Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys - 33. Because I Love Him

Chapter Thirty-Three – Because I Love Him

Maddox peeked at his phone, to see if Jonathan had happened to send him a message, and he missed it by accident. Not that they had talked about sending messages to and fro as soon as each went his way, but he missed him already. Probably Jonathan was caught up with his family by now. His plane must have landed about an hour or so ago. And that family reunion was bound to be strained, from the little he had managed to learn from Jonathan. It felt a bit disheartening to think they were still not sharing everything, but Maddox knew that he needed to be patient.

Still, he thought, while taking out his phone one last time before reaching the front door of his house, he missed him so much already.

He didn’t even have to reach for the handle before the door opened wide in front of him, and his mom, an apron tied around her waist and her entire face shining, emerged through it. Maddox laughed and took her in his arms, making sure to pretend that she weighed a ton. She laughed, too, and slapped him with the kitchen towel she had in one hand. “And to think that I tell everyone you’re my favorite. Put me down this instant, odious child!”

His dad was already at the door and Maddox hugged him, as well.

“So glad you made it. Mary is still not here, and she might not join us at all this year,” his mom began to chatter. “Hope has an ear infection. She’s at that age. I just hope they don’t end up spending Thanksgiving at the hospital, and that it’s not that serious. But Vern is here, full team included.”

“You’ve grown a bit,” his dad said and guided him into the large living room.

An assortment of curly-haired heads turned toward him in an instant, and soon Maddox was surrounded by his nephews and nieces. Of all his siblings, Vern was the one to follow most closely in their parents’ footsteps. He had four kids. Mary only had Hope, and the others who were married had yet to consider having children. The look of pride on his mom’s face when she took in her extended family reminded him of how many times she told them that her children had always been her biggest wealth.

Vern and his wife joined in, patiently pulling their offspring from Maddox before he managed to lose his balance. The youngest, Noah, was like a monkey, and had already managed to climb on his back and was now refusing to get down from Maddox’s shoulders. His mom had to bribe him with a piece of candy.

“Glad to see you, guys,” he told everyone as he hugged one relative after another. “Who else besides Mary is missing all the action?”

“Stenton is in the Bahamas, can you believe it?” Emma, his second sister, interjected.

“I do. Facebook notifies me of everything. And he sent me a message to let me know I’m not going to see him till Christmas.”

“Bahamas,” his mom scoffed as she convinced her grandkids to return to their seats, “what kind of place is that for Thanksgiving? I bet they won’t even have turkey or pie.”

“Let him be, Flo,” their dad intervened. “He’ll see how it is there, and once he realizes the Bahamas have nothing on your pumpkin pie, he’ll repent.”

That seemed enough for their mom because she went back to smiling broadly. “You go to your room and leave your luggage,” she told Maddox.

Emma was there with her husband, and although he had yet to see Sophia anywhere, his mom informed him that she was in her room with her fiancé, apparently making up after a bit of a row concerning his choice of dress shirts.

“I’m telling you, Sophia’s lucky that boy Marcus is so patient,” she commented while she pushed Maddox up the stairs. “I swear that she still needs to get her head screwed on straight. I don’t know why she’s so hardheaded.”

Maddox had his theory about that, one shared by his dad and almost everyone else, but he kept his mouth shut. His mom would deny that Sophia was, basically, her spitting image. Funny how she was the only one who failed to see the uncanny resemblance. His dad swore Sophia was his beloved spouse from head to toe at the same age.

There was still someone he had yet to hear about. “What about Alicia?” She was the youngest daughter and Maddox’s best friend while growing up, seeing how they had been born only two years apart.

“She’s here,” his mom said. “Holed up in her room, getting in touch with the universe. I won’t even start to pretend I understand what’s going on in there. As long as there aren’t any drugs involved, I’m happy. I must be,” she added, very matter-of-factly.

So Alicia was getting sucked into a new hobby. One thing Maddox loved about his sister was her special ability or strength to find something new and fall in love with it at a frightening speed, but with a clockwork regularity.

“In three months’ time, she’ll be into something else,” he stated.

“True enough. Tomorrow, we’ll have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll go hungry today. So just freshen up that pretty face of yours,” she said, pinching his cheek once they were on the landing, “and then get downstairs. I want to hear everything about what you’ve been up to since we last saw you.”

Maddox felt what he’d been up to dangling on the tip of his tongue but stopped himself. Jonathan was right. The fact that he had a boyfriend now, and they were as serious as they could get after their short time together, wasn’t the kind of thing to blurt out while his mom was going down the stairs and throwing over her shoulder not to take forever and make her come get him, when dinner was going to be ready in half an hour tops.

Maybe he’d just call Jonathan later and talk to him for a bit. Hmm, but he’d probably ask if Maddox had broken the news yet to his mom and dad. Better to wait until he talked to his parents, and then call Jonathan. That sounded like a better plan.

***

“So, we’re going to be cooking it tomorrow? Since that’s when Thanksgiving is?” Rusty asked while opening the freezer and pointing proudly at the poultry wrapped up snugly in its plastic packaging.

“We could also roast it today, then carve it and just warm it up tomorrow. Some chefs say it’s a better method if it works for you since the meat will become tenderer and tastier.”

Rusty nodded in a professional manner as if he knew exactly what Jonathan was talking about. Then he grabbed the frozen turkey with both hands. “Oh, fuck, it’s stuck.”

“What do you mean?” Jonathan peeked over his shoulder.

“Grab me and pull,” Rusty suggested in a tone that said that it wasn’t as much a suggestion as an order.

“Your freezer is a bit too small,” Jonathan said. “Make way, let me see. Ah, I think it got stuck to the bottom.”

“Yeah, we need to pull it out.” Rusty grabbed the turkey again and put one foot against the door for balance. He grunted as he struggled. “Hamilton, a little help here.”

Jonathan took Rusty by the shoulders and guided him away from the freezer. “There are other, less brutal, methods.”

Although he got a suspicious look in return for his remark, Rusty plopped himself down on a chair and watched him expectantly.

Jonathan observed the problem carefully. “Do you have any salt?”

“There’s some of that somewhere,” Rusty said and gestured vaguely. “Do you need pepper, too? Are you going to start cooking it while it’s still frozen?”

Jonathan huffed in disbelief and turned to face Rusty. He wasn’t making fun this time around. Jonathan shook his head. “I need salt to get it unstuck. Forget it, I’ll try only with some hot water first.”

***

“Hey, stranger.” Alicia jumped on his back, and it looked like he had to carry her like that to the table. Her hair was dyed a deep shade of black, so intense that it looked like a black hole ready to swallow the universe. Maddox doubted Alicia was trying as much to get in touch with it, as their mom thought, as to devour it completely. He had yet to figure out if she was trying a retro goth look or if there was some other, more obscure reason behind her dark clothes and dark makeup. Unlike him, who had inherited his dad’s darker complexion, Alicia’s skin was as white as snow, so the contrast between her face and the rest of her was on the disturbing side. But sticking out and being shocking to everyone around her was Alicia’s way of being, and her family never thought she was anything out of the ordinary, no matter what clothes she chose to wear or how she changed her makeup.

“Hey, creature of the night,” he replied while he walked down the stairs, tipping her dangerously close to the rail, just to mess with her.

Alicia smacked him on the head. “Quit playing, jerk.”

Maddox peered around the corner to see if everyone else was already seated. By the flurry of activity around the table, there was still time for a detour, so he veered away, going in the opposite direction.

“Where are you dragging me off to, monster?” his sister asked in a cavernous voice.

“I need to ask you something.”

He couldn’t explain why he felt so nervous about talking to his parents about Jonathan all of a sudden. Apparently, some of his boyfriend’s cautiousness was starting to rub off on him. The middle ground was to talk to Alicia first. So, he walked outside with her and then closed the door behind them. After he planted her on the stairs, he took a deep breath to prepare.

“All right,” she said and looked him up and down carefully. “You kidnapped me for a reason.”

“Kidnapped, right,” he said with a snort.

She punched him playfully in the shoulder. “What’s going on, player? No, don’t tell me. You got a girl pregnant.” She gasped theatrically and covered her mouth to mask her horrified surprise.

“No, what the fuck?” Maddox groaned. “I always use condoms.”

“Ah, well, if you didn’t knock up some girlfriend, nothing can shock me.”

“You sure?” Maddox quirked an eyebrow and looked at his sister.

Alicia narrowed her eyes. “Did you rob a bank?”

Maddox gaped at her. “Rob a bank? What the hell?”

Alicia grinned and pinched his cheek. “You’d look awesome as a bandit. Or as a pirate. I haven’t decided yet. Now, shoot, what’s this thing you think is going to shock me or whatever?”

Maddox pulled out his phone and flipped through it. Then, he showed her the picture without another word. Alicia threw him a puzzled look and then took his phone. Before he had time to protest, she flipped to the next pic and then her eyebrows shot so far up that they could have been glued to her hairline. “Who’s this frigging beauty, Em?”

The fact that Alicia called him Em was a matter of intense debate in the family, since their sister Emma wanted to insist there be no confusion about their names. However, Alicia always did whatever the hell she wanted.

Maddox tried to get the phone away from her, but now she was like a dog with a bone. Her skinny frame was also responsible for how quick she could be, so she easily dodged him and then cradled the phone to her chest. Her heavily made up eyes stared at him, and she was half smiling, while blinking hard. She attempted a short nervous laugh. “O.M.G.,” she said slowly. “He’s your boyfriend!”

“Hush.” He gestured at her, and she covered her mouth, while her eyes remained still half-confused, half-amused. “Do you want them all to hear?”

Alicia dropped her hand, then chewed on her lower lip and stared at the picture on Maddox’s phone with a ravenous look. “The way he looks at you,” she said while examining the pic from all angles. “He’s totally in love with you.”

Maddox felt the corners of his lips curling up of their own accord. “You really think so?”

“Totally,” Alicia confirmed. “Are you going to tell mom and dad?”

“Yeah.” Maddox rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought it would be easy, but now that I’m home, and everyone’s--”

“Their usual selves,” Alicia supplied dutifully and right away.

“Yeah,” Maddox admitted, “yeah.” He didn’t even know how to explain what he was feeling. “I feel like I might be dropping a little bomb on them. And I need to have mom and dad, you know, apart from everyone else, when I tell them. Not that I want to keep it a secret from everyone else,” he added quickly, “but this feels like something I need to talk to them about first.”

“You talked to me first,” Alicia pointed out.

“You don’t count. You’re basically my twin who decided to get born two years before the correct date.”

“Yeah, totally right,” she admitted. “Although you’re the one who was two years late,” she took care to add.

“What do you think they’ll say? Will they like Jonathan?” he asked, feeling anxious and suddenly ready to blast the dinner before Thanksgiving by yelling that he had a boyfriend from the top of his lungs.

“Jonathan,” Alicia said slowly. “Who wouldn’t like a guy like him? He’s so frigging posh, though, Em. Is he a prince or something?”

Only Alicia would use the word ‘posh’ with a British accent completely out of the blue like that.

“We don’t have royal families in this country,” Maddox pointed out.

“I know,” Alicia said, rolling her eyes. “But he could be from overseas, right?”

“He’s not a foreigner,” Maddox said.

“Not your average college student, either,” Alicia said. “Where did you find him?”

“He transferred to Sunny Hill this year,” Maddox explained.

“And knocked you right off your feet.” Alicia closed one eye and pointed an invisible gun at him while clucking her tongue to simulate pulling the trigger.

“Something like that,” Maddox breathed out.

“Why do you sound so disappointed?” Alicia asked.

“I thought you’d be more shocked than this,” he said.

Alicia shrugged. “You know I’m un-shockable. Also, when you were four, you cried a river when Emma told you that you couldn’t marry Finch Rivers because he’s a boy just like you.”

“Who the hell is Finch Rivers? Are you making this up?” He had no recollection of anything like that.

“Maybe you were three,” Alicia said and patted her index fingers against her lips. “Anyway, if I think hard enough, I believe that there were signs.”

“Well, if you do remember stuff like that, share,” he said, a bit dumbfounded by his sister’s unfathomable logic.

“I will,” she said promptly and handed him back his phone. “Anyways, how come you fell for this guy? Although, I suppose that half of that school is at his feet right now.”

“Not really,” Maddox replied. “He’s a guy who likes to keep to himself a lot.”

“Ah,” Alicia sighed dreamily. “So cool. So my type.”

“Your type?” Maddox asked, a bit perplexed. “You’re talking about my boyfriend, Weird Al.” He used the annoying nickname on purpose.

But Alicia shrugged her shoulders like she couldn’t be bothered. “Just in case you don’t want him anymore at some point, I say let’s keep him in the family.”

He knew Alicia was just pulling his leg, but he couldn’t stop the annoyance he sensed growing inside him from leaking out. “Why wouldn’t I want him anymore?”

Alicia stared at him and held his gaze to make sure that they were locked in a battle of wills. “Because,” she said slowly, “your track record says that the average expiration date for your flings is around three weeks, and I’m being generous.”

“I’ve been with Jonathan longer than three weeks,” Maddox said, feeling affronted, but not entirely. His sister had a point. Everyone who knew him thought more or less the same.

“Good for you,” Alicia said promptly. “But is it infatuation? Or are you really falling in love?”

“The latter,” he said through his teeth.

“Are you sure?” Alicia asked him and narrowed her eyes again.

Maddox groaned and ran his hands over his eyes. “Why does everyone question it?”

Alicia patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, baby bro,” she said. “It’s just that we’re already at an age when everyone around us expects to know us by now. If I told you I wanted to go around the world in a balloon, what would you think?”

“That you’re totally going to do it,” Maddox said.

“Exactly,” Alicia replied. “But what if I told you that I’m getting married next week with a corpo suit for brains, and I want to have two point two children?”

He stopped and searched Alicia’s face for signs that she was joking. Apparently, that was the only answer she needed.

“See what I mean? It’s all about expectations, no matter what they are.”

He nodded. “I see. So, what do you think mom and dad will say?”

“Let’s catch them after dinner tonight,” Alicia offered. “I mean, I won’t intrude or anything, but I’ll be right behind the door.”

“Thanks, sis. Sorry for calling you Weird Al.”

“Don’t worry, bozo. I like that nickname. It makes me sound like I’d be fun at parties.”

“Which you are,” he pointed out.

She let out a heartfelt sigh. “That’s what everyone expects of me. Now, let’s go eat ‘cause I’m famished.”

***

Rusty observed him quietly from a corner. After he had managed to drop a knife, ruined the stuffing once by pouring salt all over Jonathan’s hands, and twice by dropping way too much pepper into it, he had taken the order to just sit aside very much to heart.

“You don’t have to sit so far away,” Jonathan said. “I had no idea you would be so clumsy when you’re actually so adept at many other things.”

Rusty pursed his lips and looked so chastised that Jonathan started searching his brain for something to comfort him.

“Which reminds me, what’s the deal with the singing?” he asked. “I don’t understand why you don’t let your friends know about it. Or do they know?”

“They don’t,” Rusty replied. “And you better not tell them.”

“All right, all right, I won’t. I promise. But do you think you could tell me why that is? I mean, I seriously doubt Maddox, Kane, and Dex would think anything less of you. Actually, they would think a great deal more.”

“Why?” Rusty questioned while cocking his head, but pulling his chair a little closer.

“Because you’re truly talented, and you have real passion. Such things tend to inspire admiration in most people.”

“But not in all,” Rusty pointed out.

Jonathan had a feeling that he was getting closer to the real crux of the matter. “Yes, that’s true,” he admitted. “Did anyone tell you that you shouldn’t sing?”

Rusty nodded. Jonathan didn’t press the matter and pretended to be busy rubbing the turkey with the little butter they had discovered in the depths of the fridge and luckily, not expired.

“I used to sing at the local church where I lived before I moved with my mom to where Maddox and the others are from,” Rusty eventually said. He was twiddling his thumbs and looking down.

“You were a choir boy? Really?” Jonathan hoped his amused smile would lighten the mood a bit.

“Yeah.” Rusty snorted. “Until I was like eleven. Then I stopped singing. Pretended to have become tone deaf overnight.”

“And did anyone think you were telling the truth?” Jonathan asked.

“They had to. They thought that since every other dude’s voice changed, mine must have just changed for the worse.”

“But what prompted you to pretend—I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.”

“It’s all right. You know too much already.” Rusty quirked an eyebrow like that was enough to intimidate Jonathan. “When my dad left my mom, they had the biggest row ever. I listened. Apparently, me being nurtured to become some pansy ass boy,” Rusty made the air quotes with his fingers, “was why they fought so much.”

“Oh. Did your dad accuse your mom of that?”

Rusty nodded. “I didn’t turn out the way either of them wanted me to be.”

“We seldom do, it seems,” Jonathan said and looked down, as he remembered his earlier conversation with his own parent. “But was that enough to convince you to give up on your talent?”

“No. But it convinced me to hide it.” Rusty picked up a piece of celery from the table and began munching on it, absent-mindedly. Jonathan didn’t have the heart to stop him.

“While you were still a kid, sure,” Jonathan said. “But now? You could--”

“Nope,” Rusty contradicted him. “Not until I finish college. My dad’s the sponsor.”

“Oh. You think he’d stop supporting you if he knew?”

“Totally,” Rusty confirmed.

“I see. But still, you’re not letting anyone else know, either. I mean, why not tell Maddox and the rest of the guys?”

“They like me the way I am,” Rusty explained. “And you’re not letting anyone else know what you’re really scared of, right?”

Jonathan recoiled. How could an airhead like Rusty see through him like that? “Touché, I guess,” he murmured.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you.”

“I should tell you. You told me your secret,” Jonathan said, “It would only be fair.”

Rusty put both his hands up. “No, I don’t want you to tell me anything just because you feel obligated or something. Too many people suspect that I’m some kind of contributor to Xpress anyway.”

“Why would they think that?”

“Don’t you know? I’m like their total darling or some shit. There’s never something bad about me in there. That’s why I’m the king.”

“Still, it’s not like I’d suspect you of that.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. But it would be nicer if you’d be honest about whether you want to share your secrets right now with me or not. And you better tell Maddox everything first, right?”

Jonathan nodded. Too bad no one seemed to know this side of Rusty, the serious one, who could read people like they were open books. Maybe that was what made him a true artist, as much in hiding as he was. “Yes, I would like to share everything with Maddox first. Thank you for that, Rusty.”

“Come on, let’s not make this so serious,” Rusty said and picked up another piece of celery. “I’m so hungry. Is that turkey going to take a lot longer?”

“Yes, quite a bit. Just eat this.” Jonathan pushed a plate with some lunch leftovers he had packed from his place, toward Rusty. “It’s not a lot, but it should keep you fed until later. And we’re not going to eat turkey today. We’ll wait until tomorrow, okay?”

Rusty nodded. He didn’t seem very happy with that prospect, but he looked like someone who knew a thing or two about boundaries, as strange as that seemed.

***

Maddox waited until everyone else was headed to sleep, except for his mom and dad. And Alicia, of course, who lay in wait behind the door, as promised. His sister always kept her promises, and that’s why he was sure that she was there.

His parents exchanged a short look when he grabbed the plates from his mom’s hands to put them away.

“Is there something on your mind, pumpkin?” his mom asked first.

Maddox leaned against the kitchen counter. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

His dad hovered closer. “Trouble at school? Is the tuition going up again?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“You know you can ask us for anything. We’ll always help,” his dad said.

“You don’t have to worry about that. No, it’s something else.”

His mom nodded thoughtfully. “Girl trouble? Did you get some girlfriend pregnant?”

An internal eye roll was probably not enough, but it had to do. “Mom, really, I know how to use a condom.”

“I know you do, but maybe you love this girl very much,” his mom said patiently, “and now she’s expecting.”

The most shocking part of it all was that his parents didn’t seem troubled at all if that were the case.

“No one’s pregnant,” he said quickly. He could swear his parents almost looked disappointed. Just how much did they like having kids around the house, breaking stuff, and causing chaos at every opportunity? And weren’t Vern’s enough already?

“Then what is it?” his dad asked.

Maddox pulled out his phone and showed them the picture, just as he had done with Alicia earlier. Both his parents moved closer, but they didn’t snatch his phone like his crazy sister had. They just looked very intently. His mom was the first to react. “Are you friends with a European prince?”

Maddox could swear he heard a low snicker from behind the kitchen door. Alicia better keep her pie hole shut. “He’s not a European prince, mom,” he moaned. “You know that.” His mom had a thing for the trials and tribulations of the royal houses of Europe, so it wasn’t possible for her to think something like that unless she really didn’t understand what she was seeing. “He’s my boyfriend,” he said. “His name is Jonathan, and he’s--”

“Wait,” his mom stopped him. She exchanged a shocked look with his dad. “Boyfriend? You mean friend? Like Rusty, Kane, or Dexter?”

“No, not like them.”

His mom put her hands on her hips. “It’s not April Fool’s, Maddox.” If she said his name like that, it meant that she meant business, and not the pleasant kind.

“How did you move from girlfriends,” his dad made a big circle with his hands as if to encompass the large number of females that Maddox had had casual flings with – it was a stretch to even call them girlfriends – “to a boyfriend?”

“I just did,” he snapped and regretted it immediately. “It happened,” he added quickly. “He’s very handsome and--”

“We can see that he’s very handsome,” his mom interrupted him. “Is this the sort of thing they call college experimentation?” She said the word like it had something to do with running around with aliens.

“No, it’s not like that,” Maddox hurried to assure her.

“People don’t just turn gay overnight,” his father interjected. “Do they, dear?” he consulted his wife with a confused look.

“Not my son, he doesn’t,” she said and frowned, giving Maddox a stern look.

For a moment, he didn’t think he heard her right. After all his telling Jonathan about how open-minded his family was, this came like a knock to the head. He had trouble speaking for a few seconds; he didn’t know what to say. “Why not?”

His mother narrowed her eyes. There came that hardheadedness she only saw and pointed out in others. “Because you’re not gay, Maddox. Did you get in a row with your girlfriend and now believe that boys are better? I know that relationships can be difficult, but you don’t cut and run at the first problem.”

“I didn’t get in a row with anyone,” Maddox said through his teeth. “And I don’t have a girlfriend. I’ve never even had one serious relationship until now. When did I ever tell you that? They were just girls who came and went.”

His father gave him a very disappointed look. “That’s no way to treat girls, Maddox.”

He groaned. How could they be like this? It was like they weren’t even his parents anymore. Since they couldn’t have been replaced by aliens, there was only one explanation for their reaction. They were, as much as Maddox found it hard to believe, really obtuse. “We just had fun, and they knew it. Heck, they chased me down only for that.”

“Did I raise you to be so full of yourself?” his mom scolded him.

“Wait, dear,” his dad intervened. “Maybe there’s just a bit of confusion here. Maddox must admire this young man, and he may be mistaking the desire to be like him--”

Maddox decided that he needed to stop his dad and his convoluted explanations. “I don’t desire to be like him,” he said pointedly. “I want to be with him.”

His mom’s eyes had grown so narrow now they had turned into slits. “Did you have sex with him?”

Maddox threw his arms in the air. “I’m not going to answer that. There are limits, even with nosy parents like you two.”

“Yes, there are limits,” his mom agreed, something that wasn’t reflected in her tone of voice, “and one of them is that you’re not gay. Stop it with this nonsense. Is this young man gay? All out in the open or however they say it these days?”

“Yes, he is,” Maddox replied, not really getting what she was aiming for with that.

“So why are you leading him on?”

“I’m not doing that! And whatever happened, no matter how strange you think it is, it’s because I love him!” He hadn’t intended to say so much or shout it so loudly, so the silence that fell after his angry words sucked the air out of his lungs for a moment.

The next, the kitchen door blasted open, and all his siblings poured through, shouting all at the same time.

TBC