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“Who’s Philip talking to?” Sarah asked Ralph. She just got to their usual table in the dining hall and noticed that Philip was off sitting by himself on the phone.
Ralph looked up from his plate. “His boyfriend,” he replies. Mikala next to him snorted. And Sarah rolled her eyes. “What?” Ralph asked with his mouth full.
“You don’t actually think that this guy exists, right?” Mikala asked with a look that said she thought Ralph was an idiot.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You believe that Lukas whatever, agriculture student in Michigan, who has the dreamiest eyes and just says the sweetest things is a real person?” Sarah asked. Ralph shrugged. “No one has even seen a picture of this guy.”
“Not to mention that every time Philip talks about him this guy just gets even more random,” Mikala added.
“What do you mean?” Ralph asked right when Philip walked back over.
Sarah raised her eyebrows at Ralph in a ‘watch this’ kind of way. “Was that Lukas?” she asked. Philip nodded with a smile. “Why did he go to Michigan again? I know you told me, but I’ve completely forgotten.”
“Oh, he went out there to train,” Philip replied.
“Train for what?” Mikala added in.
“Motocross.”
“Is he any good?”
Philip shrugged. “Yeah, he went to some national race last year.”
Sarah raised her eye brows again at Ralph in a silent ‘told you’. Ralph rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why these girls didn’t think this Lukas guy was real, but he wasn’t about to think Philip just made up a boyfriend because he seemed a little larger than life. That’s ridiculous.
***
Philip quietly sipped his coffee as Mikala ranted about her history professor. He hummed at the right moments to show her he was listening, but also continued to scan over his art history textbook. The coffee shop was busy this time of year. It was starting to snow out and it was also two weeks from exams. All the college students were trying to inject caffeine into their veins while also staying out of the cold.
“Oh, look,” Mikala interrupted herself. “Max is here.”
Philip tried to suppress his groan. He guessed it didn’t work because Mikala snorted. “Is he looking over here?”
“No. Wait, yes. Shit. I made eye contact. He’s coming over.”
“Mikala,” Philip whined.
She just shrugged. “He’s not that bad.”
“He tries to hit on me every—Hey, Max,” Philip slapped on a fake smile when he looked up at the boy. Max was 20, just like Philip, and he was a chemistry major. They met back in their first year of university when they took American history together for the gen ed credit. He’s tall with dark hair and green eyes, not really Philip’s type, not that it stopped Max at all.
“Hey, guys,” Max replied. He put a hand on Philip’s shoulder. “What are you up to?”
“Mikala was just talking about Stern,” Philip replied with a shrug, hoping it would knock Max’s hand off. It didn’t.
“The history professor? That guy is so sleazy, isn’t he?”
Philip tried to send Mikala a message through eye contact alone, but she wasn’t getting it. Max and her talked about Stern long enough that Max eventually joined their table. He quickly stopped paying attention and went back to looking over his textbook and sipping his coffee.
His phone chirped from inside his pocket, and Mikala watched as he smiled at his phone. “Lukas?” she asked. Philip nodded with that same small smile before he went to typing a reply.
“Who’s Lukas?” Max asked.
“My boyfriend,” Philip responded. And Mikala just raised her eyebrows at Max hoping that he didn’t ask about it. He didn’t. The idea that the boy he’s had a crush on for a year having a boyfriend was apparently enough to shut him up.
***
The party made Philip’s skin crawl. He hated going to frat things, but Sarah was so adamant about getting into a sorority this year, that she tried to drag him to every frat party in the city. He usually could find an excuse, but this time all his excuses fell through for some reason.
He sipped at his beer and immediately made a face because of how disgusting it was. He hated that cheap lite bear.
He wasn’t entirely sure where Sarah was off to, but he knew that Mikala was with her. And they were both a little drunk at this point at the night.
Philip eventually saw them as they were both giggling and dragging some guy over with them. “Philip,” Sarah shrieked in glee. “This is John. Isn’t he just so cute?” Yeah, definitely drunk.
He looked John over slightly. He wasn’t too bad looking. He was Philip’s height with short dark hair and dark eyes. Still not really his type though. What really stood out was that he looked entirely uncomfortable with both of his friends hanging off his arms. “Sure, Sarah. Why don’t you let him go, yeah?”
“Oh-kay,” she sang. “We were just gonna introduce him to you anyways. We’re leaving now.” Sarah grabbed Mikala’s hands and dragged her away with a wink thrown Philip’s way.
“I’m sorry about that. They’re a little out of it right now,” Philip apologized.
“It’s fine. They just wanted to introduce me to their ‘super cute gay friend’,” John responded with a smile.
“Oh god,” Philip groaned in embarrassment. “They didn’t actually say that, did they?”
“Exact words.”
“They are so embarrassing.”
“Hey, if I get to meet a cute guy at the end, can’t be too bad right?” John leaned in closer.
Philip swallowed and took in John’s flirty posture. “I have a boyfriend,” he said suddenly.
John took a step back. “Oh,” he replied with wide eyes. “Sorry, they didn’t mention that.” Philip wondered why.
***
“You guys don’t think my boyfriend is a real person?” Philip asked with a shocked and borderline offended look. “Why would I make that up?” Ralph let the beans spill. Ralph always lets the beans spill.
“It’s not that weird. I make up a boyfriend every time a fuckboy hits on me,” Sarah shrugged.
“Do you also create a detailed backstory for him, too? And claim to have been dating for three fucking years?” Philip rolled his eyes. “I didn’t make him up.”
“Then how come we’ve never met him?” Mikala asked.
“We’ve never even seen a picture of him,” Sarah added.
Philip pulled out his phone and showed them the lock screen. Sarah and Mikala were crowded in close to look at the screen while Ralph didn’t seem to have any interest. The screen was of Philip and a taller boy with blond hair and blue eyes and a wide smile. The other boy was standing behind Philip with his arms hooked around his shoulders, one hand resting on Philip’s sternum. Philip looked like he was in the middle of saying something to the other boy because they were both slightly looking towards each other out of the corners of their eyes.
He unlocked his phone then and pulled up google to type in Lukas Waldenbeck. A few links came up, and Philip picked the first one off of some generic motocross website. A picture of the boy in Philip’s lock screen came up and next to it was a picture of the guy on a motorbike. “Lukas Waldenbeck, 20 year-old national motocross finalist from Tivoli, New York. Currently training in Lancaster, Michigan with Michael Smith, national champion from 1998 and 2001,” Philip read off his phone. “He’s a real person, and we’re really in a relationship. So please stop trying to set me up.”
***
“They didn’t believe I existed?” Lukas asked when they were skyping later that night.
“Nope,” Philip responded. “I had to pull up your motocross stats and everything to prove it.”
Lukas laughed, and Philip smiled. “That’s ridiculous.”
Philip rested his chin on his hand and watched through his computer screen as Lukas moved something on his desk. “Are you coming home for winter break?”
“In between Christmas and New Year’s, yeah. I think my flight has me in JFK on the 23rd, and then I leave again on the 4th or 5th or something.”
“Only two weeks?”
Lukas looked up and saw the disappointed look on Philip’s face. “I think I’ve got a shot at nationals again this year,” he replied. Philip nodded. “I know it isn’t a really long time, but I can’t stop training for too long before the season starts again.”
Philip didn’t seem too convinced. He knew that Lukas was training hard, and that he was doing what he loved. He just wished he could have done it closer to New York. Michigan was just too far away.
“I’m home all summer though,” Lukas said, hoping to wipe the hurt look off his boyfriend’s face. “I’ll be around so much you’ll get sick of me.”
“Nah, I don’t think that’s possible,” Philip responds with a smile.
“I miss you, ya know.”
“I miss you too, Luka.”