dedicated to hazel (Hazel_Cahill)also known as @hazelfrazier_ on ig for the cover above! thank you <3

Chapter Seven: "Touch His Bong."

THE FIRST TIME I had ever been in a boy's room with the intention that we weren't going to be just friends, was when I was sixteen. He had walked into his room, and cooped on his bed while I questioned every single action I was to make. Three options were always considered.

One: lean against the door. You wait for him to tell you what to do knowing that you are definitely not going to do as he says.

You never do.  

Two: walk around while commenting on the trophies he won at his third-grade cross country meet or the picture of him and his friends from high school.

You didn't usually care.

Three: join him on the bed.

The options were juggling in my head as I surveyed his space.

Aven's room was lightly dimmed by the lamp hanging over his desk. The double bed with dark blue sheets was almost pushed up against the wall and two posters were hung up on either side of it. Behind the headboard, a projector sat on a small stand, pointed in the direction of where a projector screen was standing against a wall.

I settled for option one, leaning against the door. Aven dropped his bag on the ground, turning to me, "You just going to stand there?" Once I pushed myself off the door, he muttered, "Finally."

"Leave me alone," I grumbled, joining him in a soft laugh as I went over to the photograph on his nightstand. "Your parents?"

He picked up the frame, gesturing for me to take it. I did as he asked, his warm hand brushing against my own. "Mmhmm."

"Your dad is really tall," I commented. His father had a few inches on him. His dark skin was almost the same shade as Iman's but he held Aven's smile and broad shoulders. On the other hand, Aven's mom had a lighter complexion than her son's but he had her eyes and lips.

"He's about a foot and a half taller than my mom."

"No siblings?"

"I grew up an only child, then they adopted my little sister about three years ago," He answered. "What about you?"

"I have a sister too. Technically, my half-sister." The half part never truly mattered.

"Mom or dad?" he asked.

"We share the same mom but my dad is practically hers too." I put the photograph down, mentally reminding myself to call Abisola soon. The sudden silence between us surprised me. "You're lucky your room isn't next to Kyle's."

"I'm lucky for thick walls and the fact that Dev's room separates us," Aven took his sweater off to reveal the black shirt he was wearing underneath.

"So, you all share one car?" I asked.

The car ride was interesting. Aven drove and Kyle sat in the front while I spoke to the girl Kyle was attempting to get with. It was obvious she knew why Kyle had invited me to tag along as we talked in the backseat of the car while Aven had driven here. She didn't mind though. The second that we had entered the apartment the boys lived in, she and Kyle scattered to his room before I could even take off my shoes by the front door.

"Actually, we all chipped in to buy a used car," He slid the closet door shut. "It made sense in the long run. It helps out Dev a lot because he has an internship during the year downtown."

Aven put his duffel bag and backpack on the desk where a small projector lay surrounded by his open textbooks. "You know you can sit on the bed."

"I don't want to just take over your room," I murmured. He was so neat and tidy. I couldn't relate.

"Take over it. It's fine."

"You say that now but steal that projector of yours, you're not going to say that anymore," I hopped onto the comforter of his bed. "Where did you get that anyway?"

"Amazon, like your hats," He answered, "Are you up to watch something for a while or do you have another quiz to do?"

"I can watch an episode of something," I commented while racking my brain for what I had to do for my tomorrow's schedule.

He handed me his laptop and opened it up to Netflix.  "You seem like the documentary type."

"How?" He asked as I backed up onto his bed, resting my back against the headboard as my index and middle fingers moved along the keypad. 

My guess was random. He could be into action movies for all I knew. "I'm getting the vibe."

Yet a snort left me when I stumbled upon the most recent show he had been watching on this account.

Never mind, he was not the documentary type.

"You were watching Glee?"

Aven quickly circled away, "Nah, um, Laurence shares my Netflix and he loves all those musicals and stuff-"

"There's nothing wrong with watching Glee," I said, crossing my legs as I got situated in his space. This was gold. "There's no need to be embarrassed."

"I'm not," He cleared his throat, facing me again. His hands rested behind him on the desk as he attempted to be confident. It was cute to see him so rattled despite being so comfortable moments before. "I'm not embarrassed."

"Yes, you are."

He wouldn't meet my eyes, mumbling, "I'm not," as he started heading towards the door. "I need food. I have pasta, do you want some?"

"I'm okay. Maybe I'll pick up on where you left off on Glee," I grinned when he shot me a glare. "Or maybe I'll start from the beginning. Have a little marathon. I mean, the songs are pretty good."

I was thriving getting under his skin.

He scowled, "Jaime."

"They are," I goaded him. "Am I lying?"

"We're done talking about this."

He opened the door, ready to step out but I wasn't done my teasing, "Wait!"

"I'm hungry." He stressed. Then his arms went up, gripping the top of the doorframe. My gaze went to his lean muscles from years of volleyball for a brief moment but I tore my gaze as he continued his dramatic antics, all the awkwardness disappearing as he held onto the frame while leaning forward. "Remember what I said? My stomach is eating itself. I don't know how you survive off of just bubble tea but I need this thing called food." 

"Yes," My focus went to his face. Not the arms. Not his arms. "I know what you said. I was there. However, you promised me--"

"I'll bring you the Twizzlers." He said, releasing his hold from the doorframe and grabbing his duffel bag from his desk. "And I'll put my gear away."

"And I'll play Glee."

Aven kept his gaze on me for a moment. He glanced down at his laptop and then back to my face. "The music is good." He grumbled before walking out of the room.

My hands dashed to my phone, pulling up my messages with Mariam and Yasmeen, texting them where I was. Yasmeen's answer came in first and of course, she had to pull out my full name to express her shock.

yasmeen: JAIYESIMIIII. I knew something was going on.

mariam: oh my god what are you guys doing?

Me: nothing, I'm just in his room.

mariam: I want details.

(2) mariam: Like pure details when you come back.

(3) mariam: Everything.

yasmeen: Mariam shut up

mariam: IM CURIOUS

yasmeen: Anyways

yasmeen: come home safe that's all I want.

Me: I'll text you when I'm on my way back.

(2) Me: BYE Mariam

mariam: Every. Single. Detail.

I dropped my phone by the side of his laptop, looking around the room once more. One of the posters was Frank Ocean's Blonde album and on the other side was an album I didn't recognize. Next to the Blonde poster, there was a wide window, the curtains pulled to the side.

Getting off of the bed, I walked over to it, my hands on the cold window sill as I glanced out of the view from his room. Although my first glance was the visitor parking lot of the building. The lamps in the lot allowed me to notice how windy it was. The trees close to the parking lot were swaying violently in the distance. The mixed orange, brown, yellow and red leaves scattered on the ground didn't stay in one place.

A few of those leaves were crunched upon as a car entered the lot and parked into an empty space. Four girls got out, talking animatedly with each other. They were bundled up in their fall coats, a few with extra scarves and hats for the upcoming winter season. My gaze went further to the distance where a few buildings from the north part of campus were stretching up to the sky. On the left, I could make out the Jasper Bay water tower lit up in blue lights.

"You really like fall, huh?"

I jumped at the unexpected voice on my right. Aven shot me a sheepish smile, his hands behind his back. "Sorry."

"You're not sorry," I said, glancing over at where his plate of spaghetti was sitting on his nightstand. "That's the second time you've scared me tonight."

"Maybe you're just easily frightened," He glanced over my shoulder to admire the view.

"Maybe," I murmured, facing the window again. "I didn't think the water tower lit up."

"It's to warn airplanes at night. You've never seen it?"

"Never did. I've never been high enough to see it from this view or at night."

"The city turns the lights orange on Halloween, red on Valentine's day. Jasper Bay likes their holidays."

"True," I commented before he handed me a bag of what I needed. Twizzlers. "Yes!"

Giddy, I sat back on the bed cross-legged as Aven hooked his laptop up to the small projector. He placed the projector between our bodies while grabbing his plate of spaghetti.

It doesn't take long for him to finish his meal as we went through an episode of Glee playing on the projected screen on the only bare wall of his room in front of us. I was in the middle of handing him one of the Twizzlers when I say, "I like your posters."

"Thanks," He said in appreciation before furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm still surprised you missed the concert at Homecoming. A few people you listen to were there."

A few people I listen to--"A part of me is regretting giving you access to my playlists."

He slouched his position, holding a pillow to his chest. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean music is music...it's personal."

He shot me a look. "So, you haven't looked through my playlists?"

Of course, I did.

I was a teenage girl in the twenty-first century. I procrastinated all the time and most of it was through apps on my phone. I was bound to lurk through his playlists, and I would have found it even if he didn't follow me on the platform regardless.

"Not the point," I countered, scowling at the way he failed to suppress his smirk. "I was pretty bummed about it. I heard it was really good."

"I'd show you videos but I'm not going to put you through that," He said. "You like concerts, right?"

"I love concerts." I shuffled lower until my head was resting on the pillow, my view on the ceiling as the show became background noise. "I have to pay for my storage online to save my concert videos."

"Yeah?"

"Concerts can be so insane," I closed my eyes. Right then and there I knew if I thought hard enough I could picture myself at the last concert I had been to. "The energy of hearing so many people and one of your favourite artists singing a song that you love in a room? At the top of their lungs? Just understanding how the song makes you feel and know that they feel the same way? The same energy? It's one of the best things ever."

A sigh left my lips before I opened my eyes to find Aven staring at me. His eyebrows were raised.

He must think I'm fucking delusional.

But then he nodded, almost to himself. "Okay, now we have to go to a concert."

"When Frank comes to Canada," I started, loving that I could bring a smile to his face just by saying that, "We are getting the best tickets. Floor. Right in front of him. As close as possible. I am not going to see him from a high rise. We're getting the whole experience. HD for our eyes."

"HD for our eyes." He repeated, grinning at my words.

"Yes," I said. "We are driving to Toronto or we are going to Vancouver because let's face it, there's no way he's going to come to a small city like Jasper Bay. We are going to have one of the best nights of our lives."

My declaration was half hopeful half empty. Was I expecting to actually see him more often after tonight? After the small interactions that we've had? Were we even friends?

But Aven didn't vocalize my doubts. Aven Montaque only agreed. His agreement was a promise, "Deal."

Conversation continued between us as we watched the show and shared Twizzlers. Talking to him was easy. A little too easy but I wasn't wary.

"Blonde is superior." He said about the album moments later. We were both sitting up now but I was on my knees, face morphed in pure disbelief at his words.

"Do you hear yourself right now? Channel Orange is unmatched." I spat back. 

"No," He raised a hand, pointing it in the direction of the poster on his wall. "There are no skips on Blonde."

"There are no skips on Channel Orange."

Aven tore into a Twizzler, shaking his head as he pulled the licorice candy from his mouth. "I just don't agree."

"Well, you're wrong," I muttered, reaching into the package to grab a Twizzler.

Our argument is cut short when someone opens the door. Kyle enters, wearing different clothes than he originally had on about an hour before. He put his hands in his sweatpants, looking up at the projection on the wall before glancing at us on Aven's bed, "Are you guys seriously watching Glee?"

"Yes," I said as he jumped onto the bed. Aven hit the pause button, getting up and grabbing his plate from the nightstand as Kyle went through the laptop next to me.

"I'm assuming you're," Aven looked at Kyle up and down. "Satisfied. Where is she? Your room?"

"Nah, her friend picked her up," Kyle said just as my phone buzzed with a message from Mariam asking if I could get her snacks from the convenience store around the block from Aven's building.

I got up, responding to her that I would and locking my phone. Kyle glanced over at my phone when it lit up with another message from Mariam thanking me. As I swiped the message away, my lock screen fully showed a picture of me, Mariam, Yasmeen, Iman, and a few of our other friends from early September. Kyle's index finger settled on one individual in the group picture, "Who's that?"

He cannot be serious. "My friend. Mariam."

Kyle's eyes didn't waver, making me glance up at Aven who was staring at Kyle with an unreadable expression. "She's cute."

"She is."

Kyle got off the bed, moving past Aven. "We're playing Kings 704 with the others. Loser has to take the car down for its oil check."

"Seriously?" Aven groaned.

Kyle glanced at me. "You guys down?"

"What's Kings 704?" I asked.

Kyle beamed, clapping his hands once and rubbing them together. Suddenly, I was pulled onto my feet, my Twizzlers left behind as Kyle jogged to the living room. Aven and I left the room and I tapped him on the arm. "What's with Kyle?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you have that look on your face when he was asking about Mariam?"

"Kyle isn't usually for relationships," He said. "It depends but he's just not known for-"

"No, you fucking buffoon," Dev yelled, slapping his hands on the table at the hockey game playing on the TV. Nearby, Laurence sat on the couch next to Dev, his legs outstretched on the ottoman as he typed away at his laptop.

Kyle came out of the kitchen, shaking Laurence on the shoulder. "One round then study time. The car needs to go in tomorrow."

Laurence closed his laptop. "Fine."

"Laurie explain the game to Jaime." Aven put his hands on my shoulders, steering me in the direction of the kitchen.

Red plastic cups were on the kitchen table. There were five sets of three cups put together around the circumference of the table. Every cup was half-filled with what I assumed to be water. In the center stood five tall piles of cups stacked atop each other.

"What the hell is this?" I mumbled as the rest of the boys filed in.

"This is Kings 704," Laurence stated, his glasses falling on the bridge of his nose as Aven removed his hands from my shoulders. "Usually we play this drunk or when we can't decide who should do the worst chore on the weekend. But for now, it's about the car."

"What's the worst chore?"

"Cleaning the bathroom." I hummed in agreement. "Aven, I'm assuming Jaime is going to represent you as for who has to take in the car? That means you got double the chances of losing."

Aven glanced at me, "I have faith in her."

I couldn't respond to that when Laurence grabbed my attention, pointing at the ping pong balls near the stacks of cups. "Okay, the first part of the game is that you will receive only three ping pong balls and your goal is to get them into the set of cups you are told belongs to you. You cannot get more than one ball in a cup and if you do you drink."

"This is like beer pong?"

"No," Kyle and Dev said in unison. The two along with Aven were now standing at least two meters away from the round table in the center of the kitchen, each in front of their own set of cups on the table.

"We're not getting drunk so just take a shot of water or something," Kyle said, gesturing to the carton of water bottles on the ground next to the fridge.

"After you're done, drain your cups in the sink, and put them on the counter than run back to the table. Then you grab one of the five piles of cups right there," Laurence pointed to the stacked cups on the table. "And you have to make a pyramid stack starting with four on the bottom, then three, two and one as fast as you can. The one cup at the top of the pyramid has to be flipped upward so that the opening is facing the ceiling."

Where the hell was this going? I wanted to ask but Laurence was on a roll with his explanation.

"Then, you attempt to flick the top cup, just the top, off of the pyramid."

"Isn't that kind of easy?" I asked.

"Not when you have Aven, the competitive freak, screaming in your ear," Dev muttered. Aven meekly smiled while rubbing the back of his neck at the knowledge that I was to get to another side of his personality.

"You can distract another competitor, but you can't touch them or throw stuff at them." Laurence glared at Dev who put his hands up in defence. "Also, when you're wasted or high, this, surprisingly, is the hardest part of the game. Okay, since you and Dev and Kyle are the most vertically challenged here-"

"Shut the fuck up," Kyle muttered, reaching over to hit Laurence upside the head but Laurence dodged his friend's hands.

"Stand on a chair and crouch until you reach our heights or because it isn't fair that I have to bend all the way down to flick it off."

"Life isn't fair buddy. We're not going to bend the rules just because Jaime is the shortest here." Kyle said.

I stared at him. "We're literally the same height. Actually, no, I think I'm taller than you."

"You're not taller than me."

"She is," Aven's eyes flickered between me and Kyle. "Kyle's just mad because he's the shortest guy in his program."

"I'm not!" Kyle muttered.

"He's an art major and there aren't many in his year at HU so he knows everyone in the program and pays too much attention to everyone's heights," Laurence explained to me and my eyebrows rose, not expecting that from Kyle based on his image.

After learning that Laurence was in electrical engineering and Dev was a double major in History and French, Laurence pointed to the cups. 

"If other cups fall down? In the full version, we run down the staircase, touch the sculpture at the front of the building then run our way back up."

Wait. "You live on the seventh floor."

"Yes," Aven said.

"You hate yourselves," I observed and the boys grinned.

"Sometimes." Dev concurred.

"Okay, but since this isn't the drunk version, you just run to the bathroom, touch the door then come back and reassemble your pyramid. Luckily, the running thing only happens once but after the first time the stack of cups falls down, each failed attempt usually means the person takes a shot. But for this case, take a shot of water. Then-"

"There's more?"

"Just work with us here," Laurence assured me. "You do ten pushups-"

"There's the one thing I can't do."

"Okay, unless you're Kyle or Aven, do fifteen jumping jacks," Dev said.

"The last thing to do is flip cup," Aven said.

"How many times do you guys involve cups in this game?" I had to ask.

"We have a shit ton," Laurence commented. "Then after your cup lands, run into Dev's room and touch his bong. That's when you're done."

"How big is your bong?" I asked Dev.

"It's a pretty big bong," Dev answered with a shrug. "You can't miss it."

"And you guys made this game up by yourselves?"

"Yeah," Kyle said. "We want to add a few things before the year ends. With less cups. But yup. This is Kings 704."

"Why is it called Kings 704?"

"Because we're the kings that live in apartment 704," Laurence answered.

"Also, no cheating," Dev said. "I'll know."

"He means that," Laurence added.

I surveyed the number of cups on the table. "That's a lot of cups."

"Yup," Aven crossed his arms, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "So, what do you say, Jaime?" 

The game was on.

Getting the three ping-pong balls in the water-filled cups wasn't an issue. I thanked my past basketball skills for that and that I wasn't Laurence who had to take three 'shots' of water.

But when I was neck in neck with Dev and Aven once I set up the pyramid stack, Kyle had to open his mouth, getting close to my ear. "C'mon Jaime. C'mon Jaime,"

"Don't pressure me," My thumb and index finger were together, ready to flick the top cup off of the stack.

Meanwhile, Dev flicked his cup, succeeding with ease. On the other hand, Laurence was in the process of setting up his cups but not before yelling Aven's ear. Aven didn't flinch. However, Laurence was most definitely fazed when Aven said something in his ear and Laurence burst out into laughter, his arm swinging to push Aven and instead knocked all of his cups over. "Bro."

"Not my fault," Aven said as Laurence ran out of the room towards the bathroom in a hurry. I noticed that Aven wasn't the only competitive one. Dev might have been the only exception, judging by how unfazed and calm he was by everyone else's actions.

Kyle took his last shot at his water-filled cups and the ping pong ball went in. He ran to drain his cups in the sink but when I was about to flick my cup, he came near me again, "Just do it. Or don't," He whispered while trying to stack his pyramid. "You know you can't."

"Just shut up," I said to Kyle.

"Laurence you better touch the door!" Dev yelled before noticing Kyle's taunting me as he started doing his jumping jacks. "Leave her alone, man." Then to me as his arms moved up and down, Dev said, "You can do it."

"Now you're just pulling reverse psychology on her," Kyle said, placing his top cup upright.

"I'm not you," Dev said, grinning as he grabbed one of the cups and started doing flip cup just as Aven flicked over his own top cup, watching the one cup fall to the floor and Laurence ran back inside the room. Aven drops to the ground, doing his push-ups with ease that has me stunned for a moment before focusing on what I was doing.

I was ready to flick my cup when Kyle decides to scream in my ear. For the third time that night, I jump, my hand hitting my stack and three cups falling to the ground. I glare at Kyle, running over to their bathroom and heading back just in time to see Laurence doing jumping jacks.

Just as Kyle is about to flick his cup, I scream as loud as I can in his ear and he flinches, a string of curses leaving his mouth as his entire pyramid stack comes down with his arm. Aven, from where he's doing flip cup, starts laughing, "She got you, man. Nice job, Jaime." I return his grin, making my stack quickly as Kyle runs to the bathroom.

I flick the top cup off as Aven runs to Dev's room, watching it fall to the ground. I join Laurence in the process of flip-cup after I do the quickest jumping jacks of my life. Kyle finally flicks his top cup off and drops to the ground doing his ten pushups. Soon, Laurence lands his cup on the table, bolting to Dev's room.

I flip my cup on the table for the third time just as Kyle is about to do his second attempt. When it lands, I'm about to run only to realize that Kyle landed his cup as well. Fuck.

My feet rush to Dev's room with Kyle's stomping footsteps right behind me. When I get to the threshold of the open door, Aven, Dev and Laurence were standing there near his desk but they didn't grab my attention.

Dev wasn't wrong. You really couldn't miss his bong.

It was huge. Placed his desk, the bong stood tall in the center of the brightly lit room. The neck of it had a sick design of cartoon dragons in bright colours. A part of me expected his room to smell like weed but it didn't, the aroma was replaced with some fruity body mist instead. I couldn't stare at the bong for too long, especially with Kyle not far from me.

I stepped into the room and without thinking, I shut the door right in his face. Laurence, Aven and Dev burst out laughing as I quickly touched the bong by the neck.

Kyle opened the door, hanging his head in dramatic defeat, "I can't believe I have to drive all the way and wait at the mechanic tomorrow."

"Don't cry about it," I told Kyle as he and Laurence started exiting Dev's room.

"As you said 'life isn't fair'," Laurence retorted, slinging an arm around Kyle's shoulder as they walked out and down the hallway, "You want a hug, buddy?"

Then I heard a shout and Kyle groaned out, "Fuck you."

Aven chuckled behind me, slightly pulling the hat on my head upward but not enough to take it off from my head. I pushed his hand away, saying, "I like your roommates."

"You beat Kyle," Dev said, making his way past us. "Trust me, we like you too."