The Good Life

*Alex*

I woke up alone in bed and naked. My head was pounding and I looked at the clock to see it was 12:30.

“Shit” I muttered as I saw all the papers that I had to grade scattered across the floor. I remembered knocking down the papers last night before I slept with…Jack. Fuck I slept with Jack last night. Don’t get me wrong, it was one of the best nights of my life, well from what I remember. I just didn’t want it to be awkward between us two because we never had the chance to talk things out.

I heard moving around in the living room, but it was probably just Cassadee and Rian cleaning up. I got up, went to pee, and went out to the living room to help them clean up. When I walked in I saw Jack with a trash bag in his hand and he was picking up beer bottles and red cups.

“Hey you don’t have to clean up, you don’t stay here” I went to grab the bag from him, but he moved it away. He’s so stubborn.

“No it’s the least I can do. You guys shouldn’t have to clean this all up by yourselves” he started cleaning again.

“Okay. Thanks.” Yep it was awkward. I went to grab a trash bag to start cleaning. I wondered where Cass and Rian were.

“Hey have you seen Rian or Cas-“ before I could finish my question I heard the hall bathroom door being slammed open into the wall and someone emptying the contents of their stomach into it. Jack went back to check on the person while I stayed in the living room; I was too squeamish.

“I found Cassadee!” Jack yelled out to me. I heard him trying to comfort her but I could still hear the sound of her throwing up and couldn’t take it anymore. I opened my trash bag and dry heaved until everything from last night came up. Rian walked through the door as I started.

“I brought donuts!” he yelled so we all could hear him. He looked over at me and gasped, “Alex! Dude are you ok?” He kneeled down to me looking concerned.

“Yeah I’m fine” I muttered as Jack and Cassadee walked out of the bathroom. Cassadee looked like death.

Jack helped Cass to Rian, then sat next to me, and started rubbing circles on my back. I gave him a small smile to tell him thanks.

“You both are weak. You guys even can’t hold your alcohol.” Rian laughed at Cass and me.
“Hey! I only got sick cause I heard Cassadee throwing up. You know how squeamish I get.” I whined making him and Jack laugh at me.

“Well if you assholes didn’t call me a lightweight this wouldn’t have happened!” Cass exclaimed slapping Rian and I on the arms. I heard Jack laugh and turned around to shoot him a fake glare. He smiled and rolled his eyes at me as I sat down next to him.

“Do you feel better?” Jack wondered, leaning over to kiss my forehead. I felt better just touching him. All the anger and hurt I felt towards Jack was nonexistent, I just wanted to be with him fuck everything else.

“I feel better now!”

“Aww look at the two love birds!” Cassadee announced. I laughed nervously and got up so we could start cleaning up.

“Alright guys let’s get to work, I have test to grade after this.” I fake cheered. I hated grading my students test.

“Yes Sir Mr. Gaskarth” Rian said sarcastically.

***

Two hours later we had finally finished cleaning. Thank god we have hard wood floors because there were so many spills and it was so much easier to mop. I had found Oli’s wallet in the couch and texted him so he would know where it was. Jack kept giving me provocative looks while we cleaned, but I looked away, laughing, trying not to show him, he was getting to me.

“Will you all help me grade those test, I have like two-hundred of them!!” I whined hoping they would give in easily.

“Nope! You shouldn’t have waited to the last minute.” Rian pointed out. He just loved bursting my bubble.

“I’ll help you, Alex” Jack offered after he finished laughing at Rian.

“And we’ll help too. Won’t we Rian?” Cass glared at Rian.

“Yes.” Rian muttered. I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed.

“Okay let me go grab the test.” I was about to go to my room and I heard Jack say he would come and help me. I could grab the test myself so I knew it was an excuse so we could finally talk alone.

“So can we talk for a minute?” Jack asked as we walked into my room. I knew it, but we might as well get it over with.

“Yeah.”

“Alex, I still feel bad for what you saw the other day. I was drunk and when I saw you with Lisa at the bar with that other couple I assumed you were on a double date of some sort and I acted on impulse. I’m so sorry, Alex I really didn’t mean to hurt you. I completely understand if you don’t want to continue on with our relationship, but I would like it if we could still be friends. I want you in my life even if that means we have to just be friends. I care about you a lot.” He ranted.

“That really did hurt me Jack, I told you there was nothing going on between Lisa and me but you didn’t trust me. I guess I kind of understand why you thought there would be something between her and me, but I had you and that’s all I needed. I thought I would never get over what you did, but I guess I don’t care anymore. As long as you promise me that next time you’ll come to me before jumping to conclusions then I’ll be glad to give us another go. I just want to be with you and be happy.”

He walked over to me, wrapped his hands around my neck and kissed me; I kissed back immediately. I really missed Jack, and everything about him: his smile, his scent, his smile, his laugh, the way he looked when was thinking too hard. I was truly head over heels for him. I pulled away from the kiss when I remembered Cassadee and Rian were waiting on us.

“Okay, let’s make up later cause I really have to finish this tonight.” He whined and I gave him one last kiss and grabbed the test that were on the floor.

“It took you bitches long enough!” Cass laughed when we walked out. She was feeling better already.

“Yeah yeah just help me grade. We can each do fifty. All you have to do is look at the answer key and mark the ones they got wrong.” I explained to them. We sat on the floor and got start and I could tell by the grades of the first three test this class average was going to be shit. The doorbell rang and Cass, Rian, and I looked at each other to see who would get up and answer it.

“Are you guys going to answer that?” Jack looked around at us curiously.

“I just sat down” Cassadee complained.

“Alex is closer” Rian threw out there.

“My knees hurt” I lied and the doorbell rang again.

“Soooo what I’m getting from this is you’re all completely lazy?” Jack was walking to the door laughing at us. He opened it and revealed Oli standing there awkwardly.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jack.” Jack introduced himself. He was so good with meeting new people.

“It’s nice to meet you too Jack, I’m Oli.” They shook hands and Jack moved to the side letting Oli walk through.

“OLI!! Why the hell are you here?” I joked with him. I introduced him to Cass and Rian last night so they waved to each other.

“I came to get my wallet.” He looked and saw it on the counter where I left it. “Oh I got it. So what are you guys doing?” he motioned down at the test we had scattered on the floor.

“We’re trying to grade Alex’s students test, but we might as well stop wasting our time because so far they’ve mostly been F’s.” Cass ran her fingers through her hair stressfully.

“Yeah like this question says ‘what’s the main characters name from Lord of The Flies’ and this student circled Atticus Finch.” Rian said shaking his head.

Oli blinked a couple of times and asked “Is he wrong?” Jack, Cass, and Rian laughed while I shook my head at him.

“His name is Ralph. Atticus Finch is the guy from To Kill a Mockingbird.” We all laughed, including Oli, at that and started back grading the test. Oli sat down with us watching and talking about the party.

“Turn on the TV! The Ravens are playing!” Rian exclaimed happily. I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, the game had just began.

Jack said he had to go the restroom and kissed me as he got up to leave. I didn’t think anything of it until I turned to Oli and saw the biggest ‘what the fuck is happening’ face of all time. I sat there waiting on him to ask because I couldn’t think of the right way to say ‘hey I’m dating a dude now.’

“Uhhh Alex?” he questioned. I looked at him as if I didn’t know what he was going to ask next.

“Yeah?”

“What was that?” I looked at Cassadee and Rian who looked back at the test they were grading as if they weren’t just watching us. They were so nosy.

“I umm…I didn’t tell you about that did I?” I knew I didn’t tell him about Jack and I. He just shook his head in return. “Oh…well Jack and I are sort of dating.” I was trying to be modest about it. I also didn’t really want to say I was gay because Jack was the only guy I found myself attracted to, but I don’t know what to call myself in this situation. I looked at Oli and he was looking into space and thinking. After a few moments he looked at me and ask:

“Do I turn you on?” I laughed in return knowing he was joking. I was also relieved that the information I shared with him didn’t affect our friendship in anyway.

“No! You asshole! I feel nothing when I look at you” I joked back to him, and he laughed.

“I’m seriously happy for you, man” he said truthfully.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him and Jack walked back into the living room. I kissed him on the cheek as he sat down which earned us ‘Awes’ from everyone causing Jack and I both to blush.

We sat there, finished grading the paper, and watched the game. Oli left at half-time because Hannah called and told him to bring his ass home. Rian and I made whipping noises at him because Hannah had him whipped. When the game finished Cass and Rian went to get ready for bed while I took Jack to my room so we could cuddle alone before he had to leave.

“So Oli didn’t care when you told him about us?” Jack asked as he laid his head down on my chest and touched his feet on my legs. He was so cute, but his feet were so fucking cold.

“Fuck Jack! Get your feet off me, they feel like ice!” I cried and he laughed and moved his feet. “Thanks. But no he didn’t care. My dad didn’t care either, and that was a huge relief to me.” I smiled thinking about how cool everyone was reacting to the whole me dating a guy thing.

“People don’t really make it a big deal anymore.” Jack stated and I just hummed in agreement. We laid down for another hour until it was time for Jack to go.

“How about you come have lunch with me tomorrow during my break?” I offered. I didn’t want to go the whole day without seeing him tomorrow so I thought it would be fun for us to have a small lunch date.

“I would love to Alex! Just text me when I should meet you there.” He smiled and put on his shoes. I walked him out to car and opened the door for him to get in it. We made out by his car until we had to pull away for air.

“Call me when you make It home safe” I kissed him one last time. He smiled at me and told me he would, while he got in his car. I watched him drive away and went inside so I could get ready for bed. I missed him already.

Notes

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