Page 12 of Dire Straights

“What’s up, BTS? You have fun at the party last night?”

“I’m Japanese,” I responded. “BTS is Korean.”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself, O’Conner?” Maddox suggested lightly. Picking up his bag off the table, he deliberately swung it around so it smacked the red-haired guy’s arm before resting the strap on his shoulder. I didn’t follow his lead on that one, but I scurried behind him, as close as I could get. As we exited the library, I heard the other guys kind of scolding the one that Maddox had called O’Conner.

“Not cool, dude.”

“Yeah, to be honest that was kind of lame.”

“What!? How the hell was I supposed to know?”

Once we were out in the hall, Maddox stopped and turned to me. He looked pretty pissed off.

“It’s not a big deal, you know,” I told him. “People make that kind of mistake all the time.”

He shook his head, huffing out a breath. “Well, whatever. I don’t fucking like it, so…”

“Thanks for saying something, anyway,” I said.

“It’s fine,” he said. He looked awkward suddenly, but I wasn’t sure why. “Well… Anyway, have fun tonight.”

“Wait!” I said, scrambling a bit. “Um, I mean, so feel free to say no because I’m not sure if maybe you would think this kind of thing is lame, but you could come hang out tonight, if you didn’t have anything else to do.”

He stared at me for a few moments before responding. His eyes always looked really intense when he was doing that and it made my stomach feel weird.

“Really? You want me to hang out with your friends?”

“You’re my friend, too,” I said, before remembering that maybe we didn’t know each other well enough yet for me to say that. At any rate, after last night, it was pretty much out there and couldn’t be taken back.

He cleared his throat a little bit, and glanced into some empty corner. “Whatever. Sure. I’m free.”

“Oh!” I said, pleasantly surprised. I’d expected him to turn me down. Guys like him had never wanted to be friends with the kind of people I hung out with. “You know it’s just, like… We just play board games and watch movies and stuff, right? It’s not really exciting or cool or anything. Are you sure you won’t get bored?”

He shrugged, still not looking in my direction. “Not if you’re there.”

I laughed. He had to be kidding. No one in the history of humankind had ever thought of me as exciting. But it was such a nice compliment, and gave me such a nice, fluttery feeling that I decided I didn’t want to know if he was kidding or not.

Planned hangouts consisting of more than just two or three of us were usually always done in Arie and Che’s dorm room. They had more space than the rest of us because they’d converted one of the beds into a kind of makeshift entertainment center with a flat shelf covering it with a TV and gaming consoles and stuff hooked up onto that. For obvious reasons, they only needed one.

I’d texted Aspen that I was bringing someone when Maddox had ducked into a bathroom to pee. He’d responded positively, teasing me congrats about finally finding friends on my own. I didn’t tell him it was the jock he’d made fake gagging noises about just the other day when we’d talked. I could understand his aversion. But Maddox was different. If I’d had any doubts about that, the clapback he’d made to his teammate about me had assured me.

When we got there and settled in, I could tell Aspen was mildly annoyed, but he wasn’t enough of a dick to make it obvious to Maddox, at least. Arie was friendly, like he usually was. He was one of the biggest extroverts I knew, not a shy bonein his body. Che was quiet, but didn’t seem to have any issues with an unexpected guest. To me, it seemed like as long as Arie was happy, Che was happy. I wondered what it would be like to have a bond like that. Truthfully, it made me a little jealous.

“I thought you said Kelani was here, too?” I asked, noting her absence.

“She realized she had something to do,” Arie answered quickly, and in a tone that made it clear I shouldn’t ask any more questions. Had she left because she’d suspected I was bringing Maddox? Or was I completely over-thinking it? I glanced over to him to see if he looked suspicious, but it didn’t seem like he’d even registered it.

Aspen dumped a bunch of individually-wrapped pastries onto the low table we were all seated around on the floor. “We’re supposed to throw these away, but they’re still good. I hate wasting food.”

“You’re such a rebel,” Arie commented, before unwrapping a donut and biting into it.

That might have been part of it, but I happened to know that Aspen hadn’t had exactly the same upbringing as the rest of us, in terms of financial security. He’d grown up in a trailer, and he was the first person ever in his family to even go to college, which he’d only been able to do with lots of financial aid and a few scholarships.

“And I made sure to grab some for you, vegan boy,” Aspen said to Che, handing him over a couple.

“Thanks,” Che answered softly, looking grateful. Like Arie, he had a very particular style but I wasn’t exactly sure what to call it. It was weird and alt, but colorful with bows and clips and hearts and stars. Like goth, but in pastels. They both got a lot of weird looks, but honestly, I thought Che was really cute. He reminded me of a cartoon character or something.

I unwrapped some chocolatey bread thing and started eating it, but Maddox didn’t take anything. When he noticed my questioning look at him, he explained.

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