dinner parties | scorbus

CH17: urgent

CH17: urgent (5,150 WORDS)

* * * * *

Albus had never been so distracted in his life.

Whilst he typically had a bad habit of playing music whilst he studied, leading him to have wavering focus, he had always been able to get all of his work done, marked and forgotten about within the week. While it had never been particularly productive, it worked well for him. Albus had control of the music that he listened to whilst he studied, he could turn it off if he so wished. However, the memory of a warm kiss on his cheek rattled around his brain like a fork in a blender. It had become a constant clanging in his typically calm mind. He couldn't turn that off, which was his whole problem.

He hadn't been able to think coherently for hours after he'd woken up that next day. He'd even caught himself trailing his fingertips over the spot in wonder when he should have been answering his physics questions. He knew it was stupid, he didn't need to be told such a thing. However, that information didn't prevent him from gazing dreamily at the clouds outside when he got the chance. It most certainly didn't cease the fluctuating colour of his cheeks as they turned red and steadily faded back to white.

Scorpius had turned him into a simpering, soppy schoolboy — broken him, essentially. And, surprisingly, Albus decided he was completely okay with that.

Over the past few days, he'd been trying especially hard not to think about the cardigan that still hung in his closet. It reeked of his best friend's sweet-smelling cinnamon cologne and drove him positively mental. Despite it being the cuddliest garment his fingers had ever come into contact with, he didn't deserve to keep it. He'd spent enough time running his fingers over the stars upon the elbows and tracing the grey lines that ran down the opening and the sleeves.

He'd hidden it in his wardrobe. Primarily because his mother would recognise that it did not belong to him, and she'd hunt him down with questions. In his current state of constant dizziness, Albus didn't want to answer any. It would hardly take his intelligent mother long enough to piece together who it belonged to and she'd discover how Albus came into contact with such a thing. As Ginny believed he hadn't seen Scorpius since his birthday party in August, that would be a dead giveaway.

And Albus couldn't risk to part with his late-night outings, not quite yet.

* * *

The next afternoon, Albus had spun his rotary phone's dial to talk to his best friend, despite knowing that Scorpius wouldn't answer at such a time. Thankfully, he didn't. Seconds later, Albus came to the conclusion that he'd likely have melted on the spot if he had to meet up with Scorpius so soon, and he realised this much too late. Albus had already left a message, and he couldn't exactly delete it from his friend's receiver.

"Hey, Scorpius. Sorry I haven't written back to you. I was wondering if we could meet up tonight? Ring me back when you're free and let me know!"

And Scorpius had called him back, but it had taken a breakdown from Albus for him to even believe that he would in the first place.

Actually, he had been scribbling away at practise tests for his maths class when the phone had buzzed to life on the corner of his desk. Potter took a deep breath and lifted it from the receiver, his hand clenched tightly against it. His heart raced a mile a minute, and he wondered if it would simply explode — it most certainly seemed to have the potential to.

"Hey, Albus! It's me."

Albus smiled to himself. "Hello, you."

Scorpius gave (what sounded like) a flustered giggle. Albus' heart began to dissolve at the sound. He forced a frown into his face, trying to steel himself so that he didn't shoot withering looks to Scorpius all night when they met up. For a moment, he missed the rough personality he used to have — but then he remembered he didn't miss not knowing Scorpius.