Haze Bois

Chapter 17

‘Everything feels wrong,’ Haley thought. After being caught up in a love triangle for so long, it felt strange to suddenly have nobody.

On the short walk home, Steve kept trying to talk to her. His attempts were sweet and thoughtful. He asked questions about her and listened to the answers with genuine interest. Haley had noticed that Greg would only ask pointed questions. He would wait for Haley to give a response then begin to talk about the topic he had brought up, showing off whatever special knowledge or borrowed opinion

At one point on their date, Greg had given an opinion on her favourite show, LOSS. It was a series they enjoyed together, mostly in silence aside from the points where Greg had to voice his views. Greg liked to brag about how similar he was to the main character, and as much as Haley had always respected and admired Greg, he just wasn’t anything like Kane.

For one thing, he had zero body strength. Like literally… zero. Haley had seen prepubescent boys with more muscle mass. It didn’t bother her. But it was annoying when he pretended to be some macho guy he most definitely was not.

It pained Haley to admit everything Caleb said about him was true. As much as Haley didn't want to believe it. Greg wasn’t intelligent. Most of his ‘insightful’ opinions on LOSS were, word for word, stolen from clickbait articles.

‘I mean, does he not realise I read the exact same stuff?’ Haley had to ask herself. ‘And is everything he comes out with regurgitated, second-hand opinions and facts?’

Steve was looking pretty good right about now, but the fact it hadn’t worked out the first time meant it probably wouldn’t ever work out.

“Did you manage to get the soufflé to stay inflated?” Steve asked.

“I did,” Jade confirmed with a smile. “It tasted amazing too. My tutor was so impressed with me.”

“That’s awesome,” Steve said.

‘He’s so sweet and kind and caring,’ Haley thought. ‘I just wish I could find him sexy.’

As Steve fell silent, Haley focused on the group conversation, dropping her pace to fall back in line with the crowd.

“I thought you were gonna win?” Ross was teasing Caleb.

“He broke his hand on Cal’s face. I’d hardly call that a win for Brummie,” Aman jumped in to defend his boss.

“I got what I needed,” Cal added. What he meant by that was unclear and he didn’t elaborate.

“Really, because it seemed like you lost money and made a fool of yourself,” Ross pressed.

Caleb stopped and turned to Ross.

“Yeah? That sounds like fighting talk. You wanna go?” Caleb challenged, squaring up to him. At just under six feet tall, Caleb was the shorter of the two by the tiniest smidge, but somehow, he seemed bigger.

“Yeah, so yer bois can jump in and fill me in?” Ross shook his head, trying to break Caleb’s gaze. “I’m alright.”

“They’ll stay out of it, won't you lads?” Caleb shouted back at the others who nodded or grunted in agreement.

Caleb snapped back to Ross with a grin. “So?”

“I don’t wanna fight you,” Ross admitted at last. When Caleb didn’t back down, he added, “I’m sorry, Okay? I’ll shut up.”

When they got home, everyone piled into Caleb’s house on the promise that Katie would nip over to hers and get the crate of beer her mum had bought for Christmas last year.

It felt like a celebration, thought what exactly they had to celebrate was unclear. Steve downed a beer, belched loudly and apologised.

“I’m sorry… it’s nerves. I have a test tomorrow and I’m gonna fail so badly,” Steve admitted. “They’re looking for any excuse to kick me off the course, as well. I’m screwed.”

“Fake illness?” Katie suggested.

“Done it too many times. I am going to need an actual illness this time. Something concrete,” Steve said.

“You could break your hand on Caleb’s face?” was Haley’s helpful suggestion. She was pleased when her comment got a giggle from some of the lads.

Steve mulled it over, nodding to himself. “A broken bone could work.”

He turned to Ross, asking, "Break a bone for me?”

Slightly drunk and always stupid, Ross agreed and started hitting Steve in the arm with all his might.

After a few hits and a few loud, “Ouches,” Kenny jumped up.

“Look, if you want a broken arm there is an easier way. I can get you in an armbar?” Kenny offered.

Steve shrugged and sat by Kenny, who ragged him about and twisted his own body so he was positioned with his legs wrapped around Steve’s shoulder, one leg wrapped around his neck, the other tucked underneath his shoulder blade. Kenny pulled his wrist towards his own head.

“This is going to hurt,” Kenny warned. “Are you sure?”

“Do it… just do it,” Steve squeaked.

As Kenny began to apply pressure, Steve cried out.

“No,no, no, it hurts, it hurts too much, please stop.”

"You're supposed to tap my leg, not cry like a baby," Kenny informed as he released Ross.

Katie sighed, “Oh, just go home and study, will you?”

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Haley asked Kenny, impressed with his skills. She had seen similar moves when her brothers were watching UFC.

“I’ve been doing Jujitsu since I was 5,” Kenny revealed. He shook his sandy blond hair from his eyes and smiled. There was something vaguely cute about Kenny. All he really needed was a decent haircut and he would be attractive.

“Wow, that’s awesome,” Haley said. She had never really thought of Kenny as anything but a dopey kid who idolised Caleb. She was glad he had a hidden talent.

A brief scan of the room revealed Steve and Ross had slunk off and Katie was doing her best to talk to Jamie, despite Caleb giving them evil glares.

When Haley felt her phone vibrating in her pocket and saw it was Greg, she was in two minds whether to even bother answering. In the past, she had always waited with bated breath for word from Greg. Now, she actually cringed at the thought of him. She had this mental picture of him, tilting his skinny neck and smugly telling her that her favourite character was one retarded mistake away from dying for real.

'You can insult me all you like,' Haley thought, 'But keep your mouth shut about my Rineya.'

Hayley knew it was weird to be so obsessed with a character from a show, but she couldn't seem to rein her feelings in. She was well aware that obsessive behaviour was a big part of her personality—her infatuation with Greg being a result of this.

This cringy mental picture of him was enough to form a crack in her obsessive pattern of behaviour, Haley realised, as she let the phone call ring off.

‘His spell is broken,’ Haley thought, placing the phone back into her pocket with a surge of joy. ‘I’m free.’

Deep in her heart, Haley knew it wouldn’t be long before a new obsessive crush began. She wasn’t the type to stay single for any decent length of time. For now, at least, she could enjoy the calm between the storms.