Noah was in his Literature class listening to his Professor talking about Romeo and Juliet and love.
" How do you make someone fall in love with you?" Noah asked, lost in thoughts of Aiden.
" What was that, Mr. Wright?" the Professor asked, raising his brow.
" Did I say it aloud?" Noah whispered to Rob.
Rob nodded, and Noah cursed to himself. " Sh*t."
" No cussing in my class," the Professor tsked. " So what was your question, Mr. Wright?"
" Ummm...!!! N-Nothing Sir. "
" But I surely heard something. Are you daydreaming in my class? Am I so boring to you?" the Professor asked, looking disappointed.
Noah's eyes were wide. " N-No, Sir." Suddenly he had an idea. " I was thinking about the character of my book."
"Book?" The Professor looked interested. " Are you writing a new book?"
" Yes, Sir, and I would be grateful if you could help me," Noah asked hopefully.
" Meet me in my office later, Mr. Wright," the Professor said with a hint of a smile and continued with his class.
" Ufff...!!" Noah sat down in his seat, signing in relief.
Rob rolled his eyes and said, " Are you always thinking about Aiden?"
" Of course...!!! Any doubts?" Noah whispered in a matter-of-fact tone.
Later after finishing his lunch, Noah stood in front of the Engineering department, hoping to get a glance of Aiden.
Shawn, who had just had his lunch with Mia, saw Noah and his friends and approached them. " Hey, Noah...Jay... When are you guys shifting?"
" Tomorrow," Noah said with a wide smile.
" You look too happy about it," Shawn asked, looking at his cheerful smile.
" I am."
" You are from the Literature department, right?"
" Yeah," Noah answered, looking at the building entrance.
" Then why are you always coming to our department?" Shawn asked, looking confused. " I don't think you are so eager to meet me."
" Oh, it's not you; it's someone else," Jay opened his big mouth, and Noah glared at him.
" I thought so." Shawn gave them a knowing look. " Who's the lucky guy?"
" He's a freshman," Jay chirped. " Ahh...!!! There he comes."
" Where? I can't see him," Noah said, looking around frantically.
" Gotcha!!" Jay exclaimed, chuckling to himself.
Noah hit him on his head, and Jay tried to move away. " Stop, stop... Aiden's here."
" Don't try to fool me again."
" I swear he's here. Look there."
Noah turned around, and Jay was right. Aiden was alone and was heading towards his class.
" Who's the guy?" Shawn asked, looking interested.
" The guy with the golden hair," Noah said, pointing at Aiden." He's wearing a white shirt today; it suits him, right? Yesterday he was wearing light blue, even that looked good on him, and black looks the best..."
" Woahh!! That's enough, man," Jay exclaimed.
Shawn giggled. " The guy's stunning... No wonder Noah's whipped."
Noah frowned at Shawn. " Don't you love Mia?"
" Of course, buddy. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate a person when he deserves it."
" Yeah, you are right," Noah said softly.
" Possessive...Hmmm...So are you not meeting your boyfriend?"
" He is not my boyfriend yet," Noah said sadly.
" Why not?" Shawn asked, surprised. "You didn't tell him?"
" This guy here can talk to the whole world for hours together, but when it comes to the guy he loves, he can hardly utter a word," Jay stated.
Shawn couldn't help but laugh. " I can completely understand your situation. Do you need my help?"
" Thanks, Dude, but I have worked it out."
" How's that?"
" Starting tomorrow, I will be his roommate," Noah smirked.
The next day was a weekend, and Noah had packed his luggage to shift to the dorm. When he came down with the baggage, his parents and sister sat there with gloomy faces.
" I won't be able to leave if you guys behave like that," Noah remarked. Come on... I am not leaving the country. My dorm is hardly a 30-minute drive from here."
" Give us a minute, son. We are not used to this," Noah's mother, Amelia, said, feeling choked up. His sister, Nora, was literally crying, wiping her tears and snot using a handkerchief.
" Heyy... Stop crying, Nora, " Noah comforted and hugged her. " I will come to meet you every weekend."
" How can you leave your sister for a boyfriend?" Nora said in between her tears.
" Stop being so childish, Nora," her Dad chastised her.
" I-I am sorry, Bro, but I will miss you."
" I know, Sis. I will miss you too. I love you so much," Noah said, feeling sad himself.
" Come here, son; even dad needs a hug from you," Daryl interrupted, and Noah hugged his Dad smiling at his silly behavior.
After they broke the hug, Daryl said, " I have a gift for you."
Noah was startled. " What's that?"
Daryl showed him the car keys with a red ribbon around them, and Noah's eyes almost popped out. " You got me a new car?"
Daryl nodded, and Noah jumped up in joy hugging his Dad again. Even Amelia and Nora couldn't help but smile, seeing Noah's cheerful mood.
" The old car you were driving was nothing short of a death trap. We couldn't risk that anymore, " Amelia explained. " And now that you have a new car, you have no reason to chicken out of your weekend visit to home."
" I wouldn't miss that for anything, Mom," Noah said sincerely and thanked his Mom and Dad.
Daryl helped Noah place his luggage in the car, and he left, promising to see them the following weekend.
Aiden was sitting in his room, working on his part-time job. It was almost a week at this University, and he had somewhat adjusted to his schedule. He didn't do anything except go to his classes and stay in his room doing his part-time jobs. He didn't even step out of the campus after he came here. The students in his department were better than he anticipated. At least for the past week, nobody had bothered him. Also, their course schedule was so busy they hardly had any time to breathe.
His roommate had left early in the morning and was not back yet. His luggage was all packed, and Aiden was dying to ask him whether he planned to move out.
Though Aiden was not close to Jay, he was a reasonably good roommate. Jay was hanging out with his friends most of the time and came back to his room late at night. Aiden was okay with that because he was used to always being alone.
Now Aiden had to worry about getting a new roommate. What would he be like?
Suddenly he heard his room door open, and Jay walked in. While Aiden was still wondering how to speak to him, Jay himself approached him. " Hey, Aiden. I need to talk to you."
" Yes...?"
" I am shifting to another room."
" W-Why?" Aiden was worried whether he had done something wrong.
Even Jay thought what to say as he couldn't tell that his friend had forced him to move out. " I-I wanted to stay with my friend, so I am shifting to his room."
" Ohh...!!" Aiden exclaimed softly. No wonder Jay wanted to leave. Who would want to stay with a boring person like him?
" I will be leaving now, and your new roommate would be here any moment," Jay said, looking at his watch.
Jay went to pick up his luggage when he heard someone knocking on the door. " I think he's already here."
Jay opened the door, and Noah frowned. " What? Did you expect someone else to open the door?" Jay asked, scrunching his brow.
" Why are you still here?" Noah whisper yelled.
" I wanted to interrupt the love birds," Jay teased in a low tone. " Just kidding. Actually, you are too early."
" Move aside, I need to see him," Noah said, annoyed, and rushed inside.
Aiden was surprised to see Noah enter with his bags. He was definitely not expecting him to be his new roommate. He didn't know why but he almost felt relieved.
Noah smiled at Aiden, and Aiden reluctantly smiled back. Noah was transfixed as it was the first time he had seen him smile, even though it was just for a brief second.
" Ahem..." Jay coughed to alert Noah to behave. Noah looked flustered and came back to his senses.
" I-I will be your new roommate," Noah said to Aiden placing his bags on Jay's bed.
When Aiden had seen Noah for the first time, he heard him say that he didn't want to leave his family, so he wondered why he shifted to a dorm now. He wanted to ask about it, but all he managed to say was..." O-Okay."
" Now that you are here, I will take my leave," Jay said a bit too loudly.
" D-Do you need any help?" Aiden couldn't help but ask. Even though he had left Dylan's house two years back, his habit of working and trying to help others was still intact.
Before Jay could say anything, Noah replied. " No..!!! He can do that himself."
Jay scowled at Noah, but Noah picked up Jay's bag and handed it to him.
" I will drop you till the door," Noah said and all but pushed Jay out of the room.
Jay rolled his eyes and said, " Wait till I have a girlfriend."
" I hope that happens soon; then I can spend more time with Aiden," Noah enunciated.
Jay scoffed. " Are you my friend or not?"
" Just go already," Noah said and pushed Jay, who shook his head and left carrying his bag on his shoulder.
Noah closed the door and signed. " Finally."