11:11

From the second I hear the pounding on the door, I know we overslept. I just really do not want to move. When I open my eyes, I see that I’m pretty much laying on top of Alex. He’s really comfortable.

“Get up!” Jack shouts from the hallway. I ignore it and close my eyes again. “If you don’t get up in 20 seconds…!” He leaves his threat empty and that gives me all the more reason to go back to sleep. Alex has other plans, however.

“Who is that?” He asks, his voice scratchy from sleeping for so long.

“I think it’s Jack,” I inform him and take a peek at the alarm clock. It’s 9:52am.

“Am I supposed to be awake or something?”

“Yeah… we were supposed to be up at 7:30. The alarm did not go off, obviously.”

“Oh…” he trails off. I guess he doesn’t care.

I manage to get comfortable again, and of course, that’s when he realizes why he has to be awake.

“Shit, David’s here with Andrew! We have to get up.”

He rolls out of bed and pulls on a t-shirt and socks, leaving me in bed alone.

“Oh, my God. I want to sleep…” I mumble to myself, and he throws a pillow at me.

**

“Which movie is playing at 12?”

“Ice Age.”

“Oh, well then why can’t we see that?”

“I heard it was scary.”

“Alex! It’s rated PG!”

“I just think that he might get scared!”

“He’s a little boy!” Jack interrupts. “He loves dinosaurs!”

Alex’s eyes narrow. “Fine. But if he starts crying when the big scary dinosaur comes up, you’re going to be the one dealing with him.”

“Please. You know you would never let Andrew out of your sight.”

“You’re right. I would never let him go with you. You might drop him,” Alex says, moving over to take Andrew from Jack’s arms.

“Hey! I would not! I haven’t dropped him yet!”

“There’s a first time for everything, Jack,” I inform him, patting him on the back.

I have to admit, Alex is being a little bit ridiculous about this movie. Seriously, from what I’ve seen, Andrew acts like a normal 4 year old boy. 4 year old boys love dinosaurs. He will be fine.

“Alright, let’s go now so we’re not late,” Zack suggests and puts his wallet in his back pocket. He walks over to the front door and opens it.

Everyone walks out, and I’m last to leave. I thank Zack for holding the door open as I walk buy, and instead of the usual glare I get when I talk to him, he shrugs.

“No problem,” he says.

**

“How’s Andrew doing?” I whisper to Alex as a giant dinosaur pops out at us from the movie screen. It’s in 3D, and we had no idea.

“He’s fine.”

“How are you doing? Are you scared?”

“Shut it, Lex. You’re just so funny.” For a second I think he’s mad at me. Then his hand finds mine on the arm rest and squeezes it. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Yeah, sure,” I laugh.

“Seriously. Nothing scares me. Oh, except spiders. And Jack when he’s hungry.”

After the movie, we decide to get pizza and bring it back to the house. We let Zack go into the place and order for us, and he comes out 20 minutes later with 6 pizza pies and a bag of 40 garlic knots.

“Oh, my God, Zack! Do we really need that much?”

He looks at me as I’m speaking, and just nods his head.

“Of course we do, Lex,” Rian says. “We always get at least 5 pies.”

“Jesus Christ… That’s insane. And do you really eat it all?”

“Yes.”

I roll my eyes and silently thank God as Zack pulls into the driveway. I’ve had enough bonding time with these boys. I need 20 minutes to myself. Alex could join me, of course.

While we’re eating, I notice something. Alex is just really adorable. Okay, so I may have known that for a while now, but seriously, he’s just being so cute with Andrew. He helps him cut his pizza so he can eat it and makes sure he’s always happy. I just think it’s the cutes thing ever.

“Why are you staring at me?” Alex whines from his seat next to me. “Is there something on my face?”

“No. I love you.”

He looks at me for a second before shrugging. “I love you too… But seriously, why were you staring?”

“You’re just adorable.”

He grins. “Well, yeah. Duh.”

“I meant with Andrew. He really looks up to you, Alex.”

“I know… I’m sort of afraid to leave him. He’ll miss me.”

“Yeah… But he’ll see you again.”

Alex just nods and goes back to eating his food. I think he’s on his 6th slice of pizza. Jack’s finished a pie and a half.

**

“Hey, can I talk to you really quick?”

At the sound of Zack’s voice, I literally jump up in surprise and hit my head on the top of the refrigerator.

“Fuck!”

“Shit, are you alright?”

He comes over to me and flips the light switch. The kitchen, which had been pitch black, lights up and I can see him clearly. He’s wearing sweatpants, and that’s it. I’m guessing he was about to go to bed.

“Why the hell did you sneak up on me like that?”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Yeah, whatever,” I respond, pulling a water bottle out from the fridge and then shutting it.

“I have to talk to you.”

“You are talking to me, Zack.”

“I just want to let you know that I’m sorry for being… a total jerk to you.”

“I thought you had your reasons to be a jerk to me?”

“Yeah I did… they don’t matter now. I know you love Alex…”

“So… you like me again?”

“I never…didn’t like you. I was just you know… watching out for my best friend.”

I smile at him. “Thanks.”

“You know why Alex is spending so much time with Andrew… right?”

I nod. “I have my theories. Is it because he wants to prove that he’s responsible enough to take care of a kid?”

“Yeah,” Zack says with a laugh. “At first I thought he was crazy, because seriously, Alex with a kid? But he’s been really good with Andrew…”

“Yeah, he has. From what I’ve seen at least.”

“He loves you. He really loves you.”

“I know that. I’m lucky enough to have him”

**

The day before we leave for Maryland, Alex says he has a surprise for me. I’m scared, to be honest. Last time he said that, the surprise was seeing Jack dress up like a girl for a day. I still have nightmares.

“No, seriously, it’s great! I promise!”

“You said that last time! I still have nightmares of Jack wearing a dress!”

“No, I swear! Trust me on this.”

I nod slowly and let him lead me into the living room. Once there, he points to the couch.

“Would you like me to sit down?” I ask. He nods. “Alright, I’m sitting.”

“Good. Okay, now you have to think really hard.”

“What? Are you kidding me? I just woke up!”

“Think back to like, the first week we knew each other. You were at my house. I asked you what movie you wanted to watch-”

“Oh! Finding Nemo! And you didn’t have it!”

I surprise myself at how quickly I can recall that silly piece of information and Alex laughs.

“I didn’t expect you to remember, actually.” He holds out a brand new copy of ‘Finding Nemo: Collector’s Edition’. “You have no idea how long it took me to find this.”

“Aww, Alex! You’re amazing!”

I pull him onto the couch and in for a kiss. When I pull away he just smiles.

“Anything for you.”