wed.

Debates about religion and the financial crisis

. . .

Alex took a deep breath. He straightened his shirt and then knocked on the door. It took three phone calls, seven texts, and two and a half glasses of wine before Alex decided to just go over to John's apartment.

The door opened, revealing a guy holding a beer bottle. He smelled like beer and weed. "Hey, man. What's up?" 

"Uh, hey." Alex fixed his tie and took a small step back. "I'm looking for John. Laurens. Is he here?"

"Oh, John? Nah, man, he took off, like, three days ago or somethin'. I dunno. He ain't here, that's the point. Who are you?" The guy explained, and sipped his beer.

"Alex."

The guy stuck out his hand. "Francis."

"Pleasure." Alex shook Francis's hand. When he pulled back, he wiped his hands on his pants. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"Nope."

"Do you know where he went at least? Or maybe why he isn't answering his phone?" Alex tapped his foot, starting to get frustrated.

Francis sipped his beer again. It was obvious Alex wasn't getting anywhere with this guy. "Nah. He took most of his stuff. Except those damn tapes. He left like a million of them under his bed. Fucking hoarder. He could be dead. I always told him he'd never survive on his own. He'll be back, though. Needs me."

"Yeah, okay." Alex nodded. "Thanks for that. I'll just call him again or whatever." Without saying bye to Francis, he turned and walked away, pulling out his phone and clicking John's contact again. Of course, there was no answer.

Alex jogged down the stairs and walked out of the apartment complex. He got in his car and called Lafayette.

"What's up?" Laf hummed from the other end. "Any luck?"

"No. And I'd never admit this out loud, but I actually might be getting a little worried. His roommate dude guy, who is a complete asshole by the way, said he left a few days ago."

"Look. I think you should come over. We'll invite Peggy and watch Dirty Dancing."

"Ugh, no," Alex groaned, "Don't you have that movie memorised by now?"

"Oh, Sylvia!"

Alex threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah, okay. But I can't promise I'll make it through the whole thing. What if we binged Law and Order instead? The murder episodes always excite me in a scary exhilarating way." 

"Alright. I'll see you in a little bit, oui?" 

"I'll be right there," Alex hummed. They said a brief good-bye and then hung up, and Alex started his car and drove off.

When he arrived at Lafayette's place, he kissed Laf on the cheek and immediately asked for a beer. Peggy was already there and was continuing on a debate about something that neither Lafayette or Alex could follow, but Alex picked out the words "financial collapse" somewhere so he assumed it was political.

"Peg, as much as I'd love to fight with you on your...barbarous explanation on what the financial crisis of two thousand eight was, but I'd rather listen to Laf quote Dirty Dancing instead." Alex sighed, scuffing out his cigarette.

Peggy gasped, standing up. "We were gonna watch Dirty Dancing? Why didn't you tell me earlier before letting me babble about something I'm not even sure I'm educated enough on to debate?"

"So Dirty Dancing?" Laf asked.

After getting situated on Lafayette's couch and watching Dirty Dancing, which Laf quoted the entire thing even after Peggy and Alex begged him to shut up, they scrolled through movies until Laf clicked on God's Not Dead.

"Boo! No! Turn this shit off!" Alex threw his empty beer can.

"What's God's Not Dead?" Peggy asked.

"The fuck does it sound like? He tries to prove that god's not dead after his teacher makes his philosophy class sign this waiver about how god is dead. But here's the thing, his logic is absolutely ridiculous. God isn't dead, he's correct, god just doesn't exist in the first place---" 

"Aren't you Jewish?" Peggy asked.

Lafayette touched her arm. "Not worth it. This movie gets him so worked up. Last year, for Christmas, Alex commented about how Christmas was a ridiculous holiday and Thomas shot back. We ended up watching this and Alex absolutely exploded. Like this." Laf motioned to Alex, who was still going on.

"Fuck. Screw going to Angie's for Christmas, I'm joining you guys." Peggy laughed a bit. She touched Alex's arm. "Okay, you can shut up now."

Laf stood up and shut the TV off. "Alex, you can go home now." He pulled Alex up, leading him to the door. "Back to your home. Good-bye." 

"Wait, but I'm not done because--"

"Oh, yes, you are." Peggy chuckled, and pulled on her jacket. "Bye, Laf. Come on, Alex. If you shut up, I'll even let you drive me home."

The car ride was filled with Alex explaining how religion was a state of mind, which meant that god, even though not dead, did not exist. And that religion was the reason for all evil in the world, which brought him to the works of Titus Lucretius and Voltaire. To which Peggy wanted to smash her head into the window, but was grateful when Alex dropped her off. Alex continued to talk, though. 

When he pulled up to his house and parked, he finally noticed that he'd dropped Peggy off and he was all alone. After feeling quite foolish, he sighed and got out of the car. He walked toward the front door, loosening his tie and taking a deep breath. He gasped and let out a yelp.

"Hi," John mumbled, looking up at Alex. He was sitting on the steps, chin in his hands, looking a bit beat up and disheveled.

"Jesus Christ, John! You need to stop doing that. You can't just show up whenever you want. And, for the record, I don't appreciate you not answering my phone calls because--come on, inside, now--I go out of my way to call you and make sure you're okay. I even went to your apartment, and here's the thing, I hate you. Just about as much as I hate your roommate." Alex dropped his bag on the counter and grabbed a box of tea out of the cabinet.

"I forgot how much you talked," John said.

"Are you really fucking judging me right now? After I just let you into my home?" Alex snapped.

"Oh, no. I missed it. I love when you talk." John smiled softly.

Alex paused. "God, you're so stupid. Do you ever say the right things at the right moment ever?" 

"I'm, well, I'm not good at really anything, so that probably will never happen." John grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass before sitting at the counter.

"Why are you here?" Alex asked, setting his hands on the counter.

"I like it here. I like you." John sipped his wine. "Besides, Francis lost his job and is home all the time now. I like him better when he only sees me for a few hours."

Alex chuckled a bit. He looked at John. "Do you wanna watch God's Not Dead with me?"

"What's that?" John asked.

"It's a stupid religious movie that makes me extremely upset. Would you like to watch and criticize it with me?"

"You want to watch something that makes you extremely upset?" John asked, seriously confused.

"It's very productive." Alex sent a sarcastic smile and took a swig out of the wine bottle.

John thought for a moment, still confused, but nodded. "Okay. I'll watch God's Not Dead with you." He stood up and smiled.

"Great. Let's go." Alex stirred his tea, then tossed the spoon into the sink, and then started up the stairs. "And bring the bottle!" he called back down.

John grabbed the wine bottle and followed Alex up the stairs. John sat down on the ground while Alex sat in his chair. He looked up at Alex, who grabbed the remote and was looking for God's Not Dead. He seemed slightly irritated already and short of breath. "Are you okay?" John asked.

"Yep. I'm great." Alex let out a sharp huff. "I'm going to say this now. I apologise for most everything I'm about to say."