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Most of the class requirements you had as a marine biologist major made sense to you. Intro to Oceanography? Of course. Biodiversity? Obviously. Chemistry? Eh, but it’s a science.
But math. It just had to have math.
You could quickly notice the small grumbles and sighs spilling out of Albert’s mouth as he read both of your assignments for your most dreaded class of the semester. There was no way the professor thought the class could finish these in just the three days you were out. Eight assignments, three quizzes, and four introductions? That’s not even counting the extra credit assignments. This was a freshman-level class. You could only imagine what came afterward.
Obviously, this wasn’t the best thing to realize at 8 pm on a Sunday night. If you had found this out a few days earlier when the assignments were posted, you could’ve gotten maybe one assignment done by now.
“Maybe marine biology wasn’t the best idea.” Albert let out another sigh, “I should just become a therapist like my father. Their workload is light.” He angrily scribbled out an incorrect answer on his scratch paper.
You agreed that the easy Psychology 101 and Philosophy 101 classes were sounding more and more appealing every day. Though, however much you wanted to drop your classes, you were too determined to work with marine life. If this class was a requirement, then it was a requirement.
“Come on, Al. The sea slugs are waiting for you.” You joked.
Albert had always told you that you reminded him of sea slugs. He gave most of his friends marine animal nicknames, which you had always thought was a bit childish but cute. However, you weren’t sure whether being called a sea slug was a compliment or an insult. A slug was what your mother used to call you when you laid around and watched tv all day. Though, Al always said it with a smile, so you didn’t think much past that.
He smiled a bit, but brushed it off, “They may have to wait until I figure out why Damien walked a total of twenty miles to the store and five more miles to the library.”
You chuckled.
You and Albert had been friends since freshman year of high school when you both ended up in the same English class. Only a minute or so of talking revealed that the both of you had more in common than you had with anyone else in the past. The way the two of you stuck together was almost clingy, but you both absolutely loved it. Albert was your study partner since day one and that never ended.
Now was not the time for reminiscing though. There was math to do.
The two of you sat in your dorm’s lobby doing math work for what felt like days. Occasionally, someone would pass by to either help with a problem, or to put a stop to your incessant giggling as you told jokes back and forth to lighten the mood. The table you were working on was piled up with soda cans and chip bags from the vending machines.
As the night went on, Albert became more and more determined to finish the work. He was spouting reasons like, “I’ve been the best so far, I’m not stopping now.” and “I can’t let the law major beat me.” You once again chuckled at his childishness.
Now though, it was far past midnight. Your past drowsiness had now turned into hysteria. Neither you nor Albert was really paying attention to the task at hand. You were more just joking around as you usually would. Eventually, the two of you realized that it was getting too late to get anything done and called it a night.
Albert started packing his things, “Hey, _____”
“Hm?” You looked up at him.
“Did I ever tell you that these sessions actually helped me in class?”
You smiled and laughed under your breath.
“I’m serious!” He exclaimed, “It’s actually kinda nice spending time with you even if it’s just studying. Since we started college, we’ve been so hyper-booked that we never get to talk.”
That was true, to be fair. The two of you had the same classes but were always separated by different professors or different times. Because of that, you rarely even got to eat lunch together.
You grabbed his now fully-packed bag and slung it over your shoulder with yours. “Let’s go back to my dorm then. My roommate’s out dealing with a family issue, you can take their bed. We can walk to class together in the morning.”
Albert’s look of despair turned upward a bit, and he nodded. “You’re sure it’s okay to let me stay in there?”
“You’ve been my friend for so long, Al,” You beamed, “Of course you can sleep over.” You took his hand. “C’mon.”
He took your hand and grasped it tightly, and the two of you walked up to your dorm.
Your dorm was almost split in half down the middle. You had claimed the left side as yours. All of your personal books, photos, and posters laid on your side of the room.
The right side belonged to your roommate, who was a lot less tidy than you were. They didn’t bother putting up their clean laundry, so it still lay in their laundry basket. The dirty clothes were either tucked into a corner or strewn across the room. Empty bottles and cans were all over the desk and the bed wasn’t made. You can’t remember the last time they had washed their sheets. You almost felt bad for making Albert sleep on that side of the room.
“Um,” You started thinking aloud, “You can sit with me on my bed until it’s time to sleep.”
Nodding, Albert walked over to your bed and set his stuff down on the floor.
Forgetting all about the overflow of homework that was due, the both of you sat on your bed for about another hour, cracking jokes and reminiscing about the past. You sat close, occasionally leaning on each other or playfully pushing each other around.
At one point, your voices had gotten a bit too loud and someone filed a noise complaint. When you got a knock on your door from Resident’s Life, the two of you looked at each other and laughed.
Albert sighed with pleasure, “____.”
“Mhm?” You closed your eyes of exhaustion, once again leaning on him.
“This was great.”
You sat up and looked at him, “Don’t be getting all mushy on me, Albert. Do you have feelings for me or something?” You chuckled slightly.
“Hm.”
He didn’t give you a direct answer. You grinned and slowly leaned in close to him, your forehead touching his. Nearly laying on top of him now, you could feel his face grow extremely warm and he tensed up a bit. “You could’ve just said something.”
He slowly set his right hand on your lower back. His other hand, he shakily placed on your face and stuttered, “Can… Can I kiss you, ____?”
You slowly nodded.
He tenderly pulled you closer and pressed his mouth to yours. Everything seemed to fall quiet as the two of you focused on the kiss. His lips were warm and soft. There was a light, sugary taste of lemon that lingered from the drink he had while the two of you were studying together. His breathing was slow and calm, contrasting with his embarrassed and flustered disposition. His hand slowly moved from your lower back, up to your hair, trying to keep you as close to him as possible. He didn’t want to let you go.
As you ran out of breath, you pulled away from the kiss. When you opened your eyes, Albert was looking back at you adoringly.
Your whole way of thinking about your best friend had changed within just a few seconds. What were you to him now? What was he to you? Though, you weren’t sure if that mattered. This kiss had revealed feelings that you didn’t know you had. Now all you wanted was to be close to him. You took his hand.
“How long have you been holding in these feelings?” You asked him.
“When we met, you were the most attractive person in the entire world to me. When I realized that we had so much in common, I just… I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you because I wanted to keep being close friends.”
“Al…” You also placed a hand on his face, mirroring the soft touch that he had given you. You didn’t know what to say.
“Sea slugs.” He looked at you closely, “They’re bright… and pretty. Not a lot of people know about them, but those that do can admire their beauty.”
You chuckled at his subtle childishness once again. You weren’t sure what that nickname had meant to you before, but now, you were content with its meaning.
Albert shifted underneath you and laid down on his back with you on top of him. You laid your head down on his chest. His heartbeats were slow but profound. Just by that alone, you could tell that he truly did admire you. As you started to nod off, Albert kept running his fingers through your hair. He quietly sang to you, "In dreams, I walk with you... In dreams, I talk to you... In dreams, you're mine... all of the time..." Anything more than that was a blur to you as you fell asleep.