Kiss Me Like you Did -IGHS Sequel-

Taylor’s POV

I was staring in complete shock at the two people across the room, who were wearing twin expressions of wide-eyed stupefaction. I felt my heart rate slow right down and my vision start to tunnel as I focused on the person leaning against the pillows. He looked like he was about to be sick. He looked like he already was sick. What had happened to him? He looked so different...

‘Baby?’ Ryan’s voice broke worriedly through the rushing in my ears and I tore my gaze away from Jake’s ice blue eyes. ‘You okay?’

‘I...’ I started. ‘I...’ My knees buckled, and Ryan immediately went in action. He moved me quickly over to his bed and pushed me down gently but firmly, then went to his bag, where he kept a stash of my meds in case anything like this ever happened. I was starting to hyperventilate on the bed, going into a full-fledged panic attack. My heart rate was speeding up again to the point where I was having palpitations and I clutched at my chest, gasping for breath. Time seemed to slow right down and I saw everybody in the room rush towards me, though it happened in slow motion.

He pulled out the right pills and a bottle of water, calmly sitting beside me and forcing the tablet into my mouth, then lifting the bottle to my lips and tipping my head back so I could swallow. Slowly my vision started to clear as the drug took effect and I let my hands drop to my lap as my heart rate regulated and my breathing slowed.

I was starting to feel sleepy.

Ryan stroked my hair and laid me back on his bed, knowing I would be knocked out for a good twelve hours, and I felt him removing my shoes and pulling the blankets over my body. I struggled to sit up, stay awake, find out what the hell was going on, but the medication was numbing my brain and it was a battle to keep my eyes open. I heard Kelly and Jake demanding to know what had happened, what Ryan had done to me, but he shushed them. Seconds later, I surrendered to the blackness.

Jake’s POV

Kelly and I bolted off the bed at the same time, scrambling around discarded bags and boxes towards where Taylor was now being force-fed some pills by the other guy. I ignored my reflex to slap the pill out of Taylor’s mouth; this wasn’t like the last time, it wasn’t a drug. Taylor obviously knew the guy. As much as it broke my already shattered heart to think about it.

Taylor was clutching his chest and struggling to breathe, his face turning red as his pupils dilated. The other guy pressed a water bottle to Taylor’s lips and he swallowed, the symptoms of his panic attack beginning to subside almost immediately.

‘What’s happened to him?’ Kelly demanded, looking at the guy Taylor had come in with. I could hardly drag my eyes away from Taylor’s now sleeping form, he looked so relaxed and carefree, the polar opposite to his expression only minutes earlier.

‘What did you give him?’ I demanded, turning around to face the other boy. I could feel something weird happening in my chest, I was feeling stronger than I had done in over a year. Kelly glanced at me quickly and then returned her attention to Taylor’s friend; she must have noticed it too.

‘It’s just his medication,’ the guy said uncomfortably. ‘I’d rather not talk about it,’ he added, ‘since it’s none of your business.’

I could feel my jaw clenching; who did this guy think he was?

‘What are you all doing in here anyway?’ he asked, turning towards Evan and the others questioningly, who were gathered around closer to us now too. Everyone seemed concerned about Taylor, though they didn’t even know him. ‘How did you get in without a key?’

‘Um,’ Evan looked uncomfortable, clearly sensing that first impressions between my apparent roommate and I weren’t going well. ‘This is Jake and Kelly,’ he said. ‘Jake’s your roommate and Kelly’s his sister. Guys, this is Ryan Chambers.’

Ryan spun back around to face me, his eyes getting wider. ‘Oh!’ he said, presumably regretting having been so rude given that he’d have to share a room with me for the rest of the year. ‘Sorry. Nice to meet you,’ he said, putting out a hand to shake. I looked at it for a second before grudgingly taking it for a second and then dropping it. This guy’s hands had been all over Taylor. The thought made my skin crawl. ‘And that’s Taylor, my boyfriend,’ he added, nodding towards the bed. He’d obviously missed Kelly shouting Taylor’s name at him earlier.

‘Your... Boyfriend?’ Kelly asked hoarsely, going pale. Ryan misinterpreted her reaction.

He folded his arms across his chest defensively and said, ‘Yeah. My boyfriend. Is that a problem?’

Kelly glanced up at me to gauge my reaction, which I was doing a remarkably good job at hiding from the others in the room. Inside, it felt like something was squeezing my heart in a vice-like grip, getting tighter and tighter and refusing to let go. It felt like I could hardly breathe, like one nudge would send bits of me shattering all over the floor.

On the outside, I knew I just looked shocked. Typical that I would come across as a homophobic douchebag when the guy I’m in love with is asleep in his boyfriend’s bed not five feet away.

‘Um,’ Kelly said, clearly completely lost for once on how to react. ‘We actually... know Taylor,’ she said at last, figuring she may as well come out and say it.

Ryan’s eyebrows shot into his hairline, and everyone else looked pretty surprised as well. ‘How?’ he asked, frowning.

‘Well, we’re Irish... Obviously... And so is Taylor...’ she trailed off stupidly. Because every Irish person knows every other Irish person. ‘And, we grew up in the same town,’ she went on awkwardly. ‘He was our best friend for ages and then... Um...’

Ryan rounded on me, seemingly dismissing Kelly. ‘What’s your name?’ he demanded.

‘Jake,’ I answered, confused. Evan had just introduced us.

‘Jake Chaplain?’ he demanded.

‘Um.’ So Taylor hadn’t completely forgotten about me then. ‘Yeah.’

I don’t know what I expected. Jealousy or possessiveness or a warning to stay away from his boyfriend maybe. I didn’t expect him to scowl, clench his fists, and hiss, ‘You have a lot to fucking answer for.’

-------------------------------------

Half an hour later Ryan and I were sitting at opposite sides of the room glaring at each other. I was on my bed while he sat at one of the two desks, Kelly at the other looking nervously between the two of us. Taylor was still conked on the bed, and Ryan had assured us that he wouldn’t be waking up until morning. He’d tried to get us to leave with Evan, Noah, and the twins, but I wasn’t going anywhere until I knew Taylor was okay, and Kelly had – probably wisely – decided to stay on as referee.

It was not going to be a pleasant year in Casa Jake y Ryan.

‘So what are you studying?’ Kelly piped up suddenly, trying to quell the tension in the room. Her voice sounded unnaturally loud in the tense space.

‘I’m pre-med,’ Ryan answered, slowly taking his gaze off me and switching it to Kel. ‘You?’

‘Pre-law,’ she answered, nodding. Then, when he didn’t ask, she added, ‘Jake’s doing engineering.’

‘Taylor’s majoring in English,’ Ryan imparted grudgingly.

‘English?’ Kelly asked, surprised. ‘He always wanted to be an architect.’

‘He was always a good writer though,’ I added quietly, speaking for the first time in thirty minutes.

Kelly looked surprised. ‘True... But he never-’

‘Kaku ragi oog,’ I said sternly, reverting back to our secret twin language for the first time in about twelve years. Nevertheless, Kelly did as I told her and shut up.

‘Sumja preekle,’ she said timidly after a few minutes. Come for a walk.

I turned to glare at her but she looked at me beseechingly and I sighed and stood up. She’d been the only good thing in my life for the past fourteen months and I wasn’t about to stop paying attention to her advice now.

She said goodbye to Ryan and I followed her out of the room wordlessly, closing the door gently behind me so as not to wake Taylor. Silently we walked through the hallway and down the stairs until we got outside at which point Kelly dropped onto an ornamental bench and stared numbly at the ground.

‘Can you believe what just happened?’ she asked, and, for once, seemed to expect an answer.

‘No,’ I said, sitting carefully down beside her.

‘I can’t either. How could this have happened? Not only are we all, against all odds, going to the same college, and sharing the same accommodation, but you’re roommates with Taylor’s boyfriend...’ She whispered the last word as if she thought it might make me flip out.

I shrugged in response. I wasn’t gonna flip out but I wasn’t about to start rejoicing either. What was already a significantly uncomfortable existence had just gotten a whole lot worse.

‘It’s like fate,’ Kelly continued whispering.

I raised an eyebrow. ‘How is this fate? If anything it’s a cruel joke.’

‘Jake can you even hear yourself? Mom and dad were right to want to send you to Cali this summer. You’ve barely even seen Taylor, and it’s under the worst possible circumstances, and already you look, sound, and I’m willing to bet feel a whole lot stronger.’

‘I feel like the massive hole in my chest just got bigger,’ I said quietly.

‘But?’

She knows me too well. ‘Yeah. I guess. But at what cost? I was going numb. I could feel it. At last I was going numb. Now I can feel everything again, and it’s more raw and painful.’

‘I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but that’s a whole lot better than being numb, Jake,’ Kelly said, putting a hand on my arm.

‘That’s what you think,’ I muttered, staring at the ground.

‘Are you gonna be okay sharing a room with Ryan?’

‘What choice do I have? They told us all room assignments are final. I don’t think some teenage melodrama about ex boyfriends is gonna convince them that this is serious enough to swap me.’

Kelly was biting her lip, looking concerned. ‘I’d swap with you, if I was allowed,’ she said hopelessly.

I managed a smile. ‘I know, Kel. Thanks.’

‘I wonder what’s wrong with him?’ Kelly asked tentatively, bringing up what we’d been avoiding talking about since leaving the room. ‘I mean, it must be a recurring thing if Ryan had medication for him...’

I stayed silent, but nodded slightly.

‘It was a panic attack though, right? That’s psychological, isn’t it?’

I shrugged one shoulder. ‘Mine were.’ Shortly after Taylor had moved away I had begun suffering from panic attacks. I’d only had a handful and hadn’t gone on medication for them, but the doctor had confirmed that they were psychological. ‘He said they can be physical as well... Some heart conditions, hypoglycaemia, withdrawal...’

Kelly’s eyes were wide. ‘What the hell happened in California?’