I Can Keep A Secret

"Yeah, you can call me Alex." I showed how nervous I really was when I spoke because my voice was shakey.
"You're not a bad kid, are you? How old are you?"
"I'm 17. And... I don't know."
"Drinking doesn't make you bad, did your dad just not understand that? I mean, you are 17."
"Something like that... How old are you?"
"I'm 18, I drink and whatever but no one cares. Besides, I live here alone."
"Jack..." I swallowed, nervously. "Why are you doing this?" I wanted to know why I was here, about to start my life over, with an 18 year old watching after me, telling me he drinks and that it's okay to? I figured I wasn't going to get an answer when he just smiled at me. "What happens if I want to leave... if I want to run away?"
"Doors open. Go ahead." His smile vanished into what was now a very serious face. "But where are you gonna go, Alex?"
I looked down, hurt by his words that I knew were the truth. I really didn't have anywhere to go. I couldn't move back with my dad, when he kicked me out and basically put me here in the first place. I felt Jack place a hand on my knee and I looked up at him quickly, kind of shocked.
"You can tell me everything when you're ready." He got up and left the room. I sat there, trying to figure out what he meant by that.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone. It felt weird being able to have it now since I couldn't have it while I was in the rehab center. I played around with it, having no one to text. About an hour went by and I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." I bit my lip nervously as Jack entered my room.
"Hey... I ordered pizza if you want to come have some with me," He smiled. I licked my lips at the thought of pizza, real food. The food I had in the rehab center was horrible and I had the same thing every single day.
"Okay," I said as I kind of smiled at Jack and followed him into the kitchen.
"So," We sat at the kitchen table, eating our pizza in silence until Jack broke it. "You have a girlfriend?"
I nearly choked on my pizza when I heard these words come from Jack.
"I mean, you seem like a nice kid. So I was just asking. Nothing weird, sorry."
"N-no. I've only ever had one girlfriend."
"And what happened? If you don't mind me asking."
"Well... I everything was going good, at least I thought, until I found out she was cheating on me."
"Aw, that sucks. I don't have a girlfriend either. I like to have fun, you know?"
"Yeah..." I lied. No one wanted to go out or even hook up with the weird kid Alex with the messed up family. Maybe with Jack I had a chance at starting things over, meeting new people.

----

It's been a week since I moved in with Jack, and let me say, things are a lot different then back home. Well, my old home I guess. The other day, Jack came home with a bunch of new clothes for me. He bought things I would normally see him wearing, but I liked the way he dressed so I didn't mind. He also bought me a small TV for my room, which I didn't have before. I told him he doesn't need to do these things for me but he tells me that he wants to make me happy so that I get better. I guess he caught on.
"Alex, why did you start drinking?"
I knew I couldn't avoid this question forever. Might as well just tell him.
"I did it 'cause... well, it started after my mom died. My brother died a few years ago and I was pretty messed up from that, still am. But when my mom died, my dad refused to talk to me, he wouldn't come home some nights and I didn't know where he was. I didn't have a friend or family member to go to when all I wanted was to be told it was going to be okay." My voice started to crack. Fuck.
Jack looked to the floor for a couple of seconds before coming over and hugging me. It was a bit awkward because we were sitting on the couch but besides that, it was nice. I don't remember the last time I hugged someone. I felt the tears threatening to escape from my eyes, and I didn't even try to hold them back. I just sat there, crying in Jacks arms.