Ryan's first few days of classes flew by, his head spinning with syllabi and upcoming assignments and study groups and freshman events that he attended to try to get out there and meet people, when he wasn't going to football practice and trying to get his work done. By Thursday afternoon he nearly fell asleep on the T, sweaty from practice, not sure if he'd be able to keep himself awake long enough to go to the "Thirsty Thursday" party the football team was hosting at one of the frat houses. Then he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a text from Monica.

Hey, haven't heard from you in a couple of days... you doing okay?

His eyes stung, and he blinked hard, realizing how much he missed having a friend he could really talk to. Everyone in the city so far had been great and nice, but they didn't know him or his past, and he didn't want to unleash all that backstory on them. Monica, however, was one of his best friends from home, and so far the only one who had checked up on him.

And then he saw the text he'd been about to send her the other night, about breaking up with Jacky. He deleted it and instead sent, I'm sorry, it's been hectic

Same here, so much going on!

While Ryan knew he could leave it at that with Monica, he typed another text. Plus Jacky broke up with me the night before we both left for school

Oh Ryan I'm sorry, Monica texted back immediately, with that one-teared crying emoji and a heart emoji. I did not see that coming... are you okay? Do you want to meet up and talk about it?

I don't know, Ryan wrote back. The fuzzy voice over the subway car's loudspeaker announced Ryan's stop, and he stood up.

We could just hang out and watch a stupid movie and eat ice cream

Ryan considered that. Yeah, actually, that sounds awesome.

Already he was feeling better by the time he got back to the apartment. No one else was home yet – it was Pete's first day at his new job at Trader Joe's – and Ryan relished the quiet as he took a shower and settled in to do his reading for tomorrow. Then he heard a faint knock on the door.

It was Harper's friend Charlie, the one with the dark hair and gray eyes and eyeliner. They had their shoulders hunched up inside their black hoodie and looked uncomfortable. "Is Harper here?" they asked.

"Not yet," Ryan said. "I don't know when her classes are done."

"Um." Charlie shifted on their feet. "Could I maybe wait here for her?"

"Sure, no problem."

Charlie came in and sat down on the couch stiffly and just sat there, not looking at Ryan. Ryan shut the door and considered briefly if he should ask. But he also figured Charlie would have told him what was wrong if they wanted to talk about it. So instead Ryan made his voice softer than normal and asked, "Did you try texting her?"

"I don't have my phone," Charlie mumbled.

"I can text her, if you want." After the first day of classes, Ryan had made sure to get all the phone numbers of his roommates.

"That's okay." If possible, Charlie's voice was quieter than before. "I'll just wait."

Ryan considered leaving Charlie alone. Sometimes when Jacky was upset he needed space to calm down, and Ryan certainly had enough schoolwork to do. But Ryan had seen enough at the group home that Charlie's body language told Ryan that maybe Charlie needed someone to be there with them. Ryan grabbed a couple of seltzers from the fridge, put one on the table in front of Charlie, and took a seat on the chair. Turning on the TV, he asked, "Have you ever watched Community?"

After the day he'd had, Jacky was not looking forward to his final class of the day, A Survey of Art History. He had no idea why he'd even signed up for this class, which met once a week for three long hours. Thank god it was only once per week. Every other day he had morning classes then was free all afternoon, which was when he needed a nap. No one at college liked to go to sleep before one a.m. Last night he'd stayed up until 2 a.m. with the guys across the hall, which he was now regretting. He had worn his comfiest hoodie and hoped he could sneak a little nap during class.

A large iced coffee in hand, he slunk into the back row and sat down, took out the world's heaviest textbook. But when he saw the professor, his heart nearly stopped.

The guy could have been a model, but a professor model if that made sense. A model for Old Spice or something. Rakish blond curls, a fisherman seater. Jacky cursed himself for sitting in the last row, but then thought better of it. From here he could gaze upon Professor Hottie while the girl with the blonde ponytail in the front row peppered him with questions.

Jacky pulled out his phone and used an old trick, making sure his phone was on silent before snapping a pic to drool over later.

"He's pretty hot, right?"

This came from the tanned blond guy a few seats away from where Jacky was sitting. Jacky hadn't even noticed him come in.

"Uh, yeah, if you're into dudes," Jacky said sarcastically, then after realizing he wasn't in high school anymore, immediately followed with, "Which I am." This guy was pretty cute himself, with wire-framed glasses that made him look smart, or at least like he belonged in an art history class.

"Noted." The blond guy grinned and held out a hand to shake. "I'm Fox, by the way."

"Wow, that's a little conceited," Jacky said even though he still shook Fox's hand, because, well, Fox was a fox. He felt his face heat up at the thoughts going through his head. He'd never been this guy-crazy in his life, although that was mostly because he'd never been around so many guys who seemed like they could possibly be gay, too. Like Braedyn. Jacky had been eating breakfast with him on mornings when they both had early classes, and usually dinner too, along with other people from their dorm. He couldn't quite pin down the vibes he was getting from Braedyn. Sometimes they'd share a look that made Jacky think he was interested, the next Braedyn was high-fiving him or some other straight nonsense.

"Blame my mom. She was obsessed with The X-Files."

Jacky laughed. "Nice." He added, "I'm Jacky."

Fox's smile turned into a mischievous smirk. "Nice to meet you. I, ah, should probably also let you know that the hunky professor up there is my dad."

"Must be where you get it from," Jacky said, raising one eyebrow as a challenge. Why shouldn't he shamelessly flirt with a random guy in his once-a-week class? He was sure Ryan was hooking up all over the place with all the gay dudes his gay roommates would bring over. Of course, Jacky also had a gay roommate, but so far he and Billy had kept their distance. Billy seemed to be building his reputation as the GBF (Gay Best Friend) to every girl on their floor who owned a pair of heels. Billy also went out at night and Jacky was usually asleep by the time he got home, which Jacky knew meant Billy was hooking up. But with whom?

He hoped Fox wasn't one of Billy's random hookups.

Fox had a nice little flush going along with his smirk. "Could be."

As Professor Fox's Dad called attention at the front of the lecture hall, Jacky settled back in his seat and suddenly realized that Fox was sitting on his right side. Which meant Fox probably hadn't noticed the empty sleeve of Jacky's hoodie.

All the thrill of flirting shamelessly left him.