Take My Breath (KShaw)

Chapter 8

Ethan and Tobi go to the game, but Harry stays in his room. They always go to games, though. Harry doesn't want to. He sees no point. For one, he still doesn't fully understand the game. For another, being stuffed into a hard seat with people crowded in around him, everyone shouting, is not his idea of a good time. Plus, he has work to do. So that's what he does, when his room is blissfully empty because JJ's too busy on the field. He needs to get this done, too, because he won't have time to work on it tonight, not when he already has plans.

Fuck. Is he really going through with this? Is he really going to go to this party? It's not his scene. There won't be anyone like him there. The guys that are throwing it are the type that Harry studiously avoids most of the time. Not to mention the fact that JJ will be there, and... Harry would like to avoid JJ for the rest of his life, really, because every time they look at each other JJ smirks this smug little smirk, like he knows he has Harry. It's horrible. It's even more horrible because he's right.

Every time they're alone together, there's that tension in the air that there always is, only it's different. It's not like the two of them waiting for the other to pick a fight, like it used to be. It's Harry waiting, wondering when JJ's going to kiss him again, but he likes to think that he wouldn't normally let that happen. That it only has happened because he was too pissed at JJ the last two times to think rationally. Under normal, calm circumstances, when his whole body doesn't feel like it's burning with anger or something else, he thinks he'd push JJ away.

Harry shakes his head, tucking those thoughts away. He focuses on his work instead, on reading his book for class, writing down important quotes for the paper he's supposed to write on the antagonist. Only he doesn't have much left to do. He's been working on it all week, and it's nearly done, and before long he's turning the last page.

With a sigh he gets out of his chair and heads for his dresser. He changes, out of the dirty sweats he'd crawled out of bed and to class in because he was exhausted. Lastly he slides his glasses onto his face, just because. He doesn't need them all the time. His sight isn't really that bad, but he needs them to read, and he likes them.

******

Their team wins the game, unsurprisingly. They always win. He knows this because of the guys running up and down the hall, whooping and cheering. In the next hour their common room will be filled, doors will be left open. That's how everyone celebrates, while Harry usually locks his door and takes advantage of the fact that JJ will be out until late that night, getting shitfaced in celebration of the win. Only tonight he doesn't do that. Tonight he pulls on a sweater, grabs his wallet for his I.D. and some cash in case he needs to take a cab home, and he heads for the statue of the school founder. It's just outside the science building, the closest building to the edge of campus, where he's supposed to meet Simon and the others.

It's cold out, the early November air making him pull his sweater in tighter around himself. Ethan and Tobi are already at the statue when he gets there, Simon leaning heavily against it. Ethan has white and red paint on his cheeks, and Tobi has a tiny smudge of it on his neck, like Ethan had rubbed it there while putting his own paint on. "Harry!" Simon says loudly, and then he's engulfing Harry in a tight hug, like that's something that they do. It's not. "Thought you might not show, man." "I told you I would," Harry reminds him. "And it'll piss JJ off," Ethan adds. "So you know he wouldn't miss a chance to do that." Simon laughs. "You two are so crazy," he says. "I think you'd actually like each other if you'd stop fighting for two seconds." "I think they'd more than like each other," Ethan says slyly. Tobi punches him for it, and Harry's grateful. Simon looks confused by that admission, so Harry quickly asks, "Are we going now?" before Simon can question what Ethan meant by that.

The four of them walk down the streets lit up by streetlights, the moon already hanging in the sky that's only just turned from navy to deep black. As they walk, Ethan and Tobi chat, and Simon keeps up with them easily, as if they do this all the time. Harry's weirdly nervous. The only thing he can think about is JJ telling him not to come.