You Could Be My Compass

It went without saying that Jack spent the next few nights at Alex’s house.

Alex’s parents were more than thrilled to have him. The two families had always been so closely intertwined that he was like a second child to them. Plus, they loved seeing their son genuinely happy for the first time in over five years. Nobody would be able to miss the spring in his step, the sparkle in his eyes, the smile that wouldn’t leave his face, all of the traits they’d missed seeing in him. Their Alex, the one they knew and loved, was back with the return of Jack.

They all kept him under constant watch until his dad got back from his business trip to some small European country that Alex didn’t really care to know the name of. Besides when he was in the bathroom, he was never alone. They were all just a little paranoid about his safety. It would’ve been annoying to someone else, but Jack appreciated it.

Alex’s parents went a little over-the-top. While Alex had been showing off all of his pets, they’d gone shopping again. His dad bought about thirty movies that had been released over the past five years because he “wanted Jack to be caught up on pop culture.” His mom bought all of the snack foods they’d enjoyed through their childhood. Ritz crackers and spray cheese, Gushers, banana splits, Spaghetti-Os, Jones Soda, sour gummy worms, everything. She had eight bags of food.

Alex rolled his eyes at his parents, but Jack’s face was shining like it was Christmas. And to him, Alex realized, that’s how it must have felt. So he didn’t mock everything his parents did. Instead, he plopped down on the couch and watched movies and ate unhealthy food with Jack, because that’s what best friends do.

He slept in Alex’s room, not one of the two spares unoccupied by pets. Alex insisted that he didn’t mind sleeping on the floor.

‘Slept’ doesn’t accurately describe what Jack did.

Jack tried to sleep. He would close his eyes and fall asleep for a few minutes. But then he would wake up, gasping and thrashing around following a nightmare. Alex didn’t know what to do to help him. He tried to console him, but he couldn’t get him to fall back asleep. So he just stayed up with him, trying to keep his mind out of whatever dark place is kept drifting away to.

By the third night, they were both sleep-deprived. Jack was exhausted and Alex was cranky. When Jack inevitably woke up fifteen minutes after falling asleep, Alex stood up. “Scoot over,” he said.

“What?” Jack asked sleepily.

“I said move.” He crawled into the bed beside Jack.

“Alex,” the dark-haired boy protested. “You don’t have to.”

“Shh,” Alex whispered, putting a finger against Jack’s lips. “We used to do this all the time when one of us couldn’t sleep.”

“Yeah, when we were, like, nine.” He rolled his eyes. Then he saw a look of hurt on Alex’s face. “I’m just saying, don’t feel obligated.” It wasn’t that he didn’t want Alex there, because he did. He just didn’t want him to feel like he had to do this.

“I don’t.” He wound his arms around him. “You need sleep. If you don’t want me to, then—”

“I do,” he consented. After he got comfortable—it was hard not to get comfortable when he was near Alex—Jack murmured, “I missed you” for about the thousandth time, taking one of Alex’s hands in his own and threading their fingers together.

“I missed you too,” Alex whispered. “Now go to sleep.”

Jack slept through the entire night.

Well, as much of the ‘entire night’ he could sleep through before Alex’s mom was waking them up at five. “We finally got a hold of your dad,” she was saying to Jack as Alex sat up slowly next to him. “He wants you to know that he’s very glad you’re back, but he’s been delayed for at least another two weeks. I’ve contacted the police and they want you over there in an hour for questioning.”

“Why so early?” Jack croaked, head falling back against the pillow.

She shrugged. “They probably have a lot of questions for you. You too, Alex. Get up.”

“I am up!” he objected, but she was already leaving the room. He prodded Jack’s shoulder. “Come on, time to get up, Jacky.”

“But your bed’s so comfy,” he complained.

“I know it is. But you’ll be here for the next couple weeks, so there’ll be other opportunities to sleep in it.” He rolled his eyes and grinned, messing up Jack’s bedhead even more.

Sighing and throwing his legs over the side of the bed, Jack stretched and wondered aloud, “Why isn’t my dad, like, rushing home. I mean, I don’t expect him to drop everything and come see me or anything, ‘cause he never did before, but…actually, yeah, that is kind of what I expect from him.” He got up and started digging through Alex’s clothes, trying to find jeans that fit him while he ranted. “I don’t want to sound selfish or whiny or needy, but it’d be nice if he wanted to talk to me or maybe let go whatever business deal he’s working on to come home early. But no. Work is more important than me, just like always. Some things never change,” he finished bitterly.

“Jack, you’re important to him.” Alex wanted to think up something more reassuring, but that was all he could come up with. He wasn’t an expert with words, not on the spot.

“No I’m not.” He tried to sound tough, defiant. But his voice cracked, giving him away as he slipped on one of Alex’s shirts. “I never have been.”

“Come here,” Alex said softly from where he still sat on his bed.

Jack walked back over to him and was immediately pulled into a hug. “He doesn’t care.”

Without thinking, Alex kissed the top of his head. “He does care about you. Yes, he’s a bit of a workaholic. But come on, Jack, you’re like the most loveable guy ever. It’s impossible that your own dad doesn’t care. He’ll be so happy to see you when he gets back, I know it.” He didn’t know it, but he sounded confident enough.

He didn’t have to look to tell that Jack was smiling. “You’re the best, Alex.”

——

By a lot of questions, what Alex’s mom had meant was we’ll be spending the majority of our day at the police station. She’d just used fewer words. They talked to Jack for a solid two hours before giving him a break and taking Alex back. He hated the way they made him recall the details of the kidnapping for the umpteenth time. Through gritted teeth, he told them, “We were walking home from school and this car pulled up and—”

“What did the car look like?”

“Haven’t you already asked me this? Silver Chevy. No, I didn’t get the license plate number. I was twelve, for god’s sake!”

The cop gave him a pitying smile. “Just have to make sure your answers haven’t changed. Can you describe the men that took him?”

And so, no matter how much it hurt to remember, he did. “The first, the one with the gun, he had long greasy black hair and he honestly just looked like your stereotypical cliché kidnapper, you know? Dressed in black, kind of dirty-looking. The type you’d use in one of those videos you show first graders. But the second guy, he was the opposite. Clean-shaven, blonde, like maybe he’d actually had a shower within the past few hours. He was wearing a suit. There was a third. The driver. I didn’t see him, though. I don’t even know if it was a guy.” He thought back to the first time he’d been interrogated by the police, less than an hour after it happened. He’d been sobbing so hard it took them forever to get a few sentences out of him. He was there until late that night, almost midnight, only able to give them a little information. It wasn’t as bad this time around because Jack was just on the other side of that door, but something about being here again made him feel anxious to see him again, just as proof that he was still there.

Then came a tougher question, one Alex didn’t have the answer to right off the bat. “Why didn’t you call us as soon as you found him?”

Why didn’t he? Most normal people, upon seeing someone who they knew had been missing for half a decade, would immediately phone the police. But Alex had, admittedly somewhat selfishly, kept him to himself for a few days. But his parents could’ve jumped on that, could have called. Oh! He knew why. “We couldn’t get in touch with his dad. We wanted him to give us the green light before we did anything.”

“A little irresponsible, but given the circumstances, we can let that go.”

A few more questions and it was Jack’s turn again. They didn’t leave until two in the afternoon.

“Eight hours,” Jack groaned when they were back home. “Eight hours at the damn police station. I could’ve been sleeping!”

While laughing at him, Alex checked his phone. He had a message from Rian and got an idea. “Interested in meeting some of my other, less awesome friends?”