Jack
Once again, another Friday had come and it was time for yet another tutoring session with Alex. This one would be different though. Matt was away for the weekend and Bella was staying with my mom. We had the house to ourselves which would allow me to do some music practical work with Alex. Practical work was an important aspect of the music course and in April, there would be an exam worth fifty percent. So, tonight Alex would bring his guitar around and we would work on that and his vocals too.

Everything was working well so far and Alex was making good progress catching up on what he missed in both the English and the Music course. His dad was still undergoing the brutal treatment that was necessary to fight his cancer but it was taking its toll on him. At the moment, he was in hospital as a precautionary measure as he received another round of treatment. I knew that it had to be tough on him but Alex never let it show. He was doing well in school and he had gotten top marks in all of the class tests that I had given him. From what I could gather from his other teachers, they were all impressed with his progress so far.

Our last Friday session had gone well and I even got to meet with an old school friend in the process. I hadn’t seen Danny in forever and it was cool to catch up with him. Although things had changed since I saw him last. He was now touring the world as a tech for Fall Out Boy and I was finished with college and a teacher. Although we had only talked for an hour or so, it was clear that we still got on as well today, as we did when we were younger.

The house felt so quiet without Bella around. This was the first time since she had come to live with me that we had been separated. It felt weird but the break was welcome too. Looking after her was a full time job in itself and it was often hard to find time to think. Not that that bothered me at all. I loved having Bella around. Now, all I’m waiting for is my application for legal guardianship to be approved.

~*~*~*~
The doorbell rang and I rushed to open it. It was a stormy November evening and the rain was pelting down. The weather was predicting thunder and lightening with possible power outages around the state. Just to be sure, I had stocked up on plenty of candles. When I opened the door, I saw Alex standing there. His hair was dripping wet from the rain and I quickly ushered him into the house, handing him the towel that I had on standby beside the door.

“Dude, the weather is terrible,” Alex started as he dried his hair off. “It‘s gotten worse in the two hours that I spent in the hospital after school. I couldn‘t believe it when I walked out of the hospital and saw how much rain had fallen.”

“Do you need dry clothes, you got drenched just running up the drive. Follow me, I‘ll get you something dry to wear and we can dry your clothes in the dryer while we do some work.”

Alex followed me as I walked upstairs to my bedroom and began pulling out fresh clothes from my wardrobe.

“These should be okay for you,” I said, turning to Alex with a fresh t-shirt and hoodie. “The bathroom is through that door there.”

“Thanks, Jack. Hey, where’s Bella?”

“She‘s gone to see Grandma this weekend and Matt‘s gone home for the weekend so we have the place to ourselves and we can make as much noise as we like for the practical. I‘ll meet you downstairs, come down when you are ready.”

When Alex reappeared dry and warm in the fresh clothes that I handed to him, we started work on his practical section of the course. He had brought his guitar so we started with that and I joined in with him as we played random cover songs. Alex was talented at playing guitar and he had a knack for musical composition. His original guitar pieces were just as good as his piano ones. He played the guitar skilfully and made it look so easy. His fingers glided over the fret board as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

We spent about an hour playing guitar before we decided to turn to vocals. Due to the size of Alex’s music class and the fact that I knew that I always had an opportunity to hear Alex do practical during extra classes, I had yet to hear him sing. I was excited to hear his voice.

“Now it‘s time to see if you are a triple threat, Gaskarth. You play guitar and piano really well, now let‘s see how your vocals are. Start in your own time and if you need a guitar accompaniment, just ask.”

Alex cleared his throat as he decided on what song to begin with.

“Do you know ‘Miss You’ by Blink?”

I started playing the opening chords while Alex joined in playing the lead melody and then he took a deep breath and began to sing. He hit every note perfectly and by the end of it, I was amazed. He had an amazing voice. It was the type of voice that I could sit and listen too all day. He didn’t try to sound like either Tom or Mark. He made the song his own and it worked for him.

Without a word, Alex switched from electric guitar to his acoustic one and began playing an opening to a song that I didn’t quite recognise. It took me a moment or so to realise that this was an original song. Alex started singing again but this time his voice was softer and he sang with more feeling. He really had a way with words and it was foolish for me to have thought that this ability at writing would be limited to only his English essay writing. The lyrics were meaningful and listening to them threatened to bring a tear to my eyes.

My ship went down in a sea of sound,
When I woke up alone, I had everything,
A handful of moments, I wished I could change,
And a tongue like a nightmare that cut like a blade…

When the song finished, I was speechless.

“Alex, that was amazing. When did you write that? I’ve seen all I need to see. You’ll ace your practical with ease with an ability like yours!”

Alex looked away sheepishly, fixing his gaze onto his guitar.

“Thanks, Jack. Do you mind if we take a break? That song always leaves me a little bit emotional. I wrote it just after my mom died. I think I might just take a moment and call my dad.”

“That‘s fine, Alex. You call your dad and I‘ll go and order some take out and get us something to drink.”

I left the room, giving Alex some privacy to ring his dad and when I returned, he was staring at his guitar, plucking random strings and then stopping the sound suddenly with his palm. He looked deep in thought.

“Are you okay?” I took my seat beside him, handing him the glass of soda. “Do you want to talk about anything?”

Alex turned and sat cross-legged on the sofa, facing me as he leaned his guitar up against the side of the sofa.

“I‘m okay, I guess,” Alex replied, not sounding very sure of his answer. “Talking actually sounds good. That is, of course, if you don‘t mind.”

So, that’s how it all began. Alex started telling me about everything that was going on through his mind after his mother died. He blamed himself. He blamed his dad, and he blamed others too. He couldn’t understand why he had to be the one to lose his mom when his dad was so ill. He openly admitted to not being in a great mind state at the time and talked about how he tried to shut everyone out of his life. When his dad suggested the possibility of seeing some sort of therapist, Alex realised that music was his form of therapy and it was exactly what he needed. The first step that he had taken in order to accept and deal with what had happened, was writing this song which he had appropriately called ‘Therapy’. After that, things started to look up for him and he was able to try and move on and grieve over his mother’s death.

“I‘m not proud of some of the stuff that I said to my dad, but there‘s nothing that I can do to change the past. I‘ve already apologised and of course, my dad understood and we were able to put it behind us. The song summed up every single thing that I was feeling at the time and today, it felt like a good time to share that part of my life with someone else. Sure, it hurts like hell anytime I think about singing it but I know that it has to be done. Thanks for being the one to hear me out, Jack.”

Everything about the song made sense and it pained me to know how much Alex had gone through and yet he rarely let it show. Talking about the past had made him upset and I did the one thing that I was programmed to do on instinct whenever I saw someone cry. I reached out and pulled him into a hug.

“If you ever need to talk again, Alex; I’m here for you.”

When we went to pull apart, I suddenly felt Alex’s soft lips on mine and I couldn’t help but smile as he kissed me gently. I’d be lying if I said hat I didn’t want it just as much as Alex did. It felt so good. More importantly, it felt right. My stomach filled with butterflies. Our perfect kiss was interrupted by the shrill sound of the doorbell ringing. I had no choice but to pull apart and answer it.

I rushed to the door and quickly paid the delivery guy, I didn’t really pay attention to the small talk that he made about the weather. I had one thing and one thing only on my mind. Alex. As I guessed, when I returned I found Alex sitting with his head in his arms. I knew that he was feeling as if he shouldn’t have kissed me, but I wasn’t going to let him feel like that.

“Well, that was certainly a little bit more practical work than I had intended to do this evening, but I‘m not complaining,” I joked in an attempt to make light of the situation and ease the undeniable tension between us. However, I didn’t really have much success in it as Alex stayed sitting with his head in his arms and refused to look me in the eyes. I placed the pizza box on the table and crouched down in front of him as I tried to lift his head up.

“I‘m sorry, I shouldn‘t have done that.” Alex muttered to me but I wasn’t having any of it.

“Hey,” I started, lifting his head up and holding it up. “Look at me, Alex. Please. Don‘t regret what you just did. I don‘t regret what happened, I really liked it. You just had the courage to do something that I haven‘t been able to do since the day that I first met you. I like you, a lot, Alex. I really do, and if you‘ll let me, I‘d really like to kiss you again.”

Alex’s face lit up slightly and I took this as permission to place my lips on his once again. This kiss was more magical than our previous kiss. Alex’s hands found their way to the back of my head as my arms wrapped around his waist. Outside, I could hear the rain pelt against the window and with one loud crash of thunder, the house went black.

“Leave it,” Alex smirked against my lips before pushing his tongue into my mouth.