Coffee and Christmas (Jalex)

Well That Could Have Gone Better

Jack's parents don't look at them the next day. Or the day after. Not even the day after that.

It's starting to make Jack a bit irritable. Alex can't even talk to him at some points because Jack's really going through it. Eventually it's all Alex can do to pull Jack out of the house and onto a hiking trail.

The past few days have been an experience for Alex, and not a good one. They'd be sitting at dinner together and Jack's parents would actively pretend they weren't there. Mr. and Mrs. Barakat would talk to May, asking if she'd talked to her brothers recently, as if Jack wasn't sitting at the table with them. Then they'd discuss the sins of being LGBT as if it wasn't a fucked up political statement.

Jack had obviously been falling into a depression, knowing it's impossible to get a flight home now and that the return flight he has isn't until January.

It's some sort of fucked up hell for Alex to watch his best friend go from Happy-Go-Lucky pervert with a heart of gold to So Depressed He Can't Even Shower.

So Alex basically threw a jacket over Jack's shoulder, forced him into a pair of boots, and dragged the poor guy into the snow still in his sweatpants.

Jack hadn't even spoken during the whole thing, instead he just let Alex order him around for a few minutes before following his friend down a random hiking trail.

"We need a better game plan," Alex states, as soon as the cabin they've been staying in is out of sight. "Because you can't function like this, and I can't watch you go through this."
"It's fine, Alex," Jack huffs, not looking up from the floor. "This is just how they are. They'll be over it by Christmas."

That's a lie, and Jack knows it. He doesn't know what he's holding out for, and maybe that's why he's falling into a depression. He keeps building bridges his parents keep burning down, and there's only so many bricks in Jack's yard and only so much energy he can put into building those bridges.

"If you want us to stay, that's on you, but I am quite literally going to snap if something doesn't change. You need a goddamn shower, and you're not going to force yourself into one of your parents keep treating you like this."

Jack shrugs. Alex is pissed, anyone can see that, but Jack can see that there's more than Just anger in his friend right now, there's a sense of helplessness in his words. As if Jack's struggle is affecting Alex more than he lets on.

It's impossible not to know Alex cares about him, but the frustration in Alex's voice is oddly comforting. Maybe it's because it's directed at Jack's parents, who actively treat him like shit.

"How long are you going to let your parents treat you like this?"

Jack thinks hard on Alex's words, unsure of the answer. Maybe he likes to think his parents still love him. Maybe he likes to think his parents will come to their senses. Maybe he thinks his sister will stand up for him, or that his brother will actually show up to Christmas for once to defend him just one more time.

Maybe Jack's holding out for a miracle, and maybe, just maybe he doesn't want to spend Christmas alone.

Maybe this is worse than spending Christmas alone.

He shakes his head, deciding to ignore Alex's question. Who is Alex to ask something like that anyway? How the fuck is some straight guy with loving parents supposed to understand something like this?

Christmas is a week away, and that's nothing compared to the four years Jack spent with his family in high school. If Jack can survive four years of this bullshit, he can survive until January.

Jack walks a bit faster, purposely trying to avoid the very friend who dragged him out here, and Alex isn't sure what to do.

Part of him wants to march back to that stupid cabin and start throwing shit, but part of him also just wants to hug his friend and tell him it'll be alright.

Alex briefly wonders if it's too late to call his own parents and ask to stay with them for a few weeks until the holidays, but he's doing this for Jack. If Jack wants to be in this shithole, then that's Jack's decision.

He stops walking for a moment as he tries to recall the idiocy of the situation. Right now, Alex is Jack's fiancé, whether they get married or not, and Alex needs to act like it. So what the fuck would a fiancé do in this situation?

Well they'd start wreaking havoc!

Alex comes to the conclusion that that's what he has to do. Then he looks up to find Jack gone, and nothing around him but trees and snow.

It's cold, and Alex is alone. Everything looks the same in all directions. It's snowing harder now, and Alex isn't very familiar with his surroundings. Jack's footprints have already been covered by falling snow.

Alex is lost. No trail to follow, and no friend to show him the way home.

He curses, deciding to turn around and start walking straight. He's gotta run into someone eventually, right?

But as the snow keeps falling, it begins to get colder, the winds pick up, it's too hard to see.

Alex's heart rate begins to pick up. He's caught outside in a storm. What should he do?

You should find somewhere to take shelter, he thinks to himself. Thank god for television.

Too bad he can't fucking see anything.

He settles next to a tree, wishing he had worn something less prone to getting wet than skinny jeans as he tries to brush away enough snow from a nearby tree stump.

Stupid winter. Stupid mountains. Stupid parents.

Stupid Jack.

None of this would've happened if Jack hadn't been such an asshole.

Now Alex is caught in a storm, cold and getting colder. He only hopes he's found before he freezes to death.