James

Chapter 6

Laughter.

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Aleks' POV:

I had so much fun doing the skit with the guys but towards the end a strange coldness from within slowly spread throughout my core. An aching loneliness even though I was with my closest friends. And the further we descended up the stairs - the worse it got. I fell silent and unresponsive to their jokes and mindless chatter whilst my mind explored my thoughts for an answer.

As well as tripping up the top step, I wanted to hit myself in the head when I realized what it was.

I miss James.

Of course I do, despite being 22 years old, I can't go 10 minutes without him and that's just part of the reason the night's are so hard. To be fair, I'm surprised it took me so long to start feeling this way, never mind the amount of time it took me to realize what it was. I mean, we must've been shooting for at least 45 minutes.

I smiled despite myself, a new feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. Something I definitely  wasn't used to. Pride.

Jordan nudged me and I looked up to the taller man, who also had a smile on his face, and I nudged him back. He chuckled and a couple of seconds later we were back in the office lounge.

"I'm gonna go find James." I said quietly and two of the three nodded, going about their own business as I made my way down the narrow halls to James' office. Stopping at the door, I listened and heard him speaking.

He must be skyping Kevin.

I knocked, bouncing slightly on the spot, quite eager to say hi to my friend. The one that makes us a trio. Or so I've heard the fans call us on a number of occasions - 'The (extreme) meme team.'

"Come in." A muffled voice yelled from behind the door and I frowned as it didn't sound like James'.

Even so, I pulled down the handle, pushed the door open and stepped inside. All anxiety melted as quickly as it rose when I saw a laughing Kevin on the bearded man's monitor.

"Kevin, you fucking asshole." James growled at his webcam but it didn't falter the other's laughter in the slightest.

"Hey, Kevin." I said with a shy smile, shuffling my way further into the dimly lit room.

"Hey there, Aleksandr." He replied with a his smooth yet deep voice, though it was mixed with his stupid flirtatious tone.

"Hey! No flirtin' with my boyfriend." James yelled with a grin, causing me to stiffen and my skin to heat up despite my knowledge that this is just banter.

"My sincerest apologies, Sir."

His perfect giggle echoed throughout the small room before he turned to me, his chair already swivelled to point halfway between his computer setup and me.

"So what can I do you for, Aleks?"

I concentrated on his adorable smile, my eyes taking in all of the features that I had missed for the past hour or so.

"Uh, I...I just wanted to hang out with you, I guess."

My hands hung awkwardly by my sides so I shoved them into my jeans pockets, my eyes now falling from his face to the ground so he wouldn't be met with my pathetic turn of attitude.

"Sweet, pull up a chair and talk to this scrub with me. It's been a while."

"Wow, rude."

James just smirked at the monitor for a second before turning back to an over excited me.

"Sure! I'll be right back."

~

James' laugh boomed in the most delicate of loud noises, kevin's breathless laughter coming from the mic and my own quietly hidden by the sleeve of my burgundy hoodie.

We had finished catching up, it was arranged that while the youngest of us three waited on his things to be delivered (which still had a few days to be packed) and he decided on where he was going to live, he would stay with me and James. I'm anxious and excited. Worried for James, having selfish thoughts of missing out on opportunities to have those rare moments of intimacy, and excited that the three of us could hang out non stop for however long it was going to be. I'm trying my best to push aside those selfish thoughts with the notion that Kevin's presence would defuse the seemingly constant tension between me and my roommate but it's unnecessary at the moment as my thoughts washed away by our three-way conversation.

Now we're reminiscing, joking about and denying the stupid things we did in old letsplays or what we said last time Kevin visited. The smile never leaving my face - switching from a grin, smirk or to a laugh are the only options and I certainly am not displeased by this. But in the midst of our laughter, a loud knock on the door overpowers the ruckus we're making before a red capped man steps into the room which is only slightly illuminated by the white screen of skype.

"Guys?"

Me and James spin in our chairs to face him and I don't know about the other but I'm having to repeatedly blink hard for our boss to come into view. The three of us have quietened down to just Kevin's snickers, Jordan seeming content that he now has our attention.

"It's 11pm and I'm the last one about to head out, I was just coming in to ask if you've sorted Kevin's arrangements out?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it." The man sat next to me answers as I stare in disbelief, checking the time in the corner of the screen to see if he's right.

"I'm all set, bossman." came the deep voice from James' computer, causing all three of us to giggle quietly.

"Whatever, Kevin, you scrub. Right I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Bye, Hordan."

"Night, Koots."

"Wow, is it call-Kevin-a-scrub-day?"

Jordan gave a stupid evil chuckle as he pulled the office door closed, me and James chuckling at the other's complaint.

"Well, I guess me and Aleks should get going. I know Ein is gonna be waiting at the door for us when we get in. Night, Kevin. Don't leave your packing till last minute."

"Goodnight, lovebirds." He answers with a smirk and James rolls his eyes before ending the call.

I stand up and immediately clasp onto the desk with one hand, the shoulder beside me with the other as my head swirls and my vision fuzzes.

"Aleks?" A worried voice wraps around me and echoes throughout my mind.

The last thing I felt was a hand gripping onto the wrist that held James.

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A/N: Surrounding yourself with positivity will only affect you positively.