Red Velvet Feelings

Jack lugged the last box onto the counter, dusting his hands free of the dirt.

"Merrick!," he called out.

"Zack! The shipment is all in!" he tried again, still getting no response.

He sighed Grieco as came back from outside with the last box. "Tell Zack we're finished?"

He shook his head, "Think he's still out front, I'll go check." Jack said, moving to go tell Zack, when said man made his appearance. "

No need, heard you. You guys can go on break. The crowd is pretty empty today." Zack said, going towards his office door, still looking at the guys.

"Sweet!" Jack exclaimed, when Zack stopped moving altogether to look at Jack only.

"You goin out front with Alex?"

"Of course he is." Grieco said, a smirk on his face.

Jack looked between the two confused before saying, "Actually I'm going to call Sean, then probably sit with Alex when I eat. Why?"

Zack shrugged, "Just wondering if you were going to be taking another long lunch. Nothin' against the guy. I like him actually, he's really nice." Martin and Rian waltzed into the room while Zack talked, Martin started nodding to Zack's words. "I do too. Sean on the other hand Jack, really?" the dark haired boy said, but Rian quickly shoved him.

"Tell him we said hi," Rian said in a way that wasn't too convincing to Jack, "we need to go bake now. Zack, we got a girl demanding three dozen red velvet cupcakes."

~*~

Jack was seriously debating on the Cheetos.

But then it's like, Doritos are just so good sometimes. You really have to be in the mood for them though. Cheetos are a you-can-eat anytime type of thing. In the end, Jack grabbed both. Sighing, he stopped by the glass refrigerators and picked out a Gatorade and placed it into his basket. It was when he left the aisle, is when he noticed a familiar figure.

"Alex?" The boy looked up in confusion, but his face broke out into a grin.

"Jack. What are you doing here?" he asked, moving over to Jack and giving him a half hug. And okay, maybe Jack's stomach did a little flop at the action, but that is not important. The way Alex's hair faintly smelled like strawberries isn't all that important either. And if you asked Jack, the way he was dressed in jogging pants and a tight Blink tee was definitely not important.

"Well I was half way through watching Step Brothers and I decided I needed food. I then realized I had nothing worthy of eating, so I came here." Jack said. They made their way back into the line and Alex laughed, his nice laugh.

Wait, Jack no.

His laugh is just normal. There nothing nice about it.

"I see. I have to say, good choice on the movie." Alex said, and Jack smiled.

"Course, Its a classic," they stepped up as the line moved, "So why am I just now aware of the fact that you like Blink?" he continued, glancing down at the youngers shirt.

Alex looked down too, but quickly laid eyes on Jack again and shrugged. "Not sure. Are you a fan?"
Jack's eyes widened in excitement, and he nodded furiously. "I absolutely love them! One of my all time favorites for sure."

Alex placed his items on the counter as the guy in front of them left, and smiled at Jack's excitement. It was cute, Jack gushing about a band that Alex loved all the same.

"I heard they were suppose to be here next month."

He remembered his friend back home telling him before he left.

Jack's posture shrunk into himself, and his eyes saddened. "Ugh, I know. Like three weeks ago I stayed up all night trying to get tickets…" he trailed off as Alex got his change back, to say a hello to the lady as she started scanning his stuff, "And my boyfriend had been begging me to go get Sonic. So he'd finally convinced me it would only be a quick run. Two hours later we got home. They were already sold out."

Alex's jaw dropped dramatically, he closed it shaking his head. "Seriously shitty. I'm sorry."

Jack just shrugged, taking his bag and saying a thank you to the cashier. They started towards the door. "Not your fault. So look, I-I was wondering. Do you wanna come back to mine? My boyfriend isn't exactly talking to me right now, so I'm pretty much solo tonight. Step Brothers isn't as funny alone."

Jack managed to get the words out smoothly enough, even though he had been a bit nervous to ask Alex. And he was totally expecting a no to be honest. A simple casual excusive no.

Instead Alex smiled small and shrugged, "Yeah, sure. I got ice cream."

The two drove to Jack's house, Alex following because he had no idea where Jack lived. He couldn't leave his car.

And sure enough it was an hour later and the two were in hysterics.

"I love that part," Jack said, finally calming down enough to talk. He looked over at Alex, who was sitting on the other end of his couch, and the boy laughed one more time before nodding. "God, me too." The movie had ended, and they decided to put another in while they ate ice cream. At first they tried to get into it, but it quickly became background noise.

They were too enveloped in conversation with each other to pay attention to Hugh Jackman.

Jack learned that Alex is twenty, close to his parents, he loves music, Blink 128, Greenday, Yellowcard, no siblings, he likes coffee, hates his demanding boss, and likes taking long showers.

Jack had to say, he had some good interests. They were nice, Alex was nice.

It had gotten comfortably quiet, and it was dark, the only illumination was the scary movie playing on Jack's TV. He looked over at Alex, who was watching it intently. His hair softly falling over his right eye. A haircut was obviously needed, but he still looked good.

And fine, Jack will admit that he's so goddamn fucking attractive, okay?

"So why isn't your boyfriend the one accompanying you tonight?" This made Jack stop his thoughts and sigh into the darkness. "We just had bad day, happens."

Alex nodded slowly, eyes still trained to the TV. "Understandable."

No more words were said after that, until Jack heard a heavier breathing.

"Alex?" he whispered, getting no response in return. He moved to get a good view of the boy, and he was sleeping. Curled into the corner, looking a bit uncomfortable, but sleeping peacefully away.