3. Isaiah #3
“You sticking with the blue? I like it,” Jacob said, green eyes sparkling.
Isaiah grinned. “Thanks, hun.” His smile dimmed. “Ollie said I look like a Smurf.”
“A hot Smurf,” Jacob replied. “Where is the ball and chain, anyway?”
“Around here somewhere.” Isaiah shrugged. “I was looking for him when I spotted you lot. We haven’t seen each other properly since he got back.”
A look passed between his friends that wasn’t hard to read. None of them particularly liked Ollie. He wasn’t a bad guy or anything. Ollie was…well, he was old money and didn’t take much seriously, but that was fine with Isaiah. It was easy.
“I saw him earlier,” Amara interjected. Her voice was light and airy. “With that posh crowd he’s always out with.”
Isaiah mentally groaned. He couldn’t fucking stand Ollie’s pretentious mates. They were boring and pompous—the worst possible combination. He checked his phone again. Still no text from Ollie. Maybe he’d hang around with his own friends for a bit. If Oll really wanted to see him, he’d reply.
“So being out in the real world, living together, all good?” Amara asked the couple.
Jacob lit up. “It’s so good, weird to be back to the grind of classes, though,” he said, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek. Malek ducked his head, embarrassed, but he smiled. Too fucking cute, both of them. “Mal’s making fucking waves since signing with Zay’s Uncle Carl.”
“Well, just one more year, and then… Wait,” Amara said. “Uncle Carl?” She turned to Isaiah.
“Yeah, we’re… I’ve been helping him out a bit at the agency, getting to know my cousin and stuff…” Isaiah trailed off, suddenly more embarrassed by the situation than he should be.16 A soft look crossed Amara’s face, and she pulled him into a tight hug.
The group chatted as they finished their drinks, and it felt to Isaiah as though nothing had changed, like it was still the way things had been for them for years.
He loved his friends, trusted them almost implicitly, but he found himself cataloguing the differences, the ways their paths were diverging.
He hated how he couldn’t even be honest about what he’d been doing earlier.
Isaiah had been through a rude awakening about the limits of love, courtesy of his parents, and he wasn’t about to put his friends in a position where they’d have to test theirs.
“We were heading over to The Bully. The rest of the team left about an hour ago, and Dylan specifically asked me to bring Amara along,” Jacob said.
Amara glared and Isaiah laughed.
“You in?”
Isaiah drained his pint. “Nah, just want to find Ollie and have an early night, if I’m honest.”
“Epistemology tomorrow?” Amara asked.
“You know it.”
All of his friends cringed in unison. It was fairly common knowledge how much Isaiah hated that paper.
“Well, have a good night, mate,” Jacob said, his large hand settling on Isaiah’s shoulder before they turned to leave. “Don’t be a stranger; we want updates. It’s weird not having you in the flat, like our little bird has flown the nest.”
Isaiah rolled his eyes. “I won’t.”
Isaiah watched his friends file out, then sighed.
Malek paused at the door then logged back in. “Hey, if you see your cousin, could you just tell him it was really cool what he and Jennings did at the Olympics. I know the press has been wild, but it meant a lot. All of them this year, it’s just… Well, it’s made things easier.”
Clapping Mal on the shoulder, Isaiah grinned at him. “He’ll love hearing that. But you can tell him yourself when you’re lining up next to each other at your next pro race.”
Malek scoffed. It looked like he might say something further, but Jacob was calling him from the door.
“Go,” Isaiah laughed. “I’m gonna find Ollie.”
Isaiah took a breath before heading further into the pub, where Ollie and his friends typically congregated. He heard them before he saw them, but when he reached the group, Ollie wasn’t at the table. Something in his friends’ eyes when they saw him approach made Isaiah’s throat go dry.
He didn’t stop to speak to them. Feigning another destination, he steered himself towards the nearby gender neutral toilet.
Time almost slowed as he pushed the door open.
It stuck for a second, as if someone had half engaged the lock.
Isaiah’s brain was practically screaming at him to retreat, like he knew exactly what he’d find.
He didn’t turn back though, he pushed right into the room, the room where his boyfriend was sitting on the counter, legs wrapped around his “totally straight friend” Matt’s back as they kissed passionately.
Ollie moaned as Matt squeezed his arse, grinding against him.
His eyes blinked open for just a moment and caught Isaiah’s frozen gaze.
Ollie pulled back, and Matt chased his mouth. “Fuck, babe,” Matt groaned. “Want you so bad.”
“Z-Zay,” Ollie stuttered out, making Matt pull back.
“The fuck?” Matt said, whirling around. His posture changed instantly. “Shit. Well, hey, Smurfette.” The arsehole didn’t even look ashamed. “I’ll let you two talk.” He nodded at Ollie, adjusting himself as he exited. The door clicked shut.
Ollie let out a strangled sound as he lowered himself from the counter.
“Are you kidding me?” Isaiah finally said.
Ollie ran a hand through his hair. “It was nothing. We’re on a break, and it was just a kiss. You know what Matt’s like… He’s Matt.” That infuriating nonchalance Ollie applied to every part of his life was on full display. Isaiah knew him too well though—he saw it for the defence mechanism it was.
Maybe he should have felt sad, or angry, but all he felt was the empty sting of betrayal.17 “The only reason that stopped at a kiss is because I walked in, and you know it.” He leaned against the wall, his body suddenly feeling horribly heavy.
“We’re on a break,” Ollie reiterated quietly.
Isaiah sighed, deep and final. “Because you were away for months. God, Ollie. You should have just broken up with me.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Ollie finally replied, the first sign of his armour cracking.
“Oh yeah? How’s that working out?” Isaiah crossed his arms.
“I don’t think you’re being fair. We’re on a break, and Matt’s my best friend. It’s nothing.”
He looked pathetic and wrecked, his dark blonde hair damp with sweat. Isaiah was very quickly forgetting what he’d ever seen in him.