Henry and Chris
"It was totally douchebaggery of us to lock you out. We came to help you settle in and lost track of tim—"
As soon as Chris turned to look at the short guy, he pursed his lips, obviously intimidated by Chris. Even though Chris had changed his looks, it didn't change the haughty air around him, having been born with a silver spoon. The boy he was looking at was not really short. He was about 176 cm while Chris was 188 cm and he had played sports all his life. From soccer to basketball to baseball, not to mention workouts with his friends.
Chris wasn't the bulky type. He just had the right muscles and fitness that even his hoodie and tee-shirt with joggers could not hide. So yeah, the tiny guy had to keep his mouth shut. Chris's eyebrows pulled together slightly when he thought he saw the tiny guy checking him out. Now, he really hoped that this guy was not his roommate.
"Uhm, Chris. Sorry for keeping you outside. Let us know how we can help you. Sky is busy with some stuff and asked us to help you settle when you arrive. He even bought you something to eat." The other guy said apologetically while pointing at the nylon bag on the small table beside the unmade bed.
Chris suddenly felt bad for getting angry at them, even though he had a valid reason to be angry.
"It's fine. It was just chilly outside, and I was exhausted."
"Oh, yes. You are not used to the weather here. You are going to adjust. My name is Henry, by the way. And this guy here is Noel. We are Sky's best buddies. All from this town." Small guy extended his hand, smiling.
Chris shook his hand as Henry continued, "We expected to see a geek or nerd or something. But you look..."
Henry didn't complete his words. But he seemed pleased and Chris wondered what would have happened if he had come here the way he usually looked.
Since they probably knew he was here on some school funding, they must have assumed he was a nerd. He adjusted his spec before shaking Henry's hand, hoping they would at least see him as one since he was wearing glasses.
"I'm Chris." He introduced himself, even though they knew his name already. He was compelled to be nice to them since it seemed they were nice. His roommate had actually asked his friends to help him and had even bought him something to eat.
That was surprising.
When Henry took his time with the handshake, Noel pulled him by the collar, breaking the moment by force.
"We'll let you settle. I have practice to go meet up with and this shortie here has dance practice. We'll catch up some other time."
"Thanks," Chris said to the friends before they left him.
Now that he was alone, he took his time looking around the room and sighed deeply.
The only things they had in the room were 2 single beds, 2 desks beside each bed, and 2 wardrobes opposite each other, with a little water sink at the end of the room, which he guessed was for brushing his teeth and probably cleaning whatever needed to be cleaned inside the room. Was that even ideal?
It was obvious to tell which side of the bed was his and which was Sky's. One bed was made, although the sheets were kind of rumpled. He guessed it was all thanks to the two guys that had just left. Obviously, the unmade bed was his, so he went to drop his things while wondering how he was going to survive in this cramped space with another person.
Sky's table was well arranged too, and there was a laptop there with some books and stationery. So he dropped his backpack on the empty table which was his.
He used that logic to arrange his things on the things he thought were his and those that belonged to his roommate. He could not believe how tiring it was to do chores like this. He had only wanted to rest a little after calling his parents and best friend to let them know he had arrived, but before he knew it, he was waking up at 4 a.m., which surprised the hell out of him.
The shock quickly wore off and then he noticed his roommate was not in. That was when he noticed he had a text message and so he opened it.
SKY: Sorry. I couldn't return today to help you with your stuff. The dorms were already locked by the time I knew what the time was saying. I hope you were able to settle in and my friends didn't give you much trouble? Also, don't forget to eat. I wasn't sure if you like burgers, but I just guessed everyone did.
"He sure likes to say sorry," Chris muttered to himself and smiled at the thoughtfulness. One thing he also appreciated was that this Sky guy typed in full. He once again imagined the faceless roommate with his big round specs, buried in the library until the lights were out.
CHRIS: Did you find a place to slee...
Of course, he would find a place to sleep! He was in his second year and not a clueless freshman like him. He cleared the message and simply ignored it before standing up. He could not believe he had fallen asleep fully clothed when he usually slept in barely a piece of clothing.
Since he was already awake, he continued arranging his things and saw the burger Sky had been talking about. He had totally forgotten about it, which meant there was no way it was eatable now. He added it together with the trash cluelessly and dumped them in the only basket he found inside the room before collapsing on the bed again from exhaustion.
He willed himself to stand up from there and go freshen up since he had to complete his physical registration and start classes today since he was already behind. Fortunately, he didn't meet anyone in the bathroom, and as he showered there, he figured it wasn't much different from the locker room showers in his high school. He just had to imagine he was showering after a soccer game and get used to this.
He believed he could do it.