the Prince and the Punk

Jack stops, ducking behind a tree to catch his breath. He was too drunk for this right now. Jack feels the fact he was somewhat out of shape catching up with him as he attempts to control his ragged breathing and racing heart.

"You okay?" A curious voice asks, causing Jack to jump.

He spins to see Alex, illuminated by the moonlight. For once he didn't have his sunglasses on, and honestly he kind of looked cute. That was probably the booze talking though.
"Uh, yeah," Jack says stumbling to his feet.

"Are you drunk?" Alex asks, his nose crinkling. "You reek like booze. Or do you always smell like that after work?"

"A little bit of both," Jack says, laughing warmly. Something about Alex was almost drawing him in right now.

Alex chuckles at Jack and walks up to him. "Would you mind if I escorted you home? I don't think it would be right of me to let you stumble home alone."

"Sure," Jack says, cracking a grin. Alex was incredibly charming right now. "What're you doing out so late anyway 'lex?" Jack asks, he figured that Alex should have more than enough at whatever mansion he lived in he shouldn't even have to come out.

"I was watching the stars, they're really pretty tonight," Alex admits, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

"That's cute," Jack says, his words slurring together slightly.

"So, Jack, where might I be escorting you to this fine evening?" Alex asks, looking at the quiet street ahead.

"The apartment building across the the Conoco," Jack answers.

"I'm not quite sure where that is, but I'm sure it won't be too hard to find." Alex walks a few paces ahead of Jack, scanning the distance for the bright lit Conoco sign.

"Wrong direction 'lex!" Jack calls as he turns to cross the street.

Alex's mouth forms an 'o' and he bounds to catch up to Jack. "So, Jack. What do you like to do in your free time?" Alex asks, attempting to make small talk.

"I like to play my guitar, sometimes I sing too, but not really. That's definitely not my strong point. How 'bout you cutey?" Oh my God. Did I really just say that?

"Well, I really used to like singing and playing my guitar, but this whole fame shit is kind of frusturating. They hardly even let me use my own lyrics. They say they're too 'serious' and not 'dirty' enough for today's youth. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Now I guess I kind of just like to hand out, alone mostly though. And that's if I can get to damned tabloid off of me," Alex responds.

"I think I can understand why you really don't care of the papparazzi," Jack muses. "I refuse to serve you one time and they're crawling up my tree. They don't even know my name, they just keep calling me 'the bartender' and other dumb shit."

"They'll probably forget about you, give it a week," Alex says, smiling at Jack brightly.
Jack thought perhaps he'd actually have liked Alex when he apologized tonight if he had come off like this. "Oh, there's the Conoco," Jack says, pointing ahead at the building that had cars entering at leaving it. By this point he had already pretty much sobered up, and he probably didn't need Alex to escort him any further. But he find himself adding a slight stumble to his next step, so Alex would rush up to help him.

Alex is holding his arm lightly. "Careful. Let's get you across the street now, yes?"

"Mhmm," Jack nods and they head for the cross walk and wait patiently. When they're across the street. "Do you wanna come in 'lex?"

"Nah, I should really get home. Thanks for asking though!" Alex smiles and turns on his heel. "Text me!"

"Wait, Alex."

Alex turns around. "Yeah."

Jack gently leans forward and hugs him. "I misjudged you really bad. Sorry. I'm not going to apologize for how I treated you yesterday though, just earlier tonight. 'Kay?"

"Fair," Alex smiles and returns the hug. "Just call me or text me though. Bye Jack!"

Jack feels his heart racing all over again, just as if he had been running. He quietly enters his building and climbs the stairs to his apartment.

Notes

So today my friend and I found some ship names of kids we go to school with, and we didn't want our other friend to see it. So Friend 1 took it out of my notebook and handed it too me. Friend 2 proceeded to tackle me and bite my hand till I gave it up. And we were embarrassed because she was reading it, then my English teacher asked us to show it too her and we were super embarrassed because we hadn't even wanted our friend to see it. And she laughed at us and told us her friends and herself did things like that when they were our age, and proceeded to teach us a super cool way to fold it so we could tell if someone else have been reading it.

That is all.

Chapter Title Credit:
"I Just Wanna Run" by The Downtown Fiction

xoxo
Dewey