Training Wheels ♥︎ Book 1

Chapter 7

"It's the last door to the left," Ben heard Hux's voice explaining behind him. Ben walked down the long hallway to Hux's room, allowing Hux to open it.

Hux's room was medium sized, and it had 1 bed with grey sheets. The wall with the window on it had many posters from plays (plays that Hux had previously been in, Ben assumed): Les Miserables, Oklahoma!, Tarzan, etc.

Hux sat down on the bed, stretching his legs in front of him. Ben followed, copying Hux's position. He looked at Hux to see that Hux was already looking at him.

Hux took a deep breath, and looked into Ben's eyes. Ben stared back, waiting to see if Hux would say anything.

"Where's your cat?" Ben asked out of curiosity.

"Probably in one of the other guys's rooms. You can meet her later if I find her. Her name's Millicent, by the way." Hux smoothed back his hairline.

"What role did you play in Les Miserables?"

"General Javert. I did Les Mis at the end of my senior year of high school."

"I've never seen Les Miserables."

"Oh man. You gotta watch the movie sometime. So," Hux said hesitantly. "How was your life before college? Like... what were your interests, what classes did you take, you know..."

Ben was a bit surprised by the question. Should he tell Hux about his parents' divorce? About his anger issues? About Ellen?

'Yes,' Ben told himself. 'If I'm ever going to be in a relationship with him, it's best that he'd know about my life. He'll reveal some of his life to me too.'

Ben decided he'd start things off by telling Hux about his parents' divorce. "Well, my parents got divorced in the summer going into my junior year of high school. I lived with my mother."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Hux tilted his head at Ben with sympathy. "I'm not saying that living with your mother was bad but it must've been hard for you, living as a teenager without any father figure."

"Yeah, it was. He never talked to me, either. Not to mention all the added pressure from my mum about constantly getting perfect grades and being a straight-A student. My whole family almost is in aerodynamics, even my cousin, she's a freshman here as well, and when my mother heard that I didn't wanna take up the family business and instead I wanted to major in drama, ooh. She went ballistic. But there was nothing she could do about it because I'm a legal adult now and I can handle my own education. My mum said that if I took drama as a major, she wouldn't pay for my tuition. So I'm on a scholarship."

"Yikes. I'm sorry about that whole thing with your mother. I could pay for your tuition!"

"What?! No... no, Brendol. I wouldn't let you do that. I couldn't let you do that." Ben had already been able to kind of tell that Hux's parents were incredibly rich (what kind of job did they have?), but this confirmed it for him.

"Ben. Both of my parents are stage actors on the side, but they're also neuroscientists. I promise you, we got lots of money to spare. C'mon, just let me do you this one favor." Hux sounded dead serious. Ben didn't know what to say. "Please, Ben."

"Well," Ben started. "Thank you. If things start getting a bit rough, then yes, you can step in. It's just that I don't want people to like, assume things about us because you're paying for my education. But on the other hand, there are some things I can't do at the school since I'm using their money, so if you paid, then I'll probably be able to do them. I don't know what they are, I'll have to find out, but I know that they do have some restrictions."