CHOOSE ME!

Part 24

Charlie's pov
Me and Alex were made to carry the plates of food to the table whilst my mum screamed at the top of her lungs for everyone to come down for dinner. My dad dawdled in from the living room but there was no reply from my brother. "

"He's probably got those things in his ears again," my dad started as we all sat down. "Cotton buds?" Alex asked confused, "no you stupid boy, the music things, you know, the ones that deafen you," he said clicking his fingers. Alex looked taken aback by him but he knew he didn't mean it, "AirPods?" he suggested once again.

My dad clapped shouted, "yes those things! I wish my other boys were more like you, they just leave me guessing like an idiot," he said giving a death glare at me. Alex laughed at him, "because you never make it obvious what your talking about," I argued jokingly with him, my dad made a mocking face and I decided to text Jack. He was down in a matter of seconds and pushed passed mum who was standing impatiently at the bottom of the stairs.

Once we were all sat around the table Alex started to eat but my mum whacked his hand and held it out for him to hold. He looked around confused as we all reluctantly held eachothers hands. He had a big piece of chicken in his mouth which he didn't seem to be chewing and we waited for the prayer and we all tuck into our food quickly.

"You really all are pigs," my mum stated as she always did, we were all enjoying our food until she asked Alex, "so what are your parents like Alex? Are they accepting of you?" this made him nearly choke on a potato and he went silent for a while. Everyone looked at him waiting for the answer. I put my hand on his thigh and I could feel he was tensed up, "it's complicated," he managed to say after a long time of thinking.

"And why's that?" my mum asked taking an innocent sip of water, "well, ermmm, my parents are divorced and I don't see my dad very often," he said, why didn't he just tell them? She kept asking questions and I could feel he was getting irritated. His face went red and he kept on taking sips of his water. "Alright fine, my mum fucked off when I was young and my dad was an abusive bastard who was put in jail a few months ago for nearly killing me!" he shouted. He doesn't normally swear and he's always calm when talking about his family so something had really triggered him badly this time.

Everyone went quiet and stopped eating to stare at Alex confused, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know," my dad said on behalf of my mum as she stared at him, her eyes filling up a little. She then rushed over to him and hugged him tightly, "well you're welcome here anytime," she whispered in his ear before waking away. She sat down and stared at me, "Charlie get your hand off his thigh," she practically growled. I quickly took my hand off and made the sad silence fill with laughter and we all went back to normal again.

We finished dinner and when we were excused me and Alex went back to my room, "no funny business you two, although I think you had enough last night by the way your walking," my mum shouted up the stairs. Alex's face went red with embarrassment, "no promises," I said with a smirk and we carried on walking up the stairs, well I walked, Alex ran like the flash to my room.

I heard my bed squeak as he jumped on it, I joined him and he immediately cuddled between my legs, playing with my fingers. "Sorry for ruining dinner," he said sadly, I turned his face to look up at me, "you didn't ruin anything, don't ever apologise for telling someone about your family again, please," I said to him and kissed his forehead when he put his head back down.

"Sorry am I interrupting something," Jack said sarcastically as he bounded into my room. I felt Alex try to move but I kept him down by pressing my hand lightly on his chest, "what do you want Jack?" I asked impatiently, "just wondering if you have anything to eat," he said whilst rubbing his tummy. "You know where to look," I replied and watched him cautiously as he went through my secret snack stash to find something he wanted.

"You didn't take your glasses with you when you moved?" he asked sounding slightly concerned, I buried my head in Alex's hair embarrassed, "I've already seen them," Alex spoke up holding onto my wrists. "How can you see without them? You're practically blind," my brother mocked. "I've got contacts you idiot and stay out of my stuff alright, now get out," I replied to him. I admit it wasn't ideal wearing contacts but when I moved Annabelle told me not to ever wear glasses again.

"You haven't got your contacts in have you?" Alex asked the second my brother walked out of the room, "hang on," I replied moving him off me and walking up to my bag. I took out some contacts and put them in my eyes, "now I have," I said turning around to be met with Alex's slightly more clear face which was filled with disgust, "what?" I asked confused, "you just poked your eyeballs and didn't even flinch," he said squirming, "besides I want to see you in your glasses," he said.

I rolled my eyes but took out the contacts and put on my glasses. I turned around to see Alex again, I forgot what the world looked like this clear, his face really was beautiful. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked blushing hard and rubbing his arm, "you have no right being this beautiful, you should be a model," I said teasing him and watched as his face went so red it looked like he would explode. "Maybe I will then," he said after a long pause and his face had gone back to its normal pale state.

I tutted at him, "and let everyone see that body of yours, I wouldn't let that happen," I said making him laugh and pull me back down into a hug. We stayed like that for hours whilst watching TV and talking until it was getting late and we decided to go to bed.

I got comfortable under the covers and hugged Alex but he wouldn't stop moving so I eventually took my arm off him. I felt the bed rise back up and opened my eyes sleepily. "What are you doing?" I asked him whilst he was putting on some different sweatpants and a top, "I'm gonna go for a run and get some food," he replied frantically trying to find his shoes. "It's 2 in the morning and you don't know your way around," I replied sitting up and putting on a small lamp next to my bed so I could see him a little better.

He didn't say anything for a while but then pecked my lips and walked out the door. The front door slammed shut and I flopped back to go back to sleep, leaving the light on for when he came back, but I couldn't sleep. My brother walked into the room rubbing his eyes, "why've you got your light on?" he asked tiredly , "oh Alex went out for a bit so I've left it on for when he comes back," I replied sitting up.

I started to feel sick to my stomach and my brother clearly noticed, "I can stay here with you until he does is you want," he offered as he was waking up a little, "no it's alright, don't you have school today anyway so you should sleep," I said and Jack unexpectedly walked over to me and gave me a big hug. "Alright, stop shaking, he'll be fine and back soon," he said and I kissed the top of his head in understanding. He left my room and after a while I managed to go back to sleep.

I'm not sure when Alex came back but when I woke up the next morning he was there hugging me tightly as usual, he was awake and just staring at me. "Thank you for leaving the light on for me," he said smiling at me when he noticed I was awake.

I was so happy to see him that I quickly sat up and hugged him like he had just come back to life, "you're back," I said happily, "of course I am, did you not think I would?" he said reassuringly, "of course I did," I replied. Unfortunately I didn't, Alex was the type that you never knew how he would react to things and it wouldn't have surprised me if he went home. I really hoped that he wouldn't just leave especially since he has been acting weird the last couple of days.