The next few days are a whirlwind of activity. I pace my dorm room, having returned after breakfast the following morning. Sam decided to stay at Katie’s for a couple of days and I can’t really invite myself to stay over again since she and I barely know each other. I stop by once a day for two days straight to check on him. Despite needing to talk to him about some stuff, I figure it can all wait. He has been busy with a check up with his doctor and filling out a report of the accident for the police. They ask me a few questions about Stevie and the video and how everything went down with that. I answer them honestly, despite being embarrassed again about being caught, but they tell me it will help with their case that Stevie intentionally drove into Sam, blaming him and me for getting kicked off the team. I learn from Kasey that he was kicked out of school too for what they are now calling the accident, a hate crime.

Each of the team members stop by to check on me, and I have to answer calls from my Mom at least once a day, sometimes twice. I completely forget about the anticipation of the midterm grade, but Thursday I get a message delivered to my dorm by Clive saying that Coach wants to see me in the office.

I head down to the arena immediately and knock on Coach’s door.

“Come in,” he says gruffly, and I open the door. Coach looks up and I shut the door behind me.

“Coach,” I greet him.

“Fisher, I asked you down here to talk about your midterm grade,” he responds. I had forgotten all about it. I had finished the paper and turned it in on time, but then with the playoff game, and everything that happened after, I had forgotten to log into the learning site to look at the grade.

“Coach, I…” Coach hands me the paper which was upside down on the desk. I stare at it blankly, not registering the grade.

“An A?” I look at him for confirmation. He smiles, a facial expression he rarely has.

“That’s right.” He sits back. “And from what I understand, you did most of the work on your own when you weren’t speaking with Sam. I’m proud of you, son.”

I continue staring at the paper. Then I look up. “How did you know Sam and I weren’t speaking?” I ask him.

“Because I checked with the librarian and she said the two of you started out working together, but in the end, it was just you working on the paper. I told you, I keep tabs on my boys and their schooling.”

I nod and ask, “So, I’m not benched for the Championship game then? I’m off the hook?”

“Yes, you are off the hook. You can start in the game this weekend. Keep your grades up and make sure I don’t have to get on your case about them again, we clear?”

I grin at him and then say, “anything else Coach? I want to go show this to…”

“Get out of here, Fisher. You’ve had a rough go of it lately. Go relax and have some downtime before tomorrow’s game.”

I run out the door and immediately catch the bus downtown. When I get to Katie’s house I knock on the door and wait for her to answer. When she does she says,

“Hey you. Sam went back up to school this morning. You just missed him.”

“Ok, thanks Katie. Are Devin and I still on for skating lessons on Sunday?”

“You bet, he’s looking forward to it!”

I give her a quick hug and turn back around, heading up to campus. When I get there, I immediately head to Sam’s dorm room. I knock on the door and wait. When Sam answers the door, I hand him the paper, smiling broadly.

“We did it! I get to start in tomorrow’s game!” I tell him happily.

Sam reads through the paper, his expression growing more serious by the minute as he analyzes the content.

“This isn’t what you initially wrote about,” he murmurs halfway through the paper. I start to get worried, thinking maybe he is offended, but wait it out while he finishes the paper. “Actually, this paper is brilliant!” He looks up at me smiling back. I am glad to see his glasses back on his face. It seems small, but to me he looks like himself again, even if his bruises are still fading. “This is quite the thesis statement. I mean, I get it. The reason behind it, but I never figured…I know you’re smart enough when you apply yourself, but ‘How the ancient Grecian sculptures effects the humanities and shapes the modern acceptance and appreciation of homosexual men.’ is an amazing thesis! I can’t believe how well you wrote this paper, and you provided supporting evidence and case studies. This paper is phenomenal, Jayden!”

I don’t expect it, but don’t resist when Sam throws his arms around my neck and pulls me into a hug. I hug him back, not wanting to hurt his ribs, but the feel of him in my arms does something to me that I can’t describe.

“It’s all because of you. That day in the museum, when you were explaining about appreciation and development. I thought about how you said that after the instinct of survival, there comes the thought for others and an appreciation for humanity and societies. I thought maybe that developed further to the appreciation of differences. I mean, I know that there are still people like Stevie who can’t understand that, but maybe there’s a pattern that can be found in stuff like the sculptures and how they relate to the humanities.”

Sam leans back and that’s when I notice his room.

“What happened here?” I ask, looking around dumbstruck. Half the room is empty. Shawn’s half. I notice his side of the room is completely bare and some of the things from Sam’s side of the room are missing too.

“Ahh, Shawn requested a room transfer.” He pulls back and shuts the door behind me.

“He did what!?” I ask. I can’t help but feel the anger as it runs hot through my body.

“It’s alright, Jayden. I’d rather have some space from him than live with a roommate who is uncomfortable with, well you know.”

His explanation doesn’t help how pissed off I feel at Shawn’s obvious homophobia.

“What did he give for an explanation to the administration?”

“Basic stuff, just that we’d fought, and he didn’t think the living environment would be beneficial to his potential for maximum learning.”

“What a load of bullshit!” I bark. Sam shrugs.

“Really, Jayden. I’ve had enough going on for the last few days, I don’t need to deal with his crap too.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. He looks as annoyed as I feel, and he has more of a right to be than I do, but I still feel bad because it’s his best friend since they were kids. I sit on the empty bed. “Sam, I’m sorry for the position I’ve put you in.”

“Don’t apologize. Shawn knew, I just never confirmed it. His discomfort was obvious when he first started figuring it out. He’d talk about girls and ask me if I’d dated any or how far I’d gotten with a girl and stuff. He knew it made me uncomfortable, but it was his subtle way of telling me he didn’t want to know.”

“That’s crappy,” I mutter.

“Yeah, I know. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, it’s that college is about learning that the labels and preconceptions placed on people in high school, namely me and the title geek, is all subject to change as I learn more about myself. Same goes for the jocks and popular people I guess.”

Sam sits on his own bed as he talks, and I watch his lips move, wishing I could get up and kiss him.

“So, who will they room you with now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get a new room mate or maybe I’ll get the room to myself for the rest of the year.”

“That would be cool,” I murmur.

Sam continues, “Shawn had the really cool pewter figures. He let me display some on my side of the room. It feels weird having the spaces empty.” He doesn’t notice when I get off the empty bed and kneel before him. That is, he doesn’t notice until he looks back around at me, still speaking. “I still can’t believe how well you did on that paper. It’s a deep topic that I…” He trails off as he comes face to face with me. I place my hands on his knees, staring deep into his eyes, willing him not to look away.

“Jayden,” he whispers. I’ve come to learn it is his simple way of asking for something he doesn’t know how to fully put into words yet. It’s his way of telling me how much he wants me. I don’t disappoint. I lean in and bypass the gentle kisses, going straight for hot and demanding so I can show him he’s mine. I’m surprised when he returns the kiss, just as passionately. Until now, he has been hesitant, shy and tentative. I groan into his mouth as I feel his hands run down my chest, lifting the hem of my shirt up and pull it up and over my head. I break off the kiss, allowing him to pull it off, and I grasp his logo tee-shirt and begin to do the same.

He quickly tries to cover his chest, but I grasp his hands and put them back around my neck as I look at him.

“I’m not ripped like you or anything,” he says.

“I don’t expect you to be,” I reply. He sits back a minute, studying me through his glasses.

“You keep surprising me. You aren’t like the others.”

“Yeah, we’ve had this fight.” I chuckle. He shakes his head.

“I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s ok. I think there has been a lot of pre-judgements that we just need to put in the past. I think if or when you’re ready, let me introduce you to the guys, you’ll be surprised. Most of them aren’t lunkheads like you’d expect.”

“Yeah, Kasey, Clive, and Barry came down to see me at Katie’s the day after you left. They hung out with me for a while and played the Special Ops game on my XBOX with me, because I couldn’t move much.”

I sit back, as surprised as he was. “They did? They didn’t tell me that.”

“They were cool. They told me not to make a big deal of it, because they didn’t want to stress you out too much.”

I shake my head. Those guys are true family in my book and I will have to be sure to thank them for looking out for Sam.

I turn my attention back to the half-naked Sam in front of me, and reach for the zipper of his jeans, not caring what body type he is, because he feels just right to me.