The Struggles Of Waiting ✔

SIXTEEN

2075

He woke up bleary-eyed on Saturday, grunting sleepily. He really did hate waking up. His back was sore once again from the lumpy mattress but after months of sleeping on it, he had gotten a little bit used to the ache.

He sat up, his gaze catching on the mostly fixed AgeFinder. He had a little bit more work to do, having found extra problems while he was working on it, but he would have it done in about an hour if he got moving now.

He didn't want to, but he forced himself to move from the bed. He groaned, rubbing at his eyes and hissing at the feeling of his feet against the cold floorboards. He'd been awake for five minutes and he was already hating the day that was to come.

That being said, he was going to get the chance to talk to Jaden for the first time since his big screw up. He hoped that the man had calmed down and thought about everything, hoped that he was going to be forgiven for being a gigantic idiot. There was a part of him that doubted it, but after what Jaden said last time they saw each other, he was sure it would all be okay.

He got moving quickly, changing into nice clean clothes and grabbing a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Isaac ignored him as he ate, on the phone to the waitress from the restaurant. He'd finally gotten to guts to ask her out, but he still wasn't sure if they were soulmates.

Isaac had taken the news of Alexander's lie pretty well in comparison to Jaden. He hadn't cared all that much, told him it didn't make much difference to their friendship and thanked him for telling the truth. Lucy and Amelia hadn't taken it quite so well, growing angrier than even Jaden.

Isaac was convinced that they would come around eventually, but Alexander wasn't so sure. Maybe once he talked to Jaden everything would be okay. First things first though, he needed to get the AgeFinder fixed.

It had been strange, working on the device, especially now that he was used to the newer versions. Over the years, they had changed the way it worked so that it used facial recognition instead of a body sample. The people seemed to prefer it that way and Alexander had enjoyed producing it.

It had taken him longer than he would have liked to remember just how he had built the first AgeFinder, but eventually, he had gotten there and fixing it had been a quick and enjoyable job. He just needed to get back to it. He ate his food quickly, rinsing out the bowl and making his way back to his room.

The AgeFinder was sitting on his desk, mostly in one piece. He'd had to replace a few of the parts to get it to work again, but so far it was turning on once again. He sat at the desk, working away in silence and keeping a close eye on the time. Jaden had shot him a quick text the before, telling him to meet him at one in the afternoon.

Hours passed by quickly with nearly no disturbance. Isaac came in at one point to tell him that he would drive him down, but that was all. He'd put every minute of his free time into fixing the device so that Jaden would be happy with him again. Part of him thought it stupid that he was focusing so much on getting the other man not to be so upset with him, but they'd grown so close over the last six months. Alexander didn't want to lose that like he'd lost everything else.

His mind took him back to Sarah and Philip, his mother and father, all long dead. Eventually Jaden would be the same, but he wanted to spend as much time with the man as possible. He couldn't do that if there was still anger lying about between them.

He leaned back in his seat, staring at the completely fixed AgeFinder. It took him back to his younger years, when he had first made the thing. He'd had to test it multiple times, on multiple people just to make sure it worked. He'd been so happy when it accurately displayed the ages, thinking that maybe it would help him. Turned out it only ever made things worse for him.