Chapter Seven: Going to Class is a Thing
"Come on, Jimmy, we only have a week left until Thanksgiving break. You need to pull your grades up. We're going to all of our classes today and we're going to study for our freaking tests tomorrow."
I groaned and pushed myself into a vague sitting position. Ran my hand through my curly bed head. Smacked my thick lips together. Blearily looked at Sammy who sat on the edge of my bed.
"Bro, what the fuck?" I know I must sound like an idiot, but cut me some serious slack, it was seven in the morning. I didn't crash until like two. We were editing until midnight, then partying. I was grateful the girl was gone from my bed, but glancing over at Jeremy's side of the room, it seemed that his girl stayed the night. All I saw was her naked ass with Jeremy's hand on one cheek.
I stared at them for a second, my stomach crazy unhappy. Obviously he wasn't making it to class today.
"Do I need to throw up?" I asked Sammy, my head pounding.
He laughed. "No bruh, you already did that last night. Thankfully in the toilet."
I had an extremely vague recollection of barfing my brains out, and someone's hand patting my back, helping wash my face. Doubtful it was Kenny. I blinked sleepily at the boy on my bed, and wondered with extreme embarrassment, if it was him. I hoped it was Jeremy.
Not because of...whatever...but because I was embarrassed for Sammy to keep seeing me this way. I mean, he lived with us, so it was shoved up in his face practically every day, and I know he doesn't approve. He's stopped nagging, but I know what he's thinking.
"Can you get vertical enough to take a shower? I made coffee." He brushed a big chunk of hair out of my face, then stood up quickly, looking out the window.
"Carry me?" I held out my arms.
"Fuck you, you big baby," he growled. But he took my hands and pulled me up. I guess I really wasn't ready to be on my feet because I stumbled. He took my weight barely, his arms around me. Even though I basically almost knocked him down, and even though I still couldn't quite stand up, I held onto him. He was warm and soft. I put my face in the crook of his neck.
"You smell nice," I was still half asleep and hung over. "So nice, Sammy."
"Get off me, Jimmy." This time his voice sounded serious, he wasn't playing around. Reluctantly I let go, took one last sad look at Jeremy's bed, and shuffled past Sammy and towards the shower.
A half hour later I felt more like a human being. I wrapped a towel around my waist, not bothering to dry off. I could hear Kenny singing in the kitchen. He was such a dumbass that way. I'd found out, living with him, that it didn't matter what happened the night before, he was almost always fine the next morning.
Asshole.
I opened the door to my room, and stopped. Eye to eye with Jeremy. The girl was face down on his dick, her ass still in the air. His eyes were blown (sorry) wide, almost black, his lips wet and swollen, his naked chest heaving.
We looked at each other for probably no more than five seconds, but it felt like an eternity. I turned back around and closed the door, ignoring him saying my name, telling me to wait.
I walked quickly into Sammy and Kenny's room and sat on Sammy's already made bed. Then stood up, realizing I was dripping onto his blankets. Put my hand through my wet hair. Trying to ignore the way I felt, seeing my best friend like that, trying to smush all of those feelings into a horrible little ball that I could pretend didn't exist.
Sammy, of course, found me like that.
"What the fuck are you doing in my room?"
He wouldn't look at me. Probably pissed about last night.
"Jeremy's.....ummmm...busy...and I can't get to my clothes. Can I wear something of yours?" I ran my hand again through my hair, and tried not to look so naked standing there.
Sammy laughed but for some reason it sounded kind of off. "Yeah, I guess, I have some oversize shirts that might barely fit you. And you can wear a pair of my sweats, but they'll probably come up to your calves."
He left. I changed. He was right, everything felt a little off, since he was so much smaller than me, but whatever. I made it work.
===
We left the apartment together, pretty quickly since Jeremy and his guest were getting pretty loud. Breakfast consisted of a granola bar and a banana that Sammy snagged me, and a tumbler full of hot coffee. So really not too bad. Lots of times I miss breakfast completely. Not that a protein smoothie and hard boiled eggs are something I look forward to.
Our dorm apartment was right on campus, so it wasn't that long of a walk to our first class. It wasn't a horrible day, a little gloomy. I liked sunny weather better, but it was fine. I was glad I was wearing one of Sammy's hoodies, even if it felt a little snug across my shoulders. Kenny chattered away for the three of us, his usual nonsense, while Sammy and I traded sips of coffee.
"It's good. Thanks, bro." I said to him, hoping he knew really, how much I appreciated him for always taking care of me. I would have hugged him, I really wanted to, I'm a touchy feely kind of guy, but I know he hates it so I didn't.
"You're welcome," he said quietly. Looking at me seriously. "Jimmy....I wish..." then he shook his head. "Nevermind."
I already knew what he was going to say, but I'm glad he didn't finish. I was already feeling like my life was like one of the Boardwalk roller coasters. I knew it was supposed to be a ton of fun, but I just wanted to get off. I couldn't because the ride was going so fast and I didn't know how to make it stop.
Brit Lit was fine. I'm not one of those science guys who can't stand poetry or fiction. I like reading, kind of, mostly manga and stuff, but the novels we read in high school, the ones most people can't stand, like Dickens or Twain or Steinbeck, I actually enjoyed them. I wouldn't read them for myself on my own time, but when they were assigned, I didn't complain.
My attendance in class had been spotty at best, and now I realized, as the professor lectured, we must be reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
"It was...you young people would love this...a result of a party. A party of young people, most likely enjoying drugs and sex, as young people often do. They dared each other to write the scariest ghost story they could, like a contest. It was Byron, Shelley, and Mary and Mary's stepsister, and a John Polidori. And from that summer gathering, Frankenstein was born."
Sammy raised his hand. "And the first vampire story, correct?"
The professor smiled happily. "Aha! Someone with knowledge. True. Do you want to share with your classmates?"
Kenny tried hard not to roll his eyes. The rest of the class, well, maybe mostly girls, looked interested,
"John Polidori was Byron's doctor, at least, he was hired to be Byron's personal doctor. But he traveled with him everywhere. It wasn't a good relationship. Byron was this well known guy, well respected, at least in his own circle, but he was a total dick. He used people, especially his lovers, and then ran away only to start again with some new person. And Polidori ate it up, like a lot of people did, but at least he kind of knew what he was getting into. He just couldn't let Bryon go. He wrote the first vampire story of the time, and his vampire was a perfect description of Byron. He was seductive and charismatic. And sucked the life from his victims."
"Were he and Byron lovers?" A girl asked, batting her eyes at Sammy.
Sammy shrugged, and looked back down at his laptop, his face red all of a sudden.
The girl turned to the professor.
"It's likely." He nodded. "It's accepted that Polidori was likely gay, and that Byron had both male and female lovers. They were all together for a few months that rainy summer in Switzerland. Poor Polidori though was no sweet and innocent boy. He was arrogant and vain and quite publicly frustrated with Byron's treatment of him. Very toxic. But what drama!!! He was interested in the darker side of medicine. He and Mary had long discussions about the reanimation of corpses. That party, with those young people that summer, gave birth to one of the most forward thinking pieces of literature of its time. Frankenstein is a marvel."
"What happened to Polidori?" I raised my hand. "Did he get..ummm...credit for the vampire story he wrote? I've never heard of him."
Sammy gave me a strange look.
"Ahhhhhh....poor John. He committed suicide right before his 26th birthday. So young." Our professor took off his glasses and walked closer towards our desks. "Please listen for one moment. Just one." He looked around the room, and tried to catch all of our eyes. "If you are thinking about suicide, ever. Don't do it. I am seventy three years old. I have had dark nights. And dark thoughts. But...it does get better. You can always email me if you need help, or call a hotline. Depression is a legitimate illness, and there is help available. Good drugs that will help." A few giggles. "Doctor prescribed good drugs," he amended.
He went on to talk for the next thirty minutes about the essay we needed to write based on a theme from Frankenstein. I sat at my desk, listening but not paying attention, and thought about how stupid people are no matter what era they live.
=
In between classes, we went to the campus library, a huge modern building made up of windows and metal. I always thought libraries should look like the one in Harry Potter, so it wasn't my favorite place.
Kenny, Sammy and I found a good spot in a lounge area. I threw myself face down on a small sofa and my bros sat on padded cushions, their feet under the low table in between us. Laptops out, plugged into the outlet conveniently placed on the floor, Sammy meandered to the bookshelves, in search of ...a book, I guessed.
"I think I'm good in math and biology duh, but I might need a tutor for Brit Lit," Kenny sighed. "I'm getting a D in there." He was the stereotypical science/tech geek who didn't like to read fiction. "Why the fuck do I need to analyze literature for anyway? It's not like I'll be reading Shakespeare when I'm creating the next fucking nanobytes to search and destroy tumors."
I lay on my back staring at the steel girders that criss crossed the library ceiling. "It might not help you with your job, but it might help you be a better person. We're here on Earth to be people too, you know, not just automatons who live and breathe our jobs."
"Sometimes I forget how smart you are, Jimmy. Most of the time you act like a fuckboy these days."
I sat up, offended. "What the fuck, Kenny?"
Sammy snorted as he sat down, putting a small book on the table. "You should talk. Jimmy is smart. Way smarter than you."
I tried to look modest, and all three of us laughed. It was nice doing this. Messing around and studying together. It felt like such a long time since we'd...
"What are we talking about?"
Jeremy jumped over the couch, landing behind me. "Hey babe, how was class?"
He had a go pro in his hand, and recorded my reaction, which was pretty much a full on freak out.
"Shit! You fucking gave me a heart attack, bro!!" But I wasn't mad. Not at all. Especially not when he tossed the go pro down and wrapped an arm around me. "Didn't think we'd see you out and about today."
"Yeah, we heard you this morning. Try and keep it down before nine, okay? 'Cause that's when us humans are trying to get ready for school." Kenny groused, typing away on his computer.
"Jealous?" Jeremy crowed. "What can I say? I woke up...and I was...up. Conveniently Samira was in bed with me and could help a bro out." He squeezed one of my pecs, then looked at me more carefully. "Why the fuck are you wearing Sammy's clothes, Jimmy?" All the humor was gone from his voice.
I don't know why I felt so defensive. "I took a shower and couldn't get my clothes. You were busy with...Samira."
"I tried to tell you it was cool! I tried to tell you you could just get your clothes. She doesn't care. She would've been excited to see you half naked. Shit. Next time, don't worry about it, okay? Just.." He pinched the hoodie, making a face. "Borrow my clothes if you need them. Sammy's such a fucking hobbit, you must be so uncomfortable."
I looked at Sammy and for once, I felt irritated. "Don't call him names, bro. That's a dick move."
Jeremy raised his eyebrows at me, and even Kenny whistled under his breath. Sammy said nothing, just packed up his stuff and left. I tried to get up and go after him, but Jeremy held me down.
"Dude, he's fine. He knows I was just roasting him. He's fine. I'm freaking freezing, Jimmy and I need my human blanket."
He pulled me tight against him, nuzzling the back of my neck. I lay against him, my heat still jackhammering in my chest. Probably residual adrenaline from when he scared me.
Right?
===
Author's Note:
I think the universe works in mysterious ways. When writing this scene, I went to my pal Google to find a Brit Lit Romantics era topic for our boys to discuss in class. I stumbled on Frankenstein, and although I knew a little of the story of the contest, I didn't realize the crazy similarities between the partygoers and our bros. Just goes to show, like Jimmy said, everyone acts dumb from time to time. Nothing new under the sun.