You Could Be My Compass

“Where are you taking me?” Jack whined.

“Would you stop asking? I’m not telling.” Alex grinned—not that Jack could see. He was currently blindfolded and had no idea where they were headed. “We’ll get there soon enough.”

“Be honest: you only blindfolded me so I can’t see how terrible your driving is, right?” Jack was kidding. Mostly. The few times he’d been in the car with Alex had scared the shit out of him.

“You figured me out. Damn it. I’d better come up with a different strategy next time.”

“Next time?!” The fear was obvious in his voice. “No offense, Lex, but being the passenger when you drive is the equivalent of a roller coaster without the fun part. It’s like a near death experience.” He knew it was a bad explanation, but there was just this sensation he got when he rode with Alex…and it wasn’t a good one. “I get in the car with you knowing that there’s about a fifteen percent chance I’m not gonna make it out alive.”

“Don’t make me stop this car!” Alex yelled, jerking it to the side like he was going to pull over, then navigating back onto the road at the last second. It was a wonder he hadn’t gotten himself/Jack killed by now.

“That’s what I’m going for.”

“Oh, c’mon…my driving’s not that bad,” Alex protested, speeding up a little more. The cops knew him and his parents very well, and even if they pulled him over, he’d never get a ticket, as long as he was sober. That was the agreement they’d come to after the DUI: Alex could basically get away with whatever he wanted to as far as driving went if he didn’t drive drunk anymore. It worked for him, and they knew, or at least hoped, it would keep him from drinking as much anymore. (He’d quit, after all, just maybe not for the reasons they thought.)

“I hate to break it to you, but—agh!” He was cut off by Alex slamming into a parking space, lurching forward against his seatbelt.

Alex helped Jack out of the car and gently grabbed his arm, guiding him. “I’m actually not that bad of a driver.”

Jack rubbed at the stinging patch on his neck that the seatbelt had snapped against. “Okay, you’re really trying to tell me that after—”

“Shh, let me finish.” Alex rolled his eyes. “I only drive like that when you’re in the car ‘cause I know it bugs you. You’re cute when you get annoyed.”

Jack’s cheeks reddened. “Whatever,” he muttered, acting like he hadn’t heard that. “Do I get to know where we’re going yet?”

“Patience, young grasshopper,” Alex instructed, briefly affecting an old wizard voice. He led Jack to the door.

“Aren’t we going in?”

“Yeah, gimme a second.” Alex was fumbling with the lock, and that’s when it clicked for Jack.

“We’re at the library,” he stated definitively, so sure he was right.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.” Alex finally got the door opened and pushed Jack in. “Not much further,” he promised, tugging him to the corner.

“You’ve been saying that since we left your house,” Jack complained.

“Well, yeah, ‘cause eventually it’ll be true.” In one movement, Alex ripped the cloth off of Jack’s face. “Ta-da!” he proclaimed proudly, before suddenly becoming shy and awkward about it. “Um, what do you think of it?”

Jack’s eyes took a second to adjust to the light, but then he saw what he was standing in front of. Yes, they were at the library. The wall that was once dedicated to missing Jack had been repainted and now said Welcome home, Jack! There were all sorts of quotes and lyrics decorating it, and Alex had rewritten the lyrics he’d scrawled on the we-miss-you-Jack wall. There was a (he assumed purposefully) poorly drawn picture of a bunch of stick figures, messily labeled as Jack, Alex, Cass, Lis, Ri, and Stoner Zack.

“When did you do this?” Jack asked. It was like when he’d snuck in and put the lyrics there, but a much bigger scale. How the hell did Alex find time for stuff like this?

Alex’s words were rushed as he explained, “While you were ignoring me. I got everyone else to help me. We came in one day and took down all the notes and junk—which I saved, by the way, in case you want to read through them—and then painted over it, and the next day we painted that and then the day after that, we wrote everything and Lisa drew you that masterpiece because she felt like she wasn’t contributing enough.” He doubted that once school started back, the whole ‘Stoner Zack’ thing would be allowed to stay, but it was worth a shot.

Without saying a word, Jack spun around and crashed his lips against Alex’s roughly, taking him by surprise, sending him staggering backwards against the wall.

“So, uh, do you like it?” Alex asked nervously.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I love it! You are so amazing, Alex. You’re the greatest. You know that, right? Holy shit.”

“So I’ve been told.” He kissed Jack’s neck. “I’m glad you like it. That would’ve been an awful big waste of time if you didn’t. I mean, I still would’ve done it, but it would’ve really sucked if you—”

“Are you going to keep babbling or are you gonna fucking kiss me again?” Jack teased, his lips brushing against Alex’s cheek.

“Hey! You kissed me,” Alex reminded him.

“Details, details…” He still had Alex pinned against the wall and leaned in to kiss him again when Alex’s phone started vibrated. “I swear to god, every time,” he mumbled, pulling back so Alex could answer.

Alex sighed. It was like the universe was cock-blocking them. “It’s my mom.” He’d feel guilty if he didn’t answer it.

He didn’t have a chance to speak before she was screeching, “You two need to get home right now! It’s an emergency.”