Terrible Things [Chapter 4]
Title: Terrible Things
Rating: 14+
Pairing: Alex and Jack
POV: Third, focused on Jack
Summary: Jack meets Alex after they're thrown together in a dorm at college and is desperate to have the English boy close, but after the first few nights, is it ever that easy?
Disclaimer: Fictional, may contain sexual references, violence, homophobia and a lot of swearing.
Credit: Title to Mayday Parade
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Chapter 4
“I’m pretty shit in social situations.” Alex confessed, getting up to make himself another coffee.
“So am I in all honestly.” Jack laughed nervously. He and Alex had been sat in almost complete silence for the past hour and the more he looked at the English boy, the more he blushed and it was beginning to get obvious.
“You don’t mind if I put up some posters in here do you?” Alex said, coming into the front room with a few rolls of paper under his arm.
“Not at all.” Jack smiled, sitting back to watch his work. The first poster that the English boy pulled out was a Blink-182 one and Jack couldn’t stop grinning. Alex then proceeded to place Foo Fighters and Green Day posters next to it.
“Nice taste.” Jack complimented.
“Thank fuck for that, I was worried you liked all the shit music.” Alex sighed.
“I give that impression?” Jack winked.
“No it’s just; I don’t have the best of luck when it comes to music taste.” Alex stammered.
“Blink-182 are my favourite band, I saw them live last year.”
“Jealous.” Alex pointed before collapsing on the couch beside Jack. Blushing, Jack tried not to look his way and was surprised at his reaction to the closeness. They’d known each other the good part of 2 hours and he was already acting as if he had some sort of pre-school crush on the boy. After a few moments of slightly awkward silence, Alex spoke.
“Do you know anybody here?” He asked. Jack noticed he seemed rather nervous and this made him nervous too.
“Actually, just you and this girl I met today when you came back here. You can come with me to meet her tonight if you want.” Jack suggested.
“Tonight?”
“There’s this party, I don’t know what for but I’m meeting her there at one point.”
“That’s cool, I’ll probably go but I’ll be late, still got to phone about jobs over here.”
“You know if you need money, I can lend you some.” Jack suggested.
“I couldn’t do that.” Alex frowned.
“Why not?”
“That’s your money and you barely know me, I wouldn’t take it.”
“We live together, I’d be happy for you to borrow some.”
“That’s not the point.”
“At least let me buy this month’s food?” Jack frowned. He didn’t like to see his roommate already struggling. There was the underlying fear that if he couldn’t afford to live normally this term then he’d move back to England and Jack would end up missing him much more than he’d like to admit.
“Fine. But I’m buying it as soon as I have work.” Alex pointed.
“Fine.” Jack grinned once more. Alex went into the kitchen to make himself another coffee, feeling much better about everything.
“You don’t snore do you?” He called into Jack, sounding quite serious.
“Not that I know of” Jack reassured him. He couldn’t help but laugh at the boy’s priorities. Despite the lack of past the boys shared, he could already tell that he could be completely normal around Alex. Sure, they might not be close friends at all, but it was nice having somebody that he thought would be there to listen if Jack ever needed it.
“So, anything we should clear up now?” Alex asked, sounding less serious now.
“Well, I do like to play guitar so if I can get my hands on one, you’ll never head the end of it. I also have to eat at a set time or I’ll get really grumpy.” Jack threw his facts out, not thinking much of it.
“Any girlfriends that might visit?” Alex laughed.
“None at all. Actually, I’m bisexual, but I think I’d rather have a boyfriend.” The American blushed, grateful that the older boy wasn’t in the room to see. In the kitchen, Alex’s face dropped with memories of his high school life.
“That’s cool.” He said, trying to hide the quake in his voice.
“You don’t mind that do you?” Jack realised what he’d might have been a problem.
“Not at all, your life, your love.” Alex called in before his phone started to ring again and he rushed out to take it, leaving Jack sat on the sofa alone.
The English boy was on the phone for at least two hours and in that time; Jack had changed for the night and was sat on the couch listening to Green Day. He’d contemplated going to get food now but there was no point considering he had no idea where the shops were or how to even get there. Perhaps it would have been easier for him to go to a college nearer his home town but there was something about this particular college that made him prefer it during the application progress. Now that he was here, the expectation met up almost perfectly, but he still had to take a lesson which should have been the overall decider from the start. During this first month, it was possible to change schools, but Jack doubted he would.
Eventually, it hit half 7 and Jack reckoned he should make an attempt to locate where this party actually was. Saying a quick ‘see you later’ to Alex, he sped out the door. The party wasn’t hard to find, he simply had to follow the loud music and large crowds of friendship groups that had already been formed. Inside, the sounds of this week’s chart music was echoing against the walls. For a second, Jack contemplated turning back and spending the night watching whatever films were on tonight, but he was swiftly pulled in by the sound of a girl’s screech.
“Jack!” America called from the other side of the room. A few people turned to him and it was surprising that her voice could actually be louder than the music. Carefully, he made his way over to where she was sat with a few others and gave an awkward hello. She was wearing a basic black, corset dress which Jack assumed was to put more emphasis on her heels which bore the American flag in jewels.
“This is Lzzy.” America introduced the girl to her right. She smiled at Jack before returning to her conversation with another guy. “She’s my roommate.” America sighed.
“She seems nice.” Jack suggested. He had the impression that America didn’t like her too much.
“She can be. Alone again?” She asked.
“Not for long, Alex is coming down later.” He looked across the room to check Alex hadn’t arrived already .Turning to look at the door again. He jumped slightly with surprise at the site of his roommate’s arrival and America could tell everything.
“I take it that’s him.” She laughed.
“Maybe.” Jack stuttered. Why was he so nervous? There were plenty of people already at this party and he was sure he would have been quite content with speaking to any one of them but for some reason, he only wanted to be with Alex. The boy lived with him, it was already awkward, and they didn’t need this in the middle of that.
“Hey Jack!” Alex waved, hurrying over to where he was stood.
“H-hi.” Jack stammered.