Guitars and Love Notes

The next morning Alex was awoken by the feeling if something hitting him in the face. Thinking it was his boyfriend trying to wake him up to work on their homework again he even so politely told him to fuck off, but when it resulted in laughter he knew it wasn't Zack. Keeping his eyes closed Alex focused on the laugh; he recognized it, but he couldn't place where from. After a second he realized that it was Jack, meaning that his friend was finally awake; Jack was okay.

Needing to make sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him he quickly sat up and opened his eyes only to be hit in the face by a piece of granola. And judging by the pile that was at his feet it was obvious that Jack had been throwing him at it for a while trying to wake him up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, getting up carefully so as to not wake up Zack who has somehow slept through Jack's granola attack.

"That depends. Am I here because Ana finally admitted her love for me and we had mind blowing sex that sent us both to the ER or was I just way too stupid last night."

"The latter unfortunately," Alex sighed. "Do you even know how much you ended up drinking last night?"

"I just remember the one beer I had with you that was followed by a few shots with Ana."

"Ya sure it wasn't a few dozen?" the older boy asked with a concerned face as a doctor walked into the room with a clipboard in hand.

"How are you feeling this morning Mr. Barakat?" the man asked with a bright smile.

"Like I had a fight with a Mac truck and it won."

"Well I would be surprised if you didn't with the blood alcohol level you had when you were brought in last night," he informed them. "Normally I'm supposed to report this to the proper authorities and since you are underage it's of even more importance to report this but since it is your first reported offense I'm willing to let you off with a warning; but only if you sign this," he concluded as he passed Jack the clipboard he had been holding.

"You want me to give up alcohol?" Jack asked in shock.

"You technically shouldn't be drinking it at your age anyways, so it shouldn't be that hard to give up. Plus like I said, if you don't sign it I will be forced to turn you in."

The room was silent while Jack sat there staring at the pledge and weighing his options. He loved partying and having a few drinks with his friends hut could he really risk getting out on probation, or worse go to jail. After a few minutes of debating Jack broke the silence by asking the doctor if he had a pen so that he could sign the pledge.

"I'm proud of you," Alex said after the doctor had left the room with Jack’s signed pledge and patted him on the back. “And to show you just how proud I am, I’ll give up alcohol too. We can sit upstairs with Zack the next few parties.”

“So last night Zack starts drinking and I stop. It’s funny how that worked out,” Jack laughed.

“Well actually,” Alex mumbled while rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact.

"What did you do?" Jack asked knowing his friends mannerisms.

"Zack didn't actually start drinking last night," he shrugged.

"What do you mean I didn't start drinking?" the younger boy questioned, letting Alex know he was awake at the same time Jack spoke up too.

"I knew you weren't too keen on the idea of drinking so when you turned away I filled your glass with coke. I figured if you thought you survived drinking one night it would make it easier when you actually went to try it later on."

"I should be pissed at you for tricking me, but that was so sweet of you," he said as he got up from his chair and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek.

"Seriously you two? I feel bad enough I don't need to see you two making out," Jack exclaimed as he reached up and shielded his eyes.

"Jack you and I both know that that is not making out," he said in a bored tone. "Now this is making out," he exclaimed as he pulled Zack's face to his own once he knew Jack was looking at them.

"Alex, stop it," Zack laughed as he pulled away and smacked Alex's chest. "You're friend just had a tragic night, you should be making sure he's comfortable."

"Listen to your boyfriend Alex," Jack said before sticking his tongue out at Alex. "I'm sick and your supposed to be taking care of me."

"Drama queen," Alex muttered under his breath making Zack laugh.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Zack asked hoping to help the other boy along anyway that he could while they were there.

"Well I'm starving and the stuff they consider food in this place isn't too edible, so could you go get me something decent to eat?"

"Sure, I'll go see what they have in the cafeteria," he said before turning to Alex. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm good," he lied not wanting to make his boyfriend take care of him too. He had been around a sick Jack enough to know that he was like a whiny, very needy child and if Zack was going to be nice and help him recover he didn't need to add taking care of Alex to the mix.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few," he said before walking out the doors.

"So how bad was I really last night?" Jack asked once the door had closed and he was alone with Alex.

"Let's just say, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw how bad you were. It's not normal for someone to throw up as much as you did and it really had me thinking you weren't going to make it. I just lost my mom, I can't lose my brother too," he said in a rare heartfelt moment before getting up to hug Jack.

"I'm sorry I scared you. If it's any consolation I scared the shit out of myself when I woke up like this," he joked.

"So... I decided that I'm going to give up drinking along with you," he randomly said as he sat back in the chair he had been sleeping on Zack in earlier and kicked his feet up on the bed.

"Really?"

"Really," he laughed. "The doctors right; you shouldn't be drinking because of your age, and neither should I. We both would be completely fucked right now if that doctor had gone to the cops about us."

"Yeah, that was pretty cool of him," Jack said as the door to his room opened and Zack entered with a tray full of food.

"All that for me? You are way too good to me," he said as he reached out for the tray.

"Most of its for you," he said as he set it down and picked up a plate with two bagels on it and passed it to Alex before grabbing the cup of coffee off the tray. "In case you forgot Alex and I need to eat too."

"I guess that's allowed," Jack sighed before looking around the tray. "Where's my coffee?"

"Sorry Jack, but I saw your doctor in the hall and he said it was okay to get your breakfast, you just can't have coffee yet. He wants you to take it easy on your stomach for the next day or so."

"Fine," he whined before digging into the bowl of cereal Zack had brought him.

"I thought I told you I didn't need anything," Alex said as Zack sat down next to him and grabbed one of the bagels.

"You haven't eaten since our movie marathon yesterday; I know you're starving," he explained.

"Well thank you," he said leaning over and kissing Zack cheek before starting on his bagel.



Three hours later and Jack was released to go home, but only with the promise that he wouldn’t eat anything too heavy for a while. As upset as he was that Alex and Zack shot down his idea of getting Taco Bell on the way home, he knew they were looking out for him.

Thankfully rather than being taken back to his house, where he would clearly get a lecture from him parents, Jack was pleasantly surprised to see that they were pulling up in front of Alex’s house.

“Are you sure you’re dad’s going to be okay with me being here?” Jack asked as they all got of the car and started making their way up the path.

“He’s going to be at work all weekend; don’t even worry about it,” he said as he lead the two into the living room and went over to the entertainment center on the far wall to find a movie for them to watch.

“Just because I’m on bed rest for the next twelve hours doesn’t mean you guys are too,” Jack said as he got comfortable on the couch while the other two squeezed as close together as they could on the love seat.

“Jack, I told you I was going to make sure you were okay, and if I have to sit on a couch for the next twelve hours watching movies with you while cuddling my boyfriend, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” he said as dramatically as he could.

"Well aren't you sweet?" Zack said with with a smile as he tried to push himself even further into Alex's side.

"I try," Alex said as he smiled down at the younger boy before placing a kiss on his head.

"So what movie did you put in?" Jack asked as he reached for the remote that was in front of him and officially turned on the TV.

"Well since you're sick I decided I'd be nice and let you watch your favorite movie, even though we've both seen it a thousand times."

"Are we going to watch the second one too?" Jack asked as his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas.

"If you're good."



By the time the boys were ready to start the second movie the living room was nearly trashed. There were about seven cans of pop, five of which were from Alex littering the coffee table along with chips bags and the chips that were falling out of them. Jack was asleep on the couch with one leg thrown over the back if it and his mouth hanging open as he snored lightly.

One the other couch Zack had his head in Alex's lap, while Alex sat there running his hands through Zack's hair helping to put him to sleep. Alex knew that he wasn't going to get any sleep soon, but that didn't stop him from wanting Zack to stay sleeping in his lap. He was more than happy to sit on the couch bored out of his mind for the next few hours as long as Zack was happy.

Hoping to keep himself a tiny but occupied for a while Alex let his mind wander. First thing he thought of was his mom and how much he missed her. He could just imagine her walking into the room to find the three of them and just laughing before walking out of the room only to find Alex alone later that night so she could tell him how happy she was he found such great friends.

The more he thought of his mom and her departure, the more he realized that if his mom had never left he wouldn't be here right now with Zack laying in his lap, trying to snuggle closer to Alex every few minutes. If Zack had never heard his mom talk about Alex's mom and how upset she was over Alex avoiding her, Zack would have never started leaving him little notes in his guitar case and Alex would have never started trying to pursue him. As he thought about the notes he realized that he still needed to figure out how that boy managed to sneak in his guitar case every morning; maybe he would ask Zack when he woke up.

“Stop thinking so much,” Zack muttered quietly as rolled over and looked up at Alex.

“Sorry, why don’t you go back to sleep?” Alex suggested, never once stopping his hand that was running through Zack’s hair.

"No, I’m already up,” Zack said as he stretched his arms above his head the best he could in his position. “What’s got you thinking so much?”

“I just realized that if my mom had never left then I never would have gotten the chance to know you and I’d probably be miserable sitting in a department store holding clothes for Lisa to try on right about now.”

“You’re not miserable here are you?” he asked with a smile.

“Never,” Alex said returning the smile before he leaned down at kissed the younger boy. "What about you? Are you miserable here with me?"

"Never," he said before pulling Alex down to his level again.



Monday when the boys returned to school things stayed the same, for the most part. Jack was back to his normal, way too energetic self, the memory of how miserable he was after getting his stomach pumped was already gone. Alex and Jack still met up on the stairs before school with the only difference being that Zack was pressed up against Alex's side watching him strum his guitar.

"Write anything good lately?" Jack asked with his eyes glued to his phone as he played a game to pass the time before they had to head into class.

"Write anything about me?" Zack added with a smile.

"You have no idea,” Alex smiled as he stopped playing his guitar and put an arm around Zack’s waist while placing a kiss on his temple.

“Do I get to hear them?” Zack asked turning to look at Alex.

“Maybe later,” he said with a smile, as he pulled his arm back and started strumming his guitar again.

“So how would you feel about playing at my sister’s party?” Jack asked with a hopeful smile. “She heard that demo we worked on and she can’t stop going on about how great your voice is. So what do you say?”

“Well, since it’s for May I can’t say no,” he said with a laugh. “Just give me the time and place of her party. Also, have her make a set list of songs she’d like to hear and we can make her night.”

“She’s going to want you to play your original music, I hope you realize that.”

“Whatever,” Alex said as the bell rang and he turned to put his guitar away. Once his guitar was securely in place he stood up before offering a hand to Zack.

“Don’t worry Zack, you get to come to the party too and I’ll make sure Alex plays a few of the songs he wrote for you,” Jack said with a smirk as he followed the other two into the school building.

“Good, I can’t wait to hear them.”



That night Alex got all the information about the party only to find out that it was going to be held two weeks later on a Saturday. That gave him two weeks to perfect all the songs he had ever written about Zack so that the younger boy could be there to hear them played live for the first time, along with the newest song he had started writing during study hall.

Within an hour his bedroom floor was littered with crumpled papers. He wanted nothing more than to write a song to sing for Zack that described exactly how he was feeling about the boy, but for some reason he couldn’t find the right words. Over the years he had written hundreds of songs, but the one time he really wanted to write a song that meant something great, he couldn’t think of it and it was pissing him off immensely.

As if the world knew how angry he was and how close he was to ripping his hair out of his head, his bedroom door opened a crack and the one person who could make it all better stuck his head in.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Zack asked with a nervous smile.

“Never,” Alex said as he crumpled up yet another piece of paper and threw it among the others.

“Having some trouble?” Zack laughed as he walked into the room all the way and shut the door behind him.

“Yes, but I’ll worry about it later. Come cuddle,” he said as he set his guitar aside and reached his arm out to Zack.

“When did you become such a sap?”

“When did I start dating you again?” he said with a laugh.

“So what were you working on?” Zack asked as he reached down and grabbed a piece of paper off the floor and started to open it, wondering what had his boyfriend so stressed out.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” the older boy said as he ripped the paper out of Zack’s hand and threw it on the other side of the bed as far away from Zack as he could get, before he pulled the younger boy into his side. “I’m not complaining or anything, but what exactly are you doing here? I thought we were going to meet at the movies later tonight.”

“Caleb and his friends were being loud and stupid. I just wanted to get away from them so that I could actually hear myself think.”

“Awe, I’m sorry to hear that. But at least you’re here and we can spend some more time together.”

“Would you mind just staying in and watching movies here tonight? I really don’t feel like going out anymore.”

“Sure, I’ll go get us some snacks. Why don’t you pick out a few movies for us to watch while I’m gone?” Alex suggested as he got off his bed and walked out of the room.

Once the door was shut behind Alex, Zack got off the bed and made his way over to the boys DVD rack in hopes of finding something good for them to watch. While he was making his way across the room he bent down and picked up one of the crumpled pieces of paper in hopes of seeing what Alex was working on. He knew it was an invasion of privacy and that Alex didn’t want him to see it, but something told him that he had to look or he might regret it later, so with that in mind he smoothed out the paper and read the lyrics that were written inside of it.

With those little love notes on my guitar
I realized that I loved you so

After reading the two lines that were the only things written on the paper Zack quickly realized that Alex was writing a song about him; one that he was clearly having some trouble with. He knew Alex loved writing music, but knowing the current song buzzing around his boyfriends head was about him made him blush.

Not wanting Alex to find out about him reading the song he quickly crumpled up the paper again and threw it back into the pile hoping that Alex wouldn’t notice anything being out of place. Once he felt that the paper pile looked the same as before he started making his way over to the DVD rack againki. He quickly scanned the titles and pulled out the first of the Batman trilogy knowing how much Alex loved Batman.

With the movie in the player Zack made his way back over to the bed and pulled the covers back before climbing in and getting comfortable.

"I hope you're okay with ice cream and chips because I couldn't decide," Alex said as he pushed the door open and walked over to the bed with all the food.

"Well I hope you're okay with Batman because I couldn't find any other movie I wanted to watch," Zack said as he reluctantly got up and snatched the bag of chips and quickly opened it as he sat back again.

"You know I could never say no to batman," Alex smiled as he lifted up the covers and crawled in next to Zack and fitted himself next to Zack putting his head on the younger boys shoulder.

It wasn't too often that Alex cuddled into Zack. Normally it was the other way around, which Alex always found weird since Zack was so much more muscular than him, but as long as they took turns cuddling the other he didn't really have a reason to complain.

Halfway through the movie and the only thing on Zack’s mind was that song Alex was working on. He couldn’t seem to get it off his mind no matter what. He tried watching the movie, but no matter what he couldn’t get into it. He just kept thinking about his relationship with Alex and how great everything seemed to be going for the two of them. Everything wouldn’t stay one hundred percent perfect all the time and he knew that, because it was impossible for them to never fight, but right now it was perfect and he wanted to hold onto it for as long as he could.

“Are you even watching this?” Alex asked suddenly starling Zack.

“What? Of course I’m watching.”

“Ya sure?” Alex asked with a raised eyebrow before grabbing the TV remote and turning it off. “What just happened in the movie?”

“The football field collapsed and Bane took over?” Zack asked hoping he was right, but knowing his luck he was going to be completely off.

“That happens in the ‘Dark Knight Rises’, we’re watching Batman Begins. So do you want to tell me what’s got you so distracted?”

“I just was thinking about our relationship,” he shrugged.

“All good things I hope.”

“Very good things,” he smiled, earning a smile out of Alex.

“So what exactly is it that you’re thinking about?” Alex asked hoping that Zack would open up easily without making him run through hoops like Lisa used to.

“I just realized that I’ve never told you that I love you.”

“You love me?” Alex asked, happy to finally hear those words coming out of Zack’s mouth.

“Yeah, I do,” Zack smiled. He couldn’t believe it took him that long to figure it out. It seemed as though Alex knew he loved Zack right away, Zack just too a little while longer to realize it.

“Well that’s good, because as you already know, I love you too,” Alex said before moving to kiss Zack’s cheek before laying his head back on the other boys chest and turning the TV back on to enjoy a day at home with his boyfriend watching movies.