Chapter Forty-Three
ELLIOT MISSED a call from Lila the next morning while he was in the shower, his mind still on what to do to help his Nean friends and prevent any more attacks. When he got back to his room he heard the bleep of a new text on his mobile and checked it. Lila’s message said it was urgent so he quickly dressed and then called her back, sitting on his bed as they spoke.
“Did you hear what happened?” she asked.
The tone of her voice made him straighten. “No. What?”
“Two Neans were attacked last night in the town. One of them is said to be in hospital. No one’s saying it’s about Al but I’m worried for Fal and Barve.”
He took this in with a heavy sensation in the pit of his stomach, while a tiny part of his mind wondered when she’d started calling Farlden but his nickname. “I’ll speak to the Vice Chancellor.”
“Do you think he’ll listen to you?”
He pursed his lips as he remembered how indifferent the man had been to the unfair treatment Barve had been enduring. “He’ll have to.”
He ended the call and walked into the kitchen. Farlden and Barve were making breakfast alongside Sam and Russ, a couple of other boys who lived at the halls. Elliot told his friends about the Nean attack and his plan to get the Vice Chancellor to do something to keep them safe.
“He won’t be bothered about this,” Farlden said, “and you can’t blackmail him twice or you’ll be the one expelled.”
“You blackmailed the head of the university?” Russ asked Elliot. “Can you get him to improve my grades while you’re there?”
“No, I can’t,” Elliot told him with an eye-roll and then said to Farlden, “I’ll make him do something about this.”
“Uh-huh.” Farlden’s lack of faith in him increased Elliot’s bad mood. He would get this resolved and then talk to Farlden about their relationship.
“How are your ribs?”
Russ and Sam exchanged confused glances as Farlden said, “Just a bit sore. Forget it.”
That wasn’t happening any time soon. Elliot had barely slept last night worrying about him. No one should be able to get away with hurting his... friend. He stumbled over the word, knowing that it didn’t begin to describe everything he felt for Farlden. Thanks to Barve’s kind nature, they might have a chance to be a lot more and he couldn’t wait for that moment.
Russ asked what had happened to Farlden and the explanation took up the next ten minutes, amid cooking and consuming food and hot drinks.
Only Barve had a lecture this morning and that was at the main campus, so Elliot drove them both there and walked him to the room to make sure he got there safely, before heading to the admin office. He asked the curly-haired woman there – who might or might not be Lila’s mother – if he could make an appointment to see the Vice Chancellor and, after a phone call, was sent to him straight away.
The Vice Chancellor put down his fountain pen. The sun from the window turned his hair the colour of a copper coin and he was as smartly dressed as ever, in a green-and-grey suit and green tie. “No more conspiracies I hope, Mr Rivers?”
“No, sir, but Farlden Trilema was attacked by several boys yesterday, who punched him and probably would have done more if they hadn’t been interrupted. There was also an attack on two Neans from the town last night that put one of them in hospital. I wanted to request that you speak to the students and warn against any further violence.”
“What happens in the town isn’t my responsibility and I’m not going to criticise the entire body of students over the foolish actions of a few.”
Farlden had been right. The Vice Chancellor didn’t give a damn what happened to Barve and Farlden, but Elliot had to find a way to make him care. “Sir, my friends have faced prejudice their entire time here without complaint...”
“...Then they should carry on doing so,” the Vice Chancellor spoke over him, tone curt. “Is there anything else?”
Elliot tried to think of anything he could say to make the man take this seriously, but he was clearly part of the problem at the university. “No.” He added in a sarcastic tone, “I apologise for wasting your time.”
As he walked out, he knew that he and his friends would have to deal with the problem alone. He thought about the Nean who had ended up in hospital and the hundreds of potentially dangerous students here and didn’t have any idea how to keep the two people he cared about out of danger.
* * *
“Barve came to see me last night,” Elliot said, finally alone with Farlden in the other boy’s room at the residential hall. He had wanted to ease his mind about the attacks before speaking but, after the Vice-Chancellor’s reaction, he needed a new plan. Right now he just couldn’t stay away from Farlden any longer, not when he knew they could actually be together after all. “He said that you felt the same way I do.”
“He shouldn’t have told you.” Farlden’s eyes were dark with emotion and, despite his words, he wasn’t denying what Barve had said.
“I understand that you don’t want him to feel bad, but it’s his decision and he says he’s okay with the idea of us getting together.”
“You don’t get it,” Farlden exclaimed. “Barve fell for you the first day he met you. He had those feelings for months and then you turned him down. He hid most of his grief from you, but he was devastated. He’s my brother and I won’t put him through another flood of misery, not even for you.”
“Barve says it makes him feel worse to have us all unhappy.”
“He doesn’t know how he feels. It’s my job to look after him.”
“He’s not a child,” Elliot snapped, frustrated. “Of course he knows how he feels.”
“We’re never going to work. I don’t want to feel...”
He broke off and Elliot stared at him, the ticking of a clock somewhere in the room sounding loud in the stillness. “What do you feel for me?”
Farlden grabbed his arm, trying to manhandle him out of the room. “I can’t do this, so just go.”
The feel of Farlden’s hands on him, even like this, sent shivers of need through him and, acting on instinct, Elliot pulled Farlden forward and kissed him. There was no finesse to it, just a messy clash of mouths and teeth and tongues. Farlden hands clutched him, turning the kiss into an explosion of emotions and sensations, needy as if this had been building up for months. It had, of course. They had just been too oblivious to see it.
The kiss ended and they gasped in noisy breaths. Farlden was still touching him, one hand around Elliot’s waist and the other on his chest, while Elliot cupped Farlden’s face, stroking the curve of cheek with his thumb. He looked Farlden in the eye as he leaned forward again and saw his own need and desire reflected there. They kissed again deeply, thoughts leaving Elliot’s head as he lost himself in the tiny world of him and Farlden. Every taste and touch was magnified as if his senses had never been alive until now.
Farlden pulled away and gave a shuddering sigh. “No,” he said, shaking Elliot. “This can’t ever happen again. I won’t betray my brother like that. You have to leave me alone.”
He opened the door, breathing unsteadily and refusing to look at Elliot.
He tried to find words to prove that they had to be together, but he only knew one thing: “I love you.”
Apparently it wasn’t enough.