Nothing Too Personal

Nothing Too Personal (1)

Nothing Too Personal (1)

CAMERON

Nobody knew I was gay until I finally graduated high school about three to four months ago. I didn't know my revelation
would be relevant to any of my classmates and teachers, but I guess I got ahead of myself with the assumptions. I was sure
that they weren't completely
fazed that I was, well, gay.

Even before all that, I was more or less pleasantly surprised to find out that I've passed the entrance examination to
XX University which happens to be the university of my dreams.

About a week ago, I moved into my college dormitory. I thought it's going to be
neat and clean once I stepped in, but I figured it might take a while to renovate the
whole area. The paint's peeling off the walls, there's an absurd amount of dust on the floor and obviously, the bathroom
connected to my dorm room had probably been messed around with former college
students who lived in this place before me.

I sighed before unpacking clothes, and more clothes, and random cans of meatloaf
and packs of uncooked noodles which I plan to store in one of the emptied cabinets in the sort-of living room area.

I guess this is how my college life begins.

I was busy with unloading everything when I heard some footsteps coming in. I thought it was my mom since I asked her to pick up
the rest of video game CDs in my old bedroom. I was not expecting to see another college student stepping in like he already owns the place.

"You must be Cameron Ledesma," said the guy who just stepped in. "I guess we're gonna be roommates for this semester."

"Oh, I see," I mutter to myself. "I wasn't
told I was gonna share this room with someone else."

"And don't worry, I'm a very, very nice
person," the guy continued. "By the way, I'm Paul. Paul Buenavidez."

"Um, nice to meet you, I guess," I said awkwardly. "I wasn't prepared. Sorry
the room's a bit..."

"Messy? Well, I'm already used to that."

"I still have to unpack first before cleaning," I told him as he slowly gathered his things from outside towards inside of our dorm
room for now.

"Then maybe we should clean together."

"Sure. I hope you don't mind."

A few hours have passed and we manage to clean half of the our surrounding area.

Paul decided that we should
split the room. On the right side should be mine, and on the left side should be
his. Since there's only one bedframe available, Paul suggested that I could
sleep on the bed and he could sleep on
the air mattress he brought all the way
from home. So we both agreed to this.

During the cleaning up process earlier, we talked about our lives. Paul said he was born in Caloocan but was raised in Cavite. His parents are quite well-off and own a few real estate properties in Manila and Cebu.  On the other hand, I told Paul I was born in America but was raised in Tagaytay where my grandparents used to live. They both died when I turned seven years old, so my parents and I went back to the United States for a bit before moving again to the Philippines when

I was fourteen after we all found out that my mom's sister was suffering from
lupus and was in dire need of financial help. By the time we got back, her condition worsened and died after almost a month of hospitalization. Her kidneys
have failed her for the longest time, and we were sad that we couldn't save her.

After my aunt and grandparents's
death, we never left to go to the
United States again. I kept having
dreams back and forth about
all the times I spent my weekends
surfing at Californian beaches
with my friends way back when
I was in middle school.