| THIRTEEN |
ICY BLUEBERRY
He slowed his jog to a hesitant walk as he approached who he really thought was Eira on the bench. That close, he could see that it really was her, and she really was smoking.
He didn't mean to sound like the hypocritical, entitled pricks that were the majority (or entirety) of the male population, but he didn't like girls who smoked often. He didn't know how to feel about associating something negative with Eira.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, honestly a little confused, unsure and hesitant.
He hadn't seen her since last week, and if he was being honest, he expected they would meet somewhere else. A poorly named somewhere else with coffees and an almond muffin, a glazed doughnut, and coy, longing looks between them.
Eira blinked up at him, her eyes more unreadable than they'd ever been. Eventually, the mist cleared and he saw the reddened hazel orbs showed surprise.
"I could ask you the same, Isaiah Matthews." She smiled, but it wasn't reaching her eyes. She stubbed her cigarette out on the bench and swung her legs off it.
"Do you like wandering neighbourhoods that aren't yours at night?" A breeze flew over them. In the distance, a dog barked. "I thought you swore up and down that you weren't an axe murderer. Or a stalker?" She teased him, propping her pretty head on top of her knuckles.
"I thought you weren't a smoker." Isaiah said to her as he plopped on the bench. "Well, you didn't say, but you didn't seem like one."
"Things aren't always what they seem, Isaiah Matthews." She said in her cryptic way. Isaiah almost rolled his eyes—he felt like he was in a teen drama. "I don't smoke. I thought I'd try something new. I hate it, if you want to know how I feel after trying it. I'm literally inhaling smoke into my lungs. Seems a bit counterproductive." She mused. "I thought you didn't smoke unless it dropped below seven. It's 10."
"I make exceptions sometimes." He muttered. " Isaiah didn't remember telling her that. He didn't remember telling her that at all. "Did you see me?"
"Just you, for a while. Karim, when he brought beers. You talked for a bit. And then The Beautiful Madison Von Barring came outside, spoke to you and Karim, he got up and left. She stayed. You came over. She left."
Isaiah absorbed her recollection of events. She'd seen him, most likely without seeing him. She'd seen someone, didn't know it was him, probably. And now she was connecting the dots.
"How did you–"
"I didn't know it was you. For a while, anyway." She elaborated. "Until the lights came on."
Nobody said anything for a while after that. In that silence, Isaiah managed to hear, faintly, the rustling of trees and flora and the wind whispering in his ears.
Isaiah took a deep a breath and glanced at the starless, moonlit sky. "Can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
Isaiah narrowed his eyes. Eira smiled, and relented. "Go for it,"
"What are you doing here?"
"Just luring adorable young men with pale blue eyes to their doom. You?" She asked casually.
At the unimpressed look on his face, Eira giggled and scooted a lot closer to Isaiah. "I'm kidding, Isaiah. I live a few streets away and I needed some air." When Isaiah didn't smile or laugh, Eira cocked her head and studied him a little.
"You walked a few streets away just to get some air?" Isaiah mused.
Eira shrugged a shoulder, the fabric of her jacket rustling with the action. Seemingly pleased with Eira's answer, he settled into the seat and nodded his head in the direction of Efi and Kwame's house. "My team's having a sort of...celebratory thing."
"Oh, so you won,"
Isaiah glanced at her, smiling a little with the pride of his school team. Despite the slight betrayal and abandonment he felt at her for blanking him out completely for almost an entire week. For some reason, it seemed like whenever he looked at Eira's face his troubles melted away and the niggling, annoying voice that told him about the different outcomes that could outcome didn't whisper to him like it usually did. Her voice and her smile, scarily, made the voice disappear. He didn't like that he had the power to do all that. Someone else did too, once.
"3-1." He told her, a smile surfacing on his face. "Did I tell you about that?"
"At Juniper's party." She shrugged as if it was nothing. "Remember? You said your coach made people who were late do a ridiculous amount of burpees."
He nodded, smiling a little at the mention of Juniper Kyung's party. Eira had kissed his cheek then. Eira smiled at his smile.
"What's got you smiling, Cheshire?" She asked, smiling curiously.
"Remember when you kissed my cheek at Juniper's party?" Isaiah asked in that oddly direct way of his.
Eira cocked her head to the side, regarding him in that knowing way she did. It was like she knew he had more to say than that.
"That's not what you wanted to ask," she said, at the same time he said: "And then you ignored me for almost a week." Isaiah continued. By now, his smile was long gone.
Eira looked away from him, choosing to stare at the cracks in the ground. Isaiah kept his eyes on her, not really knowing what he wanted to find from looking at her face. Sincerity? Guilt? Annoyance?
"I texted you. I called you." He listed in that strange patient way about him. "But you know that. Because you read my messages." He said it as if it was normal. Perfectly normal.
Eira didn't say anything for a while. Isaiah felt disappointment grow and stain the blood in his system. He didn't know why he expected anything from her. From people anymore. Even good people weren't exempt from disappointing. And he knew a perfect example of that.
He didn't know Eira much. She didn't owe him anything, technically. He didn't know her. But...,the voice told him, she knew a lot about him.
"I thought I'd been a bit too...heavy. So, I left you alone. Just to give you some space. And then...you ignored me." He continued. Eira looked away from him. "You didn't talk to me." He pressed. "Did I do something?"
"Why do you think you had to do something wrong?" Eira asked him, eyes on the pavement.
"Did you just wake up on Saturday morning and decide to cut me out of your life randomly?" He asked dryly. "After I told you things that I'd never tell anyone?" He didn't like the hurt that sept out of his voice, and he didn't like the way his throat felt drier all of a sudden.
"Not answering your calls and texts doesn't mean I–" she caught herself. "You didn't do anything wrong. I've just been busy."
"Eira," he interrupted. Even that was gentle. "There aren't a lot of things that I say that I hate without meaning it. But I hate liars. Lies. Lying." He told her. "White lies, big lies, little lies, half truths..." he listed, "I hate them. So please don't lie to me."
Eira frowned at him. "I have been busy, Isaiah. I've been really busy. I haven't been avoiding you, or ignoring you on purpose, because I've actually been busy. I'm–"
He clenched his jaw and prepared to stand up. He wasn't getting anywhere with this. He ran a hand through his hair and shoved his hands in his hoody pouch. "I'm gonna go." He told the grass.
"Isaiah, wait," She called him, but he was already standing up and he was already ready to walk. "Isaiah!"
He was walking quite quickly now, trying to block out Eira's shouts for him to stop. He was a good deal away from Efi and Kwame's dwarfed wall, but that would soon change in a few seconds.
"Isaiah, wait!"
Isaiah Matthews didn't really have much patience for people who lied. Or did variations of lying in order to make themselves feel better. Despite the fact that it was Eira, and just thinking about her made his heart do a little gallop and his tummy do a little churn, his mind told him that lies were harmful. He'd lied a countable number of times, each time he'd apologised for and believed it was necessary in its own way. But even then...
Bad. Liars were bad. His mother used to say that, too. And so did his father. But, the little voice whispered, look at what happened after that. What did that make them?
"Isaiah, could you just fucking stop for a second?!"
He stopped dead in his tracks. Isaiah's eyes widened to the size of cannonballs. The entire neighbourhood was silent, but Eira's shout seemed to ring and echo around the silent cul-de-sac. Isaiah's breathing, though he hadn't realised it before, seemed slightly uneven.
He'd made it to a few feet away from the wall before she'd shouted. From here, he could clearly see people watching from the glass door. Unashamedly, too, so he knew they were on his team. He wasn't sure why they were watching, but he hoped he was at least putting on a great fucking show.
"Just...just fucking wait. Please." Eira said, sounding a lot closer to him.
He didn't particularly want to turn around and face her. In all honesty, he was a little...alarmed. Alarmed, because the quiet, calm girl he'd grown used to had just told him to 'fucking stop' and had raised her beautiful angelic voice, and he wasn't sure why that was so shocking. And hot.
Before he could really debate jumping over the wall and taking some time by himself to do his favourite hobby (think–deeply, unnecessarily), two hands gripped his shoulder, using his shock and disarm to be able spin him around. Before he could even regain his balance, two cold hands guided his jaw and what came next was complete and utter bliss.
He hadn't even reacted to the chilliness of her fingers before he registered first the fact that her lips were in fact, the softest things on this dying planet. Her lips, on his, massaging and warm and soft and supple from whatever was on her lips, were what he imagined fuelled pipe dreams and painted the clouds in the sky. She tasted like a sort of minty blueberry. Minty. Sweet. Blueberry.
His hands, previously fisted inside the pouch of his hoody, came alive as if jolted by a current and found themselves around Eira's waist. Suddenly, the kiss became more heated. There was a sense of franticness about it, a sense of hunger and desperation that Isaiah knew was felt between the two of them. He couldn't even remember what day it was because of what Eira's tongue was doing in his mouth. He didn't really want to.
The idea that his entire team, plus cheerleaders, plus whoever looked outside their window could probably see them never held much significance in his mind. They were standing right under the orangish glow of a streetlight, possibly seen by anyone with eyes. He didn't care, though. He didn't give a damn and a half.
His hands wandered over her body, relishing just being able to touch her and feel her, to kiss her and hold her in the way he was doing. To hear her making those sounds of approval. To feel her arms around his neck. Just to be with her. He didn't care who was watching. Kissing Eira was something he'd been wanting to do for a long, long time. It was something he wasn't ready to call bliss, but it was definitely close.
Eventually, Eira pulled away with a gasp and her hazel eyes wide. Her arms were still around his neck, and her lips were pinker and swollen slightly. Isaiah thought he looked the same.
"You kissed me." She said quietly.
"You kissed me." He corrected, pulling her just a little bit closer.
Eira smiled and looked at the pavement. "You kissed me back."
Isaiah wasn't sure why, but he felt his ears and cheeks redden slightly. He cleared his throat."It's the polite thing to do when a pretty girl kisses you after telling you to, "fucking stop"."
Eira laughed that melodious laugh that made Isaiah's stomach tighten a little.
"Do you have any idea how fucking beautiful you are?" Isaiah blurted, when she had calmed down.
Isaiah couldn't help it. Eira was laughing. It was probably what angels sounded like when they sang in heaven, and Isaiah wasn't sure how long he could go without blurting something cheesy and sappy. Instead, he opted for something stupid and forward.
"Can I kiss you again?"
"Well..."
"You taste like blueberries. Mint. I think." Isaiah revealed randomly, squeezing her waist a little.
He leant in for a kiss, expecting to land his lips on the heaven he'd experienced, but met a more solid wall and giggling.
Eira smiled, releasing her hold around his neck. Isaiah's arms were still round her waist. She cupped his cheek and her other free hand ran through his brown locks. "You should probably get back to your celebratory thing." She whispered.
Isaiah barely heard. He was looking at her lips. How had he gone for so long without kissing her? How had he done it?
"Isaiah?"
"Mm?"
"Your team is watching."
"So?" He murmured, knowing full well that he wasn't going to hear the end of it from them. He turned around though, briefly.
Miguel, Kwame, Logan and Kyle were shouting and jumping around, and Isaiah felt like he could hear their whoops and calls through the glass. Drawn in by the noise and hubbub, it'd only be a few moments before more people came. Madison's people.
Isaiah scanned the room for Karim. It took only a few seconds to spot him. He was multitasking– he was on the phone and gesturing at the wallet that was between his fingers, while jumping around with the other four.
"I should probably leave..." he sighed.
Eira smiled a little. "Probably."
Isaiah gave her a look. He didn't want to leave, but if he didn't more people would know about her. He didn't want Madison's friends and his teammates knowing anything about her. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though he had to protect her from...people.
He cupped her cheek, staring deeply into her hazel, almond shaped eyes. He felt hypnotised. Eira was a siren. What was it about her that made him...so different? Why was she so alluring? And why couldn't he get enough of it?
He placed a sweet, tender kiss on her lips, relishing the softness of her lips and how in-tune he felt to the world around them. The crickets chorusing, the breeze skirting around them, the dogs howling in unison...
"It's icy blueberry lip balm." She said, after he pulled away.
Isaiah grinned. "Icy blueberry."
+++
He hadn't seen Eira since Friday.
She'd respond to the texts he'd send, she'd answer the phone and talk to him for a bit, but it didn't seem like...it seemed forced in a way, on her part. Like she was doing it to keep him happy.
He didn't tell his friends this. Not because they wouldn't understand, but because he didn't know how to not sound like himself. Overthinking. Pensive. Someone who looks gift horses in their pretty, soft, pink mouths.
"...I can't believe you actually womanned up and kissed her." River had mused earlier.
"She kissed him." Karim had corrected, dipping three chips into ketchup.
River had given Isaiah a disapproving look. "It's nice to know someone in that relationship doesn't overthink."
He'd flicked a chip in her direction, narrowly missing Shiro, who had been munching away at his fish and basking in the conversation.
"Don't be mean, Fleuve." Karim had chastised, shoving an uncountable number of chips in his mouth. "Overthinking's a recessive gene. Like blue eyes. And tails."
"Isaiah's got blue eyes as well. All he needs now is a tail for a trifecta."
That was how the conversation when they were in Ed's, their favourite chippy, had gone. Karim had recounting the story of Isaiah and Eira's first kiss. It had been received with squealing and cooing, Isaiah going red at least three times and him threatening to block his friends on social media at least four.
"I like Eira. We should hang out together sometime." Shiro said, playing with his tie. That was the longest sentence he'd said all day.
River raised an eyebrow. "It's settled. Dinner it is."
Isaiah frowned, holding both of his hands up. "Uh, settled? Nothing's 'settled' here except that sugar in your tea, Fleuve."
"What, just 'cause you kiss her she's not allowed to socialise?" River scoffed. "You don't own her, Nicholas Evander The Third."
"Dinner's like...you're my dad or something." Isaiah frowned, disliking the remote idea of bringing Eira anywhere near his parent units. "How about a movie?"
"You'd kiss the whole time." Karim informed, plucking a curly fry from Shiro's plate.
"Ice cream?"
"We're not thirteen."
"Lunch?"
"We're not thirty."
"It's lunch, or nothing." Isaiah deadpanned.
"You can't give us ultimatums," River cried, spooking the pair of old women on the neighbouring table. They eyed her pink hair and her piercings warily. Even in her uniform, River had that look about her.
"I'm not giving you anything." Isaiah rolled his eyes, loosening his school tie. "I've suggested stuff you guys have shut down. It's not my fault."
"Take us to the café. Let's catch her off-guard." River suggested, eyes twinkling with excitement. "Ask her a few...queries."
"Good one," Karim agreed. "Know what else is a good one? Paying me my ten quid. I had faith in my guy, that he'd kiss her, and you–"
"Can you guys stop betting on me? It's a little offensive."
"Yeah, okay." Karim brushed off. "Anyway, I say River and Shiro pay me, we blow this joint and another joint in Isaiah's car, and then, we go surprise his new girl."
"I like that plan." Shiro had seconded, feeling particularly chatty.
"So do I."
"I don't." Isaiah frowned.
Karim thumped his shoulder. "Life's tough, mate. You coming?"
"I sort of have to. It's my car."
"Someone's grumpy," River had sung, loosening her school tie.
"What if she's at school?" Karim had wondered, clicking his seatbelt securely.
"She's homeschooled." Isaiah chipped in.
"Poor thing." River frowned.
"And we have to be at school. We've got assembly in thirty minutes." Isaiah had frowned, glancing at the clock.
"You don't really go for that, do you?" River had pretended to gag.
Isaiah didn't remember what happened after that. Obviously, like always, they got their way.
Now, there were in Beans n Stuff, River had ordered a skinny latte and a plate of doughnuts, and Isaiah's mysterious girl-who-wasn't-his-girl was nowhere to be found. Obviously, because it was school hours.
"She's not here."
"Obviously." Isaiah grumbled. "Because she's got school. Where she should be. Where we should be."
River rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. We'll get the doughnuts to go and go to assembly. Jeez."
As they proceeded to Isaiah's car, River and Shiro carrying the weight of their food, River cocked her head to the side. She stood for a while, obviously reading off from some of the newspapers that had been left on the outdoor tables of the café.
"Fleuve!" Isaiah called her.
She frowned, a little saddened by the bit of the headline she could see.
"Missing G–"
She reached over, prepared to move the other newspaper so it wasn't covering the headline, but her name was called out again.
"Come on, River!"
She rolled her eyes at Isaiah's insistence. She glanced at the newspaper one more time, before continuing to Isaiah's car. She didn't need to move the other newspaper to see what it was going to say. The knowledge dampened her mood for a while. It was always the same sort of thing every so often.
Missing Girl.