Settling in for the night

The day was going faster than anyone would have planned. The hall director gave their speech. There was all the protocol of check-in and forms to sign and then the endless lines to get their books for the semester.

Amir was glad he'd been able to pre-pay for the vast majority of his needs but knew he'd need a job. He couldn't afford to wrack up any debt on his credit cards - well, his cousin's cards - and his cousin only had a few dollars left in his debit account. But his room and board, tuition and books were paid for at least through the semester. That's when he spied the flyer offering $100 for a 2-hour sitting as a nude model.

He sort of hated the idea but the reality was he needed cash and fast - he'd sort of forgot about a few of the basic necessities. So, he called the number, and he was set to appear on day one of some art class. He hoped no one he knew would be there...

Getting to his room he was exhausted and all he wanted to do was crash. That's when he realized there were two beds in the room. It hadn't dawned on him he'd have a roommate. He'd never had to share a room with anyone before. He'd taken the cheapest room option the university allowed and he guessed this was why.

A few minutes later, Chase rolled in. "Oh... looks like we're roomies," he said. "I, uh..., I don't want to freak you out or anything, but just so you know, I'm a fairly private person. It's nothing personal, I just... just don't like showing off my body... I mean, look at us - total opposites."

"Don't worry man. We'll figure things out," Amir said and gave Chase a buddy shoulder slap.

"Yeah," Chase said, nursing his shoulder. He never understood why guys liked to hit each other.

Night came and Amir took of his shirt - September could be warm early on. Chase tried not to stare - the mix of being impressed and intrigued by Amir's body while feeling uncomfortable once again 'feeling' like a man but not looking like one. It was awkward sleeping in a room with someone you'd just met, but eventually both drifted off to sleep after talking a bit about the coming semester.

When morning came, Amir was surprised to see Chase already up and ready for the day. "I'm an early riser. Glad I didn't wake you."

Amir was slow to wake - never having much of a strict schedule he'd had to follow before but reminded himself he was Amir now... life was different now. Then he saw what time it was and knew he had to hurry. He had that gig first thing and he had to be ready before the students arrived and sign some forms. Oh how he hoped 'Intro to Art Forms' wasn't something anyone he knew had to take.

~ ~ ~

Chase found the fine arts building. As a history major, he was focused on the arts in general and 'Intro to Art Forms' sounded like a simple enough class to check the 'art' elective box - even though he couldn't draw a stick figure. He wasn't comforted at all when he walked in, early as usual, and saw easels everywhere.