uncharted sea

PINTEREST | PLAYLIST

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All cards on the table, Conny knew Ben was sitting there. Something about the two of them being put in a dorm together had made him hyper aware of his presence. It felt like even outside their dorm that they were constantly near each other, even if it wasn’t true or if it wasn’t any more than the years before. He’d considered leaving. He could come back in a few hours, he thought. But his second thought was what if Ben was still here in a few hours. The presentation on the themes and implications of 1950 film ‘Harvey’ was due tomorrow and he’d still like to run through the speech and get a good night’s sleep before it. Could he have used his laptop back in his dorm? Yes. Well. Kind of. Last time he’d made a PowerPoint on his laptop, it had refused to play in class. He’d avoid that if he could. Plus, he didn’t want to stop downloading the last season of The Walking Dead. There were a lot of reasons!

So he’d picked his seat from afar. Not too close, not too far. Either extreme risked being noticed he thought. Middle ground was safe. So, opposite, and two seats over. That was his pick. And for some time, it had worked. Protected by the screens between them, and Ben’s focus on his own work, but also Conny’s making sure that hair fell in his face. But it only worked for a time.

“ Um, ” He pulled out the one wired headphone he had in, as he looked up. He knew damn well he was the only one sitting there but he glanced around quickly just in case. “ Kinda, ” He answered the question as he looked back, looking between the computers to him. “ Stupid question, but it’s still connected, yeah? ” He didn’t like to ask that, made it sound so simple to fix. Or more specifically that someone would be simple for not trying it. But that wasn’t what he meant. “ It’s happened to me a couple times, you know, old computers and all, ”  

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Ben tried not to cringe as Connor responded—for no reason other than the fact that listening to the guy talk was legitimately weird as hell. It wasn’t that he had an odd voice or TikTok inflection or anything, but on move-in day (and all the days that followed...) Ben pretty much went out of his way to avoid him. But it was just the two of them here in this far-flung corner of the library, and Ben sure as shit didn’t want to track down a librarian to solve this issue. They always gave him the nastiest stank eye. “Um,” Ben started, inadvertently echoing Connor’s own pause filler. He lifted the keyboard from the table, rotating it enough to check if the wire was still plugged in at the back. It was certainly there. He placed it back down and used his fingers to follow the wire; it disappeared down a purposefully-constructed hole in the tabletop.

“Huh.” Ben pushed back his chair and ducked his head to peek beneath. The desktop towers for each computer at the table sat beneath, blinking innocently, all wires connected to it at the back of them. “One second,” he continued, pushing the chair back further to place a hand on top of the table and keeping it there as he crouched down further. “This the one?” he asked, once he had reached behind the tower connected to his monitor, his fingers finding purchase on a wire and giving it a little shake. He pulled his head back to peer over again, waiting to see if the wire connected to the keyboard would give a corresponding wiggle. It did. He exhaled heavily. “All connected.”

Ben had his own laptop, but it came equipped with a fuck-ton of distractions. By twenty, he’d learned which ones he shouldn’t have within reaching distance. Including, but not limited to, MTG Arena. But he was about halfway through a entry for his class-assigned blog (God help him), when something funky went down. He hit the A-button, eyes on the screen, and nothing came up. No A. He tried again with another letter, the P-button, and got the same result. He pressed it again, many times in succession. Nothing. Growing annoyed, he pressed all ten fingers down on the keyboard, three times in a row, to no avail. The cursor on the screen blinked mockingly at him, refusing to regurgitate what he wanted to put down. Of course this would happen right when he finally got into the flow of things. His leg bounced under the table.

Ben turned to the person working at a computer nearby. “Hey,” he started, his voice at a normal volume. He quickly remembered where he was, and then adjusted. “Hey,” he repeated, this time in a half-hushed tone. “You know anything about fixing small-time computer issues?” He pressed down on the spacebar a couple times. “Keyboard’s given up the ghost.”

-

As she’s pulled closer and their bodies press against one another lightly, she held on gently to his shoulder. Seeking a small amount of stability as he kissed the side of her head. Eyes squeezing shut for the moment and the corners of her lips pulling up, causing a small crinkle over her nose. Turning head to look at him again, observing him in a similar sort of way that he observed her. Just for a moment, that soft smile lingering on her features. She thought if she didn’t have a full cup in her hand she would kiss him properly. But in lieu of that, not wanting to accidentally spill anything on him when he’d just arrived, she took a sip instead as he spoke. A light chuckle at his sarcasm, before she shook her head. “ Mm-mmm– well, ” She cut herself off, head tilting a little, amused a bit, “ I saw a trophy getting passed around earlier, but as far as I know that’s till intact. ” From memory it had been involved in a very intricate moment of fledgling frat members having beer poured on them by over eager seniors. “ Night’s still young, I think it’s like thirty minutes from the donkey kicks outside sounds like an awesome idea time, you know? ” She mused,  shifting her weight slightly so she was more so lightly leaning on him rather than hanging on. Letting go of his shoulder completely to gently push a curl off his temple where it nearly met his brow. “ Ooooooooh, two mattress toppers? Damn, that’s crazy. ” She cooed, smile breaking through her words as a chuckle followed them. “ No weirdo roomies then? Pretty chill? ” She followed up more genuinely.

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“Can’t wait,” Ben said wryly, not entirely averse to weird frat shenanigans or keen to stop anyone from willingly subjecting themselves to bodily harm, but grateful he was under no obligation to take part in them as anything other than an observer. None of his business, really, unless it was up for entertainment. He grinned as she spoke, and pinched gently at her waist in response. “You can be as sarcastic as you want, but your spine’s gonna be thanking me in no time, mark my words,” he started jokingly. “We’re like, old bags of bones now, in case you didn’t get the memo.” Senior year—it kinda seemed like a miracle that he’d made it this far, given where he was at this time three years ago. But now he was actually feeling something like preemptive nostalgia. He was almost bummed he was down to his last two semesters.

Ben took a long drink from his beer when Drea asked her next question. Over the summer, his request for a roommate change had been denied; that was on him. He took too long to open his mail, applied for rehousing on the last day he was allowed to, got told to keep his shit together and accept where he was at for at least a month. And then they’d look at it again. Whole bunch of bullshit. And he hadn’t actually told Drea about any of it. The story was long and annoying and embarrassing to him. Pulling out his baggage seemed like a more... three month anniversary thing. Or maybe six. Or maybe she could just like, magically intuit it and he’d never have to talk about it ever. That would be pretty sick. “Yeeeaaahh, they’re alright,” he started. “One’s from Ireland and another’s from Australia, which is random as fuck but cool.” And the third was from Wisconsin. Whatever. “Haven’t really talked to ‘em much yet though.” His thumb moved up and down against her, and he started to think that choosing to spend their first night back out was a pretty shit idea. Swiftly, he redirected the subject. The less time he spent thinking about his roommates, the better. “How’s your roommate situation? You got placed with that coworker, right?”

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Personally, Drea thought her instructions were totally clear. Keg. Big table. Thing on the wall. That was soooo specific in a frat house, right? Though perhaps that was the two mango White Claws and tequila shot from pre-drinks, and mystery beer since she’d arrived talking. When told to stay where she was, she frowned down at her phone, but she’d agreed. Leaning against a wall and easily getting swept up in conversation with someone she’d certainly met before, but couldn’t remember their name for the life of her. Thankfully, before that was found out, she heard family voice she’d been waiting for. Her face lit up, she couldn’t stop it.

After excusing herself from conversation (falsely promising she’d be right back) she made her way through the crowd towards him. “ Heeeeeey, thank you, ” She grinned, tone light as she accepted drink from him. Her other hand moving over his shoulder blade to find comfortable place on his back, embracing the closeness immediately. She pressed lips together in attempt to hide smile at his tease, but failed. The corners of her lips giving her away. “ Yeah? Maybe I’ll be a cartographer, making maps and shit. That’s what it’s called, right? ” As she spoke the smile became more obvious, forgetting immediately that she was trying to hide it in the first place. “ Way better now. ” She rubbed affectionately at his back. She didn’t even care that it was corny, it was true. She’d missed him. And she was excited to be at a party with him. Official boyfriend of it all. “ How was your nap? ” 

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“Something like that, yeah,” Ben answered distractedly, his palm making small movements against her back. His eyes darted over her face, taking stock of her—her hairstyle looked a little messier than how it had been when she started the night, if the Instagram stories were anything to go by, and there was a pretty flush across her cheeks. He liked the way she felt warm, like she’d been dancing, and the strands of hair at her temple stuck to her skin. She looked like she was having a good time. Way better now. It was hard to believe that, but he was starting to believe her. His hand slide entirely to the other side of her waist, and he pulled her close to kiss the side of her head. “Anyone make a scene yet? Jumping from balconies, breaking hundred-year-old fraternal heirlooms, sliding down the stairs on a mattress—? You know I hate to miss the drama,” Ben said sarcastically, then took a drink from his own cup. He huffed a little laugh at her question. “I had to set three goddamn alarms to get my ass up, if that tells you anything. Most exciting thing about my semester so far is the two mattress toppers.”

Ben moved through the pulsing crowd of swaying bodies, the rim of a half-full solo cup briefly caught between his teeth as he slid his iPhone safely into his pocket. He’d just glanced once more at a text exchange between himself and Drea, each trying to give directions to the other on how to find them. He eventually gave up on his own and decided to tell her to stay still and he’d find her. It didn’t take long, once they weren’t stubbornly jockeying for who’d guide who. Ben smiled to himself when he spotted her.

when: evening where: second floor dorm, the showers open. 

matt, as well as most of his maintenance team, hated the first three weeks of every year. it was the time where people paid the least regard to their surroundings, and were still learning how to actually navigate the space around them. there was no doubt that, in coming days, there would be fire alarms set off, windows broken, beds tarnished and showers clogged. and although it meant more overtime for him and better pay, it also was, in many ways, overwhelming. – there was a party at the frats tonight, and he got a report in for a broken shower on the second floor of the east-wing dormitory. easy fix and then he could finally head out and get some food. luckily, the floor was, for the most part, empty so it didn’t take him long to wrap up his work. just as he was putting his tools away, he got startled by a figure appearing from behind. “shit, hope i didn’t scare ya’. i uh, i’m just about done here…” he wiped his hands on his trousers and got up, half-wet and covered in hours worth of random tasks. “you not off to that party?”

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“Oh—nah, bro. It’s chill,” Ben assured the other guy. It took him a second, but then the name popped into his head: Matt. Yeeeaah, Matt the maintenance dude. He was typically on call, ring of keys jangling at his hip and whistling a jaunty tune. Or... no, maybe that’s just the picture Ben had of him, borne from months without seeing him at a time over the summer and a plethora of media and stereotypes about janitors to fill in the blanks. Either way, Ben had to respect his work. It was no easy feat, cleaning up the shitshow kind of messes that always seemed to crop up in the dorms. Ben liked to keep his own space clean, not other people’s. He adjusted his hold on his toiletries; he’d never been a caddy kind of person, though as his shampoo slipped slowly out of his armpit, he had to internally admit to himself that maybe girls had a point about them. “I’m just grabbing a quick shower, then headed out. I took a nap and kinda, well. You know, slept a full hour and a half longer than I meant to.” It was a good thing he and Drea agreed they’d go separately, mostly on account of the aforementioned nap, otherwise he’d be getting his ass handed to him. Tightening his bicep against the shampoo bottle, he reached up to brush his knuckles under his chin. His eyes flitted to the toolbox and then Matt’s general appearance. “I’d say I can’t believe something got busted in here day one, but that’d be a lie. Freshmen, you think?”