Serial Dating

Not Book Stupid, Street Stupid

Meanwhile, just as Milo shut the hallway door, he turned to classmate who he had spent the entire semester working with. Felix, his presentation partner who had done, quite literally, all of the work on their final project. Milo had been eternally grateful and also knew full well that he was an asshole for putting that on Felix. 4000 level Spanish wasn't... exactly Milo's strong suit.

In fact, he wasn't really sure why he decided to take his professor up on transferring from the introductory course. He could get by on trips back to Mexico, and he may have been born there, but he wasn't raised there, by any means.

Felix, on the other hand, was fluent, handsome, and (unfortunately) crushing on Milo. He was Milo's chance at passing Spanish, so of course Milo had schmoozed him up a bit, bought him a couple coffees on their study dates, and maybe made out with him in the back of the lecture hall once, but they weren't in view of the security cameras so there was no evidence of that day ever happening.

Milo rubbed a hand over his mouth where Felix had kissed him. That motion was enough to slump Felix's shoulders.

"You know I like you," Milo whispered, quieter now, "and I really appreciate everything. I do. But I told you—I'm seeing someone else right now."

"That hasn't stopped you before—"

"That's because I had a problem before," Milo insisted. "I'm not going to do that to him."

"Him," Felix repeated, like this situation would have been better to cope with had Milo been talking about a girl. Felix looked away with a scoff and said, "Whatever. Hope the grade was worth it, then."

"I don't want us to be on bad terms, Felix," Milo insisted. "Not everything we do has to be a date. I still like you—"

"But not the way I like you," Felix said.

"Is there something wrong with being friends with a guy? Why can't we just be friends?" Milo demanded. He could see now why Lee was so repulsed by the idea of looking at everyone like a potential love interest in a goddamn romcom. Friends were just as meaningful, weren't they? And Milo realized now that he wanted that—he wanted that with every date he went on.

It just took Lee to realize it.

Milo tensed, his heart stuttering in his chest at the disgusted way Felix looked at him. "I can't be friends with you. Even if you can't respect me, respect that. Bye, Milo."

With that, Felix shoved past him and swung open the bedroom door.

Milo stared after Felix before at last putting a hand to his hair and thinking, Yeah, I deserved that. He perched his hands on his hips and sighed. In that same pose, he tipped back and collapsed onto Roland's comforter. He stared at the ceiling as the guilt from using Felix all semester ate him away into a husk that would surely be filled when Lee finished up at the gym. Their usual ab schedule pushed Lee's arrival time closer to eight, especially if Lee decided to shower afterwards. But, since he wouldn't have Milo as a distraction, perhaps Lee would arrive sooner than expected.

Milo perked up. He pushed up to his elbows and looked around the room for something to do in the meantime.

He started watching Netflix for a while, but thinking about Lee made him too giddy to function. It was a quarter to eight, which meant that Lee was probably leaving the gym now. He checked his phone for any notifications, but when it came up empty, he went ahead and snapped Lee the following message: "Hurry up I miss you :D" and laid it over a photo of his face.

He checked periodically for a reply as the clock ticked past eight and Lee didn't so much as open Milo's snap. Milo paused the show and got up, swinging his legs off of the bed and heading for the door.