Paradox • afi

free time

Free Time - Ruel

All of my friends said, "Don't worry, I promise you'll be fine"
But now I'm alone and I'm lost in my phone with this free time

~

The next morning, or more so afternoon, Alexis made her way to her apartment from down the hall and sighed quietly to herself. She couldn't quite place it, but she felt weird. Normally by that time of the day Delilah would have been in the living room, working on homework or scribbling down some lyrics.

Something was off.

She thought maybe the girl was just super hung over, still in bed, just sleeping the headache away. It wasn't until the brunette went to bring her roommate some water that it happened. Dropping the cup, water and glass making a mess of the floor of the almost empty room.

Alexis froze, only her eyes looking around before she felt her heart rate rise drastically, and she turned around to leave the apartment as fast as she could. The girl never thought she'd be pounding on her brother's apartment door in such a panic, just hoping and praying that one of the two boys would answer the damn door.

Eventually, annoyed with narrowed eyes, the girl's brother pulled the door open abruptly. But the moment he saw the panic in her eyes and her frantic nature, his face fell and jaw opened and closed a few times before anything even came out. "Wha-"

"She's gone. All her stuff is gone and I don't know- She's gone, Cal." Alexis hadn't even noticed the tears that were freely falling until her brother wiped some with his thumbs and pulled her to his chest without another thought.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" he mumbled into her hair, rubbing her back. "Take a deep breath, tell me what's going on."

The girl pulled away and just shook her head, taking her brothers and leading him back into her apartment that was left wide open in the hurry to get someone. Upon entering, everything seemed fine to the tanned boy. But as soon as she continued pulling him farther in, all the way to the blonde's room, his jaw dropped. Empty furniture, just a few random items that one would call junk lying around.

"I- have you tried calling her?" he whispered, eyes continuing to scan the room slowly. He wasn't sure what to do, already pulling his phone from his pocket when he realized his sister hadn't said anything. Without another word, he called the blonde, but it rang out. He tried again before shoving his phone in his pocket. "Try calling her, I'm getting Ashton and Luke."

Getting the tall blonde first, the two made their way back to Calum's own apartment, walking right in. "What's going on, Cal? I was doing homework."

"Just go across the hall, you'll see." The brunette didn't even glance at his friend before he left, leaving him to talk to Ashton on his own. He figured it was probably better that way. "Ash." He knocked on the door a few times before pushing it open, finding the oldest boy at his desk, a notebook open in front of him, and his guitar on his lap. "I need to talk to you."

Barely glancing at his roommate, Ashton scribbled something down in the notebook. "I'm kind of busy, can it wait?"

"No."

Ashton could hear the slight panic, all the worry laced into the single word. So he stopped and turned to meet his friend's gaze. "What's up?" With slightly furrowed brows, he slowly set the guitar down and waited for Calum to speak up.

Sighing quietly, the boy walked to his friend's bed and sat on the edge, his elbows on his knees. "I need you to do me a favor first." When the older of the two raised his eyebrows, he started again. "Call Jade for me, she wouldn't answer my call."