golden - part 1
"mum, i swear i'll be fine."
"i know you will." i wiped her tears clean, confusedly catching them in her freckles "you're my boy."
"why are you crying then?"
"can't a mother miss her own son? christ sake, you're leaving for college."
"it's college, mum, not war." i accidentally let an unthoughtful sentence slip my lips "i'm sorry." i stammer.
"it's alright. he's watching over and he's watching proudly." she hugs me and for a split second, when she's not looking, i shed a tear. mum smells like cherries, odd for the late-summer but a reminiscence of my home.
"okay, i have to go mum, seriously this time."
"i know, i know..." she slicks my hair and gives me a last hug and kiss "get in there and make me proud, my boy."
as i dragged the suitcase inside and in a blur of moments, as if reality was liquified and stirred for just a little while, my introduction to school was lost in time and all my mind could wander around was my brother and i as little kids, the play-fighting, hide and seek and games of tag, just about anything good and warm from my childhood, really. the sweet springs and spacious summers were what i missed the most about him. in a split second though, the campus tour was over and done with and my first day of college had had a more depressing start than what i was expecting.
i walked up to the registration table, a blond, very attractive, serious guy looks up to me. his name tag read ben.
"alright mate, name and semester?"
"thomas blake, first."
"freshman..." he did an american accent, looking through papers "well, good luck with film school, tom, see you in the oscars, yeah?" he winked and my body shriveled out of awkwardness, i opened an inexpressive smile "here's your key, your dorm is number 1917, good luck with the roommate and... welcome to uni." i grinned honestly this time taking the key and getting lost on my way to the dorms.
1917. 1st campus, 9th building, 17th room. someone else had debuted it first because the door was open and there was a suitcase in the far corner, not opened yet, and no sine of its owner either. i put down my own and sat on the bed, looking at what would be the next three years of my life, with an early stranger nowhere to be found. the smell of cherries was long gone now, with my mum somewhere on the road back to essex and the room's only scent was dust. i took it upon myself to open up windows, and when i turned around, a bloke a little taller than me was standing on the door and a thin girl with long brown hair had her arms wrapped around his neck. they kissed goodbye and my roommate came in quietly, almost nervous, stiff posture by the door waiting for me to say something.
"hi." i smiled.
"hi."
silence.
"william schofield." he offered me a handshake.
"thomas blake. do you always introduce yourself by both your names?" i took it.
"no, not always." he started shaking my hand.
"it's a fancy name, i get why you would."
"you can call me will if you want."
"i like your last name. what about sco?"
"sco's fine." he smiled
"hi sco."
"hi."
we hadn't stopped shaking hands which would've looked ridiculous to anyone who might be watching. luckily, no one was.
"i'm sorry." he laughed "do you want to start talking arrangements already or let's just leave it for tomorrow?"
"arrangements?"
"oh, you know, decorations, what is mine and what is yours, et cetera."
"we can do that later. so sco, what's your major?" i started taking things out of my suitcase.
"english. i'm an english major." the guy seemed very nervous still, and a knot tied up in my stomach, scared that we wouldn't get on well, and in a second it was like he could see my fear "sorry, i don't talk that much. i'm a very good listener, though."
"that's okay." i smiled "i'm a film student, we'll probably have classes in common. also, you don't worry about not talking enough, i can speak for both of us for days if we have to, that's the least of our problems."
"good." he nodded.
"so, was uh..." i noticed he really believed me when i said i could talk for the both of us "that girl was your girlfriend?"
"yeah. anya. she's an english major too, we went to school together."
"that's cute, like high school sweethearts!" he shrugged his shoulders smiling "she's pretty, and i reckon she's nice, from the little i saw."
"she is. what..." he spoke louder, he clearly wasn't used to "what about you? have a girlfriend?"
"no, i'm gay."
"then a boyfriend?"
"no, i'm quite lonely in that department." i laugh with the bittersweet reality.
"sorry, i didn't mean to..."
"that's okay, i don't get offended by that, it really doesn't bother me."
"okay, good."
we kept the small talk going, although it was quite difficult to get good answers from sco. i could tell he was trying, he just seemed a bit awkward with the whole 'sharing a room' scheme. when we finished unpacking we had already decided that we'd each have a wall to decorate and if sco ever needed time alone with anya he needed to warn me so no awkward encounters were to happen.
"...so please just text me." i chuckled "and i think we're through with arrangements."
"and with settling." he was already more comfortable around me, maybe we'd become friends.
"yeah." i sat in my bed and he threw himself in his. he was wearing a brown shirt, jeans and combat boots, his hair seemed to be growing from a short cut. "this is university man, this is the beginning of a new life." i said.
"it is, isn't it? i guess it hadn't really clicked for me yet. thanks for the reality shock, blake." he smiled.
i froze a little. nobody called me blake, it was always tom or thomas, but never blake.
"blake?" he looked at me "everything alright?"
"yeah, absolutely man."
the sun was setting and the light that barged in through the window, stretched itself and you could see the dust fluttering and floating in the air. sco was golden, the rays hitting his unmoving face. in a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes and stretched himself.
"come." sco promptly changed his energy "you gotta meet anya. let's go out for a drink, yeah?"
"yeah, absolutely." he was still golden, it might've been a sign that we wouldn't be just acquaintances, i always believed it was.
;
cameos:
ben (as in ben hardy)
anya (as in anya taylor-joy)
