The Final Wait

Chapter 24

Song: Waiting

Artist: Aquilo

Chapter 24

Sometimes when Ezekiel came over to work on the portrait, everyone else came along too, which meant more snacks for everyone. Octavia didn't mind helping Dustin in the kitchen. She carried the tray full of different beverages outside where Lucca and Ajax were. Lucca wanted a big glass of water and poured half of it into Ajax's water bowl. Octavia strolled to the pool house and pressed her back against the door to open it. She froze at the mention of her name.

'You and Octavia haven't done it?' Reagan chuckled. 'Man, if I were you, bro, I'd be all up in--'

'Don't you dare finish that sentence Reagan.' Doe nudged him with her Vans. 'You can't even hold on to Cressida, so shut up about Zeke's sex life.'

'Yeah, she isn't ready and I respect that.' Ezekiel's cheeks flushed when he remembered Octavia's reaction the other day. He looked down and busied himself with the paint.

'Also, you guys only have been dating for like a month.' Wahid watched Ezekiel and wondered if he knew that Octavia was a virgin.

'I'm only kidding, dude.' Reagan raised his arms and looked at everyone in the room. 'Take a joke. I was trying to keep conversation.'

'How about we talk about your sex life, man?' Bechett spoke up, and everyone laughed. 

Reagan reached up from his seat on the floor and pushed Bechett further into the sofa. Doe swatted him away and told him to focus. Frederic sat next to Reagan on the floor with his laptop. Reagan turned to the screen and squinted his eyes.

Octavia thought it was a good time to walk inside since the music played and the topic seemed to die down. Yet the feeling of being watched made her hands tremble. She looked up and caught a glance at Wahid's sympathetic smile. She smiled in returned and acted as if she hadn't heard part of their conversation. 

Forget it, she thought. She placed the tray on the coffee table in front of Frederic and Reagan. Everyone could help themselves. Ezekiel was on the other side of the room, with his back to them, which made her sigh in relief. She didn't want to bother with him at the moment.

'What are you guys doing?' she looked at Reagan and Frederic. 

Ever since Frederic found out what happened, he texted Reagan and said they should talk. That talk must've gone well in Octavia's eyes. They sat close, knees knocked and shoulders brushed like they've been friends forever.

'Cressida hit everyone up and wanted photos from her birthday. Since my phone storage is full, Frederic here is cleaning it. I took photos on Snapchat and saved them, does that count?'

'If the quality is good.' Lochlan rolled his eyes and stood up to grab a lemonade. 'You know how picky she can be.'

'Oh yeah, remember that Harry Styles concert you took her to last year?' Doe laughed. 'She was pissed that most of the videos were blurry.'

'I know right, just live in the fucking moment,' Reagan sighed. 'Not my fault Harry Styles jumps around and barely stands still on stage.'

Frederic scrunched up his nose and Octavia saw the reflexion of the screen on his glasses. He scrolled too fast for her to decipher anything. 'Reagan, you have a lot of photos.'

'Delete them.' Reagan flicked his wrist. 'Only keep the important stuff.'

'Why can't you do this yourself?' Octavia asked.