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After his first week of classes, Will felt the need to sleep for approximately 30 hours straight. He thought that sylly week was supposed to be fun. Everyone always said that the first week was for settling into your dorm, house parties, and more alcohol than a human stomach should be able to stomach. When he already had three discussion boards to write, five critical thinking questions to answer, and six textbook chapters to read for homework, Will wasn’t sure how he was supposed to make time to party like everyone else on campus. It seemed impossible.
Still, when his roommate, Cecil, asked Will if he wanted to go out with him, Will said yes. “I know that if I don’t go out, I will regret it,” Will said as he highlighted a sentence in his bio I textbook, ready to tear his hair out.
“You probably would regret it. Wow, I really can’t believe you’re doing homework and it’s only the first week,” Cecil commented, staring at Will’s desk. “No one is doing homework now except for you. So, you better come out tonight. We’re leaving at nine.”
Though Cecil was the one to ask Will to go out with him, Will quickly found out he didn’t have much of a plan in mind. “I figured we would go to the greek row and see what parties were going on,” Cecil said when Will asked.
Will winced, thinking about the inside of a frat house, probably loud and dirty and crowded. However, since he didn’t have any other ideas, Will joined Cecil and Cecil’s friend, Lou Ellen on their walk to where all of the best parties were happening. Will felt equal parts excited and nervous looking at all of the people walking in groups. His first college party! This was a huge deal.
The magic, however, had worn off by the time Will, Cecil, and Lou had actually found a party that would let them in. Most of the houses they tried said they could come back if they had more girls in their group, while other places had long lines to get inside, which Will found absurd. Who in their right mind would wait in line for a party? This wasn’t Disney World!
Will was just about ready to throw in the towel, because Cecil was really pushing hard for just waiting in line to get in somewhere and Will was not into that idea, when Lou shoved her phone into Will’s hand. “Look!” she exclaimed. Will looked at the instagram story post that was on Lou’s phone. Listed on it was an address for a party. “Someone from my English class sent me this screenshot. We should check it out!”
“Oh, fuck yeah Lou!” Cecil exclaimed. “That’s so close from here. Let’s go!” Cecil grabbed Will’s arm and dragged him forward, even though Will was kind of over the whole party thing. He didn’t protest, though, because he didn’t feel like arguing. And once they got to the house, Will didn’t see a line, so he felt a little excited once more.
Will wasn’t sure what to expect inside of a house party. In high school, he had been to a handful, but he was sure that the parties hosted by those in his small town in Texas didn’t compare to a frat party. He had some ideas about frat parties, mainly derived from his experiences watching television shows and movies, but he knew that real life was different from things he had seen in the media. Some things he saw were expected. The crowded rooms, the smell of weed, and the keg were all expected. What Will didn’t expect was how hot it was, how loud the music was, and how quickly he wanted to leave. He wasn’t sure this exact party was his speed, but tried his best to suck it up.
He played a round of King’s cup with Lou Ellen, stood around awkwardly in the basement where everyone was dancing, and tried his best to keep up with conversations in the kitchen. He had two drinks and a shot, and yet Will couldn’t acclimate to the party. Feeling a little lost, Will searched the house, looking for Cecil or Lou.
“I need some air,” Will said when he finally found Cecil, who was standing incredibly close to a short boy. Will winced, knowing he had probably interrupted something, but Cecil didn’t seem too bothered.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Cecil asked, while the boy who Cecil was talking to shot daggers at Will with his glare.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll be back in soon,” Will replied, kind of terrified for his life at the moment. They said their goodbyes and Will left the house, grateful to feel the cool breeze on his skin when he stepped out into the night. Not really wanting to loiter by the house (and having no intention to go back into the party any time soon) Will walked around, trying to familiarize himself with the location. He hadn’t had the chance to venture too far off campus yet, so he decided now was as good a time as any.
Will hadn’t anticipated getting lost as quickly as he did. One second he knew where he was, just a couple blocks from the frat house, and the next he was completely turned around. “Shit,” Will said under his breath, looking around at his unfamiliar surroundings, unable to recall the address of the party he was at. He pulled out his phone and shot a text to Cecil, hoping he would feel his phone vibrate and answer him with the address (if he wasn’t too busy locking lips with the boy he was talking to).
When Cecil didn’t answer Will, he knew that Cecil was most likely preoccupied, and as a result Will decided to abandon the party. He went to a college party, he tried his best to enjoy it, and it just wasn’t his thing. It was maybe better to quit while he was ahead. So, Will typed in the address of his residence hall and began the trek back to his dorm.
Will would have normally felt nervous walking around the dark at night, but plenty of people were out and about. Groups of students stumbling, laughing and yelling, people who were very much sober and had gone on a late night snack run, couples coming back from dates. There was plenty of noise, so when someone called out, “Hey!” Will didn’t look around. He ignored the voice, continuing to walk, before the same voice said, “Hey! The dude walking alone. You with the blonde hair!” Will looked around, pretty sure that whoever was yelling was calling to him. “Yeah, you!” the voice said.
Will spotted two guys and a girl sitting on the porch. The one boy was waving enthusiastically at Will, and so, against his better judgement, Will walked over to him. “Hey! Can you settle a debate for us?” the boy asked.
“Percy, I can’t believe you called this poor kid over. He’s just minding his own business,” the blonde girl said. “Sorry about him.”
“It’s fine! You don’t mind, right?” the boy, Percy, asked.
Will shrugged. “I got nothing else better going on so, yeah. It’s no big deal.” Percy gestured for Will to sit down on the porch steps. Will felt that letting his guard down that much was pretty foolish, so he opted to lean with his back against the handrail, just in case he had to make a quick break for it. These people didn’t seem suspicious, but really who did? They could be serial killers in disguise so he had to be careful.
“Alright. So Annabeth here,” Percy said, pointing to the girl, “thinks that toilet paper should hang under the toilet paper roll. I’m in the camp of hanging toilet paper over the roll. What do you think is the right way?”
Will wasn’t sure what he had expected Percy to say, but that definitely wasn’t it. “Wow. Um, I guess I never thought about it before.” Will paused, trying to envision the way he put toilet paper roll on the toilet paper holder. “Hm. I guess I do it under as well.”
“Ha!” Annabeth said, laughing. “Three to one, Jackson.”
“Damn! I trusted you, ugh… hm.” Percy paused, looking confused. “I just realized I never asked for you name. Wow.”
“Oh. I’m Will. And you’re Percy?” Will asked.
“Yeah. And I’m Annabeth. And this is Nico,” Annabeth said, pointing next to her.
Will had forgotten about the other person was on the porch and turned to look at Nico. In the half light, it was difficult to make out Nico’s features. He looked small, with curly dark hair and what Will assumed were big dark eyes. Will couldn’t ignore the way his heart sputtered when he looked at Nico.
“Hello,” Nico said. “Thanks for being on the right side of the debate. Percy has no idea what he’s talking about.” Percy opened his mouth to argue, but Annabeth cut him off.
“Do you want a drink?” Annabeth asked, gesturing to her own surfside in her hand. “We have plenty.”
Will shrugged and answered, “Uh, sure. Thank you.” Annabeth stood and gestured for Will to follow her. Nico and Percy followed suit and the four of them went inside the house.
There was a party going on, from what Will could tell based on just how many people were there, but it was more contained than the one he was at previously. A couple people waved to him as Annabeth led him to the kitchen. “You can have anything you want,” she said, gesturing at the variety of drinks and coolers around the kitchen.
As nice as these people seemed, Will wasn’t stupid enough to drink from open containers when he was by himself. So, he grabbed a twisted tea from the cooler. Soon after, Annabeth got pulled away from some girl with dark hair and heavy makeup, while Percy followed after them, leaving the kitchen silent.
Will considered following after them, or maybe chugging his drink and then leaving, when Nico spoke up. “So, what were you doing out alone?” Nico asked and took a sip from his own drink.
Will, who had forgotten Nico was there, jumped a little, but then just as quickly recovered. “Oh. Um, well I was out with my friends and left the party we were at. And then I got lost so I decided to just go back to my dorm without them. And that’s how you guys found me.”
“Oh. Cool,” Nico replied.
“Yeah. Uh,” Will said, going through his mental list of small talk topics that he had accumulated over the years. “Do you live here?” Will asked. “I live in a residence hall and it sucks. The apartments I’ve seen sure beat the dorms.”
“No,” Nico responded. For a second it seemed like he wasn’t going to elaborate, when he continued on. “I live in the dorms as well. Annabeth and Percy live here with Thalia and Grover. This is a belated birthday party for Percy. He wanted to wait until school was back in session so a lot of people could make it for the party.”
“Oh,” Will replied, feeling embarrassed that he hadn’t said anything to Percy, but how would he have known? He had only met the guy ten minutes ago! While he searched for something to say, Will downed the rest of his drink.
“Here, let me grab you another drink,” Nico said. “I’m done as well.” Nico found two surfsides and cracked them open. He handed one to Will. “So you’re a freshman?”
“Yeah. Is it that obvious?” Will asked, feeling more and more awkward by the second.
“No! I’m a freshman too. I’m only here because I’ve known everyone for years. They went to school with my older sister,” Nico explained. “It’s been weird being at this party. There’s lots of people I don’t know.”
“I know. The parties here are a lot bigger than the ones I went to at home in high school,” Will said, finally feeling like he had something to say. “Before this I was at a frat house. It wasn’t my scene.”
Nico winced. “Yeah, I can imagine that. Frats are a little intimidating. You seem like you’d get along with them. You look like you’d be popular. You’ve got a nice smile and you’re blonde and cute,” Nico said, before looking immediately embarrassed. “Sorry I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“All good. Uh, thanks,” Will replied. “So are you. Like obviously not blonde. But you’re cute.”
Nico laughed. “I don’t know if I’m cute in a frat way. Maybe if you find playing Mythomagic and wearing black attractive.”
“Wait, Mythomagic? Oh shit, I forgot about that!” Will exclaimed. “I haven’t played in years. Damn. You’re into that?”
“Yeah!” Nico exclaimed, looking excited for the first time all night. Time flew after that, the two talking about Mythomagic, before moving on to music, and then movies. Nico and Will made their way through a few more drinks, and were currently deep in a discussion about Star Wars, when the girl who came in the kitchen earlier walked back in.
“Hey,” she said. “Wanna play a game?”
“Sure,” Will said, feeling more confident and talkative than he had felt all night. He was really starting to feel the effects of the drinks he had had, and wondered if he should slow down, before deciding against it and grabbing another drink.
“What game, Thalia?” Nico asked.
“Truth or Dare,” Thalia answered, a smirk on her face.
“What? Are we in middle school or something? I feel like I’m going to regret this,” Nico announced but grabbed another drink and, with Will, followed Thalia out of the kitchen.
The circle of people playing was huge. Will was lucky to have anonymity in this situation. Nobody called his name to give him a truth or dare, most likely because no one knew his name. Nico, however, got picked a few times, and was given some pretty rough dares, mainly from Thalia and Percy.
“Nico,” Percy said with a devious smile, for the third time that night.
“Can’t you leave him alone?” Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.
Percy shook his head no. “It’s my birthday. I can do whatever I want. Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Nico said without hesitation, taking all of the truths and dares given to him in stride, way better than Will would have handled them. Will assumed that he was used to being given a hard time by Percy and Thalia.
Percy looked around, thinking for a second, before smiling when his eyes landed on Will. “I dare you to kiss Will.”
Time stopped for Will. All eyes were on him and suddenly, he felt embarrassed. “You don’t-” Will started to say, when Nico smashed his mouth into Will’s.
At first, Will was caught off guard. He had kissed people before, so he wasn’t completely new at the whole thing, but it took a few seconds for his alcohol scrambled brain to catch up with what was happening and kiss back. Will wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted for, but when he and Nico finally broke apart, he was sure far too long had passed.
“Now, it’s my turn,” Nico announced. “Annabeth. Truth or dare?” Will barely processed the next few minutes, still trying his best to wrap his brain around what just happened. He almost stood up immediately to make a break for the bathroom, before deciding it would look incredibly suspicious if he did so. He waited until everyone was distracted by something else, before standing up and slipping away to the bathroom.
In the bathroom, Will spent most of the time trying to quiet his racing heart. Nico, who he had realistically met only an hour or two ago at most, was cute. He even had felt like they were getting along quite well. But, Will was also not stupid enough to get his hopes up. Just because he and Nico had kissed during a game of truth or dare didn’t mean that they were destined to be any more than what they currently were. Who was to say Nico enjoyed talking to Will as much as Will talked to Nico?
Will looked at his reflection in the mirror and practiced what he was going to say. He could be normal for a little while longer, act like kissing Nico wasn’t as amazing as it was, and then move on with his life. Will could do this.
When Will exited the bathroom, Nico was standing there, looking apologetic. “Hey. I’m sorry if Percy made you uncomfortable.”
Will patted himself on the back for knowing that this was coming, and gave his practiced response. “It’s no sweat! Seriously. It was just a game, right?” Will was about to tack on a “let’s go back to everyone and keep playing,” when Nico cut him off.
“Well, it was just a game. But, it could still have made you uncomfortable.” Nico bit his lip and looked like he wanted to say more. Then, Nico said, “Maybe, though, it wasn’t just the game.”
Will paused for a second, his brain attempting to process what was happening. “What?” Will asked, thoroughly confused. “I’m not following.”
Nico sighed. “You’re really going to make me spell it out?” Nico asked. “Fine. Maybe I wanted to kiss you too, outside of the game.”
“Oh,” Will said. He paused, before saying, “Maybe I would like to kiss you too outside of the game.”
“Cool,” Nico responded, before closing the gap between him and Will.
Much later, Nico and Will walked back together toward the residence halls. They had spent most of the rest of the party kissing, before eventually being chased out by Annabeth, who had a knowing smile on her face, despite the fact that they jumped apart when she called their names.
“This is my residence hall,” Nico said, eventually breaking the silence. Will looked at Nico for a few seconds, unsure of how to say bye to the guy he spent the better part of the night making out with, before leaning in to give him one final kiss.
“Wanna exchange numbers?” Will asked when they pulled apart. “I would like to see you again.”
“Thank God, yes! I didn’t think you would want to,” Nico said, as if Will wasn’t already thinking about how soon was too soon to meet up with him again. They exchanged numbers, and one more kiss, before parting ways for the night.
Cecil was getting into his bed when Will walked into the dorm room. “Dude, what the hell! You wandered off and then said you were at some party and now you’re home later than me?”
“Yeah. That is pretty much what happened,” Will said, unable to stop himself from smiling. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. College is cool.” And Will grabbed his pajamas, exhausted but feeling proud of his first night partying at college.