A/N: I finally got my act together to write another chapter! Hopefully there won't be such a long wait for thenext one!

Thanks again for the reviews- they did help to motivate me and come back to this fic. As for what actually happened between Seth and Ryan the night before they left for college- it's up to the reader to decide. It can be as smutty or as innocent as you want!

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CHAPTER 5 The Reunion

Seth kept his promise to Ryan and embraced college life. He made friends and went to plenty of parties, Ryan too immersed himself in college life, by making sure he went to all his classes and playing on the soccer team.

Seth and Ryan kept in touch during the first semester by e-mail and phone. Ryan enjoyed hearing Seth's voice as he babbled excitedly about his classes and the band he had recently joined. But the only thing they avoided talking about was their relationship and how it had changed.

Seth's first trip home that semester was for Thanksgiving. But instead of going directly to Newport, he impulsively decided to change his flight to an earlier one and take a detour to see Ryan.

Seth knocked on the door, hoping it was the right one. He was feeling nervous, unsure how Ryan would react to seeing him there. He began to tap his foot on the floor while he waited for an answer. Suddenly the door opened, but instead of Ryan, there was a tall guy with short dark hair who greeted him.

"Is this Ryan's room?" Seth grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket to check if he had the correct address.

"Yeah. He's on the phone."

Seth followed the stranger in to the room as he took in his surroundings.

Ryan had finished his call and began to ask who was there when Seth appeared in the doorway.

"Seth! What are you doing here!" Ryan asked shocked to see him.

"Surprise." Seth said weakly. He had started to think that going to visit Ryan was a very bad idea.

"It's good to see you!" Ryan smiled warmly. Seth managed to smile back.

"Oh, right sorry. Greg, this is Seth, my..." Ryan paused for a moment, not sure how to describe their relationship. "...my best friend from Newport."

"Hey." Greg smiled at Seth and shook his hand.

"Greg is in my math class. He's just returned a book he borrowed." Ryan explained.

"Oh." Seth now felt foolish.

"I have to go. It was nice to meet you. See you, Ryan." Greg said before he left the room.

"Yeah, you too." Seth said.

"Wow, Seth you don't look so good." Ryan commented. Seth did look really tired.

"I took the first flight out here this morning, but I didn't want to risk missing it, so I had about five coffees to keep me awake!"

"Have you had breakfast?" Ryan asked.

"I ate about three hours ago." Seth responded.

"I can't do anything about the caffeine high you're on, but I can fix the food problem. Come on. We can catch up while you eat."

"Sounds great!" Seth willingly followed Ryan to a small coffee shop not far from the campus.

Seth eagerly devoured the pancakes he had ordered while Ryan watched him eat as he drank his coffee. Ryan took in Seth's appearance. It had only been a few weeks since they had last seen each other, but Seth seemed a lot older now. He noticed Seth's hair was styled differently and his clothes had changed too, the dark grey t-shirt he was wearing was definitely new. Ryan wondered if he also had altered so much in those few short weeks.

"You look different from the last time I saw you." Ryan said finally breaking the silence.

"Do I?" Seth asked between mouthfuls of food. He then shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. I don't know."

"Yeah, you do."

"Ryan...I'm sorry about that call I made. But hey, you did tell me to make a drunken call to you!"

"You've already said you're sorry. And I did okay in that test so it worked out all right."

"There's something I didn't tell you. I was really drunk and kissed someone at that party."

"Who was it?" Ryan's mind began to race as he questioned if Seth had kissed a guy or a girl. Did it matter he wondered. He realised he was being jealous and hated himself for it.

"She was a friend of Pete's, the drummer. I was drunk. I'm sorry." Seth apologised once again.

"It's okay." Ryan said trying to sound indifferent. "We both agreed before we left Newport that it was no big deal if we met other people."

"Have you?" Seth asked jumping on Ryan's last sentence.

"No, no. I've been busy, lots of classes." Even though Ryan had met lots of people at college he had no desire to get into a new relationship. "Have you finished eating?" Ryan asked quickly changing the subject. "We should make a start if we are to get there in time for dinner." Ryan looked at his watch as he spoke.

"Yeah, sure." Seth finished the rest of his meal and paid the bill.

As Ryan drove back to Newport, Seth intentionally fell asleep to avoid talking to Ryan further. His idea of surprising Ryan had not gone to plan at all. Seth only woke up when they reached home.