“You lost it?” Reagan stared over the screen of his computer. “You lost your ID card? How on earth did you manage that?”
“It wasn’t too hard,” said Reed lightly, beginning to wish he hadn’t said anything about it. “I didn’t even have to try really.”
Reagan had asked no questions the night before when he had come in from his shower to find Reed back in the room. But the next day, between applying for a new key and washing his wrinkled clothes, Reed had been forced to do some explaining. “It’s not like it’s that serious,” he continued, shaking out a shirt. “Michael was awesome about it, and I’m supposed to get my new one sometime tonight.”
“Michael’s always awesome,” retorted Reagan. “I just hope nobody finds your old one and steals your identity.”
Reed agreed and focused busily on his shelf space. He was busy rearranging his closet, putting his winter coats and jackets into storage to make room for warm-weather clothes. “I’ll keep the blue Henley out for now,” he murmured to himself, “And the green…”
“Have you seen Allie lately?” Reagan asked abruptly.
Reed stopped in his sorting, the blue Henley half-folded in his hands. “What?”
“I said, have you seen Allie lately.”
“Umm… yeah, around,” Reed said. “Enough to know she’s all right. What brought that up?” He resumed his folding.
“Nothing.” Reagan shrugged, leaning back in his chair to watch Reed. “It’s kinda my hobby to know about these things. I was just wondering. Why haven’t you?”
Reed really didn’t want to talk about it. He shook out the shirt in his hand, forgetting it was the same one he had just folded. “Everything’s been so mixed up and crazy lately I just haven’t had… well, and she’s kinda busy and... you know.”
“No, I don’t,” said Reagan, crossing his arms. “Did you break up?”
“No,” Reed said quickly. “I’ve just been unsure about things and… thinking.” He avoided Reagan’s stare in the silence that followed.
“You’ve been talking to Elijah, haven’t you?”
Reed almost dropped his load of clothes. “What? Why would you say that?”
“Come on, bro, I lived with him for months. Trust me, we had a lot of… chats. This has his fingerprints all over it. Hot girl digs you, starts making moves, and you suddenly get cold feet. There’s only one explanation.” Reagan leaned forward and put his folded arms on the desk. “He’s trying to talk you out of it, isn’t he? He probably gave you the whole spiel.”
“Umm… which one?”
“The whole ‘save it and be careful’ one, of course! I heard that one a lot right before he left.”
“You mean he preached at you?” Reed could hardly imagine that coming from Elijah. He righted the tumbled stack of laundry.
“Well, he didn’t do all the talking. When you live the way I do and he lives the way he does, it’s bound to come up.”
“So you don’t agree with him.”
Reagan snorted. “Of course not! We couldn’t be more opposite. Let me guess: he told you that what you were doing wouldn’t satisfy you and you would eventually end up unhappy, looking for more?”
Reed nodded, a half-folded pair of jeans in his hands.
Reagan sat back and threw out his arms. “There’s your problem! He’s got the wrong idea about happiness because he thinks it’s secondary. He says you shouldn’t do things that make you happy just because they’re not the ‘best’ thing, but he’s got it backward. Everybody knows what’s best for you is whatever makes you happy. But he doesn’t get that, probably because of his background. He doesn’t understand it like we do.”
Reed stopped his sorting and focused all his attention on Reagan. “You mean…”
“I mean what we’ve seen—our families. Elijah’s the type that had a perfect home growing up, sees the world as sunshine and roses, and thinks we’ll all live happily ever after if we act like it’s the 1950s. But that’s not how life works, is it, Reed?”
Reed looked away and said nothing.
“That’s what I thought.” Reagan leaned back in his chair. “Elijah can preach all he wants, but me and you know life isn’t a fairy tale with a perfect princess and a happy ending. We have to take what we can get when we can get it because that’s all there is. There’s no pie in the sky at the end of the day, so date whoever the frick you want to, Reed. If a girl makes you happy, do it.”
The door opened without warning, and Michael stepped in. “Hey, guys,” he said cheerfully. “How’re the Rockin’ Rs today?”
“Rocking, as usual,” answered Reagan, suddenly occupied with his computer. “Did we do something?”
“Nope, I just came to drop off the new ID card. Here you go.” The RD tossed the card to Reed. “It should be just like your old one. Try to take care of it. Director Connors was not happy about making a new one.”
Reed gulped and nodded. “Sure. Thanks a lot.”
The door opened again. This time it was Riley, the damp towel around his waist proclaiming him to be fresh from the shower. He wasn’t expecting to see Michael.
“Umm… hi.”
“I was just leaving.” Michael grinned and eyed the towel as he moved toward the door. “I stopped in to give Reed his new ID card. You guys make sure he doesn’t lose it again.” He paused at the doorway. “Oh, and Riley, the Director doesn’t allow spending the night in other dorms, even if it’s with another male. I’ve let it go, but he caught wind of it and was not happy. He said it’s a warning this time, but it might be worse later. Let’s not find out.” And he was gone.
Riley hurled his towel against the bed in disgust. “Connors! That’s none of his business! Why can’t people just let me do my own thing?” He scowled as he began to jerk on his clothes. “I hate judgmental people.”
“You and me both,” smirked Reagan. “They don’t seem to leave us alone. If he knew what you were doing over there, Connors might’ve had something else to say.”
“That’s none of his business either,” Riley retorted, slipping on his shirt. “If he ever brings that up, I’ll get…”
“You need to get your mind off it,” Reagan said easily. “Speaking of judgmental, we were having an interesting chat before Michael came in. I bet you remember all those long talks we used to have with ’Lijah, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Riley answered, dropping onto his bed, “and my view hasn’t changed any.”
“You didn’t agree with him either?” queried Reed.
“Heck, no! He had a bunch of old-fashioned, judgmental ideas and thought everybody had to be like him or they were wrong.” Riley pushed himself up onto one elbow. “It was the absolute worst. He thought people should deny who they are and what they want just to meet his standards, like his were better than anybody else’s. He said it was more important to do what was ‘right’ than what made you happy, but everybody knows what’s really best for you is whatever makes you happy.”
Reagan nodded sagely. “That sounds like something a wise man would say.”
“Thanks, I try,” Riley returned, dropping back onto his pillow. “But what brought all this up again?”
“’Lijah’s trying to talk Reed out of dating Allie.”
“Not exactly,” countered Reed as Riley’s eyebrows shot up. “He made me think.”
“Well, now you’ve got something to make him think next time you see him,” Reagan said. “Maybe he’ll take it better from you than from us.”
Reed turned back to his neglected sorting. Last night had changed a lot of things. Alec believed in him, but he was only one out of a dozen. “I don’t know if I’ll be seeing him again anytime soon,” he said quietly.
Maybe never again.