With You (Fransykes)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8- Oli

Oli was happy today. He wasn't sure why, but he woke up feeling lighter than he had in weeks, and he had 'Dance, Dance' by Fall Out Boy stuck in his head, and it made him feel like he could fly.

"Someone's happy today," Ian, Oli's dad, commented, upon seeing Oli's smile over the breakfast table.

"Is it to do with Josh?" Tom wrinkled his nose, "Because then I really don't want to hear."

Oli reached across the table for the Cheerios. "I don't think it's to do with Josh. I just feel happy today. Kellin said he was proud of me at therapy yesterday. It's Friday. I only have Music and a study period, no school after lunch, and then I've got band practice. And Mr Healy promised not to set us another music essay this weekend."

"That's nice," Carol nodded encouragingly. "Maybe we should all go out together. As a family."

Tom made a funny sort of noise that was probably a groan of frustration, Oli decided.

"Mum!" he complained, "Not again!"

"Or you can go out with your friends and return at some odd hour in the middle of the night, piss drunk and be grounded for a week again," Carol suggested.

"I'd rather be grounded than have another family day out," Tom agreed. "I'll call my mates."

With that, he left the table.

"Is Josh still 'being weird'?" Carol asked in an undertone to Oli.

"Yeah," Oli felt his mood dampen slightly. "Ever since the weekend. He's not avoiding me, it's just... Ugh, whatever. But, y'know, maybe I'll get him high at band practice and he'll spill whatever the fuck is going on in his stupid, grumpy, little brain."

"Good luck," Ian offered, "Southerners are a difficult bunch, all stuck up, and stiff-upper-lip and secretly very miserable."

Oli sighed. "Yeah."

//

Josh looked adorable when he was struggling, Oli thought, and maybe that did make him a sadist but there was just something so endearing about the way he squirmed, and groaned, and tugged at his hair while staring down at his History textbook. Oli wished he could make Josh as frustrated as his essay was making him.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his rather lustful thoughts.

He turned to face Jordan, who mouthed: 'Stop staring at Josh, you knobhead'. Oli grinned and opened up his Business Studies book.

They were in the library, being forced to undergo a compulsory study session because A Levels are important or whatever, but hardly anyone was actually working. Nearly every teenager in the room had a phone concealed under the desk or behind a textbook, ready to be shoved back into a blazer pocket if the supervising teacher walked in a certain direction.

In previous compulsory study sessions, Oli knew that Josh would be doing exactly that, so it was rather odd to see him working. But Josh had been weird all this week, so Oli just ignored it.

"Have you guys got lessons after lunch?" Oli asked quietly, cautious of Mrs Tate who was scolding some other students a few metres away.

"Yeah, French," Matt Kean replied, flicking through his folder without reading the words.

"Who doesn't have lessons after lunch?" Oli corrected himself. "I thought we could go get Maccies and then hang out in the park or something before band practice."

"I'm free," Josh looked up from his books. "Sounds like fun."

Oli stared at him, mouth slightly parted. Josh held his gaze. It was hot. They were being hot.