by Jack Woolf
Ollie & Owen
Straight-to-Gay College Roommates
By Jack Woolf
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I.
Oliver breathed in the scent of fresh trees and the morning sun, and smiled. People of all ages bustled around him, lugging their bags to and from dorm buildings, while others greeted friends they missed over the break. As Oliver’s eyes scanned from building to building and tree to tree, he could tell his first year of college was going to be the experience of a lifetime.
"Come on, Ollie," Oliver's father, Jackson Willis, said, closing the trunk of the family’s car and lifting the small box that contained Oliver's necessities. Oliver nodded and carried two of his duffel bags around his shoulders and lessened his mother's load by one more box.
"Oh, Ollie," his mother, Victoria, cooed. "You didn't have to do that. I can carry your things around. They're not that heavy. At least, not as heavy as you."
Oliver chuckled. "No, Mom, it's okay. I can handle it."
"Look at you, you're all grown up," Victoria said.
Oliver smiled to himself and thought, Yeah, I am. At just barely six feet, Oliver had outgrown not only his mother but also his father. Years of training and playing football had given him a body that most guys envied. He felt great at the thought of finishing one milestone—high school—and beginning another. Although he had said goodbye to football to focus on his studies, Oliver was excited that he could finally take the first steps to becoming a medical doctor.
"Do you know where your building is?" his father asked, looking at the map in his hand and then at the signs on campus grounds. Buildings and students filled his frame of vision. If Oliver hadn’t memorized the route to his dorm during the university tour, he would have been lost, too. After checking their place on the map, Oliver and his parents went to follow the path to their right.
Oliver led the way, turning at street signs until they reached the large building that was going to be his dorm house. Students went in and out of the glass doors, hauling their things for the semester. Some of them were accompanied by parents or friends.
"Wow," Mr. Willis whispered. "This is definitely a lot fancier than the dorm I had back in the day."
"Looks like you're going to have a great time," Mrs. Willis said, urging them inside.
The hallways were somewhat narrow, allowing one person enough elbow room and one person to squeeze himself through if they tried hard enough. Young men stayed on the right side of the building while the young women stayed to the left. Oliver caught the eye of a particularly cute girl who smiled at him. Then he noticed another young lady looking in his direction. She bashfully turned away. College is going to be awesome, he thought.
Oliver met eyes with a few other girls and smiled at them before walking up the stairs to his room.
Oliver found his room on the third floor, his door with a shiny gold plated "302" on it. Beside it was a nameplate where the name of his roommate was already written. "O. Darcy," he read aloud. What a fancy name, he thought to himself.
Victoria opened the door for them because she was the only one with a free hand. The room was just like Oliver remembered from his tour. His side of the room was bare, while the other side was half done, a young man standing by the side of his bed and putting away his clothes.
"Hey," he said, flashing a smile. "You must be my roommate!"
"Yeah, I'm Oliver Willis, and these are my parents." Oliver put his things down on his bed and shook hands with his roommate.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Owen Darcy." Owen smiled at him, his teeth nearly shining in the overhead light. "Hello to you, too, Mr. and Mrs. Willis." Owen went to shake his parents' hands.
"Would you look at that, Ollie," Victoria gushed. "Your roommate is so nice!"
"Thank you?" Owen said.
"I hope you two can be good friends," she said. "Our Ollie here has always been friendly, but it's great to have people he can rely on."
"Mom," Oliver chided softly.
"I'm just looking out for you," Victoria said. "This is going to be your first time away from home for such a long time! I can't help it if I'm worried." She squeezed both his cheeks before she patted them.
"Okay, enough of that,” Mr. Willis said. “Ollie's a grown man. He can take care of himself, and I'm sure Owen would be willing to look out for him."
At the mention of his name, Owen's eyes widened before nodding unsurely.
"See?” Mr. Willis said. “He's agreed. Now let's help our son unpack so we can go. It's gonna be a long drive, you know."
Oliver mouthed his thanks to both Owen and his father before they started unpacking. For a moment, they both focused on their own side of the room. Oliver's parents busied themselves with pulling things out of boxes while Oliver took care of his bed. Once everything was out and most of the clutter was put away, Oliver pushed his parents out of the room to send them back home.
"Call us as soon as you're settled," Mrs. Willis said, hugging Oliver tight. "I'm going to miss you so much, Ollie."
Mr. Willis settled for a short hug and patted his son on the back.
"Call me when you guys get back," Oliver said.
Mr. Willis nodded and waved Owen goodbye. Victoria did the same, and Oliver watched them go. He waited until they went down the stairs before he closed the door to their room.
"Hey," Oliver said turning to Owen, who was almost done arranging his side of the room. "Sorry about my mom. She gets really clingy sometimes."
"Nah, man, it's fine. I think it was pretty sweet. By the way, how should I call you? I totally get it if you’re not okay with me calling you Ollie."
"Oh, nah, it's okay. You can call me Ollie if you like."
"Owen and Ollie," Owen said aloud. "Sounds kinda nice."
"Like a bad reality show, you mean?" Oliver joked, and laughed, causing Owen to laugh as well.
Owen used his whole body to laugh, body bending forward slightly and hands coming together to clap. It amused Oliver and made him smile.
II.
"So what are you studying?" Oliver asked, folding the last of his clothes so he could put them away in the provided closet.
"Business," Owen replied, taking the last of his things to his own closet. "You?"
"Pre-medicine."
"Oh wow, isn't that really hard?" Owen asked, plopping down on Oliver's already made bed, careful not to mess up his piles of clothes.
Oliver shrugged. "Dunno. But I've always wanted to be a doctor. When I saw my teammates getting injured and felt like helping them out, I realized this was the only way."
"Dude, that's so cool. So you want to be able to help athletes out?" Owen asked, lying back on the bed. From here, Oliver could see how built Owen was. Oliver wasn't one to be envious of another's body, seeing as he was pretty impressive himself, but Owen stood taller and bigger than he did, if that was possible. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat.
"Nah. Maybe when I was younger that's what I wanted to do, but now I don't know. I'm kind of not sure," Oliver paused, unsure if he should continue. If he were to say the words on the tip of his tongue, it might be too much information for someone he'd just met.
Owen seemed to notice his hesitation and allowed him some time to think about it.
Oliver put his clothes away in his closet, and when he finished the last of his pile, he joined Owen on his bed, lying back down beside Owen. He could feel the heat emanating from Owen's body, and it should have been unpleasa
nt, but it was nice—comfortable, even.
"What about you?" Oliver asked. "Why business?"
Owen shrugged. "Didn't know what I wanted to take and people around me said that business was flexible and would allow me to land a good job after college. I could work anywhere, they said, but I don't know. I'll try and see first. My parents don't really mind as long as I find something I love to do."
Oliver nodded. "That's cool." And then he sighed. "My parents want me to be a surgeon," he finally said.
"You don't?"
"I don't know." Oliver looked up at the ceiling and thought about it. Owen looked at him then, his gaze weighing like a thousand tons.
"You can tell me, you know?" Owen said with a reassuring voice. "I'm like a stranger at this point, the last person to judge you..."
After a beat, he added, "well, the last person to judge you to your face."
"Jackass," Oliver said, nudging Owen with his elbow, but there was no bite in his voice and instead of taking offense, Owen just laughed.
"Come on, I promise not to judge."
Oliver sighed and said, "I want to join Doctors Without Borders." Oliver didn't have to look to know the question painted on Owen's face. It was the same face his parents had made when he told them of his dream. "It's a program that will allow me to help all kinds of people throughout the world. It focuses on helping people in countries with endemic diseases or facing the after-effects of war."
"Wow, that's really"—Owen paused—"amazing. I don't think I've ever met someone with that kind of selflessness. What's holding you back?"
"My parents," Oliver replied. "They think it's too dangerous with so much trouble going on around the world. They are pushing hard for me to become a surgeon so I can make a lot of money. And they could keep me close to home."
Owen nodded. "I kinda get that. They're probably just tryna look out for you, y'know?"
Oliver began to protest, turning to face Owen who put a hand up to stop him from speaking. "But it's your life, Ollie. You should be able to decide for yourself what you want and can do with it."
Oliver swallowed. There was something about the way Owen said his name that was different from all the others. He was so fixated on it that it took him a lot longer to process what Owen had just said.
"Thanks," Oliver said belatedly. "That's kind of reassuring."
Owen chuckled. "Just stating the truth. If it helps, I think you should decide with your heart rather than your head." As if to make a point, but kind of joking about it, Owen fixed two of his fingers into the shape of a heart and tapped it twice against Oliver’s sternum. Owen’s mouth spread into a warm and teasing smile. When they locked eyes, however, the humorous expression melted.
From where they lay, Oliver could see that Owen's eyes were bright pools of blue, like the clear ocean on a summer's day. He swallowed as the heat of Owen's fingers left his body.
"Yeah, that helps," he uttered, clearing his throat and sitting back up. "What about you? Anything you need advice on?" He added a laugh to make it seem more natural. This was all a joke, after all. Owen didn't seem to notice or think it was strange. He just shrugged and sat back up.
"Not right now. Maybe later on when school actually starts. You want to be a doctor so you're probably really smart, right?"
Oliver laughed. "You need help with school?"
"Maybe!" Owen defended. "It'd be good if we could have study sessions together. I've always been better in groups. Found it much easier."
"You know what'd be great? If we shared a lot of general classes."
"Let's make sure to check," Owen offered.
"You sound so excited for classes to start. You ready for them?"
Owen shrugged. "I'm the type who hates sitting around doing nothing."
"What do you call what we're doing now?"
Owen laughed and hit Oliver with one of his pillows. "We're talking right now, dude. It's definitely something."
"If you hate doing nothing, why move to the dorms one week early?"
"Didn't have much of a choice. My sister's in her last year, and she wanted to be here one week early to prepare for her classes. Parents forced me to go along to save them the trip." Owen shrugged. "Not really excited for class. If I had a choice, I'd push it for one month later."
Oliver nodded. "I don't think I'll ever be ready for classes. Never been the type to study in advance or be excited for them." Oliver shuddered as he remembered past "first days” from his childhood, like the time he sobbed on the school bus all the way to kindergarten.
"Luckily for us, there's one week to get used to the idea, though."
Oliver nodded. Before he could ask any more, he felt his stomach growl in hunger. He grimaced. "You don't happen to know a good place to eat?" he asked instead.
"Oh dude," Owen said, jumping up the bed. "You went to the right person. I've been visiting my sister a lot since she started going here so I know all the best places to go. You hungry?"
"Yeah, I guess all that talking and unpacking got to me."
"Don't worry," Owen winked, the gesture making Oliver's stomach flop harder. "I've got you. Let me just change my shirt."
Oliver nodded. He watched as Owen stripped off his shirt, noticed how he grabbed the hem from the back before pulling it over his head. He swallowed, the sound echoing in the quiet, when Owen's muscles flexed. Oliver turned away, stripping off his own thin shirt, leaving him in a fitted wife beater. He felt hot all of a sudden and blamed it on a sudden change to the air-conditioning, because he was not ready to acknowledge that it was something else.
III.
Oliver grabbed a clean and thin shirt from his pile, appreciating the breeze it allowed his skin to feel.
"Ready?" Owen asked with a tight voice and eyes trained on Oliver. Oliver was taken aback by the look, but didn't comment on it. He nodded instead and gestured for Owen to lead the way. During his tour earlier that summer, Oliver had barely been able to memorize most of the buildings he'd need for classes, and he had not taken note of any good places to eat.
Owen reassured him that he knew all the good places, talking about all the possible cheap eats both on campus and in the neighborhoods surrounding the university. He even promised to list them all down for Oliver, so Oliver could go when he was alone. Owen echoed his words with hand gestures, which Oliver found amusing and made it hard to look away. Everything seemed easier to grasp when Owen gestured while he talked.
"So this place is called Burger Finds, and they have the best and cheapest burgers around," Owen told Oliver. They crossed a few more roads before they reached a quieter area, where students had their heads buried in books. The restaurant stood out behind the students, next to a cafe that bustled with people.
"Wow."
"I know right? My sister said it's a good place to catch lunch and then just hang around outside to study if the cafe runs out of space."
The burger joint didn't have many customers that day, but Owen explained that it was usually full during lunch and dinner. It was already a few hours after the lunch rush, so Oliver could understand. The smell of burgers grilling wafted through the place, and Oliver's mouth watered.
"What do you want?"
"What do you recommend?"
Owen hummed, eyeing the menu ahead. "I've tried everything in the place and it’s all good. Is there anything in particular that you prefer? Do you prefer more meat or veggies?"
"Just meat and cheese for me," Oliver said, scanning the pictures of burgers on the menu.
"Check out the Cheesy-Meaty Overload burger,” Owen said, pointing. “Comes with fries and a drink, too. Sound good?"
"Sounds awesome."
They ordered separately, Owen ordering his favorite burger, a double bacon, patty, and cheese burger with a side of onion rings instead of fries. They shared their sides, and Owen even offered Oliver a bite of his burger. Oliver declined but felt his cheeks burn at the thought of sharing a meal.
"I'll just make sure to try it next
time."
"You should definitely try all their burgers before you settle on one."
Owen winked and Oliver thought how flirtatious that looked, and then shook the thought away.
"To find out what you really love, you have to taste everything, rather than just sticking to what you know you like."
"Dude, that sounds like some potentially deep shit," Oliver commented.
Owen just laughed. "It does, doesn't it? Maybe I should've been a philosopher instead."
"I don't think that's how it works."
