Dedication Takes a Lifetime, But Dreams Only Last for a Night

The bell went signalling the end of Maths class and me and Alex both stood up eagerly. I picked up my bag and swung it over my shoulder. We followed the rest of our classmates out of the classroom and turned in the direction of the auditorium. Alex glanced at me and smiled nervously.
"Have you ever skipped class before Alex?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling sarcastically. The boy looked nervous and I knew that was probably the reason. Me, on the other hand, I was a regular for skipping classes. It amused me how none of my teachers seemed to notice. Alex shook his head slightly and looked down at the floor as we walked.
"No..." Alex mumbled. I chuckled in a friendly manner.
"Don't worry buddy, we won't get caught. I skip class way too often - I should know." I reassured him, patting him on the shoulder. He looked at me and laughed.
"How come? I wasn't worried anyway..." He said, sticking his nose in the air and pretending to be all big headed. I felt intimidated by him when he acted full of himself. He seemed to think high of himself, and when he acted like that it didn't seem right. It was confusing.
"I-... I'll explain why later. Of course not man." I told him. We continued walking down the corridor in silence as everyone else bustled past us on the way to their classes. I paused when Alex stopped suddenly in his tracks. I opened my mouth to ask him what was wrong, and he put a finger in the air signalling for me to be quiet.
"I'm just gonna go grab something from my locker. I'll meet you in the auditorium in a minute." Alex said, turning away and hurrying off. I rolled my eyes and carried on walking towards the auditorium. I suddenly felt confused as to what Alex was wanting from his locker. He didn't need any of his books - he wasn't gonna be in class. Was he bailing on me? I frowned in confusion. He wouldn't bail on me... Would he? I trusted him, I guessed. I'd give him a chance.
I pushed the auditorium doors open and walked down the stairs quietly towards the stage. The place was empty, as per usual. This was where I usually came when I was skipping class. The only person that was ever in here was the janitor, and he was cool. He'd explained to me that he used to skip class as often as I did when he was younger as well. He told me a lot about his childhood. He was a nice guy in his own right, and he promised that he wouldn't tell on me not attending class. As he said, "Noone likes a tell tale."
I got to the front row of seats right in front of the stage and leaned against the one at the end of the row. I looked around and smiled to myself. I loved the auditorium when it was quiet. It made me imagine about how concert halls or gig venues would be when I was older. I could stand on the stage and look out at all of the empty seats and pretend it was packed full of people waiting to see me. It was one of the things that made me happy. One of the reasons that I enjoyed skipping class.
I looked up at the stage and spotted the janitor sat behind the piano and looking back at me. I smiled and walked up the steps to the stage. I stood still and pointed at him. He laughed.
"Hey Jack." He said, standing up and walking over to me. I never did catch his name.
"Hey!" I said, grinning at him.
"Skipping class once again?" He questioned me and smirked. I chuckled.
"Indeed I am. Do you mind if you leave the auditorium to me today though? I have a friend coming down to meet me." I explained myself. He nodded understandingly.
"A lady friend?" He asked.
"A male friend!" I explained. He winked at me.
"I understand Jack. I'll leave you two be." He walked off the stage down the steps and then headed for the stairs. He paused and waved at me before making his way up the stairs and leaving the auditorium to me.

I jumped up when I heard the auditorium doors swing open. I'd been sat at the piano playing a song that I'd written not so long ago. I couldn't sing, though I'd written words for it as well as the music just in case. I stood up and looked in the direction of the doors. Alex was walking down the stairs and I relaxed slightly. He had what looked like a book in his hand and a guitar in his hand. I widened my eyes to check if I was seeing things and shook my head when I realised I wasn't.
He smiled at me as he stood in front of the stage. I flashed a friendly smiled back at him and held out my hand to him, gesturing for him to take it so I could pull him up onto the stage. He shook his head and climbed up himself, not bothered to use the steps.
"Hey you." I said, sitting down on the edge of the stage and dangling my legs off the edge. Alex put his guitar down on the ground gently, though not letting go of what I now saw was a notebook. He sat down cross-legged next to me and faced me.
"Hey." He smiled.
"What took you so long?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
"I went to get this," Alex explained, holding out his notepad in one hand and pointing to the acoustic guitar with the other, "And this."
"Why did you need them?" I questioned, picking up the guitar and plucking the strings carefully.
"I figured I'd need it if we were going to be learning about each other." He told me, not giving anything away. I closed my eyes briefly, imagining Alex walking up to me playing the guitar, attempting to serenade me. I shook my head to rid them thoughts and opened my eyes quickly. I took a deep breath and smiled at him.
"You go first. We have a while. I have a free period next and I'm assuming you don't mind skipping lessons either." I told him. He nodded.
"I'd rather be with you anyway, Jack." Alex said, his eyes sparkling as he spoke. I sighed at how perfect he looked. He ran his hand through his light brown hair and bit his lip. I looked down at the floor and fidgeted with my hands.
"So... Why did you move to Baltimore in 8th grade? I've always wondered why some random English boy just turned up with no warning." I asked him, eager to know more about him.
"It's... It's a long story. I-... I've not really spoken to anyone about... it. I'll tell you, sure, but I won't be comfortable telling anyone else." Alex told me, shaking his head. I frowned and looked at him sympathetically.
"Are you sure you trust me enough?" I asked playfully, trying to lighten the mood. He laughed and nodded.
"I sure do Jack. I- um, I moved up here after something happened with my brother. I-... My family have never really gotten over it and we- we wanted to move away. Start a... again. Yknow?" Alex stuttered nervously. I regretted asking him, but he seemed like he wanted to tell me. Like it'd help him by talking about it. I was no good with emotional things, but I'd try if it was for Alex. I nodded as he spoke.
"I didn't know you have a brother!" I exclaimed.
"Had a brother... He commit suicide. That's why we moved," Alex corrected me, "We wanted to get away from it."
"I- I'm sorry Alex. I didn't know. I'm here for you buddy." I mumbled, unsure of what more to say. I felt tears in my eyes and I started blinking rapidly. I felt the urge to throw my arms around his neck. Just hold him there against my chest. I gulped. I looked at my hands and tried to avoid eye contact.
"It's okay. Noone knows what to say. I guess that's why I come across as... as if I'm full of myself? I'm not. At all. I want to seem brave. Strong, I suppose. I don't want people to see me as weak, when really, that's all I am. I had a lot of support, sure. But now I'm scared that people will leave me. I'll make friends, but I'm detached. I've never even told the other guys this. Only you." Alex admitted, looked down at his own hands. I noticed his breathing was quickening - as if he was panicking. I hesitated before reaching out and tapping his chin to get him to look up. He did so and I caught his eye, smiling nervously. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him against me. He seemed tense. I felt Alex wrap his own arms around my waist in return and he relaxed slightly. A faint smile spread across my lips and I rested my head on his shoulder. I could get used to this.
"I won't leave you. I promise. You're not weak Alex. Not after getting through something like that. I don't know where I'd be if I were you - most definitely not here. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, and even I know that from just hearing that. You should be proud of yourself for getting through that. It's gonna get better." I told him as I pulled away from the hug. He looked me in the eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek. I wiped it off with my index finger and he stifled a laugh.
"Thank you Jack. It is getting better, that's the thing. It's getting better just by having people like you in my life." Alex told me.
"I know we've not been talking for an awfully long time, and I wasn't expecting you to trust me with this much, but I promise you that we'll make your life better." I said, suddenly feeling a lot more confident now that I was able to comfort him. I'd never been great at reassuring people, but I seemed to have gained the ability from somewhere.
"That's all I needed to hear." Alex gulped, beaming in my direction.
"I'm glad. Anyway, what did you need the notebook and the guitar for?" I asked him, still confused.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Music is the only thing that got me through all of this with my brother. I've written a few songs about my feelings for him, but I wanted to play you a more recent one I wrote." Alex answered my question. I nodded and watched him pick it up. He stood up and put his guitar strap over his shoulder, strumming a few of the strings to prepare himself. He opened his notebook and looked at one of the pages, reading up and down it and nodding to himself. He tossed it down to me and I grabbed hold of it. I looked at his handwriting scrawled all over the page. Song lyrics. It was a notebook full of song lyrics and song ideas. That explained a lot.
"Go and sit down." Alex ordered me, pointing to the front row of seats in front of the stage. I jumped down off the edge of the stage and did as I was told, sitting in the middle seat so I had a good view of Alex. He closed his eyes briefly, forcing a smile onto his face and nodding. I heard him sigh contentedly from where I was sitting. He was perfect, and I was pretty sure that his voice was going to be too.