Page 27 of The Fly-Half

I wasn’t sure they were true, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them anyway.

“Devon, have you got five minutes?” West asked, sliding up to me as I finished putting my trainers on. The match was over and we’d all showered and changed, and I’d spent a very painful five minutes having the strapping tape removed from my knee. I was pretty sure I didn’t have any leg hair left underneath it and our sports therapist, Sammy, was not exactly sympathetic.

“Er, yeah, sure,” I said as I looked around to see where Jonny had gotten to.

“I sent him upstairs and said we’d catch up,” Mason said, leaning around to look at me from West’s other side. “He’s gone up to the lounge to see Ryan and Rory, who’ve agreed to run a distraction. Something about Christmas plans and the next holiday drag story time they’re doing.” He waved his hand like it wasn’t important. I frowned as I looked between the pair of them. Something was clearly going on, but I was missing the why.

I didn’t know if it was a trap, an intervention, or a fact-finding mission but, regardless, the pair of them were clearly trying to play Holmes and Watson.

If that was the case, West would be Holmes simply because he’d look better in a deerstalker.

“Okay,” I said slowly, putting my foot on the floor. “What’s up?”

“What’s going on with Jonny?” Mason asked as he stood and walked around to sit on the bench beside me. It was only the three of us left in the dressing room now, huddled together in a corner like we were plotting something.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking between them. “He’s been… off lately.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” West said.

“Yeah, I’d say he’s been a right mardy bastard,” Mason said with a chuckle, his mouth twitching with exasperated amusement.

I sighed and looked down at the floor, the mud blurring into the tiles. “I think it might be my fault.”

“Why would you think that?” West asked.

“I don’t know. He got really upset about me talking to Peaches, and at first I thought it was because he was trying to protect me because he’s seen how badly some of my exes have fucked me over.”

“If that’s the case, he needs to get his head out his ass,” Mason said, nudging his knee against mine. “You can date or fuck whoever you want. It’s none of his business.”

“I know. I told him that.”

“But that doesn’t mean he’s listened,” West said with a sigh. “I know you called him out again the other morning when he was being a dickhead about your date.”

“I’ve called him out so many times lately and nothing’s changed.” I wanted to laugh but I also wanted to cry. I had no idea what the fuck was going on with my best friend but the weight of it was starting to crush me, and I kept flitting between hope, anger, and despair. My worst fear had always been losing Jonny and now it was coming true. Maybe I should find an order of monks in France and go and live with them instead. My singing and my French were both passable enough.

“I’m sorry,” Mason said, putting his arm around my shoulder. “Want me to say something?”

“You can try but I don’t know how much good it’ll do.” I scrunched up my face as one of the things Peaches had said popped into the front of my mind. I still didn’t think it was true,but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion. After all, West and Mason had lived with Jonny for a couple of years now. They had to know him pretty well.

“Peaches said… he asked if Jonny could be jealous.” I looked between the pair of them, almost pleading with them to answer. “I said I didn’t think so, but Peaches wasn’t convinced. He told me to try flirting with him but…” My voice faltered and I gave up trying to finish my sentence.

West and Mason looked confused for a moment, a deep frown settling between Mason’s eyebrows. “Isn’t Jonny straight? Why would he be jealous?”

“Yeah, but up until August, you thought you were straight too,” West said with a wry smile.

“Fair point.” Mason nodded in acknowledgement. “Doesn’t explain the jealousy, though, does it?”

“It does if Jonny has feelings for Devon,” West said, rubbing his chin as his expression turned thoughtful. If he really was Holmes, he’d be smoking some sort of pipe right about now.

“He doesn’t have feelings for me,” I said quickly. It was a nice theory but one I wasn’t going to give airtime to. I couldn’t afford to give in to those kinds of fanciful notions. Not if I wanted to keep my sanity intact. “We’re just friends.”

“Even if you’re friends, he could still be jealous. It’s not an exclusively romantic emotion,” West said. “People get jealous for all sorts of reasons. Maybe he’s jealous of you spending time with other people, like he’s worried he’ll lose you as a friend.”

“That would make sense,” Mason said. “You’re his best mate and you only moved back here in the summer, plus West and I are in relationships now… maybe he’s feeling a little left out?”

“It’s still no excuse,” West said firmly. “If he’s feeling left out, he needs to talk about it rather than throwing a tantrum like a bloody toddler.”

“Maybe…” I pursed my lips slightly as I tried to think of a way to put my thoughts into words. “But why now?”

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