-Mason-
"You can't be serious," I muttered under my breath, dazedly looking around at the state of our room, which was damply coated by Eric's sorry excuse for a fruit smoothie. I wiped some of the dark purple liquid off my face before cursing him out under my breath, quickly realizing that the floors, walls, and some of my textbooks were, in fact, also covered in the sticky substance.
I was also defeatedly drenched in the remains of Eric's attempted beverage, barely holding in the urge to strangle him.
"Who forgets to put the lid on a blender before turning it on?" I yelled in disbelief while running my fingers through my hair, picking off some of the slices of... pineapple?
"I said I was sorry!"
"What exactly did you think would happen?"
Eric pouted from where he stood beside me, somehow mostly intact despite having been closer to the blender. "I forgot, alright? How about we focus on the fact that I was so kindly trying to make us a smoothie?"
I'd just returned from class and had managed to change into workout clothes when I was rudely bombarded by the remains of those innocent fruits. "No, I don't think I will!"
Eric flashed me a sheepish smile, using the edge of his shirt to wipe some of the smoothie from my cheek. "There, there... so much better."
"Screw you! You're not coming anymore!" I called out while fetching a change of clothes, cringing at the squelch that erupted from the floor as I stepped on a particularly moist spot on the carpet.
In all honesty, I still didn't quite understand why I'd caved so easily after months of saying no. Eric had wrongly suggested that it was because I was afraid of confronting Bennett without someone there to back me up... as if he'd ever been all that helpful as a wingman in the first place.
Nevertheless, at around three in the morning, I'd finally conceded, if only due to the sour realization that I was getting no sleep otherwise.
All I could say was that Eric could be brutally relentless when he put his mind to it.
"I was trying to be nice!" Eric complained—whined, really—before walking over to the closet where we kept the cleaning supplies. "I'm sorry, alright? I was just trying to be spontaneous. I headed to the store after class and bought all these fruits—"
"I don't care!"
"—let me finish, jerk! As I was explaining, I bought all these fruits so I could make us a smoothie! I even stopped by your house and got your parents to lend me their blender!"
I glared at him, warily narrowing my eyes before giving the blender a second glance. Huh, it did seem vaguely familiar now that he mentioned it. "You can see how that's weird, right?"
Eric scoffed. "Richard thought it was a great idea, actually."
"Did he? Is that what Richard thought?" I retorted sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Still, I could easily envision Dad blindly agreeing to Eric's ramblings; my parents had always held a rather warm regard for him.
"Fruit smoothies, really? Do you not see the gigantic container of pre-workout powder on my desk? It's almost as big as your head! What do you think it's for?"
Eric scowled in response. "It tastes gross, though! And I'm still traumatized from that time you made me dry-scoop it and I nearly choked to death."
I rolled my eyes, failing to suppress a smirk. Okay, yeah, perhaps I had done that to him, but that didn't make this smoothie fiasco any less of a nuisance. "And you thought a bizarre assortment of blended fruits—which, by the way, who the hell puts seeded grapes into a smoothie—would be better?" I asked, picking at the mangled corpse of one of the offending green grapes in question and flicking it at his face.
"I was trying to be spontaneous," he exclaimed, signaling towards his outfit. "I even went and bought myself some new workout clothes. Did you even notice?" He signaled towards his outfit enthusiastically, smirking rather proudly.
That was when I realized we were both wearing black basketball shorts and grey muscle shirts... all conveniently pertaining to the same fitness brand. My jaw slacked. "We're not wearing matching clothes to the gym! I'm not, ugh—listen, Dick. I said you could come if you behaved, remember?"
"It's Dirk," he muttered indignantly, clearly not having paid attention to me. "And like I said before, I was just trying to—"
"Well, I'll spontaneously kick your ass if you don't clean this up," I threatened half-heartedly, considering just storming out before begrudgingly picking up one of the paper towel rolls that he'd set out on the desk. "Ugh, maybe if we hurry up, we can still make it..."
Eric frowned, scratching the back off his head before patting my shoulder.
"What?"
"Just go, dude."
"Huh?" I asked, wildly signaling towards the mess before us. "No, we need to clean this up now. If we get any ants, I'll—"
"I know, I know," Eric assured me, sounding surprisingly guilty all of a sudden.
"Then?"
Eric took out his phone and glared at the time, huffing under his breath before tossing it onto the bed. Then, he ripped the paper towel from my hands and signaled towards the door. "You're going to be late if you want to catch him before his first class. Go."
"Eric—"
"You're right. This is my mess," Eric pointed out, which... yeah, he wasn't wrong. "You already have your own to deal with, right? If you don't get to make things right with him, I'll never hear the end of it."
I rubbed my forehead, slowly nodding my head in agreement. I sighed. "I'm not actually... that mad."
Eric patted my back, a soft smile finding its way onto his face despite our circumstances. "I know, buddy. You rarely are. Just go, alright? I'll tag along next time."
He nudged me towards the door once more before kneeling down to better assess the mess, grumbling under his breath.
"Thanks, Eric." I leaned down to hug him before heading out, stifling a laugh as he complained about how I was getting the smoothie all over him too. Which, duh... that was the point.
"Next time," I promised before closing the door.
"Also, I don't have a big ass head! Screw you!" I heard him yell out from inside our room.
"Whatever you say, bud!"
I chuckled under my breath before turning towards the direction of the parking lot. I took a step forward before remembering why I'd brought the towel and spare clothes with me, which were still safely tucked under my arm.
"Shit. I'm going to be late," I whispered to myself while checking the time again. Three fifteen in the afternoon. I rushed down the hall and stormed into the main bathroom, washing my face by the sink, and hurriedly trying to make sure all of the pieces of fruit were truly gone before I showered.
"Y'know there's a shower right behind you?" some random guy called out sarcastically, his tone confusingly playful.
"I don't remember asking," I murmured in response while turning the knob on the faucet to hot.
"Damn. Someone's in a bad mood," the stranger replied while walking over to the sink right beside mine, gingerly lathering his hands up with soap. I spared him a glance, meeting his eager, brown eyes in irritation.
"Yeah, well, my roommate's chaotic sometimes," I explained, wearily frowning at the fact that I was even bothering to humor him. Perhaps I would've at least tried to be polite at any other time, but I was kind of short on time. The fact that I didn't even know if Bennett would be willing to talk already had me worriedly scrambling for some form of backup plan.
I could feel an intense gaze boring into me as I slipped off my dirtied shirt, yet I ignored it in favor of quickly rinsing my shirt under the spray of the heated water. My mind kept trying to formulate a decent apology that would sound sincere... but also clear my name. What if he just blew me off before I could explain myself? What if he told me to fuck off?
No.
Bennett wouldn't—he wasn't like that.
"Are you trying to show off or something?" the stranger teased whilst unabashedly checking me out, confidently running his fingers through his short, black hair.
I turned to frown at that, and I noticed he was in the midst of lathering some shaving cream over his scruff, casually brushing the white foam across his jaw. "Not gonna lie, it's kind of working."
I sighed in response, gritting my teeth before harshly wringing out my shirt over the sink. I could wash it properly later. I still had to shower and drive over to the gym, which might be an issue considering traffic.
"No need to be shy... you're really sexy, man," he continued; although, his voice wavered some. "My name's Wyatt, by the way. I was thinking that, well, maybe we could—"
"Listen, Wyatt," I cut him off while staring at my own reflection, trying to relax my furrowed brows before glancing over at him. After all, it wasn't his fault that I was in a hurry. He was just being friendly... or something like that. "I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but I'm not really interested, alright? I'm flattered, really, but I'm kind of running too late for small talk."
I even flashed a polite smile, which was hopefully not as obviously fake as it felt.
Wyatt's eyes widened in surprise, but then he hurriedly nodded his head in agreement and raised his hands in surrender. There was a clear glimmer of disappointment in his eyes, but he still managed to flash a small smile in return. "Straight?"
I huffed, rolling my eyes. "That's not the point."
He shrugged. "Boyfriend, then?"
I sighed.
"Are you two exclusive?" Wyatt took a single step closer, wiping some of the foam off his jaw. "Because you seem awfully tense. I could help you unwind... just think about it."
I froze, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "Does this usually work for you?"
Wyatt didn't respond. He did have the conscience to look embarrassed, though.
"No, seriously. Does it?" I pressed, narrowing my eyes while throwing the wrung shirt over my shoulder. "Or do I just look like the type?"
"Alright, my bad," Wyatt replied, awkwardly evading my gaze as he focused back on shaving. He sighed under his breath, clearly having mustered up the courage to hit on me in the first place. Even if he did overdo it a bit...
I sighed, unable to help the twinge of pity that sparked from his expression. "Look. I'm flattered, really, but I'm just not interested."
Wyatt nodded his head, flashing a weak smile. "See you around, dude?"
"It's Mason. And yeah, uh, see you around," I replied wearily before hurrying over to an unoccupied shower stall.
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A/N: Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting RUSH by voting and commenting; I appreciate it immensely!