Breathing Room (Waiting Room #2)

Chapter 10: Hookups (Part 1)

Jacky

Returning to campus felt just as surreal as going home had felt: now college felt more familiar, and more of a place he belonged than home did. He gave his mother a tight hug when she dropped him off and accepted the Tupperware containers of leftovers she gave him, and then he was face to face with Braedyn.

"Hey," Jacky said.

"How was your weekend?" Braedyn lifted his arm to show a grocery bag full of his own Tupperware. "You too?"

Jacky shrugged with a smile. "Better than cafeteria food."

Braedyn opened the door, and they walked into the dorm together. "It was so weird being back home. Everything was exactly the same. My friends were exactly the same..."

"And you felt different?" Jacky finished.

"Yeah."

Jacky mulled that over as they got into the elevator and stood side by side, not looking at each other. He was reminded of all the times he and Ryan had taken the elevator to their therapists' offices. That one time they'd made out in the elevator.

He shook that thought out of his head. He'd been thinking about Ryan way too much over the weekend. It was time he really tried to move on.

Turning to Braedyn, he said, "What are you up to tonight?"

Ryan

"You want pizza?" Sam asked late afternoon on Monday.

Ryan looked up from his phone. "Yeah, sure." He reached for his wallet.

"I'm buying," Sam said. "To make up for my dad being a massive dick."

She turned to leave, prompting Ryan to launch out of bed and follow her. "Hey, that's not your fault. I can help pay."

Before they got to the kitchen, Sam spun and faced him. "Look, my parents gave me a bunch of money. It's my reward for dealing with them. And you had to deal with them too, which means you get free pizza, okay?"

"But why do you have to deal with them? They shouldn't treat you like that."

Sam's face hardened. "Do you want free pizza or not?"

What Ryan wanted was for Sam not to be angry with him, so he held up his hands and then slowly put his wallet away. "Yeah, okay. Sorry."

This time, he didn't follow Sam. He stood at the end of the hallway and watched as she grabbed her phone and stepped out into the hallway to call Nero's. Between Pete and Harper on the couch playing some video game that involved a lot of shooting, and Jordan blasting a Billie Eilish song in the kitchen while she emptied the dishwasher, the apartment was loud.

Ryan's phone buzzed in his hand, and his breath caught. But when he checked the notification, he saw a text from Charlie: What are you up to tonight?

Not much, Ryan texted back. Want to come over? Sam's buying pizza

I'm already there

Ryan thought Charlie was joking until they arrived two minutes later, bounding into the apartment behind Sam. Ryan had gotten a soda from the fridge and was sitting at the kitchen island with the stool turned to watch the game in progress.

Charlie walked around behind the couch and approached Ryan with a shy smile. "Hi," they said. Their face was flushed from the autumn air and the hopeful look on their face did something to Ryan's insides.

Ryan stood up and wrapped Charlie in a big hug. "Hi," he said.

Soon after, it was a party. It happened slowly, with Van and Zac coming over, then Jordan's friend Tatum showed up with a box of wine. The pizza arrived, after which Pete peeled himself off the couch and spent an hour in the bathroom, apparently to look good for his girlfriend Christina, who arrived shortly thereafter. With Charlie at his side, Ryan didn't have to worry about Van coming onto him.

The next thing he knew it was dark outside and someone ordered Chinese and someone else had lit a joint near the window, and he and Charlie were curled up in one armchair together.

"I guess you got all your studying done," Charlie said, poking Ryan's side. "You seem really relaxed."

Ryan was on his fourth beer and everything was feeling fuzzy and warm. "Yeah. I had a lot of time alone."

"You could have called me."

When Ryan met Charlie's gaze, Charlie's eyes were shining. Guilt gripped Ryan's chest and he forced himself to breathe. He had been so caught up in whether or not he should try to move on from Jacky that he hadn't truly considered how Charlie would feel if Ryan didn't call.

"Sorry. I mean, I knew you were around, I just... I don't get a lot of solo time around here. I think I really needed it."

Charlie swallowed and nodded. "I get that. I'm a bit of an introvert, too."

Ryan had never really thought of himself as an introvert, but decided not to say anything. Everyone needed time alone to process things, didn't they? Ryan sighed and squeezed his arms around Charlie's waist. He had missed being close to someone, holding someone in his arms. Only it was strange for that someone to not be Jacky.

He liked Charlie. This feels good, he told himself.

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Okay, how do you think each of these hookups is going to go down?