The Sound of Water (BoyxBoy)

10

'Go over to him-' Nazzim shoves my shoulders, and I stumble forward a few steps, throwing a dirty glare over my shoulder at Nazzim and the rest of my teammates.

'Move it Flynn,' one of the other boys calls out, 'I've got a chemistry SAC in fifteen minutes.'

'I can't-'

'Shut up and get your ass over there, go! Before he leaves!' Nazzim takes a few running steps forward and aims a kick at the backs of my legs, I duck out of the way and give Nazzim the finger.

Jacob is standing at his locker, his back to me and my teammates as he pulls a giant black art portfolio out of his top locker and slings under his arm. He's wearing his favourite black hoodie again, the one with Keith Haring (I asked who it was when he came over a few weeks back) prints on the back.

I draw in a deep breath and glance back over at my friends one more time.

Nazzim and the other's all wave their arms in a shoo-ing motion, one of them tapping his wrist impatiently. I knot my hands into fists and walk over to Jacob's locker.

'Hey,' I call out quietly when I'm about a metre away.

Jacob doesn't completely turn around, instead he angles himself so that his back is to everyone but me. His eyes widen a little when he catches sight of my friends down the other end of the locker bay, but he doesn't seem upset about it. He looks down at the floor.

'Hey.'

'Um,' I palm the back of my neck, take a step forward and then back again, flushing when Jacob's lips quirk, 'so, Nazzim basically forced me over here, and I told him you probably don't want me making a big deal or anything, so I totally get it if you don't want anyone else to know-'

'I don't mind.'

'Oh,' I trail off, scuffing my school shoe on the floor and shoving my hands in my pockets. Jacob's brown eyes are searching my face again, in that way that makes me feel like he can see beneath my skin. Like he has x-ray vision. But all he sees is that I'm just totally incompetent and-

'What did Nazzim force you over here for?' Jacob murmurs in his quiet voice.

'He, ah-' I stumble over my words, because Jacob's hair is still wet from a morning training session, and his eyelashes are so long even with all the chlorine damage, and I can see the red tinge of eczema on the skin of his under-eye, 'he-'

'-JUST ASK HIM OUT FLYNN!'

I close my eyes.

A small huff of what I think is laughter sounds from in front of me, and I open my eyes because there is no way that Jacob is laughing right now. I cannot have just missed the first time he laughed in front of me because I was too busy having my eyes closed.

Oh my god, he is.

I melt.

'So are you?' Jacob smiles at me, and the warmth of it gives me radiation sickness. It takes me a second to find my words.

'Yeah. yeah,' I take a step closer, so that I'm in Jacob's bubble again, 'yeah, I am going to.'

Jacob kisses my cheek. Chlorine and apple shampoo. I think I've forgotten how to breathe. My friends are whistling from down the locker bay, and I'm totally going to deck one of them later on but Jacob is right in front of me, so it'll have to wait for later.

I swallow and nod my head, trying not let Jacob see just how scrambled my head is. Jacob's still smiling, so I open my mouth to say-

'Did you want to go to the beach with me this weekend?'

[ The End ]

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