Chapter 4 – Friends in High Places

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Alex didn't remember the drive to Willie's. Frankly, it was a miracle he managed not to get in a wreck considering how hard he'd been crying, was still crying when he stumbled out of the car and made a break for Willie's back door.

It was pure luck that had him running into the guy when he was on his way out, his skateboard tucked beneath his arm and the jaunty pep in his step dying at the pathetic vision that was Alex.

"Aw man," Willie said, but he didn't hesitate to herd Alex inside, dragging the blond up to his room so they could huddle on the edge of his bed, Alex bawling his eyes out. "Goddamnit, what'd he say?"

"W-What'd who s-say?" Alex asked between shudders, unable to fight the trembles that ran through him when Willie lazily combed his fingers through Alex's hair.

"Luke," Willie huffed, but he didn't sound mad at Alex. "It was Luke, right? I mean, it could have been Reggie, but Reggie would throw himself off a bridge before he made you cry this hard, so it was probably Luke."

Alex just sobbed, because apparently this was all predictable, they'd all seen this happening just like they'd seen the other three falling together for years, and Alex was the only one who didn't know it because on top of being incredibly undesirable, he was dumb as hell too.

"I will take that as a yes," Willie said before trailing off into a mess of comforting nonsense – empty, aimless comments offered in an attempt to quell Alex's tears, and even if they weren't entirely effective, it was nice that he put forth the effort.

Willie waited until Alex had calmed down somewhat, at least until he wasn't gasping as hard, though the blond still clung to him shamelessly, as though he had any right to extend the same familiarity with Willie as he did with the band, who had expressly given him some kind of pity permission despite the fact that they didn't like him all that much.

There was a buzzing in his pocket, and Alex swallowed hard, fumbling until he could shut his phone off entirely. He didn't want to deal with Luke's apologies right now.

"So," Willie began, his voice kind, completely lacking judgement. "What happened?"

It was a fair question. It was a question Alex had expected.

Instead of answering it, he babbled the first thing that came into his mind, because he was so mixed up he barely knew what to do anymore. "I'm not really dating Kayla."

Willie paused and then, in a show of why he was one of the best members of their friend group, deftly rolled with the punches. "Okay," he said. "You guys have some kind of arrangement?"

"Yeah," Alex sniffed. "I didn't tell the guys, because I just- they all had a thing and I just wanted a thing so I wouldn't be- you know, the odd one out, and- and Willie, Willie." Alex buried his face against Willie's shoulder, his fingers twisting hard in the fabric of his shirt. "I'm um- I'm gay. I'm super gay."

For one singular moment, Willie tensed, and Alex thought this was it. Despite the fact that Willie was bi or pan or just- he didn't care, he said he was an equal opportunity sort of individual, Alex would be the exception to the rule that made it gross because he was so damn obnoxious-

"Oh," Willie said, sounding shocked. "Plot twist."

Alex shuddered, choking on a sob that Willie immediately worked to sooth.

"No, hey- that's great," the skater murmured, rubbing his hand up and down Alex's back. "Like, in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense, I just wouldn't have expected it."

Because Alex tried so hard not to act like it. Tried so hard to fit in with the other guys, to mimic their behavior, to dress the way they did and not the way he wanted to. He tried so hard not to care too much, to be too soft, so he was sarcastic instead, mean and vicious and unattached, apathetic. He was anything he could be to keep that label away from him.

"Willie," Alex gasped. "I can't- I'm so scared," he murmured. "I'm too scared to tell my parents. They'll disown me for sure and I won't have anywhere to go and I can't- I don't know what to do, because Luke keeps getting on me for not being a good boyfriend to Kayla but it's just a business thing and I can't- I feel like I'm dying. It just hurts so much."

"Alex, sweetheart," Willie soothed, and then Alex found himself pulled into Willie's lap, the skater letting him rest against his chest like it was normal, like he was part of the band and it was allowed. "First off, you don't have to tell your parents if you don't want to. Your safety is the number one priority, and keeping this from them will not make you any less valid. And secondly, you will always have a place here, okay? My family is your family, and even if it wasn't, Bobby-"

Alex sobbed, the action taking him entirely by surprise, and he lost a few moments hiding his face in the shelter of Willie's chest – a greedy, selfish part of him wishing it was Bobby instead.

"He hates me," Alex breathed, tears burning down his face. "He does, they do, they- they're rehearsing without me and they'll let me close but not t-that close and they're allowed- they can do whatever they want- I j-just wish they'd let me go."

It was like they were playing with him for their own amusement, but he knew none of them – not even Luke – were messed up enough to do that. They had, once upon a time, liked him. Maybe he was too high maintenance now, maybe that was why he'd never get anyone to actually date him.

"They couldn't let you go if they tried," Willie said sounding so very certain. "Look, a lot of this they need to talk through with you themselves, but they do love you. Whatever bullshit Luke told you was probably the exact opposite of what he wanted to say. Luke has the unfortunate tendency to get stupid when it really matters, we all know that. I know it's hard to believe, because they mean so much to you, but it's true. So just- I'm here for you, okay? And they are too, Luke's just really fucking dumb about it."

Alex wasn't sure what to say, so he settled for soaking up Willie's affection. Willie, who said they could be family if push came to shove.

It was- it was nice, even if it was mostly pity. He hadn't needed to put out the offer, but he did it anyway, for Alex.

It was a kindness he wouldn't forget.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Alex started drifting through life again, but that was probably inevitable.

He still interacted with Kayla, still put on their show and mustered weak smiles that probably didn't do enough to combat the dark bags under his eyes. He skipped lunch again, then skipped rehearsal to make up for the one he'd interrupted the day before, hiding out in the library that welcomed him with familiar arms. Alex trusted Willie, trusted that the guys probably liked Alex enough to want to keep him around – for the comfort and usefulness he provided if nothing else – but it was hard to be around them when it seemed like he was only letting them down at every turn. They were disappointed in what a bad boyfriend they perceived him to be. They were maybe even disgusted, and Bobby seemed so sad all the time, Reggie withdrawing, and Luke- there was nothing Alex could do for Luke, even when he was attempting to be on his best behavior.

Alex should probably break up with Kayla. It was no skin off his nose, but knowing his luck, Luke would yell at him for that too.

Alex was so tired of being yelled at.

"I don't know what to do," Alex admitted to Flynn over the phone. Normally he'd call Julie for this sort of touchy-feely stuff since he'd already gone to Willie, but her line was suspiciously busy, and it wouldn't take Alex three guesses to realize who was likely occupying her attention.

"At this point, Luke's the one that needs to be doing shit, not you," Flynn offered, gruff but forever supportive. She'd been a surprising well of comfort ever since she'd witnessed Alex breakdown after he'd tried to quit the band, which was also a route he couldn't take, because he was pretty sure Bobby wouldn't let him. Or maybe he would now. Alex hadn't been dating someone badly back then, he was now.

That apparently made a difference.

"He's just looking out for Kayla," Alex sniffed, rubbing at his cheeks. They were dry right now, but that didn't mean things wouldn't change. If the last few days had proven anything, it was what a big crybaby Alex was. "Calling me out on my shit since no one else will. That's what friends do."

"Not like this," Flynn countered easily. "And I know you think the world of that guy, but before this, can you honestly say that Luke gave two shits about Kayla? Did he even know her name?"

"Um." Alex was pretty sure the singer did, but Luke also had a tendency to refer to the candies by their colors. Alex did so in his mind, but he had the excuse of wanting to avoid single, flirtatious females at all costs. He wasn't sure what Luke's deal was, especially when he was such an extrovert.

"I'm pretty sure he's just using this stuff as an excuse to lash out," Flynn continued, her words distracted with contemplation, which was why she didn't notice Alex's sudden hitching breath.

It felt right, was the thing. Luke probably didn't care about Alex's supposed lack of attention to Kayla because what Alex was doing wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. If Flynn was right, that meant he was mad about something else, which made Alex think that maybe it was something worse, something so bad Luke couldn't just come out and say it, and Luke had an astonishing lack of filter. He normally babbled out everything on his mind without a second thought – see the way he'd told Alex off at rehearsal. What could be so horrific that he didn't want to actually address it but would still lash out at Alex? What was so bad that Bobby wouldn't hold him back, that Reggie would be shy?

They wanted him around, Willie said it and Bobby had tracked Alex down but all of their behavior screamed otherwise and Alex honestly didn't know what to do. What had he done wrong? What was so bad about him? There had to be something.

"Alex?" Flynn spoke up, forceful enough that Alex was pretty sure it hadn't been the first time she'd said his name. "Are you okay? Are you having a panic attack?"

Alex let out a weak sound, the best he could do because he was kind of pathetic. "Do you think I'm a bad person, Flynn?"

"What?" Flynn asked, seeming entirely confused by the question. "No. Did someone say that you were?"

Luke did. All the time. With his behavior. And now he was using Kayla as an excuse to get some kind of retribution against Alex and he'd been sorry, he'd said he was sorry before Alex had left, but was he really?

"I just really want to fix it," Alex said, knowing his voice was tight, knowing he sounded on the verge of tears again because that was his life. "Can I fix it, Flynn?"

"No, hotshot, I'm sorry," Flynn said, words that made a humiliating heat build in Alex's eyes. "You can't fix it because you didn't break anything. This is entirely on Luke and the others, and I'm so sorry they're treating you like shit."

"They just-" Alex wanted to defend them, but he didn't know how. Usually they were better at communicating than this. Usually, Bobby made them be better, and Reggie wanted them to be better, and Luke could be cowed by the rest of their combined might, but this time it was like they didn't care at all. They wanted Alex to hurt, maybe.

Well, mission fucking accomplished.

He hung up before he started crying, wondering at what point his life would stop feeling like a dumb soap opera. He hoped it was soon.

-:-:-:-:-:-

There was a party or something, Alex wasn't entirely sure why he bothered going. His friends weren't there. Their friends weren't there. He didn't really need to sell his relationship with Kayla when he could always pretend to be busy, if not with gigs they didn't have because Sunset Curve seemed to be slowly imploding then with rehearsals that definitely weren't happening, but it wasn't like anyone else knew that. Alex wasn't sure why he had taken Kayla up on her invitation to attend a party filled with people he didn't know save for the fact that he'd gotten desperately lonely after this past week of once more avoiding his friends.

It wasn't anything Flynn or Willie had told him to do, but there was this small nagging fear that if he didn't avoid them, then he'd have to experience them avoiding him, and he couldn't know they were avoiding him if he took the initiative and did it first, which obviously made a huge amount of sense. Obviously.

The party was, of course, a terrible idea, because Alex by and large didn't like parties. He liked parties with his friends, but other than that, parties as a whole were comprised of things he didn't actually enjoy. Loud noises, blaring music, too many people to worry about, the lingering anxiety that someone was doing something illegal and the referenced loud music would get the cops called on them, only to immediately discover said illegal thing and lead to the arrest of every guest in the immediate vicinity. Just- there was a lot to worry about, which proved that Alex hadn't been thinking when he accepted Kayla's invitation. He'd already done his duties in regards to their fake relationship though, already made a show of dancing with her and talking to her friends and posting selfies or whatever. He'd done the song and dance and now he was distracting himself with the snack offerings because he didn't trust any of the drinks by a long shot. There was a reason he'd brought his own water bottle. He was not a fool.

That was what brought him to dejectedly stare at what had once been a tall platter of brownies. Alex had spotted them on one of his earlier sweeps and made a mental note to circle back around as a sort of reward for weathering this, so of course by the time he got back to them, they were gone. That just figured. He should have saved one in a napkin or something.

"Damn," Alex huffed quietly to himself, knowing this was far from the end of the world. It was just a particular travesty that his brain could latch onto in the current moment that was easier to handle than the literal shitstorm that was his immediate friend group.

Someone chuckled from beside him, and Alex turned to see some kid he didn't recognize, his hair shoved under a beanie that he didn't pull off nearly as well as Willie might. "Rough day?" he asked in a lazy drawl. He seemed to be swaying slightly, and Alex would have thought he was drunk were it not for the distinct absence of the stench of alcohol.

Maybe he was just feeling the music then.

Alex forced himself to focus. "Yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head as he shoved down a wave of embarrassment. He hadn't really wanted anyone to see him have a minor breakdown because of an empty plate of brownies, so it figured that some random stranger noticed him anyway.

"Tough break," the dude said, and to his credit, he seemed to be genuinely commiserating with Alex. He considered the blond for a moment, then nodded seemingly to himself before he waved for Alex to follow him. "I've got a stash I can share with you," he explained as Alex, for lack of anything better to do, followed him. "I hid them earlier."

It took Alex a few moments to ponder the exact extent of what the guy could mean, and in that time he was ushered into one of the side rooms, the guy rearranging a few things before revealing a foil-covered plate of brownies. They had already been partaken of, but there was still like, ten of them left.

Sometimes, fate really could be kind to him.

"I brought these for my friends, but you look like you need them."

"Thanks," Alex said, swallowing hard and deciding to take the kindness for what it was rather than registering just how pitiful he must look.

"No problem, seriously," the guy said, lazily waving him off. "Fuck man, take two. It should make things better."

"You're the best person here," Alex informed him sagely as he did just that, and the guy was nice enough to laugh at him before re-hiding the plate and wandering off towards what must be his group of friends.

They had claimed a large sectional, all of them more or less piled on top of each other, watching videos on their phones and sharing earbuds or just talking, and Alex was struck with such a firm wave of regret and sorrow that he hastily took a bite out of his first brownie, hoping that the chocolatey goodness could somehow assuage his woes.

It didn't, not really, but at least it tasted nice. Like generosity and kindness.

With a sigh, Alex headed out towards the back patio so he could enjoy his brownies in the relative quiet. He'd check in with Kayla later and then call it a night. He shouldn't have come here, but at least…

Nope, he had nothing.

At least he had brownies, he guessed, taking another bite of his treat.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Alex changed his mind; parties were the best thing ever.

He wasn't sure why he'd been so cranky before. He clearly hadn't been eating enough. Anyone would be mad on an empty stomach, but now that Alex had two brownies in him, he felt like he was on top of the world. Which was weird, because brownies weren't actually that filling. Come to think of it, he was actually sort of hungry again, but he wasn't upset about it. So maybe he'd just needed chocolate all along. Chocolate to make him feel better and quiet in the cool night air, Alex chilling near the unlit firepit as he contemplated the immensities of the universe. All the things that had been bogging him down before seemed to be a million miles away.

Fuck man, he should have brownies on hand all the time. If he'd known they were this good for his anxiety, he would have taken up baking eighteen years ago. Would have studied in the womb. It would have been worth it.

He should get snacks. Snacks sounded like an amazing idea, and at this point he was in such a good mood that he didn't even shudder at the prospect of eating chips from a bowl that had no doubt had dozens of hands shoved into it – most of them likely unwashed. Or better than that, tacos sounded great right now. Not like actual tacos, but those awful ones from Jack in the Box that were deep fried with a full slice of cheese in there because Jack in the Box didn't give a fuck. Not one. Not one single fuck. Alex knew they wouldn't be filling but he wanted them anyway. Maybe he could pick some up for Luke. Luke loved those things, and his parents hated them, so obviously the brunette never got them and Alex should get tacos for Luke. He should get Luke like, a bag of apology tacos – two bags, even, and an Oreo milkshake and then Luke legally wouldn't allowed to be mad at him anymore. That was a rule, Alex was almost sure of it.

Man, why hadn't he thought this before? No, he'd been too busy moping and crying and waiting for Luke to come to him. News flash, Luke was an idiot. Like, the best idiot, Alex's favorite idiot, but he was still dumb. He needed help sometimes, and Alex was there, ready to help him. He just needed to be proactive. Remind Luke why he liked to keep Alex around. There had been… reasons, Alex was pretty sure of it, reasons that didn't purely revolve around his ability to smash sticks into things.

That was it, Alex was going to call Luke. He was going to go forth and do completely un-Alex-y things and call Luke, and be like, 'What's up, bitch, I'll be at your house in five minutes' even though it would probably be longer than that because Alex couldn't actually remember where he was, and where it was in relation to where Luke was, but those were just details. Eventually, Alex would figure it out and then he'd be like 'Get in my car, we're getting tacos' and Luke would be like 'No, I'm not doing that, only I'm allowed to kidnap bandmates for the greater good' and then Alex would point out how unfair that was because Luke didn't even have a car which meant by default he had to get either Alex or Bobby onboard to facilitate his kidnappings, so obviously the rule couldn't just apply to Luke, that'd be- it'd be dumb, is what it'd be, and anyway, Luke would object and then Alex would wrestle him into his car and they'd go get food. Alex was pretty sure Emily would let him do it. If Luke was being unbearable to him, there was no telling how awful he was at home. Probably an excruciating amount.

Wow, so many good ideas. Now Alex just had to get up from his lounge chair thing and enact them. Maybe go find Kayla and tell her what was going on. She could probably tell him where he was. What a great girlfriend she was.

Alright, he just had to-

"Alex?" a voice broke into his triumphant haze, and Alex blinked off towards the side to see a familiar figure skulking around the corner of the house.

"Reggie?" Alex asked, not daring to hope for that much, but yeah, that was good 'ole Reginald. "Reggie!"

"Hey," Reggie greeted, seeming almost shy or whatever. "So I- ack!"

Reggie let out a surprised squawk when Alex more or less threw himself at the guy, but in his defense, Alex hadn't seen Reggie in like, forever.

He'd missed him.

"Reggie!" Alex cheered once more, holding the bassist close to his chest, his feet dangling off the ground a few inches because he was such a shorty, before Alex unceremoniously flopped back into his chair, letting Reggie settle in his lap. "Oh man, I didn't know you were at this party. You should have told me!"

"I just got here," Reggie mumbled, his cheeks getting all flushed for some reason. "I biked over when I saw the post you made with Kayla."

"Lucky me!" Alex seemed to be having trouble controlling his volume, but he couldn't help it. Reggie was the best and Reggie was here, what more could he ask for?

"Um- yeah," Reggie agreed, the pink dusting his cheeks seeming to intensify. "I just- I wanted to talk to you, and I thought- well, I thought you'd be more upset."

"I was, I think!" Alex chirped, settling Reggie so that he was sideways in Alex's lap, letting the bassist's head rest against his shoulder. "But now I'm not! I had brownies." He turned to regard Reggie with as much gravity as he could muster. "They were very good brownies."

That seemed to startle a laugh out of Reggie, which was music to Alex's ears. "I'm glad," Reggie said, utterly sincere because it was Reggie, and he was always utterly sincere. "Um- about what Luke said…"

"About me being a bad boyfriend?" Alex interrupted. He couldn't help it, he had a feeling where this was going and it was doomed to sour the lovely evening he'd made for himself. "Can we not talk about that?"

Reggie's shoulder slumped with a look of apology. "I don't think ignoring it has worked."

"I couldn't ignore you if I tried," Alex confessed, focusing on the parts of that statement he felt were most applicable in this situation. "You're on my mind all the time. You wanna know why?" He reached up, using the hand that wasn't wrapped around Reggie's waist to cup his jaw, the way he'd always dreamed of but never actually gotten to do. "Because you're the fucking best. I mean, look at you," he exclaimed, stroking Reggie's cheek. "You're so fucking cute. You're the cutest person in the whole world, I'm pretty sure. Don't get me wrong," he rushed to explain, Reggie's eyes going all wide. "Bobby and Luke are also fucking cute. They're cute in their own ways. Like, Bobby has mysterious nerd chic going for him and Luke is a musclebound dumpster fire, but you're you, you know?"

Alex shifted his hand up so he could stroke through Reggie's hair the way he hadn't in so long, the way he missed doing. It had been calming, to have Reggie rest his head in Alex's lap, allowing the blond to pet random patterns against his scalp. They'd both gotten to win – Reggie getting comfort while Alex was allowed to let his anxiety bleed away, but they hadn't done it in forever.

"You're cute," Alex repeated, because this was very important information that Reggie seemed to be struggling to understand. On a whim, Alex dropped his hand and slid it under Reggie's shirt, caressing the pale skin of his side before shifting to his abdomen. "Look at your cute little tummy."

"Alex," Reggie hissed, his flush intensifying. "You can't- what would Kayla say?"

"I'm pretty sure she agrees with me," Alex decided, and if she didn't, Alex would make her see reason. Just like, objectively, everything about Reggie was the best. "We could go ask her if you want."

"I- no," Reggie decided, seeming flustered. Alex splayed out his palm to get access to more skin, the warm flesh beneath his fingers seeming to tremble. "I don't- we don't need to- but um- that's kind of distracting."

"Is it?" Alex asked, genuinely confused as he started shifting his hand in small circles. He didn't know if he wanted to reach higher or lower. Both were tantalizing options. "You're kind of distracting. But again, in the best way."

"I- thanks?" Reggie said, his voice going all breathy. "Alex, are you um- okay? Are you- Alex."

His words trailed into a quiet gasp, likely because Alex had started nosing his shoulder, pulling his jacket open wide so Alex could start pressing kisses against the soft material of his shirt.

"Alex," Reggie repeated, his tone tight as Alex drew closer to his neck. "W-What are you doing?"

"Loving you," Alex chuckled before going on with the rest of the song. "It's easy 'cuz you're beautiful. Doo doo doo doo- AAaaaAaaAaahh." The last part sounded a bit like an aggressive goose, something he sang into the curve of Reggie's neck, making the bassist snort out a reflexive chuckle before he shuddered.

"Oh my god," Reggie laughed, a nervous thing that Alex couldn't really dwell on because he had Reggie real estate right here and he wanted to bite it. And suck it. And lick it. So he did. "You're- Alex."

"That's my name," Alex hummed between licks, the flavor of Reggie just as intoxicating as he'd hoped. "Fuck, you're so good, Reg."

He nosed his way higher, finding that spot just under Reggie's ear that he knew was sensitive before he started nipping at it, making Reggie gasp in his hold.

"Surprised you don't have more hickies here, to be honest," Alex confessed, sucking down hard before he soothed the abused skin with a swirl of his tongue. "Did you- did you not tell them?"

"We haven't g-gotten that far," Reggie gasped, cheeks a lovely shade of crimson. Yeah, all those scalp petting sessions were really coming in handy now. There were all kinds of things you learned about hidden sensitive spots. "God, Alex, I- you- Kayla. W-What about Kayla?"

"What about her?" Alex asked, finally deciding to slide his hand higher up Reggie's chest so he could feel out the bassist's pectorals. Yep, those were nice handfuls.

"Won't she, um- mind and- I thought- aren't you straight?"

Somehow, Alex managed to swallow his laugh. "Yes, Reggie," he hummed, taking pride in the way Reggie was shivering in his hold. "I am superbly straight. But, you know, there's exceptions to everything."

"E-Everything?" Reggie asked, breathless. Oh man, Alex hadn't mustered the strength to check below his waist, but he really hoped Reggie was turned on right now. If he could be as turned on as Alex, that would be especially cool.

"Everything," Alex sagely repeated before he started sucking a mark just under Reggie's jaw. Luke and Bobby were really missing out. Reggie loved it when Alex grazed this territory during their random pet sessions, obviously he was going to enjoy getting kisses there. "Are you hard, Reg?"

Before the bassist could reply to this very important question, there was a slight commotion from further down the patio, and Alex grumpily turned to see a couple of random dudes he was pretty sure played football stumble closer.

"Dude," one of them with superbly douche-y hair exclaimed. "Are you cheating on your girlfriend?"

Alex didn't have a girlfriend because Alex was super fucking gay, except- oh, right. Kayla.

"Dude," Alex drawled in return, somehow managing to sound totally in control and even a little bit bored. "What makes you think I'd do anything without her knowing about it?" There was a tense stare down, and then Alex got bored. "I'm not that stupid."

For a moment, he thought that wouldn't work, then douches one through three shared some kind of silent communication that ended in a shrug.

"Fair point," Douche hair said, and then they were on their way.

Alright, that was one problem solved. Now back to-

There was a shove, only- that was Reggie, it was Reggie that had shoved him, the bassist clambering off Alex's lap and wearing a flush that was distinctly not the happy kind.

"Reg?" Alex asked, rising to follow him. "What's-"

"I can't believe you," Reggie said, and of all the awful things that could happen in the world, it looked like he was about to cry. Which means Alex had pushed him there. Alex had made him sad. "Is this all some kind of- you think just because I'm dating two guys that I'll- I mean like, anyone who asks?"

"…not anyone," Alex managed, his head spinning from most of the confrontation, because he wasn't entirely sure what Reggie was mad about.

Except that seemed to be the exact wrong thing to say because the look of hurt on Reggie's face just intensified, and somehow their lovely evening was completely and totally gone.

"Fuck you, Alex," Reggie said, his voice all tight and stuff. "Luke was being a tool, but this is- this is worse."

With that, he stumbled away, and Alex was at far too big a loss to know how to follow him, to know what to say, so instead he just said nothing.

So maybe parties were still definitely the worst.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

Next week, we get the adventures of Alex coming down from his high. Of course it had to be Reggie. Of course.

Story notes:

The referenced song is 'Lovin' You' by Minnie Riperton.

For the sake of this story, we're pretending that Alex is just like, super good at passing for straight.

Alex: I just want my life to stop being a soap opera.

Alex's life: …boy do I have bad news for you.

Until next time :)