Pocket Full of Dreams

“I can’t believe you’re actually got rid of some of your clothes,” Josh chuckled, “And jeans, in addition.”

“You act like I think they’re my children,” Alex huffed in reply, the obvious grin on his face letting his friend know he was joking.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did,” Josh countered, as he followed Alex down the street. The brunet walked at quite a quick pace, but Josh figured he knew why Alex was doing so.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Alex mocked, slowing his steps down as Josh pulled him back gently, so they were walking side by side once more. “It’s not really a big deal, though. I have, like, ten pairs of plain jeans.”

“Cool,” Josh acknowledged, before asking, “So, do I get to meet him?”

Heartbeat quickening, Alex asked in reply, “Meet who?”

“Is there going to be, like, a formal introduction, or am I just going to be your friend who’s casually tagging along?” Josh ignored Alex, pretending to think thoughtfully about the words he was speaking.

“It’s not like that, though,” Alex sighed, giving up his act, “We aren't dating. I’m not going to formally introduce you two.”

“Well, Alex,” Josh laughed, “I wouldn’t consider these good dates, but they’re dates, nevertheless. Except for now, because I’m here. But, still.”

“Not really,” Alex disagreed, feeling more and more unsure of agreeing to let Josh tag along as they neared the laundromat.

“Have you seen him anywhere other than that laundry place?” Josh asked, genuinely curious as to Alex’s response.

“Yeah,” Alex smiled, “We took a walk to the park last week.”

“And what did you do?” Josh continued, smirking at the blush that immediately rose on Alex’s cheeks. His friend wasn’t that good at hiding secrets, Alex’s ability to turn red at even the slightest of embarrassing moments always being a dead giveaway of the truth.

Covering his face with no of his hands, Alex looked anywhere but at Josh, whining, “Josh, stooop it. Stop.”

“Not until you tell me,” Josh sang, throwing an arm around the shorter boy. “Best friends don’t keep secrets, remember?”

Groaning with annoyance, Alex shuffled away from Josh to fix his hair back into place, before mumbling, “Fine, he kissed me.”

“Seriously?” Josh asked incredulously, “And you still think this kid doesn’t like you?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Alex sighed once again, “He shows a lot more interest than he does action. I know I could ask him out, too, but it feels a bit weird, since I go in there to wash my clothes and stuff.”

“Not for much longer,” Josh chimed in, “That guy is coming to fix our washing machine on Wednesday. This is your last chance, lover boy.”

Alex reached out to open the door of the store not a moment later, severely hoping that Josh was done with embarrassing him for the time being.

“Alex!” Jack’s voice immediately rang out, and the employee was in front of Alex in the blink of an eye.

“Jack,” Alex admired, blinking at the other boy as he took in his features for the millionth time. Shaking his head, Alex then decided that it was time to remember his manners, saying, “This is Josh.”

“Hello,” Josh greeted, quickly looking at Alex with a sly smile, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Same to you,” Jack nodded in response with a laugh, taking note of how Josh’s accent was a bit stronger than Alex’s, before noticing Matt walking over to their group.

“Josh?” Matt asked, grin taking over his features as he recognized Alex’s friend.

“Hey! Matt,” Josh replied with surprise, making his way over to the other employee. “I met him and his girlfriend at a record store a few days back,” He explained, turning back around to Alex, before leaving him and Jack behind. “I’ll leave you two alone, go wash your pants or something.”

Laughing rather awkwardly, Jack turned to Alex. “So, you’re back again.”

“Yeah, I just dropped off a bunch of my regular jeans at a charity place,” Alex informed the other boy, before tacking on, “I think this will be the last time I’ll need to come here, too.”

Jack followed Alex to one of the machines, a noxious, lousy feeling rising in his stomach. He was aware that he had to actually make a move on Alex today, and for real this time. The older boy’s sulking tone when talking about the subject certainly implied disappointment with it, and Jack was well aware of the fact.

“Oh,” was all Jack could contribute to the subject, too busy to form a proper response, as he weighed his options in his head.

Alex was trying his best to not assume that all of Jack’s actions were showing disinterest, although it was quite hard for him to do so. He didn’t think he’d never be back here again if that day didn’t work out, but it’d be very embarrassing and unnecessary, not to mention avoidable.

As Alex finished loading up his laundry into the machine, Jack suddenly asked, “Can I talk to you? Somewhere other than here, I mean?”

Figuring he had nothing else to lose, Alex nodded in response. Following Jack to the rear of the shop, he couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his face when Jack reached back to loosely attach his fingers to his.

Once relatively hidden in a small hallway, Jack turned to face Alex nervously. Fiddling with Alex’s hand in his, he stated, “Look, I’m going to tell you something, and you can’t laugh, okay?”

“Sure,” Alex giggled, realizing that he had been a bit silly to just assume Jack’s sudden uninterest. From what he could tell, the other boy was more than flustered.

“The best part of this job, by far, has been you.” Jack began, “Since the first time you came in here, I couldn’t forget about you. I know this is only, like, the fourth time we’ve seen each other, but still. It’s been bothering me all month that you’ve left here every week without having some sort of indication of how I felt, and it’s been worrying me even more that, one day, you could just not come back and I’d never see you again.

“It’s not like I haven’t been trying, though. No, not at all.” Pausing, Jack took a moment to revel in the look of pure captivation on Alex’s face. “Now’s where you’re not supposed to laugh.

Alex nodded his head in confirmation, and Jack continued. “I’ve left you little notes with my number and stuff in the pockets of your jeans every single week you’ve been here, even the first. Somehow, though, you manage to completely destroy each pair that my notes find their way into. I don’t want to leave this up to my shitty fate, though, so here is me, asking you if you want to go out some time.”

Unable to help the small chuckle that escaped his throat, Alex leaned forward into Jack, wrapping his arms around the taller boy as he tried to keep from laughing.

“You said you wouldn’t laugh,” Jack groaned in response, arms moving to wrap around Alex.

“I’m sorry,” Alex smiled into Jack’s shirt, not being able to help the laughs that bubbled up from inside of his chest, “It’s just that, that’s really cute. You’re cute,”

Jack leaned back from Alex, breathing a sigh of relief as his eyes met with Alex’s. Unsure of what else to do, he pressed his lips to the other boy’s, leaning in slowly, until he quickly placed a kiss to Alex’s lips. Smiling as their foreheads rested together, Alex repeated the action, this time hoping to make it last for much longer. He tangled his fingers in Jack’s hair as one of Jack’s hands moved to his hips, the other one reaching out behind Alex to fiddle with a door knob.

“In case Josh and Matt come looking for us,” Jack murmured against Alex’s lips, backing the other boy up into the room and shutting the door behind them. As their mouths molded together, Alex thought about how, maybe, he’d break his household appliances more often, if they led to discoveries at least nearly as absolutely wonderful as Jack was.