Taken Away

“Yeah, John, his boyfriend.”

Alex kept repeating those words in his head over and over. He was lying on Jack’s guest bed and staring at the ceiling. Zack had a boyfriend. Zack had replaced him. In one Summer Alex had now lost the two most important people in his life.

He groaned out loud. No, Zack was no longer important to him. Zack was the reason he didn’t have Jenna. His head shot up and the guest bedroom door was pushed open.

“Are you okay?” Jack was peering around the door. Alex nodded his head and lay back against the pillows.

“Umm, Rian left…” Alex nodded again. He had probably freaked the fuck out of him. He’d obviously freaked out Jack since Jack was now walking on eggshells around him.

He’d passed out. It was probably from lack of food. Alex didn’t care though. He looked up to see Jack staring at him.

“What, Jack?”

“You’re scaring me.” It was barely above a whisper but Alex still heard it.

“You don’t eat anymore, don’t deny it. You just passed out on my living room floor. You don’t laugh or even smile without it being forced. I haven’t seen you pick up your guitar or heard you sing since you came home. You used to sing to yourself constantly. I feel like I don’t know you anymore, it’s like you lost your will to live after she died. Were that in love with her, Alex?”

“She meant everything to me.”

“If she meant everything to you then you wouldn’t have cheated on her. Zack is the one that meant everything to you.” Jack stood up quietly and left the room. He didn’t look back and the door snapped shut.

It took a few minutes for Alex to realize that tears were falling down his face. He buried his face into the pillow and screamed. Hard sobs wracking his body. He had no idea how long he laid there but he dozed off at some point, only waking up when he felt someone’s hand running gently through his hair.

He whimpered a bit in the back of his throat and rolled over to push his face into the side of the person next to him.

“Lex.” Alex whined as his name was whispered in his ear.

“Come on, baby. You need to wake up.” Alex went to bury his face more securely before he hesitated. The person just called him baby. Alex squinted up at the person sitting next to him only to find he wasn’t that surprised to see Zack.

“Zack?”

“Hey, Lex.” Zack was looking at him with a sad smile. Alex noticed that he had moved away slightly since Alex had woken up.

“W…what are you doing here?” Alex was confused and his head felt foggy from sleep and all that crying.

“Rian and Jack came over. They said you needed me. Alex I have never stopped loving you. I was mad that you could just leave me like that but I still want you…even if you no longer want me.”

“I want you.” Alex mumbled. Zack leaned down and wiped a tear that had escaped from Alex’s eye.

“I’d been falling out of love with her for months but this isn’t how I wanted to end things. I didn’t want her dead; it never occurred to me that even after we broke up she wouldn’t be there.”
Zack held Alex tight as the tears fell again. He cradled him, trying is best to comfort Alex. After a while, Alex calmed down again and sat up, resting his head on Zack’s shoulder and looking up at him.

“I was so mad at you, Zack. I couldn’t see past it. I just had to get away. Away from her and you and it really sucks knowing we could have had it all and I threw it away because I couldn’t see past my own guilt. I killed her and I blamed you. I let you go and I deserve what I got. I played you and Jenna. I’m just an asshole and I have no idea why you’re here trying to make me feel better.”

“Cause I love you. I always will.” Zack was crying too at this point and he slowly leaned forward to wrap Alex in a hug. Alex grabbed onto to Zack as tight as he could.

“I’m not letting you go, Alex.”