The next day, the rumours about Riley hadn't settled down yet. His classmates, people from the team, and even random students in the middle of the hallway kept talking about Riley whenever they saw him.

Riley was in his room with Jessie and Cameron, trying to trace who started the whole rumour mess by posting Riley's naked picture. Their plan was to link the picture to the person Riley sent it to and when, so that they could find out their identity.

But the problem was that Riley kept sending the same picture to everyone he was sexting. 

"Either way it seals the deal," Riley defended himself by saying it was the one with the best angle.

Jessie was the one to let out the disappointing news, as he gave up trying to track down who started it all. "It's like a needle in a haystack, practically everyone has your nudes - and this was before it was posted publicly!"

"What do you suggest I do then?"

Cameron closed his laptop shut as he had enough of rifting through his roommate's sex life. "Probably just wait for it to blow over."

"Like how people stopped calling me a criminal behind my back," Jessie recalled. "Another scandal will come, and they will soon forget about this."

Cameron picked up his keys and wallet, and was about to leave the room when he told them both, "I'm going to pick up Luke from town and then grab some food for us on the way back, you guys want anything in particular?"

When they shook their heads, Cameron left them alone while Riley kept listing all the things that were bothering him.

"Is this picture edited?" Riley asked as he showed it to Jessie, "I'm almost positive it's not that small."

"Riley..."

"And look at these comments. 'He's really selfish in bed', 'Riley Williams never gave me an orgasm', and 'He cried after we both came'..."

Jessie accidentally laughed at the last comment, and he looked away when Riley gave him an murderous look. "Sorry."

Jessie heard Riley typing away on his phone, to probably rebuttal all the comments made about him. Underneath the cocky exterior, Jessie could feel that it was effecting him more than he let on.

After he finished typing his last comment, Riley looked at Jessie with a questioning look. "These rumours are fake, aren't they?"

"Well I've never seen you cry after we had sex, if that helps..."

Riley wasn't satisfied with his answer as he threw his phone on the bed, walking over to Jessie and crushing his lap by sitting on top of him.

"You're so heavy!" Jessie squirmed as he tried to push Riley off him.

"Come on, just tell me the truth." Riley whispered, "I can take it."

"Don't tell me it's bothering you this much, Riley... You're always so cocky and boastful about your sex life."

Riley looked over Jessie's shoulder so that he avoided his gaze. He remained quiet as silence filled the air between them.

Giving in, "Fine, I can 100% confirm that they are all false. That good enough for you?"

The facade left Riley's face as he ended up grinning back at Jessie. With that look, Jessie knew that he had just been played.

"And here I was feeling a bit sorry for you." Jessie pushed his whole body forward so that they landed on the floor, with Riley underneath him. Jessie then got up onto the bed while Riley stayed on the floor.

"Right now, I'm worried that people I haven't slept with yet will believe them. And I can't exactly get you to vouch for me."

"You're such a pig." Jessie told Riley as he threw his own pillow at his head. "Like Cameron said, it will all blow over when there's another scandal. And then you can go back to being Casanova - but with sexting hopefully."

"What if the next one is about us?"

Jessie couldn't hide the fear on his face when he thought the whole school found about them when he was tagged in the forum. Even right now, Jessie became terrified about the thought of everyone finding out about their hookups.

Riley got up from the floor and placed a comforting hand on Jessie's knee. "But you don't have to worry about that. I promise you can trust me, and that everything stays between us."

And for once, in a very long time, Jessie knew that he could. He nodded his head as he smiled back at Riley, who felt equally happy that Jessie could trust him.

Riley then moved his hand up Jessie's thigh, and began to work on the belt that was holding his jeans on.

"What are you doing?" Jessie asked in a low whisper, as he felt his body pushed back onto Riley's bed.

"Just making sure you don't take back how I'm not selfish in bed..."

~~~~~~~~~~

The group of friends made it to the party that one of their teammates were throwing in their dorm. Riley promised that he was going to be on his best behaviour, to not add fuel to the fire that was already burning him.

Riley grabbed a drink from the table, hoping that being drunk would help ignore the looks that he were given.

Luke joined him as he tried to offer his friend some distracting thoughts. "I heard that Miss Savannah is sleeping with Theresa from English Lit."

"Wait really?!" Riley thought that was a lot more juicy than his sex life being spread across the school.

Luke shrugged his shoulders as he sipped his cup. "It's just a rumour, like the situation with you."

"But mine's not a rumour, everyone has seen everything - and literally everything." Riley countered with frustration in his voice. "More and more shit is being made up about me, and it's really annoying that I have to defend myself every single time."

As if it was awfully convenient, two girls that Riley was positive he never met before, walked up to him. "Is it true you got Gonorrhoea from a bathhouse?"

Her friend shoved her shoulder, spilling her beer as she attempted to correct her. "No no, it was Syphilis from when he slept with one of the teachers."

Riley walked away from everyone after he told them to leave him alone. Downing a shot of vodka, Riley finished his beer as he grabbed another one before he began to occupy the bathroom for the foreseeable future.

He was nursing his beer when someone knocked on the door. "Occupied! You might get Chlamydia if you sit on the toilet after me anyway!"

"It's me you moron, open up."

Riley opened the door for Jessie, and locked it behind them. Jessie sat down on the bathroom counter while Riley was still trying to avoid everyone by glueing himself onto the toilet seat.

"I take it that it's worse out there?"

Jessie laughed as he nodded his head. "Apparently I'm the one that started it, for payback after you snitched on me to my parents."

Riley clinked his glass with Jessie's as they drank together. They slowly let time pass by as  Riley was still hiding himself from the world.

"So how come you're with me instead of finding your next whore?" Riley asked.

Jessie offered Riley a warm smile as he spoke softly. "I thought you could do with a friend that understood what it's like to have everyone gossip about you behind your back."

Riley focussed on the wrong part of Jessie's statement, as he ended up teasing him instead. "You called my your friend."

"Are you going to do this every time I call you that?"

"Yes."

"Don't be such a dork," Jessie laughed.

Riley's phone alerted to another post was made about himself. Jessie looked over Riley's shoulder as they read the latest thing about him.

"That's it, no more hiding now."

Jessie followed Riley who had stormed out of the bathroom. He watched Riley stand on top of the table, and shout loudly to get everyone's attention.

"Whichever bastard that is writing stuff about me needs to cut it out right now. I am sick of reading all of this fake shit, and quite frankly, it's pathetic."

Jessie was leaning against the door when he felt someone barge into him, trying to see what all the commotion was about. He recognised the guy, and Jessie knew it was the same guy that he and Cameron walked in on the other day.

The guy was pissed off as he drew everyone's attention by talking back to Riley. "You're the bastard that thinks it's alright to treat people like trash, screwing people over so you can get your own way."

Riley's face grew heated as it dawned on him that the guy, who was pining on him for a while, started the whole mess. "This was your sick joke? We had sex once, and I made it perfectly clear I didn't want a relationship with you. You're mental if you think it was right to start all those rumours."

"They're not rumours!" The guy argued, "I saw how everything is disgusting down there!"

Jessie saw everything happen before he could truly react. He watched Riley stand above everyone as he reached to unbuckle his belt.

'Please don't...'

Riley pulled his underwear and jeans down, revealing everything to everyone at the party. "No STIs, STDs, metal piercings, elephant tattoos, and no vagina either!"

Jessie ran forward to cover Riley up with his jacket, making sure that no one could see his crazy outburst. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Proving to everyone that whatever that guy said is fake, as well as all the other scorned lovers, who thought they could get payback because I wouldn't date them."

Riley began to put his clothes back on behind Jessie's barrier, as everyone's eyes turned to the flustered guy that ran out the door.

"I'm not finished with you yet asshole!" Riley shouted out as he went to chase the guy.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia handed Jessie a drink as they sat down together. They stepped away from the window as they finished watching Riley attack the guy that started all those rumours.

"The dude got what was coming to him," Jessie defended Riley, as he felt it was justified. "People actually believed the crap that was made about him."

"Even I believed them," Olivia said. "I mean it wasn't totally far fetched..."

"But it is! Everyone believed those stupid rumours, because they don't know Riley like I do."

Olivia silenced Jessie by kissing him. When he smiled back at her, she leaned in for one more kiss. "I don't want to talk about Riley anymore..."

Jessie grinned as he sought out another kiss on the lips. But Olivia giggled when she swerved her head slightly out of the way. "I want to talk about us."

"No fun," Jessie chuckled. "What about us?"

"I'm going home during Easter break, and because I'm leaving on Friday, I thought we could go on a date tomorrow?"

Jessie didn't expect this as he was slightly taken back. "Like a date date? I thought we were better of as friends?"

Olivia nodded her head she held Jessie's hand. "I remember. But lately things have been happening in my life, and you're the only guy I want to talk to them about. And I think it's because I care for you more than a friend..."

"I see."

Olivia continued speaking honestly as she brushed her hair behind her ears. "I miss how we haven't been so close lately, so I thought that we can go somewhere outside of town and spend some quality time together. Like a-"

"Date..." Jessie whispered as he finished her words for her.

When he thought about it, Olivia hasn't been around a lot lately. And he did miss having her as a friend at least.

The chemistry was still there between them, which was indicated by Jessie's fluttering heartbeat whenever he looked at her.

When they first started dating, Olivia was the one that stopped anything from happening. Jessie wasn't truly happy with the decision, as he had his own reservations about stopping their potential relationship from even blooming.

Jessie didn't want to miss out on another opportunity to be with Olivia, the same confident girl who seemed like she was the girl next door.

"It's a date."

==========