“Come in and meet Rosie,” said Isaac, and Jared realised as they pulled up in Isaac’s drive that it wasn’t a question. How the fuck hadn’t he even realised they weren’t on the route to Jared’s house?
“Did you just kidnap me?” he asked, making unimpressed eyebrows.
Isaac made eyebrows right back, and smirked at him.
“Do you have a problem with that, J?”
“My name’s still not J,” Jared muttered as he followed Isaac up to the door.
“She’s not gonna get here till like five thirty or something,” said Isaac, fishing for his keys in the pockets of his school blazer. “But” – he grinned – “my parents are away for the whole weekend from this morning so the house is all fucking mine.”
He sing-songed the swearword as he pushed the door open, a cry of defiance into the freakily clean cream-carpet abyss of the house. The dog ran up to greet them and Isaac knelt down to hug it. It was such a contrast to the last time they’d been in Isaac’s house that Jared found himself glancing round just to check that none of Isaac’s relatives were going to jump out and catch them. Isaac noticed and rolled his eyes, grinning.
“No other car in the drive, idiot,” he said, and then shouted, “MAM? DAD?” up the stairs just to prove he was right. No-one answered. Jared breathed out a sigh of relief he hadn’t even realised he was holding.
“You’re an idiot,” said Isaac again, but he sounded sort of fond. “Let’s go raid the cupboards!”
--------o--------
When Rosie arrived they’d completely lost track of time and were lolling on the sofa surrounded by wrappers and talking about shit-all while the menu of Isaac’s Breaking Bad box set played itself over and over again on the TV. An argument about whose turn it was to change the disc had devolved into a conversation about something else or other and it’d been about two hours since the last episode ended.
They were both startled when the doorbell sounded. Isaac glanced round at the clock, and then burst out laughing.
“Dude it’s like nine o’clock.”
Jared blinked.
“Shit. Really?” he said as Isaac leapt up to get the door. He got up in the empty sitting room and dragged a hand through his unruly hair, attempting to flatten it before following Isaac into the hall.
“Sorry I’m late,” a dark-haired girl was saying over Isaac’s shoulder as she hugged him tightly. “Got held up to talk about exam entries, ugh.”
Isaac gave a muffled chuckle.
“You’re literally late for everything; you don’t have to explain. I’d be more worried if you were on time.”
Jared shifted on his feet, feeling like he was maybe intruding, and then Rosie caught sight of him and her eyebrows went up. “Hi there stranger-in-my-house,” she said sardonically.
“Oh- hey, man! Rosie, this is Jared,” Isaac said, turning round with a wide, happy smile. “Jared, this is my sister.”
“Uh, hi,” said Jared. Rosie grinned at him in a sort of unsettling way.
“Oh right,” she said. “You’re Jared.”
YOU ARE READING
Invincible
Teen Fiction"I didn't know you had friends like Isaac," Willa said in greeting. "I don't," muttered Jared. Isaac rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you don't. You have //one// friend like Isaac." His voice turned into this stupid mock whisper and he leaned towards Jared c...
