Shelter

A week later, Alex was at the therapist’s office again. After their previous session regarding Alex’s anxiety about being without Jack, today’s simpler session was a relief. About halfway through the hour though, Grace brought up a more complicated topic.

“Alex, how has your dating life been?” Grace asked, looking at him.

“What do you mean?”

“When is the last time you dated someone? I’m curious,” she replied.

Alex shrugged, “Um, well, I dated a guy about three ago, when my anxiety was getting pretty bad. He made fun of my anxiety and nightmares instead of helping. He ended up dumping me because I was too much to deal with. I haven’t dated since then. Before my anxiety started I went out on lots of dates.”

“I see. And why haven’t you dated since that last boy that broke up with you?” she questioned.

“I’m afraid of getting hurt like that again. Being heartbroken like that sucked, and I felt worthless,” Alex admitted.

“What about Jack?” Grace asked, and she laughed when Alex’s entire face turned red. “Don’t think I can’t tell how much you adore him. I can tell just by the way you talk about him. You don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to, but I would like to hear what you have to say.”

“I… I really like Jack. A lot. We’ve been out on dates but I’ve always been too afraid to actually start a relationship with him,” Alex mumbled, embarrassed by the topic. It felt good to talk about it though.

“Well, it seems like you’re afraid that if you date someone, they’ll hurt you like that last boy did. But from what you’ve told me about Jack, he sounds like he cares about you far too much to hurt you,” Grace pointed out.

Alex nodded slowly, “I guess you’re right.”

They dropped the subject of Jack after that, but that was all Alex thought about for the rest of the session. He said goodbye to Grace and walked outside to his car, starting the engine and sitting there for a moment. Grace had a point. Alex was being kind of ridiculous over the whole dating thing. Jack would never hurt him. The way he had been aching to be with Jack all last week was enough to make him realize how much he wanted to be with him.

But he knew what he had to do.

It was like his brain and hands were working without Alex even telling them what to do. He pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to Towson, driving straight past his house and finally stopping in front of Jack’s house. Alex walked up to the door, heart pounding in anticipation. He knocked before opening the door and walking inside. Jack came running in to see who was there, and he looked relieved to see that it was just Alex.

“Oh, hey Lex.”

Alex didn’t say anything; he walked up to Jack, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled Jack toward him to kiss him. Jack made a noise of surprise before relaxing slightly, clutching onto Alex’s arms as he kissed him back eagerly. Alex finally pulled back after a few minutes, cheeks red and out of breath.

“Are you drunk or something?” Jack asked in confusion, eyes wide.

Alex laughed nervously. “No, I’m sober. I’ve been thinking and finally realized how much I need to be with you. I shouldn’t have been so scared about being in a relationship with you. I know you wouldn’t hurt me, at least not on purpose.”

“So you want to date me?” Jack asked numbly, looking like he was frozen into shock.

Alex nodded, taking Jack’s hand. “Jack, do you want to be my boyfriend?”

Jack started giggling a little, gradually turning into a full out laugh. Alex’s heart sunk and he started to pull his hand away from Jack’s. Jack stopped laughing abruptly, seeing the heartbroken look on Alex’s face. He squeezed his hand, assuring, “No, no, I’m not laughing at you, babe. I was laughing because I always imagined I’d be the one asking you that question, not the other way around.”

“So what’s your answer?”

Jack pecked him on the lips, whispering, “Yes. Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”

Alex squealed happily and jumped onto Jack, wrapping his arms around his neck and his legs around his waist. Jack chuckled and held onto him tightly, trying not to stumble under his weight.

“You’re heavier than you look, Lex,” Jack said, walking toward the living room.

“Too bad. I’m too happy to care,” Alex said, nuzzling his face into Jack’s neck. He yelped as he was dropped down onto Jack’s couch a few seconds later.

“So am I. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to finally say yes,” Jack said, sitting down next to Alex.

“Technically you said yes,” Alex teased, linking their hands together.

Jack rolled his eyes and pecked him on the lips. “Whatever. Just kiss me. I’m not taking my lips off yours until I’m convinced this isn’t some sort of amazing dream.”