Here We Go Again {Jalex}

Chapter 16

Alex's POV:

Fuck, I thought time couldn't go fast enough back when college started. I just wanted to get this shit done and move on with the rest of my life. Get a nice job, have a family. Get to the good stuff in life.

Now, I couldn't help but have this feeling that life was going way too fast for my liking. Days flew by like they were minutes and soon it was baseball season again. As if I hadn't already been stretched for time, between school and friends and Vic, now it was really tight. If I wasn't practicing then I was studying for mid-term finals, that were approaching at a rapid pace.

I could tell it was irritating Vic that I didn't have time to hang out with him but after a while he stopped making me feel bad about it. I tried the best I could to get back to the room early enough to actually spend time with him but sometimes it just didn't work out. Sure I felt bad about it, but I was sure he started to understand. He was gone too sometimes, consoling poor Tony, who was still heartbroken over loosing his ex.

But of course, the one time I actually make an effort and come through with it, something fucks it up. I came back from practice one night, fairly early, and decided I'd spend sometime with him. However, when I walked through the door, Vic's friends were already littered around our room. Jaime and Tony were deep in conversation with Vic.

He looked apologetic, but I didn't expect him to kick his friends out for me. And, well, he didn't. So I picked up my laptop and took the extra time to work on an essay that I knew would be due soon. I wasn't trying to pay attention to them, but when I heard the name Kellin Quinn it was a little hard for me to ignore it.

"Do you remember Kellin Quinn?" Jaime asked Vic. I immediately turned away from my laptop and towards the talking boy.

Vic stared at him. "Yes. I remember Kellin."

My eyes flashed from Vic to Jaime. "Of course you do, you two were joined at the hip," Jaime recalled. I remembered that too.

"Yes, Jaime," Vic said through gritted teeth. "We were dating."

"What? Really?" Jaime said with genuine surprise. How could he be so blind?

"Really."

"Oh..." he mumbled, glancing briefly at me, "I was just gonna say he goes-"

"Jaime, I don't care where he goes, okay?" Vic blurted, cutting him off, eyes hardened to stone. "I don't want to talk about Kellin Quinn alright?"

Jaime threw his hands up in surrender, "Sure, okay. Sorry, I just thought you'd like to know-"

"You thought wrong."

"But you do know though, right?"

"Yes, I know," Vic said.

"Know what?" I finally interjected, tired of them just dancing around the subject.

Vic sighed and glared at Jaime before answering me. "Kellin is here."

I froze. "What do you... What do you mean?"

"Kellin is at our school now." Vic scowled at his friend, "You happy now Jaime?"

Jaime started to say something but I cut him off, "Why?"

"He's doing something with that stupid robotics shit he was into. Apparently his program comes here to do duo research with students from our program for the last half of the semester."

I was incredibly uneasy hearing this news. This made things a lot more complicated. I was starting to understand how Vic felt even though he hadn't even talked to Kellin. Then it hit me.

"Vic, how do you know about all this?"

He gave off the vibe that he didn't want to answer. He rung his hands together and adjusted his hat.

"Vic."

"I saw him when he got here, okay? He sought me out and we had a conversation."

"Why didn't you tell me? How long has he been here for?" I could feel myself getting upset.

"Not long," Vic assured me.

"Well how long is that!?" I demanded.

"The first night I saw him around was the night you guys went to that party," Vic finally told me.

"Two months!? Are you fucking kidding me!?" I shouted.

"Don't be fucking hypocrite, Alex." Vic snapped. "The exact same thing happened to you too."

"At least when Jack came here you fucking knew about it! I didn't keep it a secret!"

"Oh, don't pull that shit on me! When you hung out with him all those times alone, nothing happened? And when you guys disappeared into a room at that party alone, you told me about that? You brought him back here to our fucking room and expected me to believe you weren't intending on fucking him?"

"Uh," Tony mumbled, as I was processing what Vic yelled at me. "Maybe we should go, Jaim."

"No!" Vic yelled, turning to them, "You're not leaving!"

"You know what?" I said, aggressively shoving on my converse. I wasn't going to stay here another second. "I'll go. I'm leaving. I'm not arguing with you right now."

"Yeah go ahead," Vic muttered hatefully as I reached the door, "run right into the arms of Jack fucking Barakat just like always."

I scoffed in disbelief, "Maybe I fucking should." I slammed the door behind me.

"Good going, Preciado!" I heard Vic yell through the door. Fuck him for blaming his friend.

I took off, not knowing really where I was gonna end up. I stopped walking when I reached the little court yard on campus and stretched out on the dry part of the fountain everyone sits on. Maybe I'd ask Dawson or Urie if I could crash in one of their rooms tonight, because I had no intention of going back to mine anytime soon.

Until then, I just sat and looked up at the stars, letting myself calm down a little before I made my next move.