Under Control.

chapter twenty two.

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'I'm feeling abandoned.'

Albert walked straight in from the cold and made a beeline for the couch, dropping down beside Nora with a theatrical thud. It had been a little over a month now since he'd shown up at her door out of the blue asking for her help getting Julian out of his funk. And ever since then, Nora and Julian had been moseying along comfortably, acting like a couple but still never fully admitting to it.

Albert knew that Julian was in over his head. He'd never seen his friend be the way he was with Nora, with anyone. And he also knew that Nora was all in with Julian. The two of them orbited each other in an easy, loving way that was almost too good to be true. They were all longing looks across crowded rooms, dumbstruck smiles, and gentle touches. They had made a habit of crashing together most nights, either here, at Al and Julian's place, or there, at hers. Nora was most often around these days, and no one was complaining about the affect being with her was having on Jules. The only thing about it all was, that there was a looming shift in the delicate peacefulness that they'd all managed to find, and it was creeping up fast.

The band was due to go back out on tour in a matter of days, and Nora was being sent off on a work trip of her own, too. This moment in time was coming to an end, giving way to the next one. And even if no one wanted to admit it, they were all more than a bit nervous about what it might mean for their collective uncertain futures.

'Abandoned?' Nora turned to her Al with a questioning look and a hint of laughter dancing behind her eyes. 'Why's that, dear?'

'Well, honey,' Albert started, managing to contain his own laughter at the throwaway look Julian cast his way on his tear past them. 'I used to be your favourite. Feeling a little forgotten, a little shoved aside.'

Nora carded a hand over the cloud that was Albert's hair and gazed back at him fondly. 'You're still my favourite, Al.'

The pair of them carried on like they were for another beat before shifting their amused gazes over to the man who was now standing still above them, and staring.

'Really?' Julian muttered, eyebrows raised. He liked this — that Nora and Al loved each other, too. He was just better at hiding his mirth than they were.

'First in, best dressed.' Nora gave a cute shrug before hopping up off the couch, giving Julian a quick peck on the cheek on her way past. 'And you can't deny, he is the best dressed.'

'Thanks, baby!' Al shouted after Nora as she disappeared into the kitchen and then dissolved into a mess of laughter at the indignant look that had spread over Julian's face.

'What're you looking for, man?'

Jules had been tearing the apartment apart in search of something for the last hour. And Al had no idea what it was he was looking for. But if he had to guess, he'd say that whatever it was, Julian was probably more likely to find it at Nora's place than he was here, considering all the time he'd been spending there lately.

'Scarf,' Julian answered plainly, before shoving one arm unceremoniously behind a sofa cushion.

'You mean the one you gave Nora to wear the other morning?' Al rolled his eyes at the pleased little smirk that tugged at Julian's lips at the memory of his not-girlfriend wearing his clothes. 'Basically been livin' over there for the past month.'

They'd all been doing a very good job of ignoring the elephant in the room that was Julian and Nora's coupledom, and while Albert wasn't keen on being the one to potentially shatter the good thing they had going, he also felt like he needed to check that Julian and Nora had at least broached the topic of their impending separation, lest he be left to pick up the pieces of their broken hearts like he had been, last time.