VIRAL | JSCHLATT (stopped)

Fifteen

It's been a few hours since everybody had arrived and claimed the machine of which highscore they wanted to beat. The LED lighting really screamed the fact that we all were gamers, not to mention the abundance of highly saturated simple tee's and cargo shorts all around. All in all, I genuinely enjoyed my time, and for the majority of it, Phil was there to accompany me.

"You really can't seem to get it can you?" I crossed my arms with a smirk, watching the black-haired man struggle with the joystick and buttons a few inches beside me. He turned to me with furrowed brows as I laughed and pushed him over with my hips, "My turn."

"Uh, I think not," an American accent suddenly spoke, and I saw a man cough into his hand from my peripheral vision.

"Right, so, uh..I'll leave you to it," Phil awkwardly stumbles over his words, as well as his shoes, and smiles strangely before backing away into the depths of the arcade. I turned to Schlatt, who had a stupid, cowardly grin plastered on his face, as if he was plotting something, as he slowly strided towards me and took the free joystick. I had my hand beside his, ready to press the buttons next to the other controls, and right as I was about to put it away, he glided his arm over my shoulder and stood behind me, pressing his palm over the top of my hand, and onto the buttons. He gestured for me to grab the joystick, and so I did, and he took that hand as well.

"You're not playing this quite right," I heard his deep voice sound centimeters from my ear, as he got my finger to press play. I shivered and allowed myself to smile a little, and the game began.

////

Fuck. Him.

Charlie's scowl wouldn't leave his face the entire night. He watched Alexa and Schlatt gaming away on the machine, as he took another sip from his water bottle.

"How's it lookin', bud?" the boy heard Carson ask as he approached, putting his hand on Charlie's shoulder in the process. He didn't return the friendly smile, and instead was frowning at the direction of the pair.

"Ah, I see..I mean, I still think that there's a chance-"

"Shut up, Carson," Charlie barked, shutting up his friend. Carson's eyes widened as he pressed his lips together, clicking his tongue in response, as he took his palm off of Charlie's shoulder and looked in the other direction, awkwardly scouting for another place to be.

"Sorry, I-I didn't mean it-" as soon as the weight was lifted off Charlie's shoulder quite physically, it somehow landed him and his thoughts onto the ground, and he gained consciousness over his rudeness.

"No, no, it's fine, it's fine, I get it," Carson put up his hands in defense, shooting a pressed-lip smile - if you could call it a smile - towards Charlie and slowly backing away, much like Phil had prior.

Everyone had left him alone that night. That month, really. As soon as he realized his feelings for Alexa, it seemed like Grace was no more, so he broke it off without a second thought, thinking the latter girl would leap into his arms once he'd asked her out.

But now, it seemed like the only arms Alexa was leaping into were Schlatt's, after yet another win at such a stupid, easy fucking game.

////

The music blasted loud as I walked into the living room of the penthouse. It was much, much later on in the evening and after Paul advised the main group chat about the rented party location for the night, Schlatt and I decided to share a cab to get to the destination.

"Ever been to an afterparty?" Schlatt asked as the door to the two-floored apartment opened. I rolled my eyes with a smile, making him laugh as we went inside.

"I'm no toddler, Jschlatt."

The grin remained on both of our faces as we ventured towards the kitchen, choosing drinks and pouring them for each other. I smiled at many creators, already friends with the majority of the cast, and soon, Schaltt and I agreed to depart.

"I'll just be hanging around the kitchen," he informed me and leaned onto the side of the kitchen island, his elbow nearly slipping from the grey marble countertop. I burst into a laugh as his awkward chuckle turned into a proper booming one alongside me. As I regained my breath, thinking about why I found that so funny, I saw Schlatt breathing slowly, already calm, and looking right into my eyes.

A sense of peace and tranquility set upon my chest, as I gazed deeply into his eyes and allowed myself to take a step forward, inching my body towards his. The corners of his lips turned the slightest amount as I began to close my eyes and reach my face out towards his and before we could connect our lips-

"Hey, Alexa! Come dance!"

My eyelids flew open and I backed away from Schlatt. Coughing into my fist I stammered for words, him also being caught off guard by the interruption, and looked frantically all around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with the man in front of me as much as possible.

"I owe him one," I mumble out quickly before speed-walking towards the dance floor, from which Charlie called out my name.

////

"You know, this isn't so bad after all," Charlie slurred as we bumped our bodies along to the beat. I nodded, knowing he was talking about the movie idea, and continued to dance. I could spot many people vlogging and taking pictures and videos for their Instagram, so I made sure to smile each second I was on the dance floor. Charlie was highly drunk, and I made sure to point that out to him and asked him to be careful, and in response he simply nodded and laughed, continuing his moves from before.

I looked to the boy, who was nearly tripping over his own feet and swinging his arms out, a red solo cup in his hands, and decided to finally take on the role of the care-taker for the evening and get the boy to stop drinking.

"What's gotten into you this evening?" I asked, mostly mumbling to myself as I got him to put down his arms and focus on me. I held his wrists as he smiled lazily and swayed his head, not being able to do much as his body was now in my control, but once he realized that my smile had faded, his did as well. He stared at me for a moment, his eyes wide and mouth open, like a puppy staring at an aquarium, and before I could say anything more than what I have, suddenly, his lips collided with mine.

Immediately, I took hold of Charlie's shoulders and pushed him off, wiping my mouth and exclaiming. He stumbled back in shock and furrowed his brows at my reaction, his lips pressed tight in a scowl.

"Charlie, what the fuck?!"

A few heads turned our way and gasped as they realized what the situation was, and others were already watching. He tried to lean forwards again but before I could let anything happen, I pushed his shoulder harshly to the side and with sweat building up on my forehead I walked speedily towards the kitchen in hopes of confining my surprise and distaste for the situation with Schlatt. It may not have been the best idea to share it with him, but he was all I got.

As I walked in, I spotted Madi and the tall brunette already talking, smiling amongst themselves as he sipped on his drink. I stepped in front of them as they turned their heads to me, and I could immediately tell that Schlatt was completely out of it. I looked at Madi instead, who noticed my concerned and worried state and hence copied my facial expression, widening her eyes.

"Alexa..what's wrong?" She cautiously leaned towards me, shouting over the music.

"Charlie.." I gulped, wiping my sweaty hands on my skirt. "Charlie kissed me."