Behind Closed Hearts

Chapter 33

Sunday passed uneventfully and Aleks spent it brooding in his room, agonizing over the whole situation.

After James had left the day before, he had sent everyone home, not giving an explanation why he or Aleks were upset. He just needed some time to himself. So Dan and Joe went back to their hometown, although they demanded to get any updates on the situation.

Aleks had finished all of his homework, cleaned his room and organized it twice, and started on the bathroom before his adopted parents told him to go bed. He couldn't help it. Every thought about James ate at him.

Speaking of James, he hadn't heard anything from his brother since that Saturday. So when Monday rolled around, Aleks was in less than spectacular mood. He got onto the bus with heavy feet and dragged himself back to where he usually sat.

Jordan and James were there, as usual, but they were acting as if nothing had happened this weekend. Aleks wanted to punch something.

Flopping down beside James, he stared straight ahead and crossed his arms. Silence went over the two, since he was sitting awkwardly between them. Aleks waited.

"Aleks," his brother started.

Aleks turned and shot James the most evil glare he could manage. James' face paled. "You're an asshole," he started.

James smiled forcefully. "Are you sure we can't forget about all of this?"

Ignoring him, Aleks closed his eyes and tilted his head back against the seat. They sat in silence for a while.

Suddenly James prodded him. Aleks opened one eye to glare at him. "What?"

"I got a new phone. Lily gave it to me… Can you put your new number in… you know..just in case?" James said quietly, glancing over at Jordan, making sure he wasn't listening. He was too preoccupied with his own phone.

"Wait…" Aleks said, taking the phone. He looked at his brother sideways who in turn looked away, rubbing at his arms.

Aleks' eyes widened when he realized.

Did this mean James would call him if anything bad happened to him? He hoped so. Aleks put his number in immediately and passed it back to his brother.

"You'll call me, right?" Aleks asked quietly, leaning forward to get James to look at him.

James nodded slowly. "Yeah, Aleks."

Aleks let his shoulders slump in relief. "James, are you going to tell me who-?"

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "But if something does happen…"

"You'll call me?"

"Yeah."

And that was the end of that conversation. Aleks wasn't satisfied with his answer, not at all, but he was letting him in just a little and Aleks wasn't going to jeopardize that.

--

The week after that was a good one.

Monday had started out awkward with a weird tension between their group of friends.

But when James showed up after school, grinning about a test he aced, the tension suddenly subsided. The group pushed their problem aside in favor of an unstable peace.

James had even asked everyone for their numbers for his new phone, promising to keep it on him at all times. That put a sense of relief on all of them.

Soccer practice was better this week, since James and Aleks were making it all of the practices like they were supposed to. Together, the brothers were unstoppable, which frustrated Eddie to no end. They were even put into the game on Friday, much to their excitement.