Eyes Open ✰ Jalex

9 // Headlights On Dark Roads

Hi I messed up there's gonna be 15 chapters, not 14. This is for sure. This is certain. I'm not messing up this time. Anyways, I love this chapter beyond all belief so please enjoy. Also three cheers for consecutive updates because it's the summertime. Also kidding the next chapter is my favorite I cried while writing it it's so amazing. But enjoy this one too.

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// headlights show it all before me

// so beautiful, so clear

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Things were fucked up again. Things were always fucked up, and Jack had a plan that might involve fixing some part of his problems, and, as always, his plan involved Alex. The students had been granted a four day weekend due to teacher work days, and Jack's plan revolved around the two extra days of freedom that he had been granted.

Jack was walking down the street, quite happier than he had been in quite a while. Of course, he had been happy the night where him and Alex had kissed, but that happiness hadn't lasted very long, and this wave of optimism had lasted him almost a full day. It was Saturday, and Jack was almost skipping down Alex's street, stupidly expecting his friend to be at home. He hopped up the stairs to Alex's house and rang the doorbell, expectantly rocking up and down at his feet. After the door wasn't answered, Jack was left with the awkward decision of whether to wait for someone to open the door, or to ring the bell again. Alex's car wasn't in the driveway, and then Jack remembered.

Tom's funeral was today. Jack had been expecting it to be sooner, but no, it was today and Alex really hadn't wanted to go. He had mentioned it on Friday with a somber attitude, obviously not wanting to go honor the death of the single most important person in his life who had been there for him until the day he died. Jack knew that Alex was going to be a wreck by the time he got back from the service, so Jack came up with the great idea of sitting down on Alex's lawn and waiting for him and his parents to return.

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It took a while. It took more than a while, but Jack didn't mind. The weather was nice, and Jack was trying to look fairly inconspicuous while lying in the sunshine on Alex's lawn. Spring seemed to be arriving much quicker than Jack had expected it to, and he was welcoming the warmer weather. As he thought over his plan again, Alex's car pulled up to the curb outside of his house. The first person out of the car was Alex himself, stumbling over his own feet. He looked like he was trying to get out of the car as fast as possible, and headed towards Jack as soon as he saw him.

"Let's go," he muttered under his breath, grabbing Jack's hand. He kept his head down, his long hair falling over his face. Alex's parents took no notice of their son walking down the street with Jack, so Jack didn't question if they wanted him back that night. Something was obviously wrong, though Jack had no idea what.

"Alex, are you alright? What's happening?" Alex walked even faster without replying, tugging on Jack's hand like a little kid trying their best to get their way. They walked for a while longer, not surprisingly ending up in the woods behind a small building complex. When finally Alex turned his face up to look at Jack, he had been walking in front of him for most of the time, Jack saw the bruise on his face.

But it was more than just the bruise and his split, swollen lip. Alex looked exhausted and worn out; his skin looked almost grey. There was a sort of sadness hanging over him, a sadness that would make sense for someone who had just come back from their brother's funeral. He wasn't dressed in his usual clothes, instead he was wearing an oversized ugly green button-down shirt and a navy suit jacket that didn't match whatsoever. He wore grey dress pants, and Jack realized that he had tried to replicate his normal clothes with dull clothing of a fancier variety, yet Jack didn't realize what kind of fight he had to put up with his mother to let her allow him to wear the messy ensemble. Alex's hair seemed dull, the colors that Jack had first been so mesmerized with faded.