Meet Henry

"How many takeaway places are there on campus? I swear I've found containers from five different Chinese restaurants in this room."

Nicola laughed at his observation. He liked her laugh, it was sweet, like honey dripping into his ears; the kind of laugh that could warm your soul and make you never forget the girl with the green eyes.

"There aren't any directly on the college grounds, but there is an app for students made by Landsborough to get food delivered from some local places. It's basically UberEats but more expensive and they can get it right to your dorm."

The pair of them had begun the initial stages of cleaning Nicola's room by putting the trash littered around into plastic bags. The brunette's face was still flushed with emotion and her eyes were wet with dissipated tears, but her crying had ceased thanks to some comforting words from William. She had since changed into a pink hoodie that stopped at her midriff, revealing a bare, toned stomach and sweatpants that tauntingly clung to her body every time she bent over to pick up some rubbish. Surely, she knew the effect she had on him? William had to ponder whether people as attractive as her were simply oblivious to their influence on others, or that they didn't care that they had it. Either way, every time he gazed at her he could feel heat rising up his body and a deep, incessant longing worm its way into his every thought.

"Huh, that's neat I guess." Back home, his family had never had food delivered to them, it was way too expensive, and there wasn't a chance he was going to pay whatever the college was charging. In truth, going into college he knew that most of his diet would probably consist of microwave noodles, but that was way too embarrassing to admit to Nicola.

"Thanks so much for helping me, it makes me feel guilty that you've done so much for me. I'll miss you as my roommate after we've sorted everything out. I've had a few people stay with me in this place, but in just a short time you were by far the best." She beamed at him with a perfect smile, but every word struck like daggers into his heart.

In truth, he had decided he didn't want to move out. Nicola was the single most radiant creature he had ever seen, and in all probability, would ever see. Sure, he had zero chance with this beautiful girl who was three years shy of a decade older than him, but what was the downside? He could only live in hope that the lines around the admin building went on forever.

"Oh, uh thanks." William replied awkwardly, trying to suppress the hurt.

He noticed what appeared as a purple tube sticking out from underneath Nicola's wooden bedframe, and picked it up, but dropped it back to the floor the second he recognised what he had just grabbed. What he had initially assumed to be some kind of plastic tube was a purple phallus, maybe eight inches in length and as thick as his wrist in diameter. It was hollow in the center, and, as far as he could tell, fairly realistic in its rendition of a cock. It made a loud thump on the floor, alerting his beautiful roommate to his mortifying embarrassment.

"Oh," Nicola had a coy smile at his find, "that's Henry."

"Henry?" His voice was shaking in confusion.

"Yeah, I named it Henry. Didn't realise it was under there though." She put her hands to her hips, as if expecting William to make some gesture, but all he could do was stare blankly at her, unsure of what to do.

He could feel his cheeks reddening with utter embarrassment at the situation, although Nicola seemed more amused than anything at his graceless display. Speaking between suppressed giggles, she held out her hand. "Just give me the dildo, William".

Picking up the purple object once more, he passed it over to his roommate, who was doing her best to contain her laughter at his chagrin.

"I guess I forget sometimes that not everybody is as open about sex as I am, sorry if I disturbed you or something. I should've known that was there."

Open?

"No, yeah, I..." He had no idea how to reply in a way that could recover his standing in her mind, "I've got a sister and a mom, its just, you know, so I know... I wasn't expecting it, that's all." God, how was he digging the hole deeper? Why'd he mention his mom and sister?

Nicola raised an eyebrow, the smirk still plastered on her face as she refused to let him off the hook. "You didn't expect a young woman at a college to have sex toys? You must've never got the bird and the bees talk from your dad, huh."

"No, I mean yes, I mean, my dad passed away before... but I still... you know... I still know -- ", he felt pathetic, like he was on the verge of tears. The stress of the situation was getting to him, and the mention of his father was sending all kinds of bad emotions into his hyperventilating brain.

"Oh shit William, I didn't know. I'm sorry." The grin was washed off her face, replaced with a concerned frown.

"Its okay, you didn't --"

"No, William, I'm really sorry."

"Nicola, really, I'm okay, I'm fine."

The pair stood in awkward silence, the absurdity of the moment heralded by the massive purple dildo in Nicola's right hand.

"How old were you?"

"What?"

"Your dad. How old were you when he passed away?"

"I was five." The words came **** out of his throat; he tried to not think about his dad that much. He barely remembered anything of his life when he was that young, but occasionally flashes of memories would stir up in his dreams. Going to a baseball game with him, watching his dad light the candles on his birthday cake, sitting by the TV with him. The last fragments of his father's presence in his life.

"I understand. Both of my parents died when I was twelve, I got adopted by my uncle on my mother's side, but they and my cousins never really took to me, so instead of going home I just spend all my time taking courses here. Hell, at this point I've got enough credits to graduate three times over." A small, sad smile emerged on her face.

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"I'm sorry about your dad."

Another silence overtook them.

"Listen, William I would like you to stay here as my roommate permanantly, if that is that you want too."

The offer stupified him; why would a living Aphrodite want to share an apartment with some nerd? For the last couple of days she had been doing her best to rid herself of him, and would've been successful if the administration building wasn't mired in a swamp of its own incompetence. Seeing the growing confusion on his face, Nicola explained herself.

"I think I need you for research."

"Research?"

"I've finally decided to become a behavioral psychologist, specialising in young men like yourself. I need to write some papers on a test subject, and it is really hard to get someone that I can observe on a frequent basis. You don't even have to do anything except just be around. Hell, if you agree, I'll buy all the groceries for both of us."

She didn't need to offer the groceries, he would have accepted either way.

"I'm in."