Lean On Me.

“How do I look?” Alex asked, stepping out from my bathroom towards where I was stretched out on my bed.

“You look good,” I replied, looking up at him. “Really good.”

Alex was wearing tight grey skinny jeans and a plaid button up. Tonight was the night he was going to Rian’s class party. As far as his Dad was concerned, Alex was staying at mine. After the party, Alex would come back to mine and we would be doing something together tomorrow.

“You think so?” Alex asked, cocking his head to the side as he sat down beside me.

“I know so,” I replied, lifting my head up to place a kiss on his lips. “Do you want me to drop you over to Rian’s? I can drop you off close to the house.”

“That’d be great, J. Are you sure that you’ll be okay to leave Bella?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine. I’ll just ask Matt to keep an eye on her. Hopefully she’ll be asleep for the night now. I could do with a quiet night. She’s been driving me crazy lately. She won’t sleep a full night anymore.”

* * * *

Unfortunately, my wish for a quiet night didn’t happen. Sure, Bella had been great for Matt when I went and drove Alex to Rian’s, but I had barely been home ten minutes when she woke up again. I had been planning on grading some of the lower grades summer exams before the final semester ended. I really couldn’t wait for Bella to stop teething. It really sucked. Plus, she bit my finger every time I went to put the teething gel on her gums.

It was two am and Bella had just gone back to sleep after I had spent thirty minutes pacing up and down in her room. I had just put her back into her cot and was going to get a drink in the kitchen when I heard someone banging on the front door. I rushed to get to it before the banging woke Bella up again. Alex stood propping himself up against the doorframe, a dopey grin on his face. His eyes were bloodshot and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Someone had a good time, that’s for sure.

“Jack, fancy seeing you here,” Alex slurred, stumbling into the room and slinging an arm around my waist.

“C’mon Lex, let’s get you inside and get you some water to drink.”

“Pfft, water? Who needs water when you can have a beer or how about some Vodka? That looks like water.”

I could only grin at my very drunk boyfriend as I lead him to the kitchen.

“Water is a lot better for you,” I replied, rummaging in the fridge for a bottle of water. “Drink this and you’ll feel better.”

“Jack, I love you. You’re the best!” Alex shouted a little too loudly, throwing his arms around my neck.

“I love you too Lex, but you’re going to have to be quiet. I just got Bella to go to sleep for me.”

“I know something that I could do with my mouth that would keep me quiet.”

I opened my mouth to reply when Alex’s lips were placed over mine and he was attempting to shove his tongue down my throat. I pulled away from him slightly so I could position myself better before placing soft kisses on his lips. Alex backed me against the cabinet as his hands roamed all over me.

“Not now, Lex; let’s get you to bed. You need to sleep now.”

I managed to get Alex upstairs and no sooner was he lying down, the giddy drunk phase began. Alex was talking a million words a minute and it was hard to make sense of what he was saying… if what he was saying made any sense at all. Mainly he just talked about the party but there were random declarations of love thrown in too.

“Alex, exactly how much have you had to drink tonight?” I asked once I could get a word in edgeways.

“Umm…” Alex started, his face scrunched up in a look of sheer concentration. When he failed to come up with a suitable answer, he just settled on ‘a lot’. “Oh Babe, you’ll never guess what happened tonight. You know Karlee Adams from our music class? You know the fake, orange, blonde slutty one? Yeah, she tried to make out with me tonight. She just threw herself at me. I was like, ‘Bitch, back off, I’m gay!’ and do you think that stopped her? Nope, she just kept trying. Now, unless she secretly has a dick, there is no way that I’d touch her with a ten foot barge pole. Actually come to think of it, there’s no way that I’d ever touch her. You are so much better.”

Alex linked his fingers with mine and attempted to kiss me again.

“I’m better? Is that so?” I asked, amused at his drunken rant.

“Yup,” Alex replied proudly, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Jack, can I have a BJ?”

“Not right now, maybe in the morning,” I replied, hoping that I could get him to bed to sleep. There was no way that I was giving him any sexual favours when he was in this state.

“Not even one?” Alex asked, testing his luck and when I shook my head, he sighed in defeat before leaning into my chest and closing his eyes. “Night, Jack.”

* * * *

My hopes of getting a good night’s sleep were dashed. I had thought that Alex would be drunk enough to just sleep it off. I knew that I would have a very sick boyfriend in the morning. I just wasn’t expecting on the sick part to happen as early as it did. Although, I know Alex didn’t ask to be the one bent over the toilet bowl at five am, puking the contents of his stomach up. That’s where I found him though. I did the only thing that I could think of; I got down beside him and rubbed his back until he was finished. When he was finished, he fell back into my lap. He looked terrible.

“I’m never drinking again,” he moaned, taking the water that I offered. “I feel terrible. I hate getting sick.”

“I know that you do Lex, but it’ll be over soon. Come back to bed. I’ll get you some more water and a basin, just in case.”

When I got back, Alex was curled up on his side and still looked a mess. He immediately curled up to me when I got back into bed.

“I’m sorry for doing this to you, Jack,” he started. “I didn’t mean to get this drunk. I really didn’t. I guess I just needed to forget about everything.”

This comment had me frowning. I had noticed there was something up with Alex lately but he wasn’t ready to talk about it. I didn’t want to push him. I knew he would tell me in his own time. I wished I could help him though.

“Is everything okay, Lex?” I asked, rubbing circles on his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“You sure that you want to listen?” I dismissed his comment with a playful nudge and motioned for him to start. “Well, you know that my Dad went for the last round of treatment? Well, he got the results back and they aren’t good. The last round of treatment was really brutal and I thought that meant that it was working. I really did.”

Judging by the tears that I could see building up in his eyes and what he had just said, I had an idea where this conversation was going. I just hoped that it wasn’t going to be as bad as my mind imagined it to be.

“After so much treatment, it has to work but no; I was wrong. It hasn’t worked at all. The last two years have been wasted. The cancer’s spread. The told him that they can’t do any more. He can’t have any more treatment, it won’t work. The only thing it’ll do is wear him down even more. The worse thing is, they haven’t been able to tell him how long he has left. I don’t know how long I have left with my Dad. I don’t think that I can do this again. Losing my Mom was bad enough, but losing my Dad as well… it’s just going to be so, so painful.”

Alex started crying as he just buried his face in my neck.

“You won’t be alone, Lex. I’ll be here for you. No matter what; you are strong enough to get through this. I know that.”

Notes