Oh My God, They Were Roommates

4 | Wouldn't It Be Nice

    All of the dismal energy in the pit of Ray's hungry stomach flared up then out of sheer anger. He crossed his arms and turned away with a scowl, seething, "I don't get it—you've got such an attitude. I don't see why half of our class is head over heels for you."

    He didn't miss the way Sora's mouth fell open then, or how he blinked dumbly at Ray for several silent seconds. He cleared his throat, shifted uncomfortably, and said with a low, nervous grin, "Yeah right. I don't know where you heard that, but it isn't true."

    Sora wasn't dumb, though. He preferred to play dumb and blamed it on his training with Charlie when it came to talking to customers. Play dumb, and only act like you know what's happening if it's for the benefit of getting a client flustered. Sora wasn't looking to call people out on their bullshit—he knew when his peers were checking him out—but he wasn't about to start that conversation.

    Someone once asked him out to a house party last semester. Sora had meant to play dumb, but instead said, "I don't know what that means," and left.

    He tended to play Too Dumb too often.

    Ray floundered before erupting with an explosive, "You've got a whole fanclub! Are you seriously telling me you didn't notice when everyone was looking at you in theory today?"

    Sora's eye twitched. He was still hung up on the fact that Ray talked about him with their classmates. "There's a reason I sit at the back of the class," Sora hissed. "And you talked to your 'friends' about me?"

    "I didn't bring it up! They brought it up, and they also mentioned that you're..." The rest dissolved into a sheepish mutter. Ray's ears turned pink.

    "I'm what?"

    "Bi," Ray hissed.

    Sora couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sometimes he wondered why he was bisexual. It wasn't his fault that he was attracted to the worst gender in existence (men) but there he was, batting for both teams.

    He also dreaded the fact that the class knew this about him and it was all because of the first week of fall semester when a guy asked him out and followed up with, "But if you aren't gay, then I'm fine being friends," and Sora responded, "That isn't the issue—I swing both ways, just not your way."

    And now everyone in the music theory major knew he was bisexual.

    Great.

    "Is that why you're nervous rooming with me?" Ray asked, ducking his head. "Because people might talk?"

    "That's not a concern," he said, standing and grabbing his phone from the table. He pushed away as Ray watched him leave. "Because I'm not—nor will I ever be—interested in you."

    Ray's jaw dropped to his lap. He wanted to tackle Sora to the ground right then and there, but instead, he just sat there, dumbfounded, sitting on the only piece of furniture in the shared living space of their apartment.

    Sora leaned out of his bedroom door and said, "Tell me when the pizza gets here," before shutting the door.

    Ray clenched his hands into fists on top of the table. He gave them a good, solid slam before shoving to his feet. He glared in the direction of Sora's closed bedroom door before grabbing his backpack and marching to his own room. Two could play at this game.

____

    Prior to their first class, Ray visited the coffee shop down the road and, by complete coincidence, bumped into Sora there as well. Ray's trip to the coffee shop was swifter—what with his car to help transport him—and so he hadn't realized that Sora left the apartment an hour earlier to sip his mocha in peace. Sora's bedroom door was shut, so Ray merely assumed that Sora was sleeping in and that they didn't, in fact, have their first Tuesday class together.