Third Person POV:
Isaac sat at the lunch table, completely zoned out having not said a word. He tried his hardest to not let his eyes go to the boy who he had stayed up the whole weekend thinking-and crying- about but his gaze would wander to him for a millisecond before he'd mentally scold himself and snap his eyes back to the table.
"Hey, Isaac." Gemma got his attention as she silently exchanged a knowing look with Hattie next to her. "Are you thinking about him again?"
"What? No, no definitely not." Isaac stammered out but Gemma raised her brow at him, watching as his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, yeah I was." He weakly admitted, looking at his bandaged hand and still feeling Zavier's touch tingling from Friday night.
"He's not worth any of your thoughts Isaac. He's a fucking asshole and if it weren't for you being very persistent for some reason that I can't understand, I would've kicked his ass straight away."
"Thanks Gem." Isaac swiftly replied.
"It's just weird. He really looked like he'd changed." Gemma mumbled to herself, turning her head to glance at Zavier's table and on seeing him already looking, she gave him the deadliest glare she could.
"Yeah." Isaac agreed with no enthusiasm. "I'm gonna get to English but I'll see you guys after school." Isaac felt bad for ruining the vibe of Hattie and Gemma who still both looked concerned.
Walking in the hallways, Isaac once again let his thoughts wander, mostly wandering to Zavier. He wished he could go back to before this whole thing had happened. When they were still enemies. Hatred was easier to handle than love.
"If it isn't Zavier's playtoy."
Isaac looked up to see Dillon wearing a disgusting smirk on his face. "I'm not in the mood Dillon." He went to go around but Dillon stepped to the side with him. After a back and forth stepping that may have looked like bad dancing, Isaac sighed and let his hands fall to the side. "What do you want then?"
Dillon took his time to look at Isaac, staying on his bandaged hand for a bit before meeting Isaac's puffy eyes. "Oh how the mighty fall."
"Just say what you need to say, I don't have time for your stupid idioms."
Dillon didn't even wait a second to start attacking, having saved all of his insults up for months, "Finally get dumped by Zavier? Did he tell you that you were special? Did he stay for a quick fuck then leave?" Dillon could see the rage in Isaac's eyes be lit up again and noted Isaac's fist clenching as he shook his head. "I told you Isaac that he could never love someone like you. He was bored and you were an experiment-"
Isaac flinched at the word 'experiment' reminding him of what Zavier had said: experimenting... but it got way too out of hand.
Isaac couldn't deal with Dillon's taunting anymore and took the bait but didn't think properly. Naturally, he had swung with his right hand, but that was his bandaged hand and Dillon had already predicted that Isaac would try and attack so he was prepared.
Dillon caught Isaac's hand in his before it could touch him and used his other hand to shake his index finger in Isaac's face. "Nuh uh uh, I don't think we should resort to violence here Isaac."
Isaac tried to pull his hand away from Dillon and if it weren't for his stupid cut, he would've been able to but Dillon had the upper hand. Dillon deliberately pressed on the bandaged part of Isaac's hand, hearing an audible grunt from Isaac who carried on trying to pull his hand away. "Painful right? But probably not as painful as the news of Zavier breaking up with you." With each second, Dillon's grip on Isaac's hand got stronger to the point Isaac squeezed his eyes shut to try and prevent any rebel tears slipping out.
"Let go of my hand you fucking psycho. You've got your shitty crush back so why are you attacking me?"
"Do you remember that time you made my own best friend turn against me?"
"No." Isaac's answer was short as his mind was filled with trying to push out the pain. He felt Dillon's grip loosen but not entirely.
"That time he went running back into your arms after fighting with me over some harmless and very truthful remarks I said about you."
"You're still hung up on that? That was months ago Dillon, get over i-" Isaac was in the middle of saying when Dillon's scowl turned deadlier as he once again gripped on harder to Isaac's hand.
"I didn't understand what Zavier saw in you at first but now I understand he was making a joke out of you. How does it feel to not see things go your way anymore?"
Isaac was about to reply when his hand was dropped from Dillon's hold and he was pushed to the side causing him to stumble into a locker.
"Dillon?"
Isaac's heart dropped hearing that voice but he pulled himself up, holding onto the wrist of his injured hand. He didn't turn around but he didn't need to in order for him to know it belonged to Zavier. Immediately, he half jogged, half walked to his class ignoring the calls of his name from Zavier.
His hand was killing him now because of Dillon. The stinging pain had re-emerged and combined with the heartache, he felt like crap.
Sitting down in the empty classroom, he placed his head on the desk and dreaded what would be happening in a few minutes.
It was Bella who came in before Zavier chatting with a random guy then sat next to Isaac.
One.
Two.
Thre-
"What the fuck's wrong with you gay boy?"
Two and a half seconds it had taken for Bella to say something. The silence had been nice while it lasted.
"Not you too." Isaac brought his head up, looking into Bella's unsettlingly deep brown eyes.
"What do you mean me too?" She glared, moving a bit away from him.
However Isaac never got the chance to explain as the one and only Zavier strolled in.
As usual, there were whispers circling around, some mentioning Zavier, gossiping on who they thought he was, or should be, hooking up with. Candace's loud voice overpowered over them all and Isaac just wanted to put his hands over his ears but he couldn't; it'd just look weird.
It was like nothing had changed for the rest of the class because nothing had. In the months of their relationship, they had never gone public. It wasn't that they were ashamed of their sexuality or anything- Isaac had told anyone who would listen that he didn't care if it was dick or pussy but they just didn't feel like it was necessary for anyone else to really know. It saved the drama for them.
Zavier sat down exceptionally close for someone who didn't want to be together anymore unless Isaac was just hyper aware of Zavier's every move which he thought to be more believable.
When Isaac did muster up the courage to peer at Zavier, his face was calm, relaxed even, which only made Isaac feel even worse because even if Zavier was affected, he wasn't affected to the point that he couldn't hide it, but if Isaac had just stared for another second, or even more closely, he would've seen the bags underneath Zavier's eyes, and the way his fingers tapped against the table, resisting the impulse to just get up and apologise to Isaac in front of the whole class.
Isaac attempted to concentrate on the notes he was writing but it felt like Zavier was inching closer to him and when Zavier's leg brushed against his, he felt an involuntary shiver run up his spine.
He knew it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him when Zavier 'allegedly claimed' he was leaning over Isaac to collect a pen from Bella but Isaac could see several pens in front of him. Isaac didn't want to give Zavier the satisfaction of speaking first so he remained silent and kept his eyes ahead.
"How's your hand?" Zavier asked as if they were friends.
Zavier's touch had been long replaced by the memory of Dillon squeezing it and almost instinctively, Isaac's hand recoiled to underneath the desk.
Isaac kept his mouth sealed shut but Zavier didn't take the hint. "Is it still hurting?"
Isaac ignored him again and carried on writing his notes although it was a struggle to do with his left hand. Zavier must've seen and immediately perked up. "I can photocopy my notes for you if you want so you don't have to write with your bad hand."
Isaac still didn't say anything but Zavier didn't even care. For the rest of the lesson, he would try to say something friendly but Isaac's silence would shut down the conversation before it even started. One would think Isaac's lack of replies would be enough to tell someone that they weren't interested but Zavier didn't seem to take notice. Isaac was just grateful when the lesson ended, knowing he didn't have any more with Zavier.
Getting out of school, Isaac felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled his phone out to see a message saying 'come to the green by your house @6pm or i'm jumping'. Isaac checked the name to see it said 'zavy💞🕺🧞🥶' and cringed. He had told himself multiple times to block Zavier's number over the weekend but he just didn't have the guts to. The wound was still too fresh for him to start deleting Zavier from all of his socials but that didn't mean he wanted to reply so he placed his phone back in his pocket.
Nevertheless, that didn't stop the worries of what Zavier had meant by 'jump'. Was he trying to fuck with his mind even more? He surely couldn't have meant... he wouldn't do that, right? Isaac felt like he didn't even know Zavier anymore; who knew what he was capable of saying and doing anymore?
By 6PM, Isaac had made his decision and as he found himself walking to the green, he silently cursed himself. Why couldn't he just completely separate himself from Zavier?
Leave it to Zavier to be late for something he'd planned himself. Guess he wasn't jumping... or maybe he already had. Isaac pushed his thoughts away and sat on the grass and waited, looking down and observing the flowers that were growing.
"You actually came." Isaac peeked up to see Zavier with a smile on his face, seeming out of breath.
"Did you run here or something?" Isaac once again cursed himself for breaking his silence pact and seeing the smile grow on Zavier's face at him speaking made him feel even more annoyed.
When Zavier came and sat next to him, he knew he needed to clear this up. "I'm not staying." Isaac shuffled away from Zavier. "Why did you say you were going to jump?"
Zavier's smile was replaced with a sheepish expression as he scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, I wanted to make sure you came."
"Oh."
Zavier scooted closer to Isaac again and was surprised when Isaac didn't move away. "Can we talk?"
"Okay." Isaac kept a bored expression on; he was not going to be the one who got over emotional this time.
"First of all, I want to apologise, I really did never mean to purposely hurt your feelings..."
"But you did." Isaac snapped.
"Yes and I'm sorry. You weren't an experiment to me, at all."
"Then why did you say I was?"
"I was scared Isaac, and I still am. In a few months we're all going to be split up, scattered in different states, or even countries and I'm scared we'll never see each other again. Yeah, there'll be the empty promises of 'oh text me everyday' or 'I'll call you every single day' but that'll probably last for a week if we're lucky when we all become busy and make new friends, forgetting all about our old ones."
When Isaac didn't say anything, Zavier took it as his cue to carry on. "I love my friends, I really do but the thought of losing you- I hate to think about it. Even before we became close, we've known each other since you pushed me into that puddle when we were 5 just because I called you Issy-" Zavier heard a little snort from Isaac and felt a small smile of his appear on his face. "And I thought that I could somehow make the pain of us separating less by ending things before we'd be forced to. I guess I didn't want the last memories of us being together being really negative and filled with arguments about long distance relationships but that didn't work well did it?"
"You're an idiot." Isaac replied simply but he didn't have any look of malice in his face.
"I know I am. Those things I said before about us being a casual hookup were lies, I never thought of them like that. I've felt terrible ever since Friday, seeing how sad you were and knowing it was because of me. But I just wanted to say, no matter what happens- Oh God, I'm so bad at emotional shit." Zavier buried his head in his hands for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and looking into Isaac's eyes. "Isaac Hill Jones-"
"Are you proposing?" Isaac couldn't stop the joke from slipping out, seeing Zavier's brows unknot as he smiled.
"Not yet." Zavier had a knowing grin on his face before it dropped as he took another long breath. "I love you."
Isaac looked away from Zavier and stared at the ground giving no response. Zavier could feel his heart rate getting increasingly high with every second that the silence remained. "Isaac... please say something."
"It's a lot to take in." Isaac finally spoke. Maybe not the reply Zavier wanted but it was a start.
"How about this?" Zavier abruptly stood up and held out his hand towards Isaac. "We start afresh."
Zavier's hope started to be crushed as Isaac stared at his hand, keeping his own in his lap. Zavier wished he could know what was happening in Isaac's brain but when Isaac slowly, and hesitantly, placed his hand in Zavier's and stood up in front of him, he felt that hope start to build up again.
Zavier didn't let the smile show yet though, and shook Isaac's hand. "Hi, I'm Zavier, and you?"
Isaac raised his brows at Zavier but slightly nodded. "I'm Isaac."
Zavier released his hand from Isaac's but didn't fail to see Isaac glance at where their hands had been before looking back up. "Sit down with me?"
This time there wasn't as much hesitation from Isaac who sat down opposite Zavier. "What are you doing Zavier?" Isaac finally asked, his gaze staying on the grass in front of him.
"What do you mean? I'm just making a new friend." Zavier feigned innocence, watching as Isaac lifted his head a bit showing off a small smile before looking back down, almost like he was shy. "I feel like I've seen you around. What school do you go to?"
"I'm a senior at Meadow high school, maybe that's where you know me from." Zavier wanted to let a big grin spread on his face knowing Isaac was playing along but he covered it up with a cough.
"Who would've thought? I go there too and we're both in the same grade. I'm surprised we haven't talked more."
Isaac peered up, seeming like he wanted to say something but just smiled and looked to the side, "Yeah, crazy. Do you play any sports?" Isaac made eye contact with Zavier, a knowing look in his eyes.
"I do like to play a bit of soccer in my free time, I'm even on the school team."
Isaac put a hand on his chest, shaking his head in fake disbelief. "Wow, so am I."
"Looks like we've got more in common than you'd think. How about we find out each other's interests? Maybe we'll have even more in common."
"Okay." Isaac nodded. "Quick fire questions. You ask me first then we switch."
Zavier thought of some simple questions but he was sure he already knew all the answers to them already. "Favourite colour?" Zavier started. Green, he'd say.
"Green." And he did.
"Birthday?" 28th August.
"28th August."
"Favourite book?" Catching fire.
"Hunger games: Catching fire."
"Any siblings?" No.
"Nope."
And that's how it went for a while before the questions switched to Zavier answering.
"You are not faster than me." Isaac had started to argue after Zavier had bragged that he was the fastest on the soccer team.
"Yes I am." Zavier hit back.
"No you're not."
"Fine then, let's race."
"Okay fine, let's go to that tree over there." Isaac pointed to a tree that was far from them as they both stood up.
"Okay, who's going to countdown then?"
"We can jus- GO!" Isaac ran off quickly, laughing to himself as he turned his head to see Zavier trying to catch up with him. He felt a tiny bit of guilt though and slowed down a bit, allowing Zavier to nearly catch up with him whilst also staying in front of him.
"That's cheating." Zavier's voice came from behind him but he didn't stop. "I'm gonna get you back."
Isaac heard Zavier's threat but dismissed it as Zavier just wanting to scare him though soon regretted not paying attention to how close Zavier was to him.
Zavier sped up and grabbed the back of Isaac's shirt and pulled him back, forcing him to slow down then quickly ran off, now in front of Isaac.
"Hey!" Isaac called out from behind, feeling angry at the gap that had been created between the two of them. He wouldn't be able to catch up with Zavier and he was not prepared for Zavier to go on and on about this cheat race so he did the thing he knew -or hoped- would stop Zavier; emotions.
"Zavier, help." He pretended to groan, looking down at his hand that wasn't even hurting.
But it worked. It actually worked, Isaac thought with a bit of pride in his chest as he peeked to see Zavier slowing down and turning around.
"Are you okay?" He walked towards Isaac before stopping again, an almost suspicious glare on his face. "Or are you just trying to pretend you're hurt so you can race off?"
Oh damn.
Isaac covered his surprise with a shake of his head, holding onto his hand and smiling inside as Zavier jogged towards him.
Just a bit closer and he could run.
He may have accidentally let off his plan, looking up to where the tree was before meeting Zavier's eyes but it was too late to alter the plan. He pushed Zavier to the side before Zavier could look at his hand then ran but Zavier was hot on his heels, having a feeling that Isaac was going to do this sort of thing.
Zavier this time decided that there was no more time left for niceties and when he was nearly caught up with Isaac, he tried to shove him to the side but Isaac decided in a blink of an eye that if he was going down, so was Zavier and dragged Zavier with him as they both tumbled down to the ground, the empty tree still waiting for them.
Isaac almost felt the wind knocked out of him as Zavier landed on top of him. "Fuck." Isaac winced before starting to laugh at how they had ended up like this. "You would think neither of us would still be childish enough to do this." Isaac smiled at Zavier but Zavier only nodded back absentmindedly.
He was distracted. Distracted by those striking blue eyes that he had fallen in love with. Distracted by the way the side of Isaac's eyes would crinkle every time he would show off that adorable smile of his. Distracted by the fact that he knew Isaac was his, and he was Isaac's.
"I would've won if it wasn't for my hand." Isaac joked but Zavier didn't even react to it. "Zavier?" Isaac's smile dropped a bit with not even a hint of a smile from Zavier. He was about to say something again when Zavier leaned forward and shut Isaac's words off with his lips.
Isaac didn't know whether to push Zavier off or kiss back so opted for a middle ground; freezing. He could feel Zavier's erection pressing against him and made the stupid mistake of trying to move, sending a wave of pleasure to Zavier's groin.
Isaac however made the decision to turn his head to the side, causing Zavier's lips to skid off his face. "We're in public." Isaac reminded, but not because he was scared of someone seeing him kissing a boy, but the thought of a person just seeing and judging them; it seemed like something that should be more private for them.
"I don't care." Zavier breathed out leaning down to kiss Isaac again but Isaac shook his head and repeated. "Someone could see."
Zavier frowned but glanced in both directions for barely more than two seconds then looked back at Isaac. "There's nobody else here." Zavier finally was able to get Isaac's acceptance for the kiss as Isaac slowly kissed back, reaching out with his hand to the back of Zavier's neck to pull Zavier closer to him.
Although he had been hopeful, Isaac had felt like that warm feeling he got every time Zavier and him kissed would never come again. After Friday, any thoughts of that had been eliminated but here he was. However, another part of his mind was telling him to not give in that easily; that he was being too soft just forgiving Zavier like that.
Isaac rolled them over so he was now on top and pulled away from Zavier but kept his hands on Zavier's stomach, distractedly tracing circles whilst trying to think. "I don't think people who have just met start making out." He settled for a joke instead.
Zavier's head tilted downwards slightly, looking at where Isaac's hands were before looking back up at Isaac. "Er- fuck, yeah." Zavier cursed himself as his voice came out much more high pitched then he had wanted it to.
Isaac picked up on it, raising a brow at him. "You good?"
Zavier didn't say anything but nodded, biting down on his lip to prevent any unwanted sounds coming out. Isaac's hands were distracting him completely and his dirty thoughts of what else Isaac could, or would do with those same hands that were fuelling his already hard dick.
"I say, as friends, or people who have just met, we cut down on the PDA."
Zavier mumbled a few things under his breath before speaking again, "Really?" He knew Isaac could feel his boner but just wasn't saying anything.
"Yep." Isaac finally took his hands away and rolled to the side next to Zavier so they were both lying down.
A comfortable silence took over the air as they watched the stars in the sky start to slowly appear.
Isaac kept his focus on the stars but started to speak, "We'll stay in touch, won't we?"
"We will."
Isaac grabbed Zavier's hand, squeezing it lightly as he turned his head to him, "You promise?"
Zavier simply squeezed his hand back, smiling, "I promise."
And this was a promise that both boys knew wouldn't be broken.
17/02/20- ahhh this book is finally over, crazy really. thank you for all the reads and comments, and i hope you enjoyed my writing.