"I need space." Those were the words Jacky said to Ryan the night before they both left for separate colleges. Now, each of them will try to learn who they are without the other. Will their paths lead them back together?
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Ryan
On Tuesday night Ryan arrived back at the apartment to find Charlie sitting on the kitchen counter with a notebook and pen in hand. "Monster energy drinks?" they asked Harper, who was surrounded by grocery bags.
"Check," said Harper.
"Candy?"
"Check."
"Both sour candies AND chocolate?" Charlie verified.
"Sour patch kids, sour gummy worms, M&Ms, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups," Harper said, pulling out each kind of candy and making a pile.
Ryan set his grocery bags down on the counter alongside the smorgasbord of caffeine and sugar. "I got ground coffee from Starbucks." He set a container down beside Charlie. "And that flavored creamer you like."
Charlie smiled at him so shyly and sweetly that Ryan's heart twisted. It suddenly reminded him of the day he had first said to Jacky I like you – a smile from someone who had almost forgotten how. Stop thinking about Jacky, he scolded himself.
Now that he'd made the connection, he couldn't stop thinking about Jacky every time he looked at Charlie. He liked Charlie, he really did. He shrugged his shoulders, like he could shrug Jacky out of his head. "And I got granola bars, for energy," Ryan continued.
"Health food," Harper muttered.
Sam came out of her room with her phone and phone charger in hand. "I made three different study playlists. One for focus, and one that's more upbeat for that four a.m. slump, and another that's all instrument movie soundtracks—"
"No one wants to listen to the Interstellar soundtrack," Harper interrupted.
"Hans Zimmer is a genius," Sam snapped back.
"What about John Carpenter, huh? Or Jerry Goldsmith?"
Ryan had no idea who any of these people were, so he busied himself with getting a pot of coffee started.
"We are not listening to horror movie soundtracks all night," Sam said. "This is why I was chosen as DJ and you were chosen to get snacks."
It was a good thing Ryan had his own noise-cancelling headphones, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to focus on writing the ten-page essay for English 101 that was due tomorrow. He'd spent so much time focusing on keeping up in his Organic Chemistry and Physics classes that the due date for the paper had crept up on him. Luckily – or maybe not – he wasn't the only one with an impending deadline, and the roommates had quickly organized an all-nighter party.
"I've got the alarms set for breaks at 11, 2, and 5," Jordan said. "Fifteen minutes each. The nerf guns are locked and loaded."
"Nerf guns?" Ryan asked.
Sam demonstrated a bob and weave. "You've gotta get up and move to keep yourself alert. It's just for during breaks. The rest of the time, nose to the grindstone."
