at me, his head to the side, blinking at me slowly. "Damn Jimmy. I mean, yeah, but we just met. I'm willing to wait for like, the third date. But if you're already open to the idea..."

What the fuck? I looked down, confused, then reviewed what I'd said. Looked up. My mouth open. I knew I was blushing for sure now. My face a volcano of embarrassment.

"Ummm...."

He smiled, and it wasn't a jerk smile. It was nice. "I'm just kidding Jimmy. I like you. I think you're cute. I want to get to know you better. I want to kiss you..and...other stuff, for sure. I know you just came out. It's okay. Let's just talk, cool?" He took my hand in his and squeezed my fingers, before very carefully letting go, and drinking some soda, looking at me for my answer.

He was confident. I'll give him that. He also seemed very comfortable with the idea of .. talking ... to me in public. Not hiding. Which felt good. I liked it.

"Cool." I agreed.

=

We had a nice dinner. The food sucked, that's for sure, but it was good. Just talking. He was a sophomore. Undecided major, but he was leaning towards either music or graphic design. He grew up down south, near the border. He'd never gotten into surfing, but he liked skateboarding. We played some of the same games. He had an older brother who had a family already. A younger sister in high school. His parents ran a restaurant.

He found out about me. That I was an only child. That my childhood home was pretty close. That I wanted to be a biochemist. That I'd had a dog when I was little, but when Scottie died, I never could bring myself to get another one.

I did not talk about the Boardwalk Bros. At all. Which was hard because my friends were the biggest part of my life since I was a kid. I met Sammy and Kenny when my family moved here in second grade. I met Jeremy in middle school.

We talked about movies. Sports. Basic shit. But, it was... different. And ... okay. He flirted a bit, and I tried to flirt back. I think I did okay.