Love is a Dangerous Thing

Zack sat on his bed and stared at the wall across from him waiting for this Chris guy to say something. He came over at noon and was now sitting in the chair Zack and Alex had dragged in from the living room.

Chris was the same age as Alex and around the same height as Zack but a more normal weight. He wore glasses, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of khaki pants. Zack thought he wooked like a standard therapist but he acted a little different. He had yet to ask a bunch of questions, he had no notepad, even the way he sat, sideways with his feet dangling over the arm of the chair, was different.

"Just so you know Alex asked me if I would help and I said I would, so I'm really just here to help. I'm not your therapist, I'm just a friend of Alex's." Chris furrowed his eyebrows and seemed to think about that for a second. "Actually, that's not true, I'm a friend of a friend of Alex's who's your friend. You know what, we could really simplify that, do you want to be friends?"

"No way," Zack replied honestly but Chris just laughed.

"Come on man, I'll even buy you a frame for that picture." Zack cringed just slightly but Chris noticed it right away, therapists always noticed that kind of stuff he remembered. "Sore subject? What happened, did Alex throw it at you? That's abuse, I'd technically have to report that if I was your therapist but if I'm just your friend I don't have to. I mean, if you are being abused then no matter what I have to do something, I can't just let you get hurt."

"You're sort of annoying," Zack said with a hint of a smile because it was sort of funny to listen to this guy ramble.

"I am sort of annoying," Chris nodded in agreement. "See now that's another difference, I have to be way more relaxed if I'm with one of my clients but you're not one of my clients. You're..."

"Zachary Merrick." Zack smirked as he avoided giving the other guy the answer he was looking for.

"Fine," Chris sighed dramatically and sunk back in his chair. "If you refuse to be my friend the least you can do is tell me the story of that picture frame. Did Alex really throw it at you? He never seemed like the violent type but I could see, like maybe if he was really mad, how he might snap. Did he snap? Did you make him like crazy mad by leaving the milk out too long or something?"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you the story just stop talking so much," Zack finally said and Chris laughed again.

"Great, I love stories."

"Did you trick me?" Zack narrowed his eyes as he realized he'd been suckered in to telling a story he really had no desire to share.

"I did trick you," the other boy shrugged with a smile. "Maybe if we were friends I would have been nicer but we're not, so tell me the story."

"Alright, here's the story," Zack took a deep breath and thought of the best way to tell the story without sounding insane.

"Well don't make it obvious your gonna lie about it," Chris laughed after a few seconds. "Just tell me the story, we're not friends, you've got nothing to lose."

"That's true." Zack thought about it for a second, Alex said they could get someone else if he didn't like this guy, he really didn't have anything to lose. "Alright here's what happened." Chris leaned forward in his seat, Zack rolled his eyes. "I woke up one day and Alex wasn't here-"

"He's usually here?"

"Yeah, just listen."

"Right, sorry go ahead."

Zack rolled his eyes again and sat up more in his bed pressing his back flat against the headboard. "So I woke up and Alex wasn't here which was weird because the whole time I'd been staying with him he'd only left the house like once. I'm not really that good at being by myself and I sort of worry a lot, so when I couldn't find him I freaked out. That picture happens to be my favorite so I grabbed it from the shelf to try and calm myself down-"

"Pictures of you and Alex calm you down? That's super cute." Zack blushed and glared at him, Chris cleared his throat and went back to a stoic expression. "Sorry, I have no feelings concerning what calms you down, please continue."

"You're really annoying," Zack grumbled but continued anyways. "Okay, so I grabbed the picture and went to lay down in his bed."

"Why? The picture's in your room, why not just stay in your own bed?"

"Because I just felt like being in Alex's bed more," Zack blushed again.

"I have no feelings concerning that either," Chris smiled. "Keep going."

"Alright, but stop interrupting me," he waited for Chris to nod and then continued. "So I was waiting in Alex's room and I was sort of freaking out a little more than usual because Alex had been acting strange the night before and I thought he might not come back." Chris looked like he wanted to say something about that but he restrained himself. "I was waiting for like two hours and then I slipped and when I did that I held the frame too tight and the glass broke and that's why that picture doesn't have a frame. Are you happy now?"

"Not at all, I just have so many questions." Zack groaned loudly at that. "What do you mean you slipped? Did you fall out of bed? Why did you think he wouldn't come home? How was he acting strange?"

"That's too much, ask them one at a time."

Chris smirked, "and Alex said you didn't like to talk."

"Shut up," Zack blushed as he realized he was talking quite a bit. It just felt nice to be able to talk to someone that he didn't have to worry about losing. He liked talking with Alex too but there were certain subjects he felt like he had to steer clear of when they talked. With Chris though he had nothing to lose, he could talk about things that would make Alex upset or uncomfortable easily. "I'm still not your friend."

"Not yet but you will be. Now tell me about this slipping thing you did, it sounds interesting."

"It's not, its just really weird."

"Weird is just a synonym for interesting, now tell me about what happened when you slipped."

Zack made a mental note to tell Alex the synonym line because he felt like the older boy would appreciate it and then started the grueling task of explaining what exactly it meant to slip.

"I didn't fall out of bed," he started. "If I fell out of bed the frame would have broken from the fall not from me holding it too tight, as a therapist you should have caught that."

"And for not realizing that I offer my most sincere apologies but as a therapist I can tell when someone's avoiding my question and you should know that."

"Why should I know that?" Zack challenged wanting to know just exactly what Chris knew about him.

"Because you're a smart kid. Now for the fourth time tell me about this slipping thing or I'm gonna tell you a twenty minute story about my first soccer match."

"Fine, I don't actually know what happens when I slip but basically I sort of lose touch with what's really happening and I get lost in my head or something. It freaks Alex out a lot so I guess I must do something weird when it's happening but I honestly don't know what."

"When you say you get lost in your head, what does that mean?"

"I thought you weren't my therapist?"

"I'm not, I'm just a friend that happens to know a lot about how to help you."

"It's hard to explain." Zack closed his eyes for a second to gather his thoughts and then looked back at Chris who was sitting sideways in his chair again. "Did Alex tell you the Jack story?"

"Yeah, I really am sorry about that," Chris said seriously. "Is that what you think about when you slip?"

"Think?" Zack scoffed and shook his head. "That's what I think about on commercial breaks. When I slip I relive that whole night, its all I can see, all I can hear, I can still remember every second of it."

"This is gonna seem like a random question," Chris said as he sat up a little straighter. "But what do you think is Alex's biggest flaw? What annoys you most about him?"

Zack shifted around uncomfortably at that question and cleared his throat a few times while he thought of what to say. He wasn't very happy to have to say something bad about Alex and he didn't understand at all why it was necessary.

"He has sort of a bad temper I guess," he finally said. "He yells too much sometimes, I don't like that."

Chris nodded and sat up properly in the chair again, "that's good, now what do you think was the most annoying thing about Jack? What was his biggest flaw?"

Zack was shaking his head before Chris even finished his sentence squeezing his eyes shut like that would make the other guy disappear. "I don't want to talk about that," he repeated a few times. He could feel his heart beating too fast in his chest the way it did whenever someone wanted to really talk about Jack.

"That's okay, we don't have to talk about that," Chris said slowly, waiting to see if Zack would calm down. "Do you want to hear about my soccer game now?"

Zack opened his eyes and took a few deep breaths to settle himself before he glared at the idiot sitting in the chair across from him. "That was a stupid question, it didn't even go with the story."

"Right, let's get back to that story. Why did you think Alex wasn't coming back?"

"I just did," Zack grumbled still upset about the previous question.

"Alright, alright, if you're really that mad at me we can be done for now but that means I have to come back tomorrow. I can come at noon again, maybe we can even get you a new frame for that picture of yours."

"Whatever, what are you gonna tell Alex?"

"Nothing and you don't have to tell him anything either. When the two of us talk, Alex isn't involved. I didn't come over to help Alex and I don't want you to come in here to try and make him happy. I know he probably told you talking to me would make you better or help you but the truth is I can only help if you want me to."

Zack stared at Chris who stared right back neither blinking for a while until finally Zack nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good." Chris stood up and pulled Zack into a short hug when he got up too. "This time tomorrow we'll be friends, I guarantee it."

"Maybe, I still think you're annoying."

Zack held the door open and Chris walked back out to the living room saying goodbye to Alex with a quick wave and then heading out the front door. Once he was gone Zack wandered slowly out to the living room feeling thoroughly exhausted and collapsed down next to his friend.

"You tired Zacky," Alex laughed lifting Zack's head from where it lay on his lap and putting a pillow underneath it.

"Yeah, I talked a lot," Zack mumbled. "He said he'll come over again tomorrow, same time."

"Look at you making friends."

Zack groaned and flipped onto his side pressing his face against Alex's stomach and falling asleep.