Status: Updated as soon as possible
A Daydream Away
Chapter 7
Alex's POV
When Jack first took me in, I was incredibly grateful, seeing him as an honest, mature, and respectable man. After living with him for a week, though, I've come to realize that I might have been over exaggerating a bit. For he is no man, he is a man-child.
I've always thought of myself as a bit of a kid at heart, being slightly immature for my age, but Jack is worse. Holy fuck is he worse.
I started taking note of this the third day that I was here. I had to wake him up after he let his alarm clock go off for over 10 minutes, find him clean clothes even though he insisted on wearing stuff he found on the floor, and make him coffee after he slumped on the couch and refused to move until it was made.
This has happened more than once this week, and I won't even delve into the amount of times I've walked in on him having fun with his hand. That may have led me to do the same, but that's neither here nor there.
Even though he acts like he's still sixteen, he always make sure to ask if I'm doing okay or if I've eaten enough, and he's just always making sure that I'm fine. He's even bought me new clothing, despite my arguments. And the fact that he was able to get me a job at his bar is beyond incredible. I just don't understand him.
He is immature, horny, and lazy, but at the same time he's generous, caring, and hilarious. I don't understand him one bit, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find myself liking him more and more.
Today was a special day, because I was going with him to work. He noticed yesterday that my wounds were almost healed up, and informed me that he was going to show me around the place and start training me to be a bartender. I was more than excited.
So, here I was, straddling his lap and jumping up and down, attempting to get him to open his damn eyes.
"Mm, keep doing that baby," he murmered in a breathy voice.
"Wh-what?!" I exclaimed. He used the fact that he had caught me off guard and pushed me off of the bed, laughing at my reaction.
"Calm your shit, man. I was just joking," he managed to choke out between laughter, "Though, I was having a very, er, heated dream, and you bouncing on me like that did not help. So, if you don't mind," he said, getting up out of the bed and donning a pair of very tented boxers, "I'll be in the bathroom if you need me." And, at that, he exited the room, leaving me more than flustered.
I looked down to see that my pants were playing copy cat with Jack's. "Dammit" I muttered under my breath.
--
"Hey, bro, settle down. I don't want you getting a heartattack." Jack chuckled, watching me because I was practically jumping out of my own skin.
"Hey," I protested, "This is the first time I will be doing something even remotely related to honest work. Let me have this." We were finally on our way to The Rockwell, and I guess you could say I was a little more than excited.
"If you can call helping people get hammered and laid 'honest work'." he joked.
I looked straight at him, and was shocked at the serious tone that I used when I said, "This is a chance to get my life back on track, so if it means serving people alcohol and mopping up puke, then I am perfectly happy with it."
Jack seemed like he was slightly taken aback by my answer. He quickly recovered, though, and a smile grew wide on his face. "You really are something, you know that?" he admitted.
I suddenly felt self-conscious and lowered my head, focusing on my shoes. The rest of the walk there was relatively quiet, me blushing like crazy and Jack contentedly humming an implacable tune, completely unaware of my embarrassment. I don't think he understands what he does to me.
"Well, we're here." Jack proudly announced, arms spread wide as he stood in front of a brick building, the words "The Rockwell Bar and Rock Tavern" brightly standing out against the wall. He lowered his arms and waved me inside, at which I followed enthusiastically, the previous conversation we had slipping my mind.
As we walked through the doors, I was greeted with the sound of blink-182 playing quietly over the speakers. Before I could ask why it was so quiet, Jack said, "It's still nine in the morning, most people coming here aren't particularly in the mood to listen to music." I just nodded my head in response.
Jack began giving me the "grand tour", which mostly consisted of showing me where the bar, the bathrooms, the dance floor and his office were at. He also explained to me how he was planning on expanding into the warehouse next to the building and renovating it into a music venue. I was in awe at how he owned this place, and how he seemed to be bursting with pride. It was so weird seeing him so serious as opposed to his normal childlike persona.
"How exactly did you become an owner of this place?" I asked him, when we were leaning against the bar after he was done showing me around.
"Why? You confused as to how someone who still finds dick jokes amusing knows how to own a successful business?" he joked.
"N-no, I didn'-" I stuttered out before he cut me off with a wave of his hand.
"I know what you meant, don't worry," he chuckled, "And my family was friends with the owner, but I was closest to him. I ended up getting a job here as soon as I turned sixteen, like, serving food and cleaning and shit. God, I looked up to that man. As soon as I graduated, he took me under his wing, told me one day I would own it since he didn't have any children to pass it on to." Jack looked to me, a sad glint in his eye. "He passed away a year later, leaving me The Rockwell in his will."
Not knowing what to say, I looked down and whispered, "I'm, uh, sorry for your loss..."
"Don't worry about it. He's rockin' it out in heaven now. I was scared shitless, though. I mean, a nineteen-year-old owning a business all to himself? Thankfully, my family and friends were there to help, and the lessons that that old geezer gave me definitely payed off." A small smile slowly began forming on his face. He let out a sigh and continued,"I'd rather just be a dorky kid helping him out, not owning the place because he died, but it pays the bills, so... Oh, and I get some kick ass booze, too, so I guess that's a plus." He let out a chuckle. I couldn't help but to laugh along with him.
"Welp," he announced, clapping his hands together, "Guess I should get you started on training. Zack!" he yelled, "Get your ass out here, wherever the fuck you are!"
I heard some incoherent grumbing, and a man who looked to be twice my size, tattoo clad arms and noticeable six pack almost straining against the cotton of his t-shirt, walked out of the bathroom, a bucket full of cleaning supplies in his hand.
"I was just cleaning the bathrooms, what do you want Jackary?" the man, who I presume was Zack, questioned, tone making it seem like he was kind of annoyed.
Well, he's slightly intimidating, I thought to myself.
"No you're not, not anymore," Jack simply said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "Alex, meet Zack Merrick. Zack, Alex. This is the new trainee, dear Zackary."
Zack's eyes widened and, the next thing I new, I was being tackled by a great force. Oh God he is going to kill me. My eyes darted to Jack to look for help, but he was just watching the situation with an amused smirk on his face.
I honestly don't know what I was expecting. Whatever it was was defininetly not hearing him say, "You're Alex? I mean The Alex? You're going to be the singer for our band? Holy fuck!" He pushed me back and kept me at arms length, looking me up and down. "I was expecting you to be a bit bigger, though, but oh well. You definitely give off that feminine lead vocalist vibe, don't ya?" he laughed.
"U-uh.. sure?" I said. I was able to take a better look at him. Despite his size, he had a gentle face and bright hazel eyes, a nose ring giving him a bit of edge. I still felt like I was going to piss myself because holy fuck was his grip on me strong.
Zack just chuckled, clapping me on my shoulder and saying, "Well, lets get you started on the basics, eh? 'S'not too busy right now, I think we can get quite a bit done." He walked around the bar, dragging me along with him.
"Be careful with him, bro," Jack called after us, "Make sure not to break the kid, he's fragile."
"Hey," I said, finding my voice, turning to face him and to flip him off, "I am a few months older than you, sir. Don't be calling me a kid."
He just let out a laugh and sauntered into his office. I looked over to Zack to see he was giving me a questioning look.
"What?" I asked.
Zack just shook his head, picking up a rag and throwing it at me. "First thing you can do is clean off the counter."
"That doesn't sound fun. I thought I was going to be handling alcohol." I whined.
"Nope. If I'm in charge of training you, you're pretty much just going to be my bitch."
--
I stretched my arms, letting out a content sigh as I heard my joints cracking.
Jack looked over at me, slightly concerned.
I just shook his predictable question off and said, "It's been a while since I've been put to work. It feels nice."
He just nodded in response and we kept walking. It was now nearing five o'clock and I had just finished my first day at my first ever job. Even though I was aching all over, I still felt this glow of pride in myself knowing that I was going to be earning an actual paycheck.
We decided on being lazy today, so, instead of cooking an actual meal (which Jack can do very well, might I say), we picked up some chinese and are now curled up on his.. our?... couch. I was half-way paying attention to the cheesy chick flick that was playing on the screen, more focusing on picking out the sugar peas from my stir fry.
"Hey, Alex?" Jack asked, breaking us out of our comfortable silence.
"Hmm?" I responded, stuffing a heap of noodles in my mouth.
"Have you ever been in love?"
"... what?" I looked over at him. He seemed to be engrossed in the T.V. screen, the on screen couple being all lovey dovey and shit.
He returned his gaze back to me, "You know, found a girl you liked, felt like she meant everything and you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her and whatnot?"
"Well, no, not with a girl, anyway." I slapped a hand to my mouth the second those words passed my lips. Shit.
"What do you mean 'not with a girl'?" He looked confused, as if trying to piece it together but not quite getting it.
I sighed, knowing what I had to do. It's not like I'm ashamed, I was just hoping I wouldn't have to tell him just yet, that I would wait until we were closer before letting him know. I don't know how he's going to respond to this. I don't know his viewpoints. Damn me and my fucking mouth.
I looked him straight in the face and said, "Jack, I'm gay."
When Jack first took me in, I was incredibly grateful, seeing him as an honest, mature, and respectable man. After living with him for a week, though, I've come to realize that I might have been over exaggerating a bit. For he is no man, he is a man-child.
I've always thought of myself as a bit of a kid at heart, being slightly immature for my age, but Jack is worse. Holy fuck is he worse.
I started taking note of this the third day that I was here. I had to wake him up after he let his alarm clock go off for over 10 minutes, find him clean clothes even though he insisted on wearing stuff he found on the floor, and make him coffee after he slumped on the couch and refused to move until it was made.
This has happened more than once this week, and I won't even delve into the amount of times I've walked in on him having fun with his hand. That may have led me to do the same, but that's neither here nor there.
Even though he acts like he's still sixteen, he always make sure to ask if I'm doing okay or if I've eaten enough, and he's just always making sure that I'm fine. He's even bought me new clothing, despite my arguments. And the fact that he was able to get me a job at his bar is beyond incredible. I just don't understand him.
He is immature, horny, and lazy, but at the same time he's generous, caring, and hilarious. I don't understand him one bit, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find myself liking him more and more.
Today was a special day, because I was going with him to work. He noticed yesterday that my wounds were almost healed up, and informed me that he was going to show me around the place and start training me to be a bartender. I was more than excited.
So, here I was, straddling his lap and jumping up and down, attempting to get him to open his damn eyes.
"Mm, keep doing that baby," he murmered in a breathy voice.
"Wh-what?!" I exclaimed. He used the fact that he had caught me off guard and pushed me off of the bed, laughing at my reaction.
"Calm your shit, man. I was just joking," he managed to choke out between laughter, "Though, I was having a very, er, heated dream, and you bouncing on me like that did not help. So, if you don't mind," he said, getting up out of the bed and donning a pair of very tented boxers, "I'll be in the bathroom if you need me." And, at that, he exited the room, leaving me more than flustered.
I looked down to see that my pants were playing copy cat with Jack's. "Dammit" I muttered under my breath.
--
"Hey, bro, settle down. I don't want you getting a heartattack." Jack chuckled, watching me because I was practically jumping out of my own skin.
"Hey," I protested, "This is the first time I will be doing something even remotely related to honest work. Let me have this." We were finally on our way to The Rockwell, and I guess you could say I was a little more than excited.
"If you can call helping people get hammered and laid 'honest work'." he joked.
I looked straight at him, and was shocked at the serious tone that I used when I said, "This is a chance to get my life back on track, so if it means serving people alcohol and mopping up puke, then I am perfectly happy with it."
Jack seemed like he was slightly taken aback by my answer. He quickly recovered, though, and a smile grew wide on his face. "You really are something, you know that?" he admitted.
I suddenly felt self-conscious and lowered my head, focusing on my shoes. The rest of the walk there was relatively quiet, me blushing like crazy and Jack contentedly humming an implacable tune, completely unaware of my embarrassment. I don't think he understands what he does to me.
"Well, we're here." Jack proudly announced, arms spread wide as he stood in front of a brick building, the words "The Rockwell Bar and Rock Tavern" brightly standing out against the wall. He lowered his arms and waved me inside, at which I followed enthusiastically, the previous conversation we had slipping my mind.
As we walked through the doors, I was greeted with the sound of blink-182 playing quietly over the speakers. Before I could ask why it was so quiet, Jack said, "It's still nine in the morning, most people coming here aren't particularly in the mood to listen to music." I just nodded my head in response.
Jack began giving me the "grand tour", which mostly consisted of showing me where the bar, the bathrooms, the dance floor and his office were at. He also explained to me how he was planning on expanding into the warehouse next to the building and renovating it into a music venue. I was in awe at how he owned this place, and how he seemed to be bursting with pride. It was so weird seeing him so serious as opposed to his normal childlike persona.
"How exactly did you become an owner of this place?" I asked him, when we were leaning against the bar after he was done showing me around.
"Why? You confused as to how someone who still finds dick jokes amusing knows how to own a successful business?" he joked.
"N-no, I didn'-" I stuttered out before he cut me off with a wave of his hand.
"I know what you meant, don't worry," he chuckled, "And my family was friends with the owner, but I was closest to him. I ended up getting a job here as soon as I turned sixteen, like, serving food and cleaning and shit. God, I looked up to that man. As soon as I graduated, he took me under his wing, told me one day I would own it since he didn't have any children to pass it on to." Jack looked to me, a sad glint in his eye. "He passed away a year later, leaving me The Rockwell in his will."
Not knowing what to say, I looked down and whispered, "I'm, uh, sorry for your loss..."
"Don't worry about it. He's rockin' it out in heaven now. I was scared shitless, though. I mean, a nineteen-year-old owning a business all to himself? Thankfully, my family and friends were there to help, and the lessons that that old geezer gave me definitely payed off." A small smile slowly began forming on his face. He let out a sigh and continued,"I'd rather just be a dorky kid helping him out, not owning the place because he died, but it pays the bills, so... Oh, and I get some kick ass booze, too, so I guess that's a plus." He let out a chuckle. I couldn't help but to laugh along with him.
"Welp," he announced, clapping his hands together, "Guess I should get you started on training. Zack!" he yelled, "Get your ass out here, wherever the fuck you are!"
I heard some incoherent grumbing, and a man who looked to be twice my size, tattoo clad arms and noticeable six pack almost straining against the cotton of his t-shirt, walked out of the bathroom, a bucket full of cleaning supplies in his hand.
"I was just cleaning the bathrooms, what do you want Jackary?" the man, who I presume was Zack, questioned, tone making it seem like he was kind of annoyed.
Well, he's slightly intimidating, I thought to myself.
"No you're not, not anymore," Jack simply said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "Alex, meet Zack Merrick. Zack, Alex. This is the new trainee, dear Zackary."
Zack's eyes widened and, the next thing I new, I was being tackled by a great force. Oh God he is going to kill me. My eyes darted to Jack to look for help, but he was just watching the situation with an amused smirk on his face.
I honestly don't know what I was expecting. Whatever it was was defininetly not hearing him say, "You're Alex? I mean The Alex? You're going to be the singer for our band? Holy fuck!" He pushed me back and kept me at arms length, looking me up and down. "I was expecting you to be a bit bigger, though, but oh well. You definitely give off that feminine lead vocalist vibe, don't ya?" he laughed.
"U-uh.. sure?" I said. I was able to take a better look at him. Despite his size, he had a gentle face and bright hazel eyes, a nose ring giving him a bit of edge. I still felt like I was going to piss myself because holy fuck was his grip on me strong.
Zack just chuckled, clapping me on my shoulder and saying, "Well, lets get you started on the basics, eh? 'S'not too busy right now, I think we can get quite a bit done." He walked around the bar, dragging me along with him.
"Be careful with him, bro," Jack called after us, "Make sure not to break the kid, he's fragile."
"Hey," I said, finding my voice, turning to face him and to flip him off, "I am a few months older than you, sir. Don't be calling me a kid."
He just let out a laugh and sauntered into his office. I looked over to Zack to see he was giving me a questioning look.
"What?" I asked.
Zack just shook his head, picking up a rag and throwing it at me. "First thing you can do is clean off the counter."
"That doesn't sound fun. I thought I was going to be handling alcohol." I whined.
"Nope. If I'm in charge of training you, you're pretty much just going to be my bitch."
--
I stretched my arms, letting out a content sigh as I heard my joints cracking.
Jack looked over at me, slightly concerned.
I just shook his predictable question off and said, "It's been a while since I've been put to work. It feels nice."
He just nodded in response and we kept walking. It was now nearing five o'clock and I had just finished my first day at my first ever job. Even though I was aching all over, I still felt this glow of pride in myself knowing that I was going to be earning an actual paycheck.
We decided on being lazy today, so, instead of cooking an actual meal (which Jack can do very well, might I say), we picked up some chinese and are now curled up on his.. our?... couch. I was half-way paying attention to the cheesy chick flick that was playing on the screen, more focusing on picking out the sugar peas from my stir fry.
"Hey, Alex?" Jack asked, breaking us out of our comfortable silence.
"Hmm?" I responded, stuffing a heap of noodles in my mouth.
"Have you ever been in love?"
"... what?" I looked over at him. He seemed to be engrossed in the T.V. screen, the on screen couple being all lovey dovey and shit.
He returned his gaze back to me, "You know, found a girl you liked, felt like she meant everything and you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her and whatnot?"
"Well, no, not with a girl, anyway." I slapped a hand to my mouth the second those words passed my lips. Shit.
"What do you mean 'not with a girl'?" He looked confused, as if trying to piece it together but not quite getting it.
I sighed, knowing what I had to do. It's not like I'm ashamed, I was just hoping I wouldn't have to tell him just yet, that I would wait until we were closer before letting him know. I don't know how he's going to respond to this. I don't know his viewpoints. Damn me and my fucking mouth.
I looked him straight in the face and said, "Jack, I'm gay."