Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys Ch. 46

"Was it that girl's, Rose's, idea?" Jonathan asked. "Why does she keep hiding her face? Is she someone famous?"

Connor shook his head. "No, she's just... well, they're not well adjusted people, let's just say that."

"Let's," Jonathan said with a shrug. "Wait, is she one of the triplets?"

"Triplets?" Connor asked, somewhat confused.

"There are three girls. They all seem the same," Jonathan explained. "Are they sisters?"

"Ah, you mean, Rose, Nadia, and Gail. No, they're not, but they do try to be as similar as possible."

"Why?" Jonathan asked.

Connor seemed embarrassed by the question. "As I said, they're not very well-adjusted. Now that I think about it, they were talking all kinds of crazy. They say they want to combine into one person, fool the world, things like that."

"But Rose is the leader," Jonathan pointed out.

"Yes, that's true. Nadia and Gail don't get out of their dorm room a lot, and when they do, they only do it if Rose is present."

"That day, when we met in the cafeteria, it was her, right?"

"Yeah," Connor said, although it felt as if, for a moment, he was wondering if that was true. "I suppose that, in a way, she has always been the real leader of the group. Not me. Otherwise, the others wouldn't have followed her in all this," he waved vaguely, "instead of coming to me."

"Is she in love with you?" Jonathan asked another question he thought legit.

"In love with me?" Connor's eyebrows shot up. "No. I'm gay," he said matter-of-factly as if Jonathan had to be hearing that for the first time.

"Well, that isn't reason enough for her not to love you," Jonathan pointed out.

Connor shivered for a moment, like someone who had suddenly discovered some creepy crawler moving up their leg. "I have never encouraged her."

Jonathan didn't quite believe him, but again, it wasn't his business. However, Rose appeared to be a manipulative, dangerous person. Who thought up blackmails and talked like that to strangers as she had done in the messages she had sent him? So, it was basic courtesy to tell Connor that. "I'm not in any position to give you any advice, Connor, but I think you should stop seeing her. Even if you're not encouraging her, she appears to have certain ideas about you." He hoped his words had been chosen carefully enough to not have Connor believe that he was calling Rose crazy to his face.

"She's a crazy one," Connor said in his stead. "I'm staying away from her. And the rest of them."

"What are they going to do? They're not the ones who've been writing Xpress all these years, are they?" It didn't appear so, but that was just another item to be crossed off the list.

"No," Connor confirmed his guess. "They cannot be. They're not interested in gossip at all, and Rose was quite annoyed whenever I mentioned Xpress."

"For the record," Jonathan said, "it wasn't my intention to turn them into pariahs."

"Well, it was their intention to turn you into one, so I suppose we can call that poetic justice," Connor said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, I wanted to come here and apologize in person. If I hadn't mentioned the video, they wouldn't have had anything to use against you."

It wasn't probably his place to ask, since they weren't friends, but he had been raised like that. "Are you going to be all right?"

Connor seemed surprised by his question, but after that, he frowned. "Of course, I will. I can always make other friends."

Or gather other followers. As Jonathan accompanied Connor out of the room, he thought that at least here was someone who didn't appear to have learned anything from the whole situation and its consequences.

***

Apparently, we were wrongfully accused of some wrongdoings... Ah, our little hearts are still bleeding over it. The Amazing Four thought we were behind the dissemination of a certain compromising video featuring our local royalty, Jonathan Hamilton. Just to make things clear, if we had been in possession of the respective video, we would have never released it. Never. We have standards to uphold.

Maddox held the phone and read the whole thing to Jonathan. "So, how did Xpress get hold of this video of Connor and his gang?"

Jonathan shrugged. "It's some big mystery."

Maddox groaned. "You and Rusty disappeared for like ten minutes or so. Don't think I didn't notice." He pretended to be pissed only so Jonathan would hug him from behind and kiss the side of his neck in apology. "Did you or Rusty take the video?"

"Rusty. I was too busy being outraged by it all. I didn't even have time to agree."

"That's Rusty for you. The sword of justice," Maddox said with a chuckle. "Those assholes. Why the hell did they do it, anyway?"

"Some misplaced sense of loyalty, I suppose," Jonathan explained. "Connor wasn't happy they did that. He even came to me to apologize, although it wasn't his fault."

"It was, in a way," Maddox said.

"How so?"

Maddox turned to face his boyfriend. Jonathan was just too nice and good sometimes. He pressed his fingers against the frown between Jonathan's eyebrows. "Connor gathered this kind of people around him because he likes being worshipped and never questioned. It's not exactly like having proper friends."

"No, you're right," Jonathan agreed.

"So, because he has always been a douchebag, he surrounded himself with like-minded people."

"He wasn't to blame for this, though. I feel sort of bad. He seems lonely."

Maddox snorted. "He'll live. As for the other scumbags, I heard they're considering a transfer. Because of our little revolution, word got to the powers that be. I even heard that the president called them in for a reprimand."

"And Rusty as well, who declared that he made the t-shirts," Jonathan pointed out.

"Don't worry. He only got a little slap on the wrist."

"Well, I guess I'm glad I won't have to run into my blackmailers next year," Jonathan commented. "As much as you think I'm a nice guy, I'm not entirely sure that I'd be able to keep everything I think and feel about them inside."

"Don't worry. For what's left of this year, they're going to keep a low profile. Everyone hates their guts. Even Xpress, and that says a lot."

Jonathan seemed to ponder for a bit. "Maddox, do you really think Xpress would have not released the video if they had it?"

"It's a tough question. But you know, there is something kind of irking me. When the assholes behind the blackmail contacted you, they said that the video would be dropped by Xpress."

"So?"

"That means that they might have tried to get Xpress to go public with it and didn't succeed."

"Yes, but it all seemed to happen very fast. I suppose they were expecting me to cave in," Jonathan reasoned.

Maddox shrugged. "Still. It was easier for them to hide behind Xpress."

"Are we thinking Xpress is kind and understanding now?"

They both burst into laughter at the same time. "I suppose not."

They stared at each other for a few moments. Maddox was glad they were in his room, because that meant Jonathan would be easy to entice to spend the night. And he liked his big bed a lot better than Jonathan's narrow one. Not that they couldn't make do with whatever they had at their disposal.

"You know, I don't remember if I properly thanked your friends for everything they did for me. Dex really put the fear of all things holy into everyone who dared to do as little as smile the wrong way in my direction."

"Don't forget about Rusty running around and pointing at the eggplant on his t-shirt and yelling 'you're all a bunch of cocksuckers, pay your respects to the cock'."

"Funny thing, that was after the entire truth was revealed," Jonathan commented.

"Can you imagine Rusty missing a chance to bask in the heat of the spotlights?"

"Not really, no. I bet he left at least a few guys feeling very confused about the whole thing. Everyone thought Rusty was the cock and needed to be revered."

Maddox laughed and hugged Jonathan tightly. "Everyone's here. Let's go downstairs and you can thank them to your heart's content. Be warned. They might want you to cook for them. Don't cave under the pressure."

"I don't mind, as you know," Jonathan said. "And Ray and Hanna are already here, so the pressure will be pretty high already."

"You know what I think, babe?" Maddox dared to bring it up.

"What?"

"I get it that we're too young and still studying..."

"Hmm..."

"But not for something that is less, let's say, family-involving..."

"Yes..."

"How would you feel about getting engaged? For real?" Maddox finally mustered the courage to ask.

"You think that's less family-involving?"

"Yeah. I mean, we can do it, all official and that, later, but I want something that's just between you and me."

He hoped he didn't sound really lame by proposing such a thing. Jonathan surprised him by cupping his cheeks and kissing him on the nose tenderly. "I don't see why not."

"Good, so it's a given. We're going to do it, this summer."

"Just let me know the date. Wait, so what is this going to be like? If we aren't involving the family--"

"I'm going to think of something."

As usual, it was true that Maddox hadn't thought of all the details. But, with Jonathan, he knew that he would make them up as they went and everything would be great. There was nothing standing in their way, and he'd make sure that nothing ever would.

TBC

Author's note: I'm going to use this space to thank all the people who continued to read Jonathan's and Maddox's story, through all these chapters. Next time, there will be the epilogue. I'm very flattered that the comments mention how their story needs to continue, but I believe the time for their HEA is here.

Rusty's going to get... not a girlfriend, but a boyfriend. That happens during senior year, and in the sequel :)