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"Are you ready to go Even?” Sonja’s voice broke Even’s reverie. Reluctantly Even pulled his eyes away from the stark, raw stare-off he and Isak had been consumed in. At this point he was 98 maybe 99 percent sure that Isak was interested but that 1 to 2 percent of uncertainty plagued his mind.
“What was that?” Even asked peering down at his blonde girlfriend. Girlfriend. Right, he had a girlfriend. A pretty, maybe over protective, or no, definitely over protective girlfriend, but safe. So safe.
“A few of us are getting a cab and I asked if you were ready to go?” Sonja raised an eyebrow. Even hesitated and peered back over to Isak. He was picking up scattered beer cans and periodically peeking over in Even’s direction. He wanted to stay. He wracked his brain but then insecurities took over. He sighed.
“Sure, Sonja,” He plastered on a smile, “of course I am.”
“Great!” Sonja beamed at him and grabbed his arm, “We don’t want to keep the rest waiting then.”
Even looked back one more time at Isak as he was being pulled gently toward the door. His eyes met those of the other boy. Isak held his gaze before dropping his eyes and running his pink tongue over his lips nervously. Fuck. Fuck Even was so gone.
He wasn’t sure what Sonja was saying to him, but he nodded and hm’ed at the appropriate times. He was still thinking about Isak. About the locked-down stare he experienced when they were dancing, he with Sonja, and Isak with whatever her name was, Emma, right Emma. Was Isak actually interested in her? He didn’t seem to be at the meeting for kosegruppe. And he certainly didn’t seem like it when he was staring at him and barely responding as the short haired girl continued to kiss him. But he didn’t know for sure. He didn’t know.
“Hey, can we stop the cab?” Even sat up abruptly. Sonja stared at him surprised.
“Why?” She questioned.
“Um,” Even searched his mind, “I forgot my sweater…”
Sonja frowned, “You didn’t bring a sweater.”
“Of course I did,” Even pressed.
“I don’t remember you having a sweater Even,” Sonja wrinkled her forehead.
“I’m not responsible for what you do or don’t remember Sonja!” Even said in exasperation.
“Jeez, okay,” Sonja threw up her hands, “but can’t you just get it tomorrow?”
“No, I don’t want to forget it,” Even shook his head.
“What did it look like?” Emma piped up, “I could text Isak and see if he has seen it?”
“Um…it’s..black…” Even bit his lip.
“A black sweater?” Sonja raised her eyebrows.
“Yes,” Even hurried on, “but I should go back for it, I’m the only one who knows what it looks like specifically,I mean black sweater could mean many things and maybe someone else forgot their black sweater, so honestly it’s just best if i go back.”
Sonja sighed, seeming exhausted.
“Okay,” she waved at the cab driver to stop and looked at Even, “can you hurry though? I don’t want us to miss too much fun.”
“Absolutely,” Even answered, already scrambling to get out of the cab, which fortunately hadn’t gotten that far.
He made his way down the sidewalk, not even sure what he was going to do, but he was determined, 98 or 99 percent wasn’t enough, he needed to be 100 percent sure. After pressing the buzzer he waited anxiously and bouncing from one foot to the other. Finally he was granted passage and he zoomed up to Isak’s flat. When Isak opened the door he welcomed his with some apprehension.
“Hey..” Isak said slowly.
“Hey,” Even breathed, “I, uh, I forgot something.”
“Oh, okay,” Isak frowned and stepped aside to let him in, “What did you forget?”
“Um, my sweater,” Even answered.
“What kind of sweater?” Isak nodded.
“Um, it’s black,” Even continued the same lie he had already started. Isak glanced up at him and then back down.
“A black sweater,” he seemed to chuckle under his breath.
“Should I help you look then? I was only cleaning up anyway,” Isak shrugged.
“Sure,” Even smiled. Of course it was fruitless as Even had not brought a sweater with him at all but it was an excuse to be able to be close to Isak. They searched for a while anyway because he obviously couldn’t let out that he was lying about the sweater.
“I don’t think it’s here,” Isak finally said shaking his head.
“Yeah..me either,” Even agreed, “maybe someone else took it?”
“Possible,” Isak bit his bottom lip again. God he wanted to kiss him.
“You know Sonja and I have been dating since we were like 15 or something,” Even blurted out.
“Okay,” Isak replied in confusion.
“Yeah but lately it seems like we’ve been getting further and further apart,” He continued his out-of-the-blue statement. Isak didn’t respond so he kept going.
“But I can’t break up with her, she’d think it’s because of her aluminum leg.” what the fuck, why would he say that?? Aluminum leg? Still Isak’s eyes shot up and he knew immediately that he believed him for some reason.
“Yeah when she was young she stepped on a landmine in tromsø and lost her leg,” he said solemnly, knowing he had Isak engulfed.
“So of course I couldn’t leave her while she was going through all that,” Even tried to continue but he couldn’t hold back the slightest smile, which Isak picked up on.
“You’re fucking with me!” He shoved Even’s shoulder and Even grinned.
“A landmine, though?” Even teased.
“I don’t fucking know!” Isak argued, throwing up his hands.
“You’re so cute,” Even gently reached over to touch Isak’s face. Isak froze under his touch. Even watched as Isak’s adam’s apple went up then back down as he made a swallow.
There was no going back now. Isak was interested for sure. He was here, this was his opportunity. Gradually he moved closer to the shorter boy. Isak still not looking up. As he bent his head down Isak finally responded, his head tilting in tandem with Even’s. This was nothing like how Even had imagined it happening, and he had imagined it, after all he had plenty of time in the weeks he had been working to find a way to talk to the other boy. He’d imagined it would be magical and movie worthy, right out of a baz luhrmann film. Not in the disarrayed kitchen of a shared flat surrounded by the staling smell of near empty beer cans. But as his lips touched Isak’s, finally finally, those thoughts flew out is mind. It was perfect. Now was perfect. Any time was perfect. Maybe it wasn’t about how you kiss but who you kissed. Isak was so shy in his kiss but gained confidence the longer their lips were pressed together, soon moving steadily against Even’s. Even, of course, couldn’t help but smile. He was so happy. He wanted this so much, and it wasn’t like last time. Isak wanted this too! He pulled back to look at Isak, wanting to make sure this was real. Isak’s lip twitched up into a smile, Even leaned back into him. They were so close to continuing their kiss when a loud thud rang out through the apartment causing both boys to jerk apart. Isak looked at Even and then toward the direction of the loud noise before rushing to the living room. Even followed after.
It turned out to be Isak’s former roommate Noora back from London, a surprise apparently. He didn’t want to interrupt whatever was needed to be discussed so he looked into Isak’s eyes and told him that he would text him, making sure he understood that he was sincere. Isak smiled shyly and nodded before showing him out.
Once outside Even leaned heavily against the cement wall and let out a breath he hadn’t even known he had been holding. His hands touched his lips gently, memorizing how it felt to kiss Isak when his phone jolted him out of his thoughts.
It was a text from Sonja. Fuck Sonja. He’d forgotten about her. He had to do something about that, he had to tell her. It was the right thing to do. Another message buzzed in, this time from Isak, asking if he wanted to hang out tomorrow. He wanted to, he really did. But he needed to talk to Sonja. He needed to do this right.
He text Sonja that he wasn’t feeling well and was just going to go home, but he wanted to see her tomorrow. Guilt pained his heart when she text back that she hopes he feels better followed by a red heart. He then, begrudgedly told Isak that he already had plans with Sonja, knowing all too well that didn’t sound very good. But he would fix this, he would do this right. He can do this.