My Only One

Alex's POV

I sighed, looking at my watch and checking the time. Mike should have been back by now with whatever groceries he had to pick up, but Jaime was coming over any minute so I shouldn't have been so impatient, but I was.

Checking the noodles I had boiling, I smiled at the thought of Mike coming in and making some cheap shot at me being 'so Italian it was unbelievable', then asking for me to make some tacos instead or something. With a small chuckle, I searched the cabinets for the certain spices I was looking for so dutifully that I almost missed the doorbell.

Almost.

I let out a small, content sigh as I strode over to the door, unlocking it and opening it to reveal a smiling Jaime, with a little less pep in his step than usual. I had figured as much, as it seemed I'd missed a lot in the passed few days, since I found out by Mike that Tony cheated on him.

"Hi, Alex." He dragged out my name childishly, doing a small dance move as he strode into the kitchen without another glance in my direction, avoiding my eyes. "Spaghetti, again? Oh, you shouldn't have! With that fake-ass soy meat? Oh my, it gets better."

"Shut the fuck up." Feigning irritation I tried elbowing him in the side, which ended up hitting his hip due to my shortness. He simply hummed, purposely dipping his finger in my sauce to annoy me as I swatted at him. "Jaime, go sit down."

Jaime pouted innocently, sitting on the bar table in front of the stove. "Whatever."

"So how'd the project presentation go?"

"It was alright." He answered blankly as I turned up the heat on the pan a bit, sauntering to the fridge. "Vic kept stuttering. He's got terrible stage fright, apparently."

I let out a small giggle, imagining Vic's discomfort of standing in front of a room of his piers, only for my smile to be wiped away at the thought of him, and feeling Jaime's uneasiness set in. Although my back was to him, I could practically hear him begin to frown. "Where's Mike and... Um, Vic?"

This was a question I really wasn't looking forward to answering.

"Well, Mike is picking up a few groceries and..." I stopped, chewing on my lip. "We- we don't know where Vic is. Mike said as soon as he got home he took off again, and he left his cellphone too."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Jaime replied softly, his eyes trained to the table as I turned around to raise a brow at him.

"Sorry?"

"Yeah. We got in a fight and I must have made him really upset."

"Oh god." Keeping my composure remained hard when I saw the look on Jaime's face to know Vic did something but he blames himself. "What happened?"

"...it's a long story."

"I've got time."

-

Mike's POV

Probably the last thing I thought I was going to see when I went inside my house was Alex pacing angrily back and forth as Jaime sat sheepish on the stool, letting her rant on. And since Alex was usually quite mellow, the sight half made me want to run for the door, but of course she saw me, and gave me that 'you'll never believe what I just heard' look.

I sighed, offering a small wave to Jaime because it was rather shocking to see him there, he was quite frankly the least of my priorities. Sitting the bags of groceries on the counter, I turned to my girlfriend and placed a kiss to her cheek, looking more exasperated than happy to be home.

It honestly wasn't because I didn't want to talk to her. No, it was because she looked pissed, and on account Jaime was here it was probably something Vic did, and no doubt she'd be pissed at him. I, though, was only worried for my brother. Extremely so.

"So," she spoke from behind me. "You'll never believe what I just heard-"

"Babe, can we talk about this later? No doubt Vic did something terrible to Jaime because he's an ass and as much as I'd love to hate him right now, he's god knows where and I'm worried to death. So please."

At this, Alex only looked guilty and nodded, earning an awkward cough from Jaime as he fixated his eyes to the ground. "I, um, I should go-"

"No." I stopped him before Alex could, shaking my head. If I was being honest, I felt really guilty for what I was doing to Jaime. We were like brothers, and I'd been rude to him because I didn't want to get close to him again, but that obviously wasn't working. I'd always have a soft spot for him. "Please, stay for dinner, alright? I need something to keep my mind off of him anyway. So if you wouldn't mind..."

"I-" Jaime shifted a bit, biting his lip and fighting back a smile, but to no avail. "I'd really really like that, thank you."