Unexpected Lust

Chapter One

Keith

179. Looks like this is me. I shove open the door to the dorm room. Two beds sit across from each other in this otherwise empty room. I don't really look at much; I just see enough to know that maybe I'm getting a single room. True to myself, I filled out the roommate application two months too late, but maybe I was just lucky. Good. Not like I'm gonna have anything in common with these pricks anyway. I set my two bags down in a heap and sprawl out on the rickety little bed. I can hear all the students walking around, seeing old friends and already picking out who is hot or not.

The wise words of my good old dad are repeating back to me as I tried to drown out the dull sounds of perky college freshmen. "Try to not fail," he told me, as I got out of his shitty pick-up in front of the new dorm. "And for Christ's sake, get yourself a girl." Little did he know I'd been trying to do that for years, but I did have an image to maintain back in high school. I couldn't be caught getting all emotional and shit when you were the school's resident badass/reject.

I am shaken from my thoughts by a heavy thump on the door. I roll over and think about getting up to see what it was, but I soon realize that I don't exactly care. A second later, the door opens and in falls the biggest suitcase I've ever seen. Literally. It's bigger than my closet back in Cleveland. Not that that's saying much, but still.

Alex

"Okay mom, I have everything. Can I go now?" I yell to my mom as I am practically running out of the door before she hands me something else to stuff in my already overflowing suitcase.

"No! You can't leave without me taking a picture of you first! Go stand over there," She points towards the doorway, and I obey one of the last commands she will ever give me before I officially shove off to college. She takes out her camera and fumbles it around for a few minutes trying to figure out how to turn it on. Once she finally finds the power button, she places the camera in front of her face and says cheese; I give her a half smile, and naturally she yells at me to show some teeth. I smile big; one last fake smile for her. She takes the picture, gives me a hug that feels as if it lasts a lifetime, kisses me on the forehead, and then I am college bound.

The ride to OSU from Boardman isn't too bad of a drive, but I just wish I have someone to make the trip with me. All of my friends got accepted to NYU or some college in California, but me, no; I decided to go to the most sports obsessed college in the entire world: Ohio State University. I really loath sports actually, can't stand them. I am only going because I got a full ride, because I busted my ass off in high school; that way my mom wouldn't have to pay a single cent of my college bills.

Once I arrive at OSU, I find a parking spot and begin the journey to my room. Since I don't have a map of the campus, I am walking around aimlessly trying to find my dorm because there are just so many housing dorms at OSU. I eventually find my dorm, and thank god for elevators too, because this suitcase is becoming too strenuous to carry anywhere else. 1..7..9..this is me. My new room for the next four years of my life. Not knowing if I have a roommate because I didn't fill the paper out until oh, about 2 months after it was due, I held onto the suitcase and very clumsily hit the door with my hand. I brace myself on the door because I am about to fall and search blindly for the doorknob, trying to get a good grip. When I turn the handle, I slip and fall into the room. My enormous suitcase then proceeds to fall somewhere (thank god not on top of me), and I struggle to regain my balance as I push myself off of the floor.

Keith

This kid is the classic pretty boy. Abercrombie shirt, Sperry's, and his hair has to have been professionally done to get it so perfect. Damn. I get like that sometimes, where I just sound like I know all this random shit.

Anyway, this kid looks about 14 years old. He pulls himself up off the ground and regards me warily. I realize I was kind of still laying all over my bed, so I sit up and lean my elbows on my knees, automatically making myself look intimidating.

"Hi, I'm, uh, Alex," he said, looking intimidated by me. Good. He holds his hand out for me to shake and I take it, saying, "Keith." He turns away, and I watch him struggle with his fucking gigantic suitcase for a few minutes, then it's too painful to watch. So I get up and yanked it into the room, none too softly.

"Thanks," he says, smiling at me. I nod at him and go back to lying on my bed. He immediately starts unpacking his stuff, and I can tell he needs everything to be perfect. I chuckle to myself and say, "I'm going to find something to eat. I'll see you...whenever." He waves without looking up from the bottles of hair products he is aligning on his dresser.

Man, how the hell am I gonna make it through the year? I didn't even have friends that were similar to me in my old school, let alone some guy that's nothing like me.

Classes don't start until the next week, so there aren't that many people in the food court. I order a few slices of cheese pizza and a mountain dew, and make my way back to the room.

Alex

As I push myself up off of the floor, I find out that I do in fact have a roommate, and by the looks of it, he appears to be somewhat of an intimidating person. He is just lying on his bed, sprawling out everywhere, but the minute he looks at me, he rises up and props his elbows up on his knees, making him look even more intimidating.

"Hi, I'm, uh, Alex," I say to him, extending my hand out towards him for him to shake it. He looks at me like I'm just dicking around with him, but he eventually grabs my hand.

He replies with "Keith", and continues to sit on his bed and watch me. His gaze starts to turn into a glare, so I turn and try to heave my enormous suitcase into the room. It's hopeless; this thing is entirely too heavy. I blame my mother for making me take everything on God's green earth to college.

As I am clearly giving up on my suitcase because I don't want deal with it anymore, I hear a thud from behind me, and then Keith appears with a helping hand, grabs my suitcase, and tosses it in the room like it weighs nothing. I look him; my mouth almost hanging open. I realize that I am staring at him, snap out of it, rub my hair back, and say "Thanks," before things became awkward. He simply nods to me, and I begin the tedious work of unpacking my mom's "masterpiece" (that's what she likes to call her packing) that she has left me with. God, why did she have to pack all my hair products? I don't need three different bottles of gel or mousse; this is ridiculous!

I hear a slight chuckle from behind me, and I can tell that Keith is staring at me while I organize my things. "I'm going to find something to eat. I'll see you...whenever," he says, and I wave to him without looking up, and then the door shuts behind him. I let out a sigh a relief from the absence of Keith's presence. He is so intimidating. I feel like I won't be able to do anything without having to hear about it from him.

"Well, now that that is finished, I can relax for a little bit." I walk towards my bed and lie down with my hands to my side. I feel a slight bulge in my right pocket, and realise that I brought my old friend along for the ride. I thought I left you at home. Well, I don't think I will ever need you again, but just in case. I get off of my bed, slightly lift my mattress, and place cuchilla there. I return to my bed, lie down, and place my hands behind my head. I just don't know what to do now. I'm finally in college, away from my family and the awful people at my school, and yet I still feel like I can't be myself anymore. I was always told to do this, like this, wear this, or some other bullshit. Now that I can finally make my own decisions and not suppress who I really am, I still feel the need to do all of that other stuff. I hate not being able to express who I really am. I'm always afraid that people won't like it, or that they will look at me differently.

I sigh and roll over onto my stomach, and I prop myself up on my elbows and stare at Keith's bed. He isn't that bad looking either, but I don't know if I'm ready to let him know who I am. Hell, I highly doubt he is gay too. He doesn't seem like it; he probably had tons of girls chasing him in high school. I decide that it's time for me to stop moping around in my room. I get up off my bed, look in the mirror to make sure my hair isn't messed up. I grab my bottle of gel, squirt just a little into the palm of my hand and rub it into my hair. I can't stand when my hair is messy, it always has to look nice even if I am just staying at home. I walk to the bathroom to wash my hands, head towards the door to leave when my phone goes off.

"Hey, it's Keith. I grabbed some pizza. Wasn't sure if you were hungry, but I got you a piece. I'm heading to the room now."

Well I wasn't expecting that from him, but hey, I guess I don't have to wander around the campus by myself looking like an idiot. I walk back to my bed and sit down. Not even a minute later, the door opens and in comes Keith holding two plates on one arm like he is some badass waiter.

"I didn't know what kind of pizza you liked, so I just bought you cheese. Is that okay, dude?" He asks me as he hands me one of the paper plates on his arm. I grab the plate and reply, "Yeah, that's fine. I'm picky when it comes to pizza. Thanks." I smile and watch him jump onto his bed and set his mountain dew on the floor. He picks up a slice of his pizza and takes the biggest bite I have seen someone take. I swear, his mouth was endless. That could be put to good use. Why did I just think that?

Keith

We finish our pizza, and I'm ready for a nap when Alex says, "I was gonna go do some exploring, find my classes and stuff. You wanna come with?"

"Uh, sure. Lemme find my schedule," I reply. I dig through my meager luggage which somehow managed to make the biggest mess ever. I don't mind messes, but I can feel Alex cringing at the sight of my haphazardly packed bags. I unfold my crumpled schedule and say, "My first class is in James Hall."

"Oh hey, mine too. It looks like it's the farthest from our dorm too. Cool," Alex says. We make our way to the front of our dorm. It's a scorcher out today, probably 85 in the shade. We walk across the campus in awkward silence for a little bit, then I say, "So why did you come here for college?"

"Oh, I got a full ride," Alex answers, turning red when he realized that he sounded pretty stuck up. He quickly changed the subject. "What about you?"

"My mom went here. And it's pretty far from my high school, so that's a plus. What are you going for?"

"Well, I don't really have a major yet. I never really put much thought into it. I think I was more focused on getting into college for as little money as possible, instead of what I was gonna do once I actually got here," he chuckled. "And you?"

"Eh, not sure either. Gonna take all the freshman stuff this year and see where I am next year."

"Ah, well that's okay."

We walk in silence again, and then we make it to our first building. Our class is on the third floor.

"Damn, this is gonna be some walk at 9 in the morning every day," I say bitterly. Alex agrees, and we head to our second class, which is nearby luckily. On the way there, we walk through the line of the usual first-week-of-college booths, advertising the Spanish club and Greek Row and the football team. I guess football is a big deal here; they were first in the state three years in a row, and the quarterback was all-state, whatever that means. I never was big into sports, too much work; And who wants to run around getting hit just to get a ball to the end of a field?

Alex looks interested though, and he excuses himself to go sign up for the American Sign Language club and the Theater group. I don't sign up for anything because I'm not really into group activities, in case the average person couldn't tell that already. I wait for Alex though; wouldn't wanna leave the poor kid alone out here. Seniors attack from every angle, shoving this flier down your throat and telling you all the benefits of joining the Alaskan Enthusiasts club. I make myself discreet on a little bench under a tree. A few minutes later, a girl walks up to me. She looks like a freshman, maybe a sophomore. I regard her warily, until she sits down next to me.

"Hi," she says. I nod at her, and she continues, "I'm Clara. I'm a new freshman this year."

"Same. I'm Keith."

"Are you gonna sign up for any clubs?"

"Clubs aren't really my thing. I'm more of a loner." I say the last part with a significant look in her direction. I wish she would just get the hint. She wasn't exactly pretty, but she wasn't ugly either. I just didn't feel anything when I looked at her. Huh. That's weird. In high school, I thought girls were pretty but no one was really beautiful. I would go on dates with girls if they asked me, but nothing lasted more than a few dates. I am shaken from my reverie when the girl touches my arm and says, "Well it was nice talking to you I guess. Maybe I'll see you in class."

She walks away and waves to Alex as he comes over to me. "You know her?"

"Yeah, we went to school together," Alex answers.

We spend the rest of the day exploring. We go to the food court for the dinner, order some chicken and take it to a table. I hear a few of the juniors at the next table over talking about a party tonight at one of the fraternities. I shush Alex and listen in. "Oh yeah, man it's gonna be crazy. There's gonna be so many people, especially with all the new freshmen. And think of the chicks." They go on talking about how many girls they did over the summer, and I tune them out.

Alex gives me a look and says, "You wanna go?"

Hell yeah. "Uh, maybe. I mean, sure, why not?"