lines crossed | justin + alex

Chapter one

They had a complicated history. Justin knew that he'd fought with Alex more times than he could count but the pair were good once, weren't they? Once upon a time, Alex was genuinely the only person that cared for him when he had nowhere else to go. He saved him from being forced into Bryce's manipulative hands all over again and gave him a roof over his head. Justin hadn't forgotten that, even if he'd been living with Clay for a while now. Acts of kindness like that meant more to Justin after how much hardship he'd faced. He remembered it. It stuck with him.

Recently their contact had been minimal. They gave each other stares in the halls of Liberty and might have uttered a word or two when they transferred Tyler from one of them to the other but it was never much and hardly friendly. Civil, if it could even be called that. Alex was still angry at Justin for taking Jessica from him and, in part, Justin understood. He'd felt the same when he had to think about the bleach-blonde boy with his ex-girlfriend. Neither boy had ever been loyal to the other in the pursuit of Jessica but in Justin's eyes he'd already won. There was no point in dwelling on it now. It wouldn't change how Jess felt. Justin also thought the way Alex was acting might stop them from even being friends. But Alex had been struggling with more than just losing his girlfriend.
Way more.

At first, Justin didn't notice that. Alex was nothing if not skilled at hiding his emotions. The troubled jock was almost positive that he held the most secrets out of anyone in Crestmont, though he had a few demons of his own that he kept close to his chest these days. Justin knew he wasn't one to judge but he knew the tricks of hiding something dangerous and he thought he could spot the signs in someone else when he paid enough attention. Alex led them all to believe he was fine and coping until he took a bullet to the head, so this time Justin was actively looking for the signs and it made it a lot clearer. The guilt he'd felt over Alex's accident was still there, especially now they weren't even on speaking terms unless they were yelling at each other. He'd noticed how Alex's face would remain blank in group settings when he was more at risk of being noticed. He was coming up with excuses to spend as little time with them all as possible. He was angry, aggressive, and volatile. He was acting suspicious... like he had something going on that stretched further than their Spring Fling mishap. Justin wanted to know what it was.

Justin was just trying to keep himself calm in the midst of all of the Bryce drama. He knew it wasn't him that killed the guy. As difficult as it was for everyone to understand, he actually considered Bryce as a brother. Brotherly bonds didn't just disappear, which meant he couldn't stop himself from mourning Bryce no matter how much he wanted to. Bryce did horrible things to everyone he cared about, himself included, but he did some pretty great things too. He was... a saviour. For Justin, at least. That's what he'd always believed. That's why he stayed by Bryce's side for so long. Some people thought he was brainwashed or being controlled but there was too much history there for anyone to ever understand. Now, Justin had other people looking out for him and he was grateful for that. It still didn't change the past and he had to wonder. Who was looking out for Alex?

Seeing the signs and ignoring them wasn't enough for Justin anymore, so he thought he owed it to himself and everyone else to at least attempt a conversation. He was probably the last person that Alex wanted to talk to but that wasn't a good enough excuse. Even if they weren't friends, they had a bond just like everyone who was brought together by Bryce's trial. Clay was normally the first to jump at the chance to help a friend but he was busy with Ani. Justin did try to reach out to Clay and ask him about Alex but to no avail. Like he thought, Clay was too busy to be the hero this time. It seemed to fall to him.

Alex was always around when Justin didn't want him to be but the one time he was actually looking for him, he was nowhere to be found. The closest he'd gotten to the lad was the tall, nervous boy standing in front of him in the darkroom. "Have you seen Alex?" He asked. "I mean... I know you're close or whatever. Did he say anything to you? Like, where he is?"