The Boy Who Wore Boat Shoes

03⎜The Boyfriend

03⎜The Boyfriend

The light hum of a lawnmower could be heard in the distance, most likely belonging to the landscapers, in addition to the buzz of chattering students walking about. Due to my eyes being shut, the only thing visible to me was pure light that shown through my sunglasses and past my closed eyelids. Warmth consumed my half uncovered body, and it felt as though the sun was devouring every inch of me.

           I was lying on top of a navy and white striped beach towel, though not in the sand, but vibrantly green grass of a quad belonging to the university that I now attended. Classes had yet to start and over the past four days, I had seen people sunbathe, so assumed that it was perfectly normal.

           The first few days that I had been at Stanford were mainly spent grasping my bearings of the location and school itself. I had discovered that there were multiple cafeterias on campus, in addition to Starbucks scattered practically everywhere—not that I was coffee dependent, myself. It was a nice site and everything one could possibly need ranging from an Apple Store to a fried chicken restaurant was in the near vicinity.

           Personally, I had only really ventured to a convenience store, super market, and specialized hair salon in order to obtain this European shampoo that I had acquired a slight obsession of, and obviously, forgot to bring. Eventually I found the shampoo, so my hair was feeling good about that. The one thing that could’ve probably made the whole “College Experience” slightly more enjoyable for me would’ve been a car. I really missed mine back home, and never truly realized what a luxury having immediate access to a vehicle was.

           In the time that I wasn’t hunting down overpriced shampoos to fuel my fixation, I was sleeping, roaming around the campus, or working out. I had discovered on one of the first days that there was a gym belonging to the institution open to students, and instantly figured out that it was fairly close to my dorm. Because I was a workout “fanatic,” my mornings and afternoons had all been spent lifting weights in the monotonous way with which I was familiar. I liked routine and working out brought habit and kept me on a good track.

           Seth and I had interacted a bit, but for the most part he didn’t spend his free time in the dorm room sleeping or playing video games like expected, but rather out. He would always call something over his shoulder like, “See ya later—going to Noa’s!” or “Be back in few!” just as he was exiting the room and I was dully doing nothing. He seemed to know more people than I, but that was to be expected, for he was from the state and just seemed like the type of person who knew a lot of other people. Also, he had been much more social in comparison to me.

           I had kept my distance from most, just taking my time to absorb everything. Occasionally, someone would introduce himself or herself to me, but I was never the initiator. The most communication I had done was really with Seth or the French hair stylist I had met at the salon for hipsters from whom I bought my overrated shampoo. I hadn’t exactly been utilizing my wonderful social skills to the best of my abilities, as I knew that I could.

           Currently, I had absolutely no obligations, plans, or anything else to do, so I was taking advantage of the wonderful sun and catching up on the tanning that I had been deprived of over the summer. Though I already had a naturally tanned complexion, there was never a point at which someone could become “too tan.” It just wasn’t possible. I liked being tan, but I wasn’t the type to succumb to a tanning bed or a spray tan. The sensation of lying out in the sun doing nothing was just fine by me, and it was also really relaxing and nice.

           And so, I had gone outside at about noon, parked myself in a secluded area of the courtyard, and was now in the midst of tanning. I wasn’t exactly what most would call “self conscious,” and was actually pretty confident about the way my body looked, so had taken my shirt off, really just wanting an equally as bronzed chest as arms, legs, and face. At the beginning, I had started out on my stomach so that my back could roast in the UV rays, and then progressed to turn over so that my relatively toned torso and other side could soak in the sun.