He's often caught jumping at Felix's calls, or answering his text messages a second after receiving them, dropping whatever he's in the middle of doing to give Felix his full attention. Around Felix, Jack acts before he thinks and he's left unguarded and vulnerable. And Felix is, well, very responsive. He makes Jack feel cared for and attended to. He is more than grateful to be his friend, but that was never enough for Jack's insatiable heart.
They lived far from each other, so Skype calls and texts were recurrent. They spoke of everything and nothing. The late night calls that end up with one of them falling asleep on the other and the random mid-day texts were pretty common parts of their relationship. So when Jack began dating again, all contact with Felix decreased greatly, and his friend, of course, noticed.
"Hey, Jack. Why don't you and Signe come visit us this weekend?" suggested Felix at random during a Skype call, the first they've had in weeks.
Jack, who was just done creating a thumbnail on Photoshop for his newest video, confusingly clicked on the wrong button, throwing his hour and a half of progress out of the window.
"Oh, fuck me!" He snapped.
"I didn't know that was an option but I guess I could always try" Felix joked, dragging Jack's mind to the gutter with the sexual innuendo. "What stupid shit did you do this time?"
"I just lost an hour of unsaved progress and I hate my life," Jack sighed loudly, throwing himself back in his chair, deciding to take a break for the night.
"I'd punch myself if I did that" Felix replied, entertained by his friend's misfortune.
"I'm not punching myself for your own amusement, Felix" Jack stated in a clear voice, which was a lie. Jack would do about anything to get Felix's attention and approval. Jack's hand reached for his mouse and he began scrolling down Felix's Twitter news feed in the meantime.
He could hear Felix's tired laugh through his headphones. It was almost three in the morning and they both refused to go to bed. 'Sleep is for the week' Felix reminded him each time he complained about being tired.
"So, you and Signe and a weekend at our place. What'd you say?" Felix picked up after a short silence.
"Sure" Jack replied more calmly now that he processed the question over the past few minutes. "I mean I'll have to ask Signe first but I think she might be free."
"Great, then it's settled!" Felix concluded in high spirit, Jack could almost see him grinning widely behind his desktop screen. It made his heart flutter.
"All right, I give up, I'm going to bed" Felix said near the end, dragging out a yawn. "Talk to you tomorrow?"
"I'll text you" Jack assured. "Good night, Felix."
"Night, Jack."
After Jack ended the call, turned down his computer and got into his bed, he couldn't fall asleep. His mind was restless, and it was constantly playing the limitless scenarios that could possibly take place during the weekend. Perhaps even some that could never possibly happen, but Jack allowed himself the occasional fantasy. After all, what's the harm in that?