Chapter Text
Maya checks her phone for the first time in a few days. She’d been busy setting up her dorm and trying to convince the dean to let her change dorms. The universe hated her; her roommate was none other than Rowan. Her half-brother. She’d much rather be stuck with anyone but Rowan.
She gets a notification from Jason asking to talk in person, saying he has bad news. Maya messages back, telling him to meet her at the courtyard.
Maya doesn’t tell Rowan she’s leaving, and he doesn’t care. The semester hasn’t even started, and he’s already hungover from a binge-drinking session the previous night. Maya was worried, but still, she has places to be.
Maya meets Jason in the courtyard. He’s distracted by watching the birds in the sky, but when he sees Maya, he snaps back to reality.
Maya stands in front of him, “you said you had bad news?” She notices the way he avoids eye contact. Despite being stoic, serious, and professional, Jason could not make eye contact for the life of him.
Jason nods and picks at the skin around his nails. Maya recognises this nervous tic.
(God, what did he do?)
“I’m gay.” Jason doesn’t sugarcoat it or beat around the bush. Maya pauses for a moment, confused as to why that’s bad news, before she remembers she and Jason are supposed to be dating. Jason taps his foot against the ground, awaiting Maya’s reaction. It’s not like she couldn’t already tell he was gay, but it was good to have it confirmed.
Maya nods, “in that case, I have good news.”
Jason furrows his brows and hums in question.
“I’m a lesbian,”
“Oh.” Jason nods. “So… What do we do about us? Your father wants us together.” He glances back to the birds in the sky for a few moments while Maya thinks.
“We can just make it seem like we’re dating.” She suggests. Jason nods at the idea.
“So we can see other people if we want to?” Jason asks. Maya raises an eyebrow.
“Why are you asking?” Maya struggles to stifle a grin, “but, yes, we can.”
Jason lets out a soft, seemingly relieved sigh. “Well, how do you feel about college?” He quickly changes the subject.
Maya shrugs, “I’m okay with it. Classes start tomorrow, so we’ll see how I feel, but it’s my roommate I have a problem with.” She pushes her glasses up.
“Who’s your roommate?” Jason questions.
Maya sighs, “Rowan. My roommate is my half-brother.” She’s obviously annoyed about it. She folds her arms across her chest.
Jason grimaces. “God, that’s horrible. My roommates are alright.”
Maya hums, glad the conversation was less tense now (and also glad that her suspicions about Jason being gay were confirmed). “Who are your roommates?”
Jason takes a moment to think, “someone called Maddox and someone called Louis. Maddox usually stays in their room, and I think Louis might know Rowan.”
Maya’s eyes widen. Maddox? She’s initially stunned before exhaling shakily and fidgeting with her fingers. “Maddox as in Maddox Horowitz?”
Jason raises an eyebrow. “You know them? But, yes. Maddox, as in Maddox Horowitz.”
Maya bites the inside of her cheek. Fuck. She loved them, but she hadn’t talked to them in almost two years after ‘the Rowan incident’. For almost two years, Maya had thought of Maddox every single day. It was almost sad how she was in love with someone who had probably forgotten she existed.
“What do they study?” She prays to whatever higher power there is that there’s some chance she’ll have a class with Maddox.
Jason spends a moment thinking. “I think they study psychology and English. I don’t know them well, but I got a glimpse of their schedule.”
Maya studies English and biology. She had a chance of having a class with them. Her heart skips a beat, and she stifles a small smile. “Good to know.”
Jason’s phone buzzes. “I have to go get Louis from work. I’ll see you later.”
“See you later, Jason.”
“Goodbye and goodnight.” He says before leaving. Maya decides to stay in the courtyard. She sits by an oak tree and watches the sunset. Her phone rings a few times—all calls from Rowan—but she ignores them. She needs some time away from Rowan.
Louis lets out a relieved sigh when he sees Jason’s car. Now, Jason and him didn’t exactly get along, but he couldn’t walk the two miles from Asda to the dorms without ending up passing out.
He knew he needed to go to the doctor for that, but with everything going on, he didn’t have the time for a doctor's appointment, nor did he have the time for all the other referrals. He would be totally fine if he just waited it out and ignored the fact he definitely has an undiagnosed chronic illness.
When Louis gets in the car and buckles his seatbelt, Jason turns off the radio.
“How was work? Anything to complain about today?” He doesn’t look at Louis when talking, instead keeping his eyes fixed on the road despite the car being parked. Louis assumes that Jason hates him, which is somewhat true but mostly not. Jason had a soft spot for Louis, no matter how much he tried to deny it.
Louis begins to rant about his day while Jason drives. As soon as they get back to the dorm, Louis collapses onto his bed while Jason talks to Maddox.
“Do you know Maya?” He asks while Maddox sits on the couch.
They shrug. “I know two Maya’s. You’ll need to be more specific.”
“Maya Astor.” Jason elaborates. Maddox’s eyes widen.
“Wait, Rowan’s sister?” They ask while moving to sit upright. They know that Jason can tell something happened between them and Maya, but in all honesty, they do not care.
Jason nods.
Maddox’s heart skips a beat. “Yeah. I know her.” They force their lips into a straight line to stop themself from smiling. Sure, they hadn’t seen or talked to Maya in two years, but she hadn’t slipped their mind.
“Did she ask about me?” They try to seem disinterested, but the way they obviously perked up as soon as Jason brought her up makes it obvious they’ve been thinking about her.
Jason, somehow not noticing the signs of Maddox’s painfully obvious crush, nods. “She asked about your classes.”
Maddox nods and takes a deep breath to steady themself. “Okay.”
They wait until Jason goes into his room to read, and as soon as they’re alone, they let a small grin make its way onto their face:
One new message from Rowan.
Even though Louis was meant to be in love with Rowan, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of annoyance (and slight disgust) at every single message he got from him. They were all sexual and gross. He just wanted someone that loved him, not his body, but in his years of life, he’s never gotten that, and it seems too late to start looking now.
He’ll be just fine.