Take a Breath, Say Goodbye
Chapter Three
“Jack are you still there?”
“Yeah man… I just… in what kind of context are we talking here?” Jack pulled himself up on the door handle and unlocked the door, giggling at Alex falling backwards into the bathroom as he opened it.
“Dude! Warning next time!” The man scowled, but took Jack’s offering of a hand up and straightened himself out.
“I don’t like… I don’t mean me and Lisa, if that’s what you were worried about. Hell no. It’s Rian… he’s been with this girl Kara for so many years and he keeps asking me for advice and hell, I can barely tie my shoelaces, I was hoping you’d have some ideas?” Jack had stopped listening after Lisa, his heart ceasing to beat completely. His hopes had roared into the sky and shot off in all directions, washing the happiness over him like a tsunami. One sentence and Alex had sent them rocketing back to the ground, puncturing holes as they made their way back inside of Jack, to be buried away.
“Uh, yeah man you had me worried there, ‘cause Lisa obviously loves you a lot” Jack ran a hand through the back of his hair and looked down as he said it, because he knew it was true, and he was chasing shadows trying to get his head around Alex. He needed to keep telling himself that he had someone and get over it.
“Wait, so why is Rian’s relationship a sham?”
“Well uh- look please don’t tell him I told you it’s just that uh… he uh” Alex was spluttering and stuttering everywhere and it was so fucking cute and Jack winced slightly as Alex groaned and ran a hand through his hair and the veins on his left arm became outlined and yeah… Jack can feel himself hardening again. He pulls Alex fully into the bathroom and sits him on the toilet after putting the seat down, then settles himself on the floor, where he can hide his semi by curling his knees up to his chin.
“Take your time Alex, they’ll just think we’re having a double team shit or something” Jack hadn’t meant it to be funny, he was being serious, but Alex threw himself forward, almost completely off the toilet and let out the most raucous laugh Jack had ever heard, it actually startled him into jumping backwards a bit.
“Oh my God Jack, you are genuinely just the ultimate of all funny guys, you’re fucking hilarious man!” Alex was squinting and holding his stomach and Jack could see his whole body quivering with laughter. The image sent waves of arousal coursing through him because hell, he’d give anything to have the boy quivering because of something else Jack was doing. Preferably because he was sucking his dick or something along those lines but Jack wasn’t fussy as long as Alex was naked.
“So…” Jack snapped his legs back up to his chest and rested his chin on them at the sound of Alex’s voice “You got time for a story Barakat?”
“To make you feel better Alex? I’ve got all the time in the world bud” Alex smiled at this and looked at the ground, shaking his head as if it was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him and Jack relaxed, having tensed after he’d said the sentence, worried Alex would take it out of context (although… it would be in context because Jack is bent as a fucking roundabout for Alex but yknow, he doesn’t really want Alex to know that)
“I guess I’ll start in high school then…”
Twenty minutes later and Jack’s jaw is hanging around somewhere on the floor, and he definitely doesn’t have a boner anymore.
“Holy fucking shit man, poor Rian!”
“Yeah man, but like, he does love Kara, to the moon and back, but not in the way she loves him, but he doesn’t want to tell her because fuck, Kara would do something stupid like try and kill herself. They were both so fucked up by what happened, neither of them are really stable enough to break it off with the other, but all the relationship does to either of them is fuck them up more and more as each minute passes, it’s fucking horrible to watch man. I fucking hate it.” Alex’s voice cracks when he says hate and Jack scrambles to his feet, pulling Alex up from the toilet and wrapping his arms around the man. Alex doesn’t tense like Jack expects him too, instead slumping against him, like it had taken every bit of energy he had to recite the story to Jack. And to be honest, Jack isn’t surprised. Hearing that Rian’s dad had raped Kara one night when she was staying over and then had done the same to Rian when he woke up and screamed to high heaven when he saw what was happening definitely struck something inside of Jack. He knows that this kind of thing happens, but you never expect it to happen to someone you know. Especially not someone you’ve just met, who is best friends with the guy you think you might genuinely be falling in love with. Hell. Jack was not prepared for this.
He tentatively brings his hand up from Alex’s back and puts it in Alex’s hair and Alex buries his face further into Jack’s neck, melting into him. Jack knows he should help Alex think of something to help Rian, but right now he’s pretty content with just standing like this until the day he dies. Actually, he’d be pretty content to be lain in the ground like this too please and thank you.
“Alex?” The two men jump apart at the voice and upon investigation, discover it’s Lisa. “Is Jack okay up there?”
“Yeah babe, he’s fine, just ill I think we’ll be down in a few!”
“Okay baby, I’ll keep some dessert for you both” Jack turns away from the smile that tickles Alex’s face when he gets called baby, because who is he to question Alex’s happiness with his girlfriend. He pats Alex on the back with a promise that they’ll come up with something, somehow and makes a swift exit leaving Alex standing alone in the bathroom with puffy eyes and a chip on his shoulder the size of Africa.
Once downstairs again, Jack pops his head around the door of the kitchen to apologise to Lisa for disrupting the meal. She swats her hand in his direction and tells him to “stop being a banana, it’s not your fault you got sick” and he offers to help her carry the desserts through. Dibs on the Banoffee Pie, he carries it through to the Dining Room and there’s a round of sarcastic applause for him.
“I hate you all; it isn’t my fault I got sick! Right Lisa?!” Jack turns to Lisa behind him for support and she pats him on the back.
“Don’t be nasty guys, Jack here was the only one nice enough to help me carry the dessert, so he gets all of my support” she steps onto her toes and plants a kiss on Jack’s cheek and then winks at Alex, who is pouting in their direction.
“Don’t get jealous Ali Al, I’m all yours” Jack winks as he says it and ducks as Alex throws a balled up napkin at him.
“Dickfucker”
“Hey, Jack is not a dickfucker!” Lisa is almost bent double laughing at her boyfriend and Jack feels like he might follow. He doesn’t feel any jealousy at this point; he’s enjoying himself too much. Plus, he kinda feels that as long as Alex is happy, it shouldn’t really matter to him.
“He is a dickfucker I saw to that last night” That’s Jack gone, falling against the wall and grasping his stomach.
“Alex- please stop- I can- my ribs- oh my GOD” He’s laughing himself a six pack and he’s happy about it. He’s happy about the boy who made it happen and he feels like maybe, he can kinda be happy that the boy is with someone that makes him happy.
Dessert is spectacular and Jack is currently flailing around one of the couches laughing at Alex nursing a food baby belly. He’s talking too it and rubbing it and saying things like “mommy loves you” and Jack doesn’t know whether get up and go to the toilet or just piss on the couch because holy fucking shit, this dude is hilarious. Then Lisa comes back in and settles herself next to Alex and she’s looking a bit too worried about Alex’s behaviour for it to be comfortable for Jack. She keeps grasping her own stomach and looking wildly around the room. Jack can literally see the sweat forming on her brows. Gavin bursts in at that moment and exclaims that they’re leaving but it’s been wonderful. Alex jumps up as fast as his food baby will allow him and pulls Jack into another hug. Jack reassures him with a whisper that they’ll figure something out for Rian and winces when Alex squeezes him tighter, robbing him of air. Jack then turns to Lisa.
Bending himself down to her level, he pulls her in for a hug too. He squeezes her a little and jumps backwards when she begins wriggling and panting. Lisa’s face immediately drops when she realises what she’s done. Jack pulls her back in again and whispers something to her. She gasps and drops her head onto his shoulder, nodding into his suit jacket. He doesn’t want her to get upset in front of everyone so he pushes her back to arm’s length and leaves with a “Tell him”.
Alex looks questioningly at Lisa as the troupe make their way out of the front door, Rian having left twenty minutes earlier. They were alone. He’d told Jack he would call later and organise a place where they could talk about what to do for Rian, but right now his girlfriend looked upset and Jack’s last words to her had been “Tell him”.
“Tell me what Lis?”
“Wha- what?”
“What did Jack mean, tell him? What do you need to tell me?”
“Well I u- yknow I jus- oh Alex” She snaked her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, drawing every bit of comfort and warmth she could from his body. He felt the tears soaking through his shirt before he noticed Lisa was shaking and he walked them to the couch and sat her down on it.
“Hey, hey” His voice was soft and Lisa knew he was just trying to comfort her, but his niceness was just adding to her fear.
“No please, don’t mollycoddle me, I need to say this”
“Hey, no worries, tell me what’s going on Lis” He smiled and sat down next to her, taking her left hand in his and began drawing shapes on their entwined limbs with his right.
“Well I uh- Oh Alex, I- I’m pregnant”
“Yeah man… I just… in what kind of context are we talking here?” Jack pulled himself up on the door handle and unlocked the door, giggling at Alex falling backwards into the bathroom as he opened it.
“Dude! Warning next time!” The man scowled, but took Jack’s offering of a hand up and straightened himself out.
“I don’t like… I don’t mean me and Lisa, if that’s what you were worried about. Hell no. It’s Rian… he’s been with this girl Kara for so many years and he keeps asking me for advice and hell, I can barely tie my shoelaces, I was hoping you’d have some ideas?” Jack had stopped listening after Lisa, his heart ceasing to beat completely. His hopes had roared into the sky and shot off in all directions, washing the happiness over him like a tsunami. One sentence and Alex had sent them rocketing back to the ground, puncturing holes as they made their way back inside of Jack, to be buried away.
“Uh, yeah man you had me worried there, ‘cause Lisa obviously loves you a lot” Jack ran a hand through the back of his hair and looked down as he said it, because he knew it was true, and he was chasing shadows trying to get his head around Alex. He needed to keep telling himself that he had someone and get over it.
“Wait, so why is Rian’s relationship a sham?”
“Well uh- look please don’t tell him I told you it’s just that uh… he uh” Alex was spluttering and stuttering everywhere and it was so fucking cute and Jack winced slightly as Alex groaned and ran a hand through his hair and the veins on his left arm became outlined and yeah… Jack can feel himself hardening again. He pulls Alex fully into the bathroom and sits him on the toilet after putting the seat down, then settles himself on the floor, where he can hide his semi by curling his knees up to his chin.
“Take your time Alex, they’ll just think we’re having a double team shit or something” Jack hadn’t meant it to be funny, he was being serious, but Alex threw himself forward, almost completely off the toilet and let out the most raucous laugh Jack had ever heard, it actually startled him into jumping backwards a bit.
“Oh my God Jack, you are genuinely just the ultimate of all funny guys, you’re fucking hilarious man!” Alex was squinting and holding his stomach and Jack could see his whole body quivering with laughter. The image sent waves of arousal coursing through him because hell, he’d give anything to have the boy quivering because of something else Jack was doing. Preferably because he was sucking his dick or something along those lines but Jack wasn’t fussy as long as Alex was naked.
“So…” Jack snapped his legs back up to his chest and rested his chin on them at the sound of Alex’s voice “You got time for a story Barakat?”
“To make you feel better Alex? I’ve got all the time in the world bud” Alex smiled at this and looked at the ground, shaking his head as if it was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him and Jack relaxed, having tensed after he’d said the sentence, worried Alex would take it out of context (although… it would be in context because Jack is bent as a fucking roundabout for Alex but yknow, he doesn’t really want Alex to know that)
“I guess I’ll start in high school then…”
Twenty minutes later and Jack’s jaw is hanging around somewhere on the floor, and he definitely doesn’t have a boner anymore.
“Holy fucking shit man, poor Rian!”
“Yeah man, but like, he does love Kara, to the moon and back, but not in the way she loves him, but he doesn’t want to tell her because fuck, Kara would do something stupid like try and kill herself. They were both so fucked up by what happened, neither of them are really stable enough to break it off with the other, but all the relationship does to either of them is fuck them up more and more as each minute passes, it’s fucking horrible to watch man. I fucking hate it.” Alex’s voice cracks when he says hate and Jack scrambles to his feet, pulling Alex up from the toilet and wrapping his arms around the man. Alex doesn’t tense like Jack expects him too, instead slumping against him, like it had taken every bit of energy he had to recite the story to Jack. And to be honest, Jack isn’t surprised. Hearing that Rian’s dad had raped Kara one night when she was staying over and then had done the same to Rian when he woke up and screamed to high heaven when he saw what was happening definitely struck something inside of Jack. He knows that this kind of thing happens, but you never expect it to happen to someone you know. Especially not someone you’ve just met, who is best friends with the guy you think you might genuinely be falling in love with. Hell. Jack was not prepared for this.
He tentatively brings his hand up from Alex’s back and puts it in Alex’s hair and Alex buries his face further into Jack’s neck, melting into him. Jack knows he should help Alex think of something to help Rian, but right now he’s pretty content with just standing like this until the day he dies. Actually, he’d be pretty content to be lain in the ground like this too please and thank you.
“Alex?” The two men jump apart at the voice and upon investigation, discover it’s Lisa. “Is Jack okay up there?”
“Yeah babe, he’s fine, just ill I think we’ll be down in a few!”
“Okay baby, I’ll keep some dessert for you both” Jack turns away from the smile that tickles Alex’s face when he gets called baby, because who is he to question Alex’s happiness with his girlfriend. He pats Alex on the back with a promise that they’ll come up with something, somehow and makes a swift exit leaving Alex standing alone in the bathroom with puffy eyes and a chip on his shoulder the size of Africa.
Once downstairs again, Jack pops his head around the door of the kitchen to apologise to Lisa for disrupting the meal. She swats her hand in his direction and tells him to “stop being a banana, it’s not your fault you got sick” and he offers to help her carry the desserts through. Dibs on the Banoffee Pie, he carries it through to the Dining Room and there’s a round of sarcastic applause for him.
“I hate you all; it isn’t my fault I got sick! Right Lisa?!” Jack turns to Lisa behind him for support and she pats him on the back.
“Don’t be nasty guys, Jack here was the only one nice enough to help me carry the dessert, so he gets all of my support” she steps onto her toes and plants a kiss on Jack’s cheek and then winks at Alex, who is pouting in their direction.
“Don’t get jealous Ali Al, I’m all yours” Jack winks as he says it and ducks as Alex throws a balled up napkin at him.
“Dickfucker”
“Hey, Jack is not a dickfucker!” Lisa is almost bent double laughing at her boyfriend and Jack feels like he might follow. He doesn’t feel any jealousy at this point; he’s enjoying himself too much. Plus, he kinda feels that as long as Alex is happy, it shouldn’t really matter to him.
“He is a dickfucker I saw to that last night” That’s Jack gone, falling against the wall and grasping his stomach.
“Alex- please stop- I can- my ribs- oh my GOD” He’s laughing himself a six pack and he’s happy about it. He’s happy about the boy who made it happen and he feels like maybe, he can kinda be happy that the boy is with someone that makes him happy.
Dessert is spectacular and Jack is currently flailing around one of the couches laughing at Alex nursing a food baby belly. He’s talking too it and rubbing it and saying things like “mommy loves you” and Jack doesn’t know whether get up and go to the toilet or just piss on the couch because holy fucking shit, this dude is hilarious. Then Lisa comes back in and settles herself next to Alex and she’s looking a bit too worried about Alex’s behaviour for it to be comfortable for Jack. She keeps grasping her own stomach and looking wildly around the room. Jack can literally see the sweat forming on her brows. Gavin bursts in at that moment and exclaims that they’re leaving but it’s been wonderful. Alex jumps up as fast as his food baby will allow him and pulls Jack into another hug. Jack reassures him with a whisper that they’ll figure something out for Rian and winces when Alex squeezes him tighter, robbing him of air. Jack then turns to Lisa.
Bending himself down to her level, he pulls her in for a hug too. He squeezes her a little and jumps backwards when she begins wriggling and panting. Lisa’s face immediately drops when she realises what she’s done. Jack pulls her back in again and whispers something to her. She gasps and drops her head onto his shoulder, nodding into his suit jacket. He doesn’t want her to get upset in front of everyone so he pushes her back to arm’s length and leaves with a “Tell him”.
Alex looks questioningly at Lisa as the troupe make their way out of the front door, Rian having left twenty minutes earlier. They were alone. He’d told Jack he would call later and organise a place where they could talk about what to do for Rian, but right now his girlfriend looked upset and Jack’s last words to her had been “Tell him”.
“Tell me what Lis?”
“Wha- what?”
“What did Jack mean, tell him? What do you need to tell me?”
“Well I u- yknow I jus- oh Alex” She snaked her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, drawing every bit of comfort and warmth she could from his body. He felt the tears soaking through his shirt before he noticed Lisa was shaking and he walked them to the couch and sat her down on it.
“Hey, hey” His voice was soft and Lisa knew he was just trying to comfort her, but his niceness was just adding to her fear.
“No please, don’t mollycoddle me, I need to say this”
“Hey, no worries, tell me what’s going on Lis” He smiled and sat down next to her, taking her left hand in his and began drawing shapes on their entwined limbs with his right.
“Well I uh- Oh Alex, I- I’m pregnant”
3/30/13