Wide awake

Chapter 3

Alex got home and laid down on his bed. His heart was racing and he couldn't stop thinking.  Luke had to have feelings for him, right? Why else would he hold his hand. He shook his head. But Luke was straight? Nothing was making sense. He sighed and took off his black hat.

A knock sounded at his door. "Come in." Alex's older sister Annie walked in and plumped onto his bed. "I'm bored." Alex laughed. "Annie, you're 18. Why are you coming to your 16 year old little brother because you're bored?" Annie looked down at her fingers, fidgeting. "Well....dad and mom are kind of pissed at me right now. I told them I didn't want to go to the little Christian college they picked out for me."

Alex was shocked. Annie had always been the perfect religious daughter. She went to church every Sunday, prayed three times a day, listened to worship music, was in multiple Christian clubs, and she even owned a diamond cross necklace. Her parents were always proud of her. She was the perfect child that Alex was never going to be. Sure, Alex went to church, but he only prayed at dinner. He didn't necessarily understand why everyone was so big on the religion. His parents pushed him to be more like his sister, but they knew he was nothing like her. Oh, and the fact that he was gay and that went against everything his parents stood for kind of made him hate it.

"Why don't you want to go? I thought going to a religious college was your dream?" Annie took a deep breath. "I guess it was at first. Now I'm not sure. I feel like all my life I've been mom and dads perfect little Christian girl. But the truth is, I don't think I've ever done it for me. I do everything to impress them, to win their favor. Now that I'm older, I just don't see the point in pretending anymore." Alex nodded. He understood exactly what she meant. He was tired of pretending too. Tired of pretending to be someone he wasn't.

Alex took her hand. "I get that Ann. I'm sure they'll come around eventually. I mean it's not like they're gonna kick you out. You're a legal adult, you get to choose where you want to go. I say just choose where your heart wants to take you." Annie smiled. "Thanks Alex, that means a lot to me." She gave his hand a squeeze and then got up to leave. Alex had to tell someone. He was done pretending. "Wait Ann...I have to tell you something. I think I'm.....I'm...I think I like-" Annie cut him off. "Dudes? Yeah I know. Kind of super obvious." She laughed and went to open the door. "No straight man is that good at giving advice." She left and shut the door behind her.

Back at Luke's house, he was once again arguing with his mom. "Luke, you can't keep doing this. You can't just leave for two days without letting us know. You're grounded. Hand me your guitar."

Lukes mom could ground him, make him clean the whole house, but nothing was going to make Luke give up his guitar. "No mom, I'm not going to. I'm tired of this, why do you even care that I enjoy playing it so much?" Emily rubbed her temples. "Luke, we've been over this a million times. This band isn't going to get you anywhere in life. You need to go to college, get a job-" Luke raised his voice. "Mom, this is my job! This band is my commitment. I cant just leave it! Why can't you realize that this is my dream? Wait for us to get big. I promise you'll see us on billboards." With that, he stormed out. He grabbed his bike and sped off. He could hear Emily yelling at him to come back, but he didn't care. He needed to get away.

Of course, it started to rain. It was freezing, and all he had on was jeans and a tank top. He was gonna get sick if he was out there any longer. Luckily, Bobby's garage was only a mile away from his house. He stepped off his bike and opened up the doors. He went straight to his song book to jot some lyrics down. When Luke was sad, frustrated, jealous, happy, any emotion really, he would write. It was something that always came naturally to him.