Freshmen Dorms

Seth's answer was not by text.

He turned up the volume on the TV, sprang to his feet and began doing an extensive workout routine that involved a lot of banging into walls and tripping over sofas and pounding push-ups on the wooden floorboards that echoed all the way to the dorm rooms.

He cartwheeled into the hallway, slamming into Jake's bedroom wall, straightened, walked on his hands into the kitchen, dropped down, hit the fridge because of a lack of space, cursed like a PMSing pirate, wobbled into the hallway and began jumping jacks that shook the floor with every exuberant bounce.

"I'M! RELIEVING! EXAM! STRESS! JACOB!" he answered Jake's text verbally through the wall, one word for each bounce.

Next to Jake, Evelyn stirred and scrunched her eyelids tightly closed, groaning softly and burrowing under the duvet in an effort to avoid the avalanche of noise pollution. Next door, Ashton was banging his head onto his desktop surface in dismay.

God he couldn't even fall asleep for five seconds?!

Jacob grit his teeth getting up off his spot from Evelyn and went out into the hallway to see the bouncing Seth!

Before Jacob could even begin to deal with Seth he went to the living room and turned down the TV, then unplugged it and returned to the chipper Seth and shoved him as hard as he could, "DUDE SHUT UP!" He yelled at him going back to his room closing the door harder than he had intended.

Jake ran his hands through his hair letting out an exasperated sigh, and didn't even make it to his bed. Instead he sank against his door sliding down to the floor and just settled with closing his eyes there.

Seth floundered like a lost puppy for a second, now that his workout had been so harshly interrupted. He was kind of ignoring all the aches of bashing into things (or having his roomies shove him into things). "Fine!" he said resentfully to Jake's door.

He turned and strutted to his room.

He turned on the TV. And grinned, climbing on his bed as he sat down to watch it.

But it soon grew boring sitting still. So Seth began to bounce on his springy mattress in time with the beat of the songs playing on TV. He bounced higher and then higher and then jumped to his feet and began bouncing all over his bed.

He paused, leaned down and grabbed his iPod from his night table, plugged it in to an upbeat techno song, and then resumed jumping up and down on his bed. "WHOOOOOO!"

***

Evelyn cracked open her eyes a little. Why couldn't they ever shut up?

Who were "they"?

She turned her head and the room came into focus. A familiar room.

Jake's room. She rubbed her eyes and looked to her other side, spotting him instantly and stifling a yawn. God damn it, she was so exhausted. And he had a really comfy bed.

Why was he sitting like that though? Had he brought her here? She couldn't really recall what had happened that might KO her out at the quad. She figured he'd carried her up here. But he looked half-dead.

Evelyn fought down another yawn and managed to murmur, "You all right?" She could swear she heard a weird thumping in the background.

Jake had been bashing his head into the door, why was Seth such a demon for?!

He heard a faint voice break through all the noise being created by the one man circus next door, he opened an eye to see Evelyn was talking to him and just frowned, "Seth is so annoying. But I'll live." Jake forced himself off the ground and sat at the foot of his bed.

"You feeling alright, you kind of freaked me out when you passed out on the quad like that." Jake asked her, looking over her. She seemed better now.

Evelyn cringed and nodded, running a sleepy hand through her hair, which was now half out of its ponytail and scattered on the pillow. "Yeah I...I'm sorry, I just, I don't know what came over me." She stifled a sudden yawn again with her hand, blinking bleary eyes. She glanced at Jake and all of a sudden, remembered half the reason she'd keeled over.

He'd said something he shouldn't have. Evelyn turned her head away, tugging the duvet up to the tip of her chin reflexively. "Just tired, I guess." Her stomach began to churn. She didn't want to think about what he'd said. She just wanted to sleep. But it wouldn't go away, pestering her like a bug.

Evelyn bit her lip and turned on her side, hugging the duvet to her, head angled to face him. "You look like you're about to pass out," she noted. "If you do, please don't expect me to be able to lift you anywhere." She cracked a meek smile.

Jake cracked a tired grin, he got up and so he could go back to his original position but ended up laying down next to her, "You don't have to carry me anywhere. I'm fine here." He said sleepily closing his eyes.

Evelyn momentarily forgot her weariness and tried to hold back the dismay on her face, but settled with staying in her position, back to him. Which turned out to be smart of her because Jake's bed was a single and thus, not exactly wide enough for two people to lie comfortably. Her back was braced against his side and there was nothing she could do about it except try to ignore the flush that shot through her from head to the tips of her toes and showed clearly on her cheeks.

Well, I suppose I could just crawl home...oh God. Why now? Why after what he...said?? Evelyn closed her eyes, only then remembering Jake had said something. What had he said though? Shit, she had only been concentrating on the uncomfortably close proximity between them (and freaking).

She licked her dry lips, keeping her eyes ahead. "Um..." She blurted the first thing that came to mind. "You're trapping the duvet!" She tried to turn without falling off his bed or rolling onto him, and grabbed the duvet he was lying on, tugging at it and trying hard to ignore the fact that her whole side was now brushing against his. This was just like that horrible futon incident. Only slightly worse, she told herself, not looking at him.

Jacob could feel Evelyn rustling around for the blanket, he lifted himself up freeing the duvet and covered her with it.

Evelyn grabbed the duvet and used it as a shield, dropping it over her face and burying her head into Jake's pillow firmly. God damn it, why was this so awkward? She tried firmly to will herself back to sleep and nothing happened.

She sighed irritably. She felt physically drained, knew she'd tip over if she tried walking, but her nerves were completely shot. This was too much proximity after a month of solid silence from Jake.

Gradually though, she managed to roll over on her back, ignoring his arm pressing against hers, and closed her eyes.

And opened them when a sudden thud came through the wall. Along with a pained howl from Seth. Then a few more thumps.

"Jake?" she asked quietly, turning her head to him, afraid of the answer. "Is Seth, um...." Her whole face grew bright red and she averted her gaze. "Is Seth with one of his, uh.....hookups?"

Jake heard a muffled howling from Seth down the hall and just turned his head the other direction saying in his half sleep state, "No, Seth died. Hopefully."

Evelyn stifled a grin, and amused herself for the next few moments trying to work out what Seth was doing in his room because he sure seemed to make a shitload of noise.

Jake was probably used to this after months of living next door. Hence why he could sleep through it. Evelyn couldn't though! Seth was annoyingly loud!

She heard bedsprings creaking, Seth grumbling audibly. Then a sudden crash like wood had hit metal. Evelyn flinched, not wanting to imagine what he was doing. She stifled a yawn and closed her eyes, head tipping sideways as a serious of loud cussing and stomping came from Seth's room.

Was he moving furniture? Evelyn pulled her eyes open and realized her head was braced on Jake's shoulder in her absent sleeping dose. She jerked it up again and listened as Seth moved what sounded like a couple tons of furniture across carpet. There was more cussing, often in foreign languages.

Evelyn stifled a smile and drifted off on Jake's shoulder to the unholy sounds of Seth playing Cub-Simba-Among-Giraffes with the furniture in his room.

Jake had managed to sleep for about a couple of hours or so even through the presentation of Simba at Pride Rock.

Jake's dark eyes opened slightly, to see he had rested his head a top of Evelyn's during his nap, he was so comfortable he didn't want to move.

He took a breath opening his eyes a little, looking at Evelyn. "Hey." He yawned.

Seth was now in the kitchen, hammering around as he tried to cook something for dinner. After the antics of the afternoon, that weird frustrating feeling was somewhat lessened. He didn't feel like he was being smothered in some cloudy haze. What was up with that anyways?

Seth glanced at the clock. About six PM. They could still go out or something. Now that he was calmer, his brain automatically went back to the one thing that seemed to always be in his head these days - Rose. He recalled the dinner date tomorrow and flipped a biscuit so exuberantly that it missed the pan he was toasting it in and burst all over the stove.

"Shit."

Five minutes later, he dropped egg whites down his front because thoughts of Rose had again distracted him. Seth stumbled in the water he'd also splashed on the floor from the sink earlier, and hit the fridge, knocking off the box of cereal on top of it - and it scattered Nesquick all over the kitchen.

"Fuck!"

Ashton came in, smelling dinner. "Need help?" he asked, eying the mess all over the kitchen with surprise. Seth was not a messy cook.

Seth handed him an egg-white-coated biscuit.

Ashton blinked. "Order out night."

***

Evelyn stirred out of the fitful doze she was in when something brushed the top of her head. She pulled open her eyelids and still disoriented, mumbled an incoherent "Hm?" It took a moment before she realized she was hearing Jake's voice, feeling his lips brushing the top of her head and was, in fact, huddled against him. But moving took too much effort. She simply turned her head into his shoulder and closed her eyes again, glad Seth wasn't doing....whatever he'd been doing next door.

"You feeling any better?" He asked looking over her again. Color had returned to her face, she didn't seem as tired as she had earlier just sleepy. Jacob was still tired but Seth's constant noise making outside of his room no matter how much he tried to avoid it still sort of woke him up from time to time.

Evelyn nodded against his fore-arm and then jumped when terrific banging came on the door of Jake's room. She scrunched her eyes shut and ducked deeper into the duvet, turning on her side so she was facing him, and rested her head against his shoulder again. "Is it always like this?" she murmured sleepily.

"JACOB! PIZZA OR CHINESE!" Seth was hollering outside the door excitedly. "ASHTON WANTS CHINESE! I WANT PIZZA! TIGGER WANTS PIZZA! SO YOU'RE THE DECIDING VOTE!"

Jake rolled his eyes, furrowing his brows together. "No, well... Seth is just volume deficient. PIZZA NOW SHUT UP!" Jake hollered back to Simba.

Evelyn yelped and rolled away from Jake, feeling her ears pound because his mouth had been inches above her (now throbbing) right ear. She groaned and clamped both hands over her ears. "Jake!"

Were they seriously always like this?! Good grief, no wonder no one on this floor dared approach. These boys were psycho. Evelyn thought longingly of her own peaceful suite, occasionally interrupted by Nova's barks.

"GOTCHA! HAHAHAHA, PIZZA WINS, BITCH!" Seth said outside the door. Ashton's voice grumbled quietly but since he was speaking at a human decibel level, it wasn't audible.

Stomps came from outside and faded as Seth walked away to order.

"Sorry!" He said at a normal human level, "Seth doesn't communicate at normal levels of human speaking. Why do you think I was always coming to your place?" Jake nudged her back with his elbow.

Evelyn rolled back over on her side to face him, stifling a yawn. She felt far more rested than she had in a while. Power naps were seriously gifts from God. She gave him a faint smile. "I was always under the assumption you came to terrorize me."

***

"LEAVE IT IN THE LOBBY GOD DAMN IT! I'LL COME DOWN AND GET IT!" Seth was hollering into his phone. He and Ashton were in the living room, calling for pizza.

"Sir, what's the name we should - ?"

"JUST ASK FOR THE BEST LOOKING DUDE ON THE BLOCK!" Seth informed him helpfully.. "THAT'S B-E-S-T-L-O-O-K-I-N-G!"

"The fuck are you doing?!" Ashton asked, horrified as he watched.

Antonio had shoved his head underneath a pillow on the couch, was it just him or was Seth just getting increasingly louder, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SETH SHUT UP!"

***

"That too, and your bed is really comfy. Plus the view ain't half bad." He winked at her.

"SHUSH!" Seth snapped, waving a hand at Antonio and returning to his convveresation.

"Sir, are you drunk?" the guy on the other end asked suspiciously.

Seth stifled a laugh. "NO! JUST INCREASINGLY HUUUUUNGRYYYYY....UUUHHHHH!" He made weird groaning noises on the phone to signify the state of his hunger. "SOOO....HUNGRYYYYYY....ACK! KHHAWWW!"

Ashton was bent over trying not to crack up. Seth sounded creepily like a zombie.

There was a long pause on the line. Seth flashed a thumbs up at the twins, devilish grin wide on his face.

"Sir? Are you all right? Do you need, uh, help?" the poor operator was freaking.

Ashton bent over and buried his face in a couch cushion, crying with laughter.

***

Evelyn felt her face flare red and looked away. Normally she would have said something cutting but she just didn't feel up for it right now.

Not after what he'd blurted out. What the hell was she still doing here? Screwing herself over emotionally, that's what. She bit her lip and swallowed, rolling back onto her back again, simply to get away. "I, uh..." Her stomach began churning again. "Thanks for looking out for me. I'll - I just, um..." She wasn't even sure what to say now. She knotted her fingers together on her stomach, frowning down at them uncertainly. She suddenly remembered the first time James had told her he'd loved her.

It made her stomach ice over. That had been different, because she'd barely begun liking James then. In this case, ti almost sounded like Jake....was speaking for them both. And she was going along with it. Which was impossible given her disbelief in the concept of "love".

"It was nothing, I'm sure if you were a strapping young man like myself. And you saw me in distress you would have done the same thing." Jake said smugly, poking her cheek with his index finger.

After Ashton finally snatched the phone and convinced the pizza guy there was no zombie virus outbreak, the phone was hung up and Seth finally cracked his restraint and burst out into obnoxious laughter.

Ashton tried not to grin, but he had to admit, annoying as it was, it was funny.

Seth returned to watching TV (to Antonio's dismay) while the pizza came.

***

"No, I wouldn't," Evelyn said, swatting Jake's hand. She turned her head to shoot him a look suggesting he was an idiot. "If I were you, a strapping young man, and I saw you, a strapping young man, in distress, I'd call 911 and walk off," she said logically.

"Well you know what I mean, if the roles were switched! And I took pretty good care of you if I must say. Look you got your reflexes back." Jake grinned yanking her nose.

Evelyn swatted his hand again, stifling a yawn. She grabbed his hand and reaching over, placed it on his chest. "Keep your octopus limbs to yourself, thanks."