Love Shows When It's There

After kissing Jack again, I heard footsteps coming upstairs. Mary appeared upstairs.
"Oh, good. Alex. You're there. You're friends have to go home. My son is on his way here. He's bringing his two friends. He wants to meet you," Mary said.
"Okay, I was gonna ask if Jack could stay?" I said.
"Not tonight love. Maybe when the three boys have left. Then I'll see about it but we need all the space possible," Mary replied.
"Jack could stay in my room," I said.
"Can you not leave it tonight Alex? It's too much hassle," Mary said.
"Fine. I'll let the others know that they have to go seen as Jack already knows," I said.
"Good. I'll leave you to it love," she said. Then she left.

We walked back into the room. Everyone's eyes fell on us.
"Please say you two weren't fighting. You're notorious for that," Matt said.
"They're all like petty little fights though. They never last longer than a few minutes. After that, at least one of us is apologizing,"Jack defended.
"Hey, there was that one that was pretty big. We had that huge fist-fight during school. We were raging at each other. That one lasted quite a while. A month at least," I reminded him.
"What were we even fighting over?" Jack asked me.

####Memory####
I walked into school and Jack was standing at the gates. I waved over to him, smiling. Then I saw Holly. She was walking towards me.
"Hey babe," I said as she got over to me. Then she slapped me hard across the face.
"You're such a little dick, Gaskarth! I was gonna find out eventually. Who is she?" she said.
"She? What are you talking about? There isn't a she. There's no one but you," I said to her.
"Oh, I heard differently. What happened at the party Alex? Or were you too drunk to remember?" she accused me.
"I went, had a couple of drinks, congratulated the team and left. Who told you any different?" I asked her.
"Kathy, she saw you with the other girl! You're such a slut Alex! You can consider us through! And even worse for you, the full school knows what happened." Holly slapped my cheek once more before walking away.

"Alex! Why the fuck would you do that to Holly? I thought you loved her!" Jack said.
"Jack! Fuck off! You know fine well that nothing happened at that party. I was next to you until I left," I replied.
"Don't get pissy with me you dick," Jack said.
"Fuck off Barakat," I said, pushing him backward.

He swung for my face which he hit so I punched his nose. There was a loud crack and Jack yelped out in pain. Then he punched my face until he had burst my lip, given me a black eye and my nose was bleeding. I pushed him to the ground and kicked his stomach. Jack grabbed my leg and I fell backwards hitting my head off the concrete. I blacked out

When I woke up, I was still in school. I was laid out on one of the medic's beds and I had an ice-pack on my head.
"Sir, he's woken up," the medic said.
"Gaskarth! You're suspended! Three days! Maybe you and Mr. Barakat can sort out your conflict over that period. Fighting is NOT tolerated in my school." Then he walked out.

"Can you stand up Alex? We've called for a taxi. Even Mr. Malone knows when enough is enough," she said to me. I sat up and stood up slowly and with care. Then I walked around a little.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. the taxi pulled up outside.

####Memory####

When I pulled out of the memory, Jack was waving his hand in front of my face.
"What were we fighting over? You didn't answer," he said.
"We fought over Holly," I said.
"Holly...Holly...the name rings a bell...Holly...Oh, High School Bitch Holly?" he said.
"Yeah. That one. The one I dated for a couple of years before a bad break up because of a stupid rumor," I replied quietly.
"Then why did we fight about it?" he asked me.

"Because you took her side," I replied. "So, I told you to fuck off and shoved you. Then you retaliated by punching my face. I broke your nose, you burst my nose and lip and gave me a black eye. I pushed you over and kicked your stomach. Then you grabbed my leg and I fell backwards and hit my head so hard that I blacked out. The school payed for my taxi home."

"Shit! Oh, then you didn't talk to me for ages and avoided me. Your lip was pretty fucked when we got back to school and my nose wasn't completely healed. Shows how strong our friendship is, huh Lex?" Jack replied.
"Yeah," I said. "Anyway, guys. You've gotta go home. Mary's son and friends are coming over so we've gotta make sure the house is ready for them."
"Okay, see you Lex," Jack, Matt and Vinny all said at the same time.
"See you around Alex," Zack said. Then they all left. Ross sat looking at me.

"What's up Ross?" I asked.
"Just be careful. Mary's son's homophobic and his friends are pervs. You're gay aren't you?" he said.
"How did you know?" I asked.
"From the way you look at Jack. It's the exact same to how I look at Zack. See you around Alex. I'm just a few steps away if you need to escape," he said.
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads up mate. See you around," I said.
"Bye Alex," he said. We hugged and he walked to his house. I ran downstairs.

"Mary, d'you need me to do anything?" I asked.
"Nope, how about you go and get some sleep. You look like you need it," she said.
"Alright, see you in the morning," I said.
"Night Alex," she replied.

I ran upstairs and changed into joggers before falling on my bed and thinking about what had happened that day. I had seen Jack again, finally. I had kissed Jack. I was possibly dating Jack. Everything I thought was about Jack. He filled my thoughts and I fell into a peaceful sleep, and for the first night in what felt like forever, I actually was worry-free. My mind was filled with the thoughts that would have helped me in the past. Jack!