The Beach

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Kevin's POV

Sometimes I get really sick of how much Aleks pretends. I get that he's got secrets that he wants to protect from people he doesn't trust, but when he can't even tell me, I get a little annoyed. That's understandable, right? It makes sense that your best friend should be able to trust you with anything. 

God knows he can. I'm the last person who would tell his secrets to anyone. But lately, whenever I show up he goes all quiet and doesn't talk to me. As soon as I leave, though, he'll start talking to Eddie or James and I'm left to wonder if I've done something wrong.

"Hey, Eddie, can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked, walking up to him. 

He turned to me, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, sure. What's up homie?"

"It's about Aleks," I replied. "Do you have any idea why he's acting so weird around me? Did I do something wrong?"

Eddie's smile disappeared almost instantly, and he cleared his throat. "I dunno, man, he seems normal to me. Are you sure you're not just imagining it all?" He asked nervously, words coming out in what sounded like a prerehearsed rush. 

I just gave him a look as if to say, "I can see right through you."

Finally, he caved. "Alright, alright, come here. I can't tell you anything with so many people around here." 

I frowned slightly, following him into another room. 

"So, what's going on?" I asked.

"I can't tell you very much, because, you know, he made me promise. But I'll tell you as much as I can. As far as I know, you didn't actually do anything wrong. Aleks just has a lot on his mind right now and once he's sorted all of it out, he says he'll talk to you about it." Eddie exhaled heavily, then nodded. "Yep, that's about all I can tell you." 

"What?" I asked, incredulously. "I'm his best friend and he can't even confide in me about something?"

"He can and he will," Eddie reassured. "You just have to be patient."

"So I just have to wait?" I asked.

"You don't have to wait very long," a voice behind me said. I turned around to see Aleks standing in the doorway, looking at me with some unidentifiable emotion in his eyes. 

"Seeya later, guys," Eddie said, and darted from the room. 

"Hey, Aleks," I said uncertainly, not sure what I should and shouldn't say.

"Can we talk upstairs?" He asked. "More privacy," he added in reply to my questioning look, shooting a glance at the door through which Eddie had left. 

I nodded in understanding. "Sure. Lead the way." 

We walked for a couple minutes in silence until we reached his room. I stepped in after him and he shut the door. He sat on the bed and indicated I do the same. 

"So..." I said, after I'd gotten comfortable. "What's up?" 

For a few moments, he didn't reply. He just kind of... looked at me. It was a little bit creepy, to be honest. 

"Aleks...?" 

"What d'you think about the whole... Seamus and James thing?" He asked suddenly. 

"About them being together, you mean? ... I have no problems with it. Even if I did, it's not really my business to say who someone should and should not love." 

He nodded, processing my answer. "This summer sure has been an eventful one," he commented. 

"Yep, it sure has," I answered, looking at him oddly. He's acting really weird suddenly. "Are you planning on telling me what's wrong any time soon or are you just going to make odd comments here and there?"

He sighed. "It's complicated," he said. "Everybody's living like they're crazy in love, you know? With James and Seamus together and everyone else going on dates with random people and now Jordan and Monica are practically fuckin' married... It's great."

"And that's a bad thing?" I asked slowly, trying to figure out where he was going with this, or maybe where he was coming from. 

"No, of course not. But ... This summer's gonna be over, soon, and then what? We'll have to start having, like, real lives or something. It's some freaky shit, man," he said. 

I laughed. Is that all he was worried about? "Aleks," I said, reaching my hand out to rest it on his shoulder. "Remember this: They can take the kids from the summer, but they'll never be able to take the memories of all the shit we did away. We'll keep those memories forever. Nothing can make us forget it, okay?" 

He nodded. 

"We're gonna keep all the pictures we took and we're gonna put them all in fuckin' scrapbooks or something, and when you're old as fuck and I still look like a gorgeous model, we're gonna sit down and look through them and laugh at how fucking dumb we were."

He nodded again. 

"Are you even listening to me?" I asked. 

"Yeah, of course I am," he said. 

I looked at him for a moment, not saying anything. "I'm gonna be honest, Aleks, I'm getting tired of this."

"Of what?" He asked, confused. 

"All your lying. Stop pretending," I added, seeing he was about to protest. "The answer's in your smile. I can see that you're faking it all the time around me. But I notice when you're with Eddie or James or any of the other guys it's just as sincere as it used to be with me. I'm coming clean here, but just give me something, Aleks, please." I had not inteded to rant so much about this, and as soon as I finished speaking my embarrassement set in. I looked down, folding my hands in my lap. "Sorry, Aleks, I shouldn't have ... I get that maybe we're drifting apart and there's nothing I can do about it." I looked up at him, and he looked very sad. "I'm sorry. I should just accept that if you have something to tell me, you'll tell me on your own terms." I stood up from his bed to leave.

His hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me back so that I was sitting on the bed again, but this time much closer to him. 

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't find any words. Without hesitation, he leaned forward and his eyes fluttered shut, and before I knew it our lips met. 

After a few moments, we broke apart.

"Do you still need me to tell you what's going on or...?"  

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the beach i.e. that one where they spend most of their time inside in a dark room 

im still writing these i swear bby pls forgiv

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