The Invisible Gay

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Kegan had eaten with his parents in the school cafeteria after they helped him set up his room, and then trudged back to his new dorm room alone. He’d hugged his parents good-bye and wished they could stay just a little longer, but they had a two hour drive ahead of them and the sunlight wouldn’t last forever.

He got back in his room, only mildly surprised to find his roommate had finally arrived.

“Hey, I’m Evan. ‘Sup?” he asked. He was a good-looking wiry guy with light brown hair and a square jaw. His skin was flawless and he had a confident attitude.

“Kegan.” They shook hands and looked around their already messy room.

“It’ll look sweet once all the boxes are gone,” Evan remarked.

“Yeah. I’m not really a neat freak, so don’t sweat it.”

“Nice. Looks like you just made it in time for the RA’s meeting.”

“Oh yeah, nearly forgot about that.” Kegan grabbed the informational sheet with his emergency contact info and headed back to the hallway, where several other freshmen were congregating down in the end lounge. “You coming, man?”

“Right behind you.” Evan trailed after him, and the two silently joined the rest of the floor as the cute Hispanic RA entered.

The room had comfortable-looking blue couches arranged facing a TV attached to one wall. Jenny stood in front of it and explained the history of the dorm and what her role was. Kegan nodded along with the others, and introduced himself when they went around the room. After him, a skinny guy named Tommy said he was a sophomore and screwed up his room registration last year so he ended up getting a corner room all to himself.

“I already pushed the two beds together,” Tommy explained. “Lap of luxury.”

Kegan felt like his college life was starting the right way when ice cream sandwiches were passed out. He was most interested to hear that representations from the college’s clubs and organizations would have booths set up in the quad during lunch the next day. He was eager to see what sort of random clubs he could join since he’d been a mathlete in high school.

Jenny wrapped the meeting up and started collecting the freshmen paperwork. Evan handed his to Kegan and said, “You mind giving this to her? I told some people I’d meet up with them.”

“No problem.”

“Nice. I’ll catch up with you later on.”

“All right.” Kegan hoped he had made a good first impression on his new roommate. Evan seemed like a fun guy to have around, although it was surprising he had already made friends.

The crowd in the lounge dwindled and Kegan shuffled forward, trying to hear what his new floormates were talking about without looking like he was eavesdropping. A handsome guy with wiry black hair and brown skin entered the room and sidled up to Jenny as she chatted with a few girls.

“And you may be seeing a lot of this guy,” Jenny said, elbowing the newcomer. “This is my boyfriend, Jorge.”

“Hey, everyone,” Jorge said, flashing a huge grin.

Kegan noticed a tall blond guy next to a short cute guy frown. Jenny having a boyfriend probably disappointed all of the straight freshman boys. But the short guy didn’t seem to care. Maybe there was potential there.

As more people left the lounge, Kegan realized he was standing alone. He strode up to Jenny and handed her his and Evan’s paperwork.

“Thanks, uh, Kegan and Evan,” she said, quickly eyeing it.

“Kegan. I’m a science major.”

“I’m history,” Jenny said. “Probably won’t see you much in classes, but we’ll get to know each other around the dorms.”

“Cool.” Kegan already felt awkward, so he gave a stiff wave to Jenny and Jorge and hurried out of the lounge. He passed a few people in the hall and looked for the cute guy he thought might be gay, but he didn’t see him. So it was back to his room to finish unpacking.

He’d thought that college life would be a thrill a minute whenever he wasn’t in classes, but somehow hanging shirts in his closet didn’t seem that exciting a way to spend his first night living away from his parents.