Chapter 26 - What Is This Fuckery?
Oliver
"Hello cutie," he greeted instantly. That bright smile still gracing the intricate features of his face.
I blushed and stepped aside, opening the door wider and ushering him in.
"I didn't know you were back." I mentioned as he stepped in and saw the girls.
"Yeah, I came back with the guys yesterday after the party." He informed me and languidly waved at the girls.
They waved back with equal amount of enthusiasm, not showing much interest, and that was when I knew it was time to introduce them.
"Mako this is Jess, my best friend, and that's Yadiri, my other best friend who is her roommate." I motioned at each of them as I introduced.
Yadiri mouthed a gasp, widened her eyes and held her hands over her chest when I called her my best friend. Batting her eyelashes at me, she blew me a kiss but I rolled my eyes and tried to hide my smile then continued.
"And best friends this is Mako, AKA. Shiloh Dynasty. This boy is very good with his guitar and his voice is just..." I concluded, arching a brow at Mako who smiled and ruffled his feet shyly.
"Oh?" Jess was the first to respond, "I do like myself a musical virtuoso." She got down from the bed and walked over to Mako to give him a handshake. "I'm Jessica," she smiled at him.
"I'm Mako," he replied, smiling back.
"I thought I already handled the introduction?" I frowned at the both of them, but they just ignored me. "You should've told me, I wouldn't have wasted my words introducing you guys."
"Hello, I'm Yadiri." She waved from where she sat on my bed.
"Mako," he said again.
"Oh my God, you people. He knows," I pointed at Mako, "she knows," I pointed at Jess, "she also knows," I then pointed at Yadiri. "I already introduced you guys." I almost yelled over them.
"Goodness, why are you being so noisy Olly?" Jess raised an eyebrow at me before returning to her laptop.
I motioned for Mako to sit on my desk chair. Realising this was his first time in my room, I got a bit shy and hoped within me that he was impressed with what he'd seen so far.
"Thank you," he muttered.
"I guess that's one of the side effects of the drug." Yadiri chuckled.
"What drug?" Mako inquired, looking from Jess to Yadiri.
They were going to open their mouths to answer and I couldn't believe it. How dare they want to expose me like that.
"No!" I screamed rashly, "we're not talking about this in front of Mako." I spoke sternly, sending my glare to the both of them.
We all fell silent for a while and I was about to bring up a new topic, but to my surprise Jess spoke before me.
"Oliver got drugged at the party yesterday." She worded her sentence too quickly, I couldn't stop her.
We all fell silent. I stared at her in utter horror, but she and Yadiri avoided my gaze, whilst bearing fake innocent looks on their faces and acting oblivious.
"What?" Mako laughed with wide eyes, he was the first to speak, "you're joking." He shrugged it off, but Jess proceeded to convince him.
"No I'm not, ask him yourself." She finally decided to retreat after putting me in the frontline.
She did everything possible to avoid the glare I was sending her way.
"Is that true?" Mako turned to me and asked with laughter and concern in his voice.
"It was a mishap, I-I was misled." I stammered.
"So what happened after that?" He asked me.
"Nothing much, I just got really wasted and felt weightless for a while, I thought I was going to float away, then I blacked out afterwards. Woke up in my room this morning." I explained, scratching the nape of my neck.
The topic made me uncomfortable. I wasn't ready to recall everything that happened to me yesterday with Tarek and possibly Mason, so I just changed the topic.
"So you're back now?"
"Yeah I am, our matriculation ceremony is on Friday so I'm around until then." He answered.
"So you're going back after our matriculation?" I asked, almost sounding disgruntled. I wanted him to spend more time here with all of us.
"Wait, he stays in this dorm?" Jess asked.
I glared at her from the side of my eyes. "Yes he does, didn't I tell you about a Mako." My glare wasn't menacing in any way so I just gave it up.
"Oh my God, he's the Mako?" Her face lit up with a smile and a glimmer appeared in her eyes.
"Even after all the introduction you still didn't figure that out." I rolled my eyes at her, but she didn't see it. She didn't care.
"But he has not been around," she countered.
"I went over to a friend's place, I'm honestly a lot happier and a lot more comfortable there, so I stayed over."
"Oh," Jess nodded her head and looked away, the smile fading from her face.
"But I'm back now, and I'm not going back anytime soon, at least until our matriculation ceremony is over and all." He added hastily when he noticed her disappointment.
"Really?" Her smile came back on and he nodded at her, I couldn't help but smile at that. If I'm being truthful I did miss Mako, so I was also glad he was back, even if it was only for a short time. "And about our matriculation ceremony on Friday, I wonder how it's going to be," she wondered.
"Like the basic, boring ceremony that it is, I'm sure." He chuckled.
"Oh no, I'm not talking about the ceremony itself. I'm talking about afterwards, we'll have to celebrate right? It's like a tradition to celebrate after being enrolled." Jess suggested.
"Definitely, I've already talked to the rest about that. We'll have a not-so-little, little get-together that night, with songs and drinks and all." Mako informed us.
The idea of a small party with just these beautiful people was more than exciting. I was already looking forward to Friday, but I definitely wasn't looking forward to getting drunk again, although it wouldn't be a big deal as I could just walk to my room when I was out and done with everything.
"Isn't that against the dormitory's rules and regulations?" Yadiri spoke up, directing her question to Mako.
"Hosting a big party and inviting people outside the dorm is against the rules. It's not going to be a big party, and it's just going to be us freshmen here in lighthouse," Mako explained to Yadiri. From the way he spoke, they seemed to have been planning this for a while. "And maybe Chris's girlfriend, I think he's going to invite his girlfriend." He added, lightly rearranging his black curls.
"Hold on a minute, Shirley is going to come? No, first of all, they're already dating?" I changed my question.
I hadn't spoken to Shirley since Friday after school, and I hadn't asked her how the date with Chris on Thursday turned out. Well I knew she was going to say yes, I just hadn't heard it from her yet.
"Yes, Shirley, and they are dating. How do you know her?" He asked me
"She's my course mate, how about you?"
"I met her at the party yesterday, she and Chris stuck together like glue. Completely inseperable." He chuckled.
"Bet," I mumbled while smiling to myself.
"So the get-together is really happening then? I would love to meet all the beautiful freshmen in lighthouse." Tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear, Jess smirked at Mako, baring her one prominent dimple to him.
She was definitely flirting with him right now, I had to stifle my laughter, but a titter escaped my mouth.
"It should, I'm still talking with Khalid about it." He didn't even seem to notice her gestures as he just continued to smile at her, then proceeded to explain. "If it is, then Khalid, Chris and I will go get the drinks right after the matriculation ceremony."
"Is everyone game for this though?" Yadiri asked.
"I'm not sure," Mako shrugged, "but Alex is game so I assume everyone else is."
"Everyone else is," I concluded for all of us. "If Alex is interested then trust me everyone else is."
"So you're interested then?" He smirked at me and I instantly got hot around my face.
"Yes." I gushed, rubbing the nape of my neck.
"Then it's gonna happen, can't wait. Sam is also interested, he says he's going to join us. Obviously he's bringing his own drinks." Mako joked.
"Who's Sam?" Jess brought her eyes up from her laptop to look at Mako once again.
"He's a student in the dorm, he's in his fourth year or so." I recalled the conversation I had with him the first week I arrived, but I couldn't remember everything so vividly.
"Oh," she muttered and took her eyes back to her laptop.
"I'm gonna go to my room now," Mako turned to me and started. "Justin made dinner and I'm honestly a bit hungry. I just came to say hi and inform you that I was back from Damian's place. He says hi by the way," he finished.
"Oh, Damian." I'm pretty I still had the blush in my cheeks, "thank you. Great him for me when next you talk with him, and it's great to have you back."
"It's good to be back. This is going to be one hell of a week, I can tell so much is going to happen." He giggled.
"You bet, we don't have any classes this week anyway so a lot is expected to happen." I managed a glance at his bright brown eyes before looking away just as quickly, the glow in his eyes was too bright, I couldn't handle.
"Mhmm," he hummed before looking over to Jess and Yadiri, "I'm going now, bye Olly's best friends." He chirped, waving at them.
"Bye bye Mako." Jess waved back.
"Bye Mako, I love your pink tee by the way. That shade of pink is aesthetically pleasing." Yadiri mentioned, pointing at his top.
"Oh really?" He held it inbetween his fingers, stretching it and looking down it. "Thank you, I like it too. Pink is beautiful." He commented, waving for the last time he opened the door and stepped out.
"It really is." Yadiri said after him.
I leant against the door, smiling at him one last time before shutting the door.
"He's back," I muttered, walking over to my bed to join the girls.
"I'm sorry but I don't know." Jess uttered.
"You don't know what?" I leaned on my side, facing them and holding my head up with my hand.
"My gayder isn't picking up any signals from him," Jess confessed.
I ogled at her for a while before bursting into laughter. I couldn't stop myself, and I didn't even want to try to stop myself.
"I thought-I thought your gayder was ol' reliable, what happened this time?" I said inbetween laughs.
"I don't even know, I'm not sure. I mean he likes pink," she started.
"And he reads BL books," I added.
"And he called you a cutie, right?" Yadiri asked.
"Mmhmm," I nodded, confirming that for her, "and this is not even the first time. He also calls me cutie on Instagram."
We all turned to Jess, waiting for her answer, but she was silent for a while.
"I don't know, I don't want to stereotype him." She brushed it off. "But he's very good looking, do you like him?" She directed the question to me.
"Huh?" I deadpanned.
"Do you like him?" She worded her question again.
"Who?" I acted oblivious, averting my eyes and tracing on my sheets.
"Mako, you know who I'm talking about. Do you like Mako?" She asked again, being specific this time.
I sighed and hung my head down in frustration before turning to her.
"How many guys do you think I can like at the same time?" I asked, arching a brow at her.
"So it's just Khalid then," she noted.
It wasn't necessarily a question but I knew she was expecting a reply from me and I didn't have one to give her. Pressing my lips into a line, I averted my eyes once again.
"I'm not going to answer that." I resumed tracing on my sheets.
"So you like Khalid, I guess it's okay for me to say you like, like him?" She tilted her head to the side and looked at me.
But I remained mute, still tracing on my sheets. She was right, she knew she was right. She was just trying to get me to confess and confirm it for them, but I wasn't ready to do that, not yet. Admitting that to myself was hard enough, it was difficult admitting that I liked Khalid more than I wanted to.
"Anyway, you like Khalid and now Mason is kissing you. What's up with that?" She added, concluding the question she was trying to ask.
I abruptly stopped tracing as I realised the point she was trying to make clear, and it was a problem.
"Do you like Mason?" She broke things down for me, but I could already see where she was driving at. She didn't have to make it any clearer.
"I'm not sure." I took my eyes back down and continued tracing invisible lines with a blank expression.
The situation I was currently in was an uncomfortable one, and realising that took away almost all the happiness I felt at the moment.
"Well, I don't think you do. You should tell him before it's too late and things get messy, that would be worse than telling him off now. You-"
"I said I'm not sure, okay? I'll talk to him when I've cleared things out with myself." I interrupted her, my voice sounded a lot colder than I intended it to but I couldn't stop myself.
She was stating the obvious truth, and I wasn't ready for the truth. Not now, maybe soon, but definitely not now. Call me selfish but I didn't want to lose any of them to making the wrong decisions. This was my first chance at having something real, I didn't want to jinx it and I didn't want to lose it.
Until I was sure about Khalid's intentions, I couldn't tell Mason anything yet. It was a selfish decision but it was the only decision I could make at the moment, until I was ready to confront the topic.
Silence fell over the three of us as tension rose. Jess eyeballed me with a displeased frown while Yadiri looked from her to me before finally deciding it was time to break the silence.
"He says he's not sure yet, let's not force words into his mouth." She chipped in with a chuckle.
Jess heaved a sigh before taking her eyes back to her laptop.
"I'm just saying, because it's going to be more difficult to handle if it gets to the point I fear it might get to, and Mason deserves the truth."
"Yeah," I agreed softly.
Mason does deserve the truth, and I was going to find out what the truth actually was in due time.
***
This particular week was going by at a snail's pace compared to other weeks. Maybe it was because this was a lecture free week for us freshmen so we were doing absolutely nothing but eat, sleep, wake up and spend the rest of the day in our various dorms, then repeat.
It was Wednesday now, Monday and Tuesday were empty and unproductive. I felt unnecessarily lazy and tired for no distinct reason, so Chris and I decided to spend today together doing our philosophy and logic assignment, and any other specific assignments that we had.
We just wanted to act as motivation to each other whilst working in silence.
Jess and Yadiri had gone grocery shopping for us because both our refrigerators were running empty, so I was the only one around with Chris. At least I thought I was.
I was almost done with my well detailed biography on one of the post-socratic western philosophers so it was proper for me to call it a day, but seeing Chris so engrossed in his work motivated me. He was more of a motivation to me than I was to him.
I decided to remain quite for a few more minutes and continue with the biography I was typing on my laptop, but the question I had at the back of mind kept bugging me, pushing me to say something. I guess I was just tired of working so I needed a recess and maybe chat for a little while.
"You're too focused, I envy you." I spoke up, getting Chris's attention.
He looked up at me with clueless eyes and a lollipop in his mouth, he looked like a kid. Chris could be very childish at times, but it wasn't weird or creepy, it suit his personality so appropriately.
"Huh?" He muttered, twirling the lollipop in his mouth.
"I said your focus is supreme, you're so absorbed in your work."
"Oh," he chuckled, pulling out the lollipop from his mouth and holding it in one hand. "I've seen your work, you've gone quite far. Unlike you I work quite slowly, so the only way I can be efficient is by giving the work at hand maximum focus. That is also how I study." He proceeded to explain.
"Oh, I can see that's paying off." I replied, peeking over at his laptop. "Which philosopher are you writing about though? I'm writing a biography on Plato." I informed him.
"Aristotle," he licked the lollipop again and clicked his tongue. "I think he's fun." He raised an eyebrow at me.
"None of these philosophers are fun," I chuckled, and he joined me. "So, umm, you and Shirley, are you guys like an item now?" I finally asked the question on my mind after a while.
"Oh." He puckered his lips inwards and sent me an innocent stare which I wasn't going to buy.
"Answer me, did your tongue suddenly disappear?" I pressed on, sharpening my gaze.
"Did Shirley tell you?" He finally spoke.
"That doesn't answer my question, and no, Shirley did not tell me and you didn't tell me either. To make things worse I heard it from Mako, when I should've heard it from either of you." I scolded with a fake frown.
"We really haven't seen much since our last lecture together last week Thursday, you should've asked her on Friday. We became official on Thursday night after I took her to the ice haven." He finished with an apologetic smile. "That night was so much fun," he added as a murmur but I heard it, and caught the wide grin on his face.
Reducing the intensity of my fake glare, I realised it was actually my fault for not asking her on Friday. She did tell me she was going to give him a reply on Thursday anyway.
"Well, I didn't ask her." I admitted, but I wasn't going to relieve him of the blame. "You should've told me yourself," I argued.
"We haven't had the chance to talk like this since then." He repeated himself. "So it's actually your fault."
"No it's not, it's hers, she should've called me to tell me." Or I should've called her. "I'm going to call her this evening." I finished, jogging the stacks of paper I was working with on the floor to get them in place.
"You should," he agreed, going back to his work.
"So you and Shirley, huh? How does it feel?" I wiggled my eyebrows at him, teasing. I just couldn't get over these hopeless romantic young lovers.
"It's beautiful, what else can it be?" He answered boldly, without even a hint of shyness. "We really like each other, I really like her, so beautiful and joyful is all it can be." He added.
"Hmm," I hummed in realisation. "So apart from your first date at ice haven, how many other dates have you two been on?" I asked yet another question, my inquisitive side getting the best of me.
He squinted his eyes at me. "You're asking too many questions." He mentioned, pointing at me with the lollipop. I just shrugged and raised my hands up in surrender. "Well, we're going out tomorrow, I can't call it a date because we're all going." He returned the lollipop to his mouth and resumed twirling.
"We?" I perked up, keen to know the group of people he was referring to.
"Yes, we're all going shopping in a boutique in the city tomorrow, against our matriculation ceremony which is on Friday." He informed me like I should've known already but I didn't so I was left a bit puzzled.
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Why you asking like you don't know, Khalid hasn't told you yet?"
"No he hasn't." I answered, taking my gaze down to my laptop keys.
"Oh, he said he was going to inform you though. Maybe he was planning to tell you this evening." He suggested casually, dismissing it.
But I couldn't ignore it the way he did. I instantly concluded for myself that Khalid was avoiding me.
"We're all going to the boutique tomorrow; Khalid, Mako, Patrick, Justin, Alex, Shirley and I. I'm sure Alex must've told Jess by now, he even promised to buy her something." Chris continued.
The week had been quite stress-free for all of us so we've all been spending time getting to know each other more, but for some reason Khalid and I hadn't seen or spoken to each other since Sunday. We hadn't even texted, I was going to send him a text yesterday but I had to stop myself.
Jess and Alex had spoken a couple times. It wasn't too many but it was enough for her to start chipping in good words about him every once in a while. I found it absurd but I chose to ignore it. If she was starting to like Alex maybe it was because he was showing her his good sides, and that wasn't completely a bad thing.
Knowing that Khalid was supposed to invite me to join them and he hadn't done that, till now, I wasn't interested to go anymore, unlike I was at first. If Khalid wanted to avoid me I should be making it easy for him, albeit it hurt me so much just thinking about the possibility of this being the case.
"I don't think I'm going, I don't have anything to buy." I muttered, my voice low and sad, reflecting my emotions.
"Do you've a suit?" Chris asked.
"Yes, I do. My mum made sure of that, she got me a matriculation suit even before I gained admission into Denberg."
"Oh," he snickered, "I'm assuming she also got you a shoe?" He asked with the laughter in his voice.
"Expensive Blue Suede." I replied, but not as joyful as Chris was.
"She really made sure you were loaded," he laughed again. "Okay but what about a wrist watch, do you've any expensive wrist watch to go with your expensive Blue Suede?" He teased.
I did not.
"No I don't, but wrist watches don't mat—"
"No, no, and no." He cut me off. "Don't even say wrist watches don't matter because I will strangle you. What about a necklace, do you've a nice necklace?" He added.
"I'm not really a necklace person," I admitted to him.
"Understandable." He pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "But the wrist watch though, you don't have a wrist watch so you're coming with us to get one."
"What if I don't have enough money for one?" I argued.
"Then I'll say you're lying," he countered. "Even if you don't, just tag along with us. I doubt Khalid will let you stay here all alone when we're all gone anyway, he's hell-bent on getting everyone to tag along. He says it'll be one fun experience." He finished with a chortle.
"But then he hasn't informed me up till now." I mumbled my disappointment.
"It probably skipped his mind or he's been procrastinating, Khalid loves procrastinating. I think everyone loves the fine art of procrastination." He finished. Narrowing his eyes at me, he tilted his head to scan my face. "Don't tell me you're butt hurt and not accepting to go with us because of that." He said with a voice laced with seriousness.
I averted my gaze, taking it down to my laptop keyboard. "No, that's not the reason." I lied.
That was totally the reason.
Chris didn't seemed to buy my lie, but he brushed it off. "If it's because of the girls you can talk to them, I'm sure they'll love to come with us. I've met them, they're so lovely and friendly, especially Yadiri," he paused and twirled the lollipop in his mouth again, "they're equally lovely, but Jess scares me at times. Yadiri is just more approachable than Jess is." He finished with a chuckle.
"That's very true." I couldn't help but laugh at that, it was so true. I was surprised by how easy it was to differentiate between the two girls just by looking at them.
"And let us not forget daddy Khalid who doesn't want to leave anyone behind. He won't let you stay here by yourself." Chris stated.
Khalid's friendly nature was palpable, it was a prominent feature of his personality. It kind of made him a centre of attraction and drew people close to him, that was one of the reasons I found him utterly adorable and was attracted to him.
"Fine then, I guess I'll come with you guys." I finally agreed.
"Of course you will, did you think you had a choice before? You never had a choice." He joked. "When did Mako tell you about Shirley and I though?"
"On Sunday, he said he saw the both of you at the party and that you were inseperable." I related with a smirk.
"It was a crazy party, I couldn't leave my girl alone, someone might've snatched her away from me. I know Shirley loves me and only me though," he bragged and I rolled my eyes at him, "but I'm a jealous boyfriend and we wanted to spend the entire time at the party with each other so."
"Figures," I muttered. "I can't believe I attended my first party in the university even before my own matriculation ceremony, what if I got kicked out before now, then the party would've been a complete waste." I giggled, shaking my head at myself.
"That's just how it's supposed to be, you can't cheat the natural course of things." Chris chuckled with the lollipop in his mouth.
"That's exactly not how it is supposed to be," I countered.
"Where were you at the party though? We were all together, we even saw Jess and Yadiri but you were nowhere to be found." He stated, taking his gaze back to his laptop and resumed typing.
"I was just… around." I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "It was a crazy party."
"It really was," he agreed with a chuckle. "Hence the reason why I held on to my girlfriend so tightly."
He had only finished talking when violent loud bangs were placed on the door. We both shot our heads in the direction of the sudden sound, which was the door, staring at it when another series of unrhythmic loud bangs were placed on it.
"Are you expecting anyone?" He turned to me with a displeased frown on his face.
"No, I'm not." I had a similar frown on mine as well.
"Could it be Jess then?" He inquired.
"Jess wouldn't knock," I chuckled nervously, "she'll just walk right in." I got up from the floor and started making my way to the door when the bangs came the third time. "Who's there?" I called out, reaching for the door handle, but before I could get a hold of it, the door swung open.
I had to dart out of the way to prevent it from hitting my face, and I watched as someone discourteously let themself in.
The person standing in front of me in less than three quick seconds made my heart skip a chorus of beats. They had the usual smug look on their face, and a menacing glint in their eyes.
"What the hell man?" Chris spoke first, voicing his annoyance as I had suddenly gotten cold feet.
"Finally, the right room." Casper sighed, vehemently swinging the door shut behind him as he walked well into the room. "I've been to four wrong rooms already before finding this one, the right one." He sighed audibly.
"It's hard to believe you've been to four rooms with this attitude and you're still alive," Chris jeered with scorn.
"Oh no, I knew this was the right room when I heard Jimmy's soft girly voice," Casper explained. "And even if this was also a wrong room no one can do shit to m—" he took a breather, "—what the fuck? Why am I even explaining myself to you?" He took his glare from me to Chris who looked back at him with one just as intense.
"Are you okay?" Chris wondered, directing the question to Casper with contempt and a scrunched up nose.
All this while I stood glued on the spot, I couldn't believe what was happening. Casper was currently in my dorm room, the one thing that should never have happened. I could feel my vision get blurry as tears began filling up my eyes. This was enough to make me break down.
Casper shrugged and disregarded Chris's question.
"I'm hungry," he griped. Making himself comfortable on my desk chair, he sank into it with reckless abandon and helped himself to a chocolate bar on my table.
He opened it and began munching like the dirty barbarian that he actually was. I wanted to just walk over to him and slap him, but I knew that would be the last time I'll have hands, I was so scared and now my chocolates were going into his vile mouth.
"How is that Oliver's business, and why the fuck are eating his chocolates without his permission? I was going to ask him for that chocolate you're eating right now." Chris scolded. "And why the fuck are you not saying anything?" He continued ranting, turning to me, "the fuck? Are you about to cry?" He adjusted on the floor so he was currently sitting on his butt and resting his back on my bed.
Casper finished the first bar and went for the second, looking at me knowingly as if daring me to say something he wouldn't like. Chris noticed the message he was sending with his eyes, and that seemed to annoy him even more.
"Who is this boy, Olly?" He directed the question to me.
I swallowed and inhaled deeply, this wasn't the time to burst into tears. Definitely not in front of Chris and Casper. I wasn't going to give Casper the satisfaction he gets from bullying me, and making me cry almost every time I'm in his presence.
"He's my friend from highschool." I stated, trying my best to hold on to a straight face.
"No, no, wrong, very wrong. I'm not friends with any fag." He spat venomously.
And then he said it, he said the one word he'd been taunting me with for over a year now, and that was when I broke into tears.
"What is this fuckery?!" Chris boomed with disgust written all over his face.
And then came my first sob.
_
AN: Don't fight me and please don't hate me, but I'm not going to say anything about the next chapter except that I'm feeling very hot just writing it hehehehe. Please don't ask me what this title is because I don't even know, ask Chris. He's right there, just up there. :)
Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to vote and drop your comments, I'm ever so grateful.
Till next time loves! Stay happy and stay safe! <3