you. | sean lew

chapter twenty-two

march fifteen ; day twenty-nine

one day. sean had one day left of the thirty james threatened him with.

oddly enough, he hadn't seen james in a week - he was even absent from school. sean took that as a sign that he didn't need to worry about any of that, but in the back of his mind the uneasiness remained.

it was eight in the morning, and there was still enough time for james to magically appear and remind sean of what he had to do.

sean stares at his computer screen showing him a massive compilation of all the recording he's amassed over the past two weeks.

from their first date to midnight phone calls to her complaints about their terrible boss. it was all there.

he bit his lip, thinking all of this would be over soon. and he hoped. he hoped that it would end miraculously in his favor, but the odds always seemed to be pitted against him.

that became even more evident as his sister sarah came into his room saying someone was at the door looking for him.

"who is it?" he asks.

"one of your friends," sarah responds.

"james," he mumbles under his breath. "i'll be down in a minute."

he quickly puts on a hoodie, being that he was shirtless just a few minutes ago, and goes downstairs. he opens to door to find josh.

"oh, uh, hey," sean says as he closes the door behind him. "i thought you'd be someone else."

"like who?" josh raises an eyebrow. "julian?"

"no," sean shakes his head. "just someone i did not want to see."

"alright," josh begins. "look i've been meaning to tell you something. i tried telling you at lexee's party weeks ago, but i never had the chance."

"sounds serious," sean takes a seat on the steps leading to his front door. "you can tell me anything, man."

"it's about julian and james-"

"james!" sean cuts josh off.

"yeah, james, i know it sounds crazy but -"

"no, james' car is over there!" sean panics, pointing over to a black jeep in the distance.

"fuck, is he coming over here?" josh stands up.

"i think so," sean replies.

"i have to go then," josh starts to walk away. "i'll tell you another time, when he isn't around."

before sean can stop him, josh gets into his car and drives off.

and soon enough, james parks his car in front of sean's house.

"haven't seen you in a while," sean mutters in an annoyed tone.

"not happy to see me?" james greets.

"what do you even get out of this plan, anyways?" sean rolls his eyes.

"you'll see," james smirks.

"here." sean hands over the device over to james, placing it in the palms of his hands.

"that's it. all of it." sean says. "so, can i go now?"

james grins as he plays with the device in his hands, "there's still one day left."

"yeah, one day," sean replies. "not much you can do in one day."