“What’re you doing?” A familiar smooth voice bounces through my brain and startles me into a slight jolt backwards in my chair. I glance up to send Ethan a scowl just as his plate full of raw spinach clinks on the table to my right.

“Picking out the peas…duh.” I grumble at him before cramming another fork full of rice in my mouth. “Oh!” I pause with the utensil between my teeth and flick a quick wave to the tall redheaded guy peering at me over my friend’s shoulder. 

“This is Quinn.” Ethan makes the introduction while I’m rapidly chewing. “He’s one of my residents, and your teammate.” 

“Sweet!” I mutter with my mouth still stuffed, then opt for raising a fist for him to bump. 

The kid named Quinn gently taps my knuckles and murmurs a soft, “Nice to meet you,” before he’s setting a small bowl of soup on the table and scooting into the seat across from me.  

“I forgot the dressing again!” Ethan mumbles to himself, and then he’s gone. 

I watch in amusement as he jogs towards the salad station with one hand frantically clenched in his thick black flop of hair. His search for the balsamic is beyond dramatic, and I force myself to look away. Classic Ethan. “So…” I turn back to Quinn and offer him a grin. “Where’re you from?” 

“Um…” The guy ponders his chicken noodle soup for a moment before glancing at me with his spoon poised empty over the bowl. “Maine. You?” 

“Whoa!” I react without thinking and shove more rice in my mouth before I can totally scare him off. He seems shy. “Sorry. Never been to Maine, or...met someone from there,” I explain while I chew. “I grew up here in Kentucky, but like...more South.” 

His dry little laugh surprises me so much, I drop my fork. 

“What’s so funny?” I point the silver teeth at him with what I hope is a vicious squint.

Quinn scoops up some soup and dumps it out without eating a drop. “I couldn’t really place your accent, but now-”

“I have an accent…?” I feign shock at the one thing my girlfriend constantly teases me about, and his eyes widen on the table before flitting upwards. The sudden presence of Ethan interrupts the smirk forming on the redhead’s slender face before I can think of a better comeback.

“Okay, so…” Ethan is nearly panting when he plops into the chair next to me. “I haven’t tried either of these, so which would you recommend?” He sets two small bowls of dressing in the center of the table with a firm frown on his face. “They were out of balsamic.” 

“Bummer.” I lean forward to examine the contents. “Uh...could you say which is which? They’re both white, and I can’t tell ‘cause there’s like…eight different ones over there.”

“Right.” He sighs and points at the bowl to the left. “That’s caesar, and that one’s ranch.” He nods, and then pauses to flick his finger the other way. “Or is that one…?”

Before he can rush away to the salad bar again, Quinn reaches over and swipes some spillage off one of the edges with his pinky. “That one’s the ranch,” he mumbles while he sucks his finger clean. 

Ethan giggles to himself, then pulls both bowls back towards his spinach pile with his gaze wandering across the table for a moment before it’s settled on his “dinner.” 

“Go with ranch,” I offer lightly, trying not to stare as the redhead blinks down at his soup with an unmistakable smile tugging on his lips. 

“But what about-?”

“Caesar dressing won’t taste very good with your leaves.” Quinn interrupts him so smoothly, I don’t even realize I’ve snorted until they’re both staring at me. 

“You put him up to this,” Ethan accuses with his dark brown glare burning through my skull. 

“I did no such thing!”

“There’s no way you didn’t mention-!”

“I’m not the only one in the world who thinks salad isn’t food!” I counter, adding a victory grin just as Ethan groans and snatches up his dishes. 

“I’m outta here. Have fun with your swim cult.”

To be fair to Ethan and his attitude, moments later our table is swarmed by freshmen swimmers who see the team shirt I’m wearing in passing and just...flock. Not like I should’ve expected anything else, but poor Quinn seems instantly overwhelmed, and I swear he actually eats his soup out of stress.

The Carmen University swim team is notorious on campus for doing, well…everything together. Our intense training schedules align, so it makes sense to eat meals and study at the same time. Plus our parties on Saturdays are...famously weird. Since we have practice every day but Sunday, we get one night a week to be wild, so stuff happens. And then there’s the swimcest. Couples come and go within the team, but Leigh and I have been exclusively dating since freshman year, and we’re the only ones who have lasted that long.

“Uhhh…?” A deep tone startles me out of ignoring everything about the incessant chattering all around me. 

I answered the onslaught of initial questions with my Senior Swimmer Wisdom when they all sat down, but they’ve since carried on with their own conversations. Now that I’m looking up from my rice and actually paying attention, I’m noticing we’ve filled almost three tables in the dining hall. 

“Did you swim for Taylor High School?” The short blond kid who took Ethan’s spot on my right asks with his startlingly bright blue eyes pinned to my face. 

I give him a nod while I stir the remnants on my plate, and try not to let my throat clench about this again. Everyone who swims in Kentucky always recognizes the one black kid.  

“I was at Danton Catholic,” he offers when my wordlessness stretches on, and I shoot him a tight smile. 

More like everyone who swims anywhere. I’ve made plenty of jokes in my lifetime about how I stand out in this sport, but wake up calls always come just when you’re getting too comfortable in your own skin.

“I swam club with some guys who went there.” I interrupt my own negative train of thought about Nationals last year and decide to give this kid more of my attention. He’s just being friendly. 

“Yeah, I think some of my brother’s friends were on your team.” He takes a moment to down the rest of his chocolate milk before giving me what appears to be a genuine grin. “Canton Adams. You beat him at State in breaststroke.”

“Oh shit, you’re Mitchell Adams?” The swimming world is way too small.

“Hell yeah, dude!” His laugh is a lower pitch than his voice. “My brother’s a dick. I’m glad you crushed him.”

“Hey Mitch, who’d you say your roommate was?” A tall, black-haired girl leans over the table with a bright pink phone clutched in her hands. 

“Oh, it’s…” The blond boy trails off while he blinks blankly at the space full of faces. “He was just here!” He exclaims, releasing a long sigh while he shakes his head. “Keeps sneaking off,” he mutters under his breath as his fist presses his lips into silence for a moment. “His name’s Quinn.” A tight smile twitches across his face as he peers up at the girl. “He committed this summer, so he’s not in our group chat. I’ll get his number to you so you can add him.” 

~

“Sup.” I alert Ethan of my presence before I close the common room door behind me. 

He jumps and locks his phone screen, going so far as to shove the thing in his back pocket before he turns around from his position by the window. “How’s your freshmen team?” 

“A lot.” I point to his face and let my smirk happen while his stare darts to my finger. His eyes cross slightly when he tries to focus. “Why’re you blushing?” 

“What?!” Ethan slaps his hands over his cheeks. “You can’t even tell when I blush, you weirdo.”

“Psh…” I flick his wrist, and watch the slight sheen of sweat beading on his forehead as he lifts his bangs away from his skin. “Of course I can. It’s not just about skin tone.” 

“Well…” Ethan’s thick lips press in a wince while he swats me away and glances towards the open windows. “They really need to get air conditioning in the dorms.” 

“Ethan…”

“With how much it costs to go here, you’d think they-”

“Are you trying to change the subject because I caught you texting someone you shouldn’t be?”

“Hush!” He hisses, his dark eyes so wide I actually obey. For a few seconds, at least.

“Wait…” I bite the inside of my cheek while I resist an outward grunt of disapproval. “It’s not that person, is it?” He never did tell me his name.

Ethan’s gaze shifts to the door when a handful of Res Ed members enter the room. We’re having an impromptu meeting with one of our Assistant Directors in a few minutes, so it’s about to get crowded in here. 

I don’t care that he’s gay, but I’m completely against him dating trash.

“Hey...” I try to get Ethan’s attention, but he won’t look at me. The guy he was seeing last year cheated on him like four times, and I had to find out from Maya.  

“I can’t talk about this right now,” he mumbles under his breath before snapping back to me and forcing out a tight smile. “How’s Leigh? Did she get approval to move in early?” 

Damnit. My timing with him always sucks. 

“Nah, she’s gonna have to come next week with everyone else,” I mutter, eyeing the group of West End RAs entering the space rather loudly. 

He better not be texting that guy. I was Ethan’s RA last year when he first came to campus as a freshman, and we instantly got along. We’ve become close friends over time, but he still doesn’t tell me enough. In my opinion. 

“Alright, I’ll make this quick.” Assistant Director Ricky waves a hand to get our attention and silence. “I wanted to check in with you all before the Freshman Dance tomorrow night because there’s been a change of plan due to potential rain.” They run their fingers over thick curls of red hair before giving the room a tight smile. “We’ll be holding the event in the Rue, and I’ll need help decorating so I’ll take...ten of you kind volunteers during the Freshman Sex Ed tomorrow.” 

A collective groan echoes across the space wihle we all fail to hide our disappointment. Watching a room full of freshmen learn about all the stuff they should already know is the best part about us having to come to campus two weeks early for Res Ed training, and for freshmen orientation week. 

I volunteer anyway, because Ethan’s hand is the first one in the air and I need an opportunity to make him tell me things so we don’t have a repeat of last year. He pretends not to notice me grinning at him while Ricky takes down our names. Ethan’s eyes stay on the floor, and I’d think he was completely zoned out except his mouth keeps twitching in irritation at my snickering. 

~

“Hey,” I say after setting the phone on speaker. 

“Hiya, how was training today?” Leigh’s overwhelmingly sweet, high pitch echoes around the walls of my single room, and I scramble to adjust the volume down a bit. 

“Fine, we’re basically done now. Just have to help with freshmen orientation stuff and do rounds.” I clear my throat, trying not to crank the volume back up when I catch other voices on her end. She hasn’t texted me much today. “What’re you up to?”

“I’m meeting some of my high school friends for drinks tonight-sorry, thought I told ya.” She giggles softly, and I get a little more annoyed. 

Did she even ask to move in early?

“Are y'all touring Wisconsin’s finest?” I force a lightness into my tone as I roll on my back and cringe at the crinkling of the old mattress beneath me. 

“You betcha!” Leigh’s full-on laugh melts some of my attitude. “Oh, I think I see Brennan-guys go flag him down, he’s clearly lost.” She snorts in that endearing way while she takes a quick breath. 

It was selfish of me. Wanting her to cut her summer short just to come hang with me for a week here. 

“...heading in, so I’ve gotta go now.” 

But we never did a visit ‘cause she went abroad and-

“Babe…?” 

I snap out of my cloud of negativity and pick up my phone. “Huh?”

“I’ve gotta go.” She giggles again, but I’m thinking it’s not at me. “Talk more tomorrow?” 

“Yeah, okay. I-”

“Oh crap, are they full?!” She’s on to her night now. “Sorry babe, we’ve hit a crisis. Bye!” 

And the line cuts. Great. I flop to my stomach and release the groan I’ve been holding in. I love that she’s social, but...hate it at the same time.