Enemies with benefits

Chapter 24: Bold

Colby had been impatiently waiting for Ezra to return. He'd calculated using his phone and google maps that it would take twenty minutes for Ezra to get to his house, five to ten minutes to pack some clothes and other things for an overnight stay, then take twenty minutes to drive back; in total around fifty minutes.

It had been over an hour!

His mind spiralled with what ifs. What if Ezra got into a car crash during his drive? What if Ezra had gotten lost somewhere? What if Ezra didn't actually want to come back to Colby's house and the entire thing was one elaborate revenge scheme to get back at Colby for his elaborate revenge scheme? He'd never been so paranoid in his life and all he could do was wait by the window for any sign of him.

"You're still waiting for your husband to return from the war?" His mother teased.

"He's not my husband!" Colby replied bashfully, he almost wished he'd never introduced Ezra to his mother because she was having a field day with all the jokes about it.

Just then Ezra's car pulled into the driveway and Colby -not so subtly- sprang from his seat and rushed for the front door. He fixed his hair in the hallway mirror and tried to make it look like he hadn't been waiting like a loyal dog for Ezra to get back.

"Took you long enough." Colby said as he opened the front door and walked up to Ezra's car.

Ezra was standing by his car, looking up at the night sky. The cold breeze of the evening ruffled his fair hair and was turning his nose pink. It was hard to tell in the dim light but something about Ezra was... off. He looked dazed and his eyes were slightly red and puffy but it was hard to tell in this light.

"Hey, Ezra? Are you okay?" Colby walked forward and took Ezra's hands and cupped them with his own. He brought their hands to Colby's mouth where he blew gently on them to get them to warm up a little bit.

Ezra seemed to awaken from whatever trance he was under and he gazed at Colby with a wistful expression. "Yeah, fine. Are you cold?" Ezra asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Colby replied. Ezra immediately took off the black jumper he was wearing and put it over Colby instead. It was a kind of cheesy think to do but Colby couldn't help but be flustered by the act. He kept the jumper on as Ezra grabbed a bag from his car. It smelt like Ezra's cologne and what a wonderful smell that was.

Ezra was searching through his car for a bag when Colby looked through the front windshield to see if he could spot it. The car was much tidier than Colby's mom's car but he had a lot of stuff in it. He had a duffle bag that looked near to bursting, his school bag, his football kit, a blanket and a pillow.

"You didn't need to bring so much stuff, I would've given you a blanket." Said Colby.

Ezra looked caught off guard by Colby noticing the stuff in his car as he quickly shoved some of it under the seats to hide it from sight. He laughed at Colby. "Yeah, I guess I just like to come prepared."

"Talk about overkill."

Ezra slung the over-stuffed duffel bag onto his shoulder and let Colby take his hand and lead him upstairs. They went to Colby's room and Colby instantly regretted not cleaning his room. He had dirty clothes piled up on his desk chair and random sheets covering his desk. At least his bed was -kind of- made.

He rushed over to the desk and tried to tidy it as best he could as Ezra chuckled at him from behind.

"To think you'd take me straight to your bedroom," said Ezra, "you really are quite bold tonight, Colby."

Colby blushed at the statement and turned around to berate Ezra for being a dick and probably say something along the lines of 'I didn't even want you here', which was a lie. Before some embarrassed remark could come out though, Colby examined Ezra's face in the light. Colby was right, Ezra's eyes were slightly red and puffy and he looked exhausted but at the same time not. It was strange.