Blue Eyes (bxb)

Thirty

I met the others at the arranged time at Georgie's house. My younger cousin practically rugby tackled me when I got out my car parked on the drive. "Zak!" She screeched.

"Yo, hoe," I chuckled.

We walked out of the beaming sunlight and into her house. The richly familiar scent of apricot and sweet grass immediately hit me as soon as I stepped in the lounge. The others were scattered across two sofas. Jack's legs were stretched over Ellie's thighs and Finn was flopped over the arm of the other seat. A movie, seemingly from the 70s, was playing on the TV.

I watched Finn. He was tapping his fingers on his knee, as per usual. His hair wasn't styled upwards like it normally was, instead flopping over his forehead with ease. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip and his cheeks tinted pink when Georgie announced my arrival. The boy instantly sat up and crossed his legs together.

"Wow, a real rager goin' on 'ere, ey?" I laughed.

"Wild," Finn muttered.

"Hi, Zak," Ellie smiled sweetly. I nodded and sat in the empty space next to her.

"Alright, lad?" Jack greeted.

"Aye, you?"

"Aye. Heard about that fight on the field yesterday, you okay? You're nose looks pretty busted up."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some daft bigot who needed his head pulled out his arse," I answered, lamely.

"Wait, what?" Finn snapped.

"A lad on the other team at the match yesterday tripped me up and I just knocked my nose a tad. But it's alright, I put him in his place."

"Please don't tell me you hit him, Zak. You're better than that."

"Only a couple of times. Sam and Matty got a hold of us before things could get outta hand. I think the only thing I damaged was his pride," I said.

"Well, why did he start on ya' in the first place?" He asked, cautiously. I felt like he knew why, he probably did. He's pretty familiar to shit like this, I suppose. He's had to deal with it since he was fourteen when he first came out.

"No reason. Don't fuss over it."

He nodded. Jack, Ellie, Georgie and I focused on the TV. However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very anxious look cross Finley's face; scared, almost. I was certain he knew, though, I'll admit, he was cute when he worried about me.

"Right, should we head off?" Georgie asked. A unanimous "yes" was uttered, before the five of us rose to our feet and headed out. We all piled in my car; me driving, Georgie beside me, Finn behind and Ellie in the middle. Jack gawked out the window behind Georgie.

The radio thumped out one of Justin Bieber's newest songs, everyone groaning apart from Ellie, who initiated a full-on dance party in the back. "For fuck's sake, Ellie, it's a pile of shit!" Finley huffed.

"How dare you insult my baby and his art!" The red-head grimaced.

"Quite easily, actually." I snorted at his remark, and saw him smile at me doing so through my rear-view mirror.

"Well, stuff you, you're the one missing out on such talent," she hissed.

Fortunately, the song came to an end. We sighed in relief (excluding Ellie who was still in a tantrum) when The Hills by The Weeknd started playing. We sang our hearts out, and Jack added a mouth pop to the chorus out of extra-ness. This was one of Georgie's favourites, so she was more than happy.

"I ONLY CALL YOU WHEN IT'S HALF PAST FIVE, THE ONLY TIME I'D EVER CALL YOU MINE!" She screamed.

When it finished, we found ourselves in pulses of hysteria, to the point where it was hard for me to concentrate on driving. Luckily, though, it wasn't long until we pulled into the car park and piled out.