It was a cool, crisp Friday night in late October. I could feel the wispy autumn breeze over my legs, sneaking in from the open balcony door. A football game played on the TV, but I wasn't particularly interested in watching it. The game was Rice against the University of South Florida. Not exactly a blockbuster.
Besides, as a wide receiver for The Ohio State University, I had my own game to prepare for the next day.
However, I would be lying if I didn't confess that my mind was more focused on the fact that I was missing out on one of the best nights of the year. Halloween weekend was always an endless marathon of sorority girls in their most brazen outfits. And for those of us on the football team, you could practically have your choice.
Yet here I was, at home, abiding by our team's 10 o'clock curfew that was instilled on the nights before game day.
I could hear my roommate Adam getting ready to go out for a night of his own back in his room. I had only known Adam for as long as we'd been living together during that semester, and we hadn't spoken very much. He was a shy gay guy and a relatively small man. Sometimes I worried he was intimidated by me, as I measured out at 6'3" and 210 pounds. Any time we were in the room together, I felt like I towered over him, but I tried my best to make him feel comfortable. In the few times I had tried to talk to him, he was very polite, but the discourse was always brief.
Anyway, he had a couple of girlfriends that he liked to hang out with that I'd seen now and then. Sometimes they'd stop by the apartment and collect Adam on their way to Pilates together, and other times they'd all end up back at our apartment after a night drinking wine. He seemed to be a little more open with them, and I imagined that's who he'd be joining this evening.
Just as the clock was passing over 9 o'clock, I heard a knock at the door. We usually leave the door unlocked, and assuming it was the girls I yelled out from the couch,
"Come in! It's unlocked!"
But instead of the two females coming in, there was no response. Bored of my sit on the couch, I volunteered myself to hop up and get the door.
I swung it open to a face I'd never seen before. There was a slim guy, a couple inches shorter than myself, in nothing but a long red robe and a gold chain. He had an attempt at a mustache, and kind of a smarmy look about him. I know that the Hugh Hefner robe can have that effect on anyone, but still, he had a punch-able face.
"Whoa!" he stepped back, sizing me up and down, "I didn't realize Adam lived with Captain America from Wish." he laughed at his own remark.
"You're here for Adam?" I asked, my mind trying to process the concept that this is the kind of person Adam would spend time with.
"Yeah!" Hugh Hefner from Alibaba replied, "He's one of my bunnies!"
'One of your bunnies?' I asked myself as I heard the door to the hallway behind me close. I turned around to see what I expected to be Adam, and now I was the one in for a surprise.
Adam, shy, quiet Adam, had donned a Playboy bunny outfit, complete with fishnet stockings and one of those little "bowties" that they wear. He'd carefully styled his pixie-cut length hair, and even gone ahead to complete something of a smoky eye look paired with what must have been a plumping lip-gloss.
"Whoa, dude!" I let out, lost for words, "You look...great! What a look."
Adam folded his arms, once again the shy boy I was familiar with, before quietly murmuring, "Thank you."
"Come on Bunny #1!" Hugh called from behind me, "We need to get going! We have to grab the others!"
I stood there silently as Adam went to slip by me. I could see him looking at me out of the corner of his eye as he made his way out the door. As Adam made his way by me, Hugh looked at me again and said,
"No date tonight? That's rough buddy! See ya!" Then, he turned back to Adam and gave him a firm smack on the butt before closing the door.
My brain was stunned by the 30 seconds that had just passed by. I was blown away to see Adam all dolled up like that, but more so, I was kind of annoyed to think he was going to spend time with that douchebag. Don't get me wrong, it's not my place to tell Adam who he should be spending time with, but I'd like to think he could do better than that. From everything I could tell, Adam seemed like a nice dude. I don't really know what gay guys like, but I don't know that anyone particularly wants to be with someone like that.
Maybe it was just a bad first impression. Or maybe it's not even like that. Who knows? I let it go.
A little more than an hour later I had gotten myself ready for bed and was lying down in my room. I scrolled through Instagram on my phone, and I could see the girls were already starting to post pictures from the night. The FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) was real. "Barbie" was clearly a popular outfit this year on account of the new movie, although I didn't remember Margot Robbie wearing anything quite as risqué as a lot of these girls were. As always, some cat girls and some witches, a few 'bad cops' here and there. I had already made the decision for myself that tomorrow night after we won our game, I would make sure to get out there and find something worthwhile for myself.
My scrolling then brought me to a group of girls dressed as playboy bunnies. Clearly, they'd planned their outfits together as they'd all picked a different color, red, blue, green, and yellow. They looked, good, but not great, and I scrolled on by.
But the sight of those girls made me start thinking about Adam and his black bunny costume. In a platonic way, I thought he looked nice. He always spent a lot of time with his skincare routine, and while I had never thought very much of that, it really paid dividends when he added a little make-up to the look. And while I would never be caught dead in a Pilates class, I would be lying if I hadn't noticed his tone butt as he skirted out the door in those heels he'd bought for himself. Credit where credit was due; he'd really pulled it all together to curate a nice look. Certainly a more "put together" appearance than that group of girls from the photo had.
I put my phone down and my mind wandered towards thoughts of our team's gameplan for Iowa the next day. This kind of thinking always had a habit of putting me to sleep, and it had nearly done it again when I heard the door to our apartment open and close with a thud.
Weird, I thought, as I looked at the clock. 10:12. Awfully early to be calling it a night. I was sure it had to be Adam. Maybe he'd just forgotten something.
The door to the hallway that leads to our bedrooms opened, and I could hear the click of his heels go by. It sounded like he stopped in front of the mirror between our bedrooms. I heard a loud sigh. Finger taps on the vanity counter. Another sigh.
Roused awake by the sound of the apartment door, I decided I would poke my head out. I threw on some shorts laying nearby and propped open my door.
Adam was standing in front of the mirror with his back to me, looking at himself. His eye-makeup looked like it had been smudged by the back of a hand, but it was mostly still intact. I could see a pair of small gold hoop earrings dangling from each ear that I hadn't noticed when he left earlier. He looked at me in the mirror, let out a small sniff, and wiped his nose with the back of his hand before his gaze dropped to the sink.
"Hey man," I said softly, "you alright?"
