palm trees on the beach

head over heels (alex & zach)

it started with a kiss. then two. then clothes became optional. then it was alex's first time and zach was a gentleman, putting the smaller boy's feelings first. but the romantic spark... died. and then, it just became sex.

meaningless sex. and it was worse when zach would drunkenly knock on alex's window. luckily, dempsey would pass out just before things got heated and would leave alex to take care of him. someone else would do the bare minimum, but they were a bad cliche. friends with benefits, and one falls for the other just as things got serious. but something shifted.

zach would come less frequently but when he did, he was also less... into it? it went from hanging out after school and breakfast at six in the morning in a local diner to half-hour booty calls. the anxiety of pushing zach away by making things weird is what held alex by the throat.

his mind swarmed with the idea of probably one of the only things keeping him together, being swiped away from him. and it would be ten times worse if it was his fault.

"standall? you alive over there?" alex shook his dark thoughts away with a quickness and looked towards justin, who had an arm around clay and the other in his lap. "he's probably just swooning about zach. aint that right, mrs. dempsey?" jessica joked as she walked in and sat next to alex. speaking of, he was getting shy about the topic and started to hide his blush behind his school binder.

"justin, can you get us all those brownies that alex likes?" she handed him her debit card and his eyes grew wider than humanly possible. he swiped it off the table and looked at it in awe. "if i behave, could i get a chocolate smoothie?" justin stood from his chair and pecked clay's cheek before he ran. "ill make sure he doesn't go crazy." clay awkwardly rose and followed his boyfriend to the line.

jessica stood and sat across from her friend. "so tell me what's up with zach." alex spit up the tea he was nursing and looked at jessica like she was crazy. "i don't know what you're talking about, jess." and then alex did that thing where he looked down and sorta hunched forward, indicating that he's lying.

"alex, im serious. you used to tell me all the time about your crush on him and then i was so excited when you guys started fooling around. can i ask what happened?" jessica had her hand extended on the table for alex. "i... i don't know," alex put both of his hands on her's, "he used to cuddle me all night and take me out for breakfast at the little red diner. i think he wants just sex at this point and maybe... i want more." alex had a tear going down "aw, alex. i think you should tell him."

"its not that easy. i know it's such a loser thing to do, but i feel like... wanted? not just sexually but... i just think its nice to have someone want to need me. and if he doesn't want what i want and finds out my feelings, then he could possible go away all together." standall closed his eyes like he felt an unhealthy amount of shame.

"i promise you that zach would never just ghost you like that. its almost infuriating how much you don't see it."

"it?" "he is fucking head over heels over you."

alex snorted. literally snorted. jessica rejoined her friend on their side of the table and rolled her eyes. "laugh it up, standall, but you having your walls up to him will deny you that." both alex and jessica looked at the long line in front of the counter. justin and clay were nearing the front of the line, the former obviously hungry for pda.

justin had his arm around his boyfriend's waist and kissed from his neck to his cheeks to his nose to his lips. clay just chuckled as he attempted to read the menu above them. justin stopped slobbering all over him and just stared in amazement. alex could just feel the love falling from justin to clay. he wished someone would look at him like that. he wished zach would look at him like that. "they went from rocking each other's shit to prison buddies, so its not crazy to hope that zach likes you back." she rubbed alex's back in a wish to pick him back up.