Snowed in for Christmas

Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jett

I WAKE WITH BEN in my arms. Ryan stumbled back at some point, grunted at the sight of a lump beside me in my bed, and promptly passed out in his own bed. But as the harsh light of morning spears into our dorm room, I brace for my roommate to receive the shock of a lifetime.

At first, Ryan apparently doesn’t notice. He shuffles out of bed and into the bathroom connected to our room. The water runs, and he drags himself back into our room rubbing at his eyes and yawning. By then, Ben is tense atop me, his head on my chest and arm around me. I leave my arms around him as well, even as I steel myself for Ryan’s reaction.

“Jett, does your mystery guest like co—”

Ryan very nearly makes it through a full sentence before he cuts himself off, eyes flying wide. Shock swipes any trace of sleepiness off his face. His mouth falls open as he gapes, eyes flickering back and forth like he believes maybe next time he looks, it’ll be anyone other than Ben nestled in my arms.

“Hold up,” Ryan says.

I finally release Ben so I can sit up. My body could block his entirely from view, but Ben sits up beside me anyway, lacking both his shirt and his glasses.

“Yes, he likes coffee,” I say as though this is a totally normal conversation, “but we’ll go get it ourselves.”

Ryan is shaking is head. “Uh-uh. Hell no. You’re not playing this off like that’s not Benjamin Payne in bed with you. You do remember that he’s written us up like three times this year, right?”

I put up my hands in a placating gesture. “Yes, I remember. Be cool, man.”

Ryan backs away, waving his finger. “You’re messing with me right now. What month is it? January. Is there a January Fool’s Day? No, wait, maybe I’m dreaming. I drank way too much last night.” He slaps at his own cheeks.

I jump out of bed and grab his wrists to stop him, forcing my roommate and best friend to look me in the eyes.

“Ryan, it’s me,” I say. “Chill the fuck out.”

“But … but that’s Benjamin Payne , bro.”

“Trust me, I’m well aware.”

I turn, Ryan’s wrists still in my hands, when the sheets on my bed rustle. Ben is shyly pulling his shirt back on and combing his fingers through his hair. He’s already regained his glasses and pants somehow.

“Wait,” I say. “Just hold on.”

I release one of Ryan’s wrists, stretching myself between Ryan and Ben like a support beam trying to both hold them apart and bring them together.

“Everyone fucking chill for a second,” I say. “Ben, this is my roommate, Ryan. He’s a doofus but I live with him anyway because he’s actually a nice guy underneath that. Ryan, this is Ben. My … my boyfriend.”

Silence greets me on both sides. I don’t know if we’ve established a truce or if my life is about to explode before my eyes. I didn’t actually talk to Ben about the “boyfriend” word, but we’ve said we love each other and want to be together, so that shouldn’t be a stretch. Even so, my stomach turns in on itself.

“Everyone cool?” I say.

After a beat, Ryan sighs and shakes his head. He gently pulls his wrist free of my grasp.

“Man, you have one hell of a story to tell me later,” Ryan says.

“You don’t know even the half of it.”

“But,” Ryan goes on, and suddenly he looks up, smiling at me, “it’s gonna be pretty funny seeing you actually tied down with one person. You better not skip out on all the good parties. It’s our last semester, bro.”

“I can bring my boyfriend to a party,” I say.

“Does said boyfriend get a say in that?”

I turn to Ben, who stands fully dressed, his arms crossed over his chest. He’s the stern, unflinching nerd from down the hall again, but this time I detect a smile at the corners of his mouth.

I saunter up to him, tugging him toward me by the waist so I can kiss him. “That depends. Are you agreeing that you’re my boyfriend?”

He drapes his arms over my shoulders. “I suppose I am. It seems a rather small leap, considering everything else that’s happened.”

“True, but I still like hearing it.”

We kiss again, and I nearly linger until Ryan clears his throat behind us.

“That is definitely going to take some getting used to,” Ryan mutters. “You want that coffee or not? Rebecca down the hall got a fancy espresso maker for Christmas, and she said I could come back in the morning for a cup.”

I look to Ben, who shrugs in my arms.

“Sure, we’re in,” I say, and damn, does it ever feel nice to use that royal, couple “we.”

I get dressed and wash up. Ben borrows my toothbrush instead of going back to his own room, and that too is its own little thrill. Last night was incredible, but it’s these tiny, ordinary, casual things that really have me buzzing this morning. Waking up together, calling ourselves a “we,” sharing a toothbrush, walking out of my room together, seeing Ben and Ryan interact like friends. He’s already integrating into my life, and sure, it’s awkward at times, like with Ryan this morning, but the payoff is the bright, boundless, exciting future stretching out before us. The awkwardness will fade, and Ben and I will continue this journey side-by-side.

Rebecca and her roommate Emily startle when I walk in holding Ben’s hand, but they take it way better than Ryan. With little more than a blink, they recover and ask Ben how he likes his coffee.

“This machine is sweet,” I say, settling on the edge of Rebecca’s bed with Ben and Ryan on either side of me. The girls take the other bed.

“I know, right?” Rebecca says. “So much better than that crap they serve in the cafeteria.”

“The school lets you have one of these in your dorm?” Ryan says.

A second later, he blanches, his eyes darting toward Ben. He isn’t the only one. The girls nervously glance Ben’s direction as well.

At first, Ben doesn’t notice. When he does, he sits up a little straighter, awkward under the scrutiny.

“I’m not your RA,” he says. “Besides,” and he lifts the coffee cup he’s cradling.

The tension drains back out of the room. Other people from the floor arrive, many bringing their own mugs and even their own coffee and accessories so Rebecca can show off her machine. More than one gives Ben a skeptical glance. He must notice the raised eyebrows and murmurs of surprise like I do, but I simply scoot closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and looking every curious student straight in the eyes. My gaze dares them to say something, but none of them accept the challenge. The rumors will spread through our floor, and then through the school, like that time Steven got a cold the night after a party and pretty soon we were all huddled in our beds coughing.

Well, everyone except Ben.

It’s startling to see how few people here know him, despite living with him. Then again, how much did I know him before that blizzard trapped us in a house together? He lives alone, always buried in his books, always apart, but I’m hoping that will change now that he has me by his side.

We head onto campus after our coffee, wandering the blustery pathways hand-in-hand. It seems that now that the news is out on our floor, Ben doesn’t care too much about letting it spread even farther. We get breakfast, or maybe it’s more like lunch, in the cafeteria, ignoring the stares when we sit together with our shoulders touching. Then we head back to the dorms, Ben’s this time. Our need for showers turns into a joint venture, which I don’t mind one bit. Squeezed into the tiny stall together, we can’t help but touch and kiss. I get to lick him while the water threatens to drown me, then he sucks me off until my legs nearly buckle under me.

Classes haven’t begun, so we get to spend the rest of the day lazing around. I play on my phone. He reads. I drag him back to my room so I can play my new video game with Ryan. He tucks himself onto my bed and works on something on his laptop. By the time evening sets in, Ryan is including Ben in our plans to order a pizza for dinner. It took less than a day for Ben’s quiet presence to feel natural, which bodes well for the rest of the semester.

That night, we go to Ben’s room so we can have some privacy. We lie there in nothing but our briefs, kissing and touching idly. Ben traces patterns on my chest with his finger. He already set his glasses aside, so his gaze is a little less piercing when he addresses me.

“So, when classes start in a couple days I’ll be pretty busy,” he says. “It’s my last semester, and it’s probably going to be really demanding. I might not be able to keep up with your social schedule all the time.”

He eyes fall as he speaks, but I tilt his chin up to make him look at me.

“I know,” I say. “Do you think I’m not aware that you’re going to go into full nerd-mode the second classes start?”

He chuckles softly. “I simply wanted to be clear. I don’t want it to seem like I’m avoiding you or downplaying your interests. I’m not sure how this works. I’ve never dated anyone. If I’m busy do I just … tell you?”

I smile before leaning forward to kiss him. “This works however we want it to work. There are no rules except the ones we choose. But yes, if you’re busy and need some time alone, I’d like it if you told me instead of simply disappearing. Deal?”

“Deal,” he says. “But you should know that even after graduation things might not get much better for a while. This is all I ever thought I wanted, and I don’t know where it’ll take me. I could end up at grad school. I could end up in a totally different state. I—”

“Ben,” I cut in. “I know. That’s what I love about you. You’re passionate. You’re driven. You care so much. I know that nothing is going to stop you from saving the world, just like you said. But you aren’t getting rid of me that easily. You need to do grad school? Fine. I can find a barista job wherever you go to school. We can split the rent on a studio apartment. We’ll figure it out, Ben. I might not be a genius like you, but I can bust my ass doing service jobs if that’s what we need. Now that you have me, I’m here to stay.

“And some day, we’ll even tell our parents about this.”

Ben laughs. “I thought I was excited about my future before. I never realized it was missing something so important.”

He draws me to his mouth. I let my eyes fall shut as I kiss him, sinking against his warmth, that same warmth that saw us through that blizzard. I never thought I’d be grateful to get trapped in a boring, nothing place like Stone Valley, but as I lie in bed with Ben, tasting his lips, hand grazing his warm skin, my head full of all the possibilities awaiting us, I say a little thank you to God or Santa or whoever delivered that snowstorm to our doorstep.

Little did I know when I crossed that pass for an ill-fated Christmas vacation that the best gift lived down the hall from me the whole time.