MELODY

MELODY 34

┏ 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚞𝚕𝚝 ┐

Adam didn't show up to campus the next day. Bryan had been trying to reach him since he  noon and his friend hadn't said a single word to him. And that was odd. As he exited his lecture hall, he huffed a breath when his call for the umpteenth time went into unanswered. Adjusting his shoulder bag, he stood just outside of the hall as he contemplated on what his next move would be.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he opened the messaging app and noted that Adam hadn't even seen his latest message. Worry bubbled within him, stuck on what to do. Despite how hard he crashed after drinking, Adam always made sure to send him a text at least before he slept. Mainly because he lived alone and Bryan had always found it at ease to know his friend was safe at least.

Did Adam forget?

Was he worrying too much and this was just nothing?

Slightly annoyed, he shoved his phone into his hoodie pockets as he walked to the headquarter's building. When he reached the office, he paused when he noted that the vice president's small room was lit up. Frowning, he moved to that door, looking through the small glass cutout, freezing when he saw Sasha.

He hadn't seen or talked to her properly since the fallout between Adam and her. He knocked on the door, catching her eyes from the window. She smiled before she gestured him to come inside.

Shuffling into the room, he grabbed his shoulder bag and tightened his grip on it, eyeing her with a wary look before tossing her a smile.

"Haven't properly spoken to you in a while," Sasha said, her voice soft as it had always been.

"Well," Bryan said, shrugging. "Meetings aren't consistent anymore."

It used to be every Thursdays, after six in the evening and well into the night in some cases. And if there was a need for additional meetings, they would have them. It kept the team running and everyone happy, and there wasn't any setback to solve. But now... With Adam cancelling meetings faster than he could blink and then asking for a meet up later at the week coupled with Sasha often coming by when she could, as if Adam planned for the meetings to clash with her schedule— it was a mess.

Even Raj, who had been angry at Adam for a while after that outburst the other day, had cornered Bryan just sometime this week to question about the erratic, unpredictable timing of their meetings.

"Right," Sasha said, her smile grew stiff. "I suppose the nearer we get to the festival, the less time we have for meetings. Which reminds me, we do have one final checking to do with the student body council to make sure we still have the green light. And then, we're good to go."

"Understood," Bryan said, noting in his head to go see them later this week.

He searched Sasha's face, a little awkward as he stood there. A part of him wanted to ask if she was fine, especially the dejected look on her face the longer he didn't speak.

At last, she sighed. "You must think of me badly too, then, I presume?"

Bryan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You're close friends with Adam, aren't you?" Sasha's gaze pierced right through him. "You must've heard about our..."

"Fallout?" Bryan said, earning a nod. "Yeah. Though, rest assured, I don't have any opinion on this. Not really." He didn't think he had any right to form an opinion.

"How's Adam?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her desk.

"Fine," Bryan said, short and sweet. Though, he didn't know if he was still fine from his silence. "He's fine so far."