I start school soon and I dONT WANNA GO-

The REACH program teachers
mAke
mE
dIe

John Pov
Alex and I walked to the corner shop, holding each other up. Being dehydrated an Arizona is pretty fucking awful.

My stomach hurts and I'm full on nothing. We opened the door and saw 'The cracker guy'
as Alex likes to call him.

"Oh my god. He's back."
Alex whispered.

"I know.
I have eyes."
I whispered back to him.

Alex's eyes widened and he smiled softly.

"Hello boys!"
The cracker guy exclaimed.

"Hey can you give us food? Please?" Alex said.

I caught the desperation in his voice. The man nodded handing crackers to Alex, which he gladly took and started eating.

"And boys, I have good news!"
He exclaimed, leaning on the counter.

Alex raised an eyebrow, and I took a pack of crackers from the guy.

"So my boss told me if I saw you two again, to tell you that you got the jobs!" He exclaimed.

Both of Alex's eyebrows raised. I smiled and hugged Alex. He buried his head in my neck, giggling.

"Oh my god- we actually- we-this is fucking great!" I exclaimed.

Alex laughed and kissed me, then hugged me, and repeated that a few times.

"Glad I could help."
The man said, smiling at us.

"I'm gonna way my crackers before I die now." Alex said, letting go of me and eating.

"When's the last time the both of you ate?" The man asked.

"..Three days?
Four?
I don't know.
Lost count I guess."
Alex muttered.

He didn't lose count.
It's been four days.
You can't lose count of the days when you're starving because it feels like the days last like years and it's hard to forget that schedule.

The man looked at us with concern.

"Are you just..living on the streets?"
He asked.

"The bench."
I said, eating a cracker next to Alex.

"Oh." The man breathed, still looking mildly concerned for our health.

Since when did water taste so good?

"John you're gonna run out of water," Alex noted.

"Don't care,"
I said quickly, going back to chugging my water.

"Thank god we have jobs now."
Alex muttered, starting to drink his water.

"What's your name by the way?" I asked the 'cracker guy'.

"Dylan."
He replied. 

Alex choked on his water and coughed a bit.

"N-nice name."
Alex said, still coughing.

Dylan looked at him confused. "..Thanks."

Oh wait.
Isn't Dylan a guy that Alex used to go out with? Can't be him through.
We're in Arizona.

Not even the state capital either.
We're in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"What's your last name?" Alex asked. "Murphy." He replied.

Alex sighed and whispered,
"Oh thank god."

Dylan still looked confused, but brushed it off. "So are you guys excited to start working?" Dylan asked.

"I guess so...Do people come in here a lot?" I asked.

"Sometimes. We have a few regular costumers and some people who come in just a few times, but people come in nevertheless." Alex and I nodded, still eating crackers.

I glanced at Alex's water.
He noticed and handed it to me. "Thanks," I mumbled, taking it from him.

"When do we start?" Alex asked. "Monday. So three days from today." Dylan replied.

Alex and I both nodded, not really giving a fuck about when it started.

I'm just in it for the money.
I ain't living off crackers,
water, and sleeping on a bench forever.

"Thank you sir."
I said, realizing I hadn't ever properly thanked the man.

He smiled and nodded in response. "Can I ask happened to your wrist?" Dylan asked Alex.

Alex glanced at his arm and shrugged. "Lost a fight to some glass." He said.

Dylan gave a nod.
"Who's your boss?" Alex asked.

"A guy named Aaron.
He's a nice guy, don't worry."
Dylan replied, staring to wipe the counter.

A costumer came in and Alex and I left. "We have fucking jobs." Alex muttered, sitting down on the bench.

"So we do,"
I confirmed, eating a cracker.

"It's a pretty shitty job, not going to lie but it's worth it." Alex said.

"Tis true."
I said, watching the same people I see everyday, walk down the roads.

Alex sighed in content.
"I would say this is nice but.."
He trailed off.

It was quiet between us.

"Yeah." I said softly.

"It'll get better though." He said, glancing to me then back to the sidewalk.

"I believe this as well," I told him, wrapping an arm around him.

"I didn't know crackers could taste so great." He muttered.

"Guess that's what happens when you hit near starvation." I said shrugging.

He laughed softly, shaking his head. "This really fucking sucks." He said, still chuckling.

"At least we have jobs now. It literally can't stay like this forever. At least if we play our cards right." I said.

He nodded.

"Do you think I could win a fight between a cheetah?" He asked.

"No."
I said on instinct.

"What? No, no, I could like, totally win a fight against a cheetah, I'd just have to like..sneak up on it." He told me.

"Well it depends. Are you in a zoo cage or in the wild?" I asked.

He thought for a second.
"Wild, I guess. I'd wait till it was sleeping then choke it out." He told me.

I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah sure." I said.

"Do you think I could win a fight against you?" He asked.

I scoffed and shook my head no.

"If you were to fight me, I'd beat the shit out of you while looking good."
I told him.

He pushed my shoulder, laughing. "You're an asshole," He told me, grinning.

"Eh. I'm your asshole though." I said. "Tis true." He said, wrapping his arm around me.

It won't be like this forever.
We won't be living on this god damn bench forever.

Damn, I love Alex.

~•~•~
Talk about character development, am I right?