Suite Mates (bxb)

Chapter 13

Derek's POV

"I know you put James up to something last time we hung out," I said to Ryan. "He was asking me about that honest communication thing you brought up earlier."

Ryan held up one hand and then pointed his fork at me. The piece of lettuce that was on it fell off and fluttered to the table. "Whoa whoa whoa, big guy. Hold up. I didn't say those big scary words, you did!"

"Okay, whatever. You had him ask me about my emotions."

Ryan rolled his eyes and stabbed his fork back into his salad. "Of course I did, silly! You need to let out some of those pent up emotions you have in there, you know? And you're really close with James now, right?"

"Oh, we're very close."

"Good!" He dropped his fork so he could give me one solid clap of approval. "I knew you guys would hit it off. And since you're both macho men, you can tell him stuff you wouldn't tell me. I know you think I'm kind of ditzy and spacey, so you might not want to lean on me for advice or anything. And that's fine! James is levelheaded."

I definitely didn't think Ryan was ditzy. If anything, the work he did to set me up with his suite mate proves that he's intelligent. Especially if he was so thoughtful as to realize that I needed someone levelheaded like James as my significant other.

"You're not stupid, Ryan," I scolded, making him preen and wave me off. "Ha, see you know it. You're the most confident person I know, don't act like you aren't."

"Fine, maybe I'm pretty sure of myself," Ryan giggled. He took one last bite of his salad and stood up. "Want to come back to my room? Maybe you'll get to see Jamesypoo."

I'd take any chance to see Jamesypoo. Ever since our last hook up, his texts had been more distant than ever. I wanted to see him again soon, but this time it wouldn't be just sex. I was going to make it romantic. Maybe some music and candles, maybe some roses.

"Sure," I said. "I have a couple hours before my next class."

We arrived back at Ryan's room, which was empty as usual. It was so odd that his roommate was never around. I'd only ever heard about Jeremy, never seen him. Ryan didn't talk about him either. I did my usual thing, which was set all my stuff on Jeremy's side of the room and take over. He wasn't present to defend his bed, so it was my bed now.

Ryan opened the door to the bathroom wide. The door on the other side, which led to James' room, was firmly closed shut.

"Maybe we'll see your bestie," Ryan teased with an eyebrow wiggle. I wasn't sure why Ryan kept referring to James as my best friend. Future husband was a much more accurate term.

As if he was summoned, Ryan and I both perked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening. We remained excited, with bated breath, and then Noah's face poked through the doorway.

"Hey, pipsqueak," he drawled. "Stop leaving this door wide open, I'm trying to take a piss here." And then he was gone, with the door slamming after him. I, for one, was very disappointed that it was the asshole roommate.

Ryan wasn't. In fact, he was giving me an evil little smile.

"You know what would really bother him?" Ryan asked, looking downright giddy. "If we pretended we were having sex."

"No."

"Well, I think that it would be hilarious." With glee, Ryan started to bounce on the bed enough to make it squeak repetitively. "Oh, Derek! Mm!"

I buried my face in my hands. "Ryan, are you kidding me? That doesn't even sound realistic. Can you please stop being weird?"

"It's funny," Ryan whispered, not stopping his bouncing. "Derek, please! Harder!" He even made his voice a couple octaves higher to ham up his performance. There was a reason this kid was a theatre major.

Reluctantly, I let out a couple low moans. Ryan's ridiculous performance kept up for a couple more seconds, but then a loud knock came on the door.

"Shut the fuck up!" Noah screamed. "I'm trying to piss here! Goddamn, you're such a fucking slut." There were a couple less audible grumbled that followed, and then the distinct slam of their bathroom door.

Ryan giggled and gave me a gleeful look. "That went exactly as planned."

At least Ryan disliked Noah just as much as I did.