Opposites attract - 4. Chapter 4

I had slept surprisingly well given the events of last night. Once again, I woke up being called by Kev.

“Leon? Time to get up. First training lesson.” Kev was back to full grinning mode. At least, he gave no hint that he was still holding a grudge against me for buying the tickets.

With a night's sleep distance, I was clearly aware, what I had tried to do: overcompensating for my feelings for Kev. Giving money to Kev was just another way to express those feelings… and a bad way for sure. My Mom was the kitchen psychologist in our family, but I was more like her than I sometimes wanted to be true.

It was 7:30 now.

“Starting late, because it's Saturday. I thought on weekdays, we'll start at 6:30. So we'll be in time for the courses. Okay?”

“Okay… I think…” What had I agreed to? That sounded like real work.

“Get up, sleepy head!” Kev snatched my pillow away and threatened me with it, still beaming at me.

“I'm coming, I'm coming.”

We changed into training clothes and started our run. Kev gave me some general hints on keeping a steady running rhythm and some good advice on breathing. He showed me how to check my pulse and to adapt the pace accordingly. Though most of his tips were simple, they helped. We covered the same distance in approximately the same time as yesterday, but I wasn't as exhausted as I had been the day before. I told Kev so.

“Leon, I've told you. You are a natural. With a little guidance, you will become one hell of a runner.”

“Must be the excellent trainer I have.”

“Thanks.”

That one was muttered and he had dropped his gaze to the ground. Kev was cute, when he was embarrassed.

We had returned to our room. On our door was a post-it telling me that a parcel had arrived for me and that Sean and Keith, our room neighbors, kept it for me.

Oh, fuck!

I had completely forgotten about that one.

“Wanna fetch it before showering?” Kev asked.

“Um, sure.”

There would be no way to get the parcel without Kev inquiring about its contents.

I knocked at our dorm mates' door, thanked them for accepting the parcel and returned to our room.

“Considering the look on your face there is nothing nice in there, huh?” Kev pointed at the box in my hands.

“Kev… um… I… you…”

“Okay.” He drew that one out. “What's in it?”

I opened the parcel and produced two track suits, one my size and one Kev's size.

“I know that brand. They are made of one of those high-tech materials. Really good stuff. I read about it in a sports magazine… but those are $200 each…”

I kept silent, avoiding his gaze.

“How did you plan to explain those?”

“Packaging error… no return policy for sportswear…” I admitted in a low voice.

“Exactly my size? Oh, what a coincidence…”

“Prepared a nice speech about probability and statistics. And I had looked up your size in one of your pants.”

“Please remind me to never sleep with my back to you, you sneaky…”

“Son of a lawyer.” I completed his sentence. That caught him off guard. I went for an offensive.

“I ordered those, before we left for the cinema per overnight express. So, technically they are not covered by the promise.”

“Technically? Son of a lawyer. How fitting.”

I interrupted him.

“Kev, look at it as some kind of fine for fucking it up with the cinema. And yes: son of a lawyer and son of a shop owner. Money has never been important to me, but not losing a friend about some shit like this that is most important to me.”

Kev’s face was working, hinting at the thoughts that were running through his head.

“You call me a friend? We happen to know each other for less than 48 hours and you consider me a friend?”

“Pretty desperate and pathetic, isn't it?”

“No. It's pretty desperate and pathetic to call someone his best friend after less than 48 hours. Come here!”

Kev drew me into a tight bear hug. And ‘tight’ should be read as ‘crushing’ here.

“Kev… if you want your best friend to live…loosen that grip.” I had to groan.

He let go of me.

“Did I hurt you?” There was worry written on his face.

“Not as much as I hurt you.” and I pointed to the track suit.

“It's okay. The way to hell is paved with good intentions.” He smiled slyly.

“Please, keep it. You have real use for it. And it will remind me to never ever fuck up like this again.”

“But it's too expensive…”

“Remember the part about money not being important?”

“Wow. In not quite two days, I acquired a roommate, best friend and a pimp.”

“I would prefer to be considered a patron, not a pimp.”

We both burst out laughing and Kev drew me into another bear hug, which was much gentler than the first one.

“Much better dosage of strength. Keep in mind that your best bud is quite frail.”

He released me, raised his fists into a defensive position, made a parody of an angry face and mock punched me on the shoulder.

“You are sturdier than you think.” And laughing he added “And: in just seven days, I can make you a man.”

“Rocky Horror Picture Show? You know it?”

“Know it and love it.” He grinned.

“Hey, there is a fan club here on campus. They use every excuse to show it as often as possible. Today being the last Saturday before semester is enough for an excuse. Wanna go? It’s free.”

“Sure. That'll be fun. Two movies in a row, but that's Rocky Horror.”

“They make every participant wear a badge with the name of the role on it you resemble the most. That will be Rocky for you, I fear.” I made an innocent face.

“And you are Frank-N-Furter!” he poked his tongue out at me.

“I've got the legs for it.”

Showering with Kev wasn't as intimidating as it had been yesterday. He was still the most physically attractive man, I had met in my life, but the added dimension of our starting friendship had taken away a certain edge from this attraction. I was quite sure now that this would work out somehow. I could live with him and be easy about it.

“What's on your mind? You are grinning like a Cheshire cat.”

Kev had just started soaping up and was looking at me.

“I am thinking about us. How lucky I have been with my new roommate.”

That wasn't even a lie. At most, a lie of omission.

“Amen to that.” He beamed at me.

“Who's the Cheshire cat now?” I teased him.

We both chuckled.

Kev and I spent the whole morning together: first having breakfast, afterwards hanging out in our room. I told him about my family including my sister, her husband and Christopher, my godchild. We talked about, when we had seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time and how we both had grown to love it. We exchanged many of those small tidbits of information giving us a more wholesome impression of each other. The more time I spent with Kev, the more I grew attached to the person he was. The pin-up fantasy, that had entered my room on Thursday, was gradually replaced by the real Kev. And the real Kev was by far more interesting and attractive than the fantasy. The sexual tension had not exactly waned, it had transformed. It had gained a butterflies-in-the-stomach quality. I was well aware that this wasn't the best of developments in terms of my resolve not to start anything with Kev. Ultimately, this could lead to more pain than simple physical attraction, much more. There was happening too much in too short a time. But that was the ‘privilege of youth’, as my grandma would have put it, to rush in with flying flags. ‘Enjoy it while it lasts’ would have been her next advice.

“I'll be early for training today. Coach wants to meet me and most of the team is already here, so I can meet them as well.” Kev informed me during our lunch made up of some sandwiches we ate in our room.

“Rocky Horror will start at eight o'clock.”

“That'll be no problem. I think I'll be back by seven o'clock.” He got up, shoved the last piece of sandwich into his mouth, grabbed his sports bag and left, but not without waving me good-bye.

Today there would be no tutoring anymore, so I was free to do what I wanted. I started with checking, whether I had registered for all the courses I wanted to take using my notebook. Prof. Smyth offered a special course in complex analysis and had personally invited me to participate. I double checked whether the reservation for this course was valid. I printed out my timetable, which was quite convenient this term. No tedious pauses between courses, I had at least one hour of lunch time every day and on Friday my academic day ended on 12 o'clock. That was really nice, because Kev had told me that his bodybuilding competitions would take place mostly on Friday afternoons. And I planned to attend every single one. The rest of the afternoon, I spent revisiting some facts about complex numbers and ended up reading a fantasy novel, which I had begun to read an eternity ago, but hadn’t bothered to finish. While reading, I listened to ‘Wir sind Helden’ again. Kev had insisted on me using all of his stuff as if it was mine.

“If I ever need a tent, I will go for one of your t-shirts.” I had joked.

“And of course, all of my stuff is for you to use, too.”

“Cool. So whenever I need warm toes, I can use your t-shirts.”

Reliving this banter and having the music, his music, playing gave me a warm feeling.

He's gone for three hours and you already miss him.