The Lies They Tell

Liar Liar Hair on Fire

Earlier that day...
Two grey eyes and two almost black ones stared at the boy in the doorway. Wylan awkwardly ran a hand down the back of his neck, glancing at the ground.
Kaz clenched his jaw, his dark eyes wide in disbelief.
Jesper seemed to be having trouble forming words. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, staring transfixed at Wylan. "You..." He closed his mouth and swallowed a lump in his throat. "You like me?"
Wylan nodded.
"All this time," Kaz said in shock, "you liked Jesper?"
Wylan nodded.
The small room of the boys' bathroom suddenly felt ten times smaller. The pieces began to fall into place in Kaz's mind. The way Wylan always stared at Jesper, the way he blushed when Jesper made innapripriate conversation topics. All this time, Wylan had liked Jesper.
"Okay, I'll just-" Kaz stopped short, stalking out of the room.

"You like me?" Jesper said for the fifth time.
"For God's sake Jes, what do you think 'I like you' means?"
Jesper nodded quickly. "Wy-"
Wylan cut him off. "Forget it, I just wanted to set the record straight."
"Wylan,"
Wylan bit his lip. His face was embarassed and he looked sad.
"I like you too, Wy." Jesper finally said it. What he'd been wanting to say since the first day Wylan came to acting, with his rusty curls and sweet smile.
Wylan's blue eyes widened in shock. Jesper's heart was racing from the sheer adrenaline of it all. He felt like at any moment he might plummet from fifty feet or burst into flames.

The day wore on, and Kaz couldn't help but notice the stolen glances between Wylan and Jesper throughout auditions. Kaz felt strangely guilty for it, like he was seeing something he didn't have the right to.
Finally auditions were over. Kaz adjusted his gloves, reaching for the backstage door. The bright sunlight outside made Kaz flinch, closing his eyes for a second.
Infront of him, Jesper was sitting on the hand-rail and Wylan's head was resting on his legs. Kaz tried not to gawk.
Kaz could always sense when Inej was near, and as it happened he could swear the Wraith was standing just around the corner. He could almost hear her quiet breathing.
"Hello Jesper," Inej said, appearing from indeed the other side of the wall. Wylan physically jumped, throwing himself onto the floor. Inej stared at him. Jesper laughed nervously. "Wylan, what in God's name are you doing on the floor?" Inej asked innocently. Kaz has a suspicion she knew exactly what had just happened.
"I was just inspecting the tiles," Wylan began quickly. "Kaz wanted to know something."
Inej looked up the stairs to where Kaz was leaning nonchalantly on the banister. "What did you want to know?" She asked, smiling innocently.
"I wanted to know what kind of.... Concrete, it was." This story had more holes than a piece of dehli cheese. Kaz wondered if Jesper and Wylan were dating now, and if they were going to try to hide it.
"I see," Inej nodded knowingly.

Nina's head was spinning. Thoughts swirled around faster than seconds on a clock, flooding her senses with senseless quwstions. How had she not seen this before? Jesper and Inej would have adorable children. Woah there Zenik, you don't even know he likes her. Inej likes Jesper? Inej likes Jesper? Inej likes Jesper?
"Hey babe?" Matthias' voice cut into her thoughts. The pare were seated in Matthias' new car, the one he bought for his Nineteenth birthday, in the parking lot of the supermarket. Nina looked over at him, his beautiful blue eyed sparkling like sapphires.
"Yeah?"
"What were you thinking about? You had a... Funny look on your face."
Nina tucked her dark hair behind her ears. "... Inej." It wasn't a lie, just a simple harmless half truth.
Matthias flicked his head as if shaking off a thought.
"Don't worry, Helvar. I wasn't thinking about Inej the way I think about you," Nina said with a wink. Matthias rubbed the back of his neck and bit his bottom lip. They'd been together for four months and Nina still had the ability to make him flustered with her unholyness. She considered that a win.
"So are we gonna go in?" Matthias asked.
"Huh?"
He rolled his eyes. "Into the supermarket."

At the same time, in the back of Colm Fahey's four-wheel-drive, Jesper and Wylan were listening to One Direction.
"I'm telling you," Jesper said indignantly, "one of them has got to be gay."
Wylan shook his head. "Nope, I'm pretty sure they're all straight."
Jesper sung along, somewhat off-tune, and just shook his head at Wylan. He pointedly sung the line "The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed," while glancing at Wylan, who didn't know where to look.
Wylan noticed rain start to spatter the Windshield. The car was parked just outside an abandoned Seven-Eleven, which Jesper seemed to think was the perfect place for a first official date. Rain drops drizzled down the windows, forming larger droplets that dispersed when they reached the metal. Puddles formed in the gutter, a steady torrent of rain water streaming downhill. This time of winter rain was common, but Wylan had noticed heavy weather warnings for the next few days. Strangely, he found the idea of being stuck in a storm with Jesper somewhat exciting.