MENDED

fifty-five

saylor

"so... you two met, pretty much immediately trauma-bonded, and then fucked..." i stared at jessie and alex blankly after they finished recounting to me how they met.

"okay, when you put it like that, you make us sound like we were just emotionally hurt whores," jessie frowned.

"which is exactly what we were," alex deadpanned. "be for real with yourself for a moment."

"well..." she trailed off as she rubbed the back of her neck.

i laughed at the two. "look at you two now though; you've both moved past your whore phases and are both in happy, committed relationships!" i grinned as i reached out to squeeze their cheeks.

both of their faces scrunched up as they gently swatted my hands away. "yeah, i never thought that i would be in a relationship, but i definitely never thought that alex would be in one," jess chuckled. "can you believe they used to go on tangents about how they would never date anyone or fall in love?"

i sent alex a look with a raised eyebrow. they dropped their shoulders and pouted a bit. "obviously i didn't mean it, darling. i was just, uh... hesitant about trying all of that again."

i wonder if they were serious about the whole never getting married thing...

"hesitant is a very mild way to put it," jj huffed.

i giggled. i then tilted my head at alex. "how did you and miguel meet?"

before alex could answer, miguel answered for them, from where he was sitting at the table in the kitchen area of the tour bus. "alex was very drunk. they bumped into me, being a bit of a bitch, but they were in no condition to get home by their self, so i helped them home and left my number on a sticky note. they called the next day because they didn't even remember meeting me."

alex's face flushed in embarrassment. "can we not talk about how much of a mess i was before i met you?" they sent me a pointed look.

"i guess," i gave a faux frown. i looked back to miguel. "how did you and jj meet?"

he paused, and he blinked a few times. "um... jess... how did we meet?"

jessie paused as well, and she looked completely dumbfounded as she tried to remember. "dude... i genuinely do not remember. i have no idea."

me and alex stared at them blankly for a few moments. "considering you've only known each other for less than six years, that's insane to have forgotten already."

"i met a lot of people when i moved here; i can't remember every incident," jessie defended with a slight huff.

"i don't blame her," miguel shrugged. "i don't have the best memory anyhow to remember how we met."

me and alex shrugged as well. jessie leaned forward. "how did you and miggy meet then?" they asked as they looked at me.

"he moved and transferred to my high school when he was a freshman and i was a junior. we had a class together and pretty much immediately became friends. even though he moved again pretty much right after his graduation, we continued to keep in contact, until we both ended up in new york."

"i didn't know you two went that far back," jessie said in shock, while alex gave a wide-eyed nod in agreement.

"yep," i grinned as i used my index and middle finger to make a half-heart at miguel, which he completed with a grin of his own. "i told you, me and miguel go way back."

"i see that now," jess laughed.

the four of us continued to talk until we shifted into a comfortable silence of each of us doing our own thing. i was on my phone scrolling through tiktok, alex seemed like they were trying to take a nap as they leaned back against the couch cushion with their eyes closed and arms crossed behind their head, and jessie and miguel both seemed to be texting someone.