Our lives

Aaron

I watch as Alex carefully consider what I'd said. She looks up at me, holds up three fingers and says "No fucking way." counting each word off with her fingers. "Way to be blunt." I tell her with a frown. She smiles. I run my hand through my hair and sit down on her bed. "Do you think you want to tell me what happened with Jake and Vic?" I ask her.

Her smile turns into a frown. "Don't mention Jake to me." she says, looking towards the carpet. I've known Alex for almost 13 years. I know when she's upset and I also know that she almost always snaps at us. Especially at Max,Nick and I. But she never snaps at Jake.Never. So when I hear her say this, I'm in shock.

"Tell me what happened." I tell her. She tells me everything that happened and I understand what's happening. "So when Jake and you were alone...How did you feel?" She glances at me and shrugs. "It was like a mixture of strangling him and......and..." She looks at me. "I can't describe the other feeling, but it was like I wanted him to..." "Kiss you?" I ask. She gives me and angry look. "No! Not that!" she blushes.

Now I've got her. I raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" I ask her, carefully watching her reaction. She blushes some more and quietly says "I.......I found his note this morning." I nod my head. "So what did you think about it?" She shakes her head. "I don't know what to think. I like Victor, like a lot. Jake and I have been friends for a long time. I don't think I can feel those same feelings towards him. But when he was talking to Victor, I really just wanted him to shut his fucking mouth and leave us alone."

"Wow." I say, actually surprised this time. "I know." She says rubbing her hand against her arm. "He doesn't want you to get hurt Alex....You know that right?" I say giving her a small hug. "I know..." "You want to talk about anything else?" "No, I'm fine."

"I'm going to go downstairs. You want to come down?" I ask her as I stand and head for the door. She slowly nods her head and follows me into the hallway. We walk down the stairs and see that Victor had already left. Anne and Julie were sitting together in the living room, brainstorming ideas for Anne's project.

"The damn devil left me to do this by myself! I'll kill him tomorrow!" Anne says while angrily typing on her laptop. Julie puts a hand on her shoulder and she calms down. "You'll get your chance. After I'm done with him." Jake says in the kitchen. Alex has a look of guilt on her face. I pat her back and guide her to the couch. Nick comes into the room  with a big bowl of popcorn. He places it in front of Anne and Julie and goes back into the kitchen. 

"Jake , Jake, Jake. Being a macho man does not suit you.I think you should go find another hobby." Anne smirks. From the other side of the room, Max starts cracking up. "Oh man! She got you!" he says after his laughing spasm. From the kitchen I hear Nick giggling. We sit next to Max. Jake comes out with a bowl of popcorn and places it in front of Alex without saying a word. 

She looks like she wants to say something but before she could even try, Jake turns around and sits on the other side of Max. He glances at me. Well? His eyes seem to ask me. Did you get that devil out of her head?  I shake my head and he curses under his breath. Max glances at him and pats his back. 

"Popcorn?" I offer the bowl to Alex. She grabs a handful from the bowl and silently eats it. "Well I'm heading out now. Nothing much that I can do anyway right now." Anne says while standing up. "You sure?" Nick asks her. She nods her head. "Don't worry about me, I'll call if I come up with an idea." She bends over and picks up her bag. "See ya." she says as Nick walks her to the door. We all live within walking distance of the Stone's house. So we spend a lot of time at each others houses.