Chris

  Chris collapsed on his bed from the excitement of his first day at college and from the exhaustion of moving into his first ever dorm room. It was a small room with two twin beds, two desks, two chairs, two chest of drawers, and two closets. All the furniture was made from standard office plywood. The carpet was a neutral shade that one would encounter in a bland doctor’s office. The walls were beige and covered with a layer of soft, porous material designed for sticking thumbtacks into it. Overall, Chris was not displeased that he would spend his semester in such a boring space. To him, it seemed to match how he felt about himself—boring and nondescript.

  He was an average student as far as his grades went. He was on honor roll but far from the top of the class. He had wondered ever since he got the acceptance letter from Wellington how he had managed to impress the Admissions Committee. He could not think of anything in his transcripts or his entrance essay that stood out. He also couldn’t figure out why Wellington offered such a generous financial aid package. Part of him thought it was all a mistake and that he would be called into the Dean’s office only to find out the offer was rescinded. However, he was on the list for a room so there must be some legitimacy to the offer.

  As he was staring at the stained ceiling, he heard the doorknob jiggle. He sat up in his bed and waited to see what was going to happen. The doorknob turned and the door opened. Standing in the hallway was Ian and massive specimen of a human. The brute towered over Ian by at least half a foot. Chris and Ian were approximately the same height—5’9”—so this guy had to be at least 6’3”. This guy was thick and broad—almost twice the width of Ian.

  “Chris, I’d like you to meet your roommate,” Ian said pointing to the brute. “Chris, meet Caleb Forrester. Caleb, this is Chris Smith.”

  Caleb entered the room looking around before finally landing his icy blue eyes on Chris. Caleb extended his meaty hand.

  “I go by Cal,” he muttered in a deep voice. Chris extended his hand which was engulfed by Cal’s hairy paw.

  “Nice to meet you,” Chris squeaked, intimidated by the presence of this ginger beast before him. Chris noted that Cal’s arm was entirely covered in orange hair. His skin was tanned and freckled all over.

  “I go by Chris,” Chris nervously laughed trying to make a joke which Cal did not pick up on.

  “Cal will be playing football for the school,” Ian said stepping into the room.

  “Oh, great!” Chris said anxiously looking up at Cal. Cal had not taken his eyes off Chris.

  “You like football?” Cal said. Cal’s voice was deep and thunderous. Chris could pick up on a Southern accent but wasn’t sure what part of the South he was from. Chris was from Tennessee and had a little bit of an accent. Cal, on the other hand, had a thick drawl like that of Mississippi or Alabama.

  “Yeah, but baseball is more my game,” Chris said giving Cal a smile to show that they were compatriots since they both played team sports.

  “Okay then,” Cal said unimpressed and turned to put his bag on the unoccupied bed.

  Picking up on the awkwardness, Ian chimed in. “We’re having a social in the common room this evening. Sort of a get to know each other at 7. We’re going to have pizza. It would be great to see you two down there.”

  “Cool,” Chris said to Ian. Cal didn’t say a word.

  “So, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted. I’ll be having more students moving in, so I better get back to my room,” Ian said and looked over at Chris. Chris gave Ian a quick look and shrugged. Ian smiled as if to reassure him and closed the door.

  Chris watched as Cal silently unpacked his bag. Cal methodically laid out his clothes on the bed. Chris was amazed at the massive size of this guy’s calves. He had never seen a guy as thick and muscular as Cal. Cal’s lack of engagement was starting to make Chris nervous. He wanted to break the silence somehow.

  “I’m from Miners Creek, Tennessee,” Chris started. “It’s a small town about an hour west of Chattanooga. What about you?”

  Cal stopped and turned his head toward Chris. “I’ve heard of it. Y’all have a nice lake there.”

  “Oh, yeah, we do,” Chris laughed.

  Cal turned and sat down on his bed. “I’m from Mobile.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s cool,” Chris said looking at Cal.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Cal said looking at Chris. Chris couldn’t think of anything else to ask. He was bad at small talk especially with such an intimidating specimen as Cal.

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  “Hmm,” Chris said.

  “What made you want to come here?” Cal asked surprising Chris.

  “Oh,” Chris said. “I guess because Wellington gave me the best financial aid package.”

  “I hear that,” Cal replied. “Same here.”

  “I take it you played football in high school,” Chris said feeling slightly at ease with Cal’s willingness to engage.

  “Yeah,” Cal responded. “Ever since middle school.”

  “Cool, my best friend’s brother played football,” Chris replied trying to find some common ground.

  “No kidding?” Cal said.

  “No kidding,” Chris said. “He was pretty good.”

  “Is he on a college team?” Cal asked.

  “Yeah, he’s on the team at UT,” Chris replied.

  “No shit!” Cal exclaimed. “What’s his name?”

  “Joe Barber,” Chris replied. Cal’s face quickly turned into a broad smile.

  “Yeah, I know that name! He’s pretty good,” Cal said.

  “Yeah, he is!” Chris said. “Small world.”

  “Yeah, small world,” Cal said with a chuckle. “What are you thinking of majoring in?”

  Chris thought for a moment. “I really don’t know. I guess biology. I’m thinking I might go to medical school.”

  “That’s cool, man,” Cal said.

  “You?” Chris asked.

  “No idea,” Cal replied.

  “That’s alright. You don’t have to decide for a while,” Chris said.

  “That’s what they say,” Cal said and laughed. Chris reciprocated his laugh feeling like he had successfully broken the ice with this beast before him.

  “Are you going to rush a fraternity?” Chris asked.

  “Nah,” Cal said. “At least not this semester. Football players can’t rush until the Spring,” Cal replied.

  “Why is that?” Chris asked.

  “It messes with the game schedule during the fall,” Cal replied.

  “Ah, that makes sense,” Chris thought.

  “What about you?” Cal asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about fraternities,” Chris responded.

  “A guy on the team here that went to my high school is a BUP. It’s the football fraternity,” Cal said looking at his neatly folded clothes.

  “BUP?” Chris asked with a puzzled look on his face.

  “Beta Upsilon Pi,” Cal responded. Chris nodded his head but still was unclear about what all that meant.

  “So that’s the fraternity that all the football players join?” Chris asked.

  “Not all, but the majority of BUPs are on the team,” Cal stated. Chris was certain that he would not pledge Beta Upsilon Pi. He was no football player and did not interact with them during high school.

  “What about the other fraternities?” Chris asked eager to find out where he fit in this system.

  “I don’t know all of them, but there’s Mu Psi Beta, or the Mu’s, which are all stoners and artists of some variety. There’s Gamma Iota Rho, or the GIRs, just next door from the Mu House. They are all nerds. There’s Tau Beta Zeta for all the trust fund babies living off their daddy’s money,” Cal explained. “That’s all I know about.”

  “How do you know all about this?” Chris asked. His head was swimming from all the information he had just gotten.

  “The guy who went to my high school,” Cal replied.

  “Oh right. I had no idea about all of this,” Chris said in amazement.

  “That’s just the ones I know about,” Cal said. “There’s like 10 fraternities here.”

  “Ten???” Chris asked in shock.

  “Yep,” Cal replied. “So, if you want to go Greek and can’t get into one of them, you’re pretty much a loser.”

  Chris shook his head. He quickly made up his mind that he had to get into a fraternity. None of the ones Cal mentioned were of interest to Chris. There had to be a group of guys he would fit in with. He had six other chances.

  “Yeah, I don’t want to be a loser,” Chris said trailing off in thought.

  “Hey, do you know about our Dorm Advisor across the hall?” Cal chimed in.

  “Ian?” Chris said snapping out of his train of thought about fraternities. “He seems like a cool guy.”

  “Word is he’s gay,” Cal said but spoke in a lower tone as if he thought they were being overheard.

  Chris blinked a couple of times not understanding the secrecy. “Okay.”

  “My friend on the team said he was drunk as a skunk and started balling on the phone that he was into guys. Woke up the entire dorm,” Cal said laughing.

  “Oh man. Really?” Chris said. He didn’t understand why Cal thought this funny.

  “Yeah! Totally wrecked his chance at getting into a fraternity,” Cal replied with a chuckle.

  “Dude, that’s pretty sad,” Chris replied feeling bad for Ian. After hearing this, a part of Chris wanted to instantly go give Ian a warm, friendly hug.

  “You don’t think that’s funny?” Cal asked.

  “No, not at all. My best friend in high school, Mike, dated a guy. He and his boyfriend went through some bad shit,” Chris said in a serious tone. Cal quickly stopped laughing and blushed. He became obviously uncomfortable.

  “Oh, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you would be offended,” Cal said.

  “I’m not offended, but I feel really bad for Ian now,” Chris said looking at their door. The spark he felt for Ian when they first met intensified.

  “Wait a minute,” Cal said. “Your best friend’s name is Mike. I think I remember that Joe Barber has a brother named Mike.”

  “Yeah,” Chris said. “We’re talking about the same guy. Mike’s brother is Joe.”

  “Oh shit,” Cal said. “Joe Barber’s brother is gay?”

  “Mike prefers the term fluid. He likes the person, not the gender,” Chris replied nonchalantly.

  “I never would have seen that coming. A guy on Tennessee’s football team has a queer brother,” Cal said looking over at Chris.

  “Dude don’t use that word that way,” Chris curtly replied. “And so what? What’s that got to do with Joe?”

  "Excuse me!” Cal said giving Chris an exaggerated face. “I didn’t know you were Mr. Gay Rights over there!”

  “Let’s drop it,” Chris said rubbing his temples.

  He had no idea that his past would follow him to college. He also did not anticipate that the same attitudes that plagued the gay students at Miners Creek still were alive and kicking in college. Chris thought college was supposed to be welcoming and accepting.

  “I’m going to take a shower before our get together,” Cal said standing up. “I smell like I’ve been driving all day.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Chris said laying back on his bed.

  The information about Ian that Cal just told him started echoing around in his head. That poor guy. For such a warm, caring guy, Chris would never have imagined that he was going through some emotional turmoil about his sexuality. To have guys laughing at another person’s struggle was a little sickening. Chris was beginning to understand that no matter where you were, there were always going to be assholes. He resolved that he was going to make it a point to try to get to know Ian more. He wanted Ian to know that he had an ally.

  He also wanted to explore the spark he felt when he met Ian.