HeartBREAK

Chapter fifty-three

"Soo, are you stoked?", Raphael asked and Alec nodded energetically- he was. Today was the day of the fundraiser- The two of them volunteered to take the train two hours earlier to arrive in time for the registration. It was three hours before the start of the fundraiser and nobody really wanted to take the train at 6 am if they could sleep for two more hours. Raphael was an early bird anyways so it didn't bother him and Alec decided to join in to use the time to finally catch up again. Besides, New York in the early morning was just mesmerizing. "That's our cab!", Alec said and got going. They only had two little backpacks with them- the rest of the crew were going to bring their costumes. As they got in, Alec pressed his forehead against the cool cab window. He could see a thin stripe of pink on the dark blue night sky- the sun was about to rise. "God this city is something else.", Raphael sighed. Alec grinned:" Cooler than Boston, huh?" Raphael just chuckled. Alec grew up in New York, this city was part of him, part of his identity. But still it never failed to surprise him. Traffic was fine so early in the morning, which meant they arrived even a little early. "So, do you know whether the pole dancers or the breakers are going on stage fist?", Alec asked but Raphael shook his head. "I heard the audience is actually going to be quite big."; he said instead. "Let's hope not.", Alec chuckled. "Why?", Raphael frowned, "Don't you want to show off what you have been working on?" "Sure I do.", Alec replied, "I just don't feel completely comfortable doing it yet. I mean I know the steps, but I also know that the steps are pretty much all I know. It's just out of my comfort zone." "Well, don't lecture me about comfort zones- I am spinning on a pole.", Raphael smirked and Alec burst out in laughter- he was right. None of them had it easy. As the announcement of the trains arrival was spoken, the platform actually started filling up with people. The sun was now a glowing red ball, surrounded by pink and purple sky. "That's gorgeous.", Raphael sighed. "It really is.", Alec nodded and put on the hood of his hoodie- even though both of them dressed quite appropriately, the freezing breeze still sent shivers down his spine. Slowly, the train stopped at the station and Alec and Raphael hurried to get in. Lucky for them, the train was already heated. "Excuse me?", a woman in her late fifties asked and tapped Raphaels shoulder. "Yes?", he replied and whirled around. "Gentleman, could you maybe help me put my suitcase in the overhead storage? I can't reach it.", the woman asked and pointed at the huge, white hard-case suitcase which was more than  half her own height. Raphael hesitated for a second- his back has just gotten worse again because of the videos he filmed with Maureen and he really didn't want to take a risk before a performance. "Alec, could you help me with this?", he asked shyly. Alec immediately got the hint. "Sure, just let me do it." Completely blushed he stepped aside and watched Alec throw the suitcase in there. "Thank you.", the young lady replied and gave Raphael a weird look. "God that was uncomfortable.", Raphael sighed as they sat down. "Why? You asked for help.", Alec replied and took a sip out of his water bottle. "Still.", Raphael explained, "It's me the people always ask for help to get their luggage up- not the other way around." "I understand how you feel.", Alec said, "But you just need to know that they are judging you by the way you look. Actually, it's a compliment- you are fit, muscular so they ask you for help. They don't know about the insides- I mean how would they?" "Yeah, I know.", Raphael sighed. It still wasn't a good feeling though. And the worst part about it was that he couldn't talk to Maureen about it. "Did it start bothering you again?", Alec asked. "Kind of. Maureen has been calling me in at night for some weird choreography- she needed some videos for god knows what.", Raphael scoffed. "Wait- so she asks you to record random dances with you?", Alec frowned. "Pretty much. And whenever I asked what those videos were for she got really awkward and told me that the only thing I needed to know at this point was that they were really important to her and I needed to do my absolute best.", Raphael explained. It was only now that he realized how much it annoyed him. It wasn't even about the late night rehearsals anymore, it was more about the fact that Maureen was obviously hiding something from him- and this thing seemed to be involving him as well. He just didn't want her to make decisions on her own that would affect both of them. And he planned to tell her that exact thing this evening. "Wait, but you kind of have a right to know what all those videos are for- I mean you are on them as well and it seems like you put a lot of effort in them as well.", Alec replied and once again thanked the god of the gays that he put Magnus into NYABM one year earlier than him. Earlier, he thought it would have been nice to be on one team with Magnus but with Raphael and Maureen dating he realized how much strain and potential for fights that could put on a relationship. They couldn't separate work and privacy as easily as Magnus and Alec did. "That's what I am thinking as well. I just don't want to cause any unnecessary drama and throw her off that good path she's on right now. She hasn't binged in weeks and just in total seems so good right now- I don't want to ruin that for her.", Raphael sighed. "But is it worth ruining yourself for?", Alec asked and zipped his backpack- they arrived.  

Hello beautiful people! Do we have trouble in paradise? We will find out soon. As you have noticed, this story is already pretty long but you can be sure that there still are going to be quite a few chapters coming your way so be excited for that!                                                      XOXO, AllyMaii