"Dude, come over and play with us," I heard my best friend, Nelson, say as he sat planted in front of our TV with a controller in his sweaty hand. Nelson always sweat a lot whenever he was playing video games. He got way too into whatever game he was playing, and we always had to clean his controller after he used it.

I loved living in an off-campus house with three of my peers, but their noisiness made it hard to get anything done. Whenever I tried to get any schoolwork finished, all I could concentrate on was the screaming.

"I'm coming," I said, walking over and squatting down next to Nelson and Victor.

Nelson was the football team's quarterback, so he could be extra intense sometimes, especially when it came to Call of Duty.

We had naturally met through a party at the beginning of our freshman year of college due to us running in the same social circles, and we had been best friends ever since.

Last year, when he asked me to move in with him and his boyfriend, Victor, I immediately said yes. At the time he asked, I had been living in an apartment by myself, which was insanely boring, so I took him up on his offer instantly.

"Where were you tonight?" Victor asked.

"The Cafe," I said, staring at the tv and watching them play.

"Doing what?"

"I found a girl's bucket list and agreed to help her with it."

"That sounds like something you would do," Nelson shrugged, unfazed by my bizarre admission.

"Where's Daniel?" I asked.

"Upstairs," Nelson answered.

I didn't have as good of a relationship with Daniel. I wouldn't even call us friends. He responded to a roommate ad that Nelson and Victor put up one year ago, which was the end of that story.

"Is Harper coming over tonight?" Victor asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yes," I responded.

Harper was my fuck-buddy. She was also the most popular girl at our college due to her looks and charming persona. She had asked me many times if we could be in a real relationship, but I always told her no. I didn't do real relationships. I did hookups, which is what she and I had agreed to. We had been hooking up since the beginning of summer, and now that school was starting, I was considering ending it with her. I got bored of stuff quickly, and I was beginning to get bored with her, which wasn't fair. It wasn't her fault that I had a problem committing to things for long periods of time.

I couldn't help it, though. The thought of being tied down to one person for the rest of my life made me uneasy. Where were the adventure and excitement?

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, and I got up to head to the door. As soon as it opened, Harper was all over me, hugging me as if we were in a loving relationship.

"Hi!" She squealed as we began to wander upstairs to my bedroom.

The minute we got inside, she started tearing off my clothes.

"River?" I heard as I woke up the next morning. It was the first day of classes, and I was dreading it. I enjoyed living it up during summer and not worrying about school, but if I wanted to make a living for myself, I would have to graduate.

"What?" I said, rolling over lazily and wiping the sleep out of the corner of my eyes.

"Can we cuddle? She said, sneaking underneath my arm.

"No," I said, pulling my arm back.

"Why not?"

"Harper, I've told you that I don't want a relationship."

"I know that."

"Then why are you asking to cuddle?"

"I just wanted to be close to someone since my family dog recently died," She said, almost bursting into tears.

"Okay. Come here," I sighed, opening my arms up to her.

She buried her head in my chest and wrapped her arms around me as I sat there uncomfortably. I had never been good at comforting people. When my mom's grandmother died, I tried my best to comfort her but failed miserably. I never knew where to put my hands in hugs or what to say to make someone feel better.

Harper and I sat there for about twenty minutes before deciding that it was going on for far too long. "Harper?" I said.

"Hmm?" She hummed.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you," She said, staying attached to my side.

Sighing, I pried her hands off my body and sat up.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting dressed. We have classes."

She began to get dressed, too, until we were both fully clothed.

"Do you want to get coffee before class?" She asked.

I thought about that for a moment. I did want coffee, and there was only one coffee shop near my first class of the day, so she would know if I went without her.

"Okay," I said, following her outside.

I hopped in her car as she drove us to Fiona's. The same place that I met Alani yesterday. I thought back to how adorable she looked, trying to get her notebook back from my clutches. It was like dangling dog treats in front of a puppy.

I was excited about helping Alani complete her list. I had always thought that it was fun to do things with people for their first time, and now, I would get to complete an entire list of activities with her. That was the main reason why I made her that deal. The other reason was simply that I was bored and needed stuff to do that wasn't tedious schoolwork. I still couldn't believe that she hadn't done some of the stuff on that list, but I wasn't judging.

When we got to the coffee house, we jumped out of the car and walked in. I held the door for Harper as a giant smile spread across her face.

I was a gentleman, so I paid for her coffee, causing another smile to plaster itself onto her features.

Everything was going fine until Harper reached for my hand while we were waiting for our coffee.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to her, keeping her hand in mine, not wanting to embarrass her.

"My dog."

Sighing, I squeezed her hand until we got our coffee and parted ways.

I walked into my first class and sat down at a seat in the back. A lot of people tried to talk to me, but I didn't feel like talking. I was too bummed about having to spend most of my time learning today.

After going to all of my classes and going through the motions, I was ready for something more exciting by the end of the day. I remembered Alani and the agreement we had made. I thought it would be fun to bowl with someone their first time. Plus, I felt like showing her my bowling skills, so I got out my phone and texted her.