Ctrl + Alt + Dalt (BxB)

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"Honestly, I didn't think you'd even make this trip at all," Jordan says, sipping from his cup as I do the same from mine. Edmund raises a questioning brow, prompting Jordan to explain, "your channel's huge. I'm not sure why you're bothering to deal with someone who's just basically started, especially half a world away from where you live."

"Ah, but that all means very little—I saw the spark of your burgeoning genius, so I went chasing after it. How could I not?" Edmund smiles with all the charm and warmth in the world, his icy gaze centering on me, but even all that cannot stop the loneliness lurking within the pit of my chest from tearing its way to my surface.

"When do you leave?" I ask, swallowing the lump in my throat, swallowing the fear of losing yet another friend and just as soon as I thought I had the chance to make a new one out of him. The side of Edmund's cheeks tense ever so slightly and he appears hesitant to answer as he perhaps regards my sadness, however much I try to hide it.

"Two days from now," Jordan answers for him. Edmund and I never break eye contact with each other even as Jordan continues, "Monday night."

"How about that photo?" Edmund finally asks after seemingly an eternity of silence with me lost in his ice crevasses.

I want to ask him what the rest of his plans will be for the last, full day that he's here, and to ask if we can hang out for every last minute that he has left until he has to board his flight, but I stop myself. I'm not desperate. Or, at least, I don't want to appear so, even if that's my reality that I try to hide. Unable to speak the words that I want to say, I simply nod.

Edmund motions towards the balcony window overlooking the ocean and we line up against the glass. He snaps the photo just as we all smile, although mine is more of a trained reflex rather than one of genuine happiness. He checks the photo and shows it to us. Although it hadn't been planned, I find it fitting that I'm the one in the middle, one friend that I've only just reunited with to one side, and another that I'm soon to never see again on the other.

~ ~ ~

Keeping to our previously established plans, we go out to dinner as a sort of celebration for their collaboration, but for me, it's nothing more than a depressing bon voyage to Edmund. Upon my suggestion, we find ourselves sitting at a table within one of my favorite Indian restaurants. Jordan orders the Saag, Edmund orders the Chicken Tikka Massala, and I order my usual lamb curry along with a heap of naan to go around.

The food arrives quickly, as usual, and the portions are enormous enough to share, as intended. We dig in as the two discuss everything that's YouTube related, while I zone out, wallowing in my silent misery. As soon as Edmund leaves, I'll be back to where I started—back to having only a single friend—my social life still dangling precariously by a single thread of a lifeline.

"Here's a question," Jordan says, snapping his finger with a smirk, snapping me back into the restaurant. He looks at Edmund, as he asks, "why is Dalt wearing one of your outfits?"

"How do you know it's not one of his own?" Edmund asks, scanning me up and down. Did he just use that as an excuse to check me out? The heat rises to my cheeks. If ever there was a time not to make me blush, now would've been it. Jordan glances sideways towards me, but returns his attention to Edmund. Edmund smirks as he adds, "I think he looks quite smart in that. He has impeccable taste."

"I follow you on Instagram, you know. I could pull up the exact post with you wearing that, but why bother? Since, Dalt's blush says it all," Jordan says, then he pauses as his head pans slowly towards me, his mouth falling agape. His eyes widen, staring at me as he adds, "you slept with him."