The Beach

ALEX'S POV

"Mooooooooooooooooooooorning" I greeted Jack shouting at my laptop.

It was a little over 10:30AM when I woke up from a peaceful sleep in order to get Jack up. We decided that we'd wake each other up depending on who woke up first in the morning. It was usually Jack who woke up first though, knowing that he had to do all his chores and everything.

But today was different, a good kind of different.

I placed my laptop on my bed and laid down on my stomach. It was pretty hard and my elbows hurt because I was holding all my weight on them but I guess it was worth it.

At first, I could only see his clean floor of his bedroom. He always placed his laptop on the floor; who doesn't?

-

The thing is that we mostly talked at night -if not all day long- and it was useless to turn our laptops off for a few hours and then on again to talk in the morning so we thought about it and came to a conclusion; we could basically sleep by each other's side if our computers remained on.

So we did that.

We turned to our sides in bed, placed out computers in front of us and practically fell asleep talking and looking at each other's figure.

And I found it pleasant really, knowing that someone out there cared about me that much to spend their night talking to me instead of drifting to sleep.

-

The image started changing so I figured that Jack had finally woken up and picked his laptop off the ground.

And damn, I was only starting to really like guys but morning-Jack was the cutest thing I had ever seen, not even Luna had ever looked that cute.

His hair was sticking up in every direction; he tried to fix it with his fingernails for a second as soon as he realized that but there was no point on trying. His eyes were puffed, probably because of the lack of sleep we were both suffering -note to self, start to go early to sleep and let the poor guy get the hours of sleep he really needs- it's not like I didn't need them but I was used to stay up all night and sleep in the morning until my dad got really pissy at me.

His eyes were half closed still. He rubbed them and smiled at the camera for a second.

"Hey" He said with his god damn sexy morning voice. I didn't know what or why, but it made my stomach feel weird and funny.

He crossed his legs and sat down in bed with his laptop on his lap, just like he always did.

"You know what" He started saying, I nodded for him to continue. "We never talk about school or our parents or friends" He shrugged and laid his head on the bed's headboard.

"Uh, I don't know. My grades aren't that good; I usually fail everything except English and Music. My parents aren't the best one out there either. My dad tries to find an excuse to yell at me and my mom is great. I have a group of friends that I hang out with, they're nice and everything but I don't really trust them or let them in. I think we're all going on vacation somewhere soon" I said.

I had nearly forgotten that my friends and I are going on a trip around the UK soon.

I hadn't had paid attention to any of their messages really; I was way too caught up with this boy to have time to talk to them.

I checked my phone one last time and sent a message to our group leader -you could call him that- Matt asking him if we were going out of the UK.

"For how long are you going to be away?" Jack asked pouting and pretending to wipe tears from his eyes. He smiled wide after a second passed.

"Asshole" I laughed. "I really don't know. We had planned to go on a trip when we first started school this year. I thought my grades were going to improve but I guess I was wrong. It's not that I'm stupid or anything like that. I'm just lazy and don't do anything unless I really really have to, and I think school isn't something I really really have to do" I explained. He just nodded, understanding what I was saying.

"My grades are pretty high to be honest. I don't really study, maybe things are easier here. My mom is a bitch and doesn't let me do shit. My dad always works so I don't know much about him, or them. I hang out with Zack and Rian. They're awesome, and my best friends. I can trust them but they don't know about you, or my sexual orientation for the matter. I just think that this is something that I have to keep to myself, y'know? Just me and you, no one else needs to know what happens or doesn't happen in my life. They're away now so I can't really hang out with anyone" He said.

That's why he was always at home then. I didn't think that he had no friends, but knowing that he was always at home and had never mentioned his friends, well- I thought he had no one to be around.

"It's been what, a month and a half since you turned 18?" I asked changing the topic.

"Yeah, something like that" He smiled down at the screen.

"You had fun?" I asked smirking.

"I spent the day talking to you.. Not really, to be honest. I thought maybe Zack and Rian would call me, y'know but they didn't. It was nice talking to you though" he said.

I could hear his voice crack a little while he was talking but he smiled when he finished talking.

I could sense that his friends meant so much to him, like they actually cared for each other and loved each other. Nothing that I had ever experienced before.

Being the younger of the two of us didn't really matter to me, it meant nothing. As Jack kept saying, numbers are just numbers; they don't mean shit.

Even if I was just a year younger than him -probably not even a whole year- I felt really protective towards the boy and it scared me a little.

I shivered as I started thinking about what kind of boyfriend or girlfriend Jack had in the past. It was weird, because after all, he knew that he was gay before me, and even if he didn't tell anyone, he couldn't have kept quiet about the whole thing even if he wanted to. He had to tell that he was gay to anyone who dated him, right?

"So, what was your last relationship like?" I asked resting my head in my hands and tilting my head to one side.

"Wh- I've.. never dated anyone before" He said shyly looking down, facing away from the computer screen.

'Jack, come down right now, I know you're awake, I heard you talking to someone' I heard.

'Great' I muttered myself with a half groan, Jack seemed to be relieved though. Little shit.

He excused himself and walked downstairs after ensuring me that he would be back in a minute, but I knew that he would at least take half an hour to come back. His parents always wanted him to do his chores, and even when he had finished them, they tried to find another excuse to take Jack off his bedroom.

After realizing that, I grabbed my phone and called Matt just in case he had planned something about the trip with the guys. He quickly picked up and told me to meet him and the others at the coffee shop next to our school. They were already there, probably hanging out without me -not that I expected any less from them.

I glanced at my laptop; Jack was still gone. I just couldn't let the opportunity of travelling pass. I loved travelling; my parents and I would travel anywhere in summer and just spend a few weeks wherever we'd have gone. We used to visit my mom's family in Florida every year for at least two weeks, but since I was 18, my parents thought that I didn't have the obligation to go with them anymore.

I felt bad telling Jack that I was going away without him being there. I put some clean clothes on and straightened my hair, fixing it with my fingernails until I was satisfied with the way I looked.

I turned on my heels and looked at the screen once again, Jack was still missing. I sighed and messaged him letting him know that I was going out with my friends for a while and that I'd be back in a few hours. There was no doubt that Jack was going to be at home by the time I came home again, but still. I had to let him, I'm not a shitty boyfriend, am I?

-

"Hey man" Matt said loudly as I reached for my order and walked to the table next to the window where my group of friends were settled.

I sat next to Jeff, I just sat there awkwardly waiting for the round of questions to come. And there it came after a few glares and whispers.

"Why are you here?"

"We haven't heard of you in like a month, where the hell have you been?"

"Why didn't you pick up your phone?"

"You went on vacation?"

"Are you dating someone?"

"Did you find another group of friends to hang out with?"

Jeff, Matt, Ian, Evan, Cass and Danny stared blankly at me as I sighed.

I knew this was coming, at some point that's it. I was the usual happy kid always wanting to hang out with their friends, at whatever time and whenever they are.

I sighed once again.

"I was wondering if we were going on that trip across the UK so I called Matt to find out and he said that you guys were over here already so I came here to talk about it. I've been busy, but it's not like you guys have insisted on calling me either so I just stayed at home. My phone has been dead for over a month and a half -I lied- I couldn't answer to you guys. No, I didn't go on vacation, I was here the whole time. I.. Well, it's not that I'm dating them, it's more like we are bo- boyfriends. No, I didn't find another group of friends, you're great guys" I finished.

Their jaws dropped, almost literally to the table. Cass smiled weakly, clearing her throat, she asked if I had said boyfriend, if she heard it the right way.

"Uh yeah, about that.. Guys I- fuck" I looked down at my now interwined fingers and gulped loudly.

Scratching my skin was an old habit of mine; I didn't mean to hurt my self in any way -just to clarify- I had some problems with my skin and couldn't quite stop rubbing or scratching it when I was nervous.

When I realised that I had zoned out and was staring at the little mug of coffee in front of me, I pulled my fingers off my skin and blinked a few times so I could see clearly.

"I met this guy on the internet a while ago, and I- I don't want you to judge me. I just.. I broke up with Luna, I don't know why she hasn't told you anything yet, and started like.. dating this guy we- well because I kinda maybe like guys a little and I well he likes me too, okay? I don't care what you guys think of him or me a- at all" I said half whispering.

"Okay, so, cute homosexual relationships aside, where are we going?! I need to get away from here for a while!" Cassadee smiled down at me.

And damn, I thanked everyone and everything for having this little girl as one of my best friends.

She winked at me and mouthed 'Tell me everything later' to me.

"I think we should go to Scotland" One of the guys said.

Jeff told everyone that he had been there and that he didn't want to go again so we ended up thinking about a place where none of us went before.

I hummed under my breath before I spoke up with a huge grin on my face.

"What about Eastbourne? None of us have been there before"

The all smiled as Matt wrote it down on his phone.