Red, White, & Royal Pain

11.1

SPOILER WARNING!! This part contains spoilers for the movie Call me by your name, so read at your own risk!

A sniffle escaped from Henry as Alex, who was drenched in his own tears, reached over to run his hand through his boyfriend's smooth blond hair. .

"It's just" sniff "they were just so" nose wipe "perfect. They were so utterly perfect, Alex. And he just left him? You don't just walk out on the one you love. It doesn't make any sense. It's all just such a load... if Oliver really loved Elio he would never have left him!" Henry angrily sobbed. They had just finished watching the movie Call Me By Your Name, which Alex had already seen numerous times, but this was Henry's first time seeing it. Needless to say he was taking the ending quite harshly.

"I know, baby, I know. Oliver was an asshole. He should have never ever left him," replied Alex soothingly. He gazed into Henry's eyes now, "He was a fool to not see that Elio was the best thing that had ever happened to him," Alex took a pause now, considering his next words. "If the positions were reversed, do you think Elio would have done the same?" he inquired. They both knew this wasn't truly a conversation about the film they had just seen.

"No. Definitely not." Henry had straightened up now and was leaning into Alex's side. "Elio so clearly loved Oliver more than Oliver cared for him even in the slightest," Henry stated with a sigh.

Oh. Maybe it was only Alex who wasn't talking about the movie.

"Well I don't think that's completely true. Why else would Oliver have spent a whole summer going after Elio? Because he wanted him just as much, Hen. They both wanted each other so desperately, but Oliver just didn't know how to handle it."

"But he left him Alex, he left him, for a woman nonetheless! How could you think he loved him?" Alex sighed in annoyance, beginning to get frustrated with the extent to which his boyfriend was taking the movie, the almost accusation behind his words.

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It's a movie, and Oliver was a jerk. That's it."

"How am I to know that you wouldn't do the same? Kill me in the way Oliver killed Elio."

That was the straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back.

"What?" Alex spat, pure disbelief laced in the simple word.

"I feel like," Henry began with a sigh. "Like I'm the Elio and you're the Oliver in this relationship. Like one day you'd leave me for a girl." Alex scoffed and jolted up, "What the hell, Henry?"

"What else am I supposed to believe, Alex? You're bisexual, the possiblity of you leaving me for a girl will always be there. Why shouldn't I believe it?"

"You know why you shouldn't?" Alex spat as he grabbed his keys. "Because you're not Timothée Chalamet and I'm not Armie freaking Hammer. I'm Alex! Your boyfriend! Not a movie character, and not an actor!" And with that, he left, leaving Henry alone