john

I woke up to a distant crack of thunder. I rolled over to lock at my phone. It was only 5 PM, and I had so many messages from Laf.

lafayeet:
i see my plan worked

me:
yeah yeah whatever. thanks.

lafayeet:
any plans? (;

me:
date on friday

lafayeet:
you're welcome

me:
shut up

I looked over at Alex, who was still asleep. He was curled up into a ball, holding onto the pillow. He looked so small and vulnerable. I brushed his hair back and took out the tie. He stirred in his sleep, and his eyes looked like they were watering up. I put my hand on his forearm and rubbed circles with my thumb. He turned back and slowly opened his eyes. He wiped them quickly and tried to bury his face into my pillows. "Are you okay?" I asked gently.

"I'm fine," he squeaked.

"Alex, be honest."

"I'm honestly okay."

I sighed and he looked up at me. "Tell me if you're not okay, okay?"

"I know, I know. But I'm really fine." He tugged me back to lay down with him and rested his head on my chest. I ran my fingers through his hair. "Thank you," he said.

"For what?"

"For caring," he whispered. I laughed a bit.

"Anytime," I replied, stroking his cheek. He sat up and kissed me. I propped myself up on my elbow and wrapped my arm around him, kissing back. He put his hand on my chest. I pulled back. "You know, I really like kissing you," I said.

"I would hope so," he laughed.

"Do you want to go get some coffee?"

"I think I've had enough time in the rain for one day," he smiled.

"Well Hercules has a coffeemaker in his dorm. We can go up there and hang out. Warm up."

"Okay. I just... Ow, my contacts are drying up. I knew I was forgetting something. Let me just take hem out real quick." He crawled over me and scrambled around for his contact case. He then pulled out a pair of glasses that had a black frame front and blue temples. They suited him, and exaggerated the beauty in his eyes. "C'mon let's head up."

I lead him up to the fifth floor, the two flights of stairs tiring him out slightly. Luckily, their dorm was the second in the hall. I knocked and Laf opened the door. "Hercules, look who finally woke up."

"Where ya been Johnny boy?" Hercules shouted. Alex followed me in and Laf invited him to sit on his bed. He did, crossing his legs under him.

"Why does your dorm have a bunk bed?" he asked.

"We were supposed to have another roommate, but the kid had other plans and changed colleges," Hercules explained. "We mostly use it for storage." John came and handed me a blue mug that had a chipped handle.

"One cream, five sugars," he stated. I smiled and held the warm cup in my hands, taking small sips.

"How'd you sleep?" Hercules asked me.

"Just fine," I said.

"Did you spend most of that time making out?" he asked casually. Alex's face turned a bright red, and he looked down at his coffee. I could feel heat on my face as well.

"Shut up," I muttered, taking a sip. He just laughed.

"So it's true then," he winked. Alex turned even more red and just looked up at me.

"No comment," he mumbled, sipping his coffee. I winked at him and he almost spit his coffee out. Hercules just laughed. Alex leaned against me, he closed his eyes, finishing off his coffee. "What do you guys do for fun?" he asked.

"Sleep."

"Eat."

"Binge watch."

He laughed a little.

"Why don't we watch something?" I suggested. Hercules pulled out his computer and put in a DVD. Laf set a blanket down on the floor and we turned off the light. Hercules was sitting against his bed frame, Laf was next to him. I was next to Laf, and Alex was in front of me, sitting in between my legs. We watched Anchorman, and it was at this point, I realized that Alex was still majorly innocent, because the parts that were subtly inappropriate that had the rest of us dying, he just sat there. Everything flew right over his head. He even straight up covered his eyes for some scenes. I couldn't help but laugh at him. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his cheek.

"You're not getting any of this, are you," I said. He blushed but shook his head. I chuckled. The movie ended, and he was falling asleep on me. I pushed him off of me, waking him up. "You look ready for more sleep."

"I am."

"We'll see you later, guys," I said, following Alex out the door.

"Hey maybe you should teach him a thing or two 'bout what he just saw," Hercules shouted. Alex turned bright red and looked back at me.

"Shut up Mulligan!" I yelled back. We walked back to the dorm in silence and Alex made a beeline for his bed. I asked if I could sit with him. He nodded and made room for me. "I'm sorry if my friends made you uncomfortable," I said. He shook it off.

"It's not that. It's just... I'm going to be 20. A-And I still don't get a lot of that stuff, it makes me feel really out of place."

"You? Out of place? That's almost impossible. You're he most mature person I know. Who cares if you don't get some stupid sex joke in a movie, it's okay, really. It took me a while too. With Laf and Herc, I learned a lot faster than I intended. But don't worry about Alex, okay?"

"Have you met me? I worry about everything," he scoffed. I kissed the top of his head.

"Well right now, I'm worried about you. So get some sleep okay?"

"Okay," he said softly. I started to get up, but he caught me again.

"Do you want to stay?" I asked. His cheeks turned a rosy red and he looked flustered as he opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out. He just nodded rapidly. I laid down beside him, and he used my chest as a pillow.

"Goodnight John," he squeaked.

"Goodnight Alex."

-

I woke up in the middle of the night, drool pooling on the pillow. I sat up and looked around. Alex was curled up against the wall, clenching the blankets tightly. He was shaking and sobbing. "Alex?" He looked up at me and immediately tried to apologize.

"Hey, no, stop. Come here," I said softly. Alex crawled over to me and tightly wrapped his arms around my neck. "What's wrong? What happened?" He just shook his head and kept crying. I rubbed his shoulders and kissed his forehead. He turned away quickly, trying to catch his breath and stop crying. When he finally did, he kept his arms around my shoulders. "What happened, Alex?" I asked again. He took a deep breath. I ran my fingers through his hair.

"There was more... M-More thunder, a-a-and you-you-you weren't waking up. I-I-I didn't know what-what to do... I was sc-scared," he hiccuped.

"Oh Alex, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. But I'm here now. I'm right here. I've got you." I kept a hand on his back and kept him close to me. "I've got you," I repeated. I kissed his forehead. His grip lightened a bit. "You're okay."

Alex managed to calm down, and there was no more thunder, which really helped him. He fell back asleep. But I couldn't. I stayed awake. Alex was curled in the corner and I pulled the blanket up on him. I took care of my turtle a bit and just sat at the desk. I made sure Alex stayed asleep. It was going to be six, so I just decided to stay up the rest of the night. I went and laid back down with Alexander and pulled him close to me. He gripped onto my bicep with one hand and the other was tucked under his head. I kissed his forehead and let him sleep as I stared blankly at the ceiling. Soon enough the sun came up and not much after, Alex stirred awake.

I smiled at him. He looked majorly drugged or drunk or something. His eyes barely opened halfway and his smile was only half up. "You okay?" I asked.

"Tired," he muttered. "Coffee."

I laughed. "Well the rain's all gone and so we can head to the coffee shop if you'd like," I suggested.

"Please," he mumbled, standing up. I'd never seen him so tired before. He yawned and ran a hand through his hair. I was digging through my drawers when he came up to me and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back and rested my forehead against his.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"For earlier. For calming me down," he smiled.

"No problem," I said softly. He bit his lip, leaned forward and kissed me.