"Hold up guys," Delirious yells into the chat. "Cartoonz is calling me."
And sets his controller down to pick up his phone, spinning in circles in his chair, legs kicking as he unlocks the screen.
He can hear his friends voices from the computer behind him, yelling as he was the one driving the car in GTA and now everybody is screaming and bailing out as the car goes flying off a cliff.
Delirious watches and giggles, then answers the phone. "Hello?"
Luke is out of breath, as if he had been running, and Jonathan can hear him pacing back and forth through the call. "Finally! It's about damn time Jon! I've been worried sick."
Delirious has a sinking feeling rolling down his back and stops spinning, dropping his feet to the floor with so heavy a sound the chat goes silent for a moment. He scrambles for the mouse, trying to mute the Skype call. He knows what this is about.
"Jon." Luke has stopped pacing and must have the phone closer to his face because he is much louder now and his deep heavy breaths come through much clearer. "Are you alright?"
"Delirious?" Evan softly asks, not wanting to interrupt.
The same blip shows on all of their screens as Delirious exits the chat.
He leans back in his chair, the leather creaking under his words as he tells Cartoonz, "I'm fine. I was just playing a game with the guys." He thinks of asking Luke to join, but knows in his gut that would be bad. Luke sounds too concerned right now to not say something and he'd rather no one know what was going on.
"You're –" Luke just sighs. "Jon, tell me the truth. How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine, man. I swear." Watching his friends move in GTA, his character still standing there.
Luke wants to believe him. "I know you're a big boy now and all that shit, Jon. But I just heard about it. Your mom and your sister.."
"Died." Jonathan finishes, softly.
"Did they find out who caused the accident?" Luke wonders, his words searching.
"I.." Jonathan leans forward, resting his head in his hands. "No. I don't know. I don't really want to talk about this now, ok?"
"Sure, sure." Luke's voice is warm. "I'm just concerned, alright? You know you can talk to me any time right?"
"Yeah," Jonathan whispers. "I know."
There is silence on the other end as Jonathan just sits there, hunched over, holding the phone to his ear and waiting.
"But.." Luke thinks, not wanting to leave and not wanting to push all in the same moment. "But you're in a game right now?"
"Yeah." Jonathan breathes. "GTA."
"You're.. getting good footage?"
Jonathan nods. Then remembers to speak. "Yeah.. We–" His voice hitches involuntarily. He clears his throat and finishes, a tad rough. "We were testing out a glitch and I was driving." There is more but, he can't continue.
"Okay." Luke says gently. "Go back to your game Jon. I'll be home soon."
"Don't," Jonathan pleads. "Don't abandon your con for me. You need this for your channel. You need the interviews."
"I need you!" Luke shouts into Jon's ear, making him flinch. "I don't give a goddamn about any of this shit if you're not around!"
"I'll be fine!" Jon cries out. "You said it yourself, I'm grown now. I can handle this on my own. Even if it's just for a few days. Please. Please Luke, don't give it all up just for me."
Luke is breathing heavy and fast, but listens.
"It's just for a few more days anyways, right? I'll be fine. I promise." Jon bites his lip, leaning against the phone cradled to his ear as if he was leaning on Luke himself.
"And besides," he tries one last tactic. "I've got the guys too, if.. Anything. If I.."
Luke mutters something too low for Jon to fully catch. Then audibly gives in. "Alright Jon. I'll stay. But you.. Take care of yourself okay? And call me, please."
Jonathan smiles. "I will. I promise."
"Good." Luke's voice is warm. "Now go back to your game. I'll see you.."
"Later," Jonathan finishes. And hangs up.
He stares at the computer screen. His character still just standing there, and he feels something itch on his cheek. He lifts a hand to brush at the sensation and his arm comes down wet.
Tears. He's crying.
Delirious forces a smile, and dries his face in his shirt. Rubbing the fabric against his eyes harder than he should, but the physical pain helps smother the emotions.
He reconnects to Skype, and tries to slow down his breathing.
"Hey guys!" Delirious calls out, as if he had never left.
"Delirious!" Come a multitude of joyous cries. One in particular asking over a sharp 'Evan', "Hey, you alright man? You left kind of fast there."
Nothing. Everyone is holding their breath and waiting for Delirious to say–
"I had bad gas," And laugh a little. Marcel cracking up over Delirious' continued "I didn't think you wanted to hear that, sorry."
Evan chuckles, and asks, "What about Luke? He seemed kind of concerned. Is everything alright?"
"Evan!" Nogla yells. "I'm pretty sure that was a private conversation. If he wanted us to know he'd let us. We don't need to be butting in."
"Besides," Marcel adds. "You don't need to worry about Delirious. He's a tough little bitch."
"Gee thanks guys," the man in question laughs.
"No, but seriously," Marcel finishes.
Evan has to know. "Everything is okay then?"
"Yeah," Delirious agrees. "Luke just called to check up on me. I got bad food poisoning from this restaurant nearby. I'll be fine. Don't worry."
"We'll boycott it," Evan grins.
"Alright!" Nogla shouts. "That's enough of that! Let's get back to doing this stunt."
All his friends characters start running away from him to the freshly spawned vehicle in the game, and Delirious takes a moment to wipe again at the still falling tears with his shirt before joining them.
His face hurts, but still he holds the smile. Trying to mean it.