..:Dangerously In Love:..

Love is all about taking chances, not being afraid to take the next step. Whether it lasts or burns out, it is an experience that always changes our lives. Matt Evans knows this better than anyone.

WARNING:

This story will contain a prominent male/male relationship. If that bothers you, then read no further.

Chapter One

Alcohol

The hip-hop beat coming from the people-sized amps in the house’s den was enough to burst the ear drums of most college students. For some reason, intoxication changed the rules. Throughout the large fraternity house people were playing aggressive games of beer-pong, chatting during more social drinking games over decks of cards, and cheering on the old-fashioned but entertaining chugging competitions. The common denominator for everyone was alcohol, save for the poor soul who decided to stay sober.

Matt Evans stood behind the Omega Beta Theta bar and served drinks to his peers. Not out of necessity, but more so for entertainment. If he was going to stay sober to make sure nothing was broken, trashed, or thrown out of windows, he may as well get some amusement out of it.

Matt. If he were summed up in three words: strong, outgoing, and kind. Not a combination found in most fraternity guys. Maybe that’s why he was so popular with the girls he came to know. His hair was dark and shaggy, his jaw-line defined. His lips were a little thin, but hid a perfect smile. He was well kept, but every now and then let a five-o’clock shadow creep across his face. Indeed, most of the girls he knew called him the perfect catch, though those same girls would be no more than friends with him. He was just so nice.

“MATTY!” a brunette hollered as she fell sloppily onto the wet and sticky bar.

“Britney?” Matt smiled, “Had too many?”

“You know,” the inebriated girl said as she slipped behind the bar with Matt, “I think Chris is trying to get me drunk.”

Matt looked at her, at 5’11 he stood a good 6 inches taller than the short bombshell, “Technically he’s your boyfriend, he doesn’t have to.”

Britney shrugged, “Oh well, he’ll never find me back here.”

Matt shook his head and turned his attention to a red-headed cutie who had approached the bar. She leaned over the bar and planted a kiss on his lips.

“Did I ever tell you you’re really sexy when you’re mixing drinks and opening beer?” Abby smiled.

She was the girl who could be more than friends with him. A sister of Kappa Gamma Delta, she was the yin to his yang. Matt was from a small south Georgia town with a population the size of Abby’s high school. She was raised in a rich suburb in the greater Atlanta area. She was worldly, wild, and a bit bitchy if rubbed the wrong way. Matt, however, had never been outside of the South. Though he loved to party, his drinking ability could not match the little red-head.

“No,” Matt grinned, “but you can tell me all you want.”

“I just wanted to tell you I’m headed next door to sleep,” Abby’s sorority house was right next to Matt’s fraternity, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Matt nodded and kissed her, “Bye.”

“BYE ABBY!” Britney hollered ten minutes after Abby had left. She jumped up, but moved to quickly for her stomach. She quickly released all of the alcohol she had been guzzling all night long on the floor right next to Matt.

“Uh.” She said as clutched her stomach.

Matt sighed heavily, “Dammit!”

-X-X-X-X-

The sun was just rising over the trees and houses up and down Milledge Avenue, better known in Athens, Georgia as fraternity and sorority row, when Abby pounced into bed with her boyfriend.

“Uh,” Matt grumbled as he opened his eyes, shielding them with his hand from the rising sun, “Abby?”

“Uh huh,” Abby kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, “unless you’ve got other girls sneaking in your bed at 10 am.”

“Shut up.”

Abby jumped up from his bed and opened his closet, fishing through his clothes for something he could wear. This was a normal tradition by now. She would wake him up for class, grab some clothes for him, and they would head off to class together. She was much more of a morning person than Matt.

By the time she had grabbed a polo, a pair of jeans, and kicked his shoes out from under his desk, Matt had barely ruffled his shaggy brown hair.

“C’mon!” Abby threw the clothes down on his lap, “I don’t care how drunk you got last night, you’re at UGA for class too.”

Matt rose from the bed and began to get dressed, “I didn’t drink, but I did clean. You need to tell your friend Britney to watch how much she drinks.”

Abby smiled, she and Britney had gone to the same high school, and had remained friends through half of their college years. Now that they were juniors, they were still tight.

“She never has been much for moderation,” Abby said as she stepped up closer to Matt. She reached under his shirt and pinched his tight stomach, “and lucky for me you have.”

“SHUT UP!” hollered Matt’s near comatose roommate, Trey, from across the room.

“Looks like you’re the only one in the house who is,” Abby grinned as she grabbed her book bag. As she left the room, she smacked Trey as hard as she could on his butt, “Good luck recovering!”

Matt left the room, but not before hearing a loud grunt from Trey.

-X-X-X-X-

Six months. Not long in comparison to most long-term relationships, but a pretty notable accomplishment for college students. Six months that Matt and Abby had been together. Six months that they had been faithful to one another. Six months of which Matt’s and Abby’s friends had been telling them that they never would make it. Why?

“Because you’re two different people!”

Matt eyed his cocky co-worker. She was loud at times, a bit obnoxious, but fun to be around. She’s a classic know-it-all with no censor between her brain and her mouth. But when it came to strength of bonds, Laura was next to none. A full-figured black sophomore, she was a year behind Matt in school. When she started working as a waitress alongside him at La Ciudad Clásica, the most popular Mexican restaurant in town.

“I’m just saying,” Laura spoke as she leaned on the cashier counter, “she’s not right for you.”

“And why is that?” said the girl standing behind the register: Maria, the Hispanic hostess who was a junior alongside Matt. Unlike Laura, she was more reserved with what she had to say, but had a temper hotter than anyone would guess.

“Because she’s a sorostitute, for one,” Laura eyed Matt.

“The term is frat mattress,” Maria corrected, “and not all of them are sluts.”

“This is my girlfriend you two are talking about,” Matt reminded them.

“Hush,” Laura held her finger up, “the grown girls are talking.”

“Hold on,” Matt glanced outside, “I think Rico is calling me, I’ll be back.” He stepped away and headed behind the restaurant’s bar.

Laura followed his gaze outside and turned to grab Matt, but he had already slipped outside of arm’s length. What he had been looking at was a small family heading getting out of a car: an older man and woman and a small child. Laura turned and glared at Matt, as she did they got closer to the door.

“Oh, no,” Laura shook her head at Matt, “you are not sticking me with those tight-wad sons of—“

A bell rang as the three entered the restaurant.

“—Hi! Welcome to Classic City!” Laura forced a smile as she turned to face them.

They grunt as Maria seats them. Laura trails after them, glancing to Matt who smiles at her as she walks. She quickly flicks him off.

-X-X-X-X-

Matt leaned back in his desk chair as he stretched out the pains of the day. Long classes, long shift at work, and he ended up sitting on his desk chair wasting the rest of his night. Trey hadn’t made it in, he was probably still in his study course for the MCAT. Matt chuckled at the thought of Trey, the drunk-ass he loved to call a roommate, being a doctor.

A quiet beep jerked him out of his thoughts. It was an IM.

soccerluver: hey man, how’s it goin?

Matt eyed the ID, one he did not recognize. But that wasn’t uncommon through this messenger.

southerndawg0102: hey dude, pretty lame, nothing goin on over here. u?

soccerluver: sounds like fun, maybe, right?

southerndawg0102: wrong

soccerluver: fair enough, why are you on tonight?

southerndawg0102: the only reason i’m ever on, i’ve got nothing to do.

soccerluver: are you looking for something to do?

Matt sighed. It never failed on there, everyone was always the same.

southerndawg0102: if that means someone to do, then no. i don’t play that game.

soccerluver: that’s good, just checkin. there’s a lot of sketchballs on here.

Okay, maybe not. Matt eyed the computer screen. He smiled and started to type again, but Trey busted into the room.

“HOLY SHIT I HATE THE MCAT!!” Trey exclaimed as he plopped down onto his bed.

Matt quickly shut his laptop, he couldn’t risk Trey seeing the conversation he was just having. One thing about Matt was that he was a good guy, with good intentions. But he had a secret. One that he had been trying to get rid of, but just couldn’t. It was something that would tarnish his southern heritage, threaten his place as a member of his fraternity, and even break the friendships he had.

It wasn’t AIM that he was chatting on, or Yahoo! or MSN. It was nothing that the average frat guy would be talking over. It was Gay . com.

-X-X-X-X-

Author’s Note: There’s the first chapter! I haven’t posted anything in a while, so if you have any suggestions or comments please let me know! Thanks for reading!