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It was a Thursday evening when Newt was very nearly trampled in the middle of campus. It was a hard shove to his left shoulder which threw off his already questionable balance and then he was tumbling forward and rolling sideways on the cold concrete of winter.
“Shit! Dude, I’m sorry!”
Newt tried to ignore the burning of the scrape that he’d just acquired somewhere on his hip and nodded through the frustration and pain. “No problem.”
“Let’s go!” Another voice called across the courtyard.
“You good?” The closer voice asked him.
“Spectacular,” Newt sighed as he pushed himself to his knees and collected his book and phone. He allowed a simple sigh of relief at the uncracked screen before he turned to tell the kid off for not paying attention. Except, the boy was already jogging off toward his friends. Newt shook his head and fought a roll of his eyes. He pushed himself up and dusted his jeans off in the light of one of the campus lanterns. He unlocked his phone once more to look down at the list of directions he’d written down in his notes. “A right at the lamppost,” he squinted up at it, saw the chipped green paint in the shape of a dog and nodded to himself. “That’ll be it.” He spared a last glance toward the group of boys laughing in the distance, a ball of some sort being tossed back and forth between them. Then, he turned right and continued on his way.
***
He finally made it up to the third floor of Glade Hall and eyed the door numbers until he found the fifth – his own – and shouldered it open. He was greeted by the scent of beer and a sudden series of crashes. His eyes barely spared a glance at the television as he tossed his keys and book onto his desk. “Are all Americans so bloody rude?” he asked his roommate.
Gally simply raised a brow and tilted his head in Newt’s direction in question, though his eyes stayed focused on the racing game he was sucked into.
Newt looked from Gally to the television in time to watch him run over two pedestrians and a cyclist, crash into another car and then spin out and knock a lamppost down. Newt took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay then.”
“Sorry, man. I haven’t reached this track yet.”
“What track?” Newt asked, shrugging his jacket off. “It’s a city street and it looks like the same street you tore apart the last time you played. And the time before that.” He tossed his jacket on the back of his chair and lifted his shirt just a bit to check on the scrapes from his tumble. Sure enough, there were little red gashes scratched across his hip.
“What happened to you?” Gally asked.
Newt dropped the hem of his t-shirt down and waved the question off. He pulled a drawer open and yanked out a pair of flannel pyjama pants. “I’m going to rinse off.”
“Great idea,” Gally said, suddenly interested and pausing the game. He turned to Newt. “I got us a- what are those?” he looked pointedly at the flannel pants.
“Pyjamas.”
“I can see that,” Gally nodded. “I mean what are they doing in your hand?”
“I’m going to wear them, which is typically what you do with pajamas.”
“Now?” Gally asked, finally meeting his gaze.
Newt blinked.
“No,” Gally shook his head and leaned back in his seat again. “Jeans and a button down. Let’s go.”
“What?”
“I got us an invite to the Delta Gamma house.”
“The what?” Newt asked.
“Christ, do you guys not have anything over there?” he asked as he un-paused his game. “Look just shower and make yourself look good.”
“Gally, I’m not going out.”
“Listen,” Gally sighed and paused the game again. He even went so far as to do the honour of putting down the controller and turning to Newt fully now. “You’ve been entrusted to me this semester.”
“Entrusted?”
“It’s my responsibility to make sure you have the full American University Experience.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s just your responsibility to help me if I need to know where the Food Hall is.”
“No,” Gally shook his head. “It’s my responsibility to get you laid.”
“That is definitely not your responsibility.” He turned away, very much done with this conversation and made his way to the Community Showers.
It was only forty minutes later that he found himself shoving his hands further into his pockets and jogging a few steps to keep up with Gally. “Why couldn’t I bring my jacket again?”
“Because nobody wants to fuckin’ walk around a party with a jacket, Newt. You’ll thank me when you’re inside.”
“If I don’t die of hypothermia first.”
“Hypo-what? Dude, just…,” Gally waved a hand behind him to brush away the rest of his unspoken words.
The two of them jogged up the steps to a brick building with large windows, all decked out with garland. Outside on the front lawn was a giant tree-shaped display made of green beer bottles. Newt eyed it distastefully before Gally banged on the door.
Two guys opened the door – topless with bright red and green braces clipped to black trousers. Atop each of their heads was a headband with antlers. One of them gestured for Gally and Newt to walk in. “Welcome to Delta Gamma: the North Pole of Denver U.”
Newt eyed him for a moment before Gally tossed a few dollars in a snowman decorated bowl held by the other boy.
“The elves thank you for your donation,” the boy nodded.
“Aren’t you reindeer?” Newt asked.
“Elves,” Gally said, pointing forward.
Newt looked ahead through the small hall to the crowd of students weaving around each other. Scattered about, were boys with elf hats and pointed ears, no doubt the older fraternity brothers. “I’ll never understand this place.”
Gally shrugged. “You get used to it.” He patted one of the reindeer on its antlers and started down the hall.
Newt nodded with an awkward smile to both of them as he slid between them to follow Gally.
“Alright,” Gally nodded. “First, a drink.”
“I think I’m okay,” Newt said, scanning the house. It was a fairly large building – nothing like he’d seen in the movies he’d watched in preparation. But then, most of the movies got plenty of details wrong about American University. There were hardly any long, high-ceilinged lecture halls on his campus, the dorm rooms were more like small walk-in closets, and there weren’t nearly as many people lining up to meet you and pull you into their clubs with colorful flyers. More than anything, it was just like secondary school. Except there were fewer adults and no one actually seemed to care about the majority of homework assigned – including the teachers.
He was stirred from his thoughts as something was pushed against his chest. He looked down to see a barely foamed drink that looked more like flat ginger-ale than anything else. “What is this?”
“Just drink it.”
“It’s flat,” he said.
“It’s from a keg, it’s fine.”
Newt blinked at Gally and then took the red plastic cup from him. At least the movies got that part right. “It’s warm.”
“It’s fine, just drink it.”
“I’m really not this desperate for a drink.”
“You will be once you see everyone dancing in the other room.”
Newt blinked at him. “How long do we have to be here?”
“Could you at least try to have fun?” Gally asked. “I know you’re all high and mighty and British or whatever, but you’re the one who wanted to study here. Come learn our ways,” he nodded forward and led the way.
Newt held the cup close to him, if only so he wouldn’t get propositioned to have another, and followed Gally through the swarm. The lights were off in the living room of the house and shadows melted into each other in a slow rhythm to some song blaring through a Bluetooth speaker off in a corner. Newt stood against the wall with Gally, cup still held tightly in his hand as he scanned the room.
“Alright,” Gally nodded.
“Hm?” Newt asked.
Gally responded with a sip of his beer.
Newt looked down at his cup and then across the dancing bodies at the others who happened to be standing against walls, awkwardly clutching cups to their chests. The only lights came from phones that were pulled from pockets sporadically. Newt shifted his gaze to Gally as he pulled out his own phone. “I’m gonna find a bathroom.”
“Cool,” Gally nodded. “I’ll wait here.”
“Sure,” Newt nodded. He turned and ducked out of the darkened room into an even darker hallway. He left his cup on a small, thin table pushed against the wall that held various bowls of untouched chips and dip. He glanced up to the wall which had a glass shadowbox of certificates and photographs.
“Past DGs,” a voice said next to him suddenly.
He glanced at the guy next to him and then back to the pictures. He nodded. “I gathered.”
“Nick used to be head of the house before he graduated last year,” the boy pointed to some kid in one of the pictures. His finger slid to the side. “George.” He rattled off a few more names. “They all graduated and left the house to me.”
Newt nodded again. “Cool.” He could feel the boy’s gaze on him.
“You’re not from around here, are you?”
“What gave it away?” Newt asked through an awkward laugh. He chanced a glance up at the boy.
His mouth curled up. “Let me guess: freshman?”
“Second year.”
“Ah,” the boy nodded. “Okay, not bad.”
Newt lowered a brow, but decided against asking what he meant by that.
“Would you like a drink?” the boy asked.
“Oh, I’m…” he trailed off as his eyes scanned the table. The cup he’d put down seemed to have been scooped up by someone.
“Wait here,” the boy smiled. “I can grab one for you. It’s a bit hectic to cut through that room.”
Newt pressed his mouth together in a tight smile. “Sure.”
The boy watched him for another moment with something dark in his eyes before he stepped around him and headed toward the kitchen.
Newt waited about ten seconds before he moved further down the hall in search of the bathroom. There was a staircase, but he was sure going up there would only lead to more noise and probably bedrooms, which he didn’t need to be near. He peered through one semi-open doorway to find a storage closet, then moved a bit further down the hall to find a closed door with light glowing around it. He knocked a knuckle on it twice, but there was no response. He pressed an ear to the door and tried again but there was just laughter from more than one mouth and he decided he could definitely find somewhere else to hide out for the night until Gally was ready to leave.
He made his way to the sliding glass door at the back of the hall and pushed it open. He glanced up and saw someone standing on the back porch already, leaning on one of the support beams. Newt silently cursed himself for not realizing someone was out here sooner – but he couldn’t just not go outside now. He offered an awkward smile at the boy, only to find he’d already turned back to the phone in his hand. Newt turned and slid the door closed before he walked further out on the back porch.
There wasn’t much to do out here either, he quickly realized. There was one dirty plastic chair with a broken arm on the porch. The three steps at the end of the porch lead down to a grassy field with no furniture, save for one covered grill. He glanced once more at the boy on his phone and stood on the opposite side of the steps as him, over to the left next to the other pillar. He stuffed his hands further in his pockets and took a deep breath and exhaled – if only to have something to do. He had forgotten just how cold it was outside and silently cursed Gally again for making him leave his jacket at home. He eyed the boy next to him and noted the navy fleece. At least he was smart enough to have a jumper.
Newt turned away again and looked out across the empty garden. There weren’t even stars to look at. The bass from the music pumped through the deck and a car drove by one block over. He wondered how long he’d have to stay out here before going back in without seeming awkward. Although, he felt awkward enough just standing on the porch not doing anything. He shuffled a bit more to the left and leaned against the pillar. Not one second later, the string of lights that he leaned on shifted with his weight and unhooked from the corner of the archway and dropped down, almost smacking him in the face. He stepped back from it, glanced once at the boy – who eyed him just briefly before he went back to his phone – and then turned to the lights.
He reached up and tried to hook them back around the pillar, but couldn’t find the nail they’d been hanging from. His eyes scanned the beam until he found a small rusted nail sticking out from the top of the arch. He reached up to loop the lights around it, but was embarrassed enough to find he couldn’t quite reach. He pushed away the shame and tried to reach again. When he accepted the fact that he hadn’t just sprouted two extra inches in the last five seconds, he eyed the deck for something to stand on. His eyes landed on the plastic chair. That definitely wasn’t happening. He reached up once more, hoping that somehow it’d work this time.
“What happened to your side?”
Newt turned and looked over his shoulder as the other boy walked over pocketing his phone. Newt dropped his gaze to his own side to see the way his shirt lifted just slightly as he reached up – enough to display his scrapes. He lowered his arms as the boy took the string of lights from him and looked up to eye the nail.
Standing this close to him, Newt could tell that he had just about half an inch on the boy, and if Newt couldn’t reach, there was no way this guy would. Still, he said nothing and only stepped back to give the boy space.
“Your side,” the boy said, neck stretched as he continued focusing on the nail. He lifted the string of lights and then with a slight jump, he tossed the wire up and it looped just enough to hang. He kept his gaze on it and hands still, but the wire seemed to be content with its placement. He took a step back and blinked back to Newt.
Newt raised a brow and looked up at the hanging wire and back at the boy. “Not bad.”
The boy shrugged guiltily. “Did the same thing as you on that side,” he looked over at the pillar he’d been leaning on.
Newt followed his gaze to find the wire was shoddily hung on that side as well.
“Though, I didn’t actually get it on the first try that time,” he laughed, scratching the back of his head. He looked back at Newt. “Took about five or six attempts before I was able to hook it.”
Newt let out a small laugh. “Secret’s safe.”
The boy offered a small smile and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Thomas.”
“I’m sorry?”
“My name,” he said, pulling his hand back out to gesture to himself. “Me. I’m Thomas.”
“Oh, oh,” Newt nodded. “Hi. I’m Newt.”
Thomas nodded once, brows furrowing just slightly, and then blinked back the look.
“Yes,” Newt laughed. “Like the salamander.”
Thomas raised his brows now. “I didn’t say anything.”
Newt laughed and looked back up at the wire, still hanging on.
“So, Newt. What happened to your side?” Thomas asked.
Newt turned his gaze to Thomas’ boot as it scraped and scuffed against the deck. “Oh, I uh…” he furrowed a brow at the memory. “I wish I had a more interesting story behind it.” He shrugged. “I got knocked over by some idiot running across campus earlier.”
Thomas’ boot stopped moving and he snapped his head up to Newt. “By the Dog Pole?”
Newt blinked. “The what?”
“The pole with the dog? You know, it’s the streetlamp. It’s got that little,” Thomas gestured in the air as if he were scratching something, “mark on it that looks like a dog.”
Newt eyed him. “Yeah, it was there.”
Thomas stopped scratching the air in favor of scratching the back of his head again. “Well, this is awkward.”
Newt just eyed him as it registered.
“Sorry about that,” Thomas laughed awkwardly.
“That was you?” Newt asked.
“Unless there were two of you that got run over today.”
Newt let out a small laugh. “Wouldn’t be surprised, honestly. This place gets…,” he tilted his head, considering his words.
“Dangerous?”
“I was going to go with chaotic,” Newt said.
Thomas’ mouth quirked up on one side. “I guess that sounds better.”
“I guess,” Newt laughed. He shifted his gaze back to the string of lights just to have somewhere to look. When his neck started to hurt from the angle, he looked back down to the deck. He looked at the three steps, eyed a piece of the wood that was chipping off. He glanced up to the banister and wondered how many splinters people got sliding their hands down it. He suppressed a shudder and shifted his gaze to the lights again.
“So, are you… here with someone?” Thomas asked.
Newt turned to him and then back to the party beyond the sliding glass door. “Oh, uh, my mate’s in there. Somewhere.”
“Ah,” Thomas nodded.
Newt slowly nodded and turned back to the view of the overgrown grass. “And you?”
“Oh, my friend and his girlfriend are somewhere inside.”
“Gotcha.” Newt stretched his arms and shoulders a bit as he took a deep breath. He exhaled and dropped his shoulders, hands still in their respective pocket-homes.
“Aren’t you cold?” Thomas asked.
Newt shrugged as he continued his scan of the backs of buildings behind the Frat House. “I’m fine,” he lied. He paused his gaze on a particularly lit up house a few down – bright lights lining the roof, chimney and windows. He turned as he heard more scuffing and watched as Thomas kicked his boot at a bent nail sticking up from a piece of wood. Newt watched him kick at it for a few more minutes until Thomas seemed to grow bored with it and stopped moving again. They went back to standing in silence. Newt worked his jaw, wracking his brain for something – anything – to say. He didn’t particularly like talking to people he didn’t know, but they’d already been having some… semblance of a conversation. It’d be weird to just stop entirely. Maybe he should just go back inside. He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time. He swiped past the storage warning to find no text messages from Gally. He pocketed the phone again. He started to lean to the left and then caught himself at the last minute and eyed the string of lights. He turned to Thomas when he heard the small laugh. “Almost had another decoration disaster on our hands.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I could pull that off again,” Thomas laughed, eyeing the hanging lights. The glow draped across his features.
Newt opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as Thomas pulled his phone from his pocket and looked down at it vibrating in his hand.
He swiped it open and brought it up to his ear. “Hello?”
Newt turned again to the backyard and dragged his gaze across the buildings once more as Thomas spoke to someone on the other end.
“What? … No- no I can’t hear-… Minho, what? … Okay I can’t hear a word you’re- … okay. … okay, yeah… Yep…”
Newt continued staring at the buildings.
“Hey, uh… I gotta go meet my friends. I think they’re ready to get out of here.”
Newt turned to him and nodded. “Alright.”
“Um,” Thomas gestured to him. “Cool meeting you.”
“Yeah,” Newt nodded. “Thanks for the…” he gestured to the hanging lights.
“Yeah,” Thomas laughed. “And sorry about the…” he gestured to Newt’s hip.
“Yeah,” Newt laughed. “No problem.”
“Alright,” Thomas nodded. “See ya, then.”
Newt nodded and dropped his gaze. He turned back to the buildings and continued his study of them as footsteps made their way further across the deck. He heard the glass door slide and music flooded the backyard for a moment before it shut.
Newt exhaled. He didn’t think about brown hair or moles or the way Thomas’ neck stretched as he looked at the lights. He didn’t think about the veins running through his hands as his fingers angled and danced their way across his phone. He didn’t think about Thomas at all.
A moment later the door slid open again and music blared its way into Newt’s thoughts about Not-Thomas.
“Newt,” Thomas called from behind him.
Newt turned and raised a brow at him, ignoring the way his heart rate picked up suddenly.
“Do you want a ride back to campus?”
Newt blinked at him. “Oh, um. I have to wait for my friend.”
“Oh, right,” Thomas nodded. “Yeah, of course. Okay.”
“Thanks.”
“Okay,” Thomas nodded. “See ya.”
Newt lifted a hand in salute, wondered why the hell he’d just saluted him, and then turned back to the rows of houses. The music was cut off with the closing of the door. He pulled his phone back out to check, but still no sign of notifications. He typed out a quick “how’s it going?” text to Gally and pocketed it again.
He trailed his gaze along the string of lights around the arch of the deck and then landed at the place Thomas had managed to hang them. When his neck got tired again, he stepped forward and tested the second step leading to the grass. When it felt sturdy enough to hold him, he stepped down and sat on the deck, folding his arms in his lap in an attempt to keep warm. He leaned forward enough to cover his arms and lean his chin on his knees. He didn’t think about the way Thomas’ mouth curled up in an open-mouthed smile – just enough to show the tips of his teeth on one side.
The door slid open once more and Newt straightened from the weird position he had bent hovered in. He turned to look over his shoulder and furrowed his brows as Thomas slid the door shut again and walked across the deck toward him.
“Hi,” Thomas exhaled. He stepped down and took a seat next to Newt.
Newt raised a brow at him. “Changed their minds?”
“Yeah,” Thomas said as he looked out at the buildings. Then he snapped to Newt. “No. Not them. I did.”
Newt looked back at the house and then at Thomas. “What?”
Thomas shrugged. “They got in the Uber but I decided to stay. Told them I’d head back later.”
Newt nodded slowly and looked forward again.
“Figured if you were still stuck here, least I could do was give you some company after knocking you over earlier,” he laughed.
Newt let a small laugh out. “It is the least you could do.” He reveled in the way their laughs melded together.
“God,” Thomas sighed, shaking his head. “How are you not freezing?”
Newt shrugged. “Dunno.”
“Is it this cold usually where you’re from?”
Newt shrugged. “A little bit.”
Thomas shook his head and exhaled. “I hate it.”
“You didn’t grow up here, then?” Newt asked.
“Nope. Grew up at the beach. We barely had winter.”
“What brought you out here, then?”
Thomas shrugged. “College was an opportunity to go anywhere else for a bit. Figured I’d take advantage.”
“And come to Denver?” Newt laughed.
“I don’t know,” Thomas shrugged through his smile. “The campus looked cool online.”
“Oh, well then – that changes everything.”
“Alright, smartass,” Thomas said, shoving his shoulder lightly into him. “What about you? Why here?”
“Art program.”
“Art?”
Newt looked sideways at him. “Like… drawing?”
Thomas leveled a stare at him. “I know what art is.”
“I don’t know!” Newt laughed. “You asked!”
“I just meant that… I don’t know. Art. I didn’t know you were into that.”
“Well, no,” Newt smiled. “I wouldn’t expect you to. We’ve only just met.”
“Jeez,” Thomas sighed. “Only just met and you’re giving me this hard of a time.”
“Well, you did knock me over.”
Thomas laughed down at his knees. “Never gonna let that down, hm?”
“I was content to never bring it up again; you’re the one who said it before.”
Thomas laughed through his smile. “So, what do you draw?”
Newt shrugged. “I don’t know. I like to draw scenery. Architecture, benches, stairways and all. But the classes aren’t actually what I expected, if I’m being honest.”
Thomas turned to him with a brow raised.
“But then, neither is university.”
“How so?”
Newt tilted his head. “It’s different here. I mean, I knew it would be. But I guess I didn’t realize what kind of different? Everything I’ve seen about American University is all swimming pools and gigantic parties with rich kids and expensive cars and crazy big Frat houses and enormous lecture halls. Study halls, someone always reading under a tree in a grassy field or something.”
Thomas snorted.
“Don’t laugh,” Newt smiled. “It’s not my fault you all make it seem better in the movies.”
Thomas looked at him sideways. “Better? Giant Frat houses with people jumping off rooftops into huge pools of champagne is better?”
Newt eyed him and then looked over his shoulder at the party inside and then back to Thomas. “I mean, if given the choice…”
Thomas dropped his head in a laugh. “Yeah, I guess I’d choose that too. At least the lecture halls and old buildings.” He shrugged. “And studying underneath a tree sounds nice.”
Newt’s shoulders shook through the silent laugh. “Maybe you can find a tree when it’s warm out in the spring.”
“I think we’re fresh out of trees on campus,” Thomas laughed. “Just lampposts everywhere.” There was a pause as he worked his jaw over something unspoken and then closed his mouth.
Newt eyed him but then pulled his gaze back to the grass.
“I think in the movies it was usually at least two people studying together,” Thomas said slowly.
Newt shifted his gaze a bit toward Thomas, but didn’t quite meet his. “Yeah, I think… I think you might be right.” He watched Thomas’ shadow turn to his.
“We might not have trees, but how do you feel about lamp posts?”
Newt finally looked up at him. There was another question in Thomas’ gaze as he seemed to search Newt’s for an answer. Newt offered a small smile. “I do enjoy drawing lamp posts.”
Thomas’ eyes brightened just slightly at the attempted joke. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that I know of the best lamp post on campus.”
“Oh, do you?” Newt laughed, unable to turn from his gaze now.
Thomas’ eyes flicked between Newt’s.
Newt’s heart pounded along with the bass from the party, and in the slim space between their smiles, he decided that maybe American University wasn’t as bad as he thought. Maybe, it could be better than the movies after all.