[15] Ezra: 'Delusional Còckblocker.'-1

Ezra Harland's PoV: It's been two weeks. Two whole weeks of desolate days and lonely nights. Actually, the first week hadn't been so bad. I'd pretty much kept an eye on the door the whole time during the day and laughed away with everyone and acted like nothing was out of place-although I suspect that along with my two best friends, Tatum-whom I'd gotten to know pretty well-had seen right through it as well, but hadn't mentioned anything out of respect for personal feelings or whatever. It'd been a pretty good distraction to get to know the Karas trio, the two best friends, and Angier's Mate, and after a particular incident when Tatum's parents had demanded that she either find a Mate or wait till she finds one before accepting her title, our mission to help her find a guy had been successful in taking my mind off of my own Mate. (Although, the said mission was unsuccessful. The guy we'd tried to set her up with was Louis Carson, a drama club acquaintance of Angier's-and our game plan had been to let Angier endlessly torture Tatum until she'd finally given in and entered into the auditions of Romeo & Juliet. Our hopes had been that she and Lou would be cast against each other as the romantic leads-but unfortunately, he ended up being cast as Mercutio and Angier freaking Wellington; the very guy whom we were trying to help Tatum get over, was cast as Romeo. I wondered that day if it was Fates conspiring and trying to tell us something.) Anyways, all those failed efforts and teasing had led to some pretty entertaining conversations during the days, and that had made me happy. But the nights. I have not been lucky enough to find someone or something to distract myself with for the nights. They've been the worst. It's been so quiet, and there's been nothing there to accompany me except my own thoughts. Sometimes I wondered if the reason why she's not bothered to even text, okay, we haven't officially exchanged numbers yet but it's not exactly that hard to find mine and neither was hers as she's an Alpha, and that's why I have it saved on my phone. I know, I could've tried and reached her by texting first, but I wanted to see just how long she could do this being-away thing without so much as a word. And the worst part of it all was that I had no clue why she was AWOL. After that first week of pretending, my lack of enthusiasm in the usual stuff started showing. It got so bad that I didn't even want to take part in the long game of Charades my friends are now playing. Surprising, right? I'd usually be at the center of things like these, having the time of my life taunting my opponents and rubbing my victory in their faces. Maybe it was good that I didn't play because it looks like Team Mordecai-Seneca and Micajah were losing against Team Karas; which consisted of Tatum and Angier. His Mate, Francesca, was in a slightly sour mood too-for Goddess knows what reason-and had decided to sit the game out like me. And the strangest thing was, I hadn't exchanged a single word with her-me, who can't keep my mouth shut even if I tried-the entire time except to discuss the scores since we were the unofficially appointed judges. This could either mean that I've finally lost my interest in life because of my heartless Mate, or that maybe that it was because of the girl's slightly unapproachable demeanor. I'm starting to think it's both, but still more me than her. "Um, Love Eight! Eight love?" Micajah cried loudly, jerking me out of my self-pity. I shake my head and sigh as I glance at the little note I'd made of Tatum and Angier's previous time, the time that Seneca and Micajah were supposed to beat in this sudden death last round of their hour-long game. Eighteen seconds. It'd taken Team Karas just eighteen freaking seconds to guess 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', and if Seneca and Micajah kept this up, they'll be losing for sure. "Okay, um, P.S. I love you? Crazy Stupid Love? Punch Drunk Love?" Micajah continues listing off all the movies he knows with the word love in the title as quickly as he can, and I roll my eyes to myself at the lame attempts. Even Seneca, the one doing the gestures, seems to be getting pissed off, but she keeps on gesturing for him to go on. "A Lot Like Love? Uh, what else with love? Oh, yeah! Eat Pray Love? Love Story? Lov-" "Time's up!" I holler obnoxiously as I stand up with a genuine grin finally to interrupt them, "And we have a winner!" I put my notepad down on the bench I'd been sitting beside everyone's bags and things, walking forward to the adjacent bench Tatum and Angier are sitting on to stand in-between as I pull their arms up with both hands my hands, "Team Karas!" "Yes!" Tatum and Angier chorus in that creepy twin-like thing they seem to often do-the two can literally read each other's minds, I'm telling you-standing up with huge grins as they bump fists and shake their elbows like chickens, continuing the same gloating victory dance they'd just done after finishing off their round perfectly. "What the hell was it?" Micajah grumbles exasperatedly as he throws his hands up and that makes Seneca growl in response, "Freaking 'Love Actually'! It has eight couples in it. That's why I was trying to say eight in the beginning." "Oh, man! I was just about to say it!" He grouses like a little boy, my Aleph big brother who sometimes has the maturity of a three-year-old, sighing in irritation as he stands up and turns his glower to the dancing duo who are still doing their stupid moves, "I'm telling you, these two definitely cheated." And then they get into it for about five minutes about whether or not they cheated, which ended with Tatum successfully guessing what Angier is thinking right at that moment-dirty thoughts about his Mate, as expected-and proving to my sore-loser best friend and brother that they were in fact, playing fairly. Such immature kids as Alphas. The world needs to improve. "Alright, fine! You win!" Seneca proclaims grudgingly as she shoots Tatum and Angier a playfully nasty look, pouting a little bit as she turns to my brother for a kiss. Okay, that's random, but do these Mated couples even need any excuse to make-out? I roll my eyes again and am about to mutter something and leave because the bell is about to ring, but just then I catch sight of a suddenly stricken looking Tatum, who looks like someone just punched her in the gut. I follow her line of sight and realize that Seneca and Micajah's make-out session had encouraged the other couple to start doing the same as well. I sigh to myself in quiet resignation, because if Angier's emotions for his Mate are anything close to the feelings any normally Mated couple would have, Tatum is gonna have to face a lot more of these kinds of public displays of affection.