I Don't Care If You're Contagious

“I could’ve sworn I heard it!” Alex found himself, yet again defending the voice he had heard as clear as day.

“Whatever you say Alex.” his best friend was used to this by now and simply shrugged. Alex had always been different since Rian could remember. When they had met in the fourth grade, people warned Rian about the ‘freak’ Alex could be. He obviously had no idea what this meant, and figured the boy could use a friend considering he always sat alone in the corner of the playground. Sure people always whispered about the weird things Alex did, like talk to himself, stare out into space, cry and laugh at random, but Rian shrugged it off along with all the other warnings his classmates sent his way. And so Rian thought little of it when he asked to sit with Alex and Alex replied he’d have to ask the others first. Alex clearly had no friends but Rian dismissed it as him imaginary friends. Alex eventually allowed Rian to sit with him and even though no words were exchanged for months, Rian couldn't necessarily ditch the strange boy, for everyone else in their class had labeled Rian as the “freak’s best friend” and so the unspoken agreement of their friendship was born.
It took Alex a total of five months to reply and have an actual conversation with Rian and although it was about the temperature of ice, Rian was content. After the icebreaker (no pun intended) the two boys began having deeper conversations and discovered they had similar taste in music and wanted to learn an instrument. It had been fun between the two up until sixth grade when Alex let Rian in on his little secret, and that led them to current day; junior year in high school; where Alex claimed some mysterious voice was the cause of numerous accidents, slip ups, misinterpretations, and currently black eyes.

“I’m serious Ri! I thought it had been you,” the younger boy pouted.

“Because I’D totally tell YOU to tell Matt FUCKING Flyzik AKA most popular guy in the whole fucking school to continue FUCKING Alex fucking Greico AKA Matt's number one RIVAL.” Rian rolled his eyes, pushing past the snickering people in their way, Alex running to keep up with Rian who was in a rush to get to the cafeteria before the line for free food grew too long and they would be forced to buy food. Rian unfortunately had no money due to his and Alex's encounter with Alex Grecio moments earlier.

“I’m sorry! It sounds stupid now that you put it that way!” Alex apologized desperately because despite the fact Rian never believed him, he knew the older boy cared about him to an extent and honestly they were all the other had.

“When aren't your little ghost friends saying something stupid?” he mumbled cursing at the length of the food line.

“They’re not little.” Alex murmured to himself but Rian heard causing him to groan. Why couldn't his best friend be a little more normal sometimes?

“Can we please not Lex? For one day, please just don’t.” Rian pleaded turning to face his friend, his hands on his shoulders. Alex bit his lip feeling extremely guilty and nodded. He felt terrible knowing all of Rian’s sacrifices for him. Rian could easily be popular; he was smart, funny, sporty, good looking, and extremely social, yet he stood by Alex, who had nothing to offer but quaint stories.

“I’m sorry.” he sighed, looking down at the ground. Rian felt a pang of guilt at the broken look planted on his face.

“No...ugh, I’m sorry, I’m just hungry.” Rian laughed half-heartedly, the black eye Oliver had given Alex made his stomach churn. A good friend would have stepped in but Rian was quite the coward.

"I have a sandwich in my locker." Alex offered walking toward the cafeteria tables.

"How long has that been in there?" Rian made a face knowing very well Alex never ate any of his lunches. It wasn't that Alex was anorexic (though his skinny frame said otherwise) but the younger boy could live a couple of days without food. Rian always wondered where he got so much energy from sometimes.

"Only about three days." Alex shrugged like it was no big deal and took a seat at the very last table in the room across from Rian.

"Oh yeah no problem." Rian replied sarcastically. The last time Rian had accepted food from Alex's locker, he had ended up sick in bed with food poisoning.

"Nothing is wrong with it," Alex promised, "they told me that if its-"

"Who's they?" Rian raised a brow. He was 99.9% sure Alex wasn't talking about his parents.

"The--my--you kn-" Alex's face heated up and he shook his head remembering his friend's earlier request. "Never mind."

Rian nodded not really wanting to know who or what they told Alex. They sat in silence as Alex played idly with his hands while Rian stared longingly at the 'popular' table. Full of hot girls, cool looking guys, and piles of food. It all made Rian frown because he knew he could potentially be there but his history with Alex restricted him otherwise. Not only would Alex be alone if he left (Alex would surely never make it into the popular group) but Rian would be frowned upon for having been Alex's friend for so long; they were lost causes in the social hierarchy that is high school.

"My dad gave me tickets to the movie for Friday...we could go, if you want." Alex spoke up quietly after a long pause of silence. Rian almost felt bad at how hard Alex tried to please him sometimes. Alex had always been insecure which didn't help the fact he constantly tried anything to make Rian happy. Alex reasoned that if he could make Rian happy, maybe he'd stay by his side.

"Maybe." Was all Rian replied, he obviously had no other plans. He never did unless they involved family or on few exceptional occasions, Alex. Yet Rian wasn't exactly comfortable being alone with Alex for so long. And although a movie theater wasn't exactly secluded, it was close to it.

"Or...or we could go eat something...or the mall...or something." Alex trailed off when he realized Rian wasn't paying attention. "You could go with them." Alex said quietly, knowing fully Rian was staring at the centre table because he'd done it numerous times.

"No, I can't." Rian finally admitted looking at Alex.

"You obviously want to. They'll let you, so yes you can." Alex replied; the back of his mind hoping Rian would deny all of it but they both knew it was the truth.

"It wouldn't be that easy." He sighed loudly, fully turning so his back was to the other table.

"Sure it would. You're already social, you just have to hang out with them sometimes." Rian shook his head again. "I'm serious! You could even join the football team! You're good at it."

"I know I am!" He slammed his hands on the table. "I know I could fit in! But I can't just join them. For one you'd be alone-"

"That's ok." Alex interrupted quietly.

"And secondly," Rian continued ignoring Alex. "I already earned myself a reputation. No one wants to be friends with the freakish gay kid who talks to imaginary people!" He snapped standing up causing Alex to flinch.

"I'm not gay." He mumbled his head ducked low.

"Oh come off it Alex." He snarled rolling his eyes.

"I-I'm- I-I'm sorry." He begged silently as Rian continued his rant about the difficulty that came with being friends with Alex. It wasn't the first time it happened, but he had never done it for so long and in public. Alex had never been good when the attention was on him, so he was currently holding a breath and shaking slightly. He was used to be being teased at school but it always hit home when it was Rian doing the teasing. Rian was oblivious to the stares and eardroping but Alex was fully aware and yet, still let Rian continue his outburst. By now people were snickering and laughing and Alex had to do everything in his power not to break down and cry. Alex brought his knees up to his chest, his nails digging into his wrist as his eyes trailed to look up at Rian who had stopped yelling and was now sitting collected with his eyes closed. They allowed each other to catch their breath, Rian from yelling and Alex from holding in his breath, before Rian spoke up. Rian hated when Alex looked defeated and allowed him to yell at him like that.

"I'm sorry Alex." Alex stayed still, his head resting on his knees. Rian didn't know why he treated Alex the way he did. Sure he was a little weird but he was an insanely nice person and all he ever did was try and comply with whatever Rian wanted. Hell, Alex had even offered moving schools if it meant Rian could have a couple more friends. Sometimes he did it unintentionally, he didn't want to yell at Alex but it just came over him at times and he regretted in seconds later. "I'm serious Alex, I'm jus-"

"Hungry," Alex whispered looking up at him. "I know." He got up, head ducked and reached into his pocket to pull out a five-dollar bill and dropped it on Rian's lap before exiting the cafeteria and heading to the library.