New Beginnings

Chapter 35

The screen light glared into Alexander's eyes whilst unknowingly daydreaming. His eyes fixated on the flashing text cursor and they wouldn't stray away from it.  There was too much flying through his head that he lost sight of what was happening now. This had been happening for over three days, and nothing could break him out of this guilt and isolated self he had become. 

"Let's go to lunch, Marley!" April pulled the golden-haired man out of his seat — dragging him by the arm. 

The two lovers had barely spoken throughout those past days. Marley tried his hardest to get a conversation going with Alexander, but Alexander kept his mouth zipped closed and his eyes off Marley. 

The dark-haired man heard April's voice and soon after Marley's. He blinked for the first time after a couple of minutes, realising that his eyes had only been absorbed by the white glaring screen in front. Alexander directed his gaze to the time and saw that it was time to take a break. So, reluctantly he stood up from his swivel chair, and he sauntered to the staffroom which unfortunately for him would be filled with the people he was trying to avoid.

His brown eyes darted to the table Marley and his friends sat at. They all smiled during their conversation with a bit of laughter here and there. He switched his focus to one particular person in the group: Marley. His smile was bright and radiant as he laughed at something Henry had said. Alexander's eyes had more moisture in them than usual, so he turned his head and strolled to the coffee machine. 

The heart beat in Alexander's chest was abnormally fast as it raced with anxiety. He had his head down to try block out his surroundings as best as possible while he waited for his coffee to be done. Just a couple more minutes... Alexander exhaled through his nose.  

"Are you alright?" 

Alexander's eyes shot to the person beside him, but he felt a sense of ease when he saw it wasn't  a co-worker he knew. "Yeah."

The brunette had never taken notice of the woman beside him. Her hair was a light brown, she had bright blue eyes and a strong vanilla fragrance that you could smell metres away. "I'm not much of a coffee fan," she tried to make conversation, "I prefer tea."

"I see," Alexander was completely uninterested as he stared back at the grey countertop. 

The woman fixed her necklace as she turned to Alexander in an interested way, "So, are you like one of the mysterious types then?"

Alexander turned to face her also as his eyebrows furrowed, "'Mysterious type?'" he repeated with a slight snort.

"You know," she began with a playful smile, "someone who isolates themselves and pretends to not care for anyone."

The dark-haired man turned to face the coffee machine again, "Definitely not."

Someone watched the two from afar from the table he sat at with his friends. His blue eyes saw every movement — every facial expression his lover made. Alexander hadn't talked to him or his friends in days, but he smiled at some stranger that approached him less than five minutes ago. He tore his eyes away before he came to conclusions that he never wanted to think about, but the emptiness in his stomach remained. 

"Is he still 'jet-lagged?'" Carter saw the disappointed look on Marley's face from the opposite side of the table. 

Marley had no idea what to say. He felt his mind rushing with sentences, but his mouth couldn't form a single word. The red-haired man closed his mouth and released a small sigh, "He's ignoring me again. I don't know what to do."

Henry noticed their conversation, and he wanted to know what they were talking about.  "Alexander? You two are always bound by the hip."

"Not these past few days," Marley frowned as his eyes were fixated on the table.