Chapter Text
October 9th
The college life wasn’t what Dylan expected; he expected to see more frat parties and excitement. Well, there probably are those things, but he barely leaves his apartment. The only time he does leave is to visit the on-campus library and go to his classes. His mom had lectured him on how most of his high school friends would inevitably leave him once college started, which, to his dismay, was partially true. While he did lose a bunch of his friends (or what he would consider acquaintances), he did manage to stay in touch with Kaitlyn, a girl he’d been friends with since his sophomore year of high school.
Luckily enough, Kaitlyn lived nearby in a shared apartment with someone by the name of Ryan. The two haven’t met officially, but Kaitlyn had mentioned him once or twice before in conversations. He doesn’t remember the details, so all he knows is that they’re roommates and met through a shared class.
A blaring alarm ruined the reminiscing, causing Dylan to jolt slightly at the sudden sound. A groan escaped his lips as he slammed his hand on the alarm clock, the sound stopping almost immediately.
"I should change the sound," he mumbled under his breath, pushing himself up.
Dylan sluggishly got out of bed, grabbing his phone on the way out of his room.
As soon as he walked out, he noticed that his roommate, Nick, wasn’t there. This wasn’t news to him considering the Australian had a tendency of hanging out with Jacob, who coincidentally was childhood friends with Kaitlyn.
The notification sound ruined his train of thought, his phone vibrating to signify that he got a text. He unlocked his phone and took a glance at the text message he received, which ended up being Kaitlyn's.
kaitlyn: hey dylan, won’t be able to study w/ you today but feel free to go to the library w/o me
He quickly gave her the "okay" before he began getting ready for his morning study session, which his routine was usually breakfast, putting on clothes, and the basic hygienic stuff (plus on study days he would take his laptop and books).
After he got ready, he left his apartment building and began his journey to the library. Despite living off-campus, the walk wasn’t far from his apartment to the on-campus library he always attended when he needed to focus on his studies, especially when Nick brought Jacob over.
Before he knew it, he had already arrived. The warmth enveloped him completely as he walked into the library, glancing around to see if Mr. Hackett was anywhere in sight.
He didn’t see Mr. Hackett, but he did see someone else. He’s never seen this person before and couldn’t get a good look at them since they were facing the opposite direction. Using his common sense, Dylan determined the person was putting books back on the shelves.
"Err, hey, uh, is Mr. Hackett around?" Dylan asked the mysterious person, causing them to turn around.
"He’s not working today; he had something come up," the person replied, causing Dylan’s eyes to widen.
The person was stunning and Dylan had to remind himself how to breathe. The person was a bit shorter than he was and was accompanied with a band tee that he didn’t quite recognize.
"Oh, sorry for bothering you then, man, are you like his helper or something?"
"..Helper?"
"Like.. his assistant?"
"I guess you could call it that; why do you ask?"
"No reason! I mean, I come in here a lot to study, y’know, and I usually see Mr. H lounging around in here," Dylan rambled, feeling the need to explain himself to the beautiful stranger.
The stranger nodded, turning back to the bookshelf that they were preoccupied with before.
"Did you, like, just start the job?"
"You ask a lot of questions," The stranger responded, putting the last book on the shelf. "I’ve known Ch-.. Mr. Hackett for a while, and he offered me a job here that I accepted."
Dylan nodded sheepishly, "Sorry, I was just curious, dude. Can I get your name at least?"
"Ryan."
"Well alrighty, Ryan! I’ll leave ya to the book shelving gig you've got going on," Dylan grinned, attempting to flirt with the stranger, whose name he now knows is Ryan.
Awkward silence filled the room as Dylan quickly hurried away, walking over to a nearby table and sitting down at it. Embarrassment washed over him as he realized that he made a fool out of himself in front of a cute, mysterious guy who is probably already annoyed him.
dylan: KAITTTT
dylan: holy shit
dylan: i just met the cutest guy ever and made a fool out of myself fml
kaitlyn: LMAO can’t believe I missed that
dylan: im glad u did because u would’ve never let me live it down
kaitlyn: I’ll make sure I’m there next time, maybe you’ll keep it in your pants
dylan: haha, real funny 😓
kaitlyn: 😘 love you
Dylan let out a huff, putting his phone to the side. He needed to focus on studying, not Kaitlyn, and definitely not his crush on the assistant librarian. Is it even a crush? This guy will probably be gone by tomorrow depending on if Mr. Hackett shows back up; part of him hoping that he doesn’t. While he hopes Mr. Hackett isn’t dealing with something serious, he wants the librarian to be gone long enough for him to get to know Ryan.
He glanced around subtly, noticing that Ryan was sitting at the front desk now. He guessed that he was done putting books up, and while he did have the urge to go up there and ask for his number, the other half of him told him to focus on his physics work. If luck were on his side, he could easily talk to Ryan tomorrow when he has free time. Then they can live happily ever after, but for now he needs to study so he can pass his physics courses and pursue what Kaitlyn would call "his nerd dreams."