"So mom, dad, now that you know about my account and the guy I like... can he visit? I swear he's not an old man or a 12 year old." Alex says, as he begs his parents.
All of his friends left, so it was his parents him at the dinner table. His parents were shocked at the news, I mean, they were never told about any of this. Wouldn't you be shocked too?
They looked at their son and Dad spoke up, "We'll be right back, stay here." He says as he and Mom go into another room. Alex could hear his parent whispering, but he couldn't make out everything they were saying. He just looked down at his soup, the vegetables kept turning slowly; like the butterflies in his stomach.
He sighed and looked down at his phone; he had Instagram notifications, texts from Joey, Shawn, and Leo, a text from his one friend, an app reminder, and a text from Justus. He'd get back to them all after dinner.
Alex was now getting impatient and huffed, "They always take FOREVER." He says to himself. He then heard footsteps from behind. He turned to see his parents, they still have serious faces, Dad clears his throat, "Alex, we've decided…"
Alex's butterflies were swirling round and round now.
"… he can come." Mom finishes, with a small smile.
Alex's smile was really huge as he yelled "THANKS!" and snatched his phone and ran up the stairs to his room. His mother yells after him, "Wait, Alex, you forgot to finish your soup!"
"Just give it to the dog." Dad shakes his head as he goes to finish his soup. Mom sets the bowl on the floor and calls, "Tooooby! Come here." Toby slowly walked out from the living room into the kitchen and started lapping his tongue at the soup with happiness.
Meanwhile in his room, Alex texted Shawn, Flora, Rachel, Leo, and Joey. He said:
"omg guys guess what?"
Mostly all of them texted back. Flora was the only one that didn't; she was a fairly busy person and didn't really use her iPhone that often. She would probably reply when Alex was asleep.
And to his surprise Shawn, Joey, Leo, and Rachel said:
"Did they say yes?"
"Yep!"
Alex then went to Justus' contact and FaceTimed him, Justus instantly picked up and saw his smile, "Heeeey."
"Heey." Albo smiles, he's unable to not smile.
"What's with your big smile?" Justus asked. Alex then practically screamed the next part, "YOU CAN COME!"
Justus then smiled as wide as Alex and cheered. "Great! I can't wait!" Justus said as he smiles just a tad more. Sooner or later, Alex and Justus are discussing plans to meet, which obviously involves the consult of their parents, which was awkward on both of their parts.
Finally, it was settled, Justus was coming in a week.
So a week had passed faster than Alex expected it to go. It was a nice and warm Friday and Alex and the gang were sitting around his living room. Everyone but Flora was there, she was at drama practice, but would be there soon.
Rachel was sitting upside down on a recliner and made groaning sounds occasionally. Leo was catching up on the reading he had to do for the project. Shawn and Joey claimed they finished it, probably didn't, but Alex, Rachel, and Flora decided just not to include them if they didn't read soon.
And on the note of Shawn and Joey, they were on their phones, texting people... probably each other.
Mom then walked into the room with a phone held out, "Rachel, it's your dad... something about someone named Damien getting into the chocolate or something like that."
"Shit. Not again." Rachel groans as she gets up and takes the phone from Mom's hand. As Rachel walked out, Joey spoke up, "Whoa, it's been a while since just us guys got to hang out."
"Ditto." Shawn says as he puts down his phone.
"Yeah, I love Flora and Rachel, but honestly, girls can get annoying sometimes." Joey chimes in. Alex shakes his head, "You went from smart to sexist… how?" He says to his friend, a bit disappointed.
Flora then bursts through the front door, without a hello she says in a hurry, "Alex, I think I might've saw someone that looked like Justus!" She says as she runs back to front door, she then plopped down by the window and watched carefully, she was officially on Justus watch.
"That was all so sudden." Leo says, shutting his book. He finally had a reason to put down the book. He then looks over at Alex, of course Alex is smiling.
Flora then walks back with a sigh, "It was the mailman." She then plops onto the floor, next to the couch.
Rachel then calls from the hallways, "GUYS! Let's play hide n' seek, I mean, we haven't played that in a while, right?" Rachel asks.
"Okay, who's gonna-"
"Alex is it." Rachel immediately responds. "Fine." Alex says, he then closes his eyes and starts to count to 20, the number they usually did. Once Rachel hears this, she tiptoes to the living room, and motions for the rest to join her. Flora, Shawn, Joey, and Leo meet her in the hallway.
"5."
"Why'd you asked to play this? We aren't really gonna hide, are we?" Shawn asks. Rachel then grins slyly, "Nope."
"Then what did you want?" Leo asks.
"10."
"Oh my god." Joey whispers, as he looks at Rachel. Rachel looks over at Shawn, "Shawn, you and Alex don't seem to talk much; you can do it, go and improve your relationship." Rachel says as she nods.
"15."
Shawn was standing at the corner, he gulps, ""I'm nervous, what if he-"
"Just do it." Flora says, sternly. "Fine." Shawn says, he then nods.
Leo, Rachel, Flora, and Joey head out to stand in front of Alex, they all look at each other and wait for Alex to open his eyes.
"20."
Alex blinks open his eyes; he squints at his 4 friends, "Seriously, Rachel? You wanted to play this in the first place, and you didn't even try?" Alex asks his friend.
"Whoops, you found us... but you haven't found Shawn." Flora says, playing along. "Yeah, go find him." Leo says. Alex reluctantly agrees and then nods, as he gets up to go find his friend. Flora, Rachel, Leo, and Joey follow him. As soon as Alex turns to corner, he sees Shawn. "Shawn, uh... found you?"
Shawn grins, "Wanna know what else you found?" Everyone but Alex smiles, "Sure…" He says, now curious.
Shawn steps out of the way to reveal someone.
"JUSTUS!" Alex screamed as he ran to the figure, his eyes tearing up. "ALEX!" Justus screamed as he ran to Alex. They both embraced tightly.
"Wow… I thought it would be awkward." Leo says, but everyone blocks out his comment.
"Guys, I think we'd better give them some time alone." Flora says, as she opens the front door, she motions for everyone to get out. Rachel, Shawn, and Joey get out; Leo just watches them, "B-but..."
"Now." Flora says sternly says as she takes Leo's wrist and throws his out of the house. She then steps out of the house herself, and shuts the door.
Alex and Justus release from their hug both with tear-stained faces. Justus is looking up at Alex, due to the fact he's taller than him.
"I-I missed you... I can't believe you actually made it." Alex said as he wiped his eyes from underneath his glasses. Justus sniffs and smiles, "Stop with the cheesiness. Let's be real." He says.
"Right, sorry." Alex says as he and Justus head to the living room. Alex then leads his boyfriend to the couch, "So…"
After that, things were pretty awkward, a lot of blushing involved. Let's check on our friends outside, shall we?
The gang (minus Alex) was sitting outside on Alex's porch; they were talking about the couple inside. "Y'know, I never thought Alex would be gay, but I don't have a problem with it." Rachel says, picking some lint off of her flannel.
"I was shocked too, if you wanna know the truth." Leo says, gesturing to himself. "Considering the fact that you yelled it in a coffee shop." Joey laughed, crossing his arms.
"To be fair, it was only us, and Bailee." Leo defends.
"I'm still shocked, I mean this Justus kid is great and all, but I dunno- I guess I just expected something different." Shawn exhales.
"Come on Shawn, Be happy for him. He seems a lot happier now that Justus is actually here." Flora says. "So you're saying we weren't good enough for our leader?" Shawn asks the brunette.
"That's not what I'm saying... at all." Flora sighs as she rolls her eyes. Shawn always made assumptions. This annoyed everyone, but luckily, everyone could put up with him, well mostly everyone. Joey was the only one who didn't like to put up with his 'bullshit'.
"Dude, stop being selfish." Joey says, as he sits up straighter in his chair, glaring at Shawn. "I'm not being selfish, I'm being truthful. By the way she put it, She made it sounds like he prefers his best friends he's had since forever ago, over this guy he met earlier in the year." Shawn huffs.
"That's not what-"Joey says.
"That's not what I mean... I mean there are two different types of happy. Happy as in having a good time, being joyous, and all that shit. And then there is love happy, the kind of happiness you get when you're with the one. You need to learn that, and yes Shawn, you are being selfish, you're only thinking about your thoughts, and not even listening to us. This is why you and Alex can't have a stable relationship. You are just downright rude." Flora rants.
Shawn looks at Joey, and then Flora, and then Joey again. He huffs and crosses his arms, "Y'know what, I don't care. You all don't understand, but that's not my problem." Shawn nods shakes his head.
"Or maybe you just don't understand us." Rachel shrugs, giving Shawn a smirk. They had a frenemy relationship, everyone in school knew about it, but they always assumed they were a couple. Most likely because they fought like one and Shawn tried to kiss Rachel in 3rd grade on the playground when he ACTUALLY had a crush on her.
"I'm pretty my way was the right one." Shawn stammers. Rachel shrugs, "Keep telling yourself that."
Alex and Justus then stepped out, both smiling.
"What's with the smiles?" Leo asks.
"I agreed I'd show this little man around the town, or where we usually go." Alex says, looking down at Justus, who's looking at all the friends. "I'm guessing you're gonna be the tour guide?" Leo asks.
"Yep! Tips appreciated." Alex jokes. "Isn't us playing Mario games with you 24/7 payment enough?" Rachel asks. Rachel, Flora, Leo, Joey, and Shawn get up and go past his driveway, waiting for him.
Alex and Justus, hand in hand, walk to the front of the group. Alex started by showing him all of their houses. While everyone else was basically bored already, because they've all been to each other's houses, Justus was already amazed by what he saw. They then headed down to where they usually hung out. First place they headed to was Ms. Bailee's coffee shop.
When they entered, it was quite busy, the baristas and cashiers were busy at work. Ms. Bailee was cleaning again. She turned around and saw them all and smiled, "Hi!"
She then spotted Justus and eyed him with a suspicious eye, "This a new friend y'all got?"
"No Ms. Bailee, this is Justus, you know... the one." Flora says. Ms. Bailee then grinned a big grin and gives Justus a hug and a small giggle, "Hi honey! Oh, I've heard SO much 'bout you. Nice to finally meet you, I'm Ms. Bailee. Make ya self at home." She smiles.
'Hi." Justus smiles at the lady, she then looks at all the friends, "Well, it looks like all my children are here." Ms. Bailee grins.
"Huh?" Justus asks.
"She calls us her kids because we've known her since like 2005." Shawn says, Rachel adds on, "This is where we all met actually, she used to do a kids thing for kids, but she shut it down because a kid got food poisoning."
"True that." Ms. Bailee sighs. "Well, I know you're probably busy and all, but be sure to stop by and visit sometime!" Ms. Bailee says.
"We are, and thank you!" Alex says, as he waves to Ms. Bailee while they all head out of the shop. Ms. Bailee then thinks to herself, "If that boy messes with one of my children, I'll wring these chocolate hands of mine and stran- oh, a customer!"
Meanwhile, Alex and Justus were still 'leading' the gang. "So Albo…" Justus starts to say, before he looks back to see Leo, looking everywhere. Justus cancels his thought to ask Leo, "Whatcha looking for there?" He asks the confused teen.
"Albo... who is he and where is he?" Leo asks Justus. "The only Albo we know is the one from his drawings." Flora adds on.
"You never told them?" Justus laughs to Alex. Alex shrugs, "They probably would've thought it was silly and laughed at me." Alex sighs, tensing up his shoulders.
"Alex…" Rachel says in a calm voice Alex looks back with a sad smile, hoping his friend will cheer him up, "Yeah?"
"We think everything you do is silly and laugh at it. You know that." Rachel laughs.
After her laugh, there was a silence and a stare-off between Alex and Rachel finally, Alex sighs, "…true."
"But dude, it's only natural. We're best friends. We were legit MADE to laugh at each other." Rachel comforts. "Short, but well said." Joey praises.
"Yeah, I guess you are right." Alex says, as he looks forward again. Alex shows Justus around the rest of the town as the gang just followed, bored, because they came here daily. Joey got tired, so Flora carried him on her back; Shawn looked back at her, "Need help there?"
"Nope, good exercise." Flora weakly smiles as Joey strains her back, Joey is smiling, thinking, "I'm such a savage, I think."
"Anyways, I just wanted to tell you guys my nickname is Albo, not Alex. Okay?" He asks his friends. They all nod and accept the fact that his new name is Albo.
So, after what seemed like forever, they all got back to his house and most of them crashed, "My legs are too tired to function." Rachel groans.
Alex's phone went off and Justus didn't know it was his phone and looked down, "Hey, who's that?" Justus asks, as he gets Alex's attention. "What?" Alex asks.
"Who's that?" He asks, pointing down at Alex's phone. It's a text from someone and they said:
"heeey babeee."
"Ugh, that's Chelsea. You can see I don't like her because the 'c' in her name is not capitalized." Alex explains to his boyfriend. Justus nods, "At least you aren't cheating on me." Justus chuckles as he leans on his boyfriends arm.
"Trust me… I would never."