Beautiful Gifts, Small Packages Ch. 04

"Hey man! We sorta borrowed your dvd. Do you mind? If you do we can give it right back!" I said to the pest, I mean, roommate.

The boy smiled at me and I tried to tell myself to relax as I attempted not to cringe. The guy had to be absolutely harmless. He had bright red hair, that I was sure wasn't natural, a large nose that was home to three piercings and a crooked jaw. His small grey eyes, and pale, acne riddled skin were hidden behind huge spectacles that caused his eyes to look larger than they should, giving him a buggy appearance. The kid was also bean pole thin and dressed like a 90's nerd. He was definitely not someone I should be getting angry at. The kid would probably blow over in the wind. Still, I wished I could get rid of him.

Oh my god I'm acting crazy, I thought to myself, knowing deep down what had triggered my need to feel possessive over Riley. I didn't like those feelings. I knew no one actually belonged to me in that way and had worked in therapy for months to overcome the basic impulse. Now, I very rarely felt that way and it was freeing. I really hated my ex...I'd been making so much progress and now, even all these years later, he was still fucking with my head.

I forced myself to smile back and offered my pen to him. The boy accepted it and took a hit. I sort of expected him to cough the way Riley had but instead he exhaled a perfect, beautiful smoke ring.

Fucking show off.

"It's fine. I've been wanting to finally break the ice with my roomie here anyways. Mind if I join you guys?"

Yes. I thought. I mind. I mind a whole hell of a lot.

"It's no problem," Riley answered and my heart sank.

I knew I was being stupid but I had hoped Riley and I could keep talking. I really liked getting to know him on a deeper level and now things were probably ruined. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get Riley to open up this much again and it really bummed me out that learning more had been cut short. I thought about leaving then and there but decided that would be completely childish of me. I wanted to be there for Riley. As a friend. I didn't have to go and get all vulnerable with someone that wasn't my boyfriend but I had. I needed to accept that and let it go.

"We only just started," I chimed in, "We can re start it if you like?"

"If you don't mind that would be great," he answered with a mossy toothed grin. "But let me set it up with my projector. Then I can play the movie against the wall so we don't have to squish together to see." Riley nodded and handed the dvd over. I immediately noticed the way the nerd blushed as their touched hands, even though Riley didn't seem to notice a thing. After setting up the movie, he quickly turned to me and gave me a quick once over before introducing himself. I'm Scott by the way," he said, reaching out to take my hand.

"Thomas," I replied, surprised by how strongly he gripped my palm when we shook hands.

"Pleasure," he replied, smiling back at me in a tight lipped way that looked anything but pleased.

*******

It was hours later when I finally made it back to the house and I was not in a good mood. The entire rest of the night Scott had made it very clear to me that he wanted to be seen as competition for Riley. What made it even more annoying was how completely oblivious Riley was to the whole thing but I couldn't hold it against him. Between Scott and me, he was smiling and even laughed several times throughout the movie. That was worth ten times the annoyance. Seeing him happy was the best part of the night.

As I walked down the hallway of my frat house, I noticed a red bedroom light beneath a door that wasn't usually on.

"So, you're waiting for someone," I muttered as I walked to the door, not caring that I was about to ruin his night. Without knocking, I angrily burst into the room.

"Thomas! What the fuck dude! I'm having company soon!" Fred yelled, pulling a pair of sweatpants over his naked lower body.

"Who is it?" I asked, ready to punch him in the mouth if he dared to say Riley's name.

"Some guy from the gym," he replied with a knowing smirk.

I rushed forward and grabbed the chain that always hung around his neck, twisting it tight in my fist as I yanked him forward.

"Oh my god that was a joke!" He replied, throwing his hands up in surrender. "He works at the cafe, alright? You don't know him and he doesn't go to school here."

I nodded and let go of his necklace.

"I should have punched you," I seethed, glaring him down angrily.

"Oooo," he practically sang, "I love it when you get feisty Tomtom!" As he spoke, he slowly backed me up into the corner wall, blocking any escape with his arms.

"I know what your doing," I spat, ignoring the bate. "Don't think you can fuck with me!"

"Oh, I don't know. You seem pretty 'riled' up to me," he teased, grinning impishly.

"When are you going to grow up? You fucking man-child," I growled, standing my ground.

Fred pouted and began to back off, letting his arms fall to his side. "You're here about the dancing fag, right? I'm sorry okay. I didn't know fucking the little geek would upset you this much," he finally admitted.

"Just let me like someone without always getting in the way!" I growled, seriously considering causing him bodily harm for the way he talked about Riley. "It's been three years Fred! I'm tired of your fucking mind games! Do you have any idea what kind of complexes you given me? Because of you, every time I date someone I have this fear in the back of my head that I'll get unwillingly cuckholded again. It's bad enough that I end up sabotaging most of my relationships myself but you always have to try and steal them first! Stop acting like a five year old who wants to keep every toy on the playground for himself! We are over okay? We've been over for three fucking years! Your bullshit doesn't hurt me but Riley did get hurt. Leave him out of your twisted little games or I'll step in and tell him all about what kind of relationship we had, with proof. I won't let you hurt him again."

"Tom I-" Fred tried to interrupt.

"No!" I bellowed. "I trusted you with my deepest darkest secrets and you told me that you're getting married to a woman one day and I'd have to watch. That you couldn't possibly be a gay senator. What would people say if they found out about your kinks?"

"Thomas, lower your fucking voice!" He begged.

"Fine!" I whispered with a roll of my eyes. "It's not like I'm actually trying to out you. Although if you're so worried about it, maybe you should cool it with your crap at the gym because people have noticed. Just leave Riley alone. You were a complete dick and he was really torn up about it."

"Alright, alright, Fred conceded. "For the record, I wouldn't have slept with him if I knew you were this serious! I thought he was cute and possibly a virgin. I like deflowering freshman and knew you friend zoned him, so I took my chance. It wasn't personal."

"Neither is this," I replied, punching him right in the nose.

"Yeah," he gasped in pain. "I probably deserved that."

"You deserve worse," I growled, ready to go to my own bed. I was going to leave. I really was... but he just wouldn't shut up...

"I don't know why you're waisting your energy anyways. He can never give you what you really want."

I punched him again, landing a hit to his jaw.

"I think that was a little much," he whined, cradling his face.

"You have no idea what I really want! Just stop talking and leave me alone," I snapped, finally walking away.

I was so over this fucking night. I shoved away from the wall, knocking hard into Fred's shoulder as I passed him by. While I walked, I pulled my phone out and was delighted to find a text message from Riley.

Riley: Thank you for checking on me. The drink was delicious and the talk was really... nice. I don't have many people I can talk to... Maybe we could try it again one day? Still on for a study session tomorrow?

Me: Absolutely! Heather's making pancakes! And your welcome. I'm free to talk any time you need.

With that taken care of, I finally laid down in bed, beyond ready for sleep to bring me a new day.