From Foes To Flames

Chapter 31

Isaac

"Did you-." His words are cut off, he quit talking mid sentence. I stop and turn around. His back is facing me but his head hangs low, he kinda looks and sounds defeated right now. What has been going on with him these past few minutes?

"Did I what?" I say expectantly. Oscar slowly turns around, his head still low.

"Did you like how he kissed you?" His voice is silent, like a whisper. I almost didn't understand him. Emphasis on almost because now I am at a loss of words. Did I hear that right?

The boy slowly lifts his head and his mood changes instantly in the moment he sees my shocked state. His blue eyes now filled with rage. What did I do now?

"The way his hand touched your neck?" The second question i don't have an answer to. With Oscar asking such questions, my anger rises to an impossible level. How dare he?

"Stop." I shout at the boy. Please just stop.

"His eyes that are always on you." Another shot right through my heart. My anger intensifies. Oscar closes the distance between us with quick steps, stopping right in front of me.

"Are you jealous?" I finally say, my anger vanished, replaced by instant regret, I shouldn't have said that. Fuck.

Oscar doesn't answer right away, he just chuckles deeply. He suddenly leans forward and presses his lips against my ear.

"Say that again." He warns, every hair of my body electrified by now. I am really tired but I won't let him get away with that, for the sake of Jayden.

"Are. You. Jealous?" I say slowly. In the splits of a second, Oscar grabs my chest and pushes me against the cold wall next to me, his body pressed against mine. All the air is knocked out of my body due to the sudden impact.

"Do you want me to be jealous?" I did not expect that question. What should I say? Shit.

"Oscar." I say breathless. His face now closer than before, one of his hands on my biceps.

"Isaac." He returns.

"We are just friends." I suddenly feel the need to explain myself, what the hell?

He starts grinning all of a sudden. "I don't like him." He admits, which doesn't really surprise me, given the fact that he glared daggers at him back then. Somewhere deep inside of me rises the feeling of happiness, I feel the urge to smile, so I do.

"What is so funny, idiot?" He asks.

"You ARE jealous. Oscar Thompson is a jealous bitch." I state which seems to have hit a nerve. His grip on my biceps intensifies, causing me to wince.

The black-haired boy in front of me collects himself for a second, before speaking again.

"Tell me that you hate me." Oscar says, surprising me. The mood swings of this boy are unbelievable.

"I hate you." I say.

"Again." He demands.

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you so much that sometimes I can't think of anything else." I admit.

I must say, revealing how I truly feel to him is more than scary, but I am tired of us. Our weird relationship we have been sharing since kindergarten. Silence settles in between us. He is still pinning me down, not as hard as before, but I still can't move under his hold.

His eyes never once leave mine and then it happens. The boy closes the distance between us in a quick motion, pressing his lips on my flesh. And I kiss him back. I swear to god, if our breathing hadn't been this loud in that exact moment, he would have probably heard the silent fluttering of wings coming from my stomach, because the butterflies are running havoc right now.

Till this day, I thought that raging Oscar was my favorite, turns out that the jealous side of the boy turns me on even more. We break apart seconds later, both panting heavily.

"I am jealous, Isaac. So fucking jealous." He whispers. Oscar lowers his head so that our foreheads collide, we exchange air. At this point we are staring at each other, but not in a weird way, more like a silent way of appreciating each others presence. The two cans of now warm cola on the floor long forgotten.

Call it gravitational pull, but not long after, my lips find their way back to his. And I swear to fucking god and the whole universe above, in that moment the earth stopped moving for a second and he must have felt that too, I am sure of it.

Imagine two stars drifting through the expanses of space for billions of years, both alone, intrepid of what might lie ahead. Now imagine those very stars meeting, colliding. Chances are high that both of them dissolve due to the impact but what happens when they don't - i will tell you, they melt into each other.

Colliding has always been easy for both Oscar and Isaac - the rest not so much.

~~~~~~~

After we separate again, we eventually find our way on the floor next to the vending machine. The tiled surface cold against my body. Both of our bodies lean against the wall behind us, airless. My heart is still beating heavily due to our previous interaction. That was - wow.

"What are we?" Oscar's sudden question completely throws me off my game. But I am more than thankful for that, because my raging thoughts were about to consume me whole.

I don't fucking know what we are, I wanted to say that, but I decide against it not wanting to ruin what is between us right now.

"You tell me." I say. Good answer.

He doesn't react, instead he turns his whole body around now facing me. And then I see it, the look in his eyes. Regret.

"I don't fucking know." He presses through gritted teeth.

Silence. Again.

"We are-." I start, my eyes find their way to my hands. Head low.

"We are Oscar and Isaac." I say. Now looking at him.

"Two idiots, if you ask me." His words make me smile immediately. He mirrors my expression.

"We don't have to be anything other than stupid jocks, Oscar." I tell him.

"I don't fucking know how I feel about you yet." I continue, he nods.

I decide that we shared enough words for the night, I mean he is still my rival, my arch-nemesis. The one I should be silently cursing.

I get up and turn towards the door. Before I disappear from his view once and for all, I turn around.

"Good night, Oscar." I smile and then I vanish, leaving behind a startled idiot.

~~~~~~~

Oscar

Spoiler alert: I did not sleep that night.