Drama By Name

The sun was too bright. The room was too warm. The sheets smelt familiar, but wrong. Alex woke up abruptly, his vision blurry and his head heavy. Hangovers were Alex' least favourite part of alcohol, and this one was particularly bad as he had no idea where he was. He looked around the room, looking at the pale blue walls and Tim Burton posters, before realising where he was. Zack's room. More importantly, Zack's bed.
As if his memory’s flood gates had been suddenly opened, the happenings of last night rushed back to him, making Alex feel dizzy, on top of the hangover. He closed his eyes, praying for something, anything. He opened his eyes and slowly turned over, looking at the other side of the bed. Alex's eyes widened in shock and he clamped and hand over him mouth. His prayers had not been answered, as there lay Zack, peacefully sleeping, his chest rising and falling steadily and a small content smile playing on his lips.

“Shit.” Alex whispered out loud. “Shit, shit, shit.”

He quickly threw back the covers, only to find that he was shirtless, his pale torso decorated with the green-yellow bruises from the beating on Monday, and something else that hadn’t been there before. Alex jumped up, ignoring his dizzy head, and opened up Zack's wardrobe to look at himself in the door mirror. First thing he notices was he had the most insane bed hair he’d ever seen, almost as though someone had been running their hands through it... Oh.

He looked down at his reflection to better see the new marks. “Fuck.” There, in deep purple with tints of red, were a set a finger shaped bruises perfectly imprinted just above his hips. If you looked hard enough, you could even make out the scratch marks of fingernails. This was the point where Alex noticed lots of other things. The good news; he still had his jeans on. The bad news; his jeans were only just hanging on his hips as they were completely undone and tugged down a little. Thirdly, he ached. All over. His neck, back, legs, sides, and strangely, his ass.
Alex really started to panic as he traced the hickeys leading from his neck, down his chest and past his navel. Alex went into a full on hysterical panic. Careful not to wake the still sleeping Zack, he searched the room for his t-shirt, finding it lying on the floor, inside out under Zack's desk. He quickly pulled it on, and went straight towards the door, taking one last look at Zack. He honestly looked so peaceful when he slept, so innocent. No worries, no hurt, just Zack. Alex couldn’t just leave him, not like some dirty one night stand. Alex walked back into the room and wrote a note for Zack, leaving it on the pillow next to his head.

Z, I’m sorry, I couldn’t stay Alex x

Alex hurried down the stairs, but paused in the hallway when he heard the TV. He poked his head around the door to find Matt propped up on the sofa, still wrapped in the blanket from last night.

“Er... Morning Matt.”

Matt looked around, shocked, then smiled softly. “Heya Alex, you alright?” Matt still had a croaky sleep voice, probably accentuated by his crying from last night.

“Yeah... I’m fine.” Lie. “Just... I can’t stick around. When Zack get’s up, tell him I’m sorry.”

“What? What do you mean? What did you-“

“Matt, please. Just tell him I’m sorry. I have to go.” Alex walked down the hallway, grabbed his bag and, ignoring Matt calling him back to the living room, was out the front door and on his way home with no intentions of turning back. Alex pulled out his phone from his bag, checking the time. 11:49am. Only just still the morning. He also saw that he had a text from an unknown number. He opened it, and his heart dropped and his head spun with guilt.

From; Unknown
- ‘Heya Lex, it’s Jay xx’

Jay. He’d cheated on Jay. Alex couldn’t remember all that much from last night, just lips and hands. He had no idea what he and Zack had done, how far they’d gone. But he didn’t think that the finger shaped bruises on his hips and the fact that he ached all over were a good thing. Alex shivered, then realised that he’d left his hoodie at Zack's house. Shit. He had no intentions of going back there now. Then he remembered the hoodie from Jay in his bag. He quickly pulled it out of his bag and put it on. The inside was soft and warm, and it was just a little too big, making it perfect to Alex. It even smelt a little like Jay, or perhaps that was just Alex's imagination. Peppermint. Cigarettes. Coffee. Alex began to cry. He did love Jay, he really did, and he’d cheated on him. Even worse was the fact that he couldn’t even remember it. How far had they gone? Was Alex still a virgin? Had he even wanted it? Had Zack raped him in his drunken state? Alex was so confused and scared, he couldn’t help but cry.
He rushed down a side path, away from the main street of houses and slid to the ground, sobbing into his hands and not knowing what to do. He couldn’t tell Rian, or Matt. He couldn’t tell Jay, not now. He couldn’t go back and face Zack just yet. He knew that he’d have to, but not now. He couldn’t tell him mom, what would she think, that her son sleeps with anyone who gets him drunk enough? Instead, Alex decided to call the next best thing to his mom. Tay.

“Hey Alex!” Tay sounded her usual happy self, and Alex just felt like this was going to put a damper on her day.

“H-hey Tay.” He sobbed. He couldn’t stop crying, he didn’t want to stop crying.

“Alex, what’s wrong?” Her voice was dead serious and full of concern.

“I c-can’t tell you right... right now. Can I come-r-round?”

“Sure thing, you need my address?”

Tay gave Alex her address and he hung up, walking as fast as he could to her house, hood up to hide his tear-stained face. She only lived a few streets away thankfully, and he was there in no time. As soon as Tay opened the door, Alex threw himself into her arms, completely fall apart with howling tears. She kept a tight hold on him and helped him inside, passing Tay's confused mom and going straight upstairs to her room. Alex collapsed onto the bed, crying his eye’s out, and Tay let him. She kept a gently hand on his back, rubbing slow soothing circles on his shoulder blades as he wailed and fisted his hands in his sleeves. She was kind, and patient and Alex honestly didn’t know what he’d do without her.
Soon, his tears began to dry up, so he calmed himself and sat up and faced her. Tay just looked at him with worry, keeping her hand on his shoulder.

“I-I’m sorry... I just... I couldn’t go to anyone else.” Alex wiped away the few remaining tears with the cuffs of his hoodie, feeling bad for using Jay's present like a hanky.

“What’s happened Alex... Is it Mr Barakat? Did he do something?” She tried to sound calm and concerned, but Alex could still hear underlying anger in her voice.

“No! No, it w-wasn’t him... It was me!” Alex started crying again, falling forwards into Tay's arms. She held him and rubbed his back as he cried.

“What is it Alex? What’s happened?”

“I-I sl... Oh, Tay, you can’t tell anyone, and you can’t judge me, okay?”

“I promise I won’t, Alex. Cross my heart.”

Alex pulled out of the hug and tried to look Tay in the eyes. He couldn’t though, so he decided to speak to his knees instead. “I... I think I... I slept with Zack.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment. They sat there in silence, Alex's breathing shaking from crying.

“Wha... What do you mean, you think?”

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Alex looked up at Tay. Her face was completely unreadable, void of emotion.

“What did you do, Alex?”

He caved. He told her the whole story. “Our friend Matt found out his boyfriend cheated on him, so we had a party to cheer him up last night. We got drunk, and Zack told me he loves me. The last thing I remember was... his hands o-on my waist and... kissing him... I think I started it.”

“Well, if all you can remember is kissing him, how do you know you slept with him?”

Alex swallowed and tried blinking back the fresh tears welling is his eyes. “Because... I woke up in his bed. No shirt and my pants were undone...” he sobbed out loud, the sound catching in his throat, “I’ve got handprints on my hips Tay. Bruises.”

“Oh, Alex...” she pulled him into another hug, and he carried on crying. He just let the tears fall, hoping they’d removed some of the hurt and confusion and guilt that pained his chest.

“I don’t even remember Tay... I don’t remember...” Now it was Alex's turn to hopelessly cry over a broken heart while a close friend cradled him. He didn’t know or care how long they sat there, Alex quietly weeping in Tay's arms. Once calm and cried-out Alex sat back on the bed and wiped his face again.

“I’m sorry Tay. I had no one else to go to. I came here straight from Zack's... Matt's still there and I left a note. No one else knows about me and Jay, only you... Tay, what do I do?”

“This is gonna sound so stupid Alex, but you have to tell him. The longer you hide it, the guiltier it’s going to seem. You didn’t mean to, did you?”

“No, I really didn’t.”

“You didn’t want it to happen.”

“No...”

“You... Alex, do you love him? Do you love Mr... Do you love Jay?” Tay sighed, her eyes searching Alex's for a wordless answer. But she needn’t have done so.

“Yes. I do Tay. I love him.”

“Have you told him?”

“No.”

“You need to tell him Alex. You need to tell him what’s happened, tell him that you love him, and I’m sure he’ll sort out his life so he can be with you properly.”

Alex swallowed and watched Tay's face, full of conviction in her words. “You really think so?”

“Like you said Alex, he wouldn’t be risking so much for you if it didn’t mean anything.” She smiled, and it told Alex all the needed to know: That Jay loved him and that everything would be okay.

“Thank you Tay. Thank you so much.”

“Any time Alex. I’m here for you.”

Alex stayed for a little while longer, just chatting with Tay about nothing in particular. Later, he left, hugging Tay goodbye, and started walking. He pulled out his phone and turned it back on (he’d not wanted to be disturbed while talking with Tay) to find four text messages and three missed calls. One text was from his mom, telling him she’d be sleeping all day for another night shift, and the other three texts were from Zack. So were the missed calls. He took a deep breath, and opened the texts.

From; Zack Merrick
- ‘Alex y did u leave? Xxxx’

From; Zack Merrick
- ‘Alex r u ok?? Xxx’

From; Zack Merrick
- ‘Alex please don’t ignore me, we need to talk xxxx’

How much could Zack remember from last night? Did he know what happened? Alex started feeling dizzy, but decided to listen to the two voicemails Zack had left from the missed calls. The first message sounded sleep-drunk, like Zack was still too blessed out to either remember or realise that had happened.

“Hey Alex, where’d you go this morning? You should have woken me up, had some breakfast... Just call me back, yeah?” The second, Zack sounded a little more with it. “Alex, please don’t ignore me. Look... about last night. We need to talk, okay? Let me know when you get this” Alex sighed, running a hand through his still messed-up hair. He needed to face Zack sooner or later, but right now he could not deal with it. He needed Jay. He returned to his inbox and found the text from Jay.

From; Jay
- ‘Heya Lex, it’s Jay xx’

Alex typed out a reply

To; Jay
- ‘Hey Jay xx’

He didn’t want to go home just yet, so Alex started to make his way to the kids play park a few streets from his house.

Buzz, buzz.

From; Jay
- ‘How are you? Xx’

To; Jay
- ‘I’m good thnx, you?? Xxx’

From; Jay
- ‘I’m good, all the better for hearing from you xxx’

Alex blushed. He reached the park and sat down on one of the swings, pushing himself back and forth lazily with his legs.


To; Jay
- ‘Can I see you? You said you lived nearby..? xx’

From; Jay
- ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea Lex xx’

To; Jay
- ‘Please, I need to talk to you xx’

From; Jay
- ‘Okay, I live at 93 Parkside, you know it? Xx”

Alex looked up from his phone and across the park. Sure enough, he could see Jay's old, grubby black car parked outside the house directly in front of him.

To; Jay
- ‘Yeah, I’ll be there asap xxx’

Notes

Oooooh o;

The Taylex is strong in this chapter<3