just friends ; jalex

2

it's gotten worse recently; his crush on jack, that is, and alex hypothesizes that it's because of the newly-bleached blond streak in jack's hair. it makes him look seriously cute, even more so than he already is, and that's saying something.

he'll of course, pretend he's not staring with full-on heart eyes, when he very well is. especially at lunch, when they sit across from each other and jack rambles about his guitar while alex slumps against his hand and stares— sorry, maintains eye contact and pays attention. (but seriously, he's so cute, what the hell?)

rian and zack sit next to them, of course, but they're off in their totally-not-gay world, so alex doesn't bother them.

he rubs a hand across his chin and yawns somewhat. this makes jack shut up, or maybe he's just taking a bite of his food. alex forgot his lunch, being in a rush this morning, so he's eating goldfish crackers by the handful, as that's the only thing in his lunch bag.

"keep talking about your guitar," he says to jack, "it's interesting."

jack frowns and sets down his sandwich. "you completely zoned out, dude."

"what?" did he? alex blinks a few times and shrugs. "i was listening... i think."

at this point, jack seems torn between frowning and laughing— but of course he picks the latter, because it's alex, and you can't stay mad at alex for long. or ever, really. "sure," he grins. "like i'm supposed to believe that."

"you are," alex pouts, kicking jack under the table, "because it's true." 

"okay, dude," jack agrees, "you were, okay, keep lying to yourself." he tucks his feet up on the bench and grins at alex.

alex frowns at him and shoves a handful of goldfish into his own mouth. "i won't come over today if you keep acting like that."

disgruntled, jack tugs the blond streak in his hair (alex is struck by the thought that he'd like to tug on jack's hair too, maybe while they're making out— no, fuck, shut up) and bites his lower lip. "you can't skip, it's friday."

"true," alex concedes, "but if you call me a liar again..."

fridays are sacred. fridays, alex and jack have sleepovers, a deal they wrestled out of their mothers five years ago and never put an end to it. fridays mean pizza, soda, and video games. and recently, it's started meaning alcohol too, because alex's older brother just turned 21 and has full access to the liquor store, which he's willing to buy from for alex (whenever the kid finds the money to bribe him). their parents, oddly, are rather fond of turning a blind eye to anything illegal their kids might be doing, no matter how obviously.

"fine, i won't," jack promises, worrying his lip with his teeth. "but you have to promise you're still coming over."

alex rolls his eyes and laughs. "you worry too much. of course i'm coming."

(it's a night of getting drunk with his crush. really, it's the smartest idea he's ever had.)