Page 7 of Quiet
“Him? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Will huffed, but Isa noticed he dropped his hand and gave a quick look around.
Briar lifted the paint cans in front of Isa and shook them slightly, bringing Isa’s attention to the fact that he and his friend had been treating him like furniture.
“Sorry, Briar, you can put them on that table.”
Isa followed him. Once it was on the table, Isa lifted the lid on the purple paint and took it over to compare to the flowers he’d been in the middle of painting. “Crap, it doesn’t match. I even brought a sample to be sure.” He pulled out the sample in his pocket, only to realize it had been of the crappy mix he’d tried to create on his own. Frick nuggets!
“Will, do you think you can—” Isa stopped when Briar took the lid from him, examined it critically, and held it to the completed flowers to compare. He walked back to the paint table, took an empty container, and started mixing.
Ryan went over to Briar and looked over his shoulder. “Nice job, man. Isa, I told you sending you out was a good idea. I knew that face of yours would bring in what we needed.” Ryan leaned a hip against the table and said to Briar, “Just for the record, he’s available.”
Isa scowled. “You know that I’m not, Ryan. Stop telling people that.”
Isa wasn’t out to his family. And if he valued his life, things would stay that way. It wasn’t fair of him to date someone and expect them to live a lie every time his family showed up. So, Isa didn’t date—even though his friends did everything in their power to change that.
It made for many awkward moments in Isa’s life—much like the one he was currently experiencing. Honestly, what if Briar wasn’t into guys? Their college was well known for its welcoming and diverse student body, but it didn’t mean everyone was okay with the LGBTQ community.
Isa held his breath like he always did when someone he didn’t know had extreme queerness shoved in their face right in front of him. And the Will and Isa experience definitely qualified.
He hadn’t had a lot of positive times in his life with this kind of thing. It wasn’t until he’d come to college that he’d had any queer-related experiences worth remembering. He was still getting used to it. Sometimes he wondered if he ever would.
Briar left the table and carried a quart-sized container to where Isa stood, pulled out the paint stick he’d been using to stir and held it up to the flowers. “This work?” His voice was deep with a touch of roughness—like he didn’t use it often. A zing of energy raced through Isa’s body from the sound. With it came a moment of clarity. Briar didn’t care if Isa was gay. Not one little bit.
Isa let out the breath he’d been holding with a shaky laugh. “It’s perfect. Thank you so much.”
Briar looked up from his self-appointed task, and Isa was struck with the full force of his electric gaze. Hold on . . . Briarwasbothered about something though, but Isa couldn’t put his finger on what it was. “Are you okay?”
Isa reached out without thinking, but before his hand made contact with Briar’s, Will called cattily, “So, it’s okay for you to touch him, but not me?”
Isa’s cheeks grew oddly warm as he let his hand drop midmotion. “Shut up, Will, I’m not feeling him up like you were.” He couldn’t quite bring himself to make eye contact with Briar when he said, “Sorry about my friends, they’re awful, but I love them.”
“We love you too, Isa!” Everyone within earshot chorused. Which was, unfortunately, half of the crew.
There was a loud crash from the rafters and an angry, male voice roared overhead. Without warning, Isa’s world shrank to a pinpoint of panic. There was a tinny ringing in his ears as he sucked in a shaky breath. Distantly, he was aware of something warm stroking his back. His fingers hurt for some reason.
He looked down and saw they were tangled in Briar’s shirt.
He snatched his hands away. “Whoops, sorry. That surprised the bejabbers out of me.” It was no big deal. People got startled by loud noises all the time. Some of them might even be scared of loud, angry men too. Isa wouldn’t know. He didn’t talk about his life before college, so, in return, he made a point not to dig into other people’s lives.
“It’s okay to say the word shit, Isa. You’re a big boy now,” Will said, like the jerkface he was. The truth was, Isa wasn’t sure he was physically able to swear out loud. He’d gotten locked in a closet for four days after getting caught saying damn. It had left an impression.
Briar’s hand was still on Isa’s low back. It was grounding. Isa was loathe to have him move it, but Briar wasn’t there to be Isa’s comfort human. He moved forward until the warmth on his back was gone. A tiny part of him gave a wistful sigh at the loss, but Isa stuffed it down mercilessly and slapped on a cheery smile.
“Anyway, I should get to work. Otherwise, I won’t finish in time to model for you tomorrow.”
Briar examined his face like he was scanning it for something. Isa poured every ounce of his acting skills in projectingyou don’t need to trouble yourself, I’m really okayinto his smile, and Briar shrugged, looking mildly annoyed. But instead of leaving like Isa expected, he bent down and pulled a paintbrush out of the jar, dipped it in the newly mixed purple, and reached up to begin working on the part of the trellis Isa hadn’t been able to reach.
“Oh, you want to help? Yes, please!”
Ryan wandered over and asked nosily, “You’re modeling for him?”
“I traded it for the paint. His team said I was what they were looking for, and we needed the paint so . . .” Isa sat down to work on flowers close to the ground.
“Way to take one for the team, Isa!” Emily, the actress playing Beatrice, called as she walked by carrying an armful of hoopskirts.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to give a golf clap.
How Briar managed to smirk without Isa being able to see his face, he couldn’t begin to guess.
