Let's Take This Mess and Make a Home

*Alex Pov*

'"Jack, we need to talk."

"What's up? Everything okay?"

"Actually, no."

"What's the matter?" He moved closer, concern evident on his face.

"Follow me." I led us outside to stand on the front porch. We'd both been drinking, so neither of us really felt the slight chill outside. We were far from drunk, but we'd had enough to make the difference. "Now we can talk."

"What's the matter? Is she being a bitch again?"

"No."

"Oh, then what's the problem?" He moved slightly closer.

"You."

"Me? What'd I do?" He physically moved as if he'd been slapped. His concern quickly turned to shock.

I took a deep breath. "You're nothing but a stupid drunk. I don't want the kids around that."

"Wait, what are you talking about? You never said anything about my drinking. What brought all of this on?"

"It's been a problem. It's always been a problem. You're irritating and irresponsible. I can't babysit you, too."

"Alex, why didn't you say something? I don't drink around them unless you are. If it was a problem, why didn't you say something?" I could see the tears already forming in his eyes.

"I was too busy trying to figure out how to break the bad news."

"What bad news?"

"Leave, Jack. Go home. You're not welcome here anymore."

He started shaking his head frantically. "Come on, Alex, give me a chance."

"Leave me alone, Jack. Don't you get it? I don't want you."

"That's not true, Lex. I know it's not."

"Don't call me that. I've been lying to you. I can't stand you. I haven't been able to for years. Are you seriously that stupid? I've been using you for years. I needed you for the band. I could've replaced you, but you're good, so I just put up with you."

"That's not true," he croaked, his voice cracking on the last word.

"What? Did you think I actually cared about you? You were just an easy hook up. You were just convenient when I was lonely. It never meant anything."

"Al-ex." His voice finally gave out completely and the tears spilled over. "You- you don't mean that. You said you loved- me."

"That was just a lie to keep you around. I never loved you. I could never love someone like you. You're a worthless, drunken whore. Get out of here, Jack. I hate you. I never want to see you again."

He fell to his knees, steadily sobbing. "Alex, p-please. Don't do this."

"Goodbye, Jack." I turned around and slammed the door in his face. I heard his car door slam and the engine turn on. I finally collapsed. The tears that had been threatening to spill, finally came pouring down. I crumbled against the door. "I'm so sorry, Jacky." I whispered over and over, praying that maybe, somehow he would hear me.'

I jumped awake. The bed was empty, as usual, so I must have been screaming and thrashing around for a while. My legs were definitely sore, and I could tell I had been pulling at my hair again. I tend to do that. It's almost like I'm subconsciously trying to make the torture stop, but it never works. I still had tears running down my face, and my chest felt like there was a knife in it. My heart rate was through the roof. I hadn't had this nightmare in a long time. Seeing Jack the other day must have triggered it. Breathe, Alex. If I didn't get my heart rate under control, I was going to have to take another one of my pills.

After about 5 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to calm myself down, I decided to try one last thing before turning to meds again. I dialed the phone.

"Lex?" I felt bad for waking him, but the sound of his voice was already helping.

"Y-yeah." I tried to hide the stuttering as a yawn, but I was shaking too bad.

He must have noticed. "Hey, what's the matter? What time is it?"

I looked at the clock. "Holy sh-shit, it's like 3 am. I'm s-sorry."

"No, Lex, it's fine. I don't mind. What's wrong?"

"I had a n-night terror again."

"Awe. You want to talk about it?"

"Eh. It wasn't anything n-new."

"What was it about?"

"You." It was silent for a moment. "I'm s-so fucking s-sorry, Jacky. I'm a horrible p-person. I hate myself s-so fucking much." I couldn't even breathe, I was crying so hard. I was trying to be quiet so I wouldn't get caught on the phone, but it wasn't working.

"Shh, shh. It's okay. It's okay. You're not a horrible person. You're Alex. I've known you most of our lives. I can assure you, you're not a horrible person. You're okay. That's in the past, Lex. Forget about it. I'm not mad at you. It's okay." I wanted to see him so badly. "Hey, turn the tv on. You can't get caught, remember?" I nodded even though he couldn't see me, and turned it on. "Calm down. I'm okay. Just breathe. Do you want to do the counting thing, or are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm calming down a bit."

"I have an idea. Put your headphones in. The ones with the mic. Plug them in and then you can put your phone down and talk that way."

I did as he said. "I don't know what the point is, but I did it."

"Good. Now, lay down, close your eyes, and just talk to me. Or I'll just talk to you until you fall asleep, okay?"

"Okay," I murmured, already feeling tired.

It wasn't long before I ended up passing out. That was probably the most restful few hours of sleep I've gotten in a while.

The next morning, I woke up with my earbuds still in, and my phone still on the bed next to me. Jack must have hung up after I passed out. I smiled at the thought. Even after everything I've put him through, he still sat up with me at 3 in the morning because I needed him. I can't even fathom how much that means to me. I looked at my clock, and realized it was 6:20 am. That meant I actually had to get up to get the kids ready for school. I swear, I hate Monday just as much as they do. I went through the regular routine of starting breakfast and then waking them up. Jax only takes a half hour to eat and get ready, but Izzy takes an hour, so he just gets up with her.

By the time I got home from dropping Jax off at school (he starts and hour later than Izzy), it was almost 8:30. I was dead tired still, but I refused to go back to bed. It was a long shot, but I left a note on the table saying I got called into the studio for a while and walked back out the door. I hated lying, but he was more than worth it.

I had an extra key to his apartment, so I didn't bother ringing in. I just let myself in and went up to his floor. I walked in, and his familiar scent instantly washed over me. It was comforting. I wasn't exactly tired enough to sleep yet, so I just went into the kitchen and cleaned up a bit. Jack never does dishes until he's eating cereal out of a coffee cup with a fork, therefore, it wasn't really a surprise to see the sink full of dishes. I quickly loaded everything in and turned it on, careful not to make too much noise. I checked his cupboards, which to no surprise, were pretty bare. I guess there goes my idea to make breakfast. I still wasn't tired enough to sleep, so I did the other thing that Jack never does unless he absolutely has to: laundry. Sure enough, his floor had clothes all over it, and the hamper was almost empty. I swear, it would kill him to put them in the basket. He easily had about two loads of laundry, but once I separated the jeans from everything else, it was about even. I typically wash jeans separate anyway. While the washer and dishwasher were running, I decided to make a trip up to the corner store down the street. They literally had everything you could possibly need, including pancake mix and syrup. Thankfully when I got back, Jack was still fast asleep, and I was finally tired enough to go back to bed. I slowly walked into Jacks room. He only ever slept on one side of the bed. It was tempting to curl up next to him, but I didn't want to startle him. Not to mention, that would be weird. I sat down on the opposite edge of the bed.

"Jacky?" I placed my hand on his shoulder and he instantly woke up.

"Lex?" He rubbed his eyes. "What the hell are you doing here? Wait, how did you get in? What time is it?"

"Well, I still have the other key, it's a little after 9am, and I'm exhausted but I'm afraid to go back to sleep."

He smiled, still half asleep. "You're such a dork."

"Yeah, but I'm your favorite dork."

"That's debatable at 9am." I stuck my bottom lip out, pouting. "You're blurry, but I can tell you're pouting." I laughed. "Oh, come on." He lifted the blanket for me to climb in.

"Thank you, Jacky." I snuggled into the comforter by the edge of the bed.

"Mhm," he mumbled rolling over and falling back asleep on the other edge of the bed. The rhythm of his breathing lulled me to sleep.

*Jack Pov*

I woke up to the smell of pancakes and the sound of quiet singing coming from the kitchen. Apparently Alex coming over this morning wasn't just a weird dream. Not that I was complaining; there isn't anything I'd rather wake up to. I was too lazy to put my glasses on, but my phone looked like it said it was noon. That's not really surprising. I normally sleep late.

"Morning, sleepy." I looked up to see a rather blurry Alex standing in the doorway. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Morning," my voice was hoarse from just waking up.

He walked over to the side of the bed and handed me my glasses. "Here. Come on, I made pancakes."

A lazy grin spread across my face. "I know. I can smell it, haha. Thanks." We went and sat down at he the table. Both spots were already set with food and glasses of milk. "Awe, you didn't have to do that, Alex."

"I know. I wanted to."

"Wait a second, where did you get glasses from?" I looked into the kitchen from the table. "Holy shit, I have a sink. Dude. You didn't have to do that either. I mean, thank you, but you still didn't have to."

"Again, I know. I didn't have to do the laundry either, but I still did." My eyes widened. "I did it cuz I wanted to."

"Damn, how long were you here before you woke me up?"

"About a half hour. I couldn't sleep."

"That explains a lot. Well, thank you." He smiled in response. "So, how'd you manage to get out?"

"I left a note after I dropped Jax off saying I was going into the studio."

"Are you just gonna pick them up from here?"

"I was going to. Unless you want me to leave sooner. That's cool, too."

"I don't mind. You're welcome here as long as you want. Did you have any plans for the next few hours, or are we just making it up as we go?"

"Actually, I was gonna ask you if you wanted to just watch movies like we used to."

"Can we watch Home Alone?"

"Jack, do you know how many times Jax has made me watch that? Combined with the amount of times you've made me watch it, I think I've literally seen it over a million times."

"You say that like it's a bad thing! Hey, if we watch Home Alone, we can watch Peter Pan next time."

"Jack. I am a grown man. I have a teenage daughter. I do not watch children's movies anymore," I stated, attempting to sound serious. He raised his eyebrow with that 'oh really now' face. We just stared at each other for a second before cracking and bursting out laughing. "Okay, you have a deal, haha."

Notes

Some short fluffy Jalex before the awfulness that is the next chapter. I'm so glad to see people are actually reading this! Please continue to comment, subscribe, and rate. I really do appreciate all of it! The more active my followers are, the more frequently I tend to update.

Also check out my other story "Take A Breath And Let The Rest Come Easy".

Enjoy!

-Em