Chapter Fifty-One – Through The Mud, On Our Way To The Stars
His heart felt like an inflated balloon inside his chest, which must be the case or otherwise, he had no explanation for why each step he took lifted him off the ground to the point that he mostly felt like he was floating. So, until now, he had known unknown love – and that had to cover every moment since… when had he really fallen for Matty? Rusty stopped for a moment to ponder over it. Had it been when they went out for ice cream? No, definitely a lot, lot sooner than that. All the crazy sex they'd had? Okay, so that played like a major role in it because Rusty loved every inch of Matty's body, as well as every drop of his kinky self. But that wasn't it, either. How far back could he go with the memories? Gabriel's birthday party… that had been a milestone, for sure. Wow, could it be that he had fallen in love when he got smacked with that ruler?
He was in the middle of the road, at night, and he was laughing. Good thing there was no one around or they might think he had gone completely bonkers. There wasn't a moment in time when he'd fallen for Matty. There couldn't be, because that kind of thing hadn't happened to him like in the movies and books. He hadn't watched Matty slinking his way past an aquarium wearing angel wings and smiling innocently at him, nor had he caught a glimpse of Matty bathing in a lake with most of his clothes on for the sake of historical accuracy, only to give Rusty butterflies at the sight of his nipples poking at the delicate fabric of his shirt. No, no, no, none of that swooning, eyelash-batting, heart-skipping-beats nonsense. Although, he might have experienced all of those things while being with Matty. He just hadn't thought about them much at the time, nor about what they meant.
One last deep breath, and he would come back to the real world, with friends who worried about him, and Matty who loved him and now needed to be shown how much he was loved back. That is if Matty still loved him. There was no time to waste. So many things to do and he had to get right on top of them all.
It was almost midnight, which meant that he needed to be very quiet and not wake up the whole house. So, he made sure to turn the key in the lock really slowly, only to…
Find himself face to face with Jonathan, who looked like someone who must have staked out the door for the last half hour or so. That meant, of course, startled.
Rusty grinned as he took in his friends, one by one. They were waiting for him, of course. Most probably all those beloved traitors had already learned that he was coming. So, he did the thing that came naturally, as his lips hadn't stopped tingling from the moment he had left Mrs. May's studio.
"Rusty, you're home," Jonathan said and that was the only thing he managed to squeeze in.
Rusty grabbed him and dipped him as if they were engaged in an elaborate dance of tango. He made Jonathan drop as close to the floor as possible while holding him, and then smooched him loudly on the lips.
"Hey, that's my fiancé," came Maddox's surprised cry.
Rusty broke the kiss and looked at Jonathan. "Sorry, Johnny boy, safe landing." He let him drop, still enjoying the flustered look in the amber eyes, and turned toward Maddie with a vengeance.
Maddox stared back, not knowing what to do or say for a moment. His mistake. Rusty grabbed him by the cheeks and kissed him, too, with a loud lip-smacking noise, until his bestie punched him in the chest.
And then, he turned, just as viciously, toward the other two. Dex, always the one to think quickly, was pushing Kane to run. That only made him laugh like a cartoon villain, throwing his head back.
"Run if you can. You're making it worse, you know? For this, I'm going to slip you some tongue, Dexter!"
Ah, it felt good to chase his friends around the house. They had nothing on him. When he put his mind to it, he was the best of the best.
"Kane, Dex, avenge us!" Maddox cried out from behind him.
Yeah, like that was going to happen.
***
Rusty smacked his lips in satisfaction as he took in his disheveled friends gathered around the table. Dex was still sticking his tongue into his water bottle, as if that would help him wash the memory away. Kane was throwing him dagger looks from the other side, while Maddox was pouting and looking cute while doing so. The only one who couldn't keep from smiling was Jonathan. Of course, he had to hide it from his fiancé. Ah, he'd always known Johnny boy was the open-minded one.
"So, you fiend," Kane said, as dry as sandpaper, "how did it go?"
"Awesome, fantastic," Rusty replied and grinned, while leaning back and placing his hands behind his head so that he could take in all his friends' reactions. "Your mom's the real deal, Johnny boy."
"I know," Jonathan said and gave him a self-assured smile. "There was no point in us going head to head with you when we had the ultimate secret weapon on our side. So, it worked."
"Yeah," Rusty admitted, balancing his chair on its back legs and enjoying himself like a schoolkid. "But you'll have to pay the price. I'm going to steal her from you and have her walk me down the aisle."
"Walk you down the aisle?" Kane asked, his eyes as big as saucers. "Who are you getting married to? When?"
"Matty, obviously," Rusty replied, hiking his shoulders up for a second. "Yeah, I know, first I need to win him back."
"When are you going to start?" Maddox asked, throwing him an unusually shrewd look.
"Chill, dude, I need to prepare first. Stop looking at me like you want to kick me in my lovely behind and send me to him right now."
"I have a wish to kick you in your smart ass and let you sleep on the doormat, actually," Maddox replied.
"Come on, my dudes, stop being so sour over a little smooching. You've done a lot worse in your lives, with your tongues especially."
Dex gave him a dirty look. "We're all pretty damn sure that we haven't done anything as remotely kinky as you've done in your life. With tongue or not."
Rusty stuck out his tongue and winked at Dex. His friend promptly stuck his tongue back into his water bottle, while Kane laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
Jonathan yawned, covering his mouth discreetly or not so discreetly since he obviously wanted to signal everyone that it was time to go to bed. If it were up to him, Rusty would keep everyone up all night, but he should be considerate of his friends' wellbeing. After all, they had been up until that hour only so they could check on him. Tongue-slipping notwithstanding, they seemed to be willing to forgive him everything. Maybe they wouldn't be so quick to forget, though, Rusty pondered while taking in all the pairs of eyes staring at him.
"Well, it's good that you're back completely," Maddox said in lieu of a conclusion while putting a possessive arm around Jonathan's shoulders. "But consider yourself warned, Rusty. Keep your hands to yourself."
Rusty put his hands up to show his complete lack of guile. "Jonathan can vouch that my hands didn't touch anywhere improper. Also, don't get your panties in a twist, my dear boyo. These hands are only going to get busy with Matty and no one else."
"You better do that," Maddox warned him again, pointing a finger at him.
"See, Dex?" Kane said in a placating voice. "Rusty promises he won't manhandle you again."
Dex looked up at his bestie with innocent eyes. "For real?"
Then, of course, both of them burst into laughter.
"Yeah, I knew it would take a lot more than that to break you, assholes," Rusty said and pursed his lips.
Kane stared at Dex. Dex stared at Kane. Damn, they were already planning their revenge. He'd have to sleep with one eye open. Who knew what would cross their devious minds?
***
"Damn," Matty muttered under his breath as he read the latest Xpress gossip that – lo and behold – featured him and a series of impossible hookups. According to the campus tabloid, he'd been involved in a threesome with twins, he was a stripper in his spare time, and sold his bathwater on questionable websites. In-between all those activities, it was a wonder he still had time to study and be a normal college kid.
The worst part of it was how random people stopped him on his way back to his dorm, to ask him if any – or all – of that was true. He had gotten so many lewd looks from guys that he felt the need to take a shower. And maybe sell the used water afterward. Ah, damn, what a mess. He had new empathy for the plight of everyone who had ever been smeared by Xpress. Those guys really knew how to turn things on their head so badly that there was no possible way to go against them.
Zoey grabbed his elbow and stopped him in his rush to get to his dorm.
"Are you sure you want to be seen with me?" he joked. "Apparently, I'm the most shocking thing since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars."
"Are you kidding me? You're famous. Don't forget where you came from, Matty," Zoey joked back and fell in line with him. "You know, there is one thing I don't understand. How the heck did they unearth Slicky Coolplums so fast?"
"They must have put two and two together," Matty said with a shrug. "In their case, in ends up totaling one thousand, but I suppose that's what happened."
"No, you don't get me, Matty. Slicky is gone. I checked."
"What?" Matty asked and turned to look at his bestie, who looked just as dumbfounded as he was. "Do you mean the cat boy suit is no longer where we buried it?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean." Zoey moved closer and held him by the front of his shirt, while stealing nervous glances around. "Someone must have followed us that night, Matty," she whispered. "There's no way anything else could have happened. It was impossible for anyone to just stumble on Slicky's grave."
"Someone from Xpress?" Matty asked in the same manner.
He made the mistake of looking at a group of guys walking past. One of them waved at him and winked. The others hooted and began pushing the guy, as if they wanted to encourage him to do more, but it looked like his courage could only get him that far.
"I need to go and lock myself in my room," Matty said brusquely. "Gawd, what does Rusty think of me now?"
"Really? That's your number one worry?" Zoey punched him in the shoulder, looking like an angry chipmunk. "Did we bury Slicky for nothing?"
"Not for nothing. I'm a porn star now," Matty said and sighed. "How many days will it take for me to keep hidden from view until people forget about my bathwater business?"
"Ugh, I hate Xpress. They made you into a star, while at my moment of glory, they made me into the nameless girl that needed rescuing. Remember that?"
"Yeah. But you wouldn't want to be in their crosshairs, Zoey. I promise you. All this fame is not everything it's cracked up to be."
"Easy for you to say, Mr. Famous. Okay, you're free to go hide, but don't you dare mope about Rusty all day, as I know you're wont to do."
"Now, why would I mope about him?" Matty said brightly.
Zoey's eyes narrowed. "Because these," she said, pushing a finger under his right eye, "don't happen to people who happily tumble into threesomes and shake their booties for fun and dough."
"Don't forget about selling bathwater. It's my bread and butter," he joked.
Zoey rolled her eyes. "Okay, you're off the hook. I see that you can laugh it off. That's good. But don't ignore my advice on not moping." She wagged a finger at him.
"I promise," Matty said while keeping his fingers crossed behind him.
Yeah, it was a bummer that he had to lie, but he had learned one important lesson ever since he and Rusty had had their falling out. There was no surefire way to hurry heartache. It took its time and that time was long. He sighed and rushed toward his dorm after a hasty goodbye to Zoey.
***
Rusty was bursting with energy. For the last few days, he had rehearsed all of the seven ways he had come up with so far to apologize to Matty, completely ignoring classes. However, he needed to go down to eat, as Jonathan had courteously warned him that he needed sustenance, while Maddox's comment that he looked like warmed over shit had touched his sensitive heart. When he told Matty how sorry he was for being an asshole, he needed to look his best. Also, he needed to work hard if Matty was going to take him back, because all that hooking up with Jamie had very possibly left a long-lasting impression on his baby dude. It took him all his willpower not to call that asshole and tell him 'hands off'. Could he take Jamie in a one-on-one wrestling match? Or would they have to throw punches at each other? Damn, now he needed to train on top of everything else.
He dropped to the floor to start doing pushups, but his phone pinged. Maddox was hungry and warned him that they wouldn't wait for him. Okay, so he needed protein to build some more muscle. How long did it take for that to happen? He was about to google it when Maddox sent another text, more menacing in nature. Rusty hurried down, putting his preparations on hold for a while.
When he arrived downstairs, his friends were engaged in a serious conversation.
"For real?" Maddox asked. "But it's kind of late, right?"
Jonathan shook his head. "I can't say I blame him. With the crusade going against him… he must have taken it to heart."
Ah, they were probably talking about Dean Preston. That was another thing he needed to set in order, but even a king had to have priorities.
"I heard that he's already submitted his transfer papers. It's a shame that he's not going to graduate with the rest of us," Kane said, looking upset.
"What are you guys talking about?" Rusty asked as he grabbed a chair and a fork, ready to enjoy Jonathan's cooking with his usual gusto.
Dex sighed. "Matty."
"What? What do you mean, Matty? Is he going to transfer?" Rusty asked, fork suspended half-way to his mouth.
"Yes," Jonathan said and offered him a helpless look. "Xpress dogpiled on him these last few days in the most horrible way."
"Because of that, he's been cooped up in his dorm room every day," Maddox added. "And he hasn't taken any of our phone calls."
Yeah, Rusty had skimmed through all that crap and smiled, thinking that Matty was probably having a laugh, too. However, according to his friends, Matty was really taking all that crap to heart. That wasn't like him… but Rusty treating him so unfairly must have broken him.
His appetite was gone. He dropped his fork and pushed himself away from the table. His plan needed some serious ironing out still, but he was also seriously running out of time. It had to happen, and it had to happen tonight.
"Sorry, guys, I'm not hungry," he said quickly. "I have a thousand things to do."
No one tried to stop him. Good, because he didn't have time to argue about the importance of three healthy meals a day.
***
"Rusty Parker!" someone shouted at him as he was coming back from his errands, his backpack full of everything he needed.
He stopped and turned to see John, Matty's former – or was he current? – roommate, walking toward him purposefully, with murder written all over his face.
"Yeah? Come on, man, whatever it is, shoot," Rusty said quickly.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" John crossed his arms and, in his outrage, swung his body so much that his shoulder bag, that looked like it had been stuffed with all the books needed for four years of college, almost dropped to the ground. Its owner caught it right in the nick of time.
"I'm on borrowed time here, so enlighten me." Rusty opened his arms wide. His backpack didn't swing about him out of control.
John pursed his lips, then put his bag down and began rummaging through it. He stood erect and pushed a bundle into Rusty's chest.
"This. This is your doing."
Rusty threw an unsure look at John and then studied the bundle in his arms. Damn, was that…
"Where did you find this?"
"Funny you should ask. The same place Matty buried his love for you. You asshole."
"Wow, okay. I mean, for real, how did you get this?"
John hiked his bag back onto his shoulder. "None of your business. It wasn't easy. That's all you need to know."
Rusty caught the guy by one shoulder as he made a move to walk away.
"Wait, wait, wait."
"You can't force me to tell you anything," John said defensively.
"Okay. Since you're in such a doing-good mood, what's the deal with your leader and Preston?"
John stared at him with delight. "What are you going to do about it, failed king?"
"Ah, damn, you're really trying to rile me up, aren't you?"
John shrugged. His face lit up with glee. "Word on the street is that you're not going to do anything because you're finished. It's because of you Matty's such a mess now. It serves you right. Everyone's turning their back on you."
"Blabber much, you still won't make any sense," Rusty said and let go of John's shoulder. "But about Matty… I'm going to make things right. That's why you gave me this, correct?" He balanced the muddied Slicky costume in his other hand. The thing was in a horrible state and smelled of freshly dug soil. Too bad he couldn't see how he would be able to clean it and dry it by tonight. It didn't matter. His plan, as imperfect as it was, was in motion. It just had to work.
John gave him another look, full of meaning only he could understand. "They're talking nonsense, Xpress. You've never been worthy of Matty."
Rusty sighed. "Well, I can't exactly contradict you about that. Still, people can work on themselves to become better. Worthier."
"Good luck with that. Matty has moved on already. Although his taste in men is still horrendous. Something else you should be blamed for."
"Okay, okay, I take full responsibility." Tonight, his heart would be handed to Matty never to be asked to be returned. "Although, you should tell your boss I will come for him. Preston's not going to leave Sunny Hill while I'm still king."
He said those last words as he was already walking. John stared after him and their eyes met for a moment. The little asshole looked pretty triumphant, like he knew shit.
***
"What is it now, Rusty?" August asked, sounding like she had just been woken up from a nap.
"There's no time to sleep. I'm coming to you, and I must warn you. I'm armed and dangerous."
"No way," August commented, still sleepily, but in her usual ironic tone. "What's your weapon of choice, outlaw?"
"A little mandolin," Rusty replied honestly. "You have today to learn my piece by heart."
"I see. You're looking forward to getting strangled. No problem. It can be arranged. I'm just reading a book on hiding bodies."
Rusty laughed wholeheartedly. "Excellent. That means you'll help me."
"Of course. Come already so that I can start. And then you can tell me all about your plan. Just checking, though. Is it about Matty?"
"Totally about him. And by the way, August," he said quietly, "you were definitely right."
"Yeah, I usually am. See, I'm merciful. I'm not forcing you to spell it out."
"There's no need for you to do so. I'm suddenly wise enough to admit it. I'm in love with him. I don't know how it happened, but this strange feeling has to be love. There's no other explanation. I mean, I feel a little sick and happy at the same time."
"It sounds like it, then. Okay, let's rehearse. I have a feeling I know how professing your love will happen."
"Yeah, like that. You know me."
"Yeah."
Rusty stared for a moment at his phone, and then he made another decision. No more hiding behind masks tonight. He no longer cared what the world thought about him.
***
Matty could swear his dreams had just turned really weird. There was singing, and it was pretty loud. Also, he could hear something plinking against his window at what seemed like regular intervals. Wait, this wasn't a dream he realized and threw off the blanket covering him.
Definitely, it was singing, and it sounded like… Rybalt?! He started when he heard the same plinking sound against his window. Someone was throwing pebbles, it seemed. Without even thinking, and half-believing he was still trapped in a dream, he walked over to the window and opened it wide.
To be met with the sight of Rusty perched on one of branches of the tree close to the dorm building, the same one Matty had climbed to get inside his room before, while trying to sneak about as Slicky Coolplums.
Rusty stopped for a moment and then he appeared to start singing from the beginning, holding one arm toward him in supplication. He looked like a dramatic personage, moaning his love, although Matty had no idea what the words meant. He grabbed his glasses and stared out the window. All around the campus, lights were beginning to come on. From below, the sound of a stringed instrument being plucked at just the right moments accompanied the vocal performance.
If this were a dream, it was his kind of dream, he thought. But the chilly evening air caressed his face, and he could tell that the astonished sounds coming from the other open windows were real. And they weren't all friendly.
"Rusty," he whispered, "get your ass inside! And where's your mask?"
Rusty completely ignored him and continued his aria, still holding his arm out to him. Matty rolled his eyes, but the music touched him. He leaned over the windowsill and locked eyes with Rusty – as much as was possible in the dim glow cast by the streetlamps scattered around campus. By now, some people were probably calling security. Mid-terms were fast approaching and many students wanted to focus on their studies.
However, right now, he couldn't and wouldn't stop him for the world. Rusty was singing his heart out in Italian as far as Matty could tell, and it had to be all for him.
The last foreign words died away on Rusty's lips, and his arm dropped. With it, so did Matty's heart. Was this some farewell song he couldn't understand? He noticed Rusty looking down and then reaching into his pocket. The sound of a coin being flipped ensued, and Matty looked down, leaning dangerously out of the window, to glimpse a shadow catch the offered coin and slyly move away with what looked like an instrument in their arms.
"Are you still inviting me in?" Rusty's ragged whisper pulled him back to reality.
Matty looked around and the noises coming from all sides caused him to spring into action. "Quick," he urged and Rusty jumped with precise grace from the tree branch, grabbing hold of the ledge of Matty's window. He made room for him and dragged him inside.
Hopefully, campus security was still far away. Matty closed the window quickly and pulled the curtains shut. And then, he turned to face his fate.
Rusty was there, in flesh and blood. It was no dream. He could tell that at least. And he had no idea what to say.
"What was that song about?" he asked, feeling out of his element. Rusty had dropped his Rybalt mask, and he had done it for him.
"Delicious things," Rusty replied and smiled at him. "I'll tell you all about it."
It hurt Matty to see that smile. He didn't even know where to start. For so many days, he had hoped to see Rusty smiling at him like that, and now that he had what he wanted, he had no idea what to do with it.
"Rusty, what do you want?" he asked numbly. He had grown fearful, it seemed. That wasn't like him.
Rusty took another step forward and stopped in front of him. Then, he pulled something out of his backpack and handed it to him.
It was his Slicky costume. It was streaked with mud, yet, it still felt familiar under his fingers. He really didn't want to cry. This was all beyond surreal, and he had done his best to keep it together throughout the last days, hadn't he?
"Rusty, what do you want?" he repeated the same question.
Rusty's eyes were soft. So were his mouth and his smile.
"I want you to keep your promise."
"What promise? I don't remember any promise."
"Okay, you're right about that. I want you to keep… your word? You said you loved me. If that's gone, though, I get it."
"No, it's not gone," Matty said very quietly. He looked away, afraid to stare at Rusty for too long. It hurt him in places he didn't know he could hurt to be having this conversation. And he still didn't know what his night visitor wanted from him.
"Say what?" Rusty's voice was raspy and so very close.
Matty bit his bottom lip. "You're such a bastard, Rusty Parker. Do you really want me to humiliate myself again?"
Rusty's touch was gentle on his cheek, feather-like. "Xpress is eating crap by the spoonful. Only you can end up with the king."
Matty looked up. "What's that supposed to--"
He didn't have time to finish his question. Rusty pressed his lips against his, coaxing him into a kiss. After so much time going without such things, he was afraid to breathe, scared that the magic of them would break and leave him out in the cold like before.
Then Rusty spoke. "I've tried my whole life to please the world, to make them like me. But you know what? I've never had to try with you. That should have given me a hint."
"Because I love you?" Matty dared to look at Rusty, their eyes meeting. From up close, he felt he was hopeless. Maybe heartbreak lasted forever, because he couldn't see himself loving anyone else, and that was stupid, because he was the guy with logic and numbers by his side, and such things weren't possible. He only needed to continue staring into Rusty's eyes to know that he was feeding himself lies. There was no turning back from this.
"No," Rusty said gently and pushed Matty's hair back from his forehead in a gesture that seemed both careful and absent-minded, like something you did with people you'd known and cared about for a long time. "It's because I love you. And I don't have to pretend with you. Ever."
"What?"
"I love you," Rusty said again. "You have every right in the world to tell me to fuck off, but you might have a problem getting out of your room because I'm going to sleep in front of your door from now on. Don't think this is just an empty threat. Also, I will follow you around like a dog. I'll make sure to scare off all your hookups--"
"Don't tell me you've bought into whatever idiotic things Xpress has been vomiting on virtual pages these last few days."
"No. I know for a fact they were lying because I've looked all over the Internet for your bathwater. It's not on sale anywhere."
"You're joking."
"I wish I was."
"Damn, Rusty, you're just so extra."
"Well, I guess you've known that for a while. Don't expect me to be the kind who keeps this thing under wraps now. That is, of course, if I still have a chance."
Matty remained quiet for a bit. He knew Rusty was staring at him, could feel his hot breath on his hair and forehead.
"You know, I really never imagined what you confessing your love would look like."
"Disappointed?"
Matty felt his chest getting lighter as he looked up. "No, not at all. Actually, it surpasses all my expectations. But you'll have to tell me what that song is about."
Rusty smiled. "Mainly about sex. About me, how I used to be. Only that, this time, unlike the character singing it, I mean it. You need to think beforehand, though, Matty. Because you need to be sure that you want to save this Don Giovanni from his fate."
"I have only a vague idea about Don Giovanni and its sad ending. I guess I need to start listening to more opera from now on. What happens to him?"
"Well, he was a womanizer, so he ends up burning in hell."
"Ouch. We can't let the same thing happen to you, then."
"I'm glad you think so. I'm at your mercy."
"Okay. I'm going to take care of you, keep you out of hell and all that," Matty said and sighed, not in pain, but in relief.
"Really? Are you taking me back? Just like that?"
"Don't tell me you want me to make it hard for you. I'm not the kind to play games."
"Damn," Rusty whispered, "that Jamie must really suck in bed."
TBC