If These Sheets Were the States... (Jalex)

Alex POV

I had spent all day reassuring Lisa that she was the one that I wanted and that tonight was just friends hanging out. I’m not sure it worked though. But at this point I was too excited to be spending a night with Jack and well Zack and Rian too. No girls, no moderating what we say, lying about and not having to worry about cleaning after our messes, at least until we want to. I threw on a hoodie and my Nikes, and walked outside, got in the car and drove over to Jack’s house. That’s odd, there is an extra car. They are hopefully leaving soon. I walked up to the door and knocked, bracing myself for a Jack attack. That’s odd, it sounds like someone is walking to the door.
“Oh hi Alex,” Rian said as he opened the door and let me in.
“Hi Rian, is Jack okay.” I asked.
“Yeah, why.” He asked.
“Oh, no reason...” I replied.
“Okay. Are you going to come in.” he asked.
“Right,” I said, gathering myself. I walked into Jack’s place and followed Rian into the living room.
“Oh hi Alex,” Jack said, looking over at me.
“Hi, Jack,” I said with a smile.
“This is Aly,” he said, indicating a girl sitting next to him.
“Hi Aly,” I said, trying to be friendly. There sitting on the couch, in my spot, was a pretty girl who seemed to have eyes only for Jack. She barely acknowledged me when I said hi to her. “Rian...” I asked as I looked over at him, confused and wanting answers I obviously wasn’t going to get from Jack or Aly.
“She met him last night at a bar and they are inseparable already,” Rian replied.
“Oh really...” I replied, my heart sinking slightly for some reason.
“Yeah, although she has to leave after dinner to meet a friend so we’ll still have some time amongst ourselves,” he said to me with a smile.
“Oh okay... let me guess… Zack had his own thing to do…” I said, smiling slightly.
“Yep,” he replied with a chuckle.
“That is no surprise,” I said, glancing over at Jack and Aly who were wrapped up in their own little world.
“Nope… and I will be heading home early too. Probably between ten and midnight,” he said with a shrug.
“Okay,” I said with a smile, looking back over at him. Well that is perfect, I can have my Jacky time tonight but technically I didn’t spend the whole night with just him, so Lisa can’t use that against me.
“Alex let’s go get dinner ready,” he said, heading towards the kitchen. Uh-oh... that is Rian code for ‘we need to talk’; I wonder what it is now. I followed Rian to the kitchen.
“Okay Rian you’ve got my attention, what’s up…” I asked as we got to the kitchen.
“How are things with Lisa...” he asked as he started on dinner.
“Not so good. She thinks I like Jack and that I am going to leave her for him,” I replied with a frown.
“Well knowing you, you’ve been denying it without stopping to think about what your feelings are for the both of them or why she seems so sure that it is going to happen. Did you even ask her why she thinks so…” he said, glancing over at me.
“No…” I replied with a shake of my head.
“Well I would do that and think about what I said,” he said, looking back at what he was doing.
“Okay,” I replied and started helping him. He and I made dinner while I thought about what he said. I decided I would call her before we ate and ask her. After that I would spend tonight thinking about what my feelings are for the both of them and about whatever her answer was. “Rian what do you know about Aly,” I asked as we worked.
“Just that she sings, cares tremendously about her friends, was originally from England, plays guitar, went to college for awhile and now that she is done she is hoping to start a band with her friends,” he replied with a smile.
“Oh… what did she study,” I asked, biting my lip.
“I believe she studied to be a vet’s assistant,” he replied.
“Oh…” I sighed. Well she couldn’t be more perfect, could she? She was me, but with a college degree and minus a record deal.
“YES!!!” I heard Aly shout from the living room. Everything went back to being mostly quiet in the living room, minus some murmuring.
“Guess what!!” Jack said as he rushed into the kitchen with a huge smile on his face.
“What Jack!” I asked as I looked over at him, getting caught up in his excitement.
“Her friend Jasmine just called to say that a record company liked their demo and so they have to go in tomorrow to meet with them!!” Jack said with a huge smile on his face, bouncing slightly.
“Congratulations Aly!” Rian and I chorused, my smile falling slightly. Well this means she has me beat. Now I am in danger of losing him…
“I’m going to call Lisa; I’ll be back in time for dinner…” I said before walking to Jack’s room because that was our designated ‘don’t bother me’ room. I dialed her number and when I heard her pick up, I said, “Hey Lisa...”
“Hi. I thought you were having your guy time,” she replied.
“I am, but Rian made me realize that I never asked you why you think I am going to leave you for Jack… So why do you think that.” I said, sitting down on Jack’s messy bed.
“It is a mixture of a lot of different reasons. The major one is that you never stop talking about him and when you talk about him, you get a dreamy tone to your voice and a dreamy look on your face. Classic crush behavior,” Lisa replied frankly.
“Oh...” I replied, my mind reeling slightly.
“You know, yes I would be sad, but I would rather you just left me for him now instead of continuing with me and then later realizing the mistake you made and after a lot of fighting we never speak to each other again. Now, at least, if you left me for him there is a chance we could remain friends, later there probably won’t be one,” she said after a moment.
“Oh…” I replied, my mind reeling.
“Was that it...” she asked.
“Yeah, love you...” I replied after I remembered she couldn’t see me nodding.
“Love you too...” she sighed before hanging up. I hung up and went back to the kitchen.
“You talked to her…” Rian said, looking up at me.
“Yeah,” I replied with a nod.
“Did she have a logical reason,” he asked, going back to what he was doing.
“Yeah… hey Rian...” I replied.
“Yeah…” he asked, looking back up at me.
“Does my voice or face change every time I talk about him” I asked, holding my breath as I waited for the answer.
“You mean how you remind me of a lovestruck teenage girl…” he replied.
“Yeah, I guess…” I sighed.
“Lisa mentioned that…” he prompted.
“Yeah, she said that was the main reason she was concerned.” I replied.
“Well what do you think,” he prompted again.
“I don’t know,” I replied with a frown.
“Well think about it. But right now help me get dinner served,” he replied.
“Okay,” I replied before helping get all the food out on the table in the corner of the living room.
“Food!” Rian called out as he put the finally dish down. After some pushing and one bruised arm later, courtesy of Aly, we all had food and were sitting relatively comfortably on the couch.
“Alex let me see that,” Rian said, concerned. I showed the already forming bruise to him, upset that Jack seemed to care less what happened and already was wrapped up in what Aly was saying. I felt like telling them to get a room but, if they actually did, it would be counterproductive so I kept my mouth shut and suffered in silence. At least the offender would be leaving right after dinner so I wouldn’t have to suffer much longer.
“Wow Aly that is a pretty good bruise you gave Alex here,” Rian said after a moment.
“Uh… oh yeah. Sorry about that. You might want to get some ice on it,” Aly said, looking over at me. I tuned out after that because Jack, Aly and Rian started talking about her friends and other such topics. I just ate and thought about Lisa said.
Through the fog of my thoughts I heard but didn’t register Aly say, “Bye guys...”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” Jack replied.
“Okay,” Aly said, getting up.
“Bye,” Rian said.
“What oh yeah, bye...” I said. Rian had to push me for me to realize that she was leaving…. Finally! Rian gave me a look like ‘Where were you...” to which I mouthed, ‘Just thinking.’

Jack POV

I walked Aly to the door, said good bye and walked back to the living room.
“Jack I’m sorry I had to refuse your offers so much,” Alex said to me as I walked back in.
“It is okay; after all if you hadn’t then I wouldn’t have met Aly. But why did you refuse,” I replied, sitting down on the couch.
“Well Lisa has got it in her head that I am going to leave her for you so I was spending all my time with her so she wouldn’t give me crap for hanging out with you. I’ve given up on that because it wasn’t helping any and I missed you guys too much. Plus isn’t it supposed to be bros before hoes, or something like that,” he replied, scooting over into his spot on the couch now that Aly was gone.
“Oh okay,” I replied, smiling slightly as he got settled close to me. Oh no though… Lisa has seen through the act, it’ll only be a matter of time before Alex will figure it all out… if he hasn’t already. No that’s right, I ‘like’ Aly, and so for now I’m safe.
“Hey guys, let’s watch a movie!” Rian said, derailing my train of thought. We watched movies until Rian had to go home. After Rian left things went back to the normal Lex and Jack hang out time. Until, that is, we were all partied out, and then it was serious time.
“So you met Aly last night…” Alex asked as we plopped on my bed.
“Yep! I was mostly drunk last night when she first walked up and, at first I thought she was you but after a while we hit it off. By the end of the night I was completely wasted and I don’t think she had more than a couple sips of beer. She drove me home and showed up this afternoon to check on me. We had been hanging out for a while before you arrived,” I replied. I watched him the entire time I was talking and, although I am sure I am mistaken, I swear I saw a look of jealousy on his face by the time I was done.
“She is pretty,” he prompted.
“She is, isn’t she? Those eyes and that hair, so smooth and straight and natural. It is soft too,” I gushed, smiling wistfully. I may have laid that on a little too thick, but it is so hard not to start gushing when I am talking about ‘Lex. Only he doesn’t know that and the plan is to make him jealous, not scare him further away. “So change of subject, how is Lisa… I mean other than the thinking you’re going to leave her thing,” I asked.
“Pretty good, she is healthy and whether we get past that latest bump or not, I think we have a good chance of remaining friends,” he replied.
“Oh, well that is good,” I replied, barely able to hid a smile at the thought of them breaking up. We talked late into the night, but eventually we both grew quiet and I drifted off to sleep.

Alex POV

I could tell by his quiet, even breaths that Jack had drifted off to sleep. I know that sleep isn’t going to come that easy to me. I have too much to think about. I couldn’t have gotten jealous of Aly earlier when he was talking about how they hit it off. I wasn’t jealous of Aly, was I? I wasn’t in love with my best friend, was I? No I couldn’t be. Well why not, I mean he is sexy, fun and understands me better that anyone else. I am attracted to him and… wait what! Since when was I attracted to Jack in a sexual way? As I laid there thinking about it I realized that it didn’t really matter when, all that mattered was that I was indeed attracted to my best friend and just might actually be in love with him. The only problem is I don’t know whether he thinks of me in the same way. And to find out that, I needed a plan, a pretty good plan too. But right now I am too tired to try so I am going to go to sleep.

Notes