Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race.
***
I woke up feeling sticky, my liver apparently having been working overtime as I slept to expel the many toxins from my body. I felt sorry for it, knowing that if this was just the first night, it was in for a rough three years.
"Gross," I mumbled, peeling the duvet away from my sweaty body, knowing I was going to have to wash my sheets already.
I grabbed a clean pair of boxers and headed towards the bathroom. Rye's door was still closed as I had left it, and I just hoped he had managed to sleep off his own demons. Mine were etched very clearly on my face, as I discovered upon looking at myself in the bathroom mirror, getting a fright from the sight of my own reflection. My hair was half stuck to my forehead, the other half sticking up everywhere it wasn't supposed to be, my eyes haggard and haunted like I'd just come home from the war.
I turned the shower on, emptying my bladder in the loo while the water heated up, before stepping under the steamy flow. I groaned in relief as the hot water poured over my aching muscles, flushing the sweat out of my hair and skin. I closed my eyes, just wanting to enjoy these moments of peace.
Unfortunately for me, Rye had other ideas, bursting into the bathroom seconds later and making a beeline straight for the toilet. He barely had his head bent over the ledge before he was puking his guts out, the pleasant fragrance of strawberry shower gel in my nostrils being quickly replaced by the much more potent odour of stomach acid.
"Jesus, Rye," I complained, scrunching my nose up. He didn't acknowledge me, a second wave of vomiting immediately following his first. It appeared his demons were coming up the old fashioned way.
I begrudgingly stepped out of the warm shower, wrapping a towel around myself before padding over to him. I rubbed my hand up and down his back, waiting for him to finish.
"You okay?" I checked when he seemed to be done, still crouched and panting over the bowl.
"Leave it running," he said, gesturing to the shower. "I'm a fucking mess."
He flushed the toilet and I put my boxers on, going to the cabinets to find the mouthwash for him so he could rinse while I started brushing my teeth. When he'd fully rinsed his mouth out he slipped his own boxers off and stepped into the still running shower.
"That's mine," I pointed out, watching him squeeze a generous blob of strawberry shower gel into his palm.
"Eat my dick," he retorted. In retaliation, I reached into the shower to quickly twist the temperature knob from hot to freezing, chuckling when he yelped as I left the bathroom.
I padded around the kitchen in my boxers, opening up curtains and windows, letting the fresh air inside. It was a lovely day to be hungover, the sky an inviting shade of blue. I felt the sun beating down onto my pale skin, not able to help from being in a good mood despite the slight headache I still had. It was all happening. Our new adventure had begun.
I boiled the kettle for teas, but we hadn't really had a chance to buy many groceries yet besides the basics, so I thought ordering in would be the best option for breakfast. My body was craving carbs. I checked on my phone, and thankfully McDonalds did deliver to our area, so I ordered two of the biggest greasiest breakfast sandwiches I could find.
I received a DM from Brooklyn as I sat on the counter sipping my tea, checking to see if I'd made it home alright. It was sweet of him to check, especially after I'd ditched him, but I didn't count on it meaning anything more than him being a nice person. I wouldn't be surprised if I'd blown my shot with him, and that was disappointing but at least it was happening now before I got too attached. I messaged him back, apologising for the way the night ended and letting him know that Rye and I made it home safe, if a little worse for wear.
Rye wandered out of the bathroom a little while later, towel round his waist and a sheen of water droplets stubbornly clinging to his abs. I was mildly annoyed at him for still managing to look like a sex god when he was hungover. He walked over to where I was sitting on the counter, standing between my legs.
"I'm fragile," he said, falling against my chest. I chuckled, wrapping my arms around him.
"I made you tea." I let go of him to hand him his mug.
"Thank you," he said, bringing it up to his lips and blowing on it. He took a tentative sip before putting the mug down again and walking over to the pantry.
"There's no food," I apologised, "I've ordered though."
Rye didn't respond, he just came out out of the cupboard with a jar of peanut butter in his hand. I shook my head in bemusement as he did exactly what I knew he would do next, grabbing a spoon out of the drawer and beginning to scoop peanut butter into his mouth. This was Rye's thing and it annoyed me to no end. Not because he liked to eat it straight from the jar, but because afterwards he always left the spoon in there; in the jar, in the pantry, basically making sure no one else could ever eat from that same tub of peanut butter unless they also wanted his saliva on their toast. I had tried, his mum had tried, but nothing would make him put that spoon in the dishwasher.
"Did we have fun last night?" He asked through a mouthful of peanut butter.
I grimaced. "I think you did. I almost did."
He raised a questioning eyebrow at me and my phone dinged again. "Oh," he said knowingly as I sighed at the smiley-face reply from Brooklyn, "so you didn't seal the deal?"
"Do you see anyone else here?"
"Don't get sassy," he laughed. "Were you close?"
"First base," I answered, "and then you picked a fight with a gangster."
"Oh yeah," he said, as if the memory was only just dawning on him. "Sorry, boo."
"It's okay as long as you're alive," I sighed. The buzzer rang at that moment and I jumped off the counter to get it, my stomach grumbling in anticipation. "You owe me an orgasm, though," I joked to Rye as I walked out the door.
"I'll see what I can do," he called back, making me shake my head to myself.
***
After we'd eaten, I forced Rye to put clothes on and come outside with me.
"So bright," he groaned, hissing at the sun like a vampire.
"Put sunglasses on then," I suggested, pulling him along by the hand, "we're not missing orientation."
"It's on all week, Andy," he groaned, but let me lead him nonetheless. I felt his hands unzipping my backpack a few seconds later, fumbling a hand around until he found whatever he was looking for. He came back around to the front of me, now wearing my sunglasses, having obviously left his in the apartment.
"You good now?" I asked. He grinned.
Orientation was essentially a fair, with food stalls and various activities and demonstrations happening across the campus grounds. There were tours as well, but we opted not to go on any, having done all of that kind of thing when we visited while we were still in college. Plus I was sure Rye trusted that I had the entire map of the University memorised by now, and could direct us both to all of our classes- and he would have been right.
We made our way over to the club section, a series of booths manned by student reps with sign up sheets, recruiting the first years into various groups. This interested me a lot, because, from what I'd researched, clubs were one of the more fun and social aspects of university life, as well as being a surefire method of making new friends.
"Hey, Andy!" I turned at the sound of my name, seeing Brooklyn standing behind one of the stalls, wearing a blue t-shirt with a club logo on it.
"Hey," I smiled, walking over to him, Rye following along a step behind.
"You guys look tired," Brook chuckled at us, "especially you, Rye." Rye didn't respond which was kind of awkward, so I covered his silence with a laugh.
"It's been a rough morning," I said. "What club are you promoting?" I was keen to change the subject.
"Theatre Club," Brooklyn answered happily, pointing to the logo on his shirt. "Do you like musicals?"
"Love them," I admitted.
"Great! You should definitely audition for the winter show. It's Dear Evan Hansen, do you know it?" I nodded that I did. This would be great- an opportunity to meet new people through doing my favourite thing, and spend more time with Brooklyn. That was, if I made the cast, but I was relatively confident I could at least make the ensemble, knowing I had a talent for singing.
"What about you, Rye? Do you sing?" Brooklyn asked.
"Nope," Rye said, popping the 'p'. This wasn't even entirely true- Rye had a more than decent singing voice, he just didn't like singing on stage. In the car with me was probably the only time he had ever actually sung properly in front of another person and that was fine. I was annoyed with him however, for the unnecessarily cold tone of his answer. I understood that he was hungover and cranky, but he was just coming off rude and he knew I didn't have boys as cute as Brooklyn sliding into my DMs everyday.
"Well you should definitely do it, Andy," Brooklyn said.
"I will," I promised. "Nice to see you again."
I cringed to myself as we walked away from his stall. Who the fuck says "nice to see you again" after getting off in a club with someone? I felt like such a dork.
"I'm such a dork," I complained out loud to Rye.
"He'll find that out eventually anyway," Rye said and I shoved him, but he barely noticed because his attention was already elsewhere. By the time I realised who he had noticed, it was too late to stop him.
"Hey, Ryan!" called Rye, and I cursed under my breath. I had really hoped that burgeoning friendship would have died after the party, but apparently this was not to be.
Sonny turned around, smiling when he recognised Rye. "Hey! Other Ryan!" He ran up to us and pulled Rye into a fierce bear hug. "It's my guardian angel. I could kiss you, man."
Rye chuckled. "Enjoying the sunshine?"
"As much as you are I suspect, mate," Sonny said, winking at me. "Don't think we've met, I'm Ryan, but please call me Sonny."
"Andy." He went in for the hug and I returned it unenthusiastically with one arm. "Are you signing up for any clubs?" I asked him politely.
"Don't reckon so, but the food is here is fucking good. Do you lads want a bacon sandwich?"
I opened my mouth to decline, keen to move on, but Rye accepted gladly before I could say anything, going to walk with Sonny to the food stall area. This interaction was quickly levelling up from a quick hello to 'hanging out', and I wasn't a fan.
"Rye, look, the football team. You should sign up," I made a last ditch attempt at diverting his attention.
"I'm not sure about football this year, Fovvs," he said.
"Well I'm signing you up anyway," I decided. Maybe he was playing it cool for Sonny for whatever reason, but Rye loved football, and I was sure he'd regret it later if he didn't sign up.
"Okay," he sighed. "Meet us over there then." He walked off with Sonny. I could hardly believe he was leaving me alone for some random dude he met while he was off his face. I didn't know if his strange behaviour was down to the hangover, or if he was having trouble adjusting to our new life, but whatever it was, I just hoped he would get over it soon.
A/N: hey guys, had some strong reactions to some of the content last chapter so i just wanted to reiterate that people take drugs (including alcohol) for different reasons. sometimes for fun, sometimes for more problematic reasons, and different people react to them in different ways, so what's perfectly chill for one person might be really toxic or unhealthy for someone else. this story explores drug use in a few of those different ways, and again i am in no way trying to imply that using drugs is good or normal, just that it is nuanced and often something that people experiment with at this stage of life. if these topics are in any way triggering for you i'd advise caution bc as stated in my initial a/n, that will be a key element of this book. i know for me personally whenever i read about smoking it makes me crave a cigarette so look after yourself if you think you could have that kind of response to reading about drugs. anyway, big speech over, i hope you're enjoying the story so far. i know it's quite a chill start but believe me when i say it only gets more intense. much love x