Stupid Winter

Part 1

Stupid winter, stupid cold wind and icy roads and stupid snow storm Jack thought. He was not a fan of the cold, he’d much rather be sat inside with a blanket watching the football or a movie. But no he had to go visit his Aunt, she’d just got out of hospital after some surgery on her knee and Jack’s mum decided it was the perfect excuse to get her son out of the house. Jack wasn’t much of a social butterfly and his mum thought it would be good for him to get out, even if it was only to see his Aunt.
Though thanks to the huge snow storm that had hit the East Cost driving to his Aunt in Austin was no an option, which Jack hated. He hated trains more than he hated the cold and he really hated the cold. But now he was stood on a freezing station, a small duffle bag slung over his shoulder with a few days worth of clothes stuffed inside along with a few comics and of course his iPod. Jack never went anywhere without his iPod, he almost breathed music and it was rare to see the boy without his headphones in and his feet tapping to the beat.
Jack shivered and pulled his coat tighter around him, his mum had dropped him off nearing twenty minutes ago and the train still hadn’t arrived. Why on earth had his mum thought this would be a good idea? A few days away she said, you never know what might happen she said. Yeah right, the only thing that was happening was Jack was freezing his ass off and he was missing a good game of football. Jack was pretty sure he was about to get frostbit when the train finally pulled into the station, Jack sighed with relief, his breath visible in the air as he got aboard the train. Jack finally reached his seat, it was somewhere the middle of the train and it had a table. Jack slumped down his seat, dumping his bag on the table. It was only then that the seat opposite him had a Reversed sign on it. That meant someone was going to be sitting there, someone would be staring at him or worse trying to make polite conversion for the whole trip... The thought made Jack shudder; he didn’t even want to be on the god damn train. Jack rested his head against the cold window and stared at the station as they began to move away. He looked back at the reversed sign and the empty seat, maybe the person won’t turn up and Jack could have the whole trip to himself, he hoped so. Jack spread his long legs so his feet were resting on the other seat and continued to watch the world wiz by the window, not that he could see much for the heavy snow that was now falling. He found his eye lids start to get heavy, he probably shouldn’t have stayed up so late the previous night watching Blink live videos on his phone.
When Jack woke he train had stopped, he slept all the way to the next stop which was good thirty minutes from where he’d started. Jack was also no longer alone, he was suddenly aware of a pair of bunt caramel eyes looking at him. There was a boy sitting in the reversed seat, he was probably a close age to Jack himself with caramel coloured hair, only slightly lighter than his eyes. He was small in build though not as small as Jack, both his nose and cheeks were red probably from the cold and he was staring straight at Jack.
“Oh I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to wake you” the boy stuttered.
“It’s okay” Jack said.
The boy shuffled in his seat, obviously feeling a bit awkward as he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
Neither boys said anything and just tried to ignore that the other was there, Jack looked through his bag and pulled out his tangled headphones and slightly beat up iPod. He stuffed the headphones in his ears and started blearing Blink-182 before closing his eyes and trying to ignore the boy in front of him. Jack was half asleep again with I Miss You blearing through his ears when a strange sound forced him to open his eyes. The boy opposite him was sat forward with his head buried in his hands sneezing. Jack pulled out one of his ear buds and searched through his bag for a pack of tissues he knew his mum would have packed for him, sure enough they were at the bottom buried under his skinny jeans.
“Here” Jack offered the boy the tissues once he’d stopped sneezing, his nose was now a brighter red and his eyes were watering.
“Thanks”
The boy blew his nose and groaned.
“Ugh I hate winter” he said, breaking off into a cough.
“Me too... I’m Jack by the way”
“Alex”
Jack didn’t know what to say after that, Alex continued to sniff slightly and wipe his nose with the tissues. Jack was about to put his headphones back in when he realised how miserable the other by was looking, by the looks of it he had nothing to amuse himself with and Jack was being rubbish had actually holding a conversion with the boy.
“Hmm, do you want one?” Jack asked offering Alex one of his headphones over the small table between them.
“Er thanks, what are you listening to?” Alex asked, placing the small bud in his ear.
“Blink-182” Jack said, proudly.
“I don’t know them”
“They’re only the best band in the world!”
“Oh...” Alex said, a blush creeping up on his pale cheeks.
“Don’t worry you’ll learn”
Jack pressed play and a loud fast guitar riff filled Alex’s left hair before being join by vocals and a drum beat that had his fingers tapping on the table.
Jack smiled, he could see Alex was enjoying as he tried to mime along to chorus of What’s My Age Again? Jack continued to play Blink songs for Alex for about the next half an hour, Alex kept asking Jack to name them all so he could look them all up when he got home and Jack’s smile only grew wider. Alex continued to sneeze, sniff and occasionally cough, Jack assumed he had a cold of some sort but he wasn’t fazed, in fact Jack abandoned his seat and was in fact sitting next to Alex with Jack’s iPod between them.
They were in the middle of Rollercoaster one of Jack’s personal favourites when all the lights went out on the train. The shock of being sent into semi darkness made Alex jump enough he nearly ended up in Jack’s lap.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
“I don’t...” Jack didn’t get to finish his sentence before he was throw forward, he rips making a hard impact with the table.
“Ow...” he groaned, running a hand over his rips to make sure nothing was broken.
“You okay?” Alex asked, Jack could hear the concern in his voice even if he could barely see him.
“Think so, you?”
“Yeah, what the fuck was that?”
Alex’s question was answered as the overhead speaker crackled into life.
“Due to the snow storm and a drift making the tracks in assessable, we will be going no further tonight.”
“Shit” Jack muttered.
“What do we do now?” Alex asked, slumping back against the seat and coughing.
“I don’t know...” Jack sighed. He leant back against the seat and stared out the window, he could just about make something out through the heavy snow fall. Jack squinted to try and get a better look, it appeared to be a building of some sort but if he could just read the sign. His breath was fogging up the window but he’d just about managed to read the light up sign, Little Timmy’s Cafe. A cafe, perfect he’d be able to go somewhere warm and maybe they’d even have a tv so he could find out how the football had ended.
Jack collected his things, stuffing back to his bag before getting up and making his way to the door.
“Wait” a croaky voice called after him.
Jack turned back to Alex, the boy shivered and pulled his light jacket tighter around himself.
“Where are you going?” he asked
“There’s a cafe across the street, I think I can get there”
“In the middle of a snow storm?” Alex asked.
“Well it’s better than staring here, it’s already getting cold” Jack said, his breath already becoming visible on the non moving train. Alex didn’t reply so Jack turned to leave again when he heard Alex start coughing again, Jack cringed at the sound they sounded painful. Jack looked back at the boy then at the window at the storm, it would be a risk taking him out there especially when he was already ill but he couldn’t leave him there. He was already shivering and the train would only get colder as the sun continued to go down.
“Come on” Jack said, tugging on Alex’s sleeve.
“What?”
“I can’t leave you here sounding like that, they’ll probably have some hot tea or something for your throat”
“But Jack...”
“It’s okay, it’ll only be a short walk plus I bet it’ll be a damn side warmer there than here”
Alex looked back at the boy smiling at him, it was sweet of him to care especially when he was ill and disgusting.
“Okay but I don’t have a coast or anything” Alex muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed as he pulled his jacket tighter around him.
“You can have my hoodie” Jack said, pulling stuff out of his duffle until he found his large purple Raven hoodie and gave it to the boy.
“Don’t get your germs on it”
Alex laughed which only caused him to cough, Jack sank down beside him and rubbed his back until he was able to breathe again.
“Come on,” Jack said. Alex nodded and pulled on the large purple hoodie, it was too large for him and fell over his hands but it was soft and smelt like Jack. Well it would have done if Alex could actually breathe out of his nose.
Together they stumbled through the semi-dark train until they reached one of the doors, luckily the emergency power was still on and they were able to open the doors.
The storm was still in full force as they stepped out into it, the snow coming down so thick and fast Jack had to grip Alex’s hand just so he knew where he was. They sunk down in the snow as they walked, everything from their shins down was soaked and freezing.
“I h..h... h...hate you f...f...for this” Alex said, his teeth chattering.
Jack laughed and continued to pull the boy along. They could see the cafe across the street now it was only a few meters away.
“Come on nearly there” Jack said.
Alex gripped Jack’s hand harder and let him pull him through the last bit of snow as they reached the other side of the street. The wind was so cold that Alex couldn’t feel anything, the only part of him that felt somewhat alive was the hand entangled with Jacks. He was about ready to die of frostbit when they reached the door of the small cafe, Jack gleefully pushed the door open and they were both met with the smell of hot coffee and cake. Jack let Alex in first before he followed.
“Oh goodness dears! Whatever happened to you?”
An older woman came bustling over to them, no doubt shocked by their appearance. They were soaked through from snow and even some of Alex’s hair had frozen together, his nose and cheeks were now an even deeper red and he was sill shivering. Jack had to resist hugging him but he was so cold himself he didn’t think it would do much good.
“Our train got stuck in the snow, we thought it would be warmer here...”
Jack was cut off by a loud sneeze from Alex.
“And he’s sick”
“Oh your poor dears! Go take a seat by the heater and we’ll fix you some tea”
“That’s very kind”
“It’s no problem, you look like you need warming up”
Jack took Alex over to a table closest to the heater and sat down, he peeled off his soaked coat and helped Alex remove his hoodie.
“Warmer?” Jack asked ,resting his hands in front of the artificial fire.
“Yeah”
The lady came back a minute later and placed two large teas in front of them, Jack straight away started drinking his even if it did burn his tongue.
“So...” Jack said after a long sip of his drink.
“Tell me about yourself”
“What?” Alex asked.
“Talk about yourself, I realised I just walked through a snow storm with a guy I know nothing about”
“Oh okay hmm... I’m eighteen and in my last few months of high school, I’m originally from England but mov...”
Alex was cut off by a hacking cough, Jack was quick to move beside him and rub his back.
“Here drink” he put the tea in the boys hands. Alex drank but he was shaky and Jack basically had to hold his hand to make sure he didn’t spill tea all down himself.
“Are you okay?”
“No”
Jack pushed a few damp strands of hair from Alex’s face and placed his head on his forehead, even after braving the freezing storm it was obvious the boy had some sort of temperature.
“You’re warm”
Alex groaned and buried his face in his hands, he began sniffling and Jack wrapped an around the boys shoulders.
“Hey it’s okay”
“No it’s not” Alex shook his head, face still covered by his hands.
“What’s wrong?”
“Because I finally met a really cute boy but I’m sick, disgusting and I feel like utter crap”
“You think I’m cute?”
Alex finally raised his head from his hands, his eyes were red and there was snot above his lip but at least he was smiling.
“Yeah”
“Well Alexander, I’m going to assume your name is Alexander but guess what? I think you’re cute too”
Jack pulled Alex closer and pressed a kiss to the side of his head.
“Alexander William Gaskarth”
“What?”
“My name”
“That’s your name? You sound like an English Prince!”
Alex laughed which of course made him cough.
“You shh and drink your tea”
Alex smiled but complied, draining the remaining tea before cuddling into Jack, resting his head on the younger boys shoulder.
“Tell me about you” Alex mutter lazily, his eyelids felt heavy and now feeling somewhat warmer he realised how tired he was.
“Well my name is Jack Bassam Barakat, not quite as fancy as yours. I’m 17 and I don’t get out much. That’s why I was on the stupid train mum packed me off to see my aunt to get me out the house. I’d rather be watching the football”
“What team do you support?” Alex asked.
“Baltimore Ravens all the way bro!”
“Yess!” Alex beamed at the name of his favourite team and Jack leant down to kiss Alex’s nose.
“You’re cute when you’re excited” Jack said.
“You really think I’m cute? Not disgusting?” Alex questioned, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.
“Nah you’re definitely cute”
The moment was ruined by Jack’s phone ringing, he was surprised it still worked after going through sub zero weather.
“I’ll be back” he gave Alex’s hand a little squeeze and took his phone to the other end of the small cafe.
“Hello? Jack? Are you alright? I heard on the news there was a snow storm and they’d stopped all the trains”
“Mum, clam down I’m fine. Yes the train stopped but I’m no longer on it”
“Where are you then?”
“There was this cafe opposite where the train stopped and I figured it’d be warmer there” he said.
“So you’re okay?”
“I’m fine mum but...” he looked over at Alex, sneezing into his hands. He might be fine but Alex certainly wasn’t.
“But what Jack?”
“My friend isn’t, I met this boy on the train and he’s really cute and sweet but he’s ill. He’s got a cold and I don’t know what to do. I’ve never looked after anyone before”
“Does he have any medicine?” she asked.
“No, he doesn’t seem to have much of anything. I gave him my hoodie so he wouldn’t freeze to death”
“You said you’re a cafe? Maybe they’ll have something you can give him.”
“Okay I’ll ask, anything else?” Jack asked.
“Try to keep him warm and lots to drink.”
“Got it”
“Stay together... I’m sure the storm will be over soon and you’ll be on your way”
“Okay mum and don’t worry I’m fine, I’ve got Alex”
“Be safe Jack”
“Bye”
Jack hung up and brought another cup of tea before going over to where Alex was curled up on the seat.
“Have this, my mum said to drink lots” he said, passing the hot mug into Alex’s cold hands.
“Asking your mum about me?” Alex asked.
“Well she is a nurse” Jack said, sitting down beside Alex again.
“I’m not that sick!” Alex protested, coughing into his fist.
“Shut up and drink your tea”
Alex grumbled something but complied. Jack sat and watched Alex sip his tea until his stomach grumbled in protest. He hadn’t eaten since lunch and it was nearing 8’oclock.
“Are you hungry? Shall we get some food?” he asked.
“Not really” Alex admitted, his nose was so stuffed he was pretty sure anything he ate would just taste like snot anyway.
“Maybe they’ll have some soup or something, I’ll check”
Jack got up and went over to the counter where the nice lady from earlier seemed to be mopping the floor.
“Hmm excuse me?”
“Oh hello dear, what can I do for you?” she asked.
“I was wondered if you had any soup? It’s just my friend’s sick”
“I think you’re in luck dear, we had a fresh batch of chicken soup for the storm ya see. I’m sure I could get Frank to heat some up for your friend”
“That be wonderful thank you”
“And what about yourself? You look like you could do with a hot meal”
“Hmm...”
“You look a burger and chips man to me” she smiled.
“Please, that would be great”
“No problem darlin’, you go sit down and I’ll get Frank right on it”
“Thank you” he said again.
Jack returned to Alex to see him wearing Jack’s headphones and flicking through his iPod’s collection of songs.
“Who said you could listen to my music?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You have weird taste Barakat” Alex said.
“Hey!”
Jack slipped down beside him and took the iPod out of his hands.
“Madonna really?” Alex questioned.
“It’s only one album...” Jack said, trying to hide the blush creeping up his neck.
“Then there’s Barbie Girl, why Jack why?”
“It’s catchy”
Alex laughed which of course turned into a painful sounding cough. Jack put his hand to Alex’s back to try and stop him dying just in time for their food to arrive.
“One chicken soup for the patient”
Alex raised an eyebrow a Jack who had to try not to laugh.
“And one burger and chips”
Jack couldn’t lie it looked amazing, his plate piled high with chips and the biggest burger he’d seen in forever.
“Thank you” he said.
“Enjoy darlings”
Alex sipped at his soup, the warm liquid soothing his raw throat and making him feel better.
“Nice?” Alex asked as he watched Jack stuff chips in his mouth.
“Amazing! How’s yours?”
“It’s good, I can actually feel my throat again”
“Feeling better then?” Jack asked.
“A bit yeah” Alex sniffed.
“Good” Jack smiled and Alex smiled in return. He was so glad to have met Jack on the train, he couldn’t imagine what he would have done if he was alone. He was glad to have an adorable idiot looking out for him.

Once the plates were empty and both boys were full and somewhat warmer the exhaustion set in. Alex especially was fighting to keep his eyes open and was drifting off with his head resting on Jack’s shoulder. Jack had his arm wrapped around Alex’s waist and was struggling to stay awake himself, the only problem was where the hell could he sleep? He couldn’t take them back to the train and he doubted they’d be allowed to sleep in the cafe.
“Oh dears you are tired aren’t you?”
Jack looked up to see the kind waitress standing next to them.
“Yeah...”
“Now I don’t normally let any old customer stay the night but there’s nothing to be done with that storm and especially with that poorly friend of yours”
“Really?” Jack asked.
“Really darling, now come on let’s get you upstairs”
Jack tried to get up but Alex had collapsed against him, his mouth open slightly as he breathed. He slipped his arms under Alex’s sleeping body and lifted him up. Alex slumped against his body, still asleep. Jack smiled and followed the lady through the back room and up a small flight of stairs.
“There you go dears, I know it’s only small but it should do for the night and the bathroom’s down the hall if you need it”
She opened the door to a small double room, there was barely enough space to walk around the bed with a batten old chair in one corner and a dressing table in the other.
“Thank you so much... I’m sorry I never got your name” Jack said, placing the snoring Alex on the bed.
“Mandy, everyone calls me Mandy”
“Thank you Mandy, I’m Jack and that’s...”
Jack’s words were lost when Alex woke up coughing, sitting up as he coughed harshly into his elbow.
“Alex...” he sympathised, sitting down beside him and rubbing comforting circles on his back. Mandy had gone when he looked up, he couldn’t blame her Alex sounded pretty pitiful.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked, groggily.
“Mandy, the owner of the cafe is letting us stay in her spare room. To save us from going back to the freezing train” Jack said, wrapping an arm around Alex’s shoulders in an attempt to comfort his ill friend.
“That’s nice” Alex said softly.
“Here you are darling, I know it’s not much but it should be enough to get you through the night”
Mandy had returned with a small cup of what looked like medicine.
“You’re too kind” Jack said, passing the cup to Alex who was on the verge of falling asleep again.
“You’re welcome lovely, now sleep well and I hope you feel better” she said to Alex, who mumbled a thank you in reply.
“Goodnight Jack” She smiled at him before leaving the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Jack looked over at Alex who’d curled himself up under the blankets, his shoes and jacket dumped at one end. Jack looked at the chair in the corner and figured it wouldn’t be a bad place to spend the night, if he grabbed a blanket he’d be okay. He’d only known Alex a few hours and I thought sleeping in the same bed maybe crossing some sort of line and he didn’t want to make the other uncomfortable. Jack carefully took a cover from beside Alex, trying not wake him but Alex stirred back to life.
“What’re doing?” he slurred sleepily.
“Getting a blanket, I’m going to sleep in the chair”
“No” Alex took hold of Jack’s wrist and weakly tugged him toward the bed.
“Sleep here, I’m cold” As he said it a shiver past through his body.
Jack couldn’t deny Alex’s sleepy eyes were pretty damn adorable and sleeping in an actual bed was pretty appealing...
Jack toed off his own shoes before claiming under the blankets beside Alex, only to have the boy cuddle up against him. Jack wrapped his arms around the boy’s waist and pulled him closer and he tried not to let the warmth of Alex’s skin worry him.
“Night Alex” he said, kissing the top of Alex’s head.
Alex didn’t reply, already out of it and snoring. Jack smiled, closing his own eyes and for once in his life he wished for more snow.

The normal loud ringing that normally woke Jack has absent, only to be replaced by the sound of someone dying. Or at least it sounded like someone was dying. Jack turned over to see Alex sitting up coughing his heart out. He sat up and began rubbing Alex’s back to try and help, a few more worrying seconds passed before Alex was able to breathe somewhat normally again.
“That fuckin’ hurt” Alex grumbled.
“How are you feeling?” Jack asked.
“Pretty horrible” he said, falling back against the pillows
Jack frowned, it was true Alex looked worse than the night before. His skin was paler with reddening cheeks, his nose was raw from rubbing and eyes still tired.
“Poor you” Jack said.
“Errr, what are we going to do?” Alex asked.
“I have no idea, I spouse it depends on the snow and whether the train can move”
Alex just shrugged and sneezed into his hands.
“I’m going to get you some tea, I’ll be right back” Jack kissed Alex on his feverish forehead before walking out of the small room.
We went down the stairs and back into the cafe, according to his phone it was just after 8am so he wasn’t sure if anyone would be around. Mandy was standing in the kitchen making something when Jack entered.
“Good morning Jack” she smiled.
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Good thank you, I was just wondering if I could make some tea? Alex still isn’t feeling well”
“Aw poor boy! Of course you can, the tea things are over there, make as much as you like”
“Thank you again”
Jack had just made two mugs of tea when the bell above the door rang and the first customer of the day walked in. Jack was just about the walk back to the stairs when he heard the man who’d come in mention the train.
“You were on the train?” Jack asked.
“Yes and it was a cold night I must tell you!” the man said.
“Do you know anything about it leaving?”
“They wanted to be out by nine they said”
“Thank you!”
Jack disappeared back upstairs and found Alex still coughing.
“Shh, drink it’ll help” Jack put the mug in Alex’s shaking hands let him calm his body wracking coughs.
“There’s a man from the train in the cafe, he said they want to try and leave in under an hour.”
Alex nodded and sneezed into his fist.
“Where are you going?” Jack asked, realising Alex had never actually motioned his destination.
“I was going to a friend’s but not now, not really sure what I’ll do” he sniffed.
Jack heart broke a little, he thought of his Aunt in her big house and how Alex needed someone to take care of him. His little cold was looking more like the flu and he was just downright miserable.
“Come with me”
“What?”
“Come to my Aunt’s with me, we can stay for a couple of days, you can feel better and we’ll both go home”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to...” He was cut off by a fit of sneezes, he pulled out the pack of tissues Jack had given him the day before to wipe his nose.
“I’m sure, you need someone to stop you from dying” Jack chuckled, nudging his shoulder.
Alex let out a laugh and coughed into his tissue.
“Okay but only if you agree to go on with me after” Alex said.
“A date?”
Alex nodded.
“You’ve got a deal”
Alex shook Jack’s hand before Jack pulled him into a hug.

An hour later and they were on the train. Alex was curled up on top of Jack with a blanket wrapped around him. Mandy had refused to let them leave without it and Jack had given her 100 dollar bill in thanks. It was all the money Jack’s mum had given him but for all Mandy had done for them she deserved it. Alex cuddled a bit closer to Jack as Jack continued to run his hand through Alex’s messy hair. Alex coughed slightly and Jack wondered how the hell he was spouse to explain the whole situation to his Aunt in a few hours...