Enemies with benefits

Chapter 10: Operation backfired

"Is that all this was- some stupid revenge plot?" Colby had never seen Ezra look upset before, he'd never really seen Ezra look dazed by anything. All the taunting and teasing that Colby would throw at him, all the shit other boys who were jealous of his perfection would talk about him, all the rumours jealous ex's would spread about him, none of that got to him. But this? This; Colby had broken Ezra.

How did he know? He would even tell him? Finley would never -he'd even told Finley he was done with the stupid idea- which meant... Sophie. Sophie wouldn't rat him out, would she? She'd always been the nice one of their trio, the girl next door, the goody-two-shoes. Although, Colby had seen her talking to Ezra earlier. It could only be Sophie.

"Well are you going to answer me! Or are you too thick as shit to do that as well?" Ezra spat.

Colby couldn't stop himself when he threw himself out of his bed and faced off against Ezra. He didn't consider the repercussions of what he was going to say. It was instinct. All the resentment he'd bottled away unleashed itself.

"Oh I'm thick as shit? I'm not the idiot who thought any of this was real. What you think that sex would make us the best of friends all of a sudden? How could I ever be friends with you? I haven't forgotten you sleeping with my girlfriend. I looked up to you, I admired you. I thought we would be great friends, I remember the first football practice you were in and thinking 'wow what a great guy'. But it was all bullshit. Do you know how it felt to see you in bed with Joanna? When I came over to surprise her on her birthday and I find you balls deep in her. Did you apologise for it? Did you even try to fix anything between us? No. You just stared at me as if I had done something wrong. Ignored me at school. You couldn't even look me in the eye until a couple months ago. So what do you want me to say, Ezra? That this was genuine. That I didn't do this to get back at you for Joanna. That I really fucking like you. How could I ever after what you did."

Colby was panting by the time he finished. He hadn't stopped for a breath he just let it all out. He had been waiting for this moment for such a long time, to see Ezra crumble in his hands.

Why wasn't it making him feel any better?

Ezra just stared at him. His mouth hanging open as tears formed in his eyes.

"Is that how you feel about me?" Ezra's voice choked as he said that. Then some sort of rage took over him as his sorrowful face twisted into a scowl. "Joanna didn't love you. She never did."

"Take that back!" Colby screamed.

"No! If you are still hung up over that girl then I'm going to knock some fucking sense into you right now. It wasn't just me she slept with. By the time I joined the team, oh she was dating you alright, but she was sleeping with the entire team. You remember Jordan Park? She fucked him in the back seat of his car. Roland Marin? They fucked at a party that you were at. Jerry Winship? Janitor's closet. Joanna had you twisted around her little finger. I thought you were either stupid or blind not to see her infidelity but it turns out you were in love. You were in love with her and I couldn't understand it. She was the school slut and yet you always looked at her like she was a treasure. I didn't understand it at the time but I couldn't stand the fact that she was the one you looked at like that. So I slept with her because I thought that's what my weird feelings were about... but they weren't. When you caught us... and still looked at her like she'd done nothing wrong and still loved her... I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted you to look at-" Ezra's voice was choked back in his throat as he tried to keep his composure.

"What do you mean? Joanna wouldn't... you. You're lying." Colby whispered. Tears that he'd been holding back drenched his cheeks as it all came together. He didn't admit it at the time and he didn't want to admit it now but part of him knew what Joanna was up to. The signs were there. The constant cancelling of plans. Calling Colby clingy if he asked where she'd been. The way the other guys snickered at him when he'd come into the changing room. But he had loved her. Genuinely, she was his first love. He didn't realise it was unrequited.

At that moment Finley and Brent came into the room. Brent's lips were swollen and his neck was spotted in hickeys. Finley's skin was too dark to tell but he was probably sporting the same. They had obliviously came into the room -all lustful winks and smiles- until they saw Colby crying and Ezra trying not to.

"Tell him!" Ezra demanded, turning his attention to the pair.

"Tell him what. Colby you okay, man?" Finley rushed to Colby's side and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. "What did you do?" Finley scowled at Ezra.

"I was telling him the truth." Ezra's voice was void of any emotion now, it was cold and Colby hated it.

"Ezra what's going on." Brent asked. Ezra kept his eyes trained on Colby.

"Brent nearly slept with Joanna too. He was just too much of a gentleman to go through with it when he learned that she was dating you. Because she didn't tell anyone that she was. They knew that she was but if she didn't mention it and she made the first move, then that's just fair game."

"Fin, it's not true is it? He's lying." Colby asked Finley, his words laced with desperation.

"He's not." Finley cast his gaze to the floor, unable to meet Colby's eyes.

"You knew?"

"I heard the guys talking about her but you two had broken up by then. I didn't want to tell you because you just kept saying that she was innocent, that she probably didn't mean to sleep with Ezra. I thought it would just hurt your feeling even more if I told you. I'm sorry."

Finley, Brent, Ezra, every single fucking teammate. They all knew. They had been making fun off him this entire time. He was such an idiot

With one last ounce of rage Colby locked his eyes with Ezra's and said: "I fucking hate you."

Ezra turned and stormed out the room with Brent hot on his heels.

"Colby I really am sorry. I just-"

"Please go. I need to be alone for awhile. I'll talk to you on Monday."

Finley nodded silently and left the room, closing the door behind him. Colby's entire body shook as cries racked his body. He covered his mouth to soften the noise. He felt like such an idiot.

He picked up his phone and did what he always does when he doesn't know how to handle a situation; he called his mom.

*

After a couple minutes of giving a vague explanation of what had happened and after hearing Colby hold back a few tears, she agreed to come pick him up.

The drive home was silent until his mom decided it wouldn't be.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" She asked in the gentle tone that only a mother could make.

"You remember Joanna?"

"Old girlfriend? Nice boobs but ginger?"

He chuckled at her description. "Yeah that's the one. She was sleeping with the entire football team, probably others as well and everybody knew but me."

"What, even Finley?"

"Yeah. He said he didn't tell me because he only found out after we'd broken up and he knew it'd only upset me more."

"Well that's quite understandable, dear. You already learnt she was cheating on you, no need to deepen the blow by saying how many. Oh my baby boy. How'd you find out?"

"Ezra told me."

"Maybe he was trying to do the right thing by telling you. Your dad only says good things about that boy so maybe he didn't mean it maliciously." He didn't have the heart to tell her that the only reason he knew about Joanna cheating was because he'd caught her with Ezra.

"Maybe." Was all he responded with.