< Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Kevin unlocked the door to his and Drew’s room, pleased to see that it was empty. He’d had a rough day and he just needed a bit of time alone to gather his thoughts. The day before had been so much fun. There was no agenda, just a lot of games and activities to introduce people both to UCLA as an institution, but also as a culture comprised with diverse people from all over the country. He and Drew had headed out together. They spent the better part of the day going from booth to booth, learning about different groups and organizations that the college had, but after lunch, they’d agreed to split up and meet for dinner. There were a few things that Kevin wanted to check out that Drew hadn’t and vice versa. As planned, they’d caught up just before dinner, met up with other people on their floor and spent the rest of the night, discussing everything they’d seen and heard that day.

But today, today had been the first day of classes and Kevin already had a hundred pages of reading to do. A hundred pages of reading from books he still hadn’t bought. Not realizing that they should have downloaded the course syllabuses from the Internet, Kevin had shown up at class totally unprepared. Of course, he hadn’t been the only person to make that mistake, as ninety percent of the class had done the same thing, Kevin felt as if he’d already gotten to a bad start and hoped that the rest of the week didn’t go as horrible as that first class.

In total, he was taking five courses. Each course had a two hour lecture, as well as a two hour workshop and in a few cases, a one hour lab. He suddenly wished for the safe cocoon of Lincoln High and Middletown, where had he still been there, he would probably be at the Shake Shack with Joey, Chris and Brian, talking about everything that had been said and done at school that day. He wouldn’t be booting up his computer, logging onto the student section of UCLA’s intranet and downloading syllabi and required reading lists.

Just as the fifth and final document finished printing, the door to their room opened and in walked Drew, looking similar to how Kevin looked less than an hour earlier. It was four o’clock, and Kevin hoped that the bookstore wouldn’t be TOO packed already.

"Did you know that we're supposed to have the books BEFORE class started?" Drew asked as he threw himself down on his bed.

"If I knew, I would have told you." Kevin growled as he stapled the five documents, ran them through the three hole punch and inserted them in the proper binders. He clicked his mouse a few times and started looking for Drew’s classes.

"Fuck."

"I know," Kevin said with a groan. He looked over at Drew who looked exhausted. "Did someone forget to tell them that it’s the first day?"

"I think so." Drew laid still for a few minutes before sitting up. "What are you doing now?"

Kevin shrugged. "I printed off my stuff and now I’m doing yours. We should get down there and buy these damn books before they sell out."

Drew grinned and jumped up. "Good plan. Let me just change." Kevin nodded and printed off everything his roommate would need. When they were finished, they grabbed a few granola bars for the long wait they knew they’d have and headed out again.

It was almost three hours later before they returned to their room, hundreds of dollars poorer and hundreds of pounds heavier. Thankfully they had arrived when they had, because as Kevin was standing in line, he’d heard through people talking that a majority of the books he was holding in his basket were sold out. That piece of information didn’t set well with the students who had waited until after dinner to do their shopping.

"You want to get something to eat?" Drew asked as he put his books in the corner to be sorted later. His stomach growled into the silent room.

Kevin nodded, slightly distracted. He wanted to check his e-mail and knew that Nick would be calling. It was just after seven now and he knew he had about an hour. "Something quick, I’m expecting a phone call."

"Oooh, the girlfriend?"

Kevin blushed. "Actually, a ..." He paused for a moment, "one of my best friends." It wasn't a total lie, Nick was one of his best friends. He was Kevin’s best friend as well as boyfriend. But Kevin skimmed over that detail. "Nick."

"Nick? He didn’t come up, did he?" Drew tried to remember the names of Kevin’s friends. There had been Joey, Chris and ...Brian. No Nick.

"No, he couldn’t. He had to stay home. But he’s calling tonight and I still have to e-mail Gretchen back too."

Drew nodded. "Yeah, I can’t stay out late either. I’ve got about two hundred pages of Bio to read for my workshop on Thursday, and I don’t even want to get started on Anatomy."

Kevin snorted, "You DON’T want to get started on anatomy?"

"Yeah, it sounds fun," Drew said with a grimace. "This isn’t high school, let me tell you."

Kevin laughed, "So true."

It was just before eight when they returned to their room. Drew had decided after ten minutes of watching TV that if he was going to get his reading done, it would have to be at the library, which was thankfully only a fifteen minute walk away. It was open until midnight every night and he told Kevin he’d be back sometime between now and then.

Kevin checked both his cell phone and their land line to find that Nick hadn’t called yet. He put on some soft music as he waited for his computer to boot up. Smiling, he read Gretchen’s response to the e-mail he’d sent her on Sunday night after the guys had left to go back to Middletown. He read her accounts of life in New York, how exciting things were and just how much work she already had.

To: Gretch retchingretchen@hotmail.com
From: Kevin Scott Richardson <kevin.richardson@ucla.com>
Subject: Nice E-mail Addy

Hey Gretch,

First off, I can’t see why you would change what was a perfectly fine e-mail address to ...what you have now. I mean, I know that you’re wanting to start new and put your best foot forward, but ‘Retchin Gretchen’? Not so sure that is the ‘best foot’ you could put forward. Although, you can tell Lindy, your roommate that it is rather clever. I can’t think of why we never thought to call you that.

Of course, it’s not like you’ve ever gotten extremely drunk and puked all over us. Multiple times I guess we should be thankful for that, huh!

I’m glad to hear that you’re having a great time in New York though. I can admit, since we’re on opposite sides of the country now and you can’t kick my ass, that I’ve been worried about you. I know you like to pretend that you’re tough and that you can handle anything, but really you are as fragile as the rest of us, even more so because you won’t let anyone see that side of you. I know just how high your parents expectations are of you, which is nothing compared to the expectations you hold for yourself. And I worried that you would forget that you’re only eighteen and this is the time that you should be enjoying yourself, not trying to take the world on by yourself.

Lindy sounds like a blast, definitely someone that will be able to even you out. I know that sometimes you need just that extra push to let loose and enjoy yourself, but at the same time, she’ll be there to stop you if you go too far. Just like I know you’ll do for her. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find some time to come up to visit you, have you take me around the Big Apple and get to meet all of these wonderful people you’ve told me about in your e-mail.

I love it here so far. I mean, school was brutal today and I’m already behind in everything because I hadn’t realized that we were supposed to download our book lists and buy them before today, but whatever. I’ll worry about it when I worry about it, and until then, I’m going to enjoy myself. Drew’s already at the library, which is good because Nick is supposed to call any minute now and I still haven’t exactly told him about Nick.

I know.

I know. You don’t have to say anything, Chris has already given me shit about it. I didn’t tell you with the last e-mail, because just as I was writing, Drew had wanted to talk so we could better get to know each other without a hundred and four people standing around. I mean, we’re roommates, we have to live with each other, so we thought it would be good to just find out everything about each other.


Which should have been when I told him about Nick. *sighs* I don’t know what to do. We were talking on Saturday at the club about this. Chris asked if he had a girlfriend back home and he said no. Then he asked if I had a girlfriend, I didn’t answer but then he rephrased the question to ask if I had someone special at home, which I do. So I said yes, but I knew he thought I meant a girlfriend and didn’t correct him. I haven’t corrected him the million and one times it’s come out and I know I should have said something on Sunday night when we had our heart to heart, but I couldn’t get it out.

I’m a coward.

I figure I’ll tell him when the time is right, but there hasn’t been a more right time than all of Sunday night and now I just feel like an asshole because I'm lying to Drew and I’m betraying Nick. This is why I need you here right now, so you can kick my ass and make me be accountable for my actions.

Drew is really awesome though. Super straight, and I think he has a thing for Jordana, who has a thing for Brian ...yes, our Brian! Brian Littrell already has a fan club here at UCLA. Well, it’s just Jordana, but damn, she’s crushing on him hard core. But yeah, so Drew likes Jordana, who likes Brian who kind of made out with her on Saturday night although he’s still with Rachael. It’s a bit of a mess, but I think that she’s emailed him (yes, I gave her his e-mail address, which probably wasn’t the right thing to do, but it’s not my problem) a few times and he’s emailed her back. Already.

And, well Joey and Celena had this connection, but he’s happy with Mandy and I think Celena’s already moved on to this guy Adam who lives down the hall. So UCLA is exactly like Lincoln High, except we just can’t leave at the end of the day.

But yeah, so I'm glad that he’s gone to the library because Nick’s going to call and I don’t want him to be able to hear our conversation, because I don’t want Nick to know I haven’t told Drew about him, and I don’t want Drew to hear me gushing to Nick about how much I miss him. Which is so damn much. I knew I would miss him, and I knew it would hurt, but I don’t think I realized how much. I’ve got this picture of him in my wallet that even when I was at home, would make my stomach flutter and I would get this giant grin on my face, but now that I’m here and he’s not, it’s a whole other story. Every time I had to take my student card out (we got those yesterday) I would see the picture and it would remind me of him and how much I just want to hold him and ... I’m sure you get the picture.

I can’t tell you how relieved I am that we can talk about this. And like I said before, if it gets to a point where you don’t want to hear any more, or you want me to just stop talking about him because you’re uncomfortable, you HAVE to tell me. Please. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do. But I do want you to know, that I appreciate our friendship, more than I think I ever have. I love that we can talk about anything, that I can tell you this and know that you understand.

I think you’d really like Jordana though. She’s awesome. Really fun, understands me without me even having to say a word and, really, she reminds me a lot of you. At first I thought she’d been flirting with me, but the second her and Brian laid eyes on each other, it was over. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t a lot of beautiful people here though. It’s amazing how adult I feel here, which is good but at the same time, I don’t know if I’m ready for it. I kept thinking all day about how I wish I was back at Lincoln. What I would be doing, where I’d be going, what my schedule would be like. Where I would run into Nick in the hall, where we’d go after school.

Kevin paused for a moment as the phone began to ring. He smiled as his pulse raced. It was Nick, it had to be.

Well, that’s it for now I guess. The phone’s ringing and it’s probably Nick. Not sure how long we’ll be on the phone, so I’ll talk to you later. You have my cell number, it hasn’t changed, and I gave you our room phone number, so give me a call if you want. Have fun and stop puking on people, I know they’re being cute and funny with the Retchin’ Gretchen nickname, but it’s kind of gross.

Really.

Love Kev

Kevin answered the phone as he finished off his e-mail. "Hello?" He grinned as Nick’s voice echoed through the line.

"How is my favourite college student in the world?" Nick had wanted to call sooner, but he’d gotten caught up after school with everyone. They’d gone to the Shake Shack for snacks, and when they were finished there, Lance had mentioned something about going to the mall for a little while. Justin was seeing Chris, so Joey had agreed to drive him over to his boyfriend's house while Nick and Lance piled into AJ’s car. The next thing they knew it was after eight. Nick scrambled to call his parents to tell them that he was on his way home. The second he darted into the house, he ran up to his parents’ bedroom and asked if he could call Kevin.

He had been forced to endure twenty minutes of small talk about his day with his mother before he was allowed to make the phone call. And now finally, he’d gotten to hear his boyfriend’s voice.

"Already forgetting me" Kevin asked with a playful pout. Nick had told him he would be calling at eight, and although it was nearly nine, Kevin wasn’t upset. He was actually glad that Nick had been late as he himself had also been running late and he’d wanted to get Gretchen’s e-mail done before he focused solely on the blonde sophomore.

Initially, Nick had thought Kevin was mad and he was about to protest that of course he wasn’t forgetting him, but he heard Kevin’s soft chuckle and relaxed. "Well you know," Nick said loftily. "I am a sophomore now, I’ve got so many people fighting for my attention. Which one are you?"

Kevin growled. His face broke out into a grin and he made himself comfortable on his bed. "I’m the one that loves you."

"Oh," Nick said, making himself comfortable as well. "That could be any one of them. They all LOVE me."

"I’m the one YOU love," Kevin tried again. He heard Nick’s sigh.

"Yeah, you are." Nick did a shimmy as he curled up on his side, phone pressed to his ear. He wanted to hear about Kevin’s first day at college, about the excitement of being on his own, but mostly about how much Kevin missed him. "So, how was today?"

Kevin groaned. "It was okay. I mean, it’s so different from high school and I knew it would be, but ..."

Nick hated to hear the sad tone in Kevin’s voice and he frowned. He wished he could take his boyfriend into his arms and hold him, be held by him. "But what?"

"But it’s just ...I don’t know. Everything is different."

"But that’s good," Nick was supportive. He knew that once Kevin got into the swing of things, that he would be okay. He was still in the adjustment phase and once that passed, Kevin wouldn’t even be thinking twice about being there.

"I know, but I miss you so much. I miss the guys, I miss everyone."

"Chris says your roommate is awesome," Nick offered. When he and Chris had spoken about their trip last night at the fireworks, Nick had pressed him for as much information as he could give him. At first Nick had been wary of this ‘Jordana’ girl that Kevin had befriended, but it took Chris promising that she was more interested in Brian than Kevin to make him not want to hurt her. "And your whole floor is pretty cool."

"They are, and I'm just complaining to complain," Kevin said with a laugh. "I’ll be fine."

"Okay," Nick wanted to be sure that Kevin was okay. "As long as you’re sure."

"I am."

Kevin went into detail about his day. His classes, the campus, just everything he could remember. He loved how Nick kept stopping him to ask questions, wanting to know as much as he possibly could. It was like a slice of home in a new environment and Kevin was relieved that Nick had called that night. The blonde was just what he needed.

"Going to any good parties?" Nick asked, genuinely curious. Despite Kevin trying to convince him that college parties weren’t anything different than high school parties, and didn’t consist of alcohol and sex, Nick still wasn’t convinced. Not totally anyways.

"Actually," Kevin said with a laugh. "Our residence is having a big back to school bash on Friday night, so that should be interesting. I kind of wish it were somewhere else though."

"Why?" Nick asked.

"Well, if it’s here, we’re never going to get any sleep. At least if it’s somewhere else, we can just leave and come back, but if we’re having the party... Plus, the clean up."

Nick laughed. He had closed his eyes so he could focus on the vision of Kevin lying on his bed on the other end of the line. "You’re gonna have an awesome time."

"I’m sure I will," Kevin agreed. Truthfully, he was excited about their party that Friday night. He too was curious about what a real college party would be like.

Nick started from the beginning, telling Kevin about Lance’s sister saying he looked ‘sick - hot’, to being embarrassed at the assembly, to everyone’s schedules including who had classes with whom. Kevin could visualize them all in the gymnasium, doing their seat shimmies and high fiving each other, all sitting in the sophomore quad eating lunch and finally at the Shake Shack, gossiping over baskets of fries, onion rings and chicken fingers. It would have been a relaxed day of catching up with friends they hadn’t seen all summer, and excitement of a new school year ahead of them.

There was going to be a dance on Friday night, following the first big football game of the year. Kevin couldn’t help but feel a little sad about that. He had wanted to come home and see the first game, but found out that day when he’d gone to check his mail that their first practice was on Friday afternoon. Kevin had assumed that they would wait until the next week to start football practice, but apparently not. There was an envelope from the Athletic Committee, stating that his presence was required at a two o’clock practice. Kevin’s stomach fell and he was glad he hadn’t hinted to Nick that he might be coming home. He knew Nick would have surely been disappointed if he’d have known. Kevin surely was.

"Oh," Nick said grinning. "Guess what else?"

Kevin couldn’t even begin to guess. He laughed until finally he just told Nick to tell him.

"J and I are taking Driver’s Ed." Nick gave an excited squeal. "We saw the posters up today and at the Shack this afternoon, we talked about it. Everyone was going to take it at the same time, but Lance and the girls don’t turn sixteen until way later than us. So J and I are taking the fall course. It’s a twelve week course, so by the time we’re done, we’ll be able to get our licenses Isn’t that the most exciting thing ever?"

Kevin couldn’t help but chuckle at Nick’s excitement. "It so is."

"Yeah, I asked mom tonight and Justin’s gonna ask Lynne. It starts in the beginning of October, but we have to pay the money and sign the forms by next week. So it will run until the end of December, then we have a month before we can go get our licenses We’re so gonna go on J’s birthday, because we’ll both be sixteen at that time and get our licenses together."

"That’s so awesome," Kevin said with genuine enthusiasm. He could remember how excited he was when he’d gone with Chris to get their licenses two years earlier. It was the first step to freedom.

"I’ll have to drive you around when I get it," Nick said proudly. "I’m gonna be the best driver ever. Then I’m gonna get a car and I’ll come and visit you all the time." Nick continued chattering until finally a thought dawned on him. "When are you coming home next? I mean, I know you just got there, but do you know when you’ll be able to visit?"

Kevin sighed as he checked his calendar. He wanted to come up that weekend, but couldn’t, and now had to wait to see his football schedule before he could make any guesses. He’d already marked off when he had assignments due and tests, and from the looks of things, he was pretty busy until well into next year. Finally he spoke. "I’m not sure. I’m hoping to come up for the last weekend in September and the first in October. You know, like, September 30th. I’ll come home on that day and just drive back up on the night of the second."

Nick jumped off of his bed and checked his calendar, grinning. "That’s the weekend before your birthday."

Kevin gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, you’re right." He hadn’t even been thinking about that, just about seeing Nick and coming home for a few days.

"Won’t you want to party with your college friends for your birthday?"

Kevin thought about it for a moment, finally answering. "No, I’d rather spend it with you."

Kevin couldn’t see the giant grin that resulted. He continued talking.

"Plus, even if I wanted to go out, I don’t turn eighteen until the Monday, so we’ll probably just go out that next weekend. But still, I’d rather come home and see you. I can go out with them any time."

Nick sighed and did a little shimmy as he wrote a note on his calendar about Kevin coming home. He went over to his computer and booted it up, wanting to e-mail Justin, Lance and Christina immediately. "Okay, I’ve got it in my calendar."

"It’s just a tentative date," Kevin warned. He didn’t want to get Nick’s hopes up too much, although he knew it was too late. It was also too late for him, as now that he heard the excitement in Nick’s voice, there would be nothing to keep him from coming home. There were odd sounds coming from the background on Nick’s end. "What are you doing babe?" Kevin asked, trying to decipher what those sounds were.

"Just booting up my computer," Nick said. "But keep talking, I’m listening."

Kevin sat up and looked at his own computer which was still on. "You're going online?"

"Just setting it up for when I’m done on the phone," Nick said quickly. He didn’t want Kevin to think that he was bored with the conversation. "I’m still listening."

Kevin clicked the icon for his Yahoo Messenger and waited until he saw Nick’s screen name pop up as being online. Almost instantly, an "away" message accompanied it. "talking to Kevin, totally busy."

Kevin grinned as he clicked on the illuminated gooberpatrol02. He knew that Justin was gooberpatrol01 and Lance was gooberpatrol03. They’d come up with the matching screen names one night at one of their sleepovers and had been harassed incessantly by Nick’s sisters.

"What are YOU doing now?" Nick said as he heard the familiar clicking of keyboard keys in the background.

"You’ll see," Kevin said seconds before he activated his web cam. He sent Nick an invitation to view his web cam and smiled as he heard an unmistakable ‘ding’ followed by a gasp on Nick’s end.

Seconds later, Nick accepted and Kevin himself had an invitation to view gooberpatrol02’s web cam. As he hit ‘accept’ a box loaded onto the screen and there was Nick’s grinning face, the blonde waving at him.

"I see you,’ Nick said into the phone. It was surreal to hear Nick’s voice on the phone and see him on the computer screen. Kevin braced himself for the stomach rolls and butterflies he knew would result.

Nick reached forward and touched his computer screen, tracing the contours of Kevin’s face. It had only been a few days, five to be exact, since he’d seen Kevin in person but it had felt like a lifetime.

"I see you too," Kevin's voice was thick with emotion and Nick couldn’t hold back the sigh that resulted. Nick watched as Kevin repeated his action, pressing his hand against the computer screen. They shared a smile before they both settled back, watching the other.

"This is so cool." Nick finally said after a few minutes of just staring at Kevin and listening to him breathing. He heard Kevin agree. "So, what do you want for your birthday?" Nick asked. He cocked his head to the side, wondering what on earth he was going to get for his boyfriend’s eighteenth birthday. It would be upon them before they knew it and Nick wanted to be prepared. Especially if Kevin was going to come home for that weekend. He saw Kevin shake his head through the web cam and frowned.

"I don’t want anything," Kevin protested He looked around his room and shrugged.

"You must want SOMETHING," Nick argued. "Even if it’s something lame."

"If I did want something," Kevin said with a laugh, ‘it wouldn’t be lame."

Nick laughed and stuck out his tongue causing Kevin to do the same thing. It wasn’t until Nick saw Kevin mimic his actions that he remembered that Kevin could see him as well. He blushed and rolled his eyes. "Seriously though, there must be something you want." When Kevin shook his head Nick nodded. "Okay, think about it. When you have an idea, you let me know."

"Fair enough," Kevin agreed.

"So," Nick asked looking right at the screen. "Is your roommate around?" Nick was curious to meet Drew after everything Chris had said about him. Actually, he was curious to meet and see all of Kevin’s new friends, but he couldn’t deny that Jordana was probably on the top of that list. It didn’t matter that Chris insisted she liked Brian, Nick still wanted to see for himself how beautiful she was.

Kevin’s stomach fluttered nervously and he looked around the room. "Nah, Drew went to the library to study. Too distracting here." He waited a moment to see what Nick would say, but the blonde simply frowned and gave a shrug.

"Oh, maybe next time." Nick replied. He looked at the clock and saw with a surprise that it was nearly eleven. "Wow, it’s pretty late."

Kevin looked at his own clock, also surprised at how fast two hours had passed. It felt as if they’d only been on the phone for maybe a half an hour. He also knew that Nick was going to have to go soon, and if Kevin knew what was good for him, he’d do the same. He wanted to get some reading done for the next day, not that it mattered much right now. As long as he had Nick on the line, he’d be doing nothing but talking to him and watching him on the screen.

Kevin both heard the knock through the phone and watched as Nick turned around to face his bedroom door.

"Yeah?" Nick called to the person knocking at the door. He knew by the soft knock that it was his mother, probably coming to tell him that his time was up and he should be getting to bed. Just as he suspected, his mother’s head popped in the door.

"Nickolas? Are you still on the phone with Kevin?"

"Yeah, come on in." Nick grinned at his mother who approached his computer.

"I thought you were on the phone?" Jane asked as she saw the computer up and running. She was startled as she saw Kevin smiling at her. He waved and she gave an awkward wave back.

"Kevin says hi," Nick said with a snort. The expression on his mother’s face was enough to make him burst into laughter. Jane watched as Kevin laughed as well.

"I’m sure that she says hi back," Nick relayed to Kevin.

"Is he there? Right now?" Jane asked as she leaned in closer to look at the screen. She watched as Kevin looked down and wrote something on a piece of paper. Seconds later, he held the paper up to the camera and Jane saw "Hi Mrs. Carter" in block letters. "Oh, goodness." Jane exclaimed with a laugh.

"It’s a web cam, Mom," Nick said with a roll of his eyes. "He’s got his web cam on, and I’ve got mine on. So we’re talking on the phone, but we can see each other." Both Nick and Kevin watched as Jane Carter gave a shake of her head and a hearty laugh.

"Well hello Kevin," Jane said towards the computer. Kevin could hear her through the line and gave a laugh. "I expect you’ve had a very busy first few days?"

Kevin nodded. "He said he has," Nick relayed. "Thank you for asking."

Jane looked at Nick and then back at Kevin. "Very well then." She pressed a kiss to her son’s forehead, smoothing away the hair. "It was nice ..seeing and talking to you Kevin," Jane said towards the screen. She gave a wave and watched Kevin speak into the phone as he waved as well.

"He says you too and good night."

Once more, Jane was thoroughly impressed by Kevin’s polite manners. She focused her attention on her son and gave him a sweet smile. "And you, young man. Bed soon. You can have another fifteen minutes and then lights out. You’ve had a big day and it’s just the beginning."

"Moooom," Nick whined. Laughter echoed in Nick’s ears as both Kevin and his mother were chuckling.

"Don’t mom me Nickolas. Fifteen minutes. And you can thank your father in the morning for having a long distance phone plan. I shudder to think how much this would be costing us if we didn’t." Jane gave both Nick and Kevin a wink to let them know she was teasing.

"Thanks, Mom," Nick said with a grin. "I love you."

"I love you too, Nick."

Kevin watched as Nick’s bedroom door closed and they were alone again. "Your mom is awesome," he said softly, meaning it. He’d often been amazed at Nick’s parents, how warm and welcoming they had been to him, not to mention how they were with their children. Never in his life had his parents ever treated him like Nick’s parents treated their children, it was something that Kevin secretly longed for.

"She’s such a dork though," Nick said affectionately. "Did you see her face when she saw the web cam?" They both burst into laughter at the memory of Jane Carter’s face when she realized Kevin could see her.

"Yeah, but it’s fun."

Now that they were on a time restriction, Kevin felt a weight in his chest. He didn’t want to say good night to Nick, but knew he had to. His throat constricted and he tried to breathe deeply.

"I love you Nick," he finally said, voice soft.

"I love you too."

"I’ll call you on Saturday," Kevin promised. They hadn’t picked definite days of the week that they would call, like every Tuesday and Saturday, but Kevin knew that the next time he’d probably be free would be that day. Just with everything going on, he would be very busy.

"Okay, I’ll e-mail you before then though," Nick said. He drew a heart on Saturday and wrote a K in the centre.

"Plus I might see you online if I’m doing homework or something," Kevin agreed.

"Awesome."

There was dead air between them, neither wanting to say good bye. Finally, it was Kevin who stepped forward. "So, I’ll talk to you later. You’ve got to go to bed and I need to do a ton of reading."

"Okay," Nick whispered. "I love you."

"I love you more," Kevin argued.

"Take care," Nick said. "Have fun tomorrow."

"You too Nicky." They paused and Kevin’s lips curled into a smile. "I’ll hang up first."

"Okay." Nick was relieved, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it first. He watched on the screen as Kevin looked at the handset in his hand and then directly at Nick. Butterflies flooded his stomach and Nick grinned at the pained expression on Kevin’s face.

"I love you," Kevin repeated. He waited until he heard Nick repeat the sentiment. Kevin kissed the tips of his fingers and pressed them to the computer screen, watching as Nick did the same. "Good night Nicky."

"Night Kevin." Nick held his breath and saw Kevin disconnect the call. He grinned at the way Kevin stayed in his spot, not moving.

"Nickolas, bed!" Jane Carter’s voice carried through his door.

"I’m off the phone, Mom," Nick called back.

Kevin watched with a laugh as Nick silently yelled something at his door, probably that he was off of the phone and going to bed. He then saw Nick turn back around, lean closer to the screen and roll his eyes while indicating that whoever was yelling at him was crazy. Kevin laughed harder, which caused Nick to start to laugh.

The sound of an incoming instant message caught Kevin’s attention.

Gooberpatrol02: I love YOU more. Now go study!
Quarterbackgod: I love YOU more goober, I’m going.
Gooberpatrol02: Nuh-huh. I love you more. So go then!

"NICKOLAS, your light is still on. BED!"

"I’M GOING!"

Gooberpatrol02: Gotta get to bed, mom’s having a bird. Love you more!

Quarterbackgod: Sweet dreams. Love you more.

Gooberpatrol02: You’re a goober infinity, but I love you more. Night

User Gooberpatrol02 has logged off.

Kevin sat and watched Nick get the last word, a giant grin on his face. He clicked off of all open windows on his computer and started to shut down, picturing Nick do the same on his end. Reading for tomorrow’s classes was the last thing Kevin wanted to do, but now that he’d spoken to Nick, it didn’t seem half as bad. He had a tentative date to go home, had gotten to see and hear from Nick and had a whole week ahead of him of new classes and possibilities. For the first time since he’d arrived on campus, Kevin finally felt comfortable in his skin, confident that he’d done the right thing.

End Chapter 13


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