welcome to crvboy - The Living Years

It had happened, just like Trey figured it would. After finding out that not only would Trey not be going to the Winter Formal with him but that Noah had managed to win Trey over, Shawn had gone back to being the annoyed, bitter roommate he loved reverting to whenever he didn’t get his way.

Trey had quickly discovered that Shawn was a fairly complicated person and his constant mood changes concerning him were old and tiring. He’d decided that he no longer desperately craved Shawn’s friendship and that if they wanted to be friends, great. But if they were going through another awkward phase like the one they were going through now, he wasn’t going to care if he didn’t eat lunch with him or stay up late to play PlayStation 2. It was the only way he was going to be happy with Noah. If he just stopped caring.

Being with Noah the past two weeks had been great. They’d talked about taking things slow but hadn’t really done that. Since the night of the formal, Trey had either slept over with Noah or Noah had slept over with Trey every night. They were sleeping together without having sex, which Trey didn’t mind since he knew neither of them were even ready for that yet. Besides, making out with Noah every chance he got thus far had been quite enough to keep him from feeling horny all the time.

All of that just managed to keep Shawn from being around all the time, doing his usual annoying things. Which was great.

Thus, having a boyfriend equaled Shawn repellent. Which was entirely Shawn’s problem, the way Trey saw it, and not his.

Today happened to be one of the days that Noah had slept with him the night before and was also the last day for everyone to leave campus for the winter break. Everyone but him, of course. He was terrified at the thought of being alone for a month, having to forgo his entire break for a stupid mistake that he had to pay for while the person who’d gotten him in trouble in the first place was off sipping margaritas in Mexico.

Trey giggled like a little four year old as he felt Noah’s warm hands rubbing over his smooth body. They were in his bed, facing the wall while spooning, each wearing nothing but their boxers, or boxer-briefs in his case.

"That tickles," Trey spoke.

He thought it would be weird adjusting to having a boyfriend, but never having girlfriend or boyfriend made it easier for him to readily accept the things he was doing in his relationship with Noah. It made him feel completely safe and comfortable to know that a guy like Noah was his boyfriend. It didn’t hurt that Noah was completely hot and a gorgeous body to prove it.

"You know we have to wake up anyway," Noah replied, arms still wrapped around Trey’s body. "We gotta help the girls get packed. And since they’re girls, who knows how long that’ll take."

"And then I have to help you pack," Trey spoke, less than thrilled to have to admit it.

It took Noah a moment but he responded.

"Yeah," he sighed, obviously just as sad at the thought as Trey was, if not more so.

Trey and Noah stayed in bed for a few more moments before Trey felt himself shivering.

"Damn it’s cold in here," he said.

"Even with me keeping you warm?" Noah asked.

Trey couldn’t help but to giggle again before sitting up in bed and looking around. Since he hadn’t been permitted to attend class the past two weeks, he’d been waking up later and later and today was no exception for him as his clock read it was almost ten in the morning.

"I’m so glad finals are over though," Noah replied. "Otherwise I wouldn’t have been here to keep you warm when you woke up."

"Who’s gonna keep me warm when you leave?" Trey asked. He tried to say it positively but he had felt very happy about the thought and it showed.

"I’ll call you every day. I’ll email. AIM you. And I’ll come up to visit when I can," Noah spoke reassuringly.

"No, I don’t want you to have to keep coming up here just to see me. I want you to enjoy your break. Enjoy it enough for the both of us."

"I hate that I have to leave you."

"So do I but there’s not a lot I can do about it."

Noah and Trey sat in silence for a few moments while Trey looked out the window from his bed. It was early Winter so he’d already become used to it looking bright white outside and deadly cold in the mornings but for some reason it looked unnaturally white.

"Is it..." he stood up and walked over to window, now better able to see that it was clearly snowing outside and apparently had been for a while as everything looked completely white. "It’s snowing."

"Really?" Noah asked, getting out of bed to join Trey out the window. He looked around in amazement with just how much snow there was outside. "You’d swear we live in the North from the looks of all that."

"How did I now know it was gonna snow today?" Trey asked.

"Neither one of us have exactly had time for the news, babe," Noah replied, wrapping his arms around Trey’s waist.

"You have to go home in that?" Trey spoke.

"Maybe I’ll ski home," Noah joked.

Trey chuckled as he let himself feel at peace in Noah’s arms before being jolted when the door shut hard behind him.

Trey, for some reason felt the need to break free from Noah’s hold around him as he realized that Shawn was back.

"Oh god," Shawn mumbled, sounding just as bitter as the last time Trey had seen him. "Why now?"

Trey walked over to the side of his bed to pick up the clothes he’d had on yesterday, suddenly feeling naked in front of Shawn while Noah crossed his arms, not even bothering to move or put on his clothes as Shawn peeled off the layers of clothing he’d had on.

"Let me guess, to get away from us, you built an igloo outside?" Noah spoke sarcastically.

"Why would I build an igloo when I can just crash in the box your folks live in?" Shawn replied.

"Guys, please, it’s too early for this shit," Trey spoke, realizing that he no longer could really control Shawn’s emotions the way he was able to before deciding to be with Noah.

"Half the day is almost over," Shawn replied. "Some of us are more productive than others."

Noah chuckled as he walked back over to Trey’s bed to get his own clothes.

"That why you’re all packed up and ready to go?" asking a question he knew the obvious answer to, which was no. Shawn was just as messy as ever and it would probably take him as long if not longer than the girls to get all his stuff packed and ready to go.

"Seriously though, you keep bumming in my room and I’ll have to start charging you some rent. Even real bums know that."

"Keep talking White and watch that mouth fly right off your face-"

"Here," Shawn spoke sticking his face out. "Go ahead, give it your best shot."

"Noah please, not now," Trey spoke.

Noah seriously wanted to knock Shawn out, just to shut him up. But his boyfriend was asking him not to and the last thing he wanted to do was look like some kind of barbaric animal in front of him.

Noah decided to instead pull his wife beater over his chest and finish getting dressed.

"We have a lot to do today anyway," Noah spoke.

"Wow. I’ll be sure to start caring...two weeks from never," Shawn mumbled as he turned on his computer.

Trey flashed Noah a pleading look as the two finished getting dressed in silence.

"For the love of God, whoever it is is going to be getting an earful," Jesse grumbled as he grouchily made his way to his front door, where someone was banging loudly on it.

"What?!" he asked, completely annoyed.

"Did I like wake you up or something?" a person he’d probably seen before but couldn’t remember asked, looking him over.

"Yes and I have to say, it’s a bit too early to play crazy ape girl at my front door on a Friday," Jesse replied.

"It’s eleven in the morning," the girl replied.

"Is there a point to any of this?"

"Oh, yeah," the girl started, straightening into what she believed to be an official stance. "In case you didn’t know, I’m one of the landlords here."

"One of? And...you look younger than me," Jesse replied.

"Well I AM 18. I’m doing this as part of one of my classes. It’s almost like I’m an R.A."

"How nice for you, I’m going to make tea. Come in if you’d like."

The girl was a bit taken aback with how non-committed Jesse was to their conversation but followed him anyway back towards his kitchen as he started his stove.

"Why is this place so large?" the girl asked.

"Well, Kristen, money will buy you a lot of what you want in life. I never have been a fan of cramped spaces."

Kristen looked around in amazed wonderment floored with the size of Jesse’s apartment compared to hers. Jesse’s was almost three times larger and they stayed on the same floor.

"So," Jesse started, at he placed a bag of tea into a pot on his stove. "Are we going to be reaching a point soon or..."

"Right," Kristen started, taking a seat at one of the stools behind Jesse’s kitchen island. "I just came to let you know that there’s a problem with the heating system in the apartments and it’s gonna take replacement of every unit in the building."

"I may spend my money on a lot of useless things but I don’t even know any of you people."

"No, I’m not asking for money. I came to tell you that since it could take up two to three weeks to fix everything, everyone is going to have to temporarily relocate."

Jesse stared at Kristen seriously.

"And let me guess, you lot don’t provide relocation accommodation, right?"

"I know this is probably a huge inconvenience for you. I mean it was for me. The last thing I wanna do is see my parents for the holidays."

"That bad? My parents are divorced and pay no attention to me."

"Mine think I’m dead," Kristen replied.

Jesse raised an eyebrow in bewilderment before looking away from Kristen to tend to his tea.

"You win," he replied.

"So, of course everyone is getting two weeks knocked off of their rent at the end of the month and one free extended grace period in case you’re ever late which I guess doesn’t apply to you."

"Not really no," Jesse replied. "But I fully expect all of my belongings to be in tact upon my return. I know how you people like to work with your fast cons. I’ll have you know everything in here is insured."

"Even...that," Kristen spoke, pointing to a large life sized painting of him posing with the Royal family.

"Even that," Jesse replied.

Kristen still seemed to be a bit shocked with how huge and how nice Jesse’s apartment passing for a loft looked in a student operated apartment complex.

"Well I have to go," Kristen spoke, starting towards the door. "I have 117 more people to piss off before the day is over."

"I don’t envy that job," Jesse replied, before seeing Kristen out while wondering where he was going to go and what he was going to do for his winter break.

"Do you absolutely need to take every piece of clothing in this closet?" Zoey asked, looking over at Grace who’d already packed two full suitcases worth of stuff and wasn’t even halfway finished.

"Girl you act like we looking through Mariah Carey’s closet or something," Grace replied. "It aint that much shit."

At that moment, Trey and Noah came walking into the room, each holding a couple of suitcases that they’d gone around asking people to let them borrow for Grace.

"Alright," Trey spoke, sounding a bit out of breath. "We found some more."

"Ooh good, now I can fit all the rest of my clothes in," Grace squealed with joy,

"This girl wants to kill us. She seriously wants us dead," Zoey sighed, falling back on Grace’s bed.

"You complain WAY too much, you know that?" Grace said, semi serious. "My two lovely boys over there went and did exactly what I wanted without complaining. Oh by the way, you think one of you could go find me-"

"Aint," Trey objected. "I’m not going back out there."

"It’s not THAT bad outside," Grace spoke, standing up to look out her window.

"It’s twenty degrees outside," Trey replied. "There’s six inches of snow out there and it hasn’t stopped snowing since yesterday. What exactly ISN’T bad about that?"

"Shit, ya’ll all complain too much," Grace pouted before sitting back down to go through her clothes pile on the floor.

Zoey sat up and crosses her legs Indian style as she faced Noah who was sitting across the other side of the room on Grace’s roommate’s bed who was already gone for break.

"So you guys are set right?" Zoey asked. "I mean, when we get done with Grace we all should be ready to head out right?"

Grace and Noah each flashed Zoey an annoyed look as if she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to before Zoey suddenly remembered exactly what it was she had said wrong.

"Oh....Trey, I forgot, I’m sorry," Zoey spoke, sincerely.

"No it’s fine. I mean, I can’t blame Nick for what happened forever. He didn’t force me to come with him that day."

No one really knew what to say before Zoey decided to speak up.

"Maybe you’ll see my boyfriend, then," Zoey replied. "He’s staying up here to do some things around town."

"Shouldn’t we have already seen him? Like at the formal?" Noah asked, curiously.

"I can’t help it if he suddenly decided not to show. But my life doesn’t revolve around him so I was going with or without him."

"What’s his name again?" Noah asked, clearly teasing Zoey now but at the same time genuinely curious.

"Oh now you’re being an asshole," Zoey replied. "It’s what I get for hanging around a bunch of freshman...and a skipped-up sophomore."

"Ooh, you just reminded me we need to stop by Walgreens to pick up them pictures from the formal," Grace spoke. "Ya’ll know I was looking just too cute in my dress."

"The dress you borrowed from that ultra annoying Sierra girl," Zoey said.

"Yeah well the girl got taste," Grace replied.

Trey was feeling increasingly sadder with each passing minute and it was starting to show on his face, which was the reason why Noah had noticed.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked.

Trey mustered a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I’m fine," he lied.

Noah, who was sitting behind Trey, started to massage his shoulders.

"You know, I may not be looking forward to going home but at least I get to go home," he said. "I can’t imagine what you must feel like right now."

"You’re staying in Triumph Hall during the break right?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah," Trey replied with a sour look on his face.

Triumph was the last of the four underclassmen dorm halls that anyone wanted to stay in. Not only were the bathrooms communal, but it was the oldest dorm hall on campus and it showed. The people that stayed there loved to tell everyone the horrors of how bad it was. The people that stayed there didn’t even stay there, really. They usually just stayed with friends. Triumph Hall really needed to be renamed to Disaster Hall.

"I hate how they just MAKE everyone leave. Just like Thanksgiving," Noah said. "I mean some people might not have family. And those of us that do might not even wanna go home."

"Am I the only person here that actually likes my family?" Grace asked.

No one said anything.

"I mean, my momma ghetto and all but she cool, she cool. Damn it’s cold in here. Shit!" Grace shivered, standing up to look back out the window.

"Yeah, we better get finished before things get worse out there," Zoey spoke standing up. "I can already tell it’s gonna take us half the day just to get home in that mess."

Noah continued to massage Trey’s shoulders as Trey wished that he could stay in his own room for his unfortunate stay at the school during break.

Jesse had been aimlessly hanging around the Student Union Pavilion for over an hour wondering exactly what he was going to do.

He had considered checking into a hotel for break, the most obvious solution to his temporary problem. But he’d never really been a fan of hotels as they lacked that certain something all the home places in his life had.

He heard there were a couple of dorm halls staying open during the break for students taking the Winter Break classes or ones catching up on exams but he’d heard they were worse than living in a prison and decided that he had much better standards than the school had, apparently.

Very briefly had he considered Amber and the sorority. He knew that they all had to leave for break just like most everyone else on campus but something would have been better than nothing and without Amber there to more or less terrorize him, he’d be somewhat comfortable until he could move back into his apartment.

He was even still contemplating that option as he browsed through the junk in the upper levels of the student bookstore before he noticed a very unwelcomed face.

"Christmas is a time for good will and spirit," he started. "I believe you missed your holiday by a good two months and yet, here you are."

"Oh god, here we go," Sierra sighed, as she realized who was speaking to her.

Sierra was in a long line to sell her books back for a bit of quick cash. A line that she’d been standing in for nearly twenty minutes and a line that she wasn’t about to get out of just because Jesse was here. Even though she was strongly considering it.

"Oh don’t worry, I didn’t come to get involved with any of your many imperfections of the day," Jesse started. "I was looking into purchasing my books for next semester."

"Oh so you’ll be here after all then next year," Sierra spoke, sounding less than thrilled. "What a shame for all of us."

"For your information Sally Hamburger Body, I happen to resent that statement. Education is important for everyone. And this is a...fine, fine school. Why wouldn’t I stay here?"

"Just the way you always talk about this place like its hell on Earth or something..." Sierra strayed.

"Well considering demons from hell walk among us, why wouldn’t I think-"

"Okay, ignoring you now," Sierra cut Jesse off, turning away from him hoping he’d go away.

She looked away for a few moments before slowly turning her head and realizing that Jesse was still standing next to her and the line hadn’t moved forward yet.

"It’s almost like you and these people think getting twenty bucks for a book we all paid a hundred or more for is something to stand in a concert ticket line for," Jesse spoke. "I’m half tempted to just give you all a couple hundred and call it a day."

"Okay, let’s do that then," Sierra spoke, trying as best as she could to sound like the perfectly innocent angel she wasn’t.

Jesse stared at her, trying to determine if she was serious before sighing and reaching into his back pocket to pull out his wallet.

"Women are going to absolutely be the death of me," he said before handing Sierra two crisp $100 bills.

Sierra stared at them, in semi disbelief.

"You were serious," she said.

"Whatever," Jesse replied, somewhat grouchily. "Don’t take it sentimentally. I’d give a bum on the street more before you."

Jesse started away from Sierra who quickly caught up to Jesse.

"So, uh, are you going home for break?" she asked.

Jesse looked over at her trying to decide if she was actually serious with the conversation she was trying to start with him before turning back forward.

"Unfortunately, I don’t believe I’m wanted home," he replied. "Which suits me just fine thank you very much."

"Sorry," Sierra spoke, sincerely.

Jesse didn’t speak for a moment before stopping abruptly and turning to face Sierra.

"We aren’t friends."

There was another moment of silence between them before Sierra spoke up.

"Just...it’s sad you don’t have anyone to spend the holidays with. Even you deserve that much."

"Yeah well I deserve a lot of things I have yet to receive but I figure it best not to dwell on all of that."

"Were in kind of the same boat, I guess," Sierra spoke, sullenly.

Jesse didn’t really care but he figured Sierra wanted him to at least pretend as though he did so he decided to stick around to lend a sympathetic ear.

"I was the youngest and now that I’m in college, my parents have been on vacation after vacation since I left. They’re supposed to be back for the holidays but they weren’t even around for my eighteenth birthday so I don’t have a lot of faith in them right now."

"Sounds like such the personal problem," Jesse replied. "Why don’t you just take up staying with one of the many....friends, I’m sure you’ve managed to secure."

"They’re all going home," Sierra replied. "If we weren’t all being forced to leave the dorms I’d probably stay behind."

"Seems like there’s a lot of that forcing us all to vacate our homes stuff going around," Jesse mumbled with distaste. "Either way, it does seem like were both in the same unfortunate line of misfortune. Of course, for me, I can pay my troubles away, however temporarily."

"Oh you’re really gonna rub THAT in my face, aren’t you?" Sierra asked.

"I told you, we aren’t friends," Jesse replied, before realizing that now that they no longer shared a class together, he wouldn’t have to put up with Sierra anymore. "I believe this is the part where we part ways. For good, hopefully."

"And just like that, the status quo makes a return," Sierra grumbled. "I hope you choke on a wishbone."

Jesse watched in annoyed disbelief as Sierra started way from him before calling after her.

"I’m British, you spray tanned muppet!"

"Hey, what’s wrong?" Noah asked, wrapping his arms around Trey who was sitting on the floor in Noah’s room, folding some of his clothes.

He couldn’t stop thinking about his life so far. He’d come such a long way in such a short amount of time and now that he was finally in a comfortable place in his life even after a bit of struggle, he was going to have to go without being surrounded by the constant comfortable familiarity that had made things so great for him.

The worst part was being separated from Noah. They had only been dating two weeks, but he’d known him for months and going one day away from his new boyfriend was going to be just as difficult as going one month without having him around. Not to mention his friends and everything else he had gotten used to.

"It’s just sinking in now," Trey replied. "I mean I could handle it all when it was still hours away but you’re leaving soon and I won’t get to be around you for a month."

"I know I know, but I told you, I’m gonna email and call. We can still talk," Noah replied.

"It’s not the same and you know it."

"Well, I’d come up here but you told me you didn’t want me to."

"I know....I know.....I just......"

Trey didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want to look weak in front of Noah. But that was exactly what he felt like doing just then and Noah could tell. Sensing how fragile Trey was and how emotional he was getting was breaking his heart. He felt like he needed to be there for Trey. To protect him and stand by him for everything. And leaving him for a month to see people he had no desire to see felt like an active act of betrayal. He knew what it felt like to be betrayed. He didn’t want to do it to Trey.

"So...so then we stay," Noah found himself speaking as he was thinking the words.

Trey turned around to face Noah.

"Yeah...I mean...the R.A’s only check the rooms once before leaving and they already came by before Jeremy left. They’ll probably do the same thing in Ark before Shawn leaves. So...we can just stay here for break."

"Wait...you’re serious?"

Noah hadn’t really been completely serious before but just saying the words out loud actually had him thinking that the situation was more and more possible by the second.

"Think about it, we could run down to Albertson’s next door, pick up a shit load of food and other stuff, you know, and just hole up here for break," Noah replied. "I mean, people are supposed to be on campus anyway for winter classes. We could always just claim to be here for that. Well, I could anyway."

Trey thought the idea was really crazy and still wasn’t quite sure that Noah was really being serious but was willing to accept it as long as it meant that he’d get to be with Noah during break.

"You and me, alone, together, for the entire break," Trey said.

"It’s turning me on just thinking about it," Noah chuckled before playfully tackling Trey to the ground as the two of them started making out. It only lasted for a few seconds before Trey started laughing uncontrollably when Noah started to nibble on his ears.

They continued to goof around like they were before realizing that someone was knocking on the door.

"Noah...someone’s at the door," Trey managed to say between laughs and gasps for air.

Noah gave Trey a quick kiss on the lips before jumping up and hopping over to the door.

"You’re both still here?" Noah asked upon seeing Zoey and Grace with bags.

"Just twenty more minutes she kept saying. If we left the first time she said it we would’ve been gone three hours ago," Zoey mumbled as she walked into the room, a bag in each hand.

"I am not about to kill myself for these people up here," Grace said. "I’ll go home when it’s safe not when they tell me I gotta leave. I pay rent here. They get my money."

Trey stood up, straightening himself out as he realized his friends were staying behind just like he and Noah were planning to do.

"Taking your time packing huh?" Zoey asked, looking around. "You might as well, it’s not gonna get any better out there anytime soon."

"Actually," Noah started, shutting the door as he set one of the four bags Grace had dragged along with her into the room. "We were planning on staying here for break."

"Uh, Triumph ain’t the Four Seasons boy. You don’t make plans to stay there any longer than you got to."

"No, not Triumph. I meant here. As in on campus. THESE dorms," Noah replied.

Grace and Zoey exchanged glances before each cracking up in a fit of laughter.

"You can’t stay here. They turn off the heat and stuff like that," Zoey spoke.

"Yeah and ya’ll can’t cook. You’d die here," Grace added.

"Gee, thanks for that," Trey spoke.

"Yeah but I heard they leave everything on in Ark since it’s so close to the classes they have for Winter Break. We were gonna stay there," Noah said, taking a seat on his bed next to Grace.

"Again, ya’ll can’t cook. Why’re ya’ll being so damn crazy? It’s bad for like one day. Tomorrow all that shit out there’ll be melted and we can all go home together, before we spray down Trey’s room in Triumph with Lysol and bless the place with some oil or something."

"Grace, were not crazy for not wanting to be apart," Noah spoke, sincerely. "Besides, I wasn’t looking forward to going home anyway and now I have an excuse not to."

"I gotta say, my own personal Addams Family, not really the highlight of my winter break either," Zoey said. "I can see myself staying here during break with you guys. At least that way I know I won’t get into any shouting matches with the step-monster from beyond hell."

"Zoey, girl are you kidding me? We actually get a month AWAY from school as hard as we work and you actually wanna STAY up here?"

"Yeah, why not? They’re staying. Besides I think it’ll be kinda fun. Interesting, but fun."

"Yeah, yeah because just trying to survive is always such a fun thing to do," Grace mumbled.

"You don’t have to stay," Trey said. "None of you do. I’ll be fine up here. I don’t want you to waste your break up here because of me."

And that was probably all Trey needed to say before Grace felt guilty for being as selfish as she was. She could tell Noah and Zoey mostly were doing what they were doing for Trey and the last thing she wanted to do was skip out on the guy that was supposed to be her best friend.

"Alright, fine," she caved. "But black folks need they bacon. And grease. We need to go to that Albertsons before they close this place up."

"Trip time?" Noah asked.

"Who’s buying?" Trey asked.

"Think we should go find Jesse and make him pay for everything?" Grace joked, not knowing Jesse was staying put just the same as they were.

Jesse had decided that as long as he was going to make a life for himself here in America he was also going to learn how to do a few things for himself that he hadn’t really learned how to do. Since he was going to be on his own for a couple of weeks, he decided that he was going to take up learning how to cook as his first project.

He’d seen a local supermarket around called Albertsons a few times and had decided to stop by in the little amount of time the snow had decided to cease brimming down outside, picking up whatever he figured he’d like to use in his cooking efforts.

He hadn’t expected to have been inside as long as he had but picking out what he figured would be the best tasting and most expensive items at the same time was proving to be difficult when half the food in the place seemed like something he wouldn’t like just because it was all so cheap. Cheap according to his standards.

He’d been studying the tank holding all the lobster near the meat section of the store before he noticed someone start towards him but quickly turn the other way, trying to sneak off as if they hadn’t been seen.

"Stalker is never a flattering title for a woman," he called after Amber who stopped and turned around, facing Jesse.

"Another day you think the world is revolving around you," she said, starting towards Jesse.

Jesse straightened up, crossing his arms before Amber was standing directly in front of him.

"I saw you sneaking away. I have to say, I’d no idea you were so infatuated with me."

"Gaining five extra pounds does not make me fat!" Amber objected. "Besides, I’m doing something about it. I’m going to the gym during break. I can’t let my friends see me looking like a gigantic whale."

"So let me get this straight," Jesse started. "Because you’ve pushed the scale of a solid hundred pounds now, you’re going to miss your entire break just to appease your single brain sharing friends?

"Aww, Jesse. You really think I look like I weigh a hundred pounds?"

Jesse rolled his eyes at Amber before starting away from her in the opposite direction.

Amber scoffed before starting after Jesse.

"No what’s insane is you thinking you have me all figured out. The last time you did that you got tossed out on your ass."

"Yes well I believe that’s all in the past now so you must be stuck there to continually bring it up."

"What are you even doing here? Shouldn’t you be on a flight back to British or something?"

Jesse chuckled at the stupidity of Amber before turning into another row wanting to turn away the minute he did.

"What?" Amber asked.

"Okay, time to go," Jesse mumbled before starting past Amber.

Amber looked down the row before a devious grin spread on her face.

"Where ya going JESSE?" she called out, loud enough for half the store to hear.

Jesse stopped dead in his tracks.

"Come on, let’s go say hi to everyone," Amber spoke, grabbing Jesse and pulling him down the row.

"Shit," Noah mumbled as he noticed Jesse and Amber approaching. "Can we please pretend like we don’t see them?"

"I didn’t think the guy did his own shopping," Zoey mumbled.

"Hi guys, what’s up?" Amber asked.

Jesse, who looked as annoyed as ever, stood with his arms crossed looking away from everyone.

"Hitting the road soon, just wanted to stock up on junk," Noah quickly lied.

Jesse looked over the single cart that Noah, Grace, Trey and Zoey were apparently sharing, which looked to be almost full of food and supplies.

"There are three gallons of milk in that basket," Jesse replied. "Planning on building strong bones before you go home?"

"Hey I like milk, okay!" Grace said defensively.

"Oh me too," Amber commented, taking Grace seriously. "Especially soy milk. Keeps me in shape during the off season. Cheerleading’s a demanding sport but someone’s gotta do it.

"Right, well we’re just gonna leave now," Noah said, hoping to be rid of Jesse before he found some way to annoy him.

"I don’t know what’s going on but it seems a lot more interesting than what I had planned," Jesse spoke. "Tell me, can any of you cook?"

"Don’t answer that," Noah cut Grace off before she could start.

"Can I come with you guys? Jesse’s stalking me and its creeping me out."

"To believe that lie they’d all first have to believe there’d actually be someone out there foolish enough to want to stalk you," he said. "Before you go, can you lead me in the direction of the fresh vegetables? I’m making myself some chicken carechetta tonight. Apparently, Italian food is really big right now."

"Wait, you’re not going home for break?" Grace asked, actually concerned for Jesse.

Like Noah, she was probably the only person who’d managed to see Jesse with his defenses down. Unlike Noah, she actually happened to be able to tolerate Jesse for what he’d done for her.

"Well I’ve rather decided THIS is my home now," Jesse replied.

"What about your family?" Grace asked.

"My family has never really been an important component of my life," Jesse replied. "I mean, you lot saw my brother."

Everyone thought with distaste about Nick as Grace looked over at Noah with pleading eyes, who was shaking his head even as she tried looking sadder with her eyes.

"Noah..." she said before Noah let out a defeated sigh and threw his hands in the air.

"What the hell. It’s the holidays. I can put aside my feelings for the time being."

"Good," Grace spoke. "Come on boy, you coming with us."

"You aren’t going to bring me to some student cultist organization on campus are you? I’ve heard about those things."

"Boy, be quiet and put that stuff in the basket."

"In that case, I’m coming too," Amber spoke.

"Wait, huh?" Zoey asked.

"If he gets to come, so do I," Amber replied.

"No one invited you," Zoey replied, obviously really not wanting Amber to join their company.

"Too bad. I invited myself," Amber replied as everyone started down the aisle. "You aren’t still a dyke are you?"

"You aren’t still a retarded whore are you?"

"Not a retarded one, no."

Shawn was angry. And considering his life as of late, he had plenty of things to be angry about.

Trey had changed him. He’d never once considered that he might be gay. He’d never fantasized or thought about any guys sexually until he met Trey. The way he treated Trey when he first met him was an indication of his confusion. The way he treated him as Trey continued to pull him back and forward on little strings was an indication of his frustration. And now that Trey had made what was seemingly a solid decision, he had no choice but to go back to being straight.

Only that was confusing him ever more because he wasn’t quite sure he could wrap his head around just how it was a straight guy could all of a sudden fall for a another guy and then decided to go back to being straight when things didn’t work out. He was almost certain things weren’t supposed to and didn’t work that was and didn’t know what to do about.

And then of course there was the person Trey happened to have chosen over him, a guy he could personally do without ever having to see again but would forever have to as long as Trey was his roommate and the two of them were dating.

Not to mention his problems with Ben and his family.

All of that had left him angry. So angry that he had decided he wasn’t even going to deal with his family. He was going to hang around the dorms alone to give himself some time to think about everything in his life that had been going wrong and what he was going to do to fix it all. The way he saw it, he was going to need that full month of free time to himself.

He was in a mood that had left him wanting to drown out his thoughts and everything else. It was after eight. Everyone was supposed to have vacated the dorm hall at 5 which meant that he was alone and fully able to blast his music as loud as he wanted to.

He’d had everyone from The White Stripes to Depeche Mode playing on constant loop as loud as he could take it under the assumption that he could do that.

Then he heard what he imagined were knocks coming from his door, but wasn’t in a hurry to answer it for thinking he had to be imagining things. When it seemed like the knocks got louder, Shawn grew worried that maybe he’d be in trouble for not already being gone and jumped up to turn down his music before walking over to the door and answering it, surprised with what he saw.

"So it get’s kinda hard to listen to see if anyone is coming while you’re trying to break into your best friends room with music playing loud enough to deafen people three miles away."

"Do I know you?" Shawn asked, having a feeling he did but wasn’t quite sure.

"You know of me," Sierra replied. "And what are you still doing here? You’re supposed to be gone."

"So are you," Shawn replied.

"Well, no use arguing that point," she said. "You don’t know anything about picking locks do you?"

Sierra pushed past Shawn to let herself into his room while looking around.

"I remember heat," she mumbled.

"Um, what the hell..."

"What are you doing?"

"There’s no heat in our dorms. Apparently Ark is the only place with the heat since it’s so close to that hellhole Triumph. Do you have anything to eat in here? I’m starving."

Shawn watched in disbelief as Sierra walked over to his mini fridge and started looking through it.

"So you were trying to break into your friends room because you’re staying here for break?"

"It’s what you’re doing right? Lemme guess, outs with the family? I know all about that."

Shawn didn’t want to say and just sighed before taking a seat on his bed as Sierra helped herself to the Sprite bottle he’d already opened and taken drinks from earlier in the day.

"You can’t stay here." he said.

"Who says I want to? Have anything small enough to fit between the space of a door?"

"No I mean you can’t stay HERE. Like at school," Shawn clarified.

Sierra stopped looking around the room only to stare over at Shawn with disbelief.

"You can’t be serious."

Shawn didn’t respond.

"I could call security and then go hide somewhere while they cart your ass off to jail."

"I really don’t think I’d go to jail for staying in my own room. I’m just a lost little freshman. What do I know?"

Sierra seemed not to want to touch the comment before she walked over to Trey’s side of the room and plopped onto the bed.

"I’ve been in here before haven’t I?" she asked, now munching on a bag of Doritos she’d found laying around.

"Probably, lot’s of girls have," Shawn replied, trying to sound overly macho.

"Ew, not in this bed have they?" Sierra asked, sitting up some.

Both of them sat in shared silence over being in a moment they both knew about but didn’t speak of before Sierra found herself sitting up and Shawn found his head snapping over when the door to the room opened and in walked several people he hadn’t expected to see for at least a month.

"I thought you were the only one here?" Sierra asked.

"What the hell? What are you still doing here?" Noah asked, starting towards Shawn.

"Well, I’d say this is probably the strangest night in my entire life," Jesse spoke shutting the door behind him.

Everyone seemed to not know what to say but were all definitely feeling a mixture of emotions as their common plan to stay at the school for break finally made itself clear to everyone involved.

"What is this, a party?" Amber asked.

"Girl, be quiet," Grace sighed.

"Shawn, what are you still doing here?" Trey asked seriously and sincerely.

"Does it matter? You’re here."

"I have to be," Trey replied.

"And him?" Shawn asked.

"I’m his boyfriend asshole," Noah replied, obvious anger searing at the surface.

"Alright, everyone just calm down," Sierra spoke, still munching on the Doritos. "This is perfect really. We can all be like a little family, spending the break together."

The next twenty seconds or so consisted of nearly everyone in the room yelling things like ‘no way’ and ‘absolutely not’ before Trey shouted for everyone to be quiet.

"Were the only people here, alright?" he started. "So can we forget about all the drama we have to put up with during school and just try to get along? Just for now?"

Everyone looked around for a while before Noah spoke up, glaring at Shawn.

"We can try," he growled. "Might not work out but we can at least try."

"Yeah, it’s the holidays," Zoey said.

"It’s December 15th," Amber spoke. "It’s not the holidays yet."

"Okay," Sierra started, chuckling to herself. "I almost forgot, you’re THAT one. I’m on track now."

Amber stared at Sierra with a confused look on her face before everyone started to settle down.

The night everyone discovered they’d all be skipping going home for the holidays was a tough night. For starters, they all had to break the news to their families that they would in fact not be seeing them for Christmas. For most of them, this was very easy for them to do for their families were dysfunctional enough as it was. For others it was hard having to come up with an excuse as to why they’d be missed, but it was done anyway.

Of course, they’d all agree that that was the easy part. The hard part was having to put aside their differences with each other in order to coexist together in the same two rooms. The girls took up shelter in Grace’s room while the guys all stayed in Trey and Shawn’s room.

Several times a few arguments started which would have led to fights if no one else had been around to stop them.

Everyone had more or less, however, managed to coexist without alerting anyone as to their presence in the dorms, which was the one thing the all managed to agree on.

Being the day before Christmas, everyone was feeling a wide range of emotions and some of them were even differing on their opinions of how to spend the upcoming big day.

"No, we going to church," Grace spoke almost if her she were certain she’d be getting her way.

"Oh terrific, the wonders of the theological system. Because nothing says let’s all band together like Jesus’s birthday."

"You didn’t tell them about the party did you?" Sierra asked.

"Girl, is you crazy? You can’t throw a party here!"

"Congratulations, YOU told her," Jesse sighed before walking away from Sierra and over to another table in the cafeteria.

"I’m serious. Ya’ll better not throw no damn party in here. Just because we got the whole place to ourselves doesn’t mean that-"

"Hey guys, I think I just found the keys to the rooms," Amber announced entering the cafeteria.

"That girl’s mental," Zoey mumbled.

"Yes, something we can most certainly agree on," Jesse mumbled.

Trey and Noah were sitting at a table to themselves. Noah had cooked a nice dinner especially for Trey and everyone had agreed to give him the much needed alone time he’d been wanting with Trey.

"I don’t know what’s going on over there but I don’t think I wanna know," Trey said.

Noah couldn’t take his eyes off of Trey. Ever since becoming his boyfriend it was like he was seeing him in a completely different light. It was like he was much more attractive and captivating. He couldn’t help to wonder what he had that Trey liked that he picked him over Shawn but he was happy he had.

"What are you thinking about right now?" Trey asked.

"Just how lucky I am to have you in my life," Noah replied.

"No, I’m serious. I used to be a much stronger person. And then I let myself just stop caring about everything and I guess the world just stop caring about me. You’re the first person, the first thing I’ve really believed in and the first person who’s really cared about me. It’s making me want more out of life."

Trey wasn’t sure what to say to that but he knew how he felt. He was happy to be with Noah as well and had hoped to God every day since they got together that he wouldn’t do something to screw things up between them again. All his previous petty fears had been replaced with that more significant one and he wanted to do whatever he had to hold on to Noah. He was after all not just his friend but his boyfriend as well and he didn’t want to mess both up.

"I got you a present," Noah said slyly.

"Really?" Trey asked, innocently.

"Yeah. But you can’t have it until tomorrow."

Noah wanted to cave Trey looked so cute just then. But he decided to stick to his guns.

"Fine, then I’m gonna make you wait for your gift too," Trey replied in fake anger.

That was about when the lights suddenly went out. Both Noah and Trey heard a couple of screams and stood up, Noah grabbing Trey’s hand as they made their way in the dark back over towards their friends.

"Un huh, see that’s what yo ass get for talking bad about God, Jesse," Grace spoke. "Now our asses is all gonna freeze to death because the power’s out."

"Oh. Good. For a second there I thought I went blind or something," Amber spoke.

"Just for you I’ll go see about fixing the problem," Jesse spoke, slightly agitated. "I should be trying my hand at more skillful crafts anyway."

"I’ll go see if I can find a few flashlights. There’s gotta be some around here," Trey spoke up.

"Shawn go with him," Grace said. "It’s too damn dark in here to be wandering around alone."

"No I’ll go," Noah spoke up.

"No, Noah, stay here and watch the girls," Trey spoke, trying to calm Noah down, who he could tell did not want him going off alone with Shawn. "I’ll be fine."

Noah didn’t like the idea of Shawn and Trey together, especially in the dark in such a large place but he wasn’t so selfish that he was going to leave four girls alone in the dark. Plus he was more worried about the girls starting World War III with each other than anything else and knew someone had to stay behind.

"Alright, just be careful," he said.

"I’ll be fine Noah," Trey replied before starting out of the cafeteria, feeling awkward to be going with Shawn.

"Seriously though, how do I really know I’m not blind?" Amber asked aloud.

"I can show you my fist," Zoey suggested. "A fist and some stars?"

"Zoey..." Grace spoke.

"Where’s the table?" Sierra asked. "I’m hungry."

Noah sighed, hoping the lights would come back on so Trey could come back.

Things were silent between Shawn and Trey, neither really knowing what to say to the other.

Shawn felt like he should have been upset with Trey and had been acting the way he did whenever he was upset with Trey, but there was a part of him that couldn’t get upset. He’d since accepted that there was no ‘switching back’ for him. Trey was the first guy that he’d ever fell for and he was still the only guy he wanted. The fact that he was with Noah just complicated things.

He wasn’t really upset with Trey. Trey was near perfect to him. He couldn’t blame Trey for having more feelings for Noah than for him. He was upset with Noah because he knew he wasn’t right for Trey and couldn’t stand seeing him do all the things with Trey that he wished he could.

He must have been feeling particularly upset because he blurted out something he hadn’t meant to say.

"Are you happy with him at all?" Shawn asked.

He was looking through a closet in some random student’s room using his cell phone’s camera light while Trey was looking in the cabinets.

Trey turned around to face Shawn, who purposely had his back to Trey as he continued searching through the closet.

"What kind of question is that Shawn?"

Trey knew exactly what Shawn was trying to do in asking that question and resented the fact that Shawn felt he had a right to ask it.

"You told me you were gonna go to the formal with me-"

"Oh god, not this again-"

"And he ambushes you, gets a minute alone with you and all of a sudden you’re eating out the palm of his hand. How does something like that happen?"

"Shawn, I can’t play this game with you anymore."

"What?" Shawn asked, turning around facing Trey in the dark.

"Where I worry about not hurting your feelings because I don’t want you mad at me. It’s not my job to make you happy and I don’t have to give you what you want."

"I’m with Noah and yes, I’m happy," Trey replied. "And if you were really my friend, you’d be happy for me too."

A few moments of silence went by between them as they crossed over into the next room conjoined from the first room and started searching it for flashlights.

"You know, it’s not Noah I hate," Shawn started.

Trey really just wanted to find the flashlights and get back to Noah but Shawn was apparently determined to make things difficult.

"I hate the fact that there’s something you see in him that you don’t see in me," Shawn continued, this time getting Trey’s attention. "Like I’m not good enough for you."

Trey stopped searching and stood, listening to Shawn speak behind him.

"It was like every time I thought I was changing, being a better person, it wasn’t enough because Noah was already that person. Already the person that I was telling myself that I could be, that I had to be if I wanted to be with you. And it still wasn’t enough."

Trey wasn’t sure what to say to that. From the minute he’d met them, he’d felt a connection to Noah and Shawn. He’d spent more time around Noah, getting to know him better and getting to fall for him faster. He assumed that it had to do with their connection and didn’t want to be wrong about it, but it seemed like Shawn wanted him to question his decision.

But it was too late and he knew it. He was happy with Noah. He wasn’t going to do anything to screw up their relationship. Even if there was someone out there who was better for him, he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, Noah was the one for him.

What could else could he really say?

"This whole ‘lights going out the day before Christmas thing is just a little too horror film hokey for me," Sierra spoke, sitting atop the table Grace, Amber and Zoey were seated at. "I prefer my blindingly bright lawn eyesores."

"That why you bought all them damn lights and put em in around the hallways?" Grace asked, feeling more than a little bored.

"Hey I can’t help my Christmas spirit," Sierra replied.

"You guys think Jesse’s dead?" Amber all of a sudden blurted out.

She couldn’t see it, but all three girls were staring at her like they didn’t know what do with her.

"He’s been gone like twenty minutes. Either you find a way to fix the lights or you don’t but it doesn’t take this long."

"Why do you care anyway?" Sierra asked. "I thought you hated the guy now."

"Really? You hate Jesse?" Zoey asked.

"He’s a sweet guy," Grace replied. "If you hate Jesse it must be because YOU did something wrong."

"I told him before he did it that guys weren’t allowed. And then all he did was ignore my generosity. You know, I stuck my shoulders out on the line for him."

"Isn’t it ‘neck?"

"Potato, tomato," Amber sighed.

Noah was standing a few feet away from the girls, keeping an eye out for anyone of the guys to return or anything else he figured he might need to keep an eye out for and wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation going on behind him.

Because of this it took him a few seconds to realize Grace was speaking to him.

"Boy I know you hear me speaking to you."

Noah turned around and took a few steps forward.

"Sorry, just...don’t you think Trey and Shawn should’ve been back by now?" Noah asked.

"This place is bigger than the high school I graduated from," Zoey said. "It’s gonna take a little time to find flashlights."

"Besides, they’re together. They’re fine," Grace added. "I’m worried about Jesse. Noah go out and look for him."

"What?" Noah asked, a bit shocked.

"I’m worried Noah, something might’ve happened to him. You know its cold and all that snow is out there."

"Right so why risk my life? Who’s really gonna care if Jesse’s gone?"

"Just go look for the boy. Please?"

Noah much would’ve preferred to go look for his boyfriend and find out what was taking him so long but he knew that Grace saw something in Jesse that no one else seemed to see and he trusted her judgment enough to go do the thing he was asking of him.

"Fine. But I’m not gonna spend forever out there," Noah said, taking his coat from Sierra who’d picked it up off the table and handed it to him. "For all I know he’s catching a cab back to London right now."

"I know he better not be," Grace replied, seriously.

The girls all watched as Noah made his way towards the back of the cafeteria and out the side door that Jesse had used to leave earlier until he was completely gone before realizing they were alone with each other.

"That’s so cute how you have him wrapped around your little finger like that," Sierra replied. "If only we could get all guys to do exactly what we wanted...the world would be a much better place, lemme tell ya."

"Noah knows I love him," Grace replied. "Were good friends, we do that kind of stuff for each other."

"The guys are close too, though," Zoey added. "I mean when Trey was unconscious in the fountain that time, they all stayed with him overnight and the next day until he got better. And they didn’t even like each other then."

"Yeah and Shawn spent an entire day helping Jesse find a new apartment and get settled in," Grace added.

"Not to mention Jesse bailing Trey out of jail when his brother got him in trouble," Zoey replied.

"They all seem like brothers or something," Sierra spoke. "You wouldn’t be able to tell on the surface though, the stubborn way they act."

"Yeah well I guess they’re like brothers in that way too," Zoey replied. "Fight all the time. Say they hate each other. But at the end of the day, they look out for each other."

"Nah," Amber suddenly intruded. "Jesse’s too selfish to be anyone’s brother like that. He’ll let em all down, you’ll see."

"Who asked you anyway?" Sierra asked, joining Grace and Zoey in the ‘let’s gang up on Amber’ club.

Amber had started to say something but stopped and looked up when the lights suddenly came back on.

"What a fucking waste of space," Noah mumbled as he walked back into the room, Jesse following quickly behind.

"Hey, I thought it was locked and it was dark."

"Right in front of you Jesse? You couldn’t see the breakers right in front of you?"

"I’ll do something you American’s rarely do here and take the fifth on this one. Anymore and I’ll have to get my lawyer involved."

"Give me a break," Noah mumbled rolling his eyes.

"Hey," Trey spoke, coming back into the cafeteria with Shawn.

Everyone looked them over, noticing they had no flashlights whatsoever with them.

"Yeah, so we would’ve been screwed I guess," Sierra spoke.

"What college kid is gonna buy a flashlight?" Amber asked. "When would they ever need it?"

Noah walked over to Trey looking him over seriously.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I’m good," Trey replied, before shuddering when Noah touched his face. "Your hands are cold."

"Blame the moron in the red sweater," Noah mumbled, before kissing Trey on the lips.

Shawn eyed the exchange, feeling the bottom of his stomach was falling out of his body as slowly as possible. He knew that he was going to have to get used to the sight of seeing them together from now on but even now it was making him sick. He wasn’t sure how he was gonna deal with it.

"So, having survived what could have potentially been the worst nightmare ever, I say we should open our gifts now," Zoey exchanged. "Before the next great bad event comes along and we have to deal with it."

"You know dyke girl, I think I like your plan," Amber spoke, putting her arm around Zoey’s shoulders.

Zoey looked over at Amber.

"Remove the arm from my shoulders or I’ll remove it from your body," she spoke.

"God, what a bitch," Amber spoke before adding. "Just kidding."

Everyone gathered around in a small little group, realizing that Zoey was right, having no electricity or heat could’ve been a huge problem for them but even during that they all managed to come together to try to work it out. It was almost like they were becoming their own little family in only a week.

"We work well in a crisis huh?" Sierra asked.

"Jesse doesn’t count," Noah said. "He locked himself in a room without a lock on the door."

"Oh you just aren’t going to bloody let that pass are you?" Jesse asked.

"Not a chance," Noah laughed along with Grace and Amber.

"We’ll see who all laughs when I cancel the checks for a grand I made out to you all," Jesse spoke.

Suddenly everyone shut up.

"That’s Christmas for ya," Sierra spoke up a few moments later.

"That’s Christmas," Grace agreed.

Noah put his arm around Trey’s shoulder as the two of them watched the banter between their friends.

"Merry Christmas," Noah spoke softly.

Trey looked over at him and smiled before looking over at Shawn and flashing him a slight smile who returned it, however meekly.