Intermission - Insecurities.

Thomas was about ready to leave. He put away his books, threw his backpack over his shoulder and checked under his desk one last time to make sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind. Satisfied, he exited his classroom while looking at his phone.

Oliver had sent him a message, saying he was waiting down on the first floor. Thomas had thought he’d be the one waiting for Oliver to be ready, but no. Better get going, then.

On his way there, however, as he was going down the stairs to the second floor, someone stopped him. A classmate of his, Debora. A cheerful girl, if a little loud at times. Terrible at keeping secrets, too, as Ben had learned last year.

“Thooomas! I was looking for you!”

Debora was one of the tallest girls in his class, standing at about 1.78 meters. Ace of the volleyball club, short dark hair, dark blue eyes, and… a pretty nice chest. Nice curves, too.

…

Thomas mentally chided himself, but on the outside kept an immutable face. He smiled and waved at Debora. “Hey, Deb. What can I help with?”

Debora blushed and began to fidget cutely. “Sorry, I know this might come out of the blue, but…” She swallowed. “You… You’re friends with the cute waiter from that coffee shop, right? The one everyone’s talking about?”

Thomas’ chest froze. His smile faded, but he masked his feelings with a thoughtful face. “Hm? You mean Oliver? Yeah, we’re friends. Why?”

“Do you think you could introduce me to him? I… Gosh, this is embarrassing!” She laughed. “I just can’t get him out of my head, you know?”

Thomas’ body tensed. He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled wryly at Debora. “I can ask him, but… See, he hasn’t outright told me, but I think he has a huge crush on someone already. Do you still want me to ask?”

That was mostly a lie, yeah, and it came out pretty nicely, he would admit. Oliver didn’t exactly have a crush on someone. The dude was crazy about not one, but three girls, and already in a relationship, no less. Thomas had **** BUT to lie, and though he didn’t enjoy it, it came to him better than it did to his friend.

“O-Oh… That… makes sense.” Debora laughed humorlessly, her smile hiding a sudden pain. “He’s always hanging out with other girls, right? I suppose… No, it’s fine, Thomas. Thanks. Sorry to bother you.”

“Sorry, Deb.”

“No, really, it’s fine. Well, see you tomorrow. Take care.”

Thomas saw Deb leave. He stayed there for a moment before he shook off the uncomfortable feeling, gathered himself again and went to meet Oliver on the first floor.

The guy looked a little distracted at first, but he tried to brush that off when Thomas approached him. They made their way to the park, as planned.

“So what happened? You’re quiet today,” Thomas said as he threw a chest pass at Oliver.

The two friends were playing some basketball at the half-courts at the park. The last time they were there was when Thomas cried over his ex on Oliver’s shoulder. An embarrassing memory to the big guy, but a cherished one.

Few people were at the park on a weekday, so they had all the space to themselves. Thomas felt it was safe to ask Oliver about… well, whatever seemed to be troubling him. The guy had gone radio silent for a while, and that day, particularly, he seemed a little out of it.

“I’m always quiet,” Oliver told him, taking the shot and having the ball bounce off the hoop.

“More than usual, I mean. You’re not going back to the old Oliver, are you?”

“No. I… guess I have a lot on my mind.” Oliver took off his glasses, rubbed his tired-looking eyes and put them back on. “Had to run around a lot today.”

Thomas took his own shot and nailed it for the fourth time in a row. “School? Work? Family? Friends? Women?”

Oliver’s shoulders slumped and he sighed heavily. “Women.”

Women trouble. Thomas still wasn’t sure if he was jealous or glad not to be in Oliver’s shoes. Dealing with three girls had to be insanely difficult, but it was probably three times as rewarding, too.

He remembered the short encounter he had with Debora, but decided to put that aside. It wouldn’t do to give Oliver more things to stress about right now.

“Really?” he asked. “The girls seem to be in an awfully good mood to me.” He took the ball back and started spinning it on one finger. “I was talking to Grace and Sarah earlier today and they were in suspiciously high spirits, and Mila’s posts in her social media have all been rainbows and sunshine.” Honestly, she was doing a terrible job at hiding she was in a relationship, linking all those sappy romance songs she was listening to. “You’re not sacrificing your own mental health to keep them happy, are you?”

“It’s… hardly a sacrifice.” Oliver rubbed his face with both hands and grunted.

It was clear that, whatever was troubling the guy, he didn’t want to tell Thomas. It stung a bit, really. “Come on. I thought we trusted each other by now.” He passed the ball to him again. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I’m not gonna push you, but it hurts a little.”

Oliver flinched, making Thomas feel guilty. He WAS pushing him by saying that. “It’s… not something easy to say, okay? I…” He took a deep breath, aimed his shot and took it. This time it went in. Thomas was about to praise him if not for what he said next. “I asked Alice and Noelle to go out with me. They said yes.”

Thomas felt his chest chilling, and the sound of the basketball bouncing seemed to echo louder in his ears. He couldn’t think of what to say, and his mouth was going dry as he kept quiet.

When he looked at him again, Oliver flinched.

“Are you serious, Oliver?” Thomas asked, sounding more grave than he thought he would.

Oliver grimaced and looked away from him. “Yeah.”

An uncomfortable heat got mixed in with the chill Thomas felt in his chest. “What are you doing, man? Why would you do that?” he asked.

Oliver tensed up. He bit his lip, and still looking away, answered. “I asked them because I like them.”

‘Because he liked them?’ Just like that? Was he not aware of his situation? Thomas raised his voice. “You can’t just ask out every woman you like, Oliver!”

No. He could. He could because he was Oliver. Because every girl was head-over-heels for him. If he wanted a girl, he could have her. All he needed to do was ask. Because for the last two months…

Oliver suddenly glared at him, making Thomas even more uncomfortable. “Why not?”

He couldn’t be able to say why, but Thomas felt attacked. “Why not? Do you hear yourself? You were already seeing three girls! I know the situation was special, but you’re getting carried away!”

Oliver snapped. “How? How am I getting carried away? I haven’t **** myself on anyone. Hell, it wasn’t even my idea to begin with! All I did was ask, and they said yes. They all want this too.”

Of course they’d say yes! There wasn’t a single girl who’d say no to him! Oliver was taking advantage of that!

“Oliver, you’re seeing five girls!” Thomas raised his voice. “This isn’t going to end well. You’re all going to end up hurt!”

Oliver’s glare faded as his face fell. His eyes went wide, even getting somewhat watery. His lip quivered and his body was as stiff as a board. It was obvious to Thomas that he had hit a nerve, and it did not feel good.

“I didn’t **** anyone…” Oliver muttered to himself. He looked down, grit his teeth and clenched his fist. His entire body shook. “I just wanted…”

Oliver clicked his tongue, walked with a fast pace and went to gather his bag from the nearby bench. Without even giving Thomas a second glance, Oliver began to walk away.

“H-Hey, Oliver! I…!” Thomas’ words fell on deaf ears. And really, he didn’t even know what exactly he wanted to say. He watched Oliver walk away with heavy steps, and the sound of each one felt like a hammer to the chest.

Thomas sat down on the floor with a heavy body, legs crossed and arms resting limply on his lap. He suddenly felt drained, his eyes itching. He rubbed them with a hand before he clenched his own forehead and his head as hard as he could while gritting his teeth.

“Such a fucking idiot…!”

Thomas didn’t know if he felt jealous of Oliver or if he was glad he was not in his shoes. That had lasted until that day. Now, Thomas knew he was jealous of his friend, and that he was an asshole to him because of it.

The worst part was the knowledge that, however bad Thomas felt about his reaction, Oliver now felt thrice as bad. Thomas knew he betrayed the trust that guy had put in him.

“I’m the fucking worst…”

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