Neighbors

Who Am I Fooling

Jack stood in Alex's room facing the window, band practice had ended several hours before but Jack usually stayed to hang out with Alex. He was close to all of the guys, but without a doubt, he was much closer to Alex; they were best friends. Alex sat on his bed with an xbox controller cradled in his hands, furiously pressing the buttons and cursing when his player was killed.

"Your girlfriend is sneaking out of her house, who knew she could be a badass" Jack queried aloud

"She's not my girlfriend" Alex muttered, paying no mind to what Jack had actually said.

Jack chuckled and shook his head "Okay, your friend that is a girl just snuck out of her house with a guitar..."

Alex paused his game and turned to face Jack "And?" he asked, his right eyebrow raised with curiosity as to what Jack was insinuating.

"And, I think we should follow her. Duh!" Jack proclaimed in obviousness.

"And why would we do that?" Alex prodded.

"Dude, you can't honestly tell me you aren't the least bit curious about where Madison is going. I mean c'mon, she's this quiet basically friendless girl sneaking out of her second story window in the middle of the night by herself with a guitar strapped to her back." Jack explained in all seriousness, which was a side of him that anyone aside from Alex rarely ever got to witness.

"fine" Alex sighed "but if we get in trouble you ass is mowing my lawn for the rest of the summer"

"Okay" Jack agreed with excitement as he rushed to put his shoes on before both of the boys stealthily climbed out of Alex's bedroom window and ran to his car. Alex cringed at the sound of his car starting up, almost positive that it woke someone up. He held his breath as he watched his house for a minute but none of the lights turned on.

"Okay, we're good" he breathed out as he backed his car out of the driveway and quickly drove down the road in the direction that Madison drove a minute before.

"There's her car! There she is!" Jack pointed to the car three spots in front of them at the stoplight.

"Okay, so we'll just follow her car then"

"Dude! It's like we're spies or something. You can call be Bond, James Bond." Jack laughed, his eyes lighting up with excitement. Alex shook his head but laughed as well, he could always count on Jack to talk him into doing something exciting and idiotic. They trailed behind Madison for another ten minutes before Alex started to recognize their surroundings.

"We're going to the art district..." Alex mumbled

Jack stared at him dubiously "WHAT? Dude, we'll get killed there!"

Alex shook his head "Nah, you just have to act like you belong. It's easy, trust me" Alex said, confidence oozing from within. Jack stared at him for a moment in an attempt to size Alex up and call out his bluff.

"How would you know?"

"'Cause, I've been here before..." Alex's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter until his knuckles were
ghostly white. He was unsure as to why, but telling Jack about his rendezvous with Madison to the art district felt wrong; like he was telling a secret that he promised to keep. He knew that it wouldn't have made a difference if Jack knew about it but it was a stolen moment that Alex wanted to keep between himself and Madison. It was like being six feet under the stars, a place where only two people can be at a time where no one can judge them and no one could try to break them apart; more importantly it was a place where he and Madison existed harmoniously. Alex let out a sigh of relief when Jack just nodded his head and didn't further investigate him on his previous trip to the art district.