Not Mine

~Part 11~

     John sat in the other chair in the lounge, waiting for James and Maria to come back. They were only supposed to go on a small walk.
     Philip was still sleeping on the chair, and Alex was laying on the couch, shaking. 'Why am I scared of him... He can't be that strong... Just enough to pick me up, right?'
John walked over to where Alex was, "Uh- sorry... about earlier... I shouldn't have said that..."
Alex looked up at him, "N-no.. it's... my fault... I s-shouldn't have blamed it on you..."
John put his hand back on Alex's shoulder, trying to comfort him, "I shouldn't have tried to stop you... From getting Philip..."
Philip woke up, got out of the chair, and went over to sit next to Alex. He rested his head again Alex's arm and fell back asleep.
(Forgiveness, can you imagine?)
A few minutes later, James and Maria came back to the lounge. James looked at them and stayed quiet for a moment, then said, "We can leave whenever you guys are ready, everything is fine."
John walked over to them and turned back to Alex before starting to walk away. Alex picked Philip up and carried him down to the car, so he wouldn't have to wake him up.
They took off, planning on going back to James's house. When stopped at one of the red lights, James looked over at Maria, and noticed she was shaking.
He tried to calmly ask, "What's wrong?"
She looked over at him, "N-nothing just... The last time you drove me somewhere... w-we almost got killed..."
"Oh... Right. I'll try not to this time..." He clenched his teeth and continued driving.
"D-did I do something wrong?"
"No, not at all! Just thinking... I kinda over-reacted... Last time..."
They continued driving in silence until they got back to their house. Alex brought Philip inside and put him on the couch, then slowly tried waking him up.
"I've beeeeeen uppppp"
"Suuure you have," Alex laughed.
Philip stood up, stretched, and sat back down. "I haveeeee."
Just then, there was a knock on the door. James walked over to answer it, and opened the door to a man who was a little taller than him.
"Hello, I'm Lafayette!" He pointed to someone else, who had curly hair tied back, and lots of freckles, "This is John Laurens," he pointed to another guy, who was taller and more muscular than any of them, "This is Hercules Mulligan."
James looked at them in confusion, "Why does he have a turtle?"
Laf looked back at John, "John! I told you leave Tuck at home!"
"I didn't want him to be lonely!"
"Oh my gosh... John..."
Herc shoved them off to the side, "Sorry about that, we saw an ambulance here a couple days ago and tried to see what was going on but there was no answer. Glad you're home now, is everyone fine?"
"Uh- yeah, everyone should be fine! You guys wanna come inside, feel kindof rude for not asking."
"Oh, sure!"
James led them to the living room, where everyone else was. Philip looked at the turtle,
"What temperature do you keep it at? How often do you clean the tank? Do you give it the right foo-"
     John R. cut him off, "Philip! Wow... You don't even know the guy and you're asking him if the turtle is being cared for properly?"
     "Well I'm sorry... So hi, who are you?"
     John L. looked at him, "I'm John," he pointed at Laf, "this is Laf," he pointed at Hercules, "and this is Hercules, but I call him Herc."
     Philip looked up at him, "Great... 2 Johns... That won't get confusing, anyways. Hey, I'm Philip!"
     Philip looked over at Alex, who was staring at John L., "Uh- dad? You kay? You're kinda staring? Hello?" He waved his hand in front of Alex's face. Alex didn't move so Philip started shaking him. "Daaaaaaad???"
     Alex snapped out of it and quickly looked away, "Uh- what just happened..." He looked back at them, "Who are they?," and saw John L. with his turtle. "Okay turtle's new?"
     Laf looked back and forth between the two Johns. "Laurens Imma call you J, and other John you stay John."
     Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.
     Alex stood up and walked over to J, "So what's with the turtle?"
     "Oh, I bring Tuck everywhere. He's my best friend."
     "Hey!," Herc called out, "I thought I was your best friend!"
     "I can have more than one best friend! Do you want to hold Tuck?" He looked over at Alex.
     Alex looked at Tuck, then back at J, "N-no... Thanks..."
     "Oh, is something wrong with turtles?"
     "Not at all, just had some bad experiences with them as a kid..."
     Philip looked at them, "Was it raining turtles and fish after the hurricane?"
     Alex looked at him in shock, "Ph-Philip!," and hid his face in his hands.
     "I-I'm sorry..." Philip looked down and took a step away.
     J looked at Alex with a confused face, "Hurricane?"
     "Y-yeah... It des-destroyed every..thing... That's why I moved here..."
     "Oh shi- wow I'm sorry. Laf can you hold Tuck for a second?" Laf nodded 'Yes' and took Tuck from J. J hugged Alex for a minute, which made Alex wish he never let go, but he eventually did.
     "So was Philip's story right?" J tried laughing it off.
     "No, that does sound exciting though. I was at a touch tank and a snapping turtle got stuck on my finger..." Alex tried laughing that off too.
     "Wow that's intense," he took Tuck back from Laf.
     "It's n-not that bad..." Alex started playing around with his hands.
     J grabbed Alex's hand with one hand, and held Tuck with the other, "I'm gonna help you face your fears," and smiled at him. Alex faked a smile back and tried breaking free from J. J held Alex's hand tighter and led him outside, still smiling at him.
     "W-where are we g-going?" Alex let J lead him, hoping he would be safe.
     J sat on the ground, put Tuck in front of him, and patted the ground, motioning for Alex to sit next to him.
     Alex hesitantly sat next to him, keeping a close eye on Tuck. J wrapped his arm around Alex's shoulder and slowly shoved Tuck in Alex's direction. Alex moved closer to J, trying to protect himself.
     "J-John... he's getting cl-closer..."
     "Shh, relax... It's fine, Tuck wouldn't hurt anyone!"
     "Uh- ok..."