“Journalism,” I say, before needing to clear my throat. Why am I so nervous? “There’s a new lecturer here, and my teacher back at TU thought I’d learn a lot from him.”
“Fascinating,” Nathan says, “is that the line of work you want to go into?”
“Yes, I think so, I find it interesting. What about you?” I ask Stephen.
He gestures to the sports stuff around the room and chuckles. “Well, majoring in Exercise Physiology…” I want to kick myself, of course he’s majoring in something sports related, why did I even ask? “…but I’m minoring in Business Management, you know, it’s a good idea to have a fallback plan when going pro is never guaranteed.”
“Smart,” I say, which is the opposite to how I’m probably coming across right now, I definitely don’t sound smart.
“Right,” Vanessa says, “we’d best get going and let you get settled so you can rest after training.”
“Okay, Mom,” Stephen says, pulling her into a hug. “Thanks for taking me and dropping me off.”
“Anything for you,” she says.
“See ya, Dad.” Stephen turns to Nathan who pulls him into a big hug.
“See you in a couple of weeks,” he says.
“It was lovely to meet you, Donovan,” Vanessa says with a smile.
“You too… uh… Vanessa,” I say, nervous about calling her by her first name.
“Yes, hopefully we’ll see you in a couple of weeks too,” Nathan says, shaking my hand again.
“Hopefully,” I say, before they both make their way out of the door, leaving me alone with Stephen.
He takes off his varsity jacket, leaving him in the white T-shirt, his tan skin looking incredible next to it. His arms are muscled, and I find myself staring at his biceps… oh no… this is not good… those giant rainbow floodgates I joked with Beth about have opened. I cannot be this attracted to my roommate, the straight football jock…
Stephen
When he opened the door, I knew I was done for, he’s so fucking cute. He’s shorter than me, probably about five foot seven, or eight, and he’s smaller too, his T-shirt and jeans showing off his slim build. His dark hair has a curl to it that frames his face, and he has gorgeous deep brown eyes and light brown skin. I’d assumed that at least one of his parents must be Hispanic and his last name confirmed that.
It took everything in me to keep my cool, especially when he just stared at me for what seemed like forever, and hisnerves, fuck, his nerves made him even cuter. When he was talking about how tigers have nothing to do with hockey, I wanted to pull him into a hug and tell him everything would be okay.
No, this is dangerous. I can’t think like this, I cannot go there with my roommate, I can’t go there at all… even if he is staring at me like I’m some kind of model while I’m taking off my jacket.
“Your parents seem nice,” he says.
“Yeah, they’re great.”
“I can’t believe your mom offered to drive me back to Tynerston, she doesn’t even know me.”
He chuckles nervously, his hands fidgeting. Fuck, it’s wrong how much I’m enjoying that I make him this nervous. I can only imagine how he’d react if I really turned on the charm. I never usually flirt with people, but I make a show of moving my gear from the floor to my bed, letting my biceps flex a little more than I need to. He practically chokes before turning around to mess with the pile of books on his bed.
Okay, that was mean, I shouldn’t have done that. I should be trying to put him at ease.
“So, tell me about yourself, Donovan Gálvez. Like your name, interesting combination.”
“Oh, yeah,” he chuckles, “my mom is Mexican and it’s her family name, I took it after they got divorced, but my dad chose my first name, and he’s Irish American so… My mom named my older brother, Ángel, although he goes by Diablo. What about you? I’m assuming you’ve got your mom’s last name too?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s obvious considering my dad’s white. When they got married, she kept her last name and then gave it to me. They both wanted me to be proud of my Korean heritage.”
“That’s really cool,” he says, “my father’s an asshole, he’d have never done something like that. The closest he got to embracing my mom’s heritage was forming a biker club and agreeing to it having a Spanish name.”
“A biker father, really?” I ask, surprised for sure, considering how soft spoken and shy he seems. “I bet that comes with some stories!”
“Yeah, my brother’s a member too; I spend a lot of time with the club back home.”
