(This story is a prequel to "Bobby and the Cop".)
*
I started my second year of college still a closeted, shy, awkward virgin. My first year of college, I never really clicked with anyone. It was my fault, of course. I was afraid to speak to people I didn't know. I was friendly with people on my floor in the dorm and with some people I shared several classes with, but I wouldn't call any of them friends.
My freshman year roommate joined a fraternity, so we didn't hang out and he opted to room with a friend this year. So in my second year, I had to have the school assign me a roommate. He was a transfer student from a community college. I could tell right away that he didn't like me. I was too nerdy and he was too preppy.
I'm a computer science major and I didn't have my own computer, so I did my computer work in one of the big computer labs on campus.
I headed to the computer lab Thursday night to finish up my programming assignment that was due on Friday. I signed in and headed to my assigned PC. I pulled out my notes and assignment from my backpack, logged into the network and opened my program code and started working.
I had been working for an hour or so when a backpack dropped on the table next to me. I looked up and a huge guy plopped down in the seat next to me. He was wearing a gray football team t-shirt. He had black hair and a goatee, but looked like he hadn't shaved in a few days, so he had some scruffy beard growth. He signed into his terminal and pulled out his notes and papers. I smiled to myself as he stared at the screen and scratched his head. He was the kind of dumb jock that terrorized me in high school and I felt somewhat satisfied knowing that he was clueless sitting in front of a computer.
I tried to return my concentration to my own screen, but it was difficult with him sitting next to me. I really wanted to check him out, but I didn't dare for fear of getting my butt kicked. Not to mention that he was flipping through his book and notes and grumbling to himself, so he probably wasn't in a very good mood.
"Fuck," he mumbled as he returned to tapping on the terminal keyboard.
While he was having troubles, I was making pretty good progress and started on the last part of the assignment.
"Hey. Kid," he whispered to me.
I looked over at him and he was looking at my screen.
"Do you know about this shit?" he asked. "Fuck, what the hell are you working on?"
"It's my CS210 assignment."
"Do you think you can help me?" he asked. "I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong."
He looked at me like a lost puppy dog and my heart melted. Combined with his southern accent and deep voice, there was no way I could say 'no'.
"Sure, what are you working on?" I asked.
He grinned big and he had nice white teeth. He had a boyish face and his cheeks were slightly red. He was really cute. I smiled back at him.
He scooted his chair over and I moved closer. He handed me the assignment and I looked it over. It really a simple BASIC program from CS105 Intro to Computers. The kind of stuff I did on my PC back in middle school. I looked at his screen and immediately saw what he was doing wrong. I pointed out the flaw in his logic and he made the change and it ran without an error.
He smiled big as he looked at the screen. "Oh, man, that's awesome," he said, then turned to me. "Thanks, little dude."
"You're welcome," I said with a smile.
I gave him a hint on what to do next and then returned to my own code. As I was putting the finishing touches on my assignment, he leaned towards me and whispered, "Hey, kid."
I looked at him and whispered, "I'm not a kid. I'm 19 years old, probably the same age as you."
He grimaced and apologized. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean it in a bad way."
I shrugged. "It's okay."
"Can you tell me if this is right?"
I looked over his assignment again and looked at his code. He had one small mistake and I showed it to him and he quickly fixed it. It ran without errors and produced the correct output to his inputs.
"Oh, shit, it's working."
He looked at me and flashed me that charming grin and then slapped me on the back. I tried to be cool, but that really hurt!
"Dude, thank you so much. You saved my ass," he chuckled. "My name's Bo, by the way."
"I'm Bobby."
"Cool. I hope I didn't keep you from your work too much. You almost done with what you're working on?"
"It's no problem. I was just getting ready to submit it."
"Where do you live?" he asked.
"Eldridge."
"We're neighbors then. I'm in Fox. If you're finishing up, I'll walk back with you."
"Yeah, give me a few minutes."
It was almost 11:00 and well after dark. It was kind of scary walking on campus this late, especially after that student was assaulted while running at the track a couple of weeks ago.
After logging out, we signed out at the desk and then headed back to the dorms.
Bo stopped and lit a cigarette as soon as we got out of the building. He offered me a cigarette and I declined.
We walked at a pretty slow pace and made small talk. He was a business major and played guard on the football team. He was a sophomore like me, but was 20 years old. Since his birthday was in December, he didn't start school with the rest of the kids his age. He was from Dacula, Georgia and had a football scholarship. That explained the accent.
I'm sure we looked like an odd pair. I was 5'8" and skinny as a rail, black hair and brown eyes, nerdy looking with glasses.
As we walked and talked, I was able to check him out without it looking suspicious. Bo was 6'3" and huge. He had very short dark brown hair and the color of his beard matched. His eyes were a hazel color. He had big hands and feet, big arms and legs, a barrel chest and a rounded belly. I'd later find out he was 310 pounds and wore size 14 shoes.
The end of his cigarette glowed red as he inhaled. He held it in and then blew out the smoke. It was kind of smelly and disgusting, but it was also kind of sexy. He looked very masculine when he smoked. When he wasn't taking a drag, he held it down to his side and he flicked the ashes off the end with his thumb.
I noticed right away that when he talked to me, he looked me right in the eyes. At first it was a little bit disconcerting. I wasn't used to making eye contact like that with people, especially with another guy. But I was mesmerized by his eyes and I couldn't look away.
When we walked into the shared lobby between our dorms, he thanked me again for helping him and we separated and went up to our own rooms.
***
That next Wednesday, I was in the lobby checking my mailbox when I heard Bo's voice. I looked up to see Bo and a large muscular black guy walking in the lobby. He noticed me and called out to me and motioned me over to him.
"Hey! Bobby!"
"Hi, Bo."
"Hey, little buddy. This is my roommate, Darius. Darius, this is Bobby. The computer genius I was telling you about."