Concealed // Alex x George

Eye - James

'Oh, Otto,' I said to my cat, who was sat on my chest, 'why is life so hard?'
Obviously I did not expect my cat to answer this, he was asleep, for gods sake, but it was worth a shot.
I look over at the coffee cup from yesterday on the bedside table. Over the First Sip logo, It said James, under that it had a list of numbers. I still hadn't added Kalynn's number to my contacts. I mean I wanted to. We were just friends. I'm allowed female friends that aren't Aria.
Kalynn and I just seemed so compatible, so in tune. Of course I felt this way with Aria too, I think. Kalynn could basically read my mind and we barely knew one another.
'Screw it' I said out loud, not really to Otto, more to just make a point. I grabbed my phone and scrolled to contacts. New contact. I typed her number in. I went to add her name. Kalynn. I usually add emojis next to my friends contacts. An inside joke or something, what should I add next to her name?. I thought about our encounters, there were a lot of stand out moments, like her being from North Carolina or maybe a coffee cup?
Thats when I remembered. The sunset.
I added a sunset 🌅 by her name.

Kalynn🌅

Thinking of that moment made me feel happy, like actual joy. I hadn't felt this happy since... Aria had left i guess?
I mean the band was fun, and filming Eboys videos. But not like this, it was like a lightbulb in my brain or like my heart was smiling.
Crap.
I add her as a contact and send her a quick message.

Hey, its James
from yesterday
Sent

She probably wouldn't remember me, I sort of want to throw my phone across the room, but that would disturb Otto.

I look down.
Typing...
My stomach flip and I realise I'm smiling. Oh no.

Hey James!💕

What am I supposed to say now?!
I write out:

Are you doing anything later?

No I have a day off today, Westons running the place.
-Kalynn

Want to hang out
I could show you more
Of the city 😁

I would love that! 😁

We arranged to meet up by First sip in an hour. I got out of bed, careful to not to disturb the cat too much.
After showering, I changed into my favourite button up shirt and jeans, brushed my hair and ate some toast on the sofa.
On the coffee table, the picture of Aria seemed somewhat menacing.
'Its not a date, I promise' I whispered. It wasn't, right? I hoped Kalynn wouldn't think so. I should tell her about my girlfriend shouldn't I? What if Kalynn isn't interested and she gets offended and never speaks to me again?
After a while, I decided to leave early. I had a plan. I would talk to Weston Koury, he seemed wise.

I went into First Sip and went straight up to Weston. Although he is so much shorter than me he speaks with so much confidence:
'Hey, James Marriot' He knows my last name now so thats something.
' Can I talk to you about something?'
'Go for it, better make it quick in time for you to go on a date with my sister.'
Oh no.
I'd fucked up.
'Yeah, about that... she doesn't think its a date right? I mean she's a great girl, really funny and pretty and she seems super smart.'
'Sure dude, you're definitely not into her,' He said sarcastically, 'Why do you care? Do you have a girlfriend or something?
'Yeah... sort of.'
'How come you haven't like told Kalynn?!' He seemed mad, 'You haven't even come here with a girl and you're always here!'
I had only come here three times but I got where he was coming from.
'I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend, but she's in the army, fighting in a war and I don't even know if she's going to come back or what' I realised I was crying.
Weston seemed to regain his confidence as he said,
'Whats her name, is she hot?'
'Aria Tamigotchi, and yes' I sniffled.
'Oh Aria! I didn't know she went to the army!' He must be a subscriber of mine and just forgot I had a girlfriend.
'I just didn't want to lead Kalynn on'
'I get it mate, but its a bit late, Kalynn hasn't stopped talking about you since you came here with Will and George and Alex.' He seemed understanding. 'Maybe still be her friend, just tell her okay?'

Kalynn came into the shop. She looked nice, but I couldn't tell her that, its too flirty.
'Hi' I said.
'Hey'
'Before we do this, I thought I should tell you something... I have a girlfriend.'
Her face fell slightly, but she smiled all the less.
'Oh' She didn't look particularly happy.
'Thats fine'
'We don't have to do this if you don't want to.'
'No I want to' she said, as if accepting a challenge. 'Besides, you're just showing me the city, right?'
'Right.'
'Well, I've always wanted to go on the London Eye, but my brothers afraid of heights'
'We could do that then' I smiled.

We arrived at the eye after a couple tube stops. Since it was so early and a Wednesday, there was barely anyone in the queue.
'Sooo, you done this before?'
'Yeah, it was like the first thing I did when I moved here'
'Cool,' She started running, 'Race you!'
I started to sprint.
'Oh my god! How are you so fast!' I called out.
'Lacrosse!' She yelled back.

We got in line,
'I won' Said Kalynn.
'You had a head start!?' I said, out of breath.
The people in front all got in, we went to get on,
'Sorry, capacity' said the employee.' Since there's no one behind, I could probably get you couple on your own.'
'Oh, we're not a-' Started Kalynn. I nudged her.
The employee rolled his eyes and walked off.
Eventually our pod arrived, we gave them our tickets and hopped on.
'You scared of heights?' Kalynn asked me.
'What? No!'
'Okay, if you say so.'
We started to go up. I started to get nervous, was I scared of heights? Or was i nervous because of Kalynn?

'Whos you're girlfriend?' She blurts out.
'Oh...erm, her names Aria.'
'Whats her job?'
'Shes in the Military, fighting in Afghanistan.'
'Oh, I'm sorry' She sits nearer to me. 'If you ever need a friend to talk to I'm here.'
'Thanks.' I look into her eyes. Then out the pod.
We sat and talked about the views for a while.
'What about your love life?' I ask her.
'I- I've had boyfriends and stuff but nothing that lasted.'
'Oh, that sucks.'
'Its fine, I mainly just focus on the cafe and youtube.'
'You have a youtube channel?'
'Yeah, me and my brother run it, its called sinjin drowning.'
'I have a channel too, James Marriot!'
'You're James Marriot! Weston watches you i think. I didn't know what you looked like or anything.'
'So thats how he knows my name!' I laugh.
We reach the top of the eye,
'The worlds pretty small huh?'
'True,i mean you're from North Carolina, I'm from good old England.'
'I'm surprised you didn't ask why we moved.'
'I dont know, I assumed it was the library thing' I pointed out.
'It was partly that, and we lived in New York and then California,'
'Awesome, they're pretty nice places I've heard'
'They were nice but it never felt right, I had no connection to it, I always felt like I could just move, no matter what.I had no ties.'
I thought about this, I mean London isn't the best place, but I don't think I would move for anything, everything I love is here, my best friends, so many great memories have been made here.
'What about here?'
'I think I feel more at home here, we have the cafe, me and Weston have loads of friends. There's so much to do. I love it.'
I wanted to hug her, like yesterday. But I remembered what Weston had said. So I resisted.