Ephemeral (somethingelseyt x OC)

8

As Laurie slowly floated away, Adam watched her black hair glistening in the sunshine that beamed down upon her figure. Words got caught up in his throat as he tried to call after her. It appeared that she didn't want this as much as he did, despite all the nights they spent together just talking before inevitably drifting asleep in each other's arms. Adam longed for that to become a regularity more than anything, yet it seemed that Laurie wasn't thrilled over the idea. Hesitantly, he swam after her.

"Welcome back," Erhard greeted the pair as they reached the group. By the time they rejoined the group, all the girls had finally dived into the ocean with the exception of Amalie, who was still squealing about the cold. "C'mon, Amalie!"

"You know how much I hate cold water!" Amalie shrieked back in German, which confused Adam, the only one that didn't understand her.

"What did she say?" he whispered to Laurie.

"Amalie dislikes anything chilly. One would think she'd be used to it by now since winters in Germany can get really cold."

"Hey, Amalie!" Jürgen shouted at her. "If you come here now, Adam will sign you an autograph!"

The group chuckled upon seeing the rapid change in the blonde's expression and her eager dive into the water. Adam, especially, was impressed that the offer even worked so well.

"Well, I guess I now owe an autograph," he chuckled awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, am I too much again?" Amalie wondered.

"No, no," Adam hurried to assure her. "It's just that I rarely meet any fans my age, and I'm wondering what it is you like so much about my videos."

"Yeah, 'cause it's, like, totally only the videos she likes," Kristi giggled.

"Shush, Kristi," Amalie snapped then turned back to Adam. "Completely honest, I love the scenes you put your character in! I suppose I should also give credit to your background artists for that."

"Amalie is a scenography graduate," Laurie explained shortly. "It's always the first thing she notices. No easter egg has ever escaped her."

"So, you weren't all in the same college course?" Adam's eyebrows furrowed. "I just figured..."

The group exchanged a few laughs, though they weren't meant to be mean. It was more directed towards Adam's clueless expression.

"Inge and I are director graduates, Erhard and Jürgen majored in filming and camera work, Kristi's a montage director, and, as mentioned, Amalie graduated in scenography," Laurie explained. "But we all went to the same school since it offers all of these programs, and we shared a couple of classes in year one, where we met. That's why working together on our graduate movies was so easy; we got along well, and we were all experts in different areas."

"Did you go to college, Adam?" Jürgen asked.

Adam smiled nervously. "No, I dropped out the first year since my channel started growing, and I wanted to focus on creating. Besides, I don't think that path was for me."

"What would you study if you had the chance?" Inge questioned.

"Right now? Probably animation or something with computers. Or, maybe music."

"Oh, you play anything?" Erhard became curious. He was an experienced guitar player; it was one of the reasons why Inge fell in love with him.

Laurie chuckled. "What doesn't he play is a better question," she said, recalling all the instruments she saw scattered in Adam's bedroom. "Guitar, keyboard, ukulele, kalimba, drums, you name it."