It’s nice to have someone to hang out with, someone he already knows, someone who knows him. The guys on his floor—yeah, they’re fun to be around, and whenever Brian heads out, Vince trails along just for something to do, but that’s not friendship. Remove the common veil of school and there’s nothing there between them. He has to hide behind a role he’s sort of painted for himself here at college, the character of the gloomy roomie. The other guys get a kick out of it and Vince feels comfortable enough in the position but with Eric, there’s no pretension. There’s no censor on his words—or his thoughts, God knows. There’s never an anxious moment where he says something and waits two beats to see how Eric will react, because he already knows. The past between them, it shines through Vince’s
