Bad Guys

As the day dragged on, Jack didn't really feel himself getting any happier. He made sure to laugh a little harder at his friend's jokes, he made sure to smile a little bigger when they looked at him, but to him, it felt like no matter what he did, that dead feeling in his fucking chest wasn't going to go away. Alex, on the other-hand, noticed that Jack was trying. It made Alex very happy.

The trio was at lunch now, sitting outside under a willow tree.

"I can't believe you got an A on your Physics test!" Alex says to Josh, positively beaming. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Alright, alright, thanks, Mom." Josh says, his cheeks tinted pink.

When Jack pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, the two boys looked like they were going to faint. "What?" Jack asks with raised eyebrows.

'Why didn't you tell us that you smoked?" Josh asks.

Jack shrugs, feeling his cheeks heating up. "I guess I was just embarrassed?" He provides. "I mean, it is a pretty bad habit of mine."

Alex chuckles. "Jack, you literally have no reason to be embarrassed around us. After all, Josh still has to sleep with the lights on after he watches the Gremlins."

"Oh, yeah?" Josh says, raising his eyebrows as a sinister grin appears onto his face. He looks over at Jack. "Well, Jack, since Alex wants to be petty I guess it's about time that you finally find out that Alex has a crush on-"

Josh is cut off by Alex's hand slamming over his mouth. "Cher!" Alex says quickly, still not removing his hand from Josh's mouth as he struggles to get it off. "Fuck, man. Love me some Cher." He pulls his hand away from Josh's mouth and shoots him a quick glare as the corners of Josh's mouth turn up into a smirk.

"So, uh, anyway," Jack says, trying to change the topic. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"Hm," Josh hums in thought before his eyes light up. "You guys wanna blow this popsicle stand?"

Alex blinks. "What the fuck did you just say?"

Josh huffs. "Do you guys wanna leave the school?"

"Yeah, but that metaphor was obnoxious." Alex says teasingly, winking at Josh before turning to look at Jack. "You wanna get out of here?"

Jack took a deep breath. He knew that there was going to be hell to pay the second his parents got the phone call saying that he had missed his last three classes. But the second he looked up at Alex, and looked into those mischievous brown eyes, he knew that there was no way he couldn't go. All of the fear built up inside of his stomach had melted away and bubbled into excitement as he grabbed Alex's outstretched hand.

Alex pulled Jack to his feet, Jack's hand lingering in his own for a moment before the two pulled apart and followed Josh to his car.

"Hey," Jack says. "I should probably take my car, I don't want yours to smell like smoke."

Josh laughs. "Dude, are you kidding? Of course you can smoke in my car."

"Oh, alright," Jack says with a smile.

The trio notices a person walking toward them in the distance, and Josh turns to Alex.

"Oh, I hope it's okay if my friend Tyler tags along?" Josh asks, hope gleaming in his eyes. He pushes his bottom lip out as he silently pleads with Alex using his big puppy dog eyes.

Alex sighs. "Yeah, man. That's fine." He turns and smiles at Jack. "Any objections?"

"No, sir." Jack smiles meekly.

Jack and Alex were crammed into the tiny backseat, their legs touching. The music was loud, and Jack could feel Alex's eyes on him, examining his face, but he didn't say anything.

"Jack, where'd you get that scar?" Alex asks quietly, so Josh and Tyler couldn't hear them.

Jack forces a small smile that makes Alex's hands shake. Jack silently contemplates telling Alex the truth or not, but he quickly decides that this wasn't the right time. However, he wouldn't let himself lie completely. "My dad." Jack answers honestly. He gives Alex a reassuring smile when he notices how wide the other boy's eyes had gotten.

But just as quickly as they had widened, Alex's eyes softened. "Oh, Jack." He sighs quietly, before flashing a small smile. "Thank you for telling me the truth. It means a lot to me. Promise to do it more often?"

"Only if it means a lot to you." Jack teases meekly, trying to find some sort of light out of the situation, something he had never done before. It was somewhat out of character for him to be so lighthearted about this entire thing, but seeing the look in Alex's eyes when he had actually told him the truth was enough to make him decide that he should definitely stop lying.

"Alright, losers!" Josh says, pulling into an open parking spot, and taking Jack out of his own head. "Let's go check out this movie."

Alex rolls his eyes and smiles at Jack before the four get out of the car and headed into the movie theater. The three of them had decided on seeing the newest horror movie that had came into town, the three of them being Josh, Tyler, and Alex, as Jack only shrugged and said that he was okay with seeing anything. After getting their tickets, (Alex had insisted on paying for Jack's) the four headed over to the concession stand, Jack's head absolutely spinning over the smell, the atmosphere, and the enormous size of the place.

"You look a little overwhelmed," Alex says quietly, so that only Jack can hear. Josh and Tyler are too busy at the front of the concession line, giggling over what they want to get like two little kids.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, a little." Jack chuckles nervously. "I can't even remember the last time I went to a movie."

"Seriously?" Alex asks, his eyes widening once more today. "I guess I'll just have to take you to more movies, huh?" He winks.

Jack only blushes and glances down to the ground.

During practically the entire movie, Jack was holding onto Alex in a death grip and pulling the front of his sweatshirt up over his eyes so that he couldn't see the screen. However, the movie had ended almost as fast as it had started and soon enough, Jack had found himself and Alex standing back in the school parking lot.

"I really had a great time, Jack." Alex says sincerely, holding both of Jack's hands in his own. Jack's heart was pounding inside of his chest as he blushes and stares down at the hands of his newfound best friend. "Maybe we could do it again some time, just you and I?"

"I'd like that," Jack beams, looking back up at Alex.

"What're you thinking about?" Alex asks.

Jack smiles and shakes his head a little. "It's silly."

"C'mon, Jack. You can tell me anything." Alex says, flashing a smile so incredibly charming that Jack would have been a goddamned fool to resist him.

"It's just nice to have friends...real ones, y'know?" Jack admits, his cheeks heating up. "Ones that actually give a shit about me."

"We'll always care about you."

Josh honks his car horn. "Alex, c'mon! We were supposed to be back at my place ten minutes ago!"

"Shit," Alex mutters, pulling his hands out of Jack's. He looks at the skinny boy in front of him. "You be careful tonight, Jack. You can always call me if things get" He glances to the scar underneath Jack's eye. "...out of hand." He finishes, before throwing his arms around Jack in a tight hug.

Before Jack even had a chance to respond, Alex was pulling away and running toward Josh's car.

Jack smiled to himself before pulling out his car keys and unlocking his vehicle. He got inside and sat down in the driver's seat, putting his key into the ignition and pulling out of the school parking lot.

As Jack pulled into his driveway, he couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of pure dread flooding his entire body. He tucked his phone into his backpack so hopefully his parents wouldn't see it and would forget that he even had it. That meant he wouldn't get it taken away, and maybe he could even text Alex and Josh later tonight. The thought of his friends, especially Alex, being right behind his back through all of this was enough to give him the courage to get out of his car and head inside.

He wished that he hadn't.