new things (jalex short story)

7

I got home after a successful day of avoiding Alex. Which, I thought, was a great achievement. I've found over the week knowing him, that if he wants to talk to you, he will. He was quite persistant. But after the first period, he saw me avoiding his gaze and keeping a certain distance if he came close, so he may have taken that as a sign.

So the fact that I managed to avoid him all day, astonishing.

"Jack!" My mother yelled through the door. She knocked until I got up and opened the door, "this boy said he's got an assignment you two are supposed to be doing together?"

My groan was internal and so was my screaming. I smiled and nodded, as I looked back at her from Alex. I moved aside and let him in. She walked away so I closed the door. He stood at the end of my bed, his eyes slightly watering and his arms crossed over his chest.

I felt quite vulnerable because of the fact I was only wearing sweatpants. I walked over to my dresser and found a jumper, pulling it over my head, "you don't have to do that. I'm not here to perv on you, I just want to know why you got so annoyed at me. I didn't do anything,"

I didn't answer. I just sighed.

"Jack, those... are- those are really deep," he said covering his mouth. I looked down and saw my sweats were hanging just a little bit low. And the cuts that reached up to my hips were quite visible.

He was now kneeling in front of me, running his finger across them. I don't know why I didn't just move, push him away, pull my pants up. Anything. But I let him sit there. He was moving the waistband of my pants and boxers, the cuts seemed endless and he pulled them down just enough so he didn't see any other things.

I grabbed his wrist and tried to pull his hand away. I adjusted my pants so they were no longer visible. There were tears welling up in his eyes as he stood up and wrapped his arms around me, "was that my fault?" He whispered

I shook my head, it was my fault for being a fucking idiot. I can't just use people to make me feel better, I mean, I don't even like boys. I'm straight. I always have been.

I wrapped my arms around him tightly. I rested my head on his shoulder and tried to hold in any tears that though they were allowed out. I can't cry in front of this boy right now, he'd never leave. Although his company is nice, I need to think. I needed to think about why the fuck I was so attracted to this boy. I hardly even knew him.

"You're not alone, you're never alone, okay?" He told me. I shook my head. He pulled away, holding me at arms length.

"I am, who else do I know that knows what this is like?" I asked him. He gave me that look. The look you give someone to say; no. That's me.

I shook my head at him. That couldn't possible be true. But maybe it could be. He didn't have any friends other than me that I knew of. He wasn't exactly the most happy looking person I'd met and all that stuff. But surly he had someone there. Someone to say stuff like you're a good person, I believe in you, keep trying, I'm here for you. But with that look, I knew. He didn't.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. I broke away from his hold on my arms and walked over to my bed, plopping down and stretching out, realizing how hot it was.

"Its not your fault," he said sitting down next to me, "I don't even do it anymore,"

I sat up and pulled my jumper back off, throwing it to the floor, "sorry, it's really hot,"

He smiled at me, "yeah," I knew he had another meaning behind that but I ignored it. I lied back down and stretched out, "you're really skinny," he said, "now that I think about it, I've never actually seen you eat,"

I turned my head to look at him and shook my head slightly, "I'm a very forgetful person. Its not on purpose," I told him as he poked at my very visible ribs. I rolled my eyes at him and smiled.

"So... I brought my gym assignment with me," he said. I groaned and sat up again. I knew we had to get this over with. I walked around my room, looking for my bag. I pulled out the things I'd need for it and sat back down on my bed.

We sat there asking eachother the questions for the assignment, we thought it would be more entertaining than just writing the answers down ourselves. We were happily sitting there fucking around with it though.

"Jack!" My mother yelled, "get the fuck out here!" I told Alex I'd be right back and ran off. I saw her standing in the kitchen looking extremely angry.

"What?" I asked. To that she raised her eyes brows and looked even more annoyed.

"This!" She yelled pointed at the bench. It was a mess from whatever she made while I was at school, "you keep leaving your mess all over the fucking bench! Clean up after yourself you fucking slob! I didn't not raise you to be so lazy!"

"Its not my mess," I said calmly after I was sure she was finished.

"Ja-"

"Its not my mess. I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast, which was an apple. Do those look like apple crumbs? No? That's your mess," I yelled over her

"Clean it up!" She screamed. I rolled my eyes and walked away, to which she threw something at me. I didn't turn around to see what it was. I just walked faster and locked my door behind me.

"Woah," he said when I looked at him. I raised my eyebrows and nodded.

"Yup, happens a lot more than you'd think. She's not the best at remembering things. Especially if remembering something makes her wrong,"

He nodded as I sat back down on the bed. I heard a sound coming from just outside my door. He looked at me confused.

"That will be the crumbs on a plate or something right at my door. Everytime," I told him. He shook his head and we turned our attention back to our homework.

-

"No! That's not how it works, okay?" He yelled, "no, no, no. This ones better!" He said pointing at a movie in the stack of them. I shook my head and stretched out onto the couch behind me.

"Just put something on. Anything. Please," I told him, groaning. He laughed and picked out a movie, not that I was paying any attention. We had decided on him staying over tonight, considering that tomorrow's a public holiday.

He was wearing shorts and a jumper, his hair was messy in a way that made him look adorable, "this movie is horrible!" I grumbled throwing my hands into the air.

He laughed and layed down on the couch, resting his head on my stomach. I ran my fingers through his hair as he laughed at the stupid jokes in the movie, I laughed at how funny he found this movie. When the movie finished, he rolled over so he was facing me.

"Hello," he said, smiling

"Good morning," he furrowed his eyebrows and informed me it was eleven at night. I smiled as he got up and put on the movie I wanted, to which I had already forgotten the name of. This times he layed next to me and laughed at the red patch on my stomach, the lines from his hair faintly visible. I rolled my eyes and softly slapped him across the face.

"You're a loser," he told me as I squished his cheeks together, making his lips poke out. I was on my stomach leaning on my elbows as I continued doing it.

"Excuse me, but I think that's you," I said matter-o-factly. He laughed his adorable laugh again and it made me grin, "you're cute,"

He laughed again, "thanks hunnie, you too," he grinned right back at me. I rolled my eyes and let go of his face, instead covering it with my hand. He grabbed my hand and I laced my fingers with his. I looked back up at him, he was just looking right back at me, and I didn't know what that look was, or what it was saying. He placed his other hand on my head, tangling it with my hair.

I leaned in and closed the gap, he instantly responded, moving his lips against mine. He pulled me closer to him with the hand on my head and I felt him smile.

I did too.