-Two Days Later-

-Mason-

            "Not yet," I declared the moment I made it back to the dorm.

I'd taken a single step inside the small room and I was already being hounded by Eric, his mouth running a mile a minute as he questioned me about whether Bennett had reached out or not. I would've probably answered him too, if it wasn't for the fact that this would've only led us back to the exact conversation we'd had while I was driving back to the dorm.

No, I hadn't heard from Bennett yet. And honestly, I was kind of trying to temper my expectations in case the call didn't arrive.

I sighed in annoyance, closing the door while ignoring Eric's pleas to hand over my phone so he could verify it for himself. And he had such a determined expression on his face too, as if his nosiness would magically manifest a new text on my phone.

            "You're a liar. What did he say?" Eric more or less demanded, making grabby hands like a child whilst I struggled to close the door with my arms full, trying not to trip and drop everything. He had the nerve to scoff when I didn't immediately cave, finally getting up from his chair once I glared at him expectantly.

Except, it was only to walk over and snatch the paper bag that I signaled as his with the awkward tilt of my head. The little shit.

Although not entirely due to Eric's insistence, I'd stopped by and bought us some food on my way back like he wanted. I'd initially rejected the idea altogether, already struggling to stay fully awake while driving back from so far away. Luckily for Eric, the burger joint nearby was open 24/7 and I was getting kind of hungry as well. So, I'd begrudgingly reconsidered once I'd taken note of the neon sign illuminating my dashboard as I passed by.

Eric complained about waiting so long for me to come home, even though he could have easily ordered himself something to eat at any point during the night. And, of course, he'd used the excuse of having too much homework and needing to focus, which was rather ironic considering he'd kept me trapped on a call for most of my drive back.

            "They didn't have any shakes, so I got you an iced coffee and added extra caramel," I explained while he grabbed his drink, somewhat relieved when Eric decided to help me set everything down on the nightstand.

            "Thanks, baby boy," Eric replied sarcastically, winking at me before heading back to his desk.

            I chose to ignore him.

"Hey Ricky," I greeted off-handedly while setting down his food beside him on Eric's bed, grateful that he wasn't egging Eric on.

Instead, he was distractedly crawling into a grueling top five situation with a bunch of sweats, attentively staring at the television until he was abruptly sniped from off-screen. I stifled a laugh at the clear disbelief with which he gaped at the screen, only barely avoiding Ricky's vengeful smack, which would've most definitely painfully connected with my ass.

"None of that," I complained, stepping away for good measure.

            "Shit," Ricky grumbled before smiling up at me, setting the controller down and cheerfully digging through the bag for his food. "What's up Mason?"

            I sat down on Eric's bed only once I'd confirmed that he was too busy eating to try and ambush me, wearily leaning against Ricky's shoulder as he bit into his cheeseburger. I was too tired to tease him about not having Eric around to carry him in-game like he usually did, but I did reply in short quips as he asked me about my weekend trip.

In all honesty, I was rather surprised that he was still here, especially since he was usually busy on weekends. And seeing how Eric seemed too busy to entertain him, he must've genuinely had nothing else going on.

            Ricky just grumbled in response, pouting up at me when I expressed this. "Mel's been so busy these last few weekends. Her clubs always have something they need to prepare for."

            Suddenly, Eric scoffed beside us. "Are you saying I'm your second option?"

            "Hmm?"

            "Why wouldn't—?" I yelped as I felt something cold against my neck, snatching the cold beer can that Eric was trying to force down my shirt. "Dirk!"

            Ricky burst out laughing while taking the can from me and opening it, both of them a lot more awake than I could ever be at this time. I just watched as he drank it, shrugging Eric off when he tried to hand me another one.

            "Your loss," Eric muttered while nursing on his drink between bites of his burger, clearly using this time to ignore his academic responsibilities. I signaled for him to go back to his desk, but he just rolled his eyes.

            "It's almost three in the morning and you both have classes tomorrow," I pointed out... not that they ever bothered to listen to me.

            Ricky chuckled. "It's just one or two cans... ease up, Mason," he replied.

            Eric quipped in with a droll, echoed sentiment, making a face for good measure. "Yeah, Mason. Ease up."

            I chuckled at that, making a face right back before briefly considering tackling him to the ground. Luckily for him, I was a bit too tired for that.

            "You better not get caught with those. I'm not trying to get written up," I murmured quietly, sleepily frowning up at him when he didn't seem bothered by the idea. Our RA wasn't necessarily the strictest dude around, but that didn't mean I was looking forward to testing our luck.

            "Nahhh. He said it was fine if I gave him a six-pack whenever we sneak some in, remember?" Eric mentioned in turn, which was actually news to me. Honestly, with how many times our dormmate Peter had reported us to the RA for noise complaints past sleep hours, I was surprised we hadn't been kicked out yet.

            "You bribed our RA?"

            Eric scoffed. "More like he requested to be bribed. If anything, I'm the victim here."

            I yawned into my hand, grumbling about being too tired to deal with this shit before getting up and crawling over into my own bed. I was quite hungry, but it'd also been such a long drive back, so I couldn't make up my mind about which to do first.

"Did you hunt them down?" I murmured while half-awake, still debating whether to eat or take a nap first. So, I just lay there, thinking about it with my eyes closed and my breath evening out. And I was almost captured by the blissful repose of sleep, if it hadn't been for Eric's annoying reminder ringing in my ears.

"Those fries taste like shit when they're cold," Eric replied off-handedly while focusing on his computer screen.

"He's not wrong," Ricky added, rather unhelpfully. "I doubt your microwave will help at that point."

I grumbled but sat up, begrudgingly eating some of the fries while glaring at them. So close. "So, what happened?"

"The two idiots that weren't answering dropped the course," he replied, slowly shaking his head at the mere reminder. "But my dear professor made it clear that he's still expecting a completed project regardless."

Ricky snorted. "That sucks."

Eric just nodded in agreement.

"You almost done, at least?" I asked, glancing over at his computer.

Eric sheepishly smiled in turn, waving me off. "Oh, yeah. I finished that a few hours back. Just now, I was working on an essay that's due next week."

            Oh. So, the jerk could've grabbed his own food.

            I merely gave Eric a stink eye, knowing I couldn't even request him for his part of the meal. My father had eagerly offered to pay for our food when he heard me complaining about how Eric needed me to hurry on my drive back to the dorms so I could take him something to eat. He hadn't taken my side, no. He'd just rushed me out and funded Eric's whining.

            And feed him I did, so perhaps we were both suckers in this case.

            I picked up my phone and stared at the bright screen with bleary eyes, frowning when I realized it was almost three in the morning, actually. Damn it. I hadn't expected traffic to be that bad driving down.

            I yawned under my breath, sending my dad a request for the full amount before I forgot. Then, I set down my phone once more, focusing back on my own food. I was quite exhausted after an eventful trip up near the mountains, and it was all my own damn fault. My family had stayed at a cabin and we'd spent most of our time skiing, which was always fun until I remembered Jane was decidedly quite gifted at skiing and would egg me on to follow her down the most terrifying of slopes. So, yeah, I had almost perished several times...

            And I'd also fallen a few dozen times over, which accounted for all the bruises I'd managed to collect across my legs and arms. I'd even managed to get the wind knocked out of me when I slammed into a pole while distractedly flipping Jane off, which was the most severe case of instant karma I'd ever witnessed.

            I was surprised I hadn't lost a limb trying to keep up with her. And the worst part, really, was that I couldn't even blame my dear sister for any of it; I'd willingly trailed after her down the harder slopes out of the stubborn desire to not be left behind, competitively throwing myself into the wolf's den to unsuccessfully prove that I could.

            Well, at least I'd made it back mostly intact, short of my dignity as an athlete.

            "Wow, so nothing?" Eric mentioned under his breath. I blinked, realizing he'd managed to grab my phone at some point. "And it's been three days too."

            I glanced down at the spot where I'd left it, my eyebrows rising in sheer disbelief. "How?"

            Eric just sighed, tossing the phone back onto my bed before focusing back on his fries. "I can't believe you fumbled this badly."

            "I—I didn't!"

            "Three days," Ricky interjected, wincing.

            "Two," I argued wearily, unsure of who to glare at.

            "Saturday, Sunday, and Monday," Eric counted sarcastically.

            "It's been Monday for like three hours at most. Doesn't count," I explained defensively before heatedly pointing at both of them, narrowing my eyes. "Enough."

Eric was being a pessimistic jerk for some reason, but I'd seen Bennett's eyes when he'd explained that he didn't have a phone to contact me. It had been sincere... so all I could do was take his word for it.

            "Besides, he doesn't owe me anything," I grumbled.

            Eric just waved me off, grumbling about how I should've let him go into the gym on Friday night, as if he would've made all the difference. "When do you think he'll get a new phone?"

            I shrugged, burying my face against the pillow and groaning out in frustration. I'd tried not to think about it over the weekend, but Eric wasn't the only one curious to know when Bennett would reach out either.

"Hmm, who are we talking about, anyways?" Ricky asked suddenly.

I looked up, daring Eric to say anything.

"Some dude Mason's crushing on," Eric replied, surprisingly vague enough that I didn't feel the need to silence him permanently.

"Yeah, that."

Ricky nodded his head in partial understanding, frowning to himself. "Three days, though? That's tough, buddy. I wouldn't hold my breath."

I grumbled. "N-no... you don't get it. It's—"

"Is it complicated?" Eric asked, grimacing. "Or are you out of your depth?"

I screamed into the pillow this time, only foregoing suffocating myself so I could glower at Eric. How the hell could I win when they were team-tagging me with their disbelief? The cruel truth snapped me awake like ice cold buckets of water, leaving me shuddering in its wake...

What if they were right?

            "I'm tagging along to the gym today," Eric mentioned off-handedly, and I could feel him pacing between our beds. "That way I can remind him about the party this Thursday."

            "Oh, he's coming?" Ricky asked excitedly.

            "Preferably not," I interjected, just as my phone started to ring.

            We all froze, staring down at it in shock.

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A/N: Thank you for reading.