Kiss and Sell

Alex had met up with Zack after school for a little bit since the kid was pretty sweet and occasionally hung out with Danny too (not to mention Alex might have bought some weed off him) which meant Cass had found him and decided to walk home with him. The three were hanging outside the building, just piddling around on the playground they were totally too big for and talking about nothing on the swings. Eventually Zack had to leave on his fly ass skateboard, totally showing off by doing some rad tricks down the road, and left the two best friends to themselves.

"I didn't know you were friends with that Zack guy." Cass voiced as she followed Alex to his house. He slowed down so they were walking side by side as he glanced at the girl who grabbed his arm to be closer and feed off his heat source since it was freezing outside.

"Well, we were something else when we first met, but, yeah, I guess now we are sorta friends." Alex shrugged. Cass gave him a look of disbelief. To be honest, Cass never really thought Alex was actually a whore. She always thought it was just rumors that ruined his nice rep because he was supposedly enemies with that nice Lisa cheerleader, so hearing he not only dated Ryan (or was going to whatever happened there she wasn't so sure) but also had some kind of relationship as more-than-friends with Zack was a little surprising for her. Alex may be her best friend, but she obviously didn't know much about him.

"What do you mean by 'something else'?" She asked -purely curious of Alex's life. It seemed to her that in the past few months he's really changed. She tilted her head to rest on his shoulder as she heard him emit a nervous chuckle, "Uh, just, y'know, sometimes would meet up and... do stuff..." He shrugged.

"Stuff?" She echoed -cocking her eyebrow at him while Alex gave her an exasperated look. She knew exactly what he was saying she just wanted to hear it. She kind of could see it. Alex was a good looking guy who cared about what others thought about him and kept up his appearance because of it. He honestly just seemed like a guy who would have a lot of sex, not that he really does anymore or at least, Cass figured he didn't anymore. "What did Jack think about this 'stuff' you were doing with him?" Cass asked.

Alex never really told Cass anything about him and Jack's relationship except for maybe that Alex really liked him (that was pretty obvious though). She didn't really understand what him and Jack were or their rules of being together.

Alex almost didn't want to explain everything to Cass. He kind of felt like she'd judge him. Out of anyone Cass was the only person who Alex couldn't stand judging him.

He sighed and bit his lip, "Uh, well, I'm sure he hated it, but we weren't dating so he couldn't do anything about it. Uh, y'know I had a bunch of... friends who I... uh... did stuff with, and Jack didn't really seem to care until we started getting closer and everything." He glanced at Cass who looked slightly surprised with Alex's words.

"I... Like, I always heard you got around," She chuckled quietly, "I didn't really believe it because you looked so nice and plus Rian said you were friends with his friend and he talked to you and you seemed okay, so I just thought they were mean rumors." She admitted -giving Alex a sad look as he bit his lip nervously.

"Nope, they weren't. They were all true. I was... like, a really big whore... I mean, it was just recently I stopped going around fucking every guy I met." He sighed, "I was trying to deal with a lot of shit, I still am, and... It didn't help, at all. It just made everything worst, honestly. I realized that, so I quit. Sometimes, I'm so disgusted with myself I don't even want to look at some of the old guys I messed around with. Zack's nice, though. I can stand him, I guess." He chuckled weakly -glancing at Cass who smiled sadly as she squeezed his arm reassuringly.

"What caused all of that?" She asked carefully, "I mean, you said you were trying to deal with a lot of shit, what do you mean by that?"

Alex sighed, "It was just, like, I had a lot of messed up feelings about love and relationships." He bit his lip as he glanced up at his house and snaked his hands into his coat's pockets, "My first boyfriend would tell me he loved me then go and cheat on me with sluts and even boast about it in front of me, like, it was normal to be unfaithful and wasn't a bad thing so that really fucked me up with relationships and... Well, he had... He had hit me and our relationship just completely messed me up, y'know?" He admitted -giving Cass a sad look as she squeezed his arm again in comfort.

"Did you love him?" She asked quietly.

"N-not really? I mean... I liked him and I figured I'd always be with him, but it was because I was settling for him... I thought he was as good as I was going to get so I kind of made myself love him, but I didn't honestly love him..." He mumbled while looking down as they reached his porch. He opened the door and let Cass enter first. He could hear his mother doing something in the kitchen so he decided to sit down on the couch beside Cass who examined his house.

Honestly, it was much smaller than she imagined, but it wasn't a mess and seemed nice enough. She watched Alex scoot closer to her and raise his legs to rest on the coffee table while picking up a T.V. remote and calling, "Mom, I'm home and my friend Cass is here, too!"

"Okay!" Isobel called back, "Do you kids want something to eat?"

"No." Alex said while rolling his eyes before glancing at Cass who finally built up the courage to ask, "What about Jack?"

"What about him?" Alex asked -cocking an eyebrow at his friend who rolled her eyes.

"Do you love him?" She asked.

Alex averted his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about love and Jack. At the moment he wasn't sure how he felt for the bad boy. He cared about him, he wanted to be with him as friends or more than friends, and he felt affectionate towards him, but he wasn't sure that that actually meant he loved him. It was an on and off feeling. Sometimes he wanted to kill the guy he hated him so much, and other times he wanted to kiss him so hard it bruised because he loved him so much. Was that love or was it Alex being bipolar and stupid?

"I... Like him and care about him, but I dunno if it's necessarily love..." He mumbled.

"If you love him so much-" Cass continued -sitting back in her seat and cuddling into Alex's side, "-then why won't you hang out with him anymore?"

Alex sighed, "Cass, I told you I don't want to talk about this."

"Alex," Cass mocked his tone, "Why won't you just tell me. I'm your best friend. What? Are you scared I'm gonna tell someone?" She asked, "Do you not trust me?"

"No, that's not it." Alex argued quickly only to be cut off by Cass exclaiming, "Then why won't you tell me why you can't hang out anymore!"

"Because my dad said so, okay?!" Alex exclaimed angrily, "He's the reason I can't hang out with Jack! He doesn't like him because of one stupid lie and we're suffering through it now. Jack doesn't need me anyways. He's going to get over this crap and move on and find a nice guy who wasn't a whore, who isn't disgusting and probably a virgin, and he's going to get happy. I'm not right for him, okay? I'm just not." By the end his voice was quiet and weak. It wavered with his words. He hated saying them. He hated thinking he wouldn't be with Jack. Again, his feelings were inconsistent and basically the most annoying things ever.

Cass fell silent -looking as if she was deflating slightly. She slumped against him as she sighed and mumbled, "I just want you guys to be friends again and be happy. You think you're not right for him, but he thinks the exact opposite. He's depressed without you. He loves you. You probably don't think he does or whatever but I can tell he really loves you."

Alex bit his lip and quietly asked, "Did he say that?"

"No, but I can tell. I just... I don't get it... I mean, I don't see your dad around here, have never even heard you talk about him before ever, and now all of a sudden he just rules your life?" She asked -looking up at Alex who sighed as he averted his eyes from hers.

For a minute he didn't respond instead just looked up at the cartoon playing on the television. He didn't know why he listened to Peter. Peter was never around, honestly nothing more than a bully towards Alex, and he knew really shouldn't listen to him because he couldn't just control his life like this, but he was also scared. He was scared for Jack mostly. Peter could hurt him all he wanted, but if he ever hurt Jack that would be when Alex broke.

"He's really... aggressive, Cass." Alex eventually mumbled as he looked down at the girl tucked into his side to see her surprised expression. He knew she understood what he meant by "aggressive", "If I don't listen to him I could get myself into serious trouble... and possibly Jack too, and I just can't do that to him..." He breathed.

"Alex," Cass sighed but before she could continue another feminine voice was cutting in.

"Your father told you you couldn't be friends with who now, Alex?" Isobel asked -sitting down on the love seat while placing two cups of hot chocolate in front of the two.

Alex hesitated, "N-no, Mom, you misheard. D-Dad didn't say anything. We were talking about-" He started only to be cut off by Cass saying, "Jack Barakat, Mrs. Gaskarth. Alex says they can't be friends anymore because Mr. Gaskarth doesn't like Jack."

Before Alex could counter with anything and reassure his mother it was nothing Isobel quickly asked, "Who is Jack Barakat again? Have I met him?"

"Um," Cass began, "He's tall, dark hair and eyes, pretty skinny-"

"The biker boy?" Isobel asked -raising her eyebrows in surprise, "Alex, why didn't you tell me? What did Peter say exactly?" She interrogated.

Alex sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Mom, it's nothing. I swear. Don't worry."

"It's becoming a problem." Cass admitted, "You see, Jack and Alex really like each other and Jack's getting a little depressed not being with him." She gave Isobel and look that said 'they're totally in love' and Isobel gasped as she covered her mouth.

"Alex!" She cried -voice muffled from her hand, "Why the hell didn't you tell me all of this?! I'm talking to your father tonight about this. I can't believe I didn't know!" She shook her head and glared at her son, "The next time I figure out you and your father are keeping things from me I am going to ground both of you." She threatened before standing up and moving back to the kitchen.

Cass seemed proud of herself but Alex was fuming beside her. He had obviously not wanted to tell his mother because she was going to tell his father and get him in trouble which is exactly what Peter told him not to do. He stood up abruptly -feeling the anxiety bubbling in his stomach and mixing with the anger. If his mother talked to Peter about this Peter was going to kill Jack without a doubt and then him. He walked through the kitchen to his room with Cass right behind him and straight inside his bathroom. He slammed the door shut and fell down in a heap on the cold tile floor.

"Alex! Alex open the door please!" Cass cried.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" Alex screamed back, "We aren't friends anymore. We aren't anything! I hate you!"

Alex could hear Cass gasp and after that it was silent. He didn't care if he had hurt her feelings. He didn't care about much of anything anymore. He sat up and wiped the tears from his face. His life was over officially. He grabbed the weed from his pocket and looked down at it.

Might as well make it memorable.

Notes

Hey guuuuys, so v.v sad news. Its really, really hard for me and Rebecca to get together and edit chapters (which is why this hasn't been updated in like a month) so we decided that I'd just write and update alone again. Maybe, like, during the summer when its easier to get together (although my internet is pretty shit so it might still be hard) we will edit together again (since I honestly doubt I'll be finished by then anyways. I have a lot planned for this! Always have!) but until then it's just gonna be my and my crappy chapters v.v. Expect a lot of updates today, though, and lots of drama.

AND CASS MY BABY ;-; Fuk u alyx :'((((((((((