Chapter 2

"Yeah. But just okay. They're not jumping up and down over him."

"Give it some time. He'll win them over."

"And Megan told him pretty much every embarrassing thing about me he didn't already know."

"And now he's suddenly not so crazy about you?"

"No. He was cool." Jared smiled and looked away, making her wonder just what kind of reaction Jensen really had.

"Exactly. And now you know he loves you anyway." She followed him down to Lauren's apartment for their first staff meeting. She really wished the smaller halls didn't have grad students for head staff. It meant that they switched out every couple years because of graduation, and now they had this new boss who didn't know either of them. The former head staff, Jensen's old boss, had hired them both before she left. They'd only met Lauren once when they moved in yesterday.

"Yeah, now I just have to hope everyone else is okay with that." Jared sighed, and she knew this was what he hated the most. No matter what, he always had to come out to new people.

"It'll be fine. Kristen and Mike already know about Jensen. That only leaves the three new people."

"And Lauren."

"Jared, there's no way they'd hire a homophobic hall director. She'll be fine. Really, I'll be shocked if the other RAs care, but if they do, we're not letting that mess up our year." Allie linked arms with him as they stepped in the elevator. If these other people had issues, they'd be the minority anyway. They all seemed okay when they'd met right after being hired, but what can you tell from one dinner?

Lauren's door was open and everyone else was already gathered around the doughnuts, juice and coffee on the table when they stepped in. Mike waved them both over, spilling his water on Kristen as he did.

"Mike! Dammit. How'd I get stuck working with you again? You owe me a shirt."

"It's water."

"I love that you have a girlfriend now and you can't offer to blow dry my chest or something." Kristen giggled as she moved back to the couch. Allie grabbed a doughnut and took a cup of juice from Mike as Jared piled up his plate and sat next to Kristen on the couch. They'd never gotten to know her too well last year, but Allie knew she and Jensen had gotten along.

"So did Jensen survive last night? Did you know he IMed me and asked me what he should wear? I'd worry about what he'd do without me if I didn't know he'd be over here all the time anyway."

"Yeah, it went okay," Jared answered, and Allie could see him glancing around to see if the others were listening.

"Sorry. I got so used to everyone knowing last year." Kristen lowered her voice and leaned closer to them. "Is there a plan for, um, telling them all?"

"Yeah. Jensen said it was easier for him to do it right away and then just let everyone that knew spread it across the dorm when the residents showed up. So the plan is to just fit it in some time today. I don't know. I gotta feel them out first."

Kristen nodded but added, "You might want to pull Lauren aside and tell her first. We'll break up for a few minutes after this meeting before the big meeting. You can catch her then."

"I'll stay with you if you want." Allie offered.

Jared nodded as everyone else took seats around the coffee table and Lauren stood up.

"Okay, I know some of you already know each other, but I just moved here right before headstaff training and I've only really gotten to know Mike, so we'll do this for me. We'll go around and say our name, year in college and major because we all know you have to get that out of the way. Then we'll play 'Two Truths and a Lie.'"

After everyone nodded that they knew the game, Lauren started.

"I'm Lauren Graham. I just started my masters in Higher Education obviously but I got my BA in English from Columbia University. And my three things: I was born in Hawaii. I like horses. And I can't bake."

"You can bake. You made those awesome butterscotch brownies when we were here for pre-planning." Mike grinned.

"Damn. Yeah, I can bake. I forgot you knew that. Well, we're going to the left, so that makes you next."

"Okay, I'm Mike. I'm graduating this year with a BA in Education, English, Film and Theatre." The three new RAs looked a little shocked at Mike's list of majors. Allie had been more shocked when Jared told her Mike was actually graduating this year. Of course, he'd finally just decided to get his masters in Higher Education so he could get paid to stay in college forever. "My three things are...This my eighth year as an undergrad. I'm left-handed. And I'm actually older than Lauren."

Allie turned to look at Kristen and Jared who looked just as confused. After all, they didn't know how old Lauren was and it was possible considering how long Mike had been in school. And when had they paid attention to if he was left-handed?

"Mike, I thought you knew half of these people." Lauren laughed.

"I do. I'm so unloved. They haven't gotten to know me at all."

"We know how old you are, dipshit. We don't know how old Lauren is," Kristen laughed.

"He's not older than me. But thanks for thinking he might be!" Lauren swatted Mike as he motioned for the girl next to him to go.

"Okay. I'm Cassie. I'm a senior and I'm majoring in Nursing. And um...I like to find new independent music. It's my first year being an RA even though I'm a senior because I gambled all my rent money away in Vegas last spring break. And I took the train all the way here from Seattle because I hate flying."

"The last one. Because the Vegas one is awesome and I want it to be true!" the guy to her left yelled out.

"Nope, sorry." Cassie giggled and pushed back her wavy blonde hair.

"Okay. I'm Ryan. I'm a sophomore and I'm majoring in Recreation and Leisure. I have girlfriend named Amy. I'm won a surf competition this summer and regularly raise money for charity."

"Is it bad if I guess you don't really do charity work?" Kristen asked.

"Nah. But that's true anyway."

"You don't have a girlfriend named Amy?" Allie guessed and okay, maybe she was hoping. He was pretty cute.

"Sorry. But I'm awesome. I fooled everyone!"

"Uh huh. Sure." Kristen laughed. "Well, I'm Kristen and I'm a senior majoring in Theatre. I'm a vegetarian. If I wasn't majoring in Theatre, I'd be a veterinarian. And I went to Catholic school."

"You hate chemistry more than I do," Jared pointed out. "I think you'd need that to be a vet."

"How'd you know that? Oh God, Jensen told you he tried to tutor me didn't he?"

"He might have said something about me not being half as bad to tutor."

"Remind me to kick his ass next time I see him. Anyway, it's your turn."

"Okay. I'm Jared. I'm a sophomore and I just changed my major to secondary education." Jared paused and Allie could see the idea in his mind. He could easily come out this way. "I'm from San Antonio. I always wanted a dog but my brother is allergic. And I was homecoming king in high school."

"You made fun of Sandy for being homecoming queen. If the last one isn't a lie, I'm telling her," Mike pointed out.

"Yeah." When Jared turned to her and shrugged, she couldn't blame him. This was really kind of public. Still, maybe she could gauge the crowd for him a little.

"I'm Allie. I'm a sophomore and they haven't made me pick a major yet. I'm from California, but I was born in Germany. Two of my best friends are bisexual, but not like, with each other. My mom is an opera singer."

Jared knew it was her dad who was the opera singer, but he stayed quiet.

"You weren't born in Germany?" Kristen guessed. Probably just to keep there from being silence.

"Nope. That's true."

"Then your mom isn't an opera singer. If the second one was a lie, you wouldn't have added the explanation," Cassie guessed.

"Yeah."

"Cool. I guess I'm last." The girl next to her moved on and Allie managed to hear that her name was Tina and she was a sophomore but she missed everything else when she risked a glance at Jared. She probably should've asked before she did that, but he didn't look mad. Instead he nudged her arm and smiled.

"You seriously have a black belt in Tang Soo Do?" Mike asked Tina, pulling her back into the group.

"Yep. I could kick your ass."

~*~

Jared spent the rest of the meeting trying to concentrate on the schedule for the week that Lauren handed out as she and Mike went over the different days. Mike was right. Every minute of his time was scheduled until after all the new residents moved in. But all he could think about was that he really needed to at least come clean to Lauren after the meeting. Everything would be easier if he knew she'd have his back.

"Okay, we have about fifteen minutes before we have to leave for the meeting in the union. Everyone can go back to their rooms incase they need anything and then we'll meet back her at 9:45 okay?" Lauren announced and the other RAs gathered up all the supplies she'd handed out and moved toward the elevator. Allie and hung back with him after everyone else was gone.

"Did you guys have some questions?" Lauren asked as she gathered up the cups and plates to throw in the trash.

"Yeah. I know there's not a lot of time, but I wanted to talk to you about something." Jared hated this part. He'd been lucky in the beginning. He knew all his friends liked Jensen and they'd all been trying to hook him up with Jensen anyway, but then he started having to just tell people and that part sucked.

"Sure. What's up?" Lauren stopped cleaning and leaned against the counter facing them.

"It's not a big deal; it's just something you should probably know before everyone knows. Well, Mike and Kristen know because they knew me last year, and Allie too." Jared knew he was rambling now, but there just wasn't an easy way to lead into it.

"Is this about Allie's truth in the game?" Lauren asked. Jared searched her eyes but he really didn't know her well enough to figure out what she was thinking.

"Yeah. One of those friends is me and I do have a boyfriend." Jared let out a breath. Now everything was just up to her.

"Jared, that's okay. You know, they do screen us a little when we apply for this job. If that was an issue for me, I probably wouldn't be here." Lauren smiled and he had to smile back when she reached out to touch his arm.

"I kind of thought that, but I also don't want to keep it a secret. I'm not sure how I'm going to tell the others, but I will. And Mike suggested I just let it spread around the hall in the first week so I don't have to come out over and over."

"Well I can't tell you how they'll react other than you know what kind of questions we ask when you apply. No one could get this job if they were really outspoken about being homophobic. As for the residents, I'm sure you know there might be some problems. But I'll stand by you. I'm not going to let anyone go after you for this. If they have a problem, that's not your fault. I'll do what I can to work it out. And if any of the other RAs do end up having a problem, let me know. We'll figure out a way to straighten things out."

"Thanks." Jared knew his smile was probably crazy, but he'd worried about this most of the summer. He knew what a difference it had made for Jensen last year to have a staff that supported him.

"No problem. You guys can always come to me with this stuff. I'm not just here to boss you around. I'm like your RA if you need one."

Jared thanked her again and led Allie out the door before she could make some crack about Jared hooking up with his last RA.

~*~

Read Part 3 of 45 of Second Verse (Not Quite Same As The First) by Aleia