***

He wasn’t avoiding Maddox. No, definitely, he wasn’t doing that, but each time he saw the guy around the campus, his feet were commanding him to move in the opposite direction. So what? Jonathan didn’t want to dwell on things too much, especially since he had a lot to study, and he also needed to work to support himself.

Those were the excuses, of course. The real reason lay hidden under many wraps and layers, and Jonathan had no intention to start digging for it. Maddox was a player, a womanizer, a straight dude, and therefore, on all accounts, an absolute ‘no’.

It didn’t matter that he had the most beautiful eyes Jonathan had ever seen in his life, or that his lips were amazingly sweet, or that he knew how to make anyone laugh with just a word.

Who was he kidding? Maddox was an amazing guy, head to toes, minus that thing with the illegal fights, of course. Jonathan had yet to know him well, and he didn’t need to know him well because then he would only want to get to know him better, and for them to grow closer, and then –

Ray elbowed him hard, interrupting his train of thought that kept on torturing him while he pretended to sit on the grass and enjoy the last pleasant days by reading arid study materials for the next class.

“JJ, Maddox Kingsley is walking straight toward us,” his roommate whispered.

It was too late to make a run for it. Jonathan raised his eyes, trying hard to focus on anything else but that confident strut, those broad shoulders, that sexy hip swing that should have looked awkward for a dude, and yet it didn’t. Yes, he was trying.

The least he could do was to school his face into a neutral expression. Seeing how much practice he had in that respect, it wasn’t hard, and that was his saving grace.

However, Maddox only acknowledged him with a slight nod, much to his surprise, and then began talking to Ray.

“Ray, right?”

“Yes,” Ray replied in a meek voice as if some A-list celebrity had just agreed to give him an autograph.

“Hi, I’m Maddox.”

Jonathan watched in complete disbelief as Ray stood awkwardly to shake hands with Maddox. What the hell was he supposed to understand from that?

“Listen, me and my buddies, we’re throwing a party this Saturday. I was wondering if you’d like to come.”

Ray stood there, still shaking Maddox’s hand, with an elated look on his face and smiling. Maddox grinned at him and wiggled his eyebrows. “Well? Would you?”

“Yes, yes,” Ray replied enthusiastically, and after shaking Maddox’s hand one last time, he finally let go of the guy.

“All right, it’s on.” Maddox winked at Ray and then began walking away under Jonathan’s completely flabbergasted stare. “Oh,” he threw over his shoulder, “and feel free to bring your roommate along. See you guys there!”

Jonathan didn’t have any words left. Ray dropped by his side and then grabbed him by the shoulders and began to shake him. “JJ, Maddox Kingsley just talked to me! He invited us to a party! Can you believe it?”

“Yes, since I was right here the whole time,” Jonathan replied. “Now could you please stop shaking me?”

Ray let go of him only to throw his arms in the air and shout victoriously. “I’m no longer invisible! Popularity, here I come! How many days are left until Saturday? Only two! What should I wear? Oh, no, I have nothing I can wear!”

“Ray, Ray, calm down. God, stop being such a groupie. People will start doubting I’m the gay guy if you react like this just because Maddox Kingsley talked to you. You will go to the party, and you will be yourself, choice of clothes and all.”

“No way I can be that,” Ray refused outright all his advice. “I’m boring, and my clothes are weird.”

“Don’t overreact. And we’ve been to a party already this semester, haven’t we? This one is no different. You’ll be fine on your own.”

“On my own? No way. JJ, you need to come with me,” Ray said.

“What? He only said that you should feel free to take me along, not that you must.”

“No. I’m pretty sure you’re my ticket to this party.”

Jonathan scoffed. “Ray, for real. Maddox wouldn’t slam the door in your face if you went alone. And I’m certain the entire campus will be there. I’m not even sure why he had to address such a formal invitation.”

“Obviously, because he knows you’re a popular guy, too, and popular guys hang out together,” Ray explained.

That was surely not it, but Jonathan couldn’t tell Ray about the whole thing with Maddox, which he had serious trouble wrapping his head around as it was. “You keep forgetting that Maddox invited you, not me. And I was right here.”

Ray shrugged. It looked like nothing could burst his bubble. “He invited the both of us. Maybe he didn’t talk to you because you’re intimidating.”

“Me? Intimidating? How?”

“You know. It’s like you could freeze someone on the spot with a single look.”

“That’s certainly not true,” Jonathan protested.

“And you keep your head high like an aristocrat. Good thing I don’t believe in royalty,” Ray said matter-of-factly, “or I would have been afraid to talk to you.”

“You don’t say,” Jonathan commented dryly, more and more surprised by Ray’s speech. “So Maddox Kingsley, the king of hookups and illegal fights, was afraid to talk to me right now.”

“Could be,” Ray said with a smile. “JJ, you’ll come to this party. No way you’re ditching me.”

Jonathan groaned and tried to return to his study material. But as he turned his head, he couldn’t help but notice at a fair distance from him Maddox and his group of friends chatting happily and conversing with everyone passing by.

As if it were bloody magic, Maddox looked right at him. He made a small gesture like he was smoothing down the sleeves of his t-shirt and then waved at him.

Jonathan buried his face into the open book in front of him and wished, for the umpteenth time since he had met Maddox Kingsley, that he didn’t have a heart that could react like that each time the guy moved as little as his pinkie.

TBC