I Choose You

My Roommate Had Other Plans

Ben was shuffling through his drawers, trying to find any sign of decent, unwrinkled clothes. All he could find was a blue, long sleeved shirt and another brown jacket, except this one was his favorite leather one.

He came out of his room, hopping on one foot to put on his shoe. Martin, Tom, Adam, and James were watching in amusement. They all shared an apartment together with he and Tom sharing a room and James and Martin sharing one, as well. Adam had a room on his own after winning a bet.

"See you're getting ready for your ditching-your-best-mates date," Adam commented in a snarky tone. Ben rolled his eyes and grabbed his keys off the counter. He adjusted his jacket and ran his fingers through his hair several times. "How do I look?" He asked the guys.

They all stared at him for a moment, before James shouted, "Like a virgin who's trying to get his first shag in." All of them laughed, except Ben. It's true, he's a virgin, but he's never found it to be a problem because he wants his first time to be with someone special, someone he loves or at least feels strongly about.

"Fuck off," he muttered angrily. While all of them were laughing, he stormed out of the apartment. He hated it when they treated him like this. While all of them have had sex at least a dozen times in the past few years with no strings attached, he's been saving himself. What's the problem with that?

He was a hopeless romantic and they always teased him for it. He wants a committed relationship, a wife, kids, just a family of his own. Obviously, it's too soon to think about that, but the committed relationship part seemed good to him at the moment.

He drove quickly to the nearest Chinese place and got their food, then headed over to the school. He looked at the piece of paper with her dorm room number on it and led himself there. He got to a door with the correct number, but there was music blasting from behind it.

He thought for a moment that he had gone to the wrong place or wrote down the wrong number, but figured the only way to find out was to knock. What the door opened up to was not what he expected. There was a lot of shouting and dancing and drinking.

Some rugby-built looking guy had answered the door and shouted in his face, "What's up?! Come in! Come in!" Ben started backing away, until Cassie suddenly appeared in front of the guy with an apologetic look.

"I am so sorry!" She shouted over the music. She quickly stepped out into the hall and shut the door. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," she kept saying. "I didn't know all this was happening until a few minutes ago when a bunch of drunk people showed up. Apparently, my roommate had other plans."

Ben looked annoyed. He was annoyed at this, annoyed at his friends, and annoyed at the universe! "It's fine," he sharply told her. "We can just...I don't know, we can't go back to my place, yours is packed, I don't know where else we can go."

Cassie looked at him with a frown. "Ben, are you okay?" She gently asked. "Look, I said I'm sorry. I really didn't mean for any of this to happen--."

"No, no, it's not your fault," he told her calmly. "I'm sorry, I just...sorry." He sighed and looked down to his feet. Not the best way to start their date. "Hey," she softly said, while putting her hand on his arm. He looked up at her only to be greeted by a soft smile.

"I may have a solution to our problem," she continued. "Think you can manage to wait for a few minutes?" Ben quirked up a smile and nodded.

Cassie took him inside and led him to a couch to sit while he waited. She disappeared for a while and he almost thought she forgot him. As people were crowding around him, dancing, and doing what college students do best, he held on to the take-out as closely as he could. Some people were eyeing it and he didn't need to get mugged over food.