Just Acting /Jaylos

He's drowning and that's ok

If you were to ask Mal and Evie, everything was back to normal, but it was weird. Realistically, everything shouldn't have been back to normal in a five-day time span. If you asked Jay, though, he would say everything was back to normal and it was great. Things couldn't be going better. And this is what has Mal and Evie confused.

"I just thought Jay would be more upset about Carlos already dating someone. I mean it was super out of left field and Carlos has yet to tell us literally anything about it." Evie said as she flipped through fabric samples.

Mal agreed but she didn't really want to talk about it. It wasn't their business and it was drama that she was over and done with. It had exhausted her endlessly and she thought it had finally been over. Evie, bless her soul, clearly did not want that to happen.

"Evie," Mal spoke calmly. "I'm over it. Carlos will tell us when he's ready and if Jay's happy, then let him be happy. Can we go back to the old days when me and you would have conversations that didn't revolve completely around Jay and Carlos?" Okay, maybe her calm demeanor was cracking a little bit. She could only be patient for so long.

Evie frowned. Her fabric samples were long forgotten as she turned to give Mal her full attention. She hadn't realized this whole thing had Mal so upset. Even if Mal didn't completely come out and say it, it was easy to see now. "I'm sorry." Evie squeezed Mal's hand to reiterate how sorry she was. "I don't mean to talk about them all the time, I just worry. You know? I'm sorry." She paused, thinking. "For the rest of the day why don't we just spend it having fun? We can bake, you could help me design a little bit?"

Mal sat there, clearly prolonging her answer to make Evie worry. Evie had known Mal long enough now that it couldn't fool her. After several seconds Mal grudgingly got of her seat and agreed as if it pained her, "I guess that sounds fun."

Evie smiled. "Yay!"

And that was settled for the two friends. They would not be dealing with Jay and Carlos' drama for the whole day. Maybe the whole week. As of then, the boys were on their own. Mal was completely, most definitely, fine with this. Because while Jay and Carlos were more than likely walking around like chickens with their heads cut off, Mal and Evie would be relaxing.

If you told Jay that he was walking around like a chicken with his head cut off, he would say you are wrong. He was level headed and confident for the first time in weeks. Underneath it all he knew that Carlos moving on so fast should bother him. Maybe if he wasn't so exhausted from being bothered these past few weeks, he would be upset at Carlos. But, Carlos was happy, his other friends were happy, so damn it, Jay was going to be happy too.

Oddly, Aziz never came up in conversation later that night when they first saw them kiss. Carlos had arrived back to their room relatively late. Carlos asked how his day was, said goodnight and that was that. Jay figured he would mention it later. In the grand scheme of things, he supposed it really didn't matter all that much, anyways.

School was school. There was a sense of normalcy and Jay was thankful for it. It felt like a much needed break from everything. He spent his time focusing on retaining things he learned in school and getting better grades. He had to focus on his future, now.

Jay had just gotten to school when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Carlos approaching, a smile on his face.

"Jay! I was looking for you."

"You found me!" Jay slightly moved back from the center of the hallway, making his way towards a wall so they wouldn't be in other people's way. He hated people who stopped to have a conversation smack dab in the center of a hallway.