Happy Anniversary.

7. Lead Me Out Of The Dark.

As I waited for an ambulance to arrive, my heart raced so fast I could have been having a heart attack, but adrenaline was leaving me invincible to my own pain.

Alex's breath was so shallow I wasn't even sure that any of the air he was inhaling was reaching his lungs. I knew what had to happen, and despite the circumstances, I can't say I was upset to do it. Without hesitation my lips met Alex's in something of an open-mouthed kiss, breathing my life's air into his desperate lungs.

I tried not to focus on how soft his plump lips were or how the taste of Alex mixed with whiskey tingled in my mouth, but it was too hard not to notice how freaking magical the whole experience was.

"Oh, fuck, is he breathing? What the hell happened?" A voice yelled. I turned back just to see four bodies push through the small crowd beginning to gather. The smallest of the four, a tan kid with long brown hair under a maroon beanie had a phone to his ear, eyes wide as they came in contact with Alex. The one who spoke, Rian, followed by Zack and Cassadee, had varying faces of shock, fear, and sadness filling their faces. "Alex, oh my gosh." Rian fell to his knees next to me, more focused on his arms than anything else while I continued trying to keep him breathing.

The short kid on the phone squeezed into the average sized bathroom and shut it behind him; only him, Rian, and myself stayed in it until the ambulance arrived.

"They're on their way now." He said, keeping the operator on the line as we waited.

"Thanks, Vic." Rian replied distractedly. "Find me a towel, please! Damn it, Alex..." he mumbled, trailing off as he tried to focus on stopping the bleeding. I tried to keep my eyes away from Rian's work.

So many cuts...

A tear fell down Alex's cheek, and for a second I thought he woke up. Then, as another one plopped onto Alex's other cheek, I realized the water belonged to only Rian and myself.

What if he never shed another tear again?

Don't focus on that. You can't focus on that right now.

"Vic, please tell me they're almost here." The words were out of my mouth before I could process them.

"They're close. I think I can hear the ambulances." I ignored the look of suspicion that was on Vic's face as he spoke to me. I guess Alex kept me a secret from just as many people as I did him. Zack was the only person who knew about our Skype rendezvous on my side, and judging about Rian's lack of surprise to see me, either Alex had told him or in Zack's loose-lipped drunk state, he spilled about it.

I was so going to kick his ass later.

Continuing trying to resuscitate him seemed to be going nowhere for awhile. Just as I was about to give up, a faint cough sounded in the room. Rian looked at me as I looked at him, and at the same time our heads snapped towards Alex's beautiful face.

His beautiful face? I really had it bad for this boy; this broken, bleeding mess of a boy.

His eyes slowly opened. Rian and I were immediately yelling at him to regain consciousness. Suddenly, Alex's body jerked and he sat straight up, looking right at me. Somehow, I got the feeling he was looking through me, which was confirmed when he promptly turned a pale shade of green and threw up into my lap.

Thankful I had a strong stomach - and that these were, in fact Zack's jeans - , I held him up and made sure he didn't choke. I chose to ignore the stentch and the warm mixture as it settled itself into my jeans. 

Faintly over Alex's retching, I heard Zack and Cassadee, as well as some unfamiliar voices, yelling at people to moves out of the way. The EMTs must have shown up. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Hold on, Alex."