Page 61 of Game Point
‘Oh.’
‘What is it?’ I looked up at him, jumping to a conclusion. ‘Please don’t tell me you’re going to complain about my VHS collection. I promise, it’s very small.’
Oliver looked up, but almost as soon as his eyes metmine, his cheeks burned with a deep pink, the heat of them almost radiating, and his gaze cast down again.
‘No, it’s nothing.’ He quickly closed the top of the box.
‘You’re just going to ignore the fact I have a VHS collection?’
‘I’m going to put this one to the side.’ He said the words quietly, pushing the box away from him.Far away.‘You can take it and sort it out later.’
‘Now I’m allowed to carry boxes?’ I joked, enjoying every bit of his strange reaction.
‘You are allowed to carrythis specificbox.’ This time, his eyes did meet mine. And it was like a lock perfectly sliding into place, the realization kicking in. This was not my VHS collection.
‘What’s in the box?’ I asked carefully. Oliver stared ahead. He blinked once. As if his soul was returning to his body, he shivered. ‘Oliver?’
‘Just leave it for later,’ he insisted, but I was already too curious to ignore it. After all, what could be so bad?
‘I think I need to know now,’ I pressed, shuffling forward on my knees to stretch out towards it.
‘You absolutely should not.’ His arms stretched out, but I was faster, sliding the box along the floor closer to me, the weight of it rather light. Oliver leaned forward on his hands and knees. ‘Dylan, don’t do it.’
I stared ahead at him for a long time, weighing up my options. But in the end, curiosity killed the cat, and slowly my fingers pulled open the top. My reaction was immediate, my cheeks burning hotter than Oliver’s as I took in the sight.
‘Oh my god,’ I whispered. First, it was the delicatescraps of lace underwear that caught my attention, the deep purples, hot pinks, racy reds. Then a purple dildo, countless vibrators, candy-floss flavoured lube.
‘OH MY GOD!’ I looked up, my gaze meeting Oliver’s – a split second too long – and diverted straight down once again, spotting yet more embarrassing objects. Lengths of rope. Condoms. The black fluffy handcuffs that I only had because of a hen party (but kept for an entirely different reason). Every time I looked, it got worse, my eyes catching on another embarrassing flash of silicon.
In the background to all of this, Oliver started rambling nervously. ‘I didn’t know what was in there, I swear. I opened the lid and there it all was, assaulting my eyeballs.’
‘It was sealed,’ I stated clearly, pushing down all the embarrassment, the memory of packing away this box very clear in my mind. I’d taped it up, wrapping the Sellotape around the box to ensure anyone who opened it would have their work cut out for them. Other than throwing it in a river with a pile of rocks, it was the only way I’d thought to hide its contents from anyone else. With a very nosy family, I’d thought stamping ‘PRIVATE’ all over it would only elicit closer inspection.
‘It wasbarelytaped up,’ Oliver said. ‘Look, we’ve both seen …’ he trailed off, as if he was trying to find the right words as he motioned wildly to the box still wide open between us, ‘… adult toys before.’
I gulped at his choice of words.
‘Let’s just pretend this never happened,’ he suggested.
I inhaled deeply, almost enjoying the sting of my ribs. Pretending this never happened felt like the best way out of this situation. Especially when I saw the clear horroron Oliver’s face, reading his tensed jaw and the white-knuckled grip of his hand.
I wasn’t ashamed of what was in that box, but he had made it clear from the start that this was a friendship. The idea Oliver could think I’d been trying to turn this into something more with him discovering this box … I pushed the thought away, comforting myself with the fact I couldn’t have anticipated this, not when he’d fought me to help.
Stretching out, I offered a handshake. ‘This never happened.’
He looked between me and the box before his hand unclenched, locking with mine in agreement. ‘It never happened.’
I pushed to my feet, pressing the top of the box closed, then leaning down to lift it. ‘I’ll get rid of this.’
Oliver’s mouth opened as if to automatically offer to help, his body shifting as if to follow, but I cut him off before he could.
‘Do not offer to help. I can handle it,’ I stated clearly, the box light and comfortable enough.
‘I think it might be best.’ His tense body relaxed as he reseated himself on the floor.
I left, heading straight for my bedroom, my cheeks still burning red. At least I knew where things stood with Oliver, a clear reminder of how we should act.
Friends and nothing more. Fine by me, I could work within those drawn-up boundaries. Use the reminder of this moment every time I noted how handsome he seemed to look no matter the light. Every time the electric pulse sparked under my skin whenever it touched his.Every moment I would almost swear, if we hadn’t already agreed that we werejustfriends, that he might be flirting.
