Isaac didn't leave campus for the next few days. Except for the nights which he spent on Danny's couch. He didn't dare to go out to get a coffee let alone sit down somewhere for lunch or dinner. He drank way too much dorm coffee and he set up camp in the cafeteria for three hours on Sunday.
He did not run into Peter again and by Wednesday he dared to breathe easier. Isaac did, however, enter Professor Hale's office with mixed feelings. The professor had seen his interaction with Peter the other day and Isaac couldn't help but wonder what he was reading into it.
Things started fairly normal. They talked about their upcoming field trip. By now they had opened a group chat to coordinate things and they had covered the big questions already. Now they only had to decide which cars they would take, who would share a tent, and who would bring what kind of food. Professor Hale would bring two telescopes so that was covered as well.
"Has Allison said anything?" The professor asked. He avoided Isaac's eye while he adjusted his glasses in a nervous gesture.
"No." Isaac shook his head. "Lydia still wants her to come. I think she's putting off making a decision."
Hale hmmed to that. He had reached out to her, now it was on her to make a move.
"When you saw me at the coffee shop the other day," Isaac said carefully, not sure if he should say anything at all. "I was supposed to have lunch with her and her boyfriend."
"She wasn't there." The professor put his folded hands on the desk, listening to what Isaac had to say.
"When I saw you I warned her that you were there," Isaac admitted. "It looked as if you were waiting for somebody and I told her that it might be Peter. She decided to have lunch somewhere else."
Hale took that information with a nod but a dark shadow hooded his eyes for a moment.
"I don't know if she ever wants to get in contact with you," Isaac said. It was totally not on him to discuss this with the professor but he didn't want to leave it like that. "But I don't think that she holds a grudge against you or something like that. She doesn't know how to deal with this and I think that she just wants to let the past rest."
He was wildly guessing here but it felt right from what Allison had told him.
"I understand that," the professor said, a sad smile playing on his lips. "Believe me, I get it."
"I just hope that she never runs into Peter." Isaac shuddered. Peter had asked about her. It had been a possibility to him that she'd been the one who had sicced Isaac on him. He hoped that that idea had died by now but he didn't want to risk it.
"Has Peter contacted you yet?" Hale asked, changing the topic.
"Why would he contact me?" Isaac's voice rose, slightly panicked. "I don't want him to contact me."
"He was out of line. I'm sorry, that he bothered you at your workplace." Hale apologized for his uncle. "I heard you lost your job over it."
"He told you about that?" Isaac's voice toppled over. Peter had been very clear that he did not want his nephew to know about this.
"He didn't go into details but he promised to make it up to you," the professor continued.
"No, it's okay," Isaac hurried to say. "I'm good, it's okay. He doesn't need to …"
Whatever Peter intended to do to make it up to him, Isaac didn't want it. If he never saw Peter Hale ever again he would be happy. What could he do anyway? Convince Coach to give him back his job? Isaac did not want that job. Not after Coach had just casually closed the door and left him to Peter.
As for the part where Peter had interrogated him? How did he intend to make amends for that? The only thing Isaac could think of was money which would be kind of nice, he had to admit that, but the last thing he wanted to do was to take money from Peter Hale. For all he knew it was blood money.
Besides, no matter what the professor was saying, Isaac doubted that whatever Peter would come up with would come for free. There would be strings attached.
"Tell him thank you but I'd rather not engage with him ever again." Isaac forced a smile on his lips.
Professor Hale studied him for a long moment.
"Isaac, what did he do to you?" He took off his glasses. Without those his eyes became instantly soft, he was looking at Isaac with concern as if he was truly worried about him. "Did he hurt you?"
"No!" Isaac hurried to say but then he deflated. "He didn't need to. He …" He didn't even know how to put into words what Peter had done to him.
"Isaac?" Hale prompted when Isaac fell silent but not unkindly. Isaac got the feeling that he cared.
"He thought that I was stalking him, that somebody was paying me to follow him." Isaac worried the seam of his jeans with his fingernails and he didn't know where to look. "He wanted answers."
"What happened?" The professor asked and patiently waited him out.
With Danny the words had just broken out of him, this time Isaac was more coherent. He told the professor how Peter had ambushed him at work.
"I don't know how long he kept me there," Isaac said. He sniffed and fought the urge to wipe his nose with his sleeve. A tissue appeared in his line of view and he took it without looking up.
Isaac blew his nose and dried his eyes.
"He believed me in the end. I think." He clutched the wet tissue in his fist. "He kicked me out the back door once he was done with me."
For a long moment, Hale didn't say anything.
"I thought he just caused some trouble at your workplace," Professor Hale admitted. "I didn't know that he went this far. I'll make sure that you'll never see him again." His voice had a sharp edge to it. It was enough for Isaac to glance up at him.
"Do you want to press charges?"
At that Isaac barked out a laugh.
"It would be my word against his," he said. "And Coach's. I have no proof. And even if …" He shook his head. "I'm not suicidal."
Isaac had expected the professor to take his uncle's side, the fact alone that he was talking about pressing charges and making amends felt good. Not that he could do much. Isaac doubted that the professor knew much about what his uncle was up to.
"What he did to you was wrong." Hale's face hardened and even without the rim of the glasses shadowing his eyes, they were dark. "I'll make sure that you won't see him again and if you want to get a restraining order, I can help you with that."
"It's not that he's stalking me." Isaac dismissed the idea. "Most of the time I run into him."
"To be honest, I'm not sure if he'll be around here much longer," Hale said. "I'll have to think about a thing or two."
"I don't want to cause trouble," Isaac hurried to say. He didn't want to ruin the relationship the professor had with his uncle. Or the one Professor Stilinski had with him.
"Nothing of this is your fault," Hale said with a hard undertone. "This is on Peter. You are the victim here." His gaze became distant just for a second but long enough for Isaac to wonder if he was thinking of the past. He'd been a victim as well.
Isaac left Professor Hale's office with the feeling that he wasn't alone. Danny was trying but there wasn't much he could do. Professor Hale could do something. Isaac wasn't sure what but he had repeated that Peter would not bother him again and that he would face consequences.
For some stupid reason, Isaac pictured Peter getting detention.
Either way, Isaac felt better. He dared to breathe and when he left the building he did not expect to run into Peter at every corner. Which was stupid, he'd left Professor Hale's office just minutes ago, whatever he intended to do with Peter, it would take more than five minutes.
That night he declined Danny's offer to crash on his couch and slept in his own bed for once. He slept like a baby and the next morning he woke up well-rested.
When by the weekend nothing bad had happened, Isaac dared to make plans. The weather wasn't in his favor but he felt like going out.
Danny suggested the Jungle. Isaac laughed in his face, thinking it was a joke. The Jungle was where all this had begun, he should not go back there. But when Danny pointed out that it also was where all this had begun for Peter and that it was unlikely that he would return there, Isaac had to admit that he had a point.
Boyd and Erica had other plans but Lydia, Allison, and Scott came with them.
Just like the other day, people were checking their little group, trying to figure out the dynamics to determine if it was worth coming over to one of them or not.
Ironically enough, Isaac's own friends assumed that he and Danny were together now. Because Danny was an asshole, he slung his arm around Isaac's hip and told the others that he liked to cuddle afterward.
It took Isaac a few minutes to kill that idea.
The way people looked at Allison and Lydia, they thought that they were a couple as well. They were at a gay bar after all. The two women had always been affectionate with each other, that was nothing new, but with Erica's words in his mind, Isaac had a closer look at them. They acted differently around each other. Closer, more at ease, there was a lot of touching without even noticing. A brush of fingers here, a hand on the hip there, and they seemed to have a thing for the other one's hair. They had brushed a strand out of the other one's face before but this was different.
The way they were looking at Scott, though, he was in for a surprise. If not tonight then very soon.
Under the table, Isaac nudged Danny to get his attention.
"Should we warn him?" Isaac whispered.
"Absolutely not." Danny grinned around the neck of his beer.
When Danny dragged him to the dance floor, Isaac let him. To give the love birds some space.
He danced with Danny and then with another dude. Isaac didn't know how that had happened but tonight he didn't care.
Isaac had fun. He danced and when the guy offered him a drink, he took it. He didn't want to get drunk, he'd learned that lesson, but a drink or two didn't hurt. He'd lost sight of Danny but at the moment he had more fun with the guy who had his hand on the small of his back, not groping his ass but bringing them closer together.
Isaac felt light-headed, maybe even a bit dizzy, but when the guy suggested going outside, Isaac followed him. Fresh air sounded good.
They left the club through the back door.
A spell of dizziness hit Isaac and he had to cling to the other man to not fall to his knees.
"I didn't have that much to drink," Isaac mumbled and tried to breathe through the sudden nausea. Maybe this was not a good idea after all. "I should go back to my friends."
His tongue felt too heavy and the words didn't come out right.
"My car's over there." The guy tucked at his arm to get him going. Isaac squinted in the direction he was pointing but his vision was too blurry.
"I don't …" Isaac tried to get his arm free. They struggled for a moment but then Isaac slipped and landed on his ass.
"Stop being difficult." The guy tried to pull him back to his feet.
Suddenly a bright light came to life and an engine roared.