Chapter 35

Michelle The afterparty is at the frathouse. Maddox has moved out from here, but we came here to drink (soda)

and have fun. My boyfriend isn’t drinking alcohol, but there is cake and chips. No, I’m not kidding These jocks are drawn to sugar, especially Robin, who is worse than a girl on her period when it comes to sweets.

I crack my shoulders after coming out of the bathroom and hear the conversation from the kitchen.

“Wait. Are you serious? You fought our English professor for the last strawberry cheesecake ice cream package?” Lionel asks, blinking at Robin in disbelief. “Yup,” he grins. “We share the same taste in ice cream and sweets, and I see her at the supermarket almost every night. It’s our thing, but she has been trying to avoid me lately… Last night, she was running with her cart filled with Oreo packages.”

“From you?”

“Yeah, but she is living in denial,” Robin leans back in his chair. He rests his head against his arms, making his muscles pop. “One of these days, I will make her go out with me.” Lionel shakes his head.

“Dude, you better keep it a secret that you got the hots for you freaking teacher… Do you realize she will lose her job if you sleep with her?”

“Professor. You keep calling her a teacher,” Robin points out. “And oh, I do, but I trust you guys with my secret,” his smile is wolfish. “And I haven’t slept with her… Yet.”

Lionel and Jason both snort, drinking at Robin’s arrogance. Maddox picks up his glass of soda but pauses and smiles at me when I waltz into the kitchen.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hey…” I smile back even though I don’t feel that good. My head is spinning from what Stephanie told me earlier.

Maddox sizes me up. “Everything alright?”

His eyes look concerned. I can’t hide anything from him. Maddox usually reads me like an open book My shoulders slump in a sigh. I feel so guilty. “I know we should be celebrating, but… Could we talk?”

He stands up from the table. “Of course… Hey, Jason? Mind if we borrow your room a little?”

Robin and Lionel are arguing about the whole teacher situation, but Jason flicks his attention briefly to us. “Sure… Just don’t sit down on my bed. I just changed the sheets, man, and I don’t want you to spill any beer.” “Beer?” Maddox shakes his head, “This is soda.”

“Whatever, man. Just stay out of my bed. Don’t be like Robin and invite your dates there just because my room is cleaner…”

“Hey!” Robin exclaims. “That only happened once!” Lionel snorts. “Please, you’ve at least taken five girls into Jason’s room just because he cleans, and you don’t…”, Robin growls, but Maddox saves me from the quarrel by taking my hand.

“Come, let’s head upstairs.”

I follow Maddox while raking my brain for things I need to say. It’s hard to find words. The last thing I want is to sound incredibly insecure and whiny because let’s face it: Maddox will always have women tailing after him. We enter Jason’s room in silence. But to my surprise, Maddox locks the door behind us. “Uhh… What are you doing?” Instead of answering my question, he speaks in a confident, commanding voice. “Sit down on the bed.” “But Jason said,”

“Sit. Down. On. The. Bed.” My heart pounds. Why does Maddox look so pissed off and angry? His eyes are narrowed, and I gulp. I sit down on the bed. “W-Why do you look so upset?”

Maddox doesn’t answer me. Instead, he approaches me with storm clouds building in his eyes. He gets down on his knees in front of me, and I blink in confusion.

What is he doing?

Without warning, Maddox rips away the bandaid from my leg. Robin gave it to me earlier when he noticed the bruise on my leg. I stumbled on my way down the stairs earlier.

My leg is still bleeding. So I kind of need the bandaid. Why is Maddox removing it?!

“W-What are you doing?” I ask in a shaken voice.

Again, Maddox doesn’t answer me. His nostrils flare, and I get my answer when his hand enters his pocket. He takes out a bandaid, removes the plastic, and places it on the area where the bandaid from Robin had been a second ago. I stare at him, gaping, “You can’t be serious!” “This has been bothering me for an hour now…”

“Robin is your friend!” “Robin is a player, and you never know what he is thinking. First, he gave you his number. Then he gave you a bandaid for your injury. What’s next? Dinner and flowers?!” I lack words.

“Are you... Are you jealous?”

His eyes meet mine, dark from envy. “Oh, you really have no idea, Michelle… I was ready to punch him after he marked you.”

“Marked me?” I narrow my eyes and wonder what was in that soda we bought at the store.” What are you talking about?!”

“The bandaid, Michelle!” Maddox growls. Is tare at him, and then I can’t help myself. I burst out laughing because Maddox is acting insane.

He glares at me in response, but then his face changes. A telltale smirk spreads ove