Drowning in a River of Denial (Jalex)

I Can't Keep Running Away

Hi dudes.

This is just a filler (sorry) but I really wanted to update. I have big plans for this story. BIG PLANS. So expect something exciting to happen in the next chapter or the one after.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex

"Alex- what are you doing here?" Tom asked me in disbelief, eyes moving over my face.

"Can I come in?" I questioned, peering from under Tom's arm to get a peek of the apartment.

"I... Of course," He said, confusion clearly in his tone. I followed him inside, moving to let him shut the door behind us.

"How did you get here?" He ushered me over to the brown leather couch, sitting me down. He sounded excited in a way, but worry laced his voice. He lived a while away so me being there (with no warning) was obviously quite a shock.

"I er- I took a bus here," I told him and he nodded slowly.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" He raised an eyebrow at me, raising his gaze from the floor to meet my eyes.

"Well there's no point going now," I shrugged and Tom laughed.  I missed his loud, happy laugh and felt a warm feeling in my chest at the familiar sound.

"Yeah, okay, smartass," He teased as he disappeared into the kitchen. I decided I liked his apartment; it was simple with different shades thrown together and light flowed through nicely. He came back only moments later with a plastic cup in his hand. He passed it down to me and I looked at him, puzzled.

"It's water, Alex. It won't kill you," He said, rolling his eyes at me.

"Oh, thanks," I grinned, taking it from his grasp and holding it to my lips. I drank it all at once and only realised then how much I needed it. My throat still stung, but the water soothed it. It felt good to have something filling my stomach.

"So, Alex, why did you decide to visit your favourite brother today?" He asked me with a cheeky smile on his face.

"My only brother," I corrected him and he chuckled. "Well, to be honest, I'm here because I needed to get out,”

"And why is that?" His eyebrows knitted together and his eyes shone with concern.

"Because everything is really, really fucked up right now," I sighed, giving yet another vague answer.

"What's fucked up?" He spoke tentatively as he looked me in the eye, his dark ones searching mine.

"Everything," I told him and he groaned at me.

"Please, for me, be more specific,"

"I really don't know if I can be right now... It's all so jumbled in my mind, Tom," I spoke, looking to my lap. I watched my hands fidget with eachother nervously, a frown on my face. How was I supposed to explain all this shit to him?

"Did something happen at school or...?" He asked and I shook my head. Surprisingly not.

"No, no- It's- I... Just, it's me; I messed up. I messed up really bad," I stammered, having more trouble than I thought possible to form a simple sentence.

"How about you collect your thoughts and talk about something else in the mean time?" He gave me an assuring smile and I returned a small one.

"Okay. How's Jenna?" Jenna was Tom's girlfriend of three years and I hadn't seen her since the year before on my birthday. She was a shy girl with bleach blonde hair and a small, skinny frame who had an exceptional taste in music.