More Like a Movie

Meet cutes are usually how future couples meet. It’s some ridiculous event that brings them together like person A is waiting in the rain without their umbrella but then seconds later Person B magically appears, sharing theirs. It’s fun and typically the start of something romantic. I, however, use it differently. For example, I consider the way Jesse and I met a meet cute. We were in a high school chemistry class when I turned around and bumped into him on complete accident. The beaker he was holding in his hand fell to the ground, shattering into tiny pieces. We got in trouble and had to clean the whole room after class, but it was a laugh and definitely a different way to meet someone.

After that, I always took notes on how I met people. So far Jesse had been the only encounter that was worth talking about; everyone else was met the normal way with proper greetings and introductions.

As I walked down the hallway of the building where my dorm was, I wondered what my first interaction with my roommate would be like. I only know a few things about him. Before I came here, I tried to connect with him through various social networking sites, but I couldn’t find him. However, it wasn’t the end of the world. I had the basics and that was enough. His name was Tony, same age, same department and he had been attending the university since freshman year.

Slipping my fingers into my pocket, I pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, the one that had my information on it. Our room number was 1127, right at the end of the hall by seemingly the only window in this place. Since everything was so rushed with my acceptance, I didn’t go on a tour and I didn’t get the chance to get accommodated like everyone else had. It was two weeks before classes were set to start and I was just now arriving. I wouldn’t complain, though. Like I said, I was happy to be given this chance in the first place.

Stopping in front of the door that would be my home for the semester, hopefully more, I took in its appearance. The coloring was a sad shade of faded green, peeling at the very top right corner. Chipped golden numbers slanted across it, going up like a staircase and the handle was worn, easy to turn and probably easy access for someone to break in to. Despite every flaw I was quick to pick out, I loved it. This was exactly what I needed.

My fingers encircled the handle, turning it quickly and pushing the door open, gasping in shock when I felt a force on the other side and a loud thud followed by a grunt. Quickly, I flung the door open, revealing none other than the boy I assumed was my roommate. I was mortified at the fact that I just hit the person I’d be living with in the face with a door.

“Oh, God,” I murmured rushing to see if he needed my assistance. “I am so sorry,” I bit my lip and stood there, hands raised to try and help him steady himself. Well, I definitely met him, but it sure wasn’t cute. “Are you okay?” I decided ask him once I figured he regained his composure.

“I’m fine, no worries,” he mumbled, his right hand clutching at his forehead. I can’t believe this is how we’re starting off. Not the first impression that I wanted to make, but now we can skip the awkward pleasantries and get down to it. “You must be Kellin then, I’m assuming?” He cracked a smile and finally dropped his hand turning to face me.

There was something about his smile that made me feel a whole lot calmer, like I hadn’t just ruined everything. It was sincere and welcoming. I nodded my head and stuck my hand out to meet his. “Yeah, Kellin Quinn. And you’re Tony, right?”

“Tony Perry, the one and only.” His smile widened and I felt the corners of my own mouth twitch. Glad he wasn’t upset I was able to set my bag down in front of the bed that was empty, guessing it was mine. “Nice to meet you although I probably would have gone for a different approach.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m usually a lot more careful than that.” I admitted. It was true, though. I never did anything without checking two, sometimes three times first. I probably should have knocked before opening the door, but this was my room, too. It never even crossed my mind.

He shook off my comment and proceeded to finish hanging up a picture. Paying more attention to it, I realized it was a framed movie poster from the first Star Wars movie released in 1977. At least he had good taste. Before I got the chance to make a comment, he left the room. I took this time to get a better look at the place. It was your standard, two bed dorm. Each of us was equipped with our own desk space to do as we pleased. A small window was placed on the wall closest to my bed and we had air conditioning. I’ve heard that some of these rooms don’t have the luxury.

Overall, I liked it. It felt real, like I was having one of my firsts. Even when I went to the community college back home, I didn’t live on campus. It was five minutes away, there was no reason to. Being here though changed all that. I was finally a college kid living with a roommate.

Tony came back into the room, now sporting a hoodie, twirling a set of keys in his hand. “So, Kellin,” he stopped as he slipped on a pair of shoes and headed for our door. “Have you had lunch yet?”

Shaking my head, I let him know I hadn’t. All day I had been preparing and getting my stuff in order that eating totally slipped my mind. It wasn’t until Tony mentioned food that my stomach grumbled. He offered a warm smile, politely extending an invitation to me.

“Come on, there’s a nice café around here. It’s much better than the cafeteria food and it’ll give you the chance to meet some of my friends.” Tony surprised me by being so friendly even though we just met. Everyone had always said that college was different than high school, but I never really believed them. At least not until now.

I’ll admit meeting Tony was nerve wracking enough, but now the thought of meeting a few of his friends had my palms sweating. Part of me wanted to stay behind to unpack and set up, but that’s not what I came here for. I came here to live, not fall back on bad habits. So I accepted, following Tony out of our room and down the hall back to the elevators where I just came from.

Once inside he turned his attention back to me, probably sensing how afraid I was. He shuffled closer, suddenly making me feel relaxed. At least he wasn’t avoiding me. “Okay, so we’re just gonna meet up with Jaime and Vic. You’ll like Jaime, he’s a character but he always makes everybody laugh,” he chuckled.

“And what about the other one?” I quizzed, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, uh,” he brought a hand up to awkwardly scratch at the back of his head. “Vic can be a little surly sometimes, but don’t worry. He’s a good guy.”

I swallowed hard at the thought. It’s fine. I can handle this. There is no rule that says just because they are friends of Tony that they have to be friends of mine, so if we didn’t get along that would be fine.

The elevator made a dinging sound, doors sliding open and Tony was quick to step out, motioning for me to follow. We left the building, making a left turn. He informed me that it was just down the road, next to one of the student buildings. Not even a full five minutes later we were standing in the middle of the small restaurant as Tony scanned the area for his friends.

“There,” he said pointing towards the back where one person sat at a booth. From here I couldn’t tell much about him except for the unique hairstyle and sleeve of tattoos going up his arm. I never got the chance to say anything because the guy at the table stood up, waving Tony over. I trailed behind him, already feeling out of place.

“Hey man,” Tony said bringing the other in for a short hug. “This is Kellin,” he stepped to the side so I was in full view. The other guy shot me a smile, grinning wildly. “My new roommate.”

“I’m Jaime,” he said and gestured for us to take a seat. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I mumbled quietly, mindlessly chewing at my bottom lip. I slid into the one side of the booth, Tony sitting down after me. A waitress came right over, taking our drink orders and scampering off again.

Tony looked around, eyes searching for something. “Vic’s not here yet?” He frowned looking back over at Jaime. Jaime shook his head and laughed.

“Is Vic ever on time? Anywhere?” He asked and took a sip of his drink. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Tony sighed, dropping his head. I’m guessing this Vic guy was a bit of a problem. I shrugged it off, thinking he was someone I’d try to avoid.

The small chatter was disrupted by a loud commotion in the front of the café. All three of us shifted slightly so we could see what was going on. Coming through the door was a guy probably around our age. His brown curls hung on his shoulders, bouncing as he moved around. Tony groaned and tossed his head back. Confused, I looked at Jaime who mouthed ‘Vic’, to me.

Sudden realization hit me and I nodded. So the attractive man walking straight towards us was Vic. Wonderful, I could feel my fear intensifying with every step he took until finally he stopped at our table, smiling as he looked at us.

“Tony, I’m sorry. I was busy and got caught up in-“ His words were cut short by a wave of Tony’s hand.

“No need to explain your latest hook up to me, Victor.” He huffed. Vic rolled his eyes and sat down next to Jaime. As he sat across from me I was able to observe him better. A black beanie was placed strategically on his head, hiding some of the brown locks underneath. He had a flawless complexion, skin tanned and smooth. My eyes traveled from his toned arms up to his face where I noticed the glint of a silver nose ring on his right nostril. When he smiled, it reached his eyes, showing off his teeth – white and hidden behind his plush lips as he closed his mouth. Keeping my gaze, I flicked my eyes up to meet his for only a second. But it was all I needed to see they were a dark shade of brown, full of something I couldn’t decipher. Lost in my own little world, I didn’t realize I had been staring for too long.

“Who the hell is this and why is he staring at me like that?” Vic asked, snapping my attention back to the present. I felt the heat creep up the back of my neck, making its way to my face, cheeks flushing red in embarrassment of getting caught. I looked over at him, his finger pointed directly at me.

Meet cute? Definitely not.

Jaime reached up and grabbed his hand, lowering it to try and make it less uncomfortable for me. I gave a shy smile in thanks and looked back at Vic. “This is Kellin,” Tony said patting my shoulder. “My new roommate.”

“New roommate?” Vic’s attention quickly shifted from me to what Tony had just said. “What happened to Steve?”

I could have sworn Tony let out a growl, rolling his eyes and balling his fists on the table top. “Steve is a cheating thief who betrayed my trust,” he turned to me to fill me in. “Steve was my roommate last year and a really good friend up until I woke up in the middle of the night, catching him trying to re-edit my footage. The little shit forgot to do his project and come the last week of classes, he wanted to steal my work.”

Vic chuckled and picked up a fry from Jaime’s plate. “Wow.”

“I had him kicked out,” Tony admitted. “This is a liberal arts school where we’re expected to create and produce our own work. Plagiarism consequences are a lot stricter here.”

Not to self, don’t even have a similar idea to Tony. All of my work is original and I take pride in that, but sometimes you can’t be too sure. Even the smallest similarity is enough cause to take you to the president of the school and have you turned in.



We had been at the café for a little over an hour and Vic hasn’t said another word to me. Jaime and Tony were nice enough to include me into conversations, but Vic managed to brush me off every time. Maybe I came off too creepy when he caught me staring. It didn’t matter, he would glance at me every now and then but that was it.

“So are you all cinema majors?” I decided to ask when they were done arguing over director switches in movies.

“Yeah,” Tony nodded. “And that’s why nobody likes us.” Across the table both Vic and Jaime chuckled.

They found it humorous, but I was still confused. “Why?”

“They think that we think that we’re better than everyone else,” he shrugged.

“We are better than everyone else,” Vic smirked. I could see where Tony was coming from. Vic was kind of overly confident and he had quite the attitude. I knew it would be best for us to stay away from each other, we’d only clash, but there was something about him that I was drawn to and that scared me.

I was openly gay, so it wasn’t unusual for me to be attracted to other guys, but this just seemed like I would be playing with fire.

“See,” Tony shook his finger at Vic. “That’s why no one likes you.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Vic grinned, leaning forward so his elbows were propped on the table and his body was a bit closer. He turned to look at me. “I think Kellin likes me a little bit,” he winked and I felt that blush reappear. I’ve never hated myself more.

“Leave him alone!” Jaime picked up a fry, throwing it right at Vic’s face. He grumbled and brushed away the residue. “Anyway, Kellin,” Jaime glared at Vic in disapproval. “We only hang out with others in our major. It’s easier that way.”

“With the exception of Vic’s younger brother, Mike. He’s an international business major,” Tony added on. This was a lot of information to process, but I would do my best if I wanted to keep hanging out with them.

Vic spoke again, “That’s not true, sometimes we hang out with those dorks from journalism.”

“They won’t want to hang out with us anymore if you keep referring to them as those dorks from journalism.” Tony sneered.

My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, both of them staring hard at each other. I felt the need to contribute and maybe try to ease the tension so I chimed in. “What are all of your concentrations?”

Tony smiled at me, thankful for interfering. I returned the gesture, my eyes landing on Vic once again who just gave me an icy stare. I shook it off and listened as Tony rambled off their areas of expertise. “Vic’s going for his bachelor’s in cinema production,” Tony stated as if it explained why Vic was such a jerk. “I’m going for playwriting and Jaime here is for animation and visual production. What about you?”

“Screenwriting,” I stated proudly. It was really the only thing I was certain about in my life. As I said that Vic’s eyes narrowed, a sinister look flashing briefly in his eyes before he seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in. It confused me, but I wasn’t going to bring it up.

“That’s awesome, Kellin,” Jaime said to me. “I’d love to read some of your work one day?”

I smiled and gave him a nod. It was exciting to be able to show my work to people who weren’t my usual friends, get a new perspective.

“We should get going the movie starts soon,” Vic grumbled, standing up and dumping his tray into a nearby garbage can. Quirking an eyebrow, I turned to Tony, who had quickly become my go-to guy.

He chuckled and stood up, following Vic’s actions. “Every week the school shows a movie in the park. This week it’s Stand By Me.”

That was actually one of my favorite movies. The first time I watched it was with my mom and my sister. Getting lost in the moment, I didn’t realize they were all starting to leave. Though we spent the entire hour talking and getting to know each other better, I didn’t know if I should follow or stay put so I stood there awkwardly, pretending to check the messages on my phone. It wasn’t until I heard Vic’s smooth as silk voice calling from the front of the café.

“Are you coming or not, Kellin?” He asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot in impatience.

“Uh, yeah,” I slipped my phone back into my pocket and left my part of the tip before jogging up front to meet the rest of them.

It was only my first day here, but something told me that everything was going to work out. It just felt right.