I Can't Not Love You

[Jack]

I woke up in the morning and the first thing I heard was the soft sound of Alex’s breathing as he slept. Any other time, that would be normal; I always share a hotel room with him and we usually end up sharing the bed. But this time I realized that we were both curled up with each other, naked, and sticking together with sweat.

I untangled myself from Alex and scooted a few inches away, eyes wide. No. This isn’t happening. No, no, no. I looked at him, feeling numb with shock. I had the most amazing sex of my life with my best friend last night, but it was because of both of us being drunk. Fuck. That’s not how I wanted it. Sure, I was slightly proud of myself for it, but that didn’t make the situation any better.

Alex stirred and I froze, clutching onto the blankets. He was going to realize we had sex and be disgusted. He’ll never speak to me again. If anything, I was probably just a one night stand. I watched in fear as he woke up, his eyes fluttering open slowly. I wanted to sink into the ground and never be seen again. “Morning,” Alex mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

“M-Morning...” I trailed off, looking at him cautiously. Did he even remember last night?

Alex looked at me for another moment before his eyes widened slowly. Yeah, he remembered last night. He glanced under the covers as if he was double-checking that he was actually naked, and I blushed. “Well... that was an interesting night.”

“A-Alex, I’m sorry, you probably didn’t even wanna have sex with me a-and we were drunk...” I stammered nervously.

“Hey, calm down. Just because we were drunk doesn’t mean that I didn’t want you. I wasn’t just walking around looking for a pair of legs to fuck,” Alex chuckled, rolling onto his side so he was right next to me, chest to chest.

“R-Really?” I asked, finally finding the courage to look into his eyes.

“Yeah, really. Trust me, I don’t regret that sex. It was amazing,” he said with a smile. He leaned a little closer, whispering in my ear, “And I wouldn’t mind doing it again.”

My eyes widened and I blushed, hiding my face in the pillow. He laughed and pressed a kiss to my cheek, making me blush even more. I looked back up at him shyly a minute later, “What time is it, anyway?”

“According to my phone, it’s already noon. Which doesn’t surprise me, because I don’t think we passed out until at least five this morning,” Alex said, yawning and rubbing his head with a grimace.

“Hangover?”

“Definitely. I need some medicine. I have some in my bag somewhere,” he said with a groan, sitting up. He climbed out of bed and walked across the room to find his bag, still completely naked. My eyes widened, though I shouldn’t be surprised. He walks around naked all the time, so of course he’s going to after sex.

“I’m sore too, Lex. Give me some medicine when you find it,” I said, pushing myself up into a sitting position and wincing.

“For your headache or for the pain in your ass?” Alex asked, grinning cheekily.

I blushed, “Both. Shut up and give me the medicine.”

Alex laughed and got some medicine for me as I checked my phone, seeing a few texts from the rest of our friends. He pulled on a pair of boxers before sitting down next to me. “You’re not mad at me about last night, are you?”

“Mad? Hell no. I thought you’d be mad at me,” I admitted, looking up at him. “I’m glad you didn’t freak out over it.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Alex said, shrugging. I began to argue with that, because it kind of was a big deal to me, but he leaned over to kiss me on the cheek again and that thought disappeared as I smiled happily. He pulled back, wrinkling his nose teasingly, “You stink.”

“You don’t smell like a bed of roses either,” I said, pouting. “We both smell like sweat and sex.”

“Well then let’s go shower,” he said with a laugh, wiggling his eyebrows at me and grabbing my wrist to pull me up, towards the bathroom.

“But there’s only one shower,” I squeaked, a blush creeping up my face again.

“Exactly.”

--------------------

“Don’t say anything to them,” I murmured to Alex as we rode the elevator downstairs. We were heading downstairs to eat dinner with the rest of the band and crew. We had just hung out in the hotel room all day, and it seemed like the rest of our friends had done the same. Everyone was recovering from last night.

“Don’t worry; if anything, the way you’re walking will give it away,” Alex smirked, slapping me on the ass as the elevator doors opened and making me wince. I kicked him in the leg when we got out of the elevator. “Ow! What was that for?”

“That smack was unnecessary,” I whined, looking past him and trying to find anyone else we knew. “Where is everyone?”

“Oh! There’s Danny,” Alex said, spotting him across the lobby and walking toward him. I walked along behind him, trying not to make it obvious that I was limping slightly from the pain in my ass.

“There you are. You’re the last to show up. I was about to come looking for you,” Danny chuckled, pointing toward a long table. Alex immediately headed over to the table, sitting down next to Rian. Danny stopped me before I could go over to them, “You’re not getting away that easily. I saw that limp as you got out of the elevator!”

“What about it? Maybe I fell down the stairs or something and got hurt,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Yeah right. That’s the ‘just had sex’ limp, not the ‘I’m a dumbass who fell down the stairs’ limp,” Danny said, a grin spreading across his face.

I groaned, “So...?”

“So, did you and Alex actually have sex? Are you a couple now?” he asked excitedly.

“Would you hush?” I asked, putting a hand over his mouth. “You’re such a gossip. Yes, we had sex. No, I don’t know if we’re a couple. And no, you’re not going to tell anyone else.”

“So you guys had sex and that’s it? Nothing else?” he asked doubtfully.

I grinned sheepishly, “Twice, actually. Once last night and once more in the shower this morning...”

“So when you were sober, too?!” Danny exclaimed, and I stomped my foot down on his to make him squeak and stop talking.

“You’re so loud!” I hissed.

“Sorry! I’m excited for you!” Danny apologized, his voice a whisper now. “But he didn’t ask you to be your boyfriend or anything, did he?”

“Hell no. But he was obviously willing to have sex with me so, I don’t know, maybe we’ll end up as an official couple,” I said, shrugging.

“You better. If one of you doesn’t ask the other out, I’m stepping in,” he said, shaking a finger at me as if he was scolding me.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Jack! Danny! Come on!” Alex called out, and we turned to look at him. He pointed at me then pointed at the seat next to him.

Danny winked, pushing me forward, “Go get him, tiger.”