Fourteen

Selcouth

(Adj.)

When everything is strange and unusual.

Jess heard the news from Isaac about them losing the game. He felt bad for the boy and let him talk about the events of the game but he didn't let the news affect him. If it weren't for his interest in Isaac he wouldn't care at all.

That morning he went about his normal routine.  He ate something small in the morning and then sat on the couch. He was waiting for Daisy because she would always make the weekends better.

"Jess." His mother's voice sounded sorrowful as she left her bedroom and that was never a good sign.

It's ten in the morning. Please don't, not today.

"Cliff just called. Daisy has a doctor's appointment so she won't be here until tomorrow."

"Oh." He tried to give her a smile. "Well that's okay. We'll get to spend time with her tomorrow right?"

"Right." His mother managed a weak smile. She then leaned down to kiss him on the head before walking to the kitchen.

Jess sighed and pulled out his phone. He debated it for a long time before finally deciding to just do it. He tapped on Isaac's contact and sent a text.

Jess:

Still okay with me intruding on your solitude whenever?

He didn't get a reply very soon. The longer it took the more anxious he felt. Was that a stupid thing to ask? What if Isaac never even meant that? What if he was being made the butt of the joke right now.

It was a good twenty minutes before he finally heard back. He almost dropped his phone out of surprise when it chimed. He was beginning to doubt he'd get an answer that morning.

Isaac:

Of course.

Did you want to hangout?

Jess:

If it's alright

Isaac:

Yeah

Do you want me to pick you up?

Jess didn't like to intrude. He didn't like asking for things he didn't need. Normally in this situation he would've turned down the offer and either walked or got Kleandra to drop him off. However, the thought of getting to spend just that extra little amount of time with Isaac made him smile.

Jess:

If you can that'd be nice.

Isaac:

Yeah, I can be over there in like 20 minutes if you want?

Jess:

Sounds good.

Jess smiled and stood up. He walked to the kitchen where his mom was making eggs. He gave her a smile as he walked in.

"Hey, Ma, one of my friends is gonna come by and pick me up here in a bit. Is that okay?"

She beamed. "Of course it is honey! Go out and have fun! Don't forget about your sister tomorrow though."

"I won't." Jess smiled and accepted the hug she stepped over to give him.

With the okay from the woman he went up to his room as quickly as possible to change. He pulled off his black plaid pajama pants and pulled on the closest thing to him, a pair of blue shorts. Then he grabbed a black T-shirt and, after removing the baggy one he was wearing, threw it over his head.

He grabbed a pair of socks and quickly pulled them on before racing back downstairs. He put his shoes on just so he would be fully ready and sat on the couch to wait.

As time crept on he got more anxious. Suddenly he was nervous about this whole thing. He really shouldn't have been. He's hung around Isaac enough to be comfortable with the boy now.

A knock at the door completely knocked him out of his thoughts. He stood up quickly and a slow smile reached his face. "I'm going Ma!"

"Have fun, sweetie! Love you!"

"Love you too!" He walked up and opened the door. Just as suspected, Isaac was standing there waiting for him. "Hey."

"Hey." They both smiled at each other. Once he met eyes with the other boy his nervousness from before immediately washed away. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." Jess closed the door behind him and followed Isaac down the sidewalk. They got in his car and Isaac started it back up.

Once they started moving the sandy haired boy spoke up. "Anywhere you wanna go or did you just want to hangout at mine again?"

"Yours is fine." Jess said with a bit of a hum. He reached over to the radio and let his hand hover for a bit to make sure Isasc wouldn't stop him before he changed the station. He went through all the tabs before finding a song he recognized and stopped.

Isaac just kept smiling and they continued driving while Jess hummed quietly along to the music.

He felt at peace again. Here in Isaac's car, looking out the window, he didn't feel bad. It was a nice feeling but part of him hated himself for feeling that way.

He should get a better grip on himself. Feeling this way is why he's going to get hurt. He's got feelings for someone that won't be able to return them.

He wasn't going to worry about that now though. He didn't need to worry about it. He could pretend he didn't have feelings and everything would be just dandy. So, that's what he was going to do.

Have a normal day. Be two normal friends hanging out. Don't make it weird.

They pulled up to Isaac's house and climbed out. Jess followed him up the front steps and towards the door. When the door opened Jess could hear the TV playing in the background.

"Dad?" Isaac slipped off his shoes and Jess copied the option.

The man mentioned turned his head to peer over the top of the couch at them, he smiled at the sight. "Hey, Jess."

"Oh- hey, Mr. Johnson."

The man waved him off with an easy smile. "It's Dave."

"Right." Jess nodded.

"When did you wake up?" Isaac hovered over by the side of the couch.

"About ten minutes ago. Thank you for breakfast." The man hummed and pressed pause on his show. Isaac just nodded while the man stood up from the couch. "Well, I'm going to head back to the office. I don't have to go in today but there's still some stuff I'd like to get done."

"Okay." Isaac said and his old man patted him on the shoulder before walking down the hallway. Isaac turned to Jess with a small smile. "You wanna chill in here again?"

Jess nodded, smiling at the memories from last time. They both walked over and sat down, Jess immediately laying back to get comfortable and kicking his legs up. Zack accepted his fate of being a leg rest and threw his arms over Jess's legs, he pulled his own up and rested his feet on the coffee table in front of them.

He smiled over at Jess when the boy chuckled at his way of getting comfortable. "Now, what do you want to watch?"

"Anything is alright with me."

"Don't give me that much freedom, Jess, I might actually take you up on it." He said with a cheeky grin. Jess chuckled.

"I've sat through a million chicflicks with my mom and tons of cartoons with my numerous siblings. Bring it on."

Isaac chuckled. He didn't end up actually putting anything interesting on though, instead he settled for picking a Marvel movie. The question was which one.

"Infinity War?" Isaac suggested, looking to Jess for his opinion.

"If we watch that, we have to watch Endgame." Jess pointed out. "Do you have six hours to spend on this couch?"

"I'm down if you are."

Jess grinned. "Okay then, sounds good. But you better go get any drinks or snacks you'll want before we start. I'm not pausing the movie a thousand times for you."

Isaac chuckled. He put his legs down and set a hand on Jess's knee while setting the remote down. Then he looked to the boy laying down. "Want anything?"

"A drink of whatever and make sure to get a little extra of any snacks you get because I'll probably steal some."

Isaac smiled and nodded. Jess had to move his legs so the other could get up and then he watched as Isaac walked to the kitchen. He got bored pretty quickly just sitting there so he pulled out his phone to type on while Isaad was in the kitchen.

When the brown haired boy returned he had a box of cheese itz and a bag of Doritos, as well as two glasses of a drink. He flicked the light off on his way over. He began sitting things down on the coffee table, Jess noted that he made sure everything was closer to the boy and out of the way of where he wanted to prop his feet. "I just got water for now, if you want a soda or something you can go grab one out of the fridge."

"Nah, water's fine."

"Alright." Zack sat back down and Jess's legs returned to their previous position. He propped his legs up on the table like before and grabbed the remote to press play on the movie. As it started he turned to Jess. "Want a blanket?"

He motioned to the throw blanket hanging on the back of the couch. Jess nodded so Isaac pulled it off and handed it to him. Jess spread the blanket over him and the end of it covered Isaac's lap as well due to their positions.

He got comfortable on the couch and turned to face the TV. Both of them focused mostly on the movie but couldn't help sparing each other glances every now and then.

Jess hated how he was drawn in by the way the TV lights reflected in Isaac's eyes. They were pretty enough already, this just made it better. The blues and purples reflected in his irises and there was red shining on the whites.

Jess found himself getting too caught up staring and pulled his head back to focus on the movie again. He got caught up in all the action and missed the way the hazel eyes he found so pretty turned to admire him the same way he had them.

At some point Dave walked back in. He grazed his eyes over the pair on the couch and then at the TV. He smiled a little and when he spoke he tried to keep his voice down. "Movie day?"

"Yeah." Isaac answered just as quietly, a smile making its way to his face.

"Alright, well I'm heading to meet Chloe for lunch. Want me to tell her you have a friend over and will catch her later?"

"Yes please." Isaac said easily. As his dad started towards the door he looked over the back of the couch. "Give her a hug for me."

"Will do. Make sure you call her later to make up for it."

"I will."

Then Dave was putting shoes on and leaving. Jess couldn't help his curiosity so he turned his eyes on Isaac. "Who's Chloe?"

"My dad's little sister. She's only like 10 years older than me and is going to law school in Columbia. We only get to see her sometimes, I guess she's in town this weekend."

"Oh." Jess gave him a perplexed look. "Did you want to go?"

"We have dinner plans with her tomorrow and I go up to her place sometimes so it's okay. We're already mid-movie, it's too late to stop watching it."

A small smile formed on Jess's face. Isaac was spending time with him even when he didn't have to. He had a solid excuse not to hangout but he didn't want to leave. Maybe it was the movie, or maybe he just liked spending time with Jess. It didn't matter. Jess wasn't used to having friends that canceled other plans for him. It was nice but strange. Oh, so very strange.

○●○●○

They got an hour into Endgame before Dave returned. They had taken a small break in between the two movies to use the bathroom but were now back to binging. His father ruffled Isaac's hair on his way into the hallway but didn't say anything.

Jess still had his legs up on Isaac but now they had a cheese itz box settled by his hip in between him and the couch. They both had been eating little handfuls here and there.

Isaac's hand that wasn't used to eat had sometime made use of itself running up and down Jess's leg. He rubbed up and down from the very bottom of Jess's thigh, right above his knee, to his shin. It was a slow, soothing action and Jess was lavishing in it.

He had never been more comfortable in his life.

The movie seemed to flash by faster than Jess wanted it to. If he had it his way he would stay here all day. However nothing could ever last forever. Jess knew that well.

"What time is it?" Jess asked, blinking up at Isaac. The boy grabbed his phone and turned to show Jess. 5:10. "When should I leave?"

Isaac didn't take long to answer. "You can stay if you want."

The offer made Jess smile. "I would but my little sister is coming over tomorrow. She has been on weekends lately she just had a doctor's appointment today."

"Oh." Isaac nodded. "Well then whenever you want. My dad doesn't really care how late friends stay on weekends."

"Okay. I might head home when it starts getting dark then." Jess brought a hand up to scratch at an itch on the side of his neck.

"Alright, sounds good." Isaac's hand was running up and down his leg still and it was very distracting. Jess had to restrain himself from just watching the movement. It was so relaxing. "What do you want to do now?"

"Anything is cool with me. I just don't feel like being stuck at home." He said and Isaac suddenly looked a little more concern.

"I know it's not my business and you don't have to answer but is everything okay at home?"

Nothing was ever okay at home. Not with a mother who had mood swings as much as Kleandra. Not when everything that happened made her upset. Not when she bawled her eyes out at least once every other day.

Jess couldn't say anything about this though. Isaac would think she was a bad mom. Maybe she would be classified as that, but Jess still didn't like the thought. She loved her children with everything in her. That's what mattered, to him at least.

"Yeah. Nothing really terrible goes down. My mom just wears her emotions on her sleeve and that gets kinda draining. Especially when I've never really gotten out all that much for long periods of time." Jess tried to be honest without making anything sound bad. He didn't want Isaac to think badly of them but he also didn't want to lie to him. Something about lying to that face just felt so wrong.

"Oh." Isaac looked off, thinking. "You never used to get out a whole lot?"

"I've never had a friends I've been really close with. I've been to only one other person's house for a birthday party once. I just never got close enough with people, I guess."

"That's so weird. You're so cool though."

Jess shrugged, ignoring the tingling in his chest at the compliment. "Other people don't like waiting around to find that out. I'm not bold and extroverted so people don't notice me. I like fading into the background."

Isaac nodded but couldn't find a reply to that. "So... have I beat the people you talk with at school? I mean since you've been over to my house twice now."

The way his voice wavered ever so slightly. He was nervous asking the question. Nervous of what? Jess could guess, embarrassment if Jess didn't consider him a good friend.

Jess just smiled though. "Yeah, I guess you have."

The way it made the boy beam was cute. Jess didn't dare ask the same question back. Isaac had so many friends, people he's known for much longer than Jess. People that know him better. There was no way Jess would've out ranked them in a short time.

But, he didn't let it drag him down. He has gotten used to it by now. He's never been anyone's best friend. Never been someone's number one, above all.

However, with Isaac it felt different. It felt like he had a chance at getting there. Maybe that was all false hope but he really did feel close with Isaac and he thought that Isaac might feel that too.

"So we're good friends then?" Isaac asked after a minute. Jess smiled and nodded.

"Good friends." They were close.

Jess had a close friend. He didn't really know how to process that. He had found someone that noticed him, someone that made an effort to be his friend.

It was all new territory but Jess smiled while walking into it.

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I'm so excited. It's coming up guys, I promise.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

Love you ♡

- Z