"What is an Acute Myocardial Infarction?" the professor had a smile upon his handsome face as he taught. He obviously loved what he was doing.
"A heart attack," Michael said from the row near the back.
"Correct..." the professor spun into a lengthy lecture about how Doctor's use jargon in hospitals and how they really needed to use common terms. The bell rang and he picked his backpack up and raced across campus to his biology session.
He slid onto a lab desk and relaxed back into the chair. It had been three days since he'd seen Thomas. Thomas had dropped him off three days ago and now he was in his third week of college. They called every morning and night. Except for this morning. Thomas hadn't called him.
"Can I sit here?"
Michael turned and nodded at the handsome boy. He must have been 6 foot or more with green eyes and mousy brown hair. He was wearing a Letterman jacket with the college's letters stitched on.
"I'm Lucas."
"Michael." they shook hands and silenced as the professor came into the classroom. He was short and looked to be in his late fifties maybe early sixties. Mr. Parker he announced himself to be.
"The person you are sitting next to will be your lab partner for the rest of the year. Get acquainted because you're going to be doing projects together." his voice was tobacco roughed. It reminded him of Gabe which reminded him of Thomas.
"Your first project will be writing a report on the different beneficial drugs in the world today for terminal illnesses. I don't want to read twenty reports about the development in cancer so that is why I'm going to give you your illness."
He dotted about the room assigning couples illnesses, Parkinson's disease, Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and Multiple Sclerosis and finally he came to Lucas and Michael.
"Huntington's disease."
Michael nodded at Lucas who was smiling widely. Obviously he was pleased with what they were assigned. He'd never looked into the depths of the illness but he knew it was an illness that affects the muscle coordination.
"I expect reports in next week. You may leave now."
"First day and she's giving us assignments." Lucas grumbled as he picked his gym bag up and stood from the creaky stool.
"College for you," Michael whispered as he checked his phone, still no call from Thomas.
"Waiting for a call?"
"My boyfriend, he hasn't called me," Michael bit his lip and looked over at Lucas who was frowning. Great. He had a homophobic as a lab partner. "Sorry if I offended you or something."
"Huh? No, I'm cool with you being gay. My girlfriend just hasn't called me either. She's studying at Princeton."
"I wish I got into Princeton. I did get into Yale but I couldn't afford the costs over there." Michael was proud of himself for getting into Yale. He knew Thomas would have paid for him if he'd told him but he could hardly be away from him this far let alone all the way to Yale.
"Sucks. I'm on a football scholarship. I want to study medicine but I needed a scholarship to get in."
"Yeah..." he looked at his phone as it buzzed angrily and his stomach did a happy dance.Β "Excuse me."
"See you tomorrow?" Lucas yelled at him. Michael nodded and pressed the answer button on his phone.
"Michael." Thomas drawled over the line at him.
"Hi."
"Hey, sweetheart. How's college treating you today?" he heard the leather of Thomas' sofa creak as he sat on it.
"Same as yesterday, how is the club and everyone?"
"Same as yesterday," Thomas mimicked. There was static over the line so he moved away from the telephone wires above head and walked towards the park that was close. "Are you excited to come home?"
"Yes. I miss you so much. So does my dick." Michael giggled quietly as he sat underneath a tree, the leaves waving overhead.
"Mine too. One more day."
"I have a friend. I think."
"Apart from Sebastian?" Michael could hear the jealousy in that deep voice.
"Yep, His name is Lucas and he's studying medicine too. Cool huh?"
"Very. There are a few things we need to talk about." Michael's heart pounded in his chest as he chewed on his bottom lip.
"What about?"
"We'll talk tonight. Look up."
He flicked his eyes up and Thomas stood before him. He hung the phone up and pocketed it before walking into Thomas' waiting arms. The leather creaking must have been Thomas climbing from his car. His heart stopped pounding as bad as he buried his face in the crook of Thomas' neck. Strong arms banded around his waist as a hand cupped his head to kiss him deeply in the park.
"What are you doing here?"
"Conveniently an old client rang me. He needs help with his club."
"Oh..." he slipped from Thomas' arms and wrapped his arms around himself.
"What's wrong?"
"You didn't come to see me?" Michael frowned and fiddled with his bag strap.
"I was coming to see you tomorrow but I thought seeing as I'm here why not today? I'm going to stay in the
Ritz Carlton
hotel. Come stay with me?" Only the best for Thomas it seemed.
"You could stay with me and Sebastian."
"I'm not sure..."
"Please. It will be fine. I promise." he reached out and twirled the metal bracelet he'd given Thomas on their first meeting.
"Okay. I'm taking you out on a date tomorrow."
Finally, Michael didn't say it but he'd been waiting for Thomas to take him on a date. It had been almost two months and they hadn't gone on one yet.
"Where to?"
"What about dinner and a movie?" Michael nodded and Thomas wrapped his arm around his shoulder and walked him back to the campus. "Where are you next?"
"Historic Art."
"Why in Satan's ass are you taking that?" Thomas laughed as Michael giggled at him and wrapped his arm around his waist before leaning his head on Thomas' side. Thomas rested his arm around Michael shoulder and kissed his temple.
"I needed to have five lessons. Here is number five," Michael turned and stood on his tip toes to kiss Thomas gently on the lips. "Thank you for coming."
"No problem, darlin'. See you this evening?"
"Count on it. I love you."
"I'll bring dinner." Thomas waved and wandered back down the road. Michael couldn't help but look at the way Thomas' ass moved when he walked.
"Dude, your boyfriend is hot with a capital H." Lucas leant against the building with a cigarette between his lips.
"You're gay too?" Michael couldn't believe it, but he remembered Lucas saying he had a girlfriend.