Option One: Nobody Needs to Know

Well.. That happened. We did a bad thing- again. God damn why am I so stupid.

I look at Alex, who was snuggled into my side and sleeping peacefully. I sigh gently. He looked so happy in my arms. So comfortable. I've been sitting here for an hour because I would have felt bad if I moved and woke him up.

So instead, I've been sitting here, contemplating my life choices.

What am I going to tell Francis?

"Mmph.. Good morning.." I hear Alex mumble.

I look down at him and he kisses my cheek, leaving me blushing gently. "Good morning, Alex."

He yawns but doesn't move. "Did you sleep well?" He asks.

I shrug. "I've slept better. How about you?"

"Best I've ever slept." He mumbles, smiling a bit.

We eventually got out of bed and got changed and such, walking down to the kitchen. I started to make us some pancakes and he sits at the table after making himself some coffee.

"So.. What now?" I hear him ask.

I raise an eyebrow but don't draw my attention away from the pancakes. Letting them burn would be a crime. "What do you mean what now? We can't keep letting that happen, Alex."

"But why not?" He asks, sighing softly.

"Because, Alex, I'm with Francis." I warn. "I shouldn't have even let last night happen."

"But you did." He points out.

"But I shouldn't have."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you still did. Actually, you're the one who wanted-"

"Yes, Alex, I know what happened last night. My point is I never should have let myself do that." I interrupt and he goes quiet. I sigh and shake my head. "I'm sorry, I just.. I can't do this, it's not fair to Francis."

"You know, you worry about Francis too much." He says, and I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. I knew that tone in his voice.

"He is my boyfriend, Alex."

"You know, I liked it better when you called me Lexi." He says, to which I blush madly.

"That was a heat in the moment thing, I'm sorry about that." I say, not looking at him specifically so he couldn't see my red face.

He chuckles gently. "Don't be sorry, I just said I liked it. It was.. I don't know, it was nice to hear it from you. I wouldn't mind you calling me that more often."

I quickly shake my head. "Probably not going to happen. Like I said, heat in the moment, and probably weird for me to continue calling you that."

I hear his chair scratch across the floor and then his footsteps approaching me and I suck in a breath. He comes up next to me and leans against the counter, smiling gently at me.

"Your face is a little red." He teases.

"Shut up, Alex." I sigh, probably blushing even more.

"Look, I'm just confused. Because everytime I think there's something between us, you go off and find some excuse for us not to be together." He says.

I look over at him with a confused look. "Excuse? I'm taken, how is that an excuse? Also, I'm not the one who was keeping us apart, that was you."

"Me? I asked you out!"

"Only after like ten years of me waiting for you to!"

"Well, why did you wait? Why didn't you ask me sooner?" He asks.

"How could I? You were with Elizabeth!"

"And now you're with Francis."

I pause and stare at him, not sure how to feel. I hear the pancakes start to sizzle and turn my attention back to the pan, flipping the pancakes over so they don't burn. I shake my head, staring at the pan.

"Have you ever thought that maybe there's a reason we can never find ourselves together?" I ask. "Like, maybe this just isn't meant for us. Maybe we're supposed to go separate ways, or stay friends at the least."

He hesitates but from the corner of my eye I can see him nodding. "Yeah, I've thought about it a couple times. I don't believe there is one, though. It's just.. Right place, wrong time.. Constantly."

I nod. "Yeah, no kidding."

We sit in silence and I finish the pancakes, putting them onto a separate plate. I set them on the table and sit down in front of them, not looking up at Alex as he follows me and sits across from me. We eat our food, not saying a word. What was there to say? We both knew we couldn't do anything.

"I've gotta get ready for work.. I've got a long day ahead of me." Alex sighs as he finishes his food. He washes his plate in the sink and I watch him.

"I miss working with you." I say. "I miss shit talking Jefferson on our breaks, and riding to work together, getting lunch and stuff. It was fun."

He turns and smiles softly at me. "I miss it, too. But I couldn't go back there, I'm okay with not reuniting with Jeffershi- son."

I chuckle gently. "Ah yes, I forgot about that little nickname." I nod, standing up and bringing my own dish to the sink with him. I set it in the sink next to his and then look over at him.

He looks up at me and sighs gently. "John, I truly wish things were different between us."

I nod. "I do too. But here we are anyway." I say.

He nods as well. "Yep.. Here we are.." He repeats, still looking at me.

He eventually breaks his stare and heads out of the kitchen. "I'm going to go get ready for work." He says, walking up the stairs.

I smile slightly and go to the livingroom to clean up a little bit when suddenly I hear a knocking on the door. I wasn't expecting anyone this early, but I didn't know if Alex was, so I went and answered it. That was my first mistake.

"Jacky, dear, hello."

My eyes widen a little and I lean against the door, trying to block the view into the house. "Francis, hi! I wasn't expecting you to come over right now.."

He raises an eyebrow. "I just wanted to visit you." He turns his head to look at Alex's car, which was of course in the driveway. Second mistake. "Whose car is that?"

I gulp and try to think of something. I look at my neighbor's house across the street and see their driveway was full of four cars, with no room for anymore. "Oh, my neighbors over there, they needed a place to park their fifth car, so they asked if they could park it in my driveway."

"They couldn't park it on the street in front of their own house?" He asks skeptically.

I shake my head. "No, uh, they didn't want anyone to accidentally hit their car, so they felt it was safer to park it in the empty space in my driveway."

He nods slowly, not seeming to fully believe it. "Alright.. Are you going to let me in, then? Or are you just going to keep blocking the way?"

I rush to get out of the way and let him in, and he walks past me, examining the room. He heads straight for the kitchen and I cautiously follow him. He looks in the sink and sees the dishes in it. Third mistake.

"Two plates?" He asks.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't get a chance to clean my dish for dinner last night." I lie.

"John, you never miss doing the dishes, you hate the way they crowd up the sink." He says, turning towards me. He walks closer and places his hand under my chin. "What are you hiding from me? Another man?"

I blush and shake my head. "No, of course not-"

"Don't lie to me, John!" He scolds. "It's not fair to me. Are you cheating on me?"

"What? No, I would never!"

"Yeah right. So who's here?" He asks.

"No one is-"

"You're a liar!" He scoffs and pushes past me, heading to the stairs.

I panic and follow him. I don't know why I was trying to hide it from him, it was quite obvious he was going to find out. But maybe if I just stalled him a bit longer Alex could find a way to leave without being seen.

I run in front of him before he can step on the stairs. "No, wait, you can't go up there, I uh have a gift for you that you can't see!"

"A gift? For what? My birthday was three months ago, and Christmas isn't coming up soon."

"I need a reason to give you a gift? It was supposed to be a surprise, but I need to make sure you don't see it."

"John, if you don't get out of my way-"

"Francis, I promise, it's nothing important-"

"You're such a liar! God, you're so useless!" He shouts, pushing me a bit harsher than before and walking up the stairs. I grab the railing to catch my balance and follow him in a rush, but find I can't do much to stop him. Fourth mistake.

I grab the back of his shirt just as he's about to open the door to Alex's room and he turns around and slaps me. I stumble back, completely shocked. He had never hit me before. I hold my cheek and stare at him, not sure what to say or do.

"Just stand back, Jacky, if you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't have a problem with-"

"What's going on here?"

I look over to the door - which was now open - and see Alex standing there glaring at Francis. He looks over at me and when we make eye contact, he looks surprised. He looks back to Francis, his emotion not changing.

"Did you.. Hit him?" He asks kind of quietly.

Francis rolls his eyes. "So typical. You're sleeping with the man you told me not to worry about. I should have known better than to trust you, John."

I don't say anything. How could I? Alex looks a little angrier as he stares at Francis.

"Did you hit him?" He asks again, a little louder this time.

Francis turns back to him and raises an eyebrow. "So what if I did? He's lucky that's all he got-"

"Get out of here." Alex interrupts him.

Francis chuckles at this. "What are you going to do? I'm his boyfriend, not you."

"Leave now, and don't come back." I could tell Alex was only getting angrier. I've made a mess of things.

"Fine, I don't want trouble." Francis huffs, turning back to me. "We'll talk this through some more later, Jacky."

I wince slightly as he smirks and walks down the stairs. He stops at the bottom and turns around. "Oh, and Alex, a word of advice?"

Alex raises an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms and seeming unimpressed.

"Good luck if you want to take John away from me. He's not very good at staying loyal. He couldn't stay loyal to me, couldn't stay loyal to his girlfriend. Hell, he couldn't even stay loyal to his own kid." I freeze as he says those words. I can't believe he just said that.

"Goodbye, Francis." Alex says sternly.

He chuckles and shrugs. "Just thought you should know what you're getting yourself into." And with that, he leaves my house.

Alex runs over to me quickly and gently holds my face in his hands, examining it. "Are you okay? What happened while I was up here?"

I don't exactly look at him. How could I after Francis just blabbed all of that to him. "I'm.. I'm fine."

Francis was the only one who accepted what I did. In a weird way, he was the only one who could still love me even after all the terrible shit I've done.

Alex nods and then scoffs slightly. "Can you believe him? Making up stuff about you? I mean, come on, you? A kid? And a girlfriend? I've known you a long time, John, and I know none of that happened." I don't reply and see him raise an eyebrow at me. "Right? None of that happened?"

I look up at him and hesitate. If I told him, it could ruin everything between us. There was no way he would stick around, or even let me watch his kids after he finds out how I left my own.

Maybe I should just lie. Tell him of course none of that happened.

Option One: Nothing happened.
Option Two: Tell him the truth. 

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2126 Words

Long chapter for all of you :)