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“But I worked really hard for this! This can’t be right. Can’t you take another look at it?” Aaron pleaded with his professor.
He’d just checked his grade for a really important exam and it was lower than he’d expected. A lot lower.
“I have double checked everything. The grade is correct.” The professor replied. “There are resists in two weeks, feel free to try again then.”
“But I really need to pass this class.” Aaron tried again.
“Well then I suggest you get studying. I’ve made notes on your exam, that will be online shortly, use it wisely.” The professor said resolutely but then seemed to feel bad for Aaron. “Maybe you can ask a friend or classmate for help.”
“Right. Yeah. Thanks for the advice.” Aaron sighed and left his professor’s office.
He scrolled through his phone looking for someone who could help him study. He knew plenty of people at school but basically none that took the same classes as him and his family probably wouldn’t be much help either.
He rounded a corner and ran right into something. Or rather – someone.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” the other person said, sounding annoyed.
Aaron looked up from his phone into a pair of blue-green eyes.
Robert Sugden, the guy he’d had a crush on since pretty much the first week. They had a few of the same classes but Robert usually had one of the White sisters or some other pretty girl hanging off his arm so Aaron had soon realised he stood no chance with Robert.
Only none of the guys that liked him could hold his interest for longer than a few months at most.
“Sorry.” Aaron mumbled and tried to step around him to head to the library.
“Hot date?” Robert asked, stopping him in his tracks.
“You what?”
“What’s got you so interested in your phone that you’re not paying attention to the world around you?”
“What’s it to you?”
Robert shrugged.
“Just making conversation.”
“Right…”
“How did you do on that exam from Edwards’ class from last week? He posted the results this morning, did you see?”
“Uh… yeah… I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped really…” Aaron replied, not entirely sure why Robert was talking to him.
“Yeah me neither. I only got 75%.”
“Seventy five? Are you kidding me? I got 42 and I worked my arse off!”
“Oh… well… there’s always resists right?”
“Yeah don’t sleep for the next two weeks, study 24/7, and get 43%.” Aaron said, annoyed and finally stepping around Robert on his way to the library.
“Do you want some help?” Robert asked, making Aaron turn around in surprise.
“What? From you?”
“Yeah… I’m doing alright in that class. I could help you study.”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“I’m a nice guy.”
Aaron snorted.
“Not from what I’ve heard.”
Robert shrugged.
“Maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you hear about me.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow.
“What’s in it for you?”
“Nothing. I’m just trying to help a fellow student out.”
“Right. That’s all? You’re not trying to impress some girl by hanging out with the gay guy?”
“What girl would be impressed by that anymore these days? Get with the time mate.” Robert said, grinning. “Look, do you want my help or not?”
Aaron considered his options for a moment and then sighed.
“Fine. I’m heading to the library now to study… are you doing anything right now?”
Robert looked apologetic.
“I’m working… but I’m free tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow it is then. Meet in the library at 4?”
“Sure. Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in.”
Aaron handed Robert his phone and let the other man call his own number.
“Alright. Now I have your number and you have mine.” He gave Aaron his phone back. “See you tomorrow.”
Robert walked away and Aaron was left wondering what the hell had just happened. After a few minutes he got himself together enough to actually move and go to the library like he’d planned.
Only when he got there he couldn’t bring himself to study and ended up stalking Robert on social media.
His Facebook account was locked and only showed his profile picture. A picture of himself somewhere sunny, wearing sunglasses. He clicked on it but none of the comments told him anything interesting.
He decided to try his luck on Instagram instead and was happy to discover Robert’s account on there was public.
There were a lot of selfies which every girl on Instagram had apparently commented on and some older pictures with Chrissie White.
A few pictures of Robert at a restaurant, which Aaron discovered was his mother’s and a picture with his sister on her birthday with a cake Robert had apparently made himself.
One picture caught his attention, it was taken back in the summer and it was an explosion of colour. Aaron recognised it right away. He’d been there himself. Pride in Leeds.
Robert’s post consisted of 3 pictures. Two of the parade and one of himself smiling brightly with three stripes on his cheek. Pink, purple, and blue. The bisexual pride flag.
There was no real caption, just some hashtags.
#pride #Leedspride #bi #imcomingout
Robert was bisexual?
He kept scrolling through Robert’s Instagram for clues that he really did like both men and women but apart from that pride post, he found nothing.
Suddenly the librarian was tapping him on the shoulder to tell him she was closing up.
He looked around and the library was empty and through the windows he noticed it was getting dark.
His bag was still unopened on the table in front of him.
“Right. Yes. Sorry… have a good night.”
He went home and hoped Adam and Matty had found something else to occupy themselves tonight. He liked living with the Barton brothers but after the day he’d had, he just wanted to be alone.
Thankfully Adam wasn’t home and Matty too busy gaming with his friend Ryan to really pay attention to him.
He went through to his room, dropped his bag next to the door and faceplanted on his bed.
For the longest time he’d admired Robert from a distance, convinced nothing would ever come of it because the other man was straight. It was safe. He’d never have to admit his feelings for him, never worry about a first kiss or first time, never meet his friends or introduce him to his own…
Only Robert wasn’t straight.
By the next morning Aaron had convinced himself that no matter his sexuality, a guy like Robert would never be interested in him and after today, he’d just forget Aaron existed and they both would just go on with their lives as if nothing had happened.
He got to the library early and told himself it was just to make sure he got a good spot.
In clear view of the door but near an outlet for his laptop and hidden away enough to be able to work in peace.
“Hey, I’m not late am I?” Robert said when he arrived, a few minutes after four. “I went to get a coffee but they wouldn’t let me take it in here so I had to drink it outside.”
“It’s ok.” Aaron said quickly. “I only just got here myself.”
“Alright. Good.” Robert said and sat down and started pulling papers from his bag. “I brought my own notes so we can compare and see what I did different and stuff and - what?” he said when he noticed Aaron wasn’t moving and just looking at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Nothing… I uh… just… you’re really serious about helping me study…”
“Uh… yeah… I thought that was the whole idea of this thing?”
“Yeah… uh… I uh… never mind.” Aaron shook his head. “I made the most mistakes in the stuff from chapter 5. It’s like Chinese to me.”
Robert nodded and flicked through his notes.
“Oh that… that’s my weak point too.”
“Oh great… so you can’t help me?”
“I didn’t say that.” Robert grinned. “Two heads are better than one, right? We’ll figure it out together.”
“If you say so.” Aaron muttered but grabbed his own notes and pulled up his exam with his professor’s notes anyway.
It turned out Robert was right, together they did figure it out. Mostly. Robert understood the material way better than Aaron and thankfully was able to explain his methods in a way that actually made sense. Unlike their prof in their classes.
“You missed your calling, mate.” Aaron said after a while. “You should teach this class instead of Edwards.”
“Who knows, maybe one day. If all else fails.” Robert laughed. “Do you want to go for a drink? To reward ourselves for working so hard?” He asked suddenly, taking Aaron by surprise.
“Uh…”
“Just as mates, of course. No funny business.”
“Right. Of course. Sure. I could go for a drink.”
“Great. I know just the place.”
They ended up in a small pub not far from campus and mostly chatted about the course work until Robert got a text and said he had to go.
“Sorry to just bail on you like this.”
“It’s fine.” Aaron waved his comment away. “Don’t leave your girlfriend waiting.”
“Girlfriend? What? No this is my boss… who is also my mum… she needs me to cover a shift because someone called in sick. I work in her restaurant.”
“Oh... right.” Aaron felt his cheeks heat up. “Sorry for assuming…”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Robert said laughingly. “Are you free tomorrow? I think we’re really getting somewhere with chapter 5.”
“Uh… yeah but I have a late class… the library will be closed by then.”
“I could meet you before.” Robert offered. “Or we could do it another day.”
“Or you could come to my place.” Aaron suggested. “I’ll get rid of my roommates so we can work in peace.”
“Sure. What time?”
“Around 7.30?”
Robert nodded.
“Alright. I can do that. Text me the address and I’ll be there.” He said, shouldering his bag and giving Aaron a wave as he left.
Aaron sighed and grabbed his own bag and left too, wondering how exactly he was going to clear the house for a full night the next day. Matty wouldn’t be such a problem, but Adam would insist on staying and doing his best to be as embarrassing as possible.
When he got home Adam shoved a beer in his hand before he’d even had the chance to take off his coat.
“We’re celebrating!” he announced. “Our little Matty is growing up! He has a hot date tomorrow!”
“Really? Congrats mate.” Aaron said sincere and quietly thanked whatever girl that had agreed to go out with him for her perfect timing.
Adam flung an arm around his shoulders while pulling Matty closer with the other.
“Our little boy. All grown up.” He teased, completing the act with his best fake crying. “We have to take pictures of you and her to send to mum. So she can meet her daughter in law to be.”
“Shut up.” Matty said, ducking out from underneath his brother’s arm. “It’s just a few drinks and I’m not letting you two anywhere near her.”
“Aww why not? Your loving big brother and the gay best friend! Girls love guys who love their family.”
“And how would you know? You’re single.” Aaron said and laughed. “By the way, I need you to fuck off tomorrow night too.”
“What? Why? You got a guy coming over or something?”
“I do actually.” Aaron told him. “And we’re going to have sex on every available surface in this house, starting with your room. So you need to get out.” He added with a straight face.
Adam looked at him, trying to decide if he was being serious.
“You’re full of shit.”
“Am I? Or am I not?”
“What’s his name then?”
“Robert.”
“Robert who?”
“Robert none of your business.”
“Tell me or I’m staying home tomorrow.”
Aaron rolled his eyes.
“Robert Sugden. He’s in prof Edwards’ class with me. The one I’m failing, you know? He’s helping me study for my resists.”
“Helping you study? Is that what the kids call it these days?” Adam teased. “I didn’t know he was gay. I thought he was dating Chrissie White.”
Aaron shrugged.
“I don’t know. He’s just helping me study, I’m not marrying the guy.”
“Yet!”
“Ever. So just clear off tomorrow yeah? Go stalk Matty and his date.”
“Or you could go see mum and stay there for the night.” Matty suggested. “And not make this girl run a mile when she meets my crazy brother.”
“I’m hurt you guys don’t want me around.” Adam told them.
“I don’t care.” Aaron replied.
“Same here.” Matty added.
The next day, Aaron rushed home after his class, happy to find the place empty, but unfortunately the fridge was too. He made a quick run to the supermarket around the corner for some drinks and snacks and hoped Robert wouldn’t leave if he wasn’t back in time.
When he got back his heart sank when he didn’t see Robert waiting outside their flat and half convinced himself he’d never planned to show up in the first place.
Only when he opened the door and walked into the flat he saw Robert, standing in his kitchen, talking to Adam.
In other words, a nightmare come true.
“What are you doing here? You said you’d go out tonight.” He asked Adam.
“I was! Am! I just came to get some stuff because I’m crashing at my mum’s tonight.” Adam explained. “And then I ran into Robert outside so I let him in. You know it’s impolite to keep your guests waiting.”
“Yes, thank you. Now go so we can get to work.”
“Alright, I’m going. You kids have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Adam said, shrugging on his jacket. “There are condoms in the bathroom cabinet.” He added with a laugh before closing the door behind him.
“Sorry about that.” Aaron sighed. “Adam is… Adam.” He settled on.
Robert laughed.
“It’s fine. He was actually nice and normal until you got home.”
“He likes winding me up way too much.”
“Still. It’s nice to share a place with friends instead of someone who just happened to get assigned the same dorm room. I speak from experience.” Robert sighed. “Thankfully I got out of there.”
“Where do you live now then?”
“Above my mum’s restaurant. It’s not much, a bedroom and a bathroom and I use the kitchen downstairs to prepare my food.”
“Sounds pretty good to me.” Aaron said. “Anyway… do you want to get started?”
They worked together for a few hours until Aaron’s eyes began to sting and the words in the book were making even less sense than before.
“I need a break.” He stretched and rubbed his eyes. “Do you want a drink?”
“Sure.” Robert said and caught the can Aaron tossed at him. “This is a nice place.” He said, looking around the room.
“Thanks. We didn’t do much to it though. Only put some furniture in when we moved in. Mostly stuff our families had standing around… which is why none of it matches.”
Robert nodded.
“Still... it’s home, right?”
“Yeah…” Aaron agreed and took a sip from his drink. “I still don’t know why you’re doing this. Helping me.” He said after a few moments of silence.
“I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you.” Robert joked. “It’s… embarrassing… you’ll laugh…” he added quietly.
“I won’t.” Aaron promised.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I never do.” Aaron told him. “Come on, you’ve met my roommate, I’m used to people doing embarrassing stuff.”
Robert chuckled.
“Alright… it’s uhm… the thing is… I sort of promised my mum to start being nicer to people… Or well…. She wants me to be nicer to my brother but that’s a step too far right now. So I thought I’d start with someone I don’t hate and doesn’t want to punch me in the face. And then you slammed into me in the corridor and I remembered you struggled in this class… so I figured I’d offer you some help.”
“That’s…”
“Embarrassing?”
“No. Actually quite sweet.” Aaron said. “I mean… not the hating your brother thing obviously.”
“Yeah siblings eh, can’t live with ‘em.” Robert said, only half joking. “Do you have any?”
“Uh yeah a younger sister. But she lives with my step mum.”
“Your parents are divorced?”
Aaron nodded.
“My sister visits from time to time. Stays over sometimes too.” He said, moving the subject away from his parents. “What about you?”
“Oh you don’t want to know the whole Sugden family drama, trust me. Look up dysfunctional and you’ll find my family.”
“Sounds familiar.” Aaron said and they started swapping crazy family stories and had just moved onto exes and bad dates when Matty stumbled through the door around 2AM and unintentionally killed the mood.
“Oh! I thought you’d be in bed! Both of you. Together. Doing… things…”
“I should get going…” Robert said and reluctantly got up.
“Yeah. Yeah of course. Uhm… thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome. If you need any more help…” Robert trailed off.
“You’ll be the first to know. I’ll text you.” Aaron said and walked him to the door. “Sorry about the crazy roommates. I’d say they’re not normally like that… but they are.”
Robert laughed.
“It’s ok. I like the craziness. Good night Aaron.”
A few days passed as Aaron tried to figure out his homework on his own as well his head when it came to Robert.
When neither of those things worked very well, he snapped a picture of his notebook and captioned it ‘help?’ before sending it to Robert.
The reply came almost right away.
Tonight?
Same time, same place?
Same company?
Probably. But I have a desk in my room. We’ll work there.
Alright. See you tonight.
See ya.
“Robert is coming round in a bit.” Aaron announced when he came home a few hours later.
“A second date already? You move fast, Dingle.” Adam commented.
“It’s not a date. He’s helping me study. That’s it.”
“Really? Is that why he was asking if you were seeing anyone the other day?”
“He was probably just making conversation. It’s what people do.”
“Right. Sure.” Adam said, sharing a look with Matty.
“I’m going to have a quick shower.” Aaron said, ignoring the Barton brothers. “Just tell him to wait a minute if I’m not down yet when he gets here.” He walked up the stairs and got in the shower, letting the warm water calm his nerves about spending an entire evening with Robert again.
Surely Adam was full of shit and Robert didn’t ask about a possible boyfriend. Right?
A little while later, Aaron stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed he still had plenty of time to find something to wear before Robert got there.
He picked a shirt and his smart hoodie out of his wardrobe and looked around for his favourite pair of jeans.
Just as he bent down to grab a clean pair of boxers from the drawer, his bedroom door opened.
“Hi sorry I’m a little early but… oh my god you’re naked! Why are you naked?” Robert yelled, seemingly unsure if he should turn around or cover his eyes or both.
“I just had a shower! You’re early!”
“Your roommates said I could just go through!”
“Don’t believe everything they say!” Aaron yelled, clutching at the towel around his waist like his life depended on it.
“I get that now! I’m sorry! I’ll just go!”
“No! Wait! I mean… give me five minutes to put some clothes on.”
“Right. Ok. Sorry… again. I’ll wait downstairs.”
“Ok. I’ll be five minutes.”
“Of course. Take your time.” Robert said, taking just that second too long to turn around and leave the room. “I didn’t see anything, I promise!”
Robert closed the door behind him and Aaron let out a sigh of relief. Instantly followed by the deep desire to kill Adam.
“I really am so sorry.” Robert said again when Aaron came downstairs a few minutes later.
“Don’t worry. Not your fault.” Aaron said and turned to Adam. “I told you to tell him to wait here if I wasn’t down yet.”
“Did you?” Adam asked innocently. “Sorry mate, we must’ve misunderstood.” He looked at Matty and they both erupted in a fit of giggles.
“Do you still want to work tonight?” Robert asked, unsure. “I can go…”
“No, please stay. The exam is on Tuesday, I need all the help I can get.” Aaron sighed. “If I don’t pass this exam, I’ll never graduate and get a decent job, and I’ll never be able to get a place of my own without these two clowns.”
Robert gave him a nervous laugh as Adam and Matty howled and followed Aaron to his room.
“Let’s just… forget what happened earlier and focus on the course work?” Aaron suggested.
“Yeah… yeah ok. But I think you know most of this by now. You will pass, I’m sure.”
“At least one of us is sure then.” Aaron sighed and opened his books. “Quiz me on chapter 3?”
They got to work, both of them almost forcing themselves to focus on their school work and not mention anything else. Especially not the eyeful Robert had gotten earlier.
It was almost midnight when Aaron walked Robert to the door.
“I’m telling you, you don’t need my help anymore. You’ll get a higher score than me if you keep this up.”
“I doubt that. But thanks for the vote of confidence. Are you free tomorrow?”
“I wish.” Robert sighed. “I’m working all weekend. But I’m free Monday. You could come round to mine… if you still need help.”
“Right… I’ll… I’ll let you know.”
“Alright. Well… I guess I’ll… see you around then? And uhm… good luck for Tuesday… if I don’t see you before then.”
“Yeah… thanks.” Aaron said “And sorry about earlier…”
“It’s ok. It’s forgotten.” Robert said and gave him a quick smile before making himself walk away.
Aaron closed the door and leaned against it.
He was definitely in trouble.
Suddenly his phone buzzed in his pocket.
From Robert 23:56
Just so you know, you have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about.
From Robert 23:57
About earlier I mean. When I walked in on you.
Aaron grinned as he typed a reply.
I thought you didn’t see anything?
From Robert 00:02
I didn’t! But the things I definitely didn’t see were nothing to feel embarrassed about!
The weekend came and went without so much as a text from Robert and so did the Monday. Aaron had to admit he missed him
Though Aaron himself hadn’t reached out either. He’d told himself Robert only helped him study to please his mother and wasn’t interested in being his friend.
Or anything else.
It wasn’t until Tuesday morning when he was in his seat in the classroom for his exam and he checked his phone a final time before he had to put it away that he saw a text from Robert. A simple good luck and a thumbs up emoji. It wasn’t much but made him smile.
“Alright ladies and gents, please switch off your phones and put away anything that isn’t a pen so we can get started. You have 90 minutes to complete this test, the results will be online later today.” The professor said as he handed out test papers.
Aaron was nervous but decided to just do his best and see what would happen. He took a deep breath, read the first question, and started writing.
When the 90 minutes were up he felt relieved it was all over but also all he wanted was a nap. He decided to sack off the rest of the day and go home.
Only life had other plans because when he walked out of the classroom, Robert was waiting for him with two coffees.
“How did it go?”
Aaron shrugged.
“Alright I suppose. What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to know how it went.” Robert said handing him the cup. “Life got a little crazy the past few days so this is sorry for being a bad friend coffee.”
“Is that what we are? Friends?”
“Of course. And as your friend I’m going to distract you so you don’t spend the rest of the day refreshing your results page.”
Robert’s ways of distracting him involved taking Aaron to his favourite spot in a nearby park and relaxing in the sun with a sandwich and ice cream for a couple of hours.
It all felt a lot like a date.
But Aaron wasn’t going to point that out and ruin the moment.
Instead they talked about everything from a film Robert wanted to see to their mutual love for cars.
Aaron was enjoying himself and felt completely relaxed until a ping from his phone put an end to that.
“Results?” Robert asked and Aaron nodded.
“I think so… I’m afraid to look. What if I failed again?”
“What if you didn’t?”
Aaron bit his lip as he unlocked his phone and logged into the page.
“I can’t do this. You look.” He shoved the phone at Robert.
“You sure?”
“Yes. Just tell me how bad it is.”
Robert was quiet for a minute as he scrolled down the list to find Aaron’s name.
“Wow.”
“Wow? Wow what? Is it that bad?”
“No… I was right… you did better than me. You got 76%.”
“What?” Aaron grabbed the phone. “I can’t believe it…”
“I can. Well done.” Robert said and pulled him into a hug. Only instead of letting Aaron go after a pat on the back, he looked him in the eye before leaning in and kissing him.
“I… what?” Aaron stammered when they broke the kiss.
“Sorry… I shouldn’t have done that.” Robert said and got up and brushed the grass from his clothes. “I should go.”
“Wait.” Aaron got to his feet too and grabbed Robert’s arm. “Did you mean it? Did… do… you want it?”
“I’ve… wanted to do that for a while.” Robert admitted.
“You have?”
Robert nodded.
“It’s why I started helping you…”
“You… like me?”
Robert laughed a little.
“I thought that was obvious by now. But I guess you don’t feel the same so just forget it, yeah?”
“Wait. No. I do… but… I didn’t…think… you… did. But you do.” Aaron stepped closer. “You do.”
Robert nodded again.
“Yeah...”
“So you won’t mind if I kissed you.” Aaron stated and leaned in.
Robert smiled and met him halfway.
“No. Not at all.”