Choke on Your Misery

Zack

Bzzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzzzzz.

I could hear my phone buzzing beside me on my bed, but I was ignoring it. I was lying with my head under the pillows, trying to block out all the noise and clear my head. I had suffered the bus ride home with Rian so I could avoid Alex, but I knew I had to go talk to him soon. I wasn’t really mad at him anymore; just scared to talk to him.

I sighed and pulled the pillows off of my head, sitting up. Clearing my head wasn’t going so well, anyway – the devastated look on Alex’s face kept running through my mind. I picked up my phone to flip through the messages and saw that Alex had actually only sent me one. The others were from Jack and Rian.

To: Zack
From: Alex
So you’re not getting a ride from me?

To: Zack
From: Rian
You do realize you need to talk to Alex, right?

To: Zack
From: Rian
Running from your problems doesn’t help anything.

To: Zack
From: Jack
Dude you really need to talk to Alex.

I scowled; what made Rian and Jack think I was running away from the problem? Sure, I was avoiding Alex, but I was just trying to think things over. If I’d kept talking to him this morning, it would have ended badly. My phone buzzed again in my hand – a text from Jack.

To: Zack
From: Jack
I’m outside your house, LET ME IN.

What? I got up from my bed to go downstairs, glad that my parents weren’t home yet. They were going to go nuts when they saw my black eye. I opened the front door and saw that Jack was, in fact, standing there. “What are you doing here?” I questioned, stepping back to let him in.

“I went to Alex’s house after school, and he’s being completely depressing. He won’t even laugh at my jokes,” Jack pouted. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he added, “Okay, so maybe they weren’t funny, but still!”

“Why is he being depressing?” I asked.

“Because you’re mad at him, you dumbass!” Jack pushed me by the shoulder. “He’s just lying in bed watching movies. He will barely even talk to me.”

I frowned, “Come on, I couldn’t have made him that upset.”

Jack shrugged, “Go find out for yourself. I told him that I was going to make you go over there... so go over!”

“I guess I probably should,” I sighed, reluctantly pulling my shoes on. I grabbed my keys, following Jack out the door. We trudged across the yard, over to Alex’s house.

“I’m gonna just head home – I don’t want to interfere with anything,” Jack said, opening his car door. “Tell me if you make up with him!”

I rolled my eyes and headed up the front steps to Alex’s house. His mom’s car was in the driveway, so I knew she wasn’t home from work yet. Jack had said that Alex was up in his room, so I just opened the front door to go inside. I kicked my shoes off and headed straight up to Alex’s room. I knocked on the open door lightly.

Alex glanced over at me, shooting up into a sitting position when he realized it was me, not Jack. “I didn’t think he was serious about bringing you over,” he said, muting the movie he was watching.

“Yeah, he just showed up at my door demanding to come in,” I said with a slight smile, walking into his room.

“Figures,” Alex smiled weakly, but sighed and patted the bed next to him so I would sit down.

I sat down beside him, “Look, I’m really sorry about snapping at you earlier. I was upset about you seeing these bruises, and embarrassed that I let it happen.”

“No, I shouldn’t have been so pushy about it,” Alex said. “I didn’t realize that they did it because of me, and I should have backed down.”

I shrugged, “It’s fine; you didn’t know.”

“I was only being pushy because I want to keep you safe, you know. I don’t like seeing you hurt,” Alex admitted, blushing a bit.

“I know,” I smiled, reaching out to hold his hand. “I heard what you were saying when you were over by the vending machines; it made me realize that I was kind of being a dick about the whole thing.”

Alex shook his head, squeezing my hand, “I deserved it.”

“You know, I’d protest, but this is going to get really mushy, really fast,” I chuckled, and Alex laughed. “I’m sorry, babe. I don’t like fighting with you.”

“I’m sorry too,” Alex leaned over to kiss me and I smiled into the kiss. I leaned back against the wall with him, looking up at the TV to see what he had been watching.

“Titanic, Alex? Really?” I laughed.

“Shut up!” Alex blushed, hitting me in the chest. “It was the first thing I found on my shelf, so I put it in.”

“Uh huh.” I mused, trying to keep a straight face. Alex looked at me, and I let a grin slip.

“What?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Nothing; just watching the romantic movie you chose to put in while you were upset,” I teased, looking up at the TV.

“That’s not why I chose it!” Alex insisted, and I looked back over at him. “Okay, maybe that’s a small reason why I chose it.”

I chuckled, “You’re so feminine sometimes.”

“I like the movie,” he defended, pouting.

“I’m just teasing, ‘Lex. I like it too, and it’s cute that you put it in,” I smiled, wrapping an arm around him.

“Good, because I’m not shutting it off,” Alex said, turning the volume up and leaning into my side.

••••••••••

I was startled awake to the loud sound of the TV. My eyes shot open and I looked around in the dim light of Alex’s bedroom. Alex propped himself up by an elbow, yawning and looking up. His mom was standing over by the TV, fumbling with the remote to shut it off.

“Mom, what are you doing?” Alex grumbled.

“Sorry, boys. I got home from work and Mrs. Merrick called to ask if I had seen Zack. I came up to see if he was here and found both of you fast asleep. I was trying to shut off the TV so you could continue sleeping. You two looked too adorable to wake up,” Alex’s mom smiled at us.

“Mo-om,” Alex blushed slightly, lying back down beside me.

“What time is it, anyway?” I asked with a yawn. If my mom was wondering where I was, it must be getting late.

“Nearly seven,” Alex’s mom replied, walking toward the door. “I told your mom you were over here though, so don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” I said as she walked out, rolling over to face Alex. “Damn, it’s late.”

“Yeah, I guess we fell asleep watching that movie,” Alex chuckled softly, pecking me on the lips.

I smiled, getting up to stretch. “I probably should be getting home. I’m starving, and I’ve got to explain this black eye to my parents.”

“So they didn’t know about it either?” Alex asked, standing up and turning his bedroom light on. I shook my head, and he walked closer to me. “Well, at least it’s not completely black and purple. It’s mostly yellowish,” he said, wrinkling his nose as he ran his thumb lightly over the bruise under my eye.

“It still looks gross. It’s a battle wound, though,” I chuckled, shaking my head as we walked out of his room to go downstairs.

“You better not get another ‘battle wound,’” Alex said, using his fingers for air quotes. “It’s not a battle wound if you were the only one getting hit.”

“Okay, it’s a bully wound,” I shrugged, pulling my shoes on as we got to the door. “Trust me; it’s not going to happen again. I won’t let it happen; I’ll fight back. I’ve been working out every day to gain some muscle,” I admitted, looking up at him.

“Really?” Alex asked, looking surprised. “Damn. That’s kind of sexy. If you get some nice abs, you’ll have to permanently keep your shirt off around me.”

I laughed. “Not gonna happen, babe,” I smiled, stepping forward to kiss him again.

“You suck,” he muttered, pushing his forehead against mine and kissing me back. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning; we’re going to meet up at Rian’s house for an all-day band practice.”

“Does Rian know about this practice?” I asked, opening the front door.

“Not yet... I guess I should probably go tell him about it, shouldn’t I?”