Jessica's foot is always in the way! ^

Fact #4: Sam wasn't supposed to be such a perv but I had bigger plans for the plot! Hehehe

Chapter 44 - A Birthday Surprise - An Empty Jar

Oliver

During the entire time at the salon, Miss Michelle never left my side. Even after I'd finish styling and dying my hair and was currently relaxing in the hair dryer. 

My hair was finally dry a few minutes later, and it was time to look at the end result. To say I was satisfied by the stylist's work was an understatement. I was beyond satisfied with the outcome of it, more to the joy of the stylist. He couldn't stop thanking me for appreciating his handiwork on my hair, when, truly, I should've been the one thanking him. 

They shortly started packing up to leave after Miss Michelle settled them through online payment. The girls finished before me so they hadn't yet seen the plans I'd carried out on my hair. When Miss Michelle and I joined them after we'd seen the stylists to one of the doors—I'm not sure which one, but there were bound to be many after that one— in another living room upstairs.

I assumed it was Miss Michelle's personal living room, or maybe not. Again, this mansion was full of surprises so I couldn't tell anything for sure anymore. I could only roughly and not-so-adequately assume. 

Jess almost did a flip when she saw me—when they both saw me—with my new look. Oliver Wilburn with silk, silver rinsed hair. Her shriek was so loud, I feared it might shatter the window glasses. 

"What happened to you?" Jess squealed, going to touch my hair but I smacked her hand down. 

"Nope, not yet," I backed away, dashing away from the restless fingers which visibly itched to bury themselves into my newly styled hair. 

"Then when?!" She screamed, ogling at me. "But really, what happened?"

"I dyed my hair silver blonde," I simply stated. "Isn't that obvious?" I chuckled, taking a seat beside Miss Michelle. We'd bonded over our salon session. I couldn't believe I now felt this comfortable around her. 

"I can see that. Don't you dare get sarcastic with me or I swear these fingers will find their way to your naturally silver roots," Jess threatened with a menacing glare and quickly looked away. 

Even if she wasn't going to do it, it was best not to anger the lioness. 

"Your roots are naturally silver?" Miss Michelle quickly inquired, cocking an eyebrow at me. 

"Oh yeah," I blankly answered. Seeing the confused glint in her eyes, I proceeded to explain, "My mum has natural silver hair and so do her sisters. Most of my cousins have full silver hair," I finished, clearing her on the issue. She nodded her head at me. 

"It's beautiful, Olly. I had a tiny feeling that you were going to go crazy with your hair this time," Yadiri called out from the far end of the vast, spacious living room, where she relaxed comfortably with a drink in one hand and her phone in the other. 

"Thank you," I gestured a curtsy, making everyone giggle. 

Well, everyone except Yadiri who scoffed. 

"Your gay is patent now," Jess stated brazenly, not realising what she was saying, and where she was saying it, until after she'd finished giving voice to her words. 

Everyone fell silent, including Yadiri who simply looked up from her phone and shared a look with all of us. I'd accepted myself, so, yes, I didn't care what most people thought. But being in Miss Michelle's mansion, her opinion did matter a bit, at least until I stepped out—or drove out—of her glistening, golden gates. 

"Jessica," I gruffly blurted her name, displeased by her carelessness. 

She always said whatever she had in mind, wherever she pleased, and however she pleased. With that identified as a good thing, it also had its bad sides, just like now. 

"Ummm…" she hummed, speechless and bemused like the rest of us. 

I sent a fleeting glance to Miss Michelle who looked as calm as ever before. It was after I sent her a glance that she realised why we all might've been silent. 

"Oh wait, you don't—" her sentence was cut short by a laughter which forcefully escaped her mouth. "You think I'm not aware?" She asked and we all remained silent. 

Well, except for Jess, again, who had something to say. 

"Umm, no, not really, we were kind of hoping that you're not aware," she mumbled her words, still standing above the sofa Miss Michelle and I sat on. 

"I don't need anyone to tell me," Miss Michelle started, bringing her eyes to meet mine. "Just like Jess said: your gay is patent. And it's beautiful, Olly. You're a beautiful boy," she spoke reassuringly, placing a compassionate hand on my shoulders. 

"Oh," I muttered, letting out the muzzled laughter that built up at the back of my throat. "I see there's no hiding it," I finished with the sound of laughter in my voice. 

"You're not out yet?" Miss Michelle inquired out of curiosity. 

"Hiding it from you, that is," I clarified then continued, "I'm out and proud," I finished with a confident smile tugging at my lips. 

"You're out and proud, yes," Miss Michelle approved with a smile that matched mine, noting to herself. 

"Mako really worked some magic on you… and with you," Jess commented and returned to the sofa she was sitting on before we came in. 

"We worked magic, together with Damian, and I blossomed," I joked with a fake accent and we all started laughing. 

"Aunty is the best. She's my best relative, actually," Yadiri beamed after a while, staring at her aunt with a lovely gleam in her eyes. 

"Thank you, Yadi Sweetheart," Miss Michelle cooed, staring at her niece with a similar gleam in her eyes.

It was then that I realised that was her pet name for Yadiri: Yadi Sweetheart. I was sure to use that on her frequently from now on. 

Getting everyone's eyes away from me and changing the subject to something else, I finally got the chance to pay close attention to the girls' hairdo. Jess had finally gotten what she so desired—first class service, I must mention. Yadiri had gotten what she wasn't so accepting about at first, and boy did she look even prettier. They both looked beautiful with their fresh hairdo. 

In my opinion, we all looked renewed and reanimated all over again. The already bright flames of our friendship were rekindled in more ways than one. 

* * *

Miss Michelle had ordered one of her personal drivers to drive us back to Denberg in Jessica's car, and he was to take a cab back. It wasn't even so late, but this was because Miss Michelle was scared of Jess getting tired behind the wheel during the long drive back and crashing all of us—especially her niece whom she loved so dearly. 

We all stayed in the back, while the driver silently drove, ignoring all our giggles and jokes. He sometimes failed to cover up the smirk that tugged at his lips with his professional front and I would catch it in the rearview mirror. We would all catch the smirk and start giggling all over but we would never mention it to him. 

Despite all the fun we were having during the drive back to school, I couldn't get my mind off Mason's silent treatment and the fact that he hadn't replied to any of my messages yet. I even sent a new bunch of texts to him, but even those new ones were read and ignored. My chest ached, my heart dropped, but I refused to let it show. 

The girls had had enough of my personal problems being rubbed off on them. I'd made them suffer my bad decisions enough already. I was going to deal with this one myself. 

The proficient driver dropped us off at Lighthouse, even did as much as to park properly in the garage, and was off on his way after having small conversation with the three of us, informing us that he was aware that we were actually talking about him a few times. His deep voice with a Latino accent resonated against the tiny atoms in the air and made its way into my ears, pleasing my ear drums. 

He was nothing short of being attractive, with his tall, adequately built figure, but I wasn't about to swoon over him. Not today. I grabbed my tiny bag and so did the girls. Together, we made our way to the elevator and got to the top floor.

I was finally back at Lighthouse. I wasn't sure what I was going to be faced with in the next few weeks but at least whatever might come my way, I had my two best friends beside me. Despite convincing myself with that, I couldn't help the ripple of dread that crawled across my skin the second the lift arrived at the fourth storey, dinged, and slid open. 

We continued chatting somewhat noisily on our way down the hallway till we got to our rooms. 

"I think it's okay to call it day, don't you think so, Olly?" Yadiri sighed audibly, directing her question to me. 

It was already 6 p.m. At least that was what my phone told me the last time I checked in the car. The sun's light was almost completely overcome by the rapidly falling night, and the cold breeze was slightly bone piercing. It was late October, but I didn't expect it to be this cold. 

"I mean, yeah. It has been a day," I answered with a similar sigh. Only it was trembling a bit. I really needed to start dressing appropriately for the weather. 

"I'm going to take a bath, eat what your mum packed for us, then go straight to bed, trust me. I'm exhausted," Jess griped, sticking her key into the keyhole and twisting it open. 

About to carry out the same action, I just needed to find my keys. I could hear and feel them with the tip of my fingers at the far bottom of my bag, but reaching them was the only problem I was faced with. Setting the bag on the floor to properly search for my keys, I felt like I'd just lost a competition because Jess had already unlocked her door and stepped in. 

"See you later, Olly," Yadiri bid me goodbye before walking in as well and closing the door. 

"Sure," I idly answered, fully aware that she probably did not hear my response. 

Still digging through my bag and attempting to fight the cold, a voice called my name and I first shivered before freezing. I shivered and froze for more reasons than just the cold I was feeling, my heart had begun to race. 

The voice called out my name again and that was when my nerves eased up and I released a sigh of relief. It wasn't whom I thought it was, definitely not that one person.

Finally placing the tip of my fingers properly on the keys, I strained and brought it to the surface before standing up erect and hanging the bag around my back again. Then I turned and met Chris's gaze. 

"Hello, Chris," I returned the greeting, smiling at him. 

He was about to say something, but the very next second, his eyes grew wide as they looked up from my eyes to my hair. His mouth fell open and took the shape of a perfect ‘O’.

"Oh my God, Olly. Your hair is awesome!" He complimented, holding his hand as a fist microphone over his mouth. 

"Thank you," I flushed red, nervously adjusting the bag on my back. I was going to get a lot of this from people I knew, so I needed to start getting used to the look of surprise and the scream afterwards. 

"Damn, really?" He emphasised, taking a few more minutes to admire the hair before snapping out of it. "Anyway, happy birthday! I saw Jess's car drive in so I sped to come wish you before it got too late."

"Oh, thank you," I gushed, giggling. "But how did you know about my birthday?" I asked because I hadn't told that many people in Lighthouse, just Mako. He probably heard it from his girlfriend, Shirley. 

"From Mako and Shirley, obviously. I'm surprised you've the audacity to ask that," he chided, a feigned angry frown forming on his face. "You should've told everyone in Lighthouse. We are all family here!" He scolded. 

Taking my eyes away from him because he was actually telling the truth, I released a sigh and dragged my right foot along the smooth tiles of the hallway floor. 

"We're not exactly family at the moment," I muttered, with a growing morose expression. 

Chris seemed to instantly understand whom I was referring to when I said that. 

"What really is the problem?" He inquired, the excitement leaking away from his tone. 

"Problem? With what?" I asked, acting clueless and batting my lashes up at him.

"Don't give me that, you know what I'm talking about," he insisted, brushing my countenance aside. 

"Well, I'm not sure. You should ask him yourself. I'm sure you know that I kissed him," I stated firmly.

"I do. I've known for sometime now and I've been waiting for something to happen, but Khalid is just there getting drunk and wasting himself, and you're here looking…" he trailed off. "Actually, you look so much better now than those days in school. You seem to have bloomed these past few days, it's like you grew up after your birthday. With your white hair and stuff," he rambled on and on.

"Silver," I corrected him. 

"What?" He muttered, not having a single clue of what I meant. 

"The colour of my hair is Silver, not white," I explained. 

"Oh," he sputtered. "Well, okay. So?" He continued with another question and I sighed, utterly tired of having to visit this topic over and over. 

Having to repeat the same words and feel the same pain over and over. I already had something new to worry about: my relationship with Mason. It was a royal mess right now and I wasn't even sure it could be fixed. I wasn't sure if I'd messed things up beyond rectification. 

However, I brought my wandering mind back and answered Chris sincerely.

"Look, I don't know what is going on in Khalid's head, I've never known. You should know better than me. And if he's getting drunk, then I've absolutely no idea why also. I've no idea why he feels he needs to take so much. I find it hard to believe that he's doing it to drown his emotions, because I've not seen him express any other emotions except happiness and cheerfulness, so talk to him, not me. I've made my emotions and intentions clear to him already," I let that all out at once, watching the concerned look on Chris's face deepen. 

"Okay, thank you," he muttered after taking a while to register the words I'd just said to him. 

"Thank you?" I repeated with a fake scoff, stabbing the keyhole in my door with the right key. 

"Yeah," he forced a quick chuckle while walking away. "Oh, and happy birthday," he called one last time before sprinting down the hallway and disappearing into the other one that led to his room. 

I unlocked my door and walked in, closing it behind me. I was instantly grateful that I had organised my room before I left on Friday. It would've been a disaster to be greeted by a mess, especially since I was beat and just needed a refreshing shower.

Unpacking the bag while stuffing my face with chocolate--I finally had the time and freedom to eat chocolate without having someone judge me from afar. After emptying the bag and separating the clean clothes from the dirty ones which went straight into the laundry basket, I began stripping down so I could take that very much needed shower. 

Standing in front of my mirror in only boxers, I couldn't get enough of my hair. I kept admiring every angle of it, every silver rinsed strand on my head. In a strange way, my new hair style and colour made me feel powerful. 

Vigorously shaking my head and ruffling my hair, I dug my fingers deep into it to feel the root. It was completely dry and perfect now, I could wash it if I wanted to. 

Walking away from my mirror and going to grab my towel, a quick knock was placed on my door. I Intended to dash for my towel before attending to the door since I was only in boxer briefs. However, the person let themselves in without needing any kind of permission from me.

"Oh my goodness, Jess!" I shrieked and spun around to scold her even more, but the sight of the person standing before me rid my mouth free of words. 

"Hey?" Khalid greeted, waving languidly and looking as drunk as ever with bloodshot eyes. 

"What exactly is this?" I grimaced, yelling my words at him. 

"We need to talk. Like, really talk," he stated adamantly with a straight face and eyes filled with nothing but determination.

Sighing and rubbing my temples with my fingers, the reality that I was still in boxers wasn't even an issue anymore. I was definitely not having any of his rubbish now. "Please get out," I let out calmly, squeezing my eyes shut. I couldn't deal with this show at the moment. 

Not after I'd just had the best few days since all of this drama started. 

He hissed in a sharp breath, held it in for a minute before turning his attention back to the door. I was thinking he was about to fully pull it open and leave, but instead he gently pushed it shut, making the tiny click sound which sounded like a terrifying shrill to me at the moment. 

"Olly, we really do need to talk and I swear to God, I've a lot of things to say," he began, taking short, luxurious steps towards me.

"What are you doing?" I gulped, fear crawling down my bare, exposed skin, making me shudder a bit.

The grey, dead look of his eyes was a shade I'd never seen in those eyes of his before, not ever. Not even when he'd gotten so mad and pushed Alex. Not even the last time he came here to talk to me like a drunk, wasted junkie. 

"I can't take this anymore. I need to tell you everything that has been going on in my head because it's now all too much to hold in," he mentioned, still walking towards me. 

My legs were uneasily rooted in place, I couldn't bring them to move. My calves suddenly felt like congealed cement and my palms speedily grew sweaty. 

"S-Stop," I commanded again, but he didn't listen. So I began to actively panic. "I don't want to hear anything from you, Khalid! Just keep it to yourself!" I yelled with a trembling voice, tears welling in my eyes. 

I couldn't believe I was turning into Jess who always cries whenever she is mad and furious. Or maybe I wasn't angry, maybe I was still too sad, but I didn't want to admit that I was. 

By this time, he'd already gotten to me. I jumped when I looked up only to find his face towering above me. He'd been approaching me for a while now, I don't know what I was doing thinking he wouldn't reach me. 

"Get out! Get out! You can just walk in and walk out whenever you so please, Khalid! I'm a human being, and so are you. By the way, you should understand these things more than me!" I continued to rave and yell, but he didn't budge. 

He only opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off again. 

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it…" I continued to repeat those words, pressing my hands to my ears, squeezing my eyes shut, and fretfully shaking my head from side to side, making my hair bob around with the motion.  

"Oliver, Oliver!" He kept calling my name to get me to calm down, to get me to shut up and listen. But I was done listening to him. Our story had ended long ago. What he was trying to do now was adding salt to an open injury, an injury trying so hard to heal itself.

I yelped and almost fell back when his hands grabbed my arms and pulled them away from my ears. They felt so rough and frigid, yet so soft. His familiar hold was so soft and tender. However, I still didn't care. I continued to yell at him and fight against his grip, still he didn't let go of me.

When he noticed there was no end to this— I was ready to keep this up till I ran out of air and collapsed— he placed a hand flat on my back, just around my waist, with his pinky finger grazing the elastic band of my boxer briefs, and pulled me closer until I slammed into his chest. 

Despite the loose t-shirt he wore, I could still feel the hardness of his well defined upper body--strong chest and six-pack abdomen--rock against my own bare upper body. That was enough to shut me up, I instantly froze. 

"Oliver, please listen to me," he whispered, his warm, alcohol scented breath falling into my face. 

"I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it…" I resumed murmuring under my breath while tightly squeezing my eyes shut because I didn't want to look at him. I didn't have the courage to bring myself to look at his dull, colourless eyes. 

He let out a loud sigh of frustration, filling my nose with the alcoholic scent of his breath once again. I wondered how much he'd been drinking to smell this bad. The next thing I knew he retrieved the hand that still held my arm and snaked it behind my neck. With the tip of his fingers digging into my hair, he tilted my head up and pressed his lips against mine. 

Khalid intentionally made himself kiss me and that was when my eyes flew open. For the first few seconds, I was paralyzed by shock-- unable to move, unable to breath, unable to even think of a reaction. But once that phase was over, I roughly pushed him off me. Almost sending myself to the floor, but luckily, I caught myself. 

Still way too shocked to even feel embarrassed, I didn't care about the very obvious bulge that had formed inside my underwear. I didn't care that it was just looking at him in the face and throbbing, getting hotter and bigger every second. I just stared speechlessly at him. 

"Will you please listen to me now?" He pleaded again, exhaling sharply right after and rubbing his face with his hands. 

Stunned by the kiss, I couldn't give voice to the words in my head. Not like I had that many words in my boggled head, anyway. He took my silence as consent and began. 

"You see, I've been in an empty, tightly closed jar these past few weeks with no way to escape. Sadness and Depression has been my only companion inside said jar. Believe it or not. But I'll have you know that I'm not lying, and I'm going to give you all the reasons why…" 

* * *

AN: two chapters in a day! I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Please leave a vote to support the book. <3

Till next time loves. Stay happy, stay safe!

The next chapter is going to be a very huge surprise!