New Boy (A Javid Story)

Advice

For the last day of winter break, Jack Kelly was planning on doing absolutely nothing. He was going to lay around the house and watch movies with his brother, and completely ignore the fact that he had school the next day. That was the plan, at least, until he got a text from Race saying that there was an emergency and he needed to talk to him right away. So, Jack got changed and told Crutchie to hold off on the movie. 

Ten minutes later, Race burst into Jack's bedroom in a clear state of panic. 

"Jack, there's a problem." The blonde grabbed a gumball from the mini gumball machine on Jack's desk and sat down in the chair. 

"Yeah, you made that pretty clear in your text." Jack nodded, putting down his sketchbook. "What's up?" 

"Al kissed me." Race confessed, running his fingers through his hair. 

"He what?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"He kissed me. On the lips." Race clarified. 

"Yeah, no, I got that. But why?" Jack stood up, grabbing a gumball of his own. 

"I don't know! We watched the ball drop and he just kissed me." 

"Have you talked to him?" Jack checked. 

"I tried. He won't answer my texts and I tried DMing him but he didn't respond." Race bit his lip. "I really messed up." 

"Go through exactly what happened." Jack suggested. 

"So, we was sittin' on my couch, watchin' the ball drop and eatin' ice cream." Race started. 

"What kinda ice cream?" Jack interrupted. 

"Is it important?" 

"Vital." Jack nodded. 

"Fine. Ben and Jerry's Half Baked I think." Race shrugged. "Anyways, we was sittin' on the couch and talkin' about all the good things from this year."

"Like the hot sauce incident?" Jack interrupted again. 

"Yeah, an' stop interruptin' me! Anyways so we is talkin' and the countdown starts. So we stand up and join in." Race continued. He stood up and started to pace around the room.  "When it finished, I yelled happy new year and turned to face him. He was starin' at me all weird, like I had five head or somethin'. So I tried to get his attention, and then he kissed me." He finished the story, flopping onto Jack's bed. Jack moved over a bit to avoid being hit, and began to think, After a moment, he spoke up. 

"I think we need Crutchie's advice on this. He's better with this sorta stuff than I am." Jack stood, walking over to his door and opening it. "Crutch!" He yelled out. "C'mere, we need your advice." 

"Comin'!" Crutchie yelled back, and Jack held the door open so the blonde boy could join them. "What's up?" Crutchie also sat on Jack's bed, leaning his crutch up against the bed frame. 

"Jeez, everyone is takin' my bed today." Jack mumbled to himself, moving over to sit on Crutchie's bed. The two had shared a room ever since Medda took them in, even though she had more than enough space to give them each their own rooms. It helped Crutchie to sleep at night when he knew Jack was there with him, and when Jack stayed up late painting or drawing it was Crutchie who reminded him to go to bed. 

"Al kissed me." Race informed Crutchie, who nodded. 

"Yeah, he has a crush on you." Crutchie said like it was obvious. "You didn't know?" He asked.

"No." Race shook his head. "I had no idea. How did you?" 

"Romeo and I know everything when it comes to love." 

"Really, Crutch, everything?" Jack raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, maybe not everything, but we can tell when someone has a crush. Like Dave's got a crush on-" Crutchie slapped a hand over his own mouth. 

"Dave's got a crush on who, Crutchie?" Race asked, eager to learn. 

"Nobody. Forget I said anythin'." Crutchie shook his head. "Besides, this ain't about him. This is about you." 

"Yeah, but now we's gotta know." Jack leaned forward, rubbing his hands together. 

"There's nothing to know. I ain't sure yet, I hasn't known him long enough to be sure." Crutchie shook his head. 

"But what am I gonna do about Al?" Race groaned. "He's my best friend, I don't wanna lose him." 

"I'm assuming you tried talkin' to him?" Crutchie asked as Race nodded. "And I'm assumin' he ignored ya?" Race nodded again. 

"I wouldn't be here if he had talked to me! I would be makin' up with him right now if he just answered my texts!" Race shook his head, running his fingers through his curls. "I miss him. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a crush on him. I just...miss our conversations." He shrugged. "It's weird." 

"It's called a squish." Jack informed. "Davey taught me the term the other day when I was talkin' about wantin' to become friends with Robert Downey Jr. It's when you have a platonic crush on someone and just really really wanna be friends." 

"Great but how does that help me?" Race raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't. Just thought I would share." Jack shrugged. 

"Anyways," Crutchie tried to move the conversation back on track, "Does he keep any form of contact with you?"

"Uh, I think our streak is still goin'." Race shrugged. "We're almost at 475." 

"Man! That's high! How do you keep it up so long?" Jack asked. 

"Determination." Race replied. 

"But keeping the streak goin' is good. Try to keep that up." Crutchie nodded. "It shows he doesn't wanna lose all contact with you." 

"Or maybe he just wants to keep his longest streak." Jack suggested. 

"That ain't helpful, Jack." Crutchie glared at him. 

"Sorry." The brunette shrugged, grabbing another gumball. "These things run out of flavor too quickly." He commented. 

"Race, just try to talk to him tomorrow. And be determined, he probably won't wanna." Crutchie advised. 

"Yeah, I know." Race nodded. "I will." 

"Now! Race, before you came we were plannin' on watchin' a movie. Wanna join?" Jack offered. 

"What movie?" Race asked. 

"Captain America." Crutchie stood, grabbing his crutch. 

""Which one?" Race checked. 

"The First Avenger." Jack walked over to the door, opening it.

"I am so in." Race stood and followed Crutchie out into the halls, deeply worried about what the next day would bring. Not that he would ever admit that, of course. But Albert had always been at his side, and he was starting to miss the redhead stealing his food.