Elliot ditched his jock reputation after high school. He happily traded his cleats and shoulder pads for college cafeteria food and seminars notes. Now, without the distraction of football, he has managed to find success at the University of Minneso...
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"Do you ever pretend you're an airbender and take credit for what the wind does?" Pierce asked.
From the sixth-floor window, Elliot could see the swaying tops of frosted evergreens. Pierce imitated the tree's movements, looking like one of those inflatable tube characters at a car wash.
"Where's your key?" Elliot asked.
The dormitory hall was quiet. Most of the residents had gone to sleep, leaving Elliot and Pierce alone. Only the musty smell of weathered carpeting filled the slender space. The stale air was like sweetener to Elliot's bitter lungs. He had been breathing in the chill of winter for the last three blocks, trudging into the building with shoes covered in snow.
"Where's your key?" Pierce countered, mockingly. He swirled a finger in the air and booped Elliot's chest like it was a button. Laughter bubbled out of him when the blue-haired boy remained stoic.
"I don't live in this dorm anymore," Elliot reminded him.
"Right. I forgot," Pierce slurred. "You left me."
Elliot pretended to be unfazed by Pierce's uninhibited words. "Your key, Pierce," he repeated. "Where is it?"
"It's in my back pocket," he garbled. "Behind me. Passed my belt. If you reach my left ass cheek, you've gone too far." He snorted. "You should know where to find that. You've - "
"Pierce," Elliot interjected, glancing behind his shoulder to ensure the hallway was still empty. "Please stop talking."
"You used to like talking to me," Pierce mumbled, wiggling his tongue like it was a new extremity.
"That's debatable," Elliot replied, stretching an arm around Pierce's waist.
Holding up Pierce's squirmy weight was like trying to juggle three sacks of jelly. Elliot propped him against the wall as he turned the key in the knob.
Pierce continued to ramble, saying, "The password is ELLIOT NORFOLK'S DICK IS - "
Elliot clamped his hand over Pierce's month before he could finish shouting his make-believe password. A few seconds passed and Elliot released his hold, deeming it safe enough to let Pierce's vocal chords have free-reign of his enclosed dorm room. Elliot released a sigh of relief when he shut the door.
"Why am I always the drunk babysitter?" Elliot mumbled to himself.
Taking care of drunk guys had been his designated duty since high school. Pierce was a lot bigger than his former blond crush, but he got wasted just as fast.
"You should sleep," he told Pierce.
Pierce nodded, seemingly in agreement. He didn't even take off his shoes before he plopped onto his twin-sized bed. Elliot unlaced his Nikes and set them on the floor before he covered his large body with a blanket. His drunk persona snuggled into the mattress.
"Sleep on your side," the blue-haired boy said. "I've heard choking on your own puke isn't fun."
Pierce scooched to the far side of the bed, leaving a space big enough for Elliot. "Sleep with me," he requested, batting his lashes to make the gold in his eyes look like a beacon.
Elliot's lungs swelled and then fell, slow. "Pierce," he edged, knowing exactly what would happen if he got into bed with him. "You're drunk."
"I'm only drunk because I've been thinking about you."
The words stepped into Elliot's heart as if they were coming home. Although drunken and imprudent, the verbal sentiment echoed through each chamber like a mythical Siren melody. It reverberated within his chest until he remembered to breathe.
"What about your new roommate?" Elliot asked. "He'll see us." All this time and he still couldn't say no to Pierce Thompson.
The hockey player flopped his head over his pillow like a puppy, hopeful and pleading. "Blake went to a rave with some girl." And no doubt he'd be coming back during the late hours of morning.
The proposition was tempting, but Elliot knew Pierce wasn't in the right mind state to make such an offer.
"Pierce...," Elliot rubbed his eyed. "I shouldn't - "
"Come on, Blue," Pierce reached out and tugged on Elliot's hand. The contact was like a vortex, sucking Elliot into an old feeling with no escape.
Elliot swallowed. "I'll stay. Because I'm tired," he lied, stealing the pillow from underneath Pierce. His head dropped with a bounce. "But I'm taking the floor. Get some sleep."
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