CAPACITY FOR WONDER. | alex albon

xxix. presence over presents

            What occurred on that very day, had always occurred, like clockwork. Every. Year.

It was the one thing Juniper could count upon, even though she never realised this was the case. Considering she hadn't even thought about it until Charlotte spoke up, which had only happened as soon as she finally left her room.

In retrospect, having so many people sat in her living room should've been some indication to what was going on. Alex had made himself comfortable in the lounge chair they'd always situated themselves in, whilst Charlotte, Charles, George, and Lando had all piled onto her large sofa.

"I'm beyond confused. Why are you here?" Juniper said, a girl too striked with a post-sleep haze to have any kinder filter to her words.

"Well I came looking for you, with Charles, and Alex let us in." Charlotte told her.

It had been funny really, what had happened, when Charles told her later. Alex had let them in and then told them to be 'super duper' (that was a direct quote, apparently) quiet because June was still asleep.

This was the first time Charles or Charlotte had heard the nickname directly, Alex had guessed this as their faces faltered for a moment before making the connection.

"Oh! Juniper is still asleep!" Charles exclaimed then, laughing before Charlotte's hand pressed firmly over his mouth.

Alex accompanied this moment with another remind that Charles should be quiet.

They'd put the TV on a low volume, Alex sitting where June had later found him. Charlotte and Charles made themselves comfortable too, even silently arguing that they deserved to pick the channel instead of Alex because it was 2:1.

Then, Charlotte guessed around 45 minutes later, Lando and George knocked at the door. She had gone to answer it, after another argument between the three of them that she was in fact the closest to it.

She was the most confused to find them at the door, which made the fact that she had allowed them to come in that much better.

"Alex! Just the guy we were looking for!" George called out, receiving a jab to the stomach from Alex as he motioned towards Juniper's firmly shut bedroom door.

George raised his hands in surrender, Juniper realised that was the noise that had caused her to stir in the first place before she actually rose out of bed.

She hadn't known all that when she had walked out her room, which is why her face still held such confusion.

"So why we're you looking for me? And who were you both looking for?"

Lando answered first, much to Charlotte's annoyance. "We we're looking for Alex. Thought we'd check here first. He needed something yesterday so we thought we'd drop it off today." He said with a shrug before Charlotte huffed.

Charlotte pushed Charles off her legs now, which caused him to fall, along with Lando and George too who had all been resting on each other.

"Are you joking?" She said now.

"Rarely." Juniper deadpanned.

"Have you even checked the date today?"

Juniper shook her head, shrugging as Charlotte rolled her eyes and pulled up the calendar app on her phone. It displayed August 12th, causing an "O" sound to move from Juniper's lips. She was still clearly unbothered as she nodded and walked over to where Alex was sat.

He shuffled up to let her in beside him, her body resting against his as she looked over to the TV. "What are you watching?" She asked.

"Juniper! It's your birthday!" Charlotte cried out, throwing her arms up as she shook her head.