“When I said, knight in shining armour…” said Isaac when Jared answered his incoming call the next day. His tone was inscrutable, amused perhaps but with an undertone of something else. Jared thought he might be mad with him and didn’t want that, didn’t want Isaac to tell him he’d messed up, that Isaac didn’t need his protection and who the hell did he think he was, Isaac’s boyfriend? So,
“Fuck off,” he said uneasily, and Isaac snorted, muttering something unintelligible on the other side of the line.
“Willa told me what happened.”
“I gathered that,” Jared retorted, blunt to cover up his vulnerability.
“Thank you,” said Isaac suddenly, then, “Don’t get yourself into trouble for me again.”
Jared made to reply but all he heard was the beeping noise signalling Isaac had hung up. They didn’t speak of it again (at school Ari glared at him but didn’t dare confront him, because everyone knew Jared could beat Ari in a fight).
--------o--------
A month passed uneventfully, and soon enough it was Valentine’s Day. Isaac had given him suspiciously detailed advice about what Willa might like to do, rolling his head back when Jared voiced his suspicions and laughing in a way that exposed the fragile skin of his throat. He said,
“Okay, fine, Willa recruited me to pass on the message.”
Jared rolled his eyes, but followed the advice anyway. He took Willa on the train to this play in London she’d been raving about, then to Wagamamas where she sat down beaming and proclaimed it,
“…the best Valentine’s Day ever.”
Near the end of the meal Willa’s iPhone chimed and she grinned at it, holding it up to show Jared.
“Isaac wants to know how it’s going.”
She typed in her code then slipped the phone across the table, stretching and getting up with a bright smile.
“You reply, I’m gonna pop to the loo.”
She left. Jared made to type, ‘good, piss off Isaac’, but was distracted by the string of texts above. Most recently there were messages about what Willa should wear here, to which Isaac replied,
I don’t have a clue Wils xD but don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll look great whatever :-)
She’d sent him a couple of pictures of outfits. Jared glanced up to make sure Willa wasn’t on her way back already then pressed ‘Load earlier messages’ without knowing quite why he was doing so. He scrolled back to Willa instructing Isaac about her ideal date and then further back to her just texting Isaac randomly, something funny she’d seen on tumblr that evidently connected to an inside joke and made him reply,
Hahahahahaha well I guess now we know who that sign was aimed at
A few minutes of scrolling later Jared flicked back to the last message and typed, ‘go away isaac’, before hastily locking the phone and pushing it guiltily back to Willa’s side.
He was being stupid. There was nothing bad in the texts- nothing wrong with Willa and Isaac being friends- it was just that Jared hadn’t realised how friendly they’d got. Isaac was texting Willa almost as much as he texted Jared, funny little things from his day, cheer-up messages, help with homework. Jared wasn’t sure how to feel about that but there was something coiling in his gut, something cold and heavy.
You’re being stupid, Jared, he told himself harshly, but couldn’t manage more than a forced smile when Willa returned to their table.
***
a/n: hey there!! thank you for all the reading and comments, it means a tonne :D for some reason though wattpad seems to be sticking all my replies to one comment?? :') at least on my laptop that's what's happening. i'm sorry!! idek what to do with this new formatting thing :( please know i read and super super super appreciate all your comments :) dedicated to zeeadaj because your comments are awesome and i can't remember if i've already dedicated a chapter to you but even if i have you deserve another one