The Dark Side of His Room ~ #Jalex (boxboy)

5. The Snake Hidden In My Daffodils

*** JACK'S POV ***

"You play guitar?" I was surprised to hear the fragile boy next to me speak up. I was sure this was the first time I had heard his voice. It was deep, and slightly croaky, the words tumbling slowly and cautiously out of his mouth, each one wrapped in a heavy voice. They seemed to have echoed from the roof of his mouth, spreading their warmth everywhere. It was this speech, this heavy accent of his that immediately brought my eyes up to look at his. As quiet as his voice was, there was something amazing about it, and I was dying to hear more of it.

"I, uh, yeah, I do," I stuttered, still in awe of the boys strong British accent. I'd heard British people lots on the TV, but this boy, his voice was different. Mesmerizing; attractive, in a way. Isobel had a strong British accent too, when I think about it, but it didn't catch my attention like Alex's. He smiled and nodded, responding with a quick "me too."

"I like your accent," I said softly. I could swear I saw a small blush rise to his cheeks for a split second, but it's likely that I was just imagining. He responded with something inaudible, which I guessed was a thank you. I watched his caramel eyes scan over my walls, in what I think was admiration, as he carefully studied the faces of my idols.

"My walls are a little over the top, I know," I said with a laugh, looking at my main wall. It was a plain wall on the left side of my bed, nothing but posters on it, with my guitars in the corner.

"No, I like them. We have a very similar taste in music," he responded, words rolling off his tongue in a timbre of warmth, the melodic sounds distinctly foreign. I felt like his confidence grew every time he spoke, which was a good sign. Initially I thought maybe this was going to feel like babysitting, especially if Alex persisted to not speak, however I was making an effort to make it more enjoyable, for the both of us. I smiled in return, as he shuffled on my comforter, bringing his legs up to his chest and embracing them with his thin, gentle arms - that still had sleeves pulled down over his hands, resting on his knuckles and pressed between his fingers and palms.

"Hey, uh, thanks for saving me. I know technically you didn't do anything, but if it wasn't for you I would have to go to church. And trust me, I've been trying to wriggle out of that every Sunday for at least 8 years," I said with a slight laugh, my eyes still fixated on the boy. There was something about him that sparked up my curiosity. I wanted to know everything about him. I was itching to know why he moved, what his favourite song was, how he liked his coffee. It was an odd feeling. One I had never had upon meeting a stranger once; or twice, I suppose.

"It's okay. I didn't want to come over initially.. not that I didn't want to see you it's just that I didn't want to intrude.. make you feel like you had to babysit, you know. She insisted I don't stay alone though," he hummed. I could feel his body relax and breath even out, as our conversation grew less and less awkward. I heard my mom shout a farewell to us, before slamming the front door shut and heading out to her safe place, with her new friend behind her. I relaxed into my sheets, happy that I didn't have to see my mom for the next hour. She wasn't a bad person, quite the opposite. I was very fond of my mother, despite some of her very strong beliefs that contradicted my own, she was a lovely woman, with only good intentions. However spending almost every second of the day with her got tiring, so a break felt nice.

"Hey Alex," I started with a grin, as an idea suddenly jumped into my head. "Wanna go outside?" We had a huge trampoline outside, one I rarely used. Though the weather was lovely today, and I knew I wouldn't be called in for chores every few minutes, so my body ached to go outside. I seemed to always have spontaneous cravings, food or not food, and I wouldn't shut up until I got what I want. However he was very happy with the preposition, and smiled as he got off my bed, his knees cracking, and hands going for his shoes.

We walked back through my house and into the kitchen, going out the back door into a warm breeze, the sunlight radiating off the grass, that was freshly cut. I spent my Friday afternoon mowing the lawn while my mom made carrot cake, before heading home for a shower and straight to bed. My eyes darted to the trampoline as I ran towards it and hopping straight on. I hadn't brought my shoes out, as it was the middle of summer, so I didn't see a point. The chocolate haired boy followed, his shyness returning. His hair, brown and lustrous, had a sheen like fine hardwood. But that comparison isn't entirely fair, I suppose. Hardwood doesn't swish gently like his hair does, swaying with the gentle, July breeze.

He stood at the foot of my trampoline smiling up at me as I bounced on the gift I had received for my 11th birthday.

"Come on!" I shouted giggling and reaching my arm out to the brunette. He hesitated, but gave in, kicking his shoes off and grabbing my hand, allowing me to pull him up onto the bouncy surface. I started jumping and he did too, both of us giggling and jumping for God knows how long. I felt lost in the moment, i hadn't had this much fun in a while. Even when I saw Zack and Rian, though that was pretty much me almost falling asleep while my friends sucked faces. I hadn't know Alex for longer than this hour, but I enjoyed his company.

After an eternity spent on the trampoline showing off what we could do, we both collapsed in a fit of giggles, and another one of my cravings came over me. Ice cream.

"Wait here," I smiled at the boy, getting up off the trampoline and making my way back to my kitchen, fetching two cherry popsicles and heading back with a huge grin.

We spent probably another 15 minutes eating popsicles and cloud spotting, scanning for whatever we could find. We heard a high pitched voice greet us, just after Alex pointed out a cloud, that to him looked like a snake crawling out of a daffodil - that boys imagination was even wilder than mine, if that was possible. 

*

"See you next week?" I called out, the phrase coming out in more of a question than a statement, as Alex and Isobel walked away from our porch, watching Alex smile and nod over his shoulder. I was hoping he could come round every Sunday, not because I wanted to see him, but because I just really wanted to get out of church.

"So, was that fun?" Asked my mom, later going into detail about the mass that I had missed, hoping I was paying attention when in fact, I was just thinking about how much I had missed my trampoline. I don't think I had touched it since I was about 14, I didn't have any motivation, nor friends. I could say today was a successful day, and maybe I had even made a friend.

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So this chapter went completely differently than I had originally planned but I don't think it's bad. Or maybe it is. You tell me 😂 I hope it's not too long or too vague, I wanted to describe their day but not go into every single detail and every single conversation.

Is their friendship coming along too soon? Idk I'm bad at writing why did I choose to do this uhhhhhh

Anyway, comment and vote pls? Ty

- Cam xo