Hanging Out

Remy stumbles through another day of classes, this one harder considering some actual work is getting done. The only notable thing that happened is that Emmitt sat next to him in history class that day, which he was very grateful for. With such an outgoing personality, he expected him to have at least five other friends to sit with in this class alone.

As class let out, Emmitt let him know that they'd all be hanging out in Renee's dorm later that day, then gave him his number.

When he showed up, Renee was the only person there.

"Oh, sorry. Did I come too early?" Remy asked sheepishly.

Renee looked as cheerful as ever as she exclaimed, "No way! Emmitt and Landon just went out to get some beer. Landon's cousin is over 21, so he hooks us up."

"Oh, that's cool." He walked further in and sat stiffly on one of the beds, nervous as he had never been around Renee alone before.

Renee came over and sat next to him, "So, tell me about yourself."

"Uh, I've lived in Wisconsin all my life. Or at least, I used to."

"Wow, small world. I came here from Wisconsin, too! What made you choose this place?"

Remy remembered Landon's plea for him not to let Renee know who he was, even though things are probably different now after last night. "I... I just always loved New York City, I guess. And I wanted a college education. What about you?" Remy knew the reason why they left, but not exactly why they chose this place.

"Yeah, I guess I left for that reason, too. Also, the town I lived in was too small. Everyone knew each other, and I just wanted to meet new people."

At that moment, Landon and Emmitt walk in lugging lumpy backpacks. They unzip them and fling cases of beer onto the bed.

Suddenly thinking of something, Remy asks, "Wait, what about your roommate? Where's she?"

Landon answered for her, "She doesn't have one. Her parents paid extra for that. Renee prefers her personal space."

Remy then noticed a measly white sheet placed lazily on the bed and no other possessions on that side of the room. "Ah. So, then, what do you guys usually do here?"

Emmitt answered, "Drink, talk, play cards. That kind of stuff."

They each grabbed a beer, and Landon and Renee moved to sit on the other bed as Emmitt sat next to Remy.

"So how were your days?" Landon over-affectionately asked. "I expect each of you to tell me three interesting things that happened."

Renee went first, "Well, Mom. My day was great. Because I don't have any classes with my boyfriend, I get a break from him all day! How awesome is that?"

Landon considered her answer, "Hmm... Hurtful. Anyone else wanna go?"

"Oh, Landon! I forgot to tell you that your cousin gave me a DVD player that we can watch movies on." Emmitt went over to one of the backpacks and dug through it, pulling out one with a screen that was only slightly wider than a DVD disc itself.

Landon stared at it, "Okay, first of all, what are you doing privately speaking with my cousin, and why is he giving you things? Second of all, how is anyone going to be able to watch anything on that thing? And last, but not least, does anyone even have any movies with them?"

"That was way too many questions," Emmitt complained.

"Well, will you at least answer one of them?"

"Oh. Sure thing."

"Well?"

"I answered your question! You asked me to answer one, and my answer was 'okay.'"

Landon tried his best to look unamused as he calmly said, "I am going to strangle you."

"Wow, and you have a girlfriend, Landon! If you have any weird kinks, you should probably discuss them with her."

"You big bitch," was Landon's comeback, but he had a huge grin on his face as he held back a laugh.

After Emmitt got over a fit of giggles, he said, "Okay, but seriously, it's at least bigger than a phone."

Renee said, "Yeah, but you can only watch movies on it. And you have to have a physical copy of one."

Landon broke in, "Hey, can we get back to discussing what your relationship to my cousin is?"

Ignoring him, Emmitt said, "That's a good point, but you haven't heard what movie Step gave me to go with the DVD player."

Emmitt stopped speaking again, waiting for someone to ask what the movie was.

"Oh, my god, Emmitt," Renee said, exasperated. Just say it or I swear I will smash your stupid DVD player right now."

"Geez. Okay. The movie we have issssss... drumroll please..." Renee made a step towards the player. "It's the Star Wars Holiday Special!"

Landon was the first to speak, "Um, excuse me, what? What even is that?"

"It's Star Wars!" Emmitt cried.

"We are aware of what Star Wars is, but what is this movie?"

"Actually, I'm not really sure. But it's Star Wars. So it'll probably be good."

About 20 minutes into the movie, Emmit said, "This is the worst thing I have ever seen. It's just wookies that aren't Chewie watching TV. What the fuck?"

Landon said, "Well, while we're waiting for this trash bag of a movie to end, why don't we get back to the question about Step?"

"Well. We actually happen to be good friends... More than friends."

Landon grabbed Emmitt's shoulders in alarm, "You're fucking my cousin and you didn't tell me?! What the fuck?"

Emmitt looked him in the eyes calmly. "Yes, that is correct."

Remy looked at him, "You're gay?"

"Oh, damn it. Did I not make it clear enough?" He winks. "But also, I'm actually pansexual."

"Hmm. That's cool," he said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, that's actually why I created the Acceptance Society, which has been renamed due to constant mocking. I came out in 11th grade, and most people weren't too... let's say pleased about it. And I wanted things to be different in college. Being queer and a person of color isn't the easiest thing to live with, and I didn't want anyone else to feel like I felt."

Remy forgot a lot of the time how privileged he was. Being a straight white man meant that he didn't have to be afraid of being the victim of someone's unwarranted rage. He didn't have to live fearing what other people saw him as. "Damn. That's really sweet," Remy said, then after a second added, "Sorry if that sounded stupid. I don't react appropriately to serious, heartfelt conversations."

"Better than reacting negatively," he commented, turning back to the movie.

Remy had hoped to talk to Landon a little more, but after the movie, Landon said he was going to stay with Renee for a while, so Emmitt and Remy headed back to their separate dorms.

Every day after, their group would do something similar to that, just hanging out and relaxing after a day of classes, or sometimes they'd help each other with homework.

Eventually, more people came to Emmitt's club. Emmitt insisted it was because everyone suddenly realized how cool he was, though it was almost certainly because of the name change.

Remy never got the chance to ask Landon more about what happened. He got the sense that he wasn't ready to go into detail like he had that first night, so he didn't ask.

As the Halloween season rolled around, Remy was feeling very close to these people, closer than he had ever been to anyone. It was strange, and he liked it.