Page 4 of Anchored To You

The sign for Mummy Mocha catches my attention, and I beeline straight for the coffee shop. My suitcase bumps on stones behind me as I race there, but until you've had a Werebear Claw yourself, you wouldn't understand. There's already a long ass queue, everyone is in front of me carrying their own suitcases as we all stand in line. Mummy Mocha is gorgeous, everything is blue and gold, and is Egyptian mummy themed. All of the decorations are fake crypts and sarcophagi, but it looks so real. Last year, there was a genuine mummy who actually worked here. I wonder if he's still here.

"One, Sarcopha-Cappucino," I order, once I finally reach the front of the line.

"Coming right up."

Once I've secured my coffee, I leave Mummy Mocha, skidding to a stop when a flash of bright teal hair catches my attention. He’s around the corner before I can fully collect my thoughts. I haven't thought about him in forever, but now I'm thinking about him twice in one day? It's probably because the bonfire is tomorrow night and it's bringing up memories of the last bonfire I went to. My thoughts drift to that evening, how easy it was for us to talk and how much fun we had when we returned to my room later that evening. If there's a single thing I wish would have been different last year, it would have been to see him again.

After making it to Karloff Hall, I take the elevator up to my floor. Using the key I got at check-in, I let myself into my dorm. My hands are shaking as I turn the door and I don't know why I'm nervous. I'm a pretty easy guy to get along with, but ‌I'm worried my roommate and I will not click and then my senior year will be even more fucked than usual.

Stepping into the empty space, I spin in a complete circle, realizing that I'm the first one here. Hell yes, that means I get the initial pick of the bed. Dropping my bags down on the floor, I run and throw myself onto the first bed, groaning when my body flops straight down with no bounce.

"Ugh," I groan, rolling over to my back. "Not this one."

I gingerly climb off, then do the same thing to the second bed. The mattress bounces about an inch, which is better than nothing. Wanting to claim this as mine, I grab my bag and dump all of my contents onto it. There. Now hopefully, whoever my roommate is, they won't take my bed.

My housemate last year was the roommate from hell. We constantly fought about everything and he was the messiest person I have ever met. Some nights I would come home from my game to find the room completely destroyed. His clothes would be everywhere; he would leave food and drinks all over the place. It would drive me crazy. I tried a couple of times to get reassigned to a new roommate, but I kept hitting roadblocks and couldn't figure out a way to move in with someone new. Which was why when some of my teammates talked about getting an apartment together, I jumped at the chance. But without my dad's help, there's no way I could afford it on my own. So, here I am, having to stay in the dorms once again. And because I requested a room at the very last second, I couldn't even get a suite-style room that most Seniors can get in their final year. So for the consecutive year, I'm stuck in the smaller dorms with only two beds.

There's a soft knock on the door, and I'm about to get up when it swings open, King staring at me from the doorway. King is one of my friends I met last year here at CU. It was both of our first year at Creelin and we had a few classes in common plus we were on the baseball team as well so it just made sense for us to start hanging out.

"Dude," I groan, walking over and fist-bumping him. "What if I was naked?”

“Then I would have seen something I’ve spotted a million times before in the locker room.”

"True, but still. Knock, dude. Where's your other half?" I ask, noting that his boyfriend, Niko, isn't beside him. Usually, where one is, the other is right next to them.

“He's helping his dad at the moment. Told him I wanted to stop by and say hi before the craziness of the move-ins begins to happen.”

King and Niko met last year, and let's just say they didn't quite start off as friends. To be honest, I don't think Niko has many friends. Even when I met him, he was pretty closed off. Niko is a Gorgon, and he was always worried about what people would think of him and his snakes. I know it took a while for him to open up to King, and even longer to open up to his friends. I hung out with both of them tons of times until Niko finally cracked a smile in my direction. Now I wouldn't exactly call him friendly, but it's been awesome to see him warm up with King.

"Today's pretty chill. I know once tomorrow hits and everyone is here unpacking their shit, it's going to get wild." Looking around my empty space, a thought strikes me. "Damn, I bet my roommate is a new student, and that's why they aren't here yet."

"Makes sense. Considering you're putting away your stuff at the very end of the day. By the way, are you planning on attending the bonfire tomorrow night? He asks, strolling over to the far side of my room and looking out the window.

"Hell yeah, I am. It's the last one of my college career. Of course, I'll be there."

"Alright, sounds good."

He appears distracted, and once his next few words fall from his mouth, I realize why.

"Niko's walking over this way. I'll see you tomorrow. Save a drink for me."

Before I can respond, he's across the room and out the door with the hugest smile on his face. I remember what it's like to be so obsessed with someone that just knowing you're about to see them has your blood on fire and the biggest grin on your face. Eh, maybe I'll feel it again. Maybe I won't. All I know is that this year I'm focusing on myself, work, and school.

That's it.

Chapter

Three

TALON

"Fucking hell, Talon, why do you have so much shit?" Hannah asks, trying and failing to grab the boxes out of the back of my car.

"I needed all my stuff. You know how many different outfits I have. There was no way I was going to pick and choose a handful of them."

Hannah sighs loudly, trying to reach for a smaller box on her second try. "Yeah, but you do remember you're not getting a suite room right? You have the smaller dorms. Which means tinier closets, Tal. Tighter closets lead to less space.

"I know what smaller closets mean," I roll my eyes, hip bumping her out of the way. "But that's also why I packed my trunks so I can stash some clothes in there too. And hell, maybe if I'm lucky, my housemate won't use their closet and I could take over their space.