"So what are you in for?" Lucas inquired.
In the middle of folding a shirt - Kye paused - and turned to face his roommate. "What is this - prison?" It was an hour or so after Kye's father left with Dolores, but even so, Lucas got off his bed, checked to make sure the hall was clear, and then closed the bedroom door lightly. Lucas was definitely more relaxed, his true colors were beginning to shine through.
"The fact of the matter is, Kye, parents really only send their kids to St. Francis for a strict upbringing - mostly because they screwed up part of their teenage years and they have the dinero to send them here. When the President of the United States brings his only son here, there has to be a reason. So, what are you in for," he repeated the question, plopping down on Kye's bed, watching him unpack.
From the few minutes Kye had spent alone with his roommate, he learned that Lucas was a sexy, scrappy guy of eighteen years old. Kye's exact height, handsome as all get-out, and a brunette. Loosening his tie, Kye answered his question with a question, "Don't you read the tabloids?"
Lucas half-shrugged, "Not often. Hell, Mrs. Mars - who by the way is actually from Mars the planet - mentioned I was getting a new roommate, but what she failed to tell me the fucking President's son was going to be the one. What will the press think?"
It was Kye's turn to shrug. "They'll just think I'm going to school."
The preliminary discomforts and harshness, which generally make the first arrival day so cheerless and trying to the temper, being somehow lived through, the succeeding hours passed pleasantly enough. Kye successfully unpacked his suitcases, while Lucas spent constructive time on the internet - attempting to scrounge up past articles that were written about Kye and his shenanigans.
Kye reasoned that Lucas would find out eventually - whether Kye told him or Lucas found out by himself, either way he will upturn facts - not that it was anything personal. All the really personal facts Kye managed to keep to himself...
Right as Kye was finishing putting the bed spread on his bed - Lucas slammed down the mouse, exclaiming, "Dammit! What did you do - pay the press off to keep everything quiet? The most I can find is that you were born Kye Joseph Darryl on June 11, 1989 and that your father is the President," he read from the computer screen.
Kye rolled his eyes, "Please, you couldn't pay the press enough to keep quiet. You're looking in all the wrong places." He came up behind his roommate and felt his heart soften slightly at the delectable cologne scent that drifted off of Lucas. "Well no wonder you can't find anything," he snorted, "you're looking at previous headline titles for USA Today. Despite the fact that the press constantly hounds me - I'm not that important."
"Where should I search, then?" Lucas asked hotly. From his tone - it was clear to Kye that his roommate was not one to be corrected, or guffawed at. Kye made a mental note of that, but before he could answer Lucas properly, there came a rap on the door. Kye and Lucas turned simultaneously as Mrs. Mars poked her head in.
"Kye, you settling in okay?" Kye nodded silently. She smiled. "You should know that the press absolutely swamped your father on the way out and followed him all the way to the airport. I just received a phone call - he just boarded his plane - he should be back in D.C. in a few hours."
"Terrific," said Kye nonchalantly.
"Dinner will be in ten minutes, just so you boys know," she winked and pulled her head out of the room, leaving Kye and Lucas still stationed at the computer, staring at the spot where her head was two seconds ago.
Lucas quickly abandoned his mission on the internet, and began pulling on a wrinkled, white collared shirt. He then wiggled a pair of good slacks over his gym shorts, and selected a navy blue tie.
Kye, who was still dressed just as properly, observed Lucas's mannerisms and commented, "We're going to dinner - not the opera."
While tightening his tie in the mirror, Lucas glanced sideways at Kye. "One of the golden rules at St. Francis academy," he said into the mirror, and continued, "if you leave the living area to go anywhere on campus - you have to be dressed like a preppy asshole. You of all people should be use to it."
Kye thought, but did not say, that Lucas at least had the attitude part down. He was beginning to prefer the Lucas he met at the beginning - where he was at a loss of words. Sure, Lucas was handsome as all get-out, but his personality was beginning to annoy Kye.
Unfortunately, apart from Dolores Mars, Mr. Pompous was the only person Kye knew. Unless he wanted to sit alone during dinner, he had no other choice than to follow Lucas down to the dining hall. As it turned out, The Roomie was quite popular and as they passed rooms, Lucas gave Kye the low-down on each occupant under his breath. ("This is James Total's room - the biggest sport freak you'll ever meet...Kevin Thatcher has a different lady in his room every night...Walter Williams is anti-social and barely leaves his room...John McGuffy is the biggest loud mouth I ever knew...")
There were so many names that Kye began to lose interest. Once Lucas finished they were heading down the large staircase. "And all those guys did something to piss off their parents?" Kye asked The Roomie.
Lucas nodded solemnly. At first Kye thought he was going to give the history of each guy and thus braced himself for another long-winded explanation, but was surprised when The Roomie simply said, "yes" and left it at that.
In addition to being popular with the guys, The Roomie was quite the ladies man. A number of times down to the dining room, a good looking girl, dressed in a plaid skirt, white button shirt, and a blazer, would give a coy hello to Lucas. Following their greeting, they would pause, and say to Kye, "Wow - aren't you the President's son?" or something along those lines.
Kye was not sure what he was expecting out of the dining hall - perhaps something as grand as the foyer, with high arched ceilings. It was certainly a large room - but lacked the classical sophistication the rest of the rooms held. The high walls were paneled in dark mahogany wood; windows provided a view of the surrounding forest, and large round tables cluttered the room's surface. Chit-chat garbled the atmosphere and as Lucas and Kye weaved through numerous tables, heads swiveled around.
Kye could have been as pompous as The Roomie was and declare that all the attention was for him, because he was the President's son, after all. Somehow, though, that narcissist persona made him feel uncomfortable. He'd much rather be a nobody than a somebody. Story of my life, Kye thought dismally.
"Oi! Lucas!" somebody called out from a nearby table. Kye turned and spotted an equally handsome guy, around the same age, with dirty blonde hair, and a muscular framed that fit perfectly in his uniform. He was flagging Lucas down.
"Ah, this is Kevin I told you about," Lucas said under his breath. "The classy girl sitting next to him must be the girl he's been hitting the sheets with recently, to put it mildly."
Kye changed his attention over to the girl sitting directly next to Kevin. She had chestnut brown hair, with streaks of blonde in it. Her head was stooped down as she lazily fished around with her fork. Sure enough, Lucas was right, the moment Kevin sat back down he wrapped his arm around the girl. She looked up as if to protest - perhaps she looked a bit annoyed - but her eyes landed on Kye and to his utter surprise, she smiled ever so demurely. Kye flushed red.
"Man, Lucas, you are never late," Kevin was saying. "You're usually the first one on the scene - fork and knife in hand." He had not noticed Kye, who currently felt like a tag along mannequin.
The Roomie grabbed two chairs from the neighboring table, saying, "Yeah, well, I had some business to attend to."
"You're the President's son, aren't you?" another kid sitting at the table said in a mellow tone. He had shaggy black hair that dangled in front of his eyes. Right away, Kye noted that this kid's habit was pushing the hair away from his eyes and then fixing his sleek looking glasses.
"I am," Kye responded indifferently.
"I'm James Total," the black haired kid said, extending his arm across the table to shake hands. "If you're rooming with Lucas that means we're neighbors."
Kye slid his hand into James, shook briefly, then released, but still feeling the smoothness of James hands in his. Kye noted the paper-thin scar slice through James left eyebrow. Mute testimony to a life lived outside the normal range of caution.
"And I'm Adrianna Kaloz," the girl said, stretching out her hand as well. Kye took her action in two ways, not only was she trying to be polite, but by reaching out she successfully shifted her body so that Kevin's arm fell from around her shoulder.
Kevin did not take notice. In fact - he took notice to very little. Kye judged him to be an air-head with good looks. It was no wonder why Kevin and The Roomie were getting along like two peas in a pod.
The only two people Kye was beginning to have a genuine liking towards - in terms of liking their personality and appearance - were James and Adrianna. James appeared to be one of those silent, crafty type. His silence was not an indication that he did not know what to say, rather he was listening acutely and should he ever need to contribute, or provide a backlash for somebody's statement he was poised and ready to pounce into action.
Adrianna on the other hand - did not seem to be the girly girl type. She would squash a spider rather then squeal and dash from the room. By looking around the dining room - Kye noticed that generally the girls stuck together. But here Adrianna sat among all guys at a table and did not seem to care. Occasionally she would capture Kye's attention and provide a subtle smile.
The Roomie, who Kye had not noticed disappear, returned with two plates of food - one of which he dropped in front of Kye. "I'm telling you," Lucas said directed towards Kevin, as though they were in the middle of a conversation, "the Miami Dolphins will take it all this year. Their rookie they just got is destined to do great things for that team."
James lifted his head.
"Lucas - did you see their record last year?" Kevin shot back, mouth filled with food.
"That was last year, buddy," Lucas retorted. "I'm telling you - this rookie man..."
"You're making too much out of nothing," James deep, lustful teenage voice joined the conversation. "Dean Havoc, the rookie you're talking about, is decent - but other NFL teams made better arrangements with more advantageous players. The Dolphins will make it to the playoffs, at best."
The Roomie was frowning. "Piss off, James," was his response.
Much later in the night, The Roomie and Kye returned to the room. It was quite late and dark outside. The bedroom window was slightly ajar, tempting a non-existent Florida-night breeze to filter through. It was a lot hotter than Kye had ever remembered it to be in the room - and the temperature only increased in strength when Lucas began to casually undress for bed.
Obviously - Kye could not stare, but luckily on the open closet door stood a full-length mirror. So while sitting on his bed, staring at the mirror - he caught the reflection of The Roomie first unbuttoning his short - the white collared shirt slid from his tanned shoulders and fell to the ground. He lacked a six-pack, but his chest was still pretty well formed with quarter-sized nipples.
The Roomie then proceeded to slide off his slacks and gym shorts - standing beautifully tall in his hip-hugger boxer briefs with the Hanes waistband. Lucas unconsciously ran his thumb around the front of the waistband and let it snap against his skin, before slipping into bed, bidding a goodnight to Kye. If only his personality was as appealing as his body was, Kye thought standing up to undress.
At that moment he realized he had left his cell phone down in the dining hall. Announcing to The Roomie that he'll be back shortly - but did not expect a response - Kye slipped out of the room, en route for the dining hall.
Things were incredibly, too quiet around St. Francis academy at night. The only sound was of Kye's footfalls beating against the hard floor. His eyes were dazed, his body very hot, and his brain excited from watching Lucas undress and yet half asleep. Inside the dining hall everything was even quieter. The hall was now empty. There were the chairs turning in towards each other where people had sat talking, and the empty glasses on the round tables, and the newspaper scattered on the floor. As he shut the door he felt as if he were enclosed in a square box, and instantly shriveled up. He still felt much animosity towards his father for sending him here.
As he fumbled vaguely among the tables, searching for his cell phone, he saw a figure cross the tail of his eyes, coming through the dining hall doors and down the center aisle. He heard the light tapping of heels against the floor, and to his great surprise, Adrianna came up to him, laid her hand on the table as if to prevent him from searching for his phone, and said:
"You're just the person I wanted to talk to." Her eyes were very bright, and she kept them fixed upon him. "Come with me."