Never Let Me Go

Alex had no idea how much time had passed until he saw the clock on the classroom wall. He couldn't believe they'd been jamming for three hours. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized no one had made fun of him or been overly critical. In fact, they'd actually seemed to really like his stuff. It seemed like he'd been worried over nothing. He took one more glance at Jack and smiled. His cheeks turned red as he saw that Jack had been looking at him as well.

Zack interrupted the moment by saying, "Hey, man, I gotta get going. I told my mom I'd be home a half hour ago."

Jack turned to him, his face saying "yikes" while his mouth said, "Ooh. Good luck."

Zack nodded, laid his bass in its case, threw the cables in, grabbed his book bag, and ran out of the practice room.

"I should probably get going too. Homework and all you know. Good to meet you Alex, hope to see you back here. Today was fun," Rian said.

The door closed behind him and then it was just the two of them left. Alex felt like he should say something to break the silence, but for the first time in his life his mind was failing to string two words together. He contented himself with watching Jack set his guitar case by his book bag.

Jack turned to face Alex and said, “Thanks for coming today, man. Today was great. And real talk, you’re pretty good at this whole singing thing. See you tomorrow?”

Alex found himself unable to form words again. Is he joking? He wouldn’t joke with me about something like me being good at singing… right? And he wants to keep hanging out? And his friends liked me… might I have an actual chance at a friend here? Like for real? God, I hope I don’t screw it up. he thought. He soon realized he’d spaced out again as he came back to reality and saw the confused look on Jack’s face.

“Sorry… didn’t mean to space out on you. To answer your question, yeah, that’d be great. Today was cool.”

Jack laughed.

“It’s cool. And awesome, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said, slinging his book bag over his shoulder and picking his guitar case up with his free hand.

“See you…” Alex said.

Jack walked over to the door, opened it, and left, leaving Alex alone with his thoughts. He grabbed his own book bag and began the walk to the front gate of the school. This time he just let his thoughts run like a two-year-old who’s had too much sugar: Jack’s laugh is its own music. I need to find out what makes him laugh so I can hear it again. I’d pay to hear that all the time. And that smile. And he seems so genuine and kind. I can’t wait to get to know him better.

He picked up his pace, walking faster so he could get home faster. A great first line for a song had just popped into his head and he couldn’t wait to get it down on paper.

#

They had all just finished up in the practice room and again, Alex and Jack were the only ones left in the room. Jack closed his guitar case, turned, and walked over to Alex and held out his hand.

“Ready?” he said.

Alex swallowed his nerves and took his hand. The two of them walked down the empty hallway until they reached the exit. Soon, they were standing under a tree in the field next to the parking lot, waiting for Jack’s mom to pick him up. Alex watched as Jack brought their joined hands up to his lips and kissed the top of them. Alex felt a shy smile tug at his lips as Jack dropped their hands and leaned in to kiss him. Their lips met and Alex felt that pins and needles feeling you get after the blood returns to the foot you’ve been sitting on too long shoot through every inch of his body. He thought, this feels so beyond good and I never want to stop…

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Alex bolted upright in bed, startled both by his alarm and by the dream he’d been having. What the hell was that about? I don’t – I’m not gay. I’m not. I like women. I always have. Jack is just my friend and he’s cool and whatever, dreams are weird anyway. he thought.

He yawned, shut off his alarm, and walked over to his closet to decide what to wear to school. Regardless of the weird dream, he was still excited to see Jack and the others again, especially now that he had a new song to show them.