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frappe

I LEANED AGAINST THE TREE, adding a final piece of shading to the paper. My pencil scraped along the page, leaving a dark smudge in its wake.

"Finished?"

I turned. Riley and William watched me carefully, half-eaten sandwiches clutched in her hands.

"I think so," I said, pursing my lips as I stared down at the drawing. It was definitely... not great. But hey, it was the best I could do, and I'd been working on it all week. I was sick of drawing.

"Well," William waved a hand at me, grinning widely in anticipation. "Show us."

I sent them a proud smile, holding up the paper towards them to reveal my artwork.

On it, Sebastian's gleaming face was sketched in an abstract style. It was decent, especially considering my previous art works. I'd spent the entire week sitting in the library with him completing our art assignment that was due today.

I'd spent hours just staring at his face, memorising every tiny detail. The slight dimple on his left cheek. The beauty mark at the corner of his lip. The feint scar below his hair line that he'd gotten ten years ago in a bicycle accident. And he'd spent hours staring at mine.

All that was left was to turn it in.

"Nice," Riley smirked at me. She narrowed her eyes, furrowing her brow at the portrait. "Who is it?"

"I think it's Harry Styles," William squinted beside her.

"No, it's the other one," Riley teased, leaning closer. "Zayn Malik."

She glanced at me over the page, her eyes glittering mischievously, and I let out an exaggerated breath, rolling my eyes.

I flipped the page over, sliding it into a cover page and plastic slip to hide it from their view. "Shut up. It's not that bad."

"Well..."

I smacked Riley's shoulder and she hollered a laugh at me. "I'm only joking. You did great, Asp."

"Art is subjective," William piped in.

"That didn't sound like a compliment," I muttered, and he shrugged in reply, moving to take another bite from his sandwich.

Riley laughed, shaking her head. "It's great. One of your best."

"Thanks," I said, although it didn't mean much. I stared down at the drawing. The longer I looked at it, the worse it got, so I scrunched my nose and put it down.

"I just need to hand it in," I said, standing from my seat. I glanced down at the oval. Sebastian should be there, playing soccer as usual. I sighed, sending my friends a pointed look. "I'll be right back."

They nodded, waving their hands to gesture for me to leave. Holding the assignment close to my chest, I jogged down the hill, heading straight for the grassy oval.

In the oval, Arthur Andrews juggled a soccer ball on his knees, his friends guffawing like idiots around him.

Sebastian was nowhere to be seen.

I came to a stop beside Arthur Andrews, ignoring the way my heart pounded in my throat. The last time I stood here... I shook the thought from my mind. Swallowing thickly, I willed myself to be confident.

"Hey," I shouted, my voice steadier than expected. Arthur Andrews turned to me with a quirked brow, blinking as his friends grew quiet. I pressed my hands together, wringing my fingers. "Is Sebastian around?"

"Sebastian?" He glanced at me, then at my assignment clutched in my hands before nodding towards the school old building. "Try there."

"Thanks!" I smiled, relieved that I didn't make a fool of myself before turning and jogging towards the old school building.

The building was worn down, the red brick covered with graffiti and Sharpie drawings of explicit body parts. The smooth path quickly broke down into noisy gravel littered with old cigarette butts.

My heart hammered in my chest, and I thought of the conversations I'd had with Isaac there, leaning against the brick wall and sitting on the gravel. I hadn't spoken to him much in the entire week since our conversation about the kiss.

While I wasn't avoiding him anymore, we were back to our old routine of polite hello's in the hallways. I'd been kept busy with Sebastian and our art assignment, but I still missed the way Isaac would tease me – the way he'd call me Aspirin and remember my exact coffee order.

I'd stopped watching him sketch in the café corner during the mornings, trying to stop my pining over something impossible, and yet I couldn't stop thinking about him.

I rounded the corner, Sebastian immediately coming into sight.

And Isaac.

Isaac sat on the gravel floor, Chloe Pepper sitting beside him with her long, black hair. Leaning against the wall, Sebastian stood with them, telling some sort of idiotic joke. His iconic wide smile was stretched across his face and his blond curls bounced with movement every time he spoke.

Chloe rolled her eyes at whatever he was saying, taking a drag of a cigarette. Meanwhile, Isaac watched him with a small smile, his green eyes lit up with enthusiasm and encouragement.

I'd forgotten Sebastian was friends with him.

I stepped forward, the gravel crunching beneath my shoes, and Isaac's gaze snapped up to meet me. He looked handsome as ever, the sunlight making the green in his eyes match the green of the oval.

I buckled beneath his gaze, but clenched my fists, taking another noisy step forward.

He raised a brow at me, moving to stand. "Aspirin."

I hated the way I blushed at his nickname for me, the way my heart hiccuped at his voice. But I swallowed thickly, turning away from him.

"Actually," I stuttered out, avoiding eye contact. I met eyes with Sebastian who sent me a confused look, his brows drawn together. "I'm here for Sebastian."

Isaac paused, his eyes narrowing and brow furrowing. He clenched his jaw, turning to watch as Sebastian's face lit up.

I smiled awkwardly as Sebastian pranced towards me. He pushed his bouncy blond curls from his face, his blue eyes bright, the corners crinkling in a wide smile. Isaac stepped back, moving to sit again beside Chloe on the floor, who seemed indifferent to anything that was happening.

"Aspirin, hey," Sebastian grinned, pausing ahead of me. "What's up?"

At the sound of the nickname, I found myself glancing at Isaac, whose eyes had darkened significantly. I swallowed, his stare drilling into me, sending a shiver skittering down my spine. 

I forced myself to focus on the blond boy in front of me. Clearing my throat, I held the assignment out.

"I finished my half. Are you ready to hand it in?"

"Yeah, sure," Sebastian said. He took the document from my hands and scanned the drawing in the slip, quirking a brow before smirking at me. His eyes filled with mischief. "Are you sure it's finished?"

I scoffed at him, not missing a beat.

"Actually, you're right. Your nose is way bigger than this. Give me a second."

He arched a brow at me, a wide grin on his face. "While you do that, let me colour my drawing in. It's missing that radiating redness from your cheeks."

"Shut up," I laughed, whacking him on the chest.

He chortled with me, his eyes brightening at his joke before settling down. "I'll go photocopy it and hand it in. Wait here."

"Oh, I can do –"

Sebastian turned and ran off before I could finish my sentence, leaving me standing around, Isaac and Chloe muttering beside me.

I cleared my throat, awkwardly shifting my weight from one leg to another.

Isaac and Chloe ignored me, continuing to chat about something I couldn't hear. I didn't miss the way his leg was pressed against hers, or the way she laughed about something he said.

She was gorgeous. Her long, dark hair fell neatly over her shoulders, her long lashes fluttering against her cheeks. She pressed a lit cigarette to her lips, drawing in a long, deep breath. Ashes fell from the end of the cigarette as it glowed a bright orange.

She exhaled, smoke flowing over her lips, before turning and offering the cigarette to Isaac.

Isaac glanced at it before raising a hand, waving it away and shaking his head. Though the tightness in his jaw and the tremble in his hand showed he secretly wanted to accept it.

I raised a brow at him. "You don't smoke anymore?"

The pair spun to face me and I immediately blushed. Had I said that out loud?

Isaac clenched his jaw, turning to face the gravel. "You don't like it, remember?"

My cheeks turned hot, my ears tinting a bright red. "So, you quit?"

He looked up then, meeting my eyes, and the silence between us grew heavy – unspoken words tainting the atmosphere. I could feel the tension press down on me, and I felt intensely uncomfortable in it, though neither of us made move to speak.

Instead, he scrutinised me from his seat, his fingers twitching against his leg. I wrung my own fingers together behind my back, trying desperately not to remember how his hair felt wrapped in my hands, or how his stubble felt pressed against my mouth.

Finally, he broke the silence.

"Yeah," he said eventually, his voice low –almost timid. "It's bad for you, remember?"

I sputtered out a laugh, it bursting from my lips before I could stop it. Quickly, I clasped a hand over my lips, blushing from my sudden outburst. I didn't miss the way his lips twitched at my reaction, and suddenly all the tension melted away. I smiled widely at him, ignoring the blush that was most definitely growing on my cheeks now.

"Aspirin," he said quietly. It sounded so different on his voice. He paused and I waited for him to continue, but nothing came.

I stepped forward, the gravel crunching with the movement, and I opened my mouth to speak, when a voice echoed from behind me.

"It's done!" Sebastian hollered, sprinting over. "Miss Laney said it was amazing, proper inspired work."

He paused to quirk a brow at me. "Oh, and she said your one was good too."

"Oh, shut up. You're just jealous that I'm clearly the better artist of us two," I giggled, rolling my eyes at him as he grinned widely at me.

"You're lucky it was an abstract assignment," he teased, quirking a brow. "Maybe you can scrape a pass."

"Oh, I'll be lucky if I can scrape a pass with you as a partner."

He laughed and continued chattering on about our assignment, cracking jokes about my artistic talents. I nodded, giggling along to his jokes, but I had zoned out long ago.

Instead, my focus remained trained on the dark-haired boy with piercing green eyes. Chloe chattered on in his ear, occasionally puffing on the cigarette, and Isaac nodded absentmindedly. His eyes were trained on the gravel, his fingers fiddling with each other, deep in thought. Somehow, the tension had flooded back, suffocating the air between us.

I found myself wishing it was him I was talking to instead.

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a u t h o r ' s n o t e

I woke up and checked Wattpad the other day and this story was ranked #4 on young adult! That's insane, thank you so much! And thank you for all the reads, votes and comments! I can't believe we hit 9k reads!

So, what do you guys think of Sebastian and Isaac? What do you think is going to happen next? Let me know!