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The changes began slowly. At first, it was just little things--shorter phone calls, missed messages, David sounding distracted during their conversations. Brady tried to be understanding. After all, MIT was intense, and David was juggling a heavy workload. But then David mentioned pledging for a fraternity, Delta Sigma Kappa. Brady almost laughed when he first heard it. "You? In a frat?" he'd said over the phone, the skepticism clear in his voice.
David chuckled nervously. "I know, it's not exactly my vibe, but the guys are cool. They're all into engineering and tech stuff, so it's not, like, the stereotypical bro thing. Plus, the connections are huge for internships and jobs later."
Brady had tried to sound supportive, but the truth was, he didn't get it. He couldn't picture David as a frat boy, no matter how nerdy the fraternity supposedly was. And as the weeks went by, it started to bother him, especially as David was spending more and more time with his frat brothers. Their nightly phone calls--once a sacred ritual--became ever less frequent, and Brady didn't know how to handle it all. He buried himself in his coursework and spent more time with his own friends, but it wasn't the same.
One Friday night, Brady's roommate, Kyle, dragged him to a party. "You've been moping around all week," Kyle said. "You need a drink and some fun."
Brady wasn't in the mood, but he went anyway, figuring it might be better than sitting alone in his room overthinking everything. The party was loud and chaotic, filled with people Brady barely knew. He downed a few drinks to take the edge off and found himself loosening up for the first time in weeks.
That's when he met her. Her name was Jenna, and she was a friend of one of Kyle's friends. She was funny and confident, with a mischievous smile that immediately caught Brady's attention. They started talking, laughing, and before Brady even realized it, they were making out in a dimly lit corner of the room.
Jenna kissed him like she didn't care about anything else in the world, and for a moment, Brady didn't either. They fooled around a bit, nothing too serious, but enough for Brady to feel a thrill he hadn't felt in months.
The next morning, though, the thrill was gone, replaced by a heavy knot of guilt in his stomach. He couldn't stop thinking about David.
When David called that afternoon, Brady hesitated before answering.
"Hey," David said, his voice warm and familiar. "Sorry I've been so MIA lately. Things have been crazy with the fraternity stuff, but I wanted to check in. How are you?"
Brady's heart ached at the sound of his voice. "I'm fine," he said, trying to keep his tone even.
David paused. "You sure? You sound... off."
"I'm just tired," Brady lied.
The conversation was stilted, awkward. Brady wanted to tell David about the party, about Jenna, about how he felt like their relationship was slipping through his fingers. But he couldn't bring himself to say the words. When the call ended, he felt even worse.
The guilt gnawed at him all weekend. He replayed the party in his mind, wondering why he'd done it, and why he hadn't told David. But more than anything, he wondered about their future.
Could they survive this? Could they find their way back to each other? Or was this just the beginning of the end?
As he lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling, Brady didn't have any answers. All he had were questions, and a growing sense of uncertainty about where they were headed.