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Joel didn’t join a frat for the parties, but they’re a huge plus. The booze isn’t completely free since he has to pitch in, but he can drink more than he paid for then head upstairs and pass out when he’s tired. That’s a win for any college student.
The frat also guarantees him a social life. He clicked instantly with his bros when he was a pledge last fall, then clicked even better with the new pledges. And he meets so many people at the parties his frat throws. Another win.
When his frat throws a party in early September, Joel is ready to get trashed and regret it the next day. Sanheim and Konecny challenged him and Noah to a beer pong game the night before, so he starts the night off with shots to prepare. As people start to fill the house, he grabs a beer and sits on a barstool that was moved into the living room.
After two hours and a few beers, Joel decides to seek out Noah for beer pong. He stands up and starts to head towards the kitchen to grab one more drink before finding Noah. He doesn’t make it to the kitchen, instead freezing in place when his eyes land on a guy walking into the house. It’s 10:26 pm.
He’s the prettiest man Joel has ever seen. He looks about the same height as Joel, has dark hair, and an attempt at a beard that Joel finds so charming. Not to mention, he has the most adorable doe eyes. He walks in with a ginger that’s also about the same height, maybe a little taller. Joel snaps out of the trance, making his way over to the pretty boy.
Joel doesn’t get far before Noah calls his name and throws an arm around his shoulder.
“Beezer!” Noah says, “TK’s talking major shit, you ready?”
Joel looks over to where the pretty boy and his friend were. They’ve already moved.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
-
The next morning, Joel is pissed at who he was the night before. His head is pounding from drinking so much (fuck Konecny for being so good at beer pong and being so good at annoying him into a rematch) and he never ran into the pretty boy. Major L.
He stays in bed for a few minutes, covering his eyes to try and keep the sun away, but decides it’s time to get up when he doesn’t fall back asleep. He throws on the first hoodie he sees (he thinks it might be Scott’s) and makes his way downstairs and to the kitchen.
Two of the pledges, Cam and Tyson, are at the kitchen table with Claude and Sean. Joel knows they’re trying to get brownie points with the president of the frat. He’s been there. When Joel greets them, Tyson shoves a brown sugar shaken espresso in his face. Dope, they’ve moved onto bribing all the bros.
“Thanks, Tys,” Joel smiles, giving him a fist bump. “I’ll put in a good word.”
Claude laughs and the pledges go wide-eyed. New frat win unlocked: embarrassing the pledges.
“Beez, is that my hoodie?” Sean asks. Joel looks down at the hoodie and notices the “14” printed on it.
“I guess so,” Joel shrugs. “Want it back?”
Sean thinks for a second, “Nah, it’ll probably get back to me eventually.”
“Dope.”
Joel heads into the living room, taking a seat next to Noah on their nasty ass couch. Noah looks pretty dead, worse than Joel probably looks. Joel doesn’t know if that's a win or loss. Either way, fuck Konecny.
-
A week later, people are filling up the frat house again. This time, Joel skips the shots and only grabs a beer. He sits on the same barstool and in the same place. He stays in place, barely drinking his beer. His eyes don’t leave the door.
“Bee!” Tyson shouts out.
Joel glances over to Tyson, who’s dragging Cam over, then looks back over at the door, “‘Sup, Tyson. Hi Cam.”
Cam takes a seat in the barstool beside Joel. Tyson stands between Cam’s legs and just. Talks. Joel does his best to respond, but he’s too focused on the door.
It’s 9:51 pm when the pretty boy finally walks through the door, his ginger friend in tow. Joel is in a trance again. The pretty boy is wearing a Hawaiian shirt. It would probably look stupid if anyone else was wearing it, but he rocks it. Joel excuses himself, accidentally cutting off Tyson, and makes his way over to the pretty boy. His ginger friend steps away by the time Joel gets to him.
“Wow,” Joel says as he walks up to the pretty boy, “You are such a rocket.”
“Excuse me?” The pretty boy raises an eyebrow at Joel.
“Fuck, sorry, I’m Joel,” Joel smiles. “Or Beezer. Or Bee. Know what, just call me yours.”
The pretty boy laughs, “Bold, I like it.”
“Great,” Joel gets closer, “What can I call you?”
“Morgan.”
“Morgan,” Joel loves how it feels to say the pretty boy’s name. “Pretty name for a pretty guy. What about a number to go with that name?”
Morgan smiles and Joel thinks he’s going to melt. Fuck. He doesn’t even need to speak to make Joel weak.
“Let me see your phone,” Morgan says, holding out his hand. Joel puts his phone in Morgan’s hand, and Morgan puts his phone number in.
Joel does his best to charm Morgan the rest of the night. When Morgan realizes his friend (Owen, Joel learns his name is) never returned with the drink he was promised, Joel grabs his hand and leads him to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Joel opens two beers, one for Morgan and a new one for himself.
Joel leans against the wall and Morgan sits on the kitchen counter. Joel makes stupid jokes and says shitty pick up lines. Morgan laughs each time. Joel may be in love.
It’s close to 2 in the morning when Owen makes his way to the kitchen.
“Frosty, bro, we should go,” Owen says.
Morgan gets off the counter. He puts a hand on Joel’s arm as he walks away, “Bye, Joel.”
Joel watches him walk out. Another win, Morgan has a great ass.
-
It’s 9 in the morning and Joel is sitting at the kitchen table with a text thread with Morgan pulled up on his phone. Cam and Tyson are across from him, their chairs pushed close together and Cam tucked into Tyson’s side. They’re so annoyingly cute.
Claude enters the kitchen and swipes Joel’s phone from the table. Joel makes an embarrassing noise in response.
“What’s going on here, Beezer?” Claude teases.
Joel scratches at his beard, “I met a guy at a party last night and I don’t know what to text him.”
“Joel, dude,” Tyson says, “You never text a guy so soon.”
“Foery, you showed up to my dorm at 7 fucking 30 in the morning the day after we met,” Cam turns to look at Tyson. “I had the worst hangover.”
“It was move in week, I had to prepare you for college schedules,” Tyson responds, kissing Cam on the head.
“Shut up, you two,” Claude rolls his eyes and gives Joel the phone back. “Just say hi and invite him out for coffee.”
Joel looks at Claude like he just saved his life. Joel types out the message, showing it to Claude for confirmation. When Claude approves, Joel clicks send.
-
It’s 2:31 pm when Morgan walks into the coffee shop. Joel swears Morgan is even prettier in good lighting.
Joel stands up from his seat and walks up to Morgan, “Morgan! Great to see you.”
“Hi Joel,” Morgan smiles and Joel feels weak again.
“I would’ve ordered us coffee already, but I didn’t know what you liked,” Joel looks down at the ground. He can’t stand not looking at Morgan for long, so he looks back up at him after a few seconds.
Morgan puts a hand on Joel’s arm and says, “I appreciate it.”
Joel grabs Morgan’s hand and leads him to the counter. Morgan orders a latte with some sugary flavoring that Joel has never heard of. He makes a mental note to put it in his notes app later. Joel orders a brown sugar shaken espresso and pays before Morgan can even try to.
“I’m surprised you texted me so soon,” Morgan says once they sit down.
“I just,” Joel scratches at his beard, “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Morgan starts to laugh, “That is so fuckin’ cheesy.”
“If it works, it works,” Joel says. He takes a sip of his coffee, “It is working, right?”
Morgan nods and grabs Joel’s hand, “Yeah, it is working pretty well.”
“Perfect.”
The two continue to chat, even after they finish their coffees. Morgan tells Joel about his favorite bands, his classes, and his interests. Joel hangs onto every word. While they don’t listen to many similar artists or have any classes together, Joel and Morgan share a love of golf. A win. And Joel doesn’t mind the music Morgan likes, so he plans to listen to more of it.
After close to two hours of learning about each other, Morgan checks the time.
“Fuck, Joel,” Morgan frowns, “I have work today and I have to get home and change.”
Joel frowns too, but says goodbye. Morgan thanks him for the coffee then kisses Joel on the cheek. Joel doesn’t have time to react before Morgan is out the door.
-
Morgan is all that is on Joel’s mind. When he’s in class, when he’s falling asleep, when he’s out with The Boys. Even when he’s on the ice, he’s thinking about how he can play well so that he can impress Morgan. He should probably be embarrassed, but he’s too busy thinking about Morgan.
Whenever he’s not on the ice, he’s texting Morgan. If he isn’t texting Morgan, they’re on a date. Joel asks Morgan to come to his games. It motivates him, and he starts to play some of the best hockey he’s ever played. After he gets a hat trick in one of the games, he starts to call Morgan his good luck charm.
If Joel’s frat is throwing a party (something that’s pretty common when they don’t have any games), Joel makes sure to invite Morgan. Morgan’s weekends are spent dragging Owen to the rink or to the frat house. Morgan’s lucky that Owen is such a good friend.
It’s an off weekend for the hockey team, and Joel has two open beers in his hands when Morgan walks into the house at 9:23. Joel immediately gets up and hands Morgan a drink.
“No Owen tonight?” Joel asks. He kisses Morgan on the cheek.
“Nah,” Morgan grabs Joel’s hand with his free one, “He’s studying tonight, he’s actually a good student.”
“Boring,” Joel drags out the word and leads Morgan into the living room.
They sit on the gross couch and watch the beer pong game that’s going on in front of them. Claude and Sean are kicking ass, which is nothing new. As they watch the gingers sink ball after ball, Joel pulls Morgan in close and asks about his day.
They continue to talk as best as they can in the loud environment of the house. They keep getting cut off by Sean and Claude cheering each time they get another cup, but Joel doesn’t mind.
“Hey, when are you gonna kiss me?” Morgan asks.
Joel is shocked and responds, “Look who’s being straight forward now.”
“Joel…” Morgan turns so that he can look directly at Joel.
“I just want our first kiss together to be perfect,” Joel says, “I really like you, Morgan.”
“You’re being cheesy again.”
“You told me it works,” Joel smiles, “Let’s get out of here.”
Morgan tilts his head, “And go where? It’s getting late and I don’t know if either of us should be driving.”
Joel stands up, pulling Morgan up with him, “I don’t know, we’ll just walk around, come on.”
Morgan smiles and lets Joel drag him out of the house. As Joel’s frat bros see them leaving they shout out various versions of “get some!” Joel doesn’t react until he hears the pledges say something. He gives them the blankest stare he can.
They don’t say much as they walk down the street, enjoying the quiet that they didn’t have at the party.
They end up at a park. When they find the swings, they each take a seat, arms stretched out so they can continue to hold hands. Morgan starts to tell Joel a story, and Joel leans against the chains of the swing and memorizes Morgan’s face.
Morgan looks over at Joel and pauses his story, “Are you even listening?”
“I can’t believe you never told me you used to play hockey,” Joel says.
“I enjoyed playing but I enjoyed the press box even more,” Morgan shrugs. “I think I would crack under the pressure if I tried making it a career.”
“I bet you would kick my ass in a one v one.”
Morgan laughs (a sound Joel never wants to forget), “In chel, maybe.”
“You’re so fuckin’ humble, Morgy,” Joel says with so much admiration in his voice.
“Morgy?”
Joel goes quiet, saying a barely audible “yeah.”
Morgan stands up and drops Joel’s hand. Joel starts to panic. Of course, he ruins things by being cringe. It is all over. Major L.
But Morgan doesn’t walk away. Instead, he walks over to Joel and grabs his face, then kisses him. Joel thinks he’s died and gone to heaven.
When Morgan pulls away, Joel says, “Thank you.”
“‘Thank you’? You are so fucking cute,” Morgan laughs again and caresses Joel’s face with his thumb. “And you have an indent of the chain on your face.”
Joel giggles. Fucking. Giggles. He should be embarrassed, but he’s too busy staring into Morgan’s eyes.
-
Morgan starts spending most of his free time at the frat house with Joel. Next time Joel sees Owen, Owen jokes that he never sees Morgan anymore.
Joel smiles and pulls Morgan closer to him, “You get to see him at night, he’s mine during the day.”
“I’m sure he would keep me up texting you if we were still in dorms,” Owen says.
Later, Joel and Morgan are at the frat house watching a hockey game. It’s getting late and Joel knows Morgan is probably leaving soon.
“Hey, Morgy,” Joel says, “What if you, like, spent the night? If you want. That would be cool. I think.”
“Trying to get in my pants, Farabee?” Morgan teases, poking at Joel’s side.
Joel’s eyes go wide, “No no no! Well, I mean, if you want. Sorry. No. I mean, like, sleeping in the same bed.”
Morgan laughs, “I’m fuckin’ with you, Joel. I know what you meant.”
Joel frowns. Morgan gives a fake pout in response then kisses Joel. Joel doesn’t hesitate to kiss back and pull Morgan closer to him. After the night they kissed in the park, Joel has taken any chance to kiss Morgan. The two get lost in their own world, Morgan’s slow kisses putting Joel in a trance. He’s unsure how long they’ve been making out, but he can’t complain.
Joel is forced out of his personal heaven when someone smacks the back of his head. Joel reluctantly pulls away from Morgan to look behind him. Claude is standing there with a shiteating grin on his face
“No making out on the communal couch, fuckin’ nasty,” he says. “You have a room for a reason.”
Joel furrows his eyebrows and argues, “I’ve seen you make out with many, many people on this couch.”
“I can do whatever I want,” Claude shrugs and walks into the kitchen.
“Y’know,” Morgan says. “That’s pretty fair of him, he is the president.”
Joel rolls his eyes, “Whatever, do you want to spend the night?”
Morgan pushes Joel, “Yes, doofus.”
-
Not long after that night, Joel notices Morgan starting to act weird. Morgan stops coming around the house as much and his texts become shorter and less frequent. Joel is worried and scared. He hasn’t known Morgan for long, but he already can’t imagine not having Morgan in his life.
Joel keeps replaying every moment they’ve shared together in his head, trying to figure out what he did wrong. Did he come on too strong? He took his time to even just kiss Morgan, so he doesn’t think that’s the problem. When Morgan spent the night, they literally just watched a movie, kissed a lot, and fell asleep, so it couldn’t be Morgan thinking they didn’t have sexual chemistry. He didn’t even get a chance to ask Morgan to be his boyfriend!
“Oh,” Joel says into the empty room. “Is that what he wants?”
Joel opens his text thread with Morgan and frowns at the lack of messages. He sends a text (his sixth with no response) asking “coffee date at 3?” He knows Morgan has a class right now and that Morgan doesn’t text much in class, so he has some time before a lack of response will worry him.
Before he can faceplant on his bed and blast his sad jams playlist, Scott walks into their room and drags him to the gym. Damn his roommate for caring about him. Also, aww, his roommate cares about him!
As they are walking out of the house, Scott says, “Hand me your phone.”
“What?” Joel asks, “Why?”
“Why do you think, Joel?” Scott responds. “You’ll get it back when we get home.”
Joel sighs and gives Scott his phone. Scott pushes Joel out the door and throws his phone onto the couch.
-
Morgan ends up texting Joel back. Major win! He says yes to the coffee date (another win) but asks for it to be the next day.
So Joel is sitting in the coffee shop where they had their first date, almost a full 24 hours after he last heard from Morgan. He’s got both their coffees already since he knows what Morgan likes now. He thinks that if he shows Morgan he cares and pays attention, then things will go back to normal. If things go back to how they were, he can ask Morgan to be official. He thinks it’s a great plan.
Joel watches the door, eyes only moving to check the time. 2:58. A group of students walk in and find a table to study at. Two lacrosse players leave. One of the baristas finishes their shift. 3:04. Whatever, Morgan’s not the best at being on time, he’s probably only a couple minutes away.
Joel’s comp professor walks in. Fuck, he’s not doing well in comp. He looks down at his coffee, even if he doubts his professor will recognize him. He hears the door open a couple of times when he’s looking down. He peaks around the coffee shop. His professor has left. 3:12.
People continue to walk in and out, but Morgan isn’t one of them. Morgan’s coffee starts to get cold. Joel is almost done with his coffee, and the ice in it is starting to melt. At 3:32, Joel gives up. He can bring the coffee to Morgan’s apartment, showing Morgan that he’s trying to put effort into whatever is going on between them. If Morgan even cares.
When he steps out of the coffee shop, Morgan is walking towards him. The first thing Joel notices is that Morgan has shaved.
“Joel,” Morgan calls out. He opens his mouth to say more, but goes silent.
Joel holds back tears and shoves Morgan’s latte towards him, “We agreed on meeting at 3.”
“You remembered what I like,” Morgan says.
“You are 30 minutes late.”
The two stand on the sidewalk, staring each other down. Joel wants to take three steps and hug Morgan, but he knows he shouldn’t. Morgan doesn’t deserve a hug. Instead, Joel turns around and heads back home.
Morgan doesn’t try to stop him.
-
Joel wakes up for his stupid fucking 9 am class to texts from Morgan. There’s only two, one that says “sorry” and another that says “won’t happen again”. Joel doesn’t know if he believes Morgan.
Joel closes the text thread and pulls himself out of bed. Scott is still asleep, so Joel does his best to be quiet as he shuffles around the room to get ready. He throws his backpack over his shoulder and grabs a granola bar from the kitchen. When he opens the front door, Morgan's standing on the porch.
“Morgan? It’s 8:45, what are you doing here?”
Morgan’s eyes widen, like he’s surprised Joel actually opened the door. He doesn’t say anything, just hands Joel a coffee (his usual brown sugar shaken espresso) and walks off.
Joel’s frozen on the porch. Morgan had nothing to say? Does he really think a coffee will make up for how distant he’s been?
Someone pokes Joel’s cheek, then he notices Claude beside him.
“You have class,” Claude says, motioning forward. “If your grades go down, you can’t play.”
Joel nods and heads off to class.
-
Morgan isn’t at Joel’s next game. Joel analyzes the student section before every period, but Morgan never shows up. Morgan doesn’t show up to the Saturday night game either. Joel plays some of the worst hockey he’s ever played, but they still win both games. Cool. Whatever. Major L.
The next weekend, they are off, so his frat is throwing a party to celebrate their win. As usual, Joel sends Morgan a text inviting him. He gets no response. He isn’t surprised. By Wednesday, Morgan had completely stopped responding.
He spends the party camped on the nasty couch and watching the door just like he watched the coffee shop’s door. By midnight, he felt pathetic. To cool down, he heads outside. He ends up sitting on the front lawn, a now lukewarm beer in his hand and his ass cold from the ground. That’s when Joel decides to give up on Morgan.
At 12:48, Morgan finally walks up to the house. He doesn’t say anything as he sits down next to Joel. His facial hair is already growing out again, and Joel wants to comment on it. He decides to stay quiet, not wanting to break the silence.
Joel doesn’t want this to become routine. He wants someone that will actually text him back, someone that will show up on time. Showing up with coffee then disappearing isn’t an apology. He wants someone that will communicate with him, that will tell him if he does something wrong.
Right now, he wants an explanation from Morgan more than anything.
“What did I do wrong?” Joel eventually asks.
“Nothing,” Joel barely hears Morgan’s response. “I just. I got scared, I think.”
“I scare you?” Joel looks over at Morgan.
“No, no, I mean,” Morgan rushes out, grabbing Joel’s hand. “I just, like, had to convince myself I was really ready for this. And I am. And I want you to be my boyfriend.”
Joel doesn’t know what to say. Morgan wants to be official? Major. Fucking. Win.
“Gonna stop ignoring me?” Joel jokes, hitting his shoulder against Morgan’s.
Morgan shoves him, “Yes, doofus, and I’ll do whatever I can to prove it to you.”
Joel smiles and kisses Morgan. God, he loves kissing Morgan. He loves kissing his boyfriend. Wait.
Joel pulls away so he can speak, “We’re, like, boyfriends now, right?”
“Yeah, Joel,” Morgan laughs. He grabs onto Joel’s hoodie and pulls him into another kiss.
Joel knows he shouldn’t forgive Morgan yet. He shouldn’t jump into this relationship after what Morgan put him through the last two weeks. But the taste of mint on Morgan’s tongue and the smell of his cologne are something Joel never wants to forget. Fuck, Morgan prepared. Joel swoons for him even more.
Being in a frat is fucking awesome.