chapter 30

Zavier POV:

It was just us three in the living room:

Juliana, Isaac and I.

Juliana was my cousin who had come with my Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Tom.

An awkward silence loomed over the air, mostly because of the tension between Isaac and I.

The roles were switched now, Isaac had been successful in hiding from me, and with Juliana here, there was no way I could even talk to him. Maybe that would explain why he was sitting far away from me, protected by Julianna sitting next to him.

I had attempted to crack some witty jokes but I had been shut down by Isaac's lack of response and Juliana glaring at me.

But I didn't care about Juliana, she was a bitch, but Isaac hadn't even looked at me once.

"I'm going to get a drink." Juliana finally stood up, Isaac's eyes widening, knowing it would just be us two in the room.

"I'll come too." He went to stand up but she shook her head.

"It's fine. I can get you something, is coke alright?" Juliana offered, putting on what she most likely thought was a seductive smile but he didn't take any notice and nodded.

But Isaac hated coke.

As Juliana walked out, I quickly grasped this opportunity to talk to Isaac and sat down where Juliana was.

"No." He responded before I had even said anything.

"What?" I questioned, but he still didn't even turn to face me, keeping his eyes on the floor in front of him.

"I know what you want to say, so no."

"We're going to have to talk about it..." But his expression didn't change. "Can you at least look at me?" I half begged, not feeling the shame yet of pleading.

Isaac finally turned to face me, his eyes showing a whirlwind of emotions, mostly regret, but there was a hint of something else, but before I could dwell on it, Juliana came back and Isaac immediately turned his face back to the floor.

"Zavier, you're in my space. Get out." Juliana ordered, holding two cokes in her hands.

I glanced at Isaac again but he didn't reciprocate my glance, so I sighed and got up, there was no point of arguing with her if Isaac still wouldn't pay me any attention.

Juliana handed the coke to an uninterested Isaac who mumbled a thank you but placed the coke on the floor, definitely meaning he would not pick it up again.

"Your house is so boring Zavier."

"Terribly sorry Juliana, next time I'll make sure to raise it to your standards." I mimicked her British accent, seeing the corners of Isaac's lips go up a bit in my peripheral vision, instantly boosting my mood by a small amount.

"Prick." She sneered, folding her arms.

I rolled my eyes at her and left the room to get my phone from my room.

The silence had gotten too boring for me.

No more than 5 minutes later, I walked back downstairs, peeking in the room to see Juliana snuggled into Isaac. Isaac did seem a bit uncomfortable, his eyes darting to the side, seemingly to the door, but I would pull my head back quickly as soon as he would look, waiting a few seconds to make sure he still wouldn't be looking.

When I looked back, her head was facing towards him, a smug look on her face as she leaned in, pointing to his neck, but before she could do anything else, I cleared my throat and walked in, Isaac separating from her immediately.

"Isaac, your mom called you." I made up on the spot, watching Isaac look at me suspiciously, but he got up anyways.

"Really? I didn't hear anything." He stood up, but didn't walk towards me, whilst Juliana frowned, but I couldn't give a fuck.

"She told me to come get you."

He opened his mouth to speak again but I intervened, "Now." He could think over his suspicions later.

Isaac muttered something inaudible to me, but walked over to me, whilst I gave Juliana a snarky smile behind his back, to which she flipped me off in return.

As soon as we were far enough from the room, I stopped him, standing in front of him to block him from leaving, although my plan was quite flawed, he could always just go the other way, but I didn't think he wanted to.

"Why don't you want to talk?"

"I won't do it here." Isaac glanced behind me. "Too many eyes." He whispered, causing me to turn around and see Fran with...

"Gabriella?" I exclaimed then turned to face Fran. "How the fuck did you get to invite her? When I wanted to invite Dillon, dad said no."

She shrugged, smirking. "Guess I'm the favourite."

I snorted, in her dreams maybe. "Why are you listening in on my conversations?"

"Because we want to know the tea." Gabriella eagerly spoke over Fran, making both Fran and I cringe at the word 'tea'.

"We don't say tea, Gabby, why do you always act so fucking weird around my brother?"

"Don't swear Fran or I'll tell dad." I pulled out the petty card and even Fran knew that, but she complied, only uttering a small whatever.

I then remembered Isaac was watching all of this, but when I turned to speak to him, he was gone.

Perfect.

Leaving Fran and Gabriella alone with their argument over the word tea, I went to find Isaac, praying that he wouldn't have gone back to the room to be with Juliana, but when I peered into the living room, it was only Juliana on her phone, and thank god for that.

I wanted to call his name out, but then I didn't want anyone to hear so I continued my silent search for him, and headed up to my room.

Surprisingly, he sat there, on my bed, gazing at a picture of Dillon and I that I had recently framed, but he hadn't noticed me.

"Hello." I stood awkwardly in the doorway, causing him to jump a bit, and quickly put the photo down.

"I swear I wasn't looking... it just-" He tried to defend himself but even he stopped when he had no excuse and looked down at his hands on his lap.

"It's fine." I sat down next to him, and for once, he didn't move away.

"Say what you want to say then. I'm listening." Isaac caught me off guard, an extended silence filling the air as I thought of the best way to word it.

"Oh um- I guess now the time's come, I've forgotten what I wanted to say." Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. This could've possibly been the only time Isaac was so lenient, and still, a single thing couldn't come to my mind on what to say or how to begin.

I watched him hesitate before speaking, running his hand through his hair, "Actually, can we just stay silent?"

"Silent? Do you want me to leave?" If this was his way of politely telling me to get out, I think it would've been easier to just tell me to fuck off.

"No!" Isaac himself looked taken aback by his own keenness, and lowered the tone. "I mean... no, you can stay, if you want." He spoke more calmly now. "But please stay." He mumbled so quietly that I wasn't sure if I even heard correctly, but I nodded.

The silence took over, and I was left with my thoughts, presuming Isaac would be doing the same, but turning to the side, I could see his eyelids start to droop, but it was as if he was fighting the sleep, because he would jolt awake suddenly, seeming confused before starting the cycle again.

"You should sleep Isaac."

Isaac just stared at me, like he had forgotten I had been there in the first place.

"I'm not tired." He lied stubbornly but a sneaky yawn that he couldn't hide gave him away. "Okay then." He laid down properly on the bed and was immediately welcomed by the sleep. Maybe it was the tension, or he was just too sleepy, that I didn't hear any of Isaac's traditional remarks about the 'germs' I had.

As soon as his head had hit my pillow, he seemed deep in sleep.

I glanced over and sat by him, stroking his hair softly. He didn't make any reaction, until I slowly let my thumb run from the side of his eye to his chin, making his eyes flutter open.

I backed away, "I didn't mean to wake you." I whispered, going to stand up. I didn't need to be interrupting him, but his hand shot up and grabbed my wrist, forcing me to turn to face him.

"Don't leave."

And that was all the convincing I needed to stay. Even though I would have to help out downstairs soon, I was going to grab any small moments I could have with Isaac.

And the award for the biggest simp of the year went to me, Zavier fucking Reid.

***

"You're bi, aren't you Dillon?" I questioned him as we walked into school, ignoring the longing looks from the girls and the endless whispers mentioning our names.

"What?"

"You told me like last week when you were beyond wasted that one time."

Dillon suddenly became alarmed, "Did I say anything else?"

At Dillon's alertness, I was a bit suspicious but I shook my head.

"Well does kissing a boy make you gay?" I asked, unsure of where this conversation would end up.

He looked at me first, pausing before speaking, "You kissed a boy?"

"Just answer the question." I aimed my stare downwards, maybe this was a mistake.

"Depends if you liked it, or if you like the boy." He finally answered, taking something out of his locker.

"And if you do like it...?" I urged on. I just needed an answer.

"Then most likely, yes. Now will you tell me who you kissed?" Dillon smirked, facing me again.

"I didn't kiss any-" I was saying, until I saw Isaac, walking down the hallway, and when he turned his head to me, he gave me a shy smile, interrupting my train of thought.

Until Dillon spoke again, reminding me that he was still there, "No way. No fucking way." Dillon slammed his locker, fury evident on his face.

"Calm down, I didn't kiss Isaac." I lied, but I had to with the reaction he was having.

"I know you're lying."

"Let's just go to class. We can talk about this later." I stalled; I was definitely not talking about this later with him.

Dillon frowned, but waited for me to get my books, then we were off, but through the side glances I stole to look at him, I could see that he was not happy, making me feel a bit uneasy.

It would be fine... hopefully.

***

Third person POV:

It was after school when Dillon was walking down the quiet hallways by himself, when he spotted Isaac walking around the corner.

Immediately, Dillon stormed up to him, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, and slamming him roughly into the lockers. Isaac's expression morphed from one of horror to surprise, before masking his emotions, seeming unfazed.

"Isn't this slamming against the locker thing getting kind of old?" Isaac forced a yawn, causing Dillon to push him against the lockers with even more force.

"You fucked with Zavier."

"I have no idea what you mean by that."

"Don't deny it, I know it's true."

Isaac shrugged, a lazy grin on his face, purposefully aggravating Dillon more who gripped the front of Isaac's shirt with such aggression that it was as if he was going to tear it.

"Getting a bit angry now are we? Maybe you haven't released enough of the pent up frustration from Zavier. I think-"

But Isaac didn't get to finish his wind up because before he could, Dillon threw his fist at him, directly hitting his cheekbone, making a loud clicking noise.

From the impact, Isaac's head went to the side, completely thrown off guard, his hand over the place Dillon had punched.

Isaac slowly turned his head back to Dillon, trying to ignore the throbbing pain, easier said then done, and strained a smile. "Is that all you've got, Dil?" Isaac taunted bravely, noticing a hint of a metallic taste in his mouth.

Dillon by now was furious, and pressed against Isaac, shooting his hand out to Isaac's neck. "Shut the fuck up."

"Oh. But I bet you wish I was Zavier right now." Isaac choked out, losing his breath by the second, but endeavoured on. "I bet you wish this was Zavier pressed up all against you, lips close to yours, his eyes only on yours, no- nobody else." Isaac's last words were hard to hear, but Dillon understood them clearly, loosening his grip from Isaac's neck, allowing him to breathe properly. "Think about it." Isaac turned his head to the side to cough but could barely move due to Dillon still pressing against him.

Dillon had started to forget about Isaac, thinking about Zavier, and what could be, when Isaac started to shuffle underneath him. "Dillon, your dick is getting hard, and I don't want it near me."

"Wha-?" Dillon furrowed his brows and before he could respond properly, because of Isaac seeing him distracted, he kneed Dillon in the stomach, instantly knocking the wind out of him.

Dillon bent over, grabbing onto his sides, whilst Isaac watched on with a sneer, "You're a fucking psycho, Dillon, for thinking that you can control your friends feelings. Why don't you go beat him up instead?"

"Stay away from him Isaac."

"No, you stay away from me." Isaac warned, walking away with his hand on his cheek, going to the toilets.

There, he saw a bruise, that he knew would grow, and become an ugly colour, and with the bruise, there was a cut, blood pouring out of it.

Damn Dillon for wearing rings.

Isaac sighed as he grabbed a tissue and tried to wipe the blood away but it only came back as strong as it was before so he grabbed loads of tissues then just held them against the cut skin.

Isaac left the toilets, thinking of what he could say about this when he got home.

Maybe he would frame Zavier, just to spite him, for having a love obsessed best friend and making Isaac question himself, but his mom would never believe that.

Never in a million years.

So he formulated an excuse; he was walking home from school when he tripped on a rock and scratched his cheek, and bruised it by falling on it.

From now on, he would try his best to avoid Dillon yet with the time he was now spending with Zavier, he doubted that would be very possible.

i finished writing this on like 29th october but i'm only posting it today... 6th february... uh oops enjoy anyways sorry for keeping it away for so long i had to make loads of edits. i like the song 2