Funny Little Love

I'm Still Your Friend

10

"Don't show up, don't come out, don't start caring about me now."

"Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa boomed from the speakers inside the bar. Lizzie was snoring on the couch, with Julius still typing something on his phone. The Uber has not arrived yet.

Shawn and Alex have just gone upstairs to one of those candle rooms. Cain couldn't even imagine what they would do in there.

Cain was there, still downstairs at the bartender's counter sipping on whiskey all alone. He obviously had a crush on Alex and it broke him so devastatingly to see him with Shawn. His eyes were red.

Alex was the first guy he had a crush on since Archie broke his heart. Archie was Cain's longtime sweetheart until the previous year, when Cain found out that he had been cheating on him. When Cain confronted him about why he did something which has broken couples apart since eternity, his simple answer was that he was 'bored' and that he was a seeker of 'spice' in relationships and that he and Cain didn't have that anymore.

"That happens when you're together for four years. When you love someone it isn't about the amount of passion you have between yourselves but the sheer attraction to each other's hearts, mentalities and personalities and commitment to each other." Cain had tried to make Archie understand.

"Whatever." had been Archie's answer before he rolled his eyes and stormed out of the door as if Cain was the one who did something wrong.

That scarred him forever.

He never even thought about being romantically attracted to somebody until he saw Alex dance in the School Auditorium. He never discovered exactly what snapped in him, but he was immediately attracted to Alex. He had not felt this way for a long time, so he didn't know what to do with his emotions. So, the moment he saw Alex running to Shawn in the audience and talking to Shawn with, undoubtedly, with the same look in his eyes that Cain used to have when he looked Archie, he felt the immediate need to go talk to Alex about something at least and make his existence known to him (He did not know how popular he already was in the school).

Now, seeing him head over to one of the Candle Rooms with Shawn to do God knows what awakened newfound disappointment in him. He felt nothing that could exactly be termed as jealousy because he knew better than to kid himself that there was anything which ever happened between him and Alex. He always hoped that he and Alex would be intimate with each other, but every time he saw how good Alex and Shawn were with each other, the possibilities of that happening became more and more bleak.

"Bro, the Uber has arrived. You wanna come with us? Also, you have to carry Lizzie's bags if you do." Julius said, waking Cain up from his drunken daze.

Yes, Lizzie is a compulsive shopper, a shopaholic if you will. She complained the entire time to the dance about how they didn't stop the car to let her examine a beautiful dress she saw displayed on a window of a shop.

Julius carried Lizzie into the car easily, as he was more than accustomed to carrying far heavier weights at the gym, which was a part of his morning routine. Cain held on to Lizzie's bags and got in the cab while Julius made Lizzie sit on the back seat like a baby and got in himself.

When they reached the hotel, Julius carried Lizzie up to her room and laid her on the bed and kissed her on forehead.

"Goodnight." he smiled, looking at how Lizzie instantly started snoring.

He stared at her for a few more seconds and left the room, gently closing the door so that Lizzie doesn't wake up thinking some ghost has come to murder her.

Wow, chivalry is not dead.

Also, Lizzie had that effect on people, which made people instantly like her.

Julius had to share a three-bedded room with his parents, an idea which Julius hated the moment he learnt about it but he had to adjust because two separate rooms would cost a lot and as their trip was not paid for by the dancing company, they themselves were supposed to pay for it.

Cain just went to his room quietly, changed and sat up on his bed and plugged in his earphones. He tapped on Spotify, searched "Love of My Life" and tapped on the top result. His mind perfectly caught on with the lyrics of "Love of My Life" by Queen.

He kept staring blankly ahead at an imaginary horizon until the door swung open and he could clearly see Alex and Shawn kissing before parting ways to their respective rooms.

Cain couldn't hold his tears in.

Cain rarely cries. Especially not on small matters like his crush kissing a guy, but somehow he did.

Archie's face flashed through Cain's mind. How he treated him, how he cheated on him, showing no concern about how much Cain loved him.

Alex entered the room with a smile on his face and closed the door behind him.

He looked at Cain and was about to congratulate him on how awesome his dance was when he noticed tears rolling down his face.

"Oh My God, what happened? Don't cry. You did amazing today. You were right. You are so much better at dancing than I am. You're the best dancer I've ever met." Alex rushed to Cain and took his face in his hands and wiped the tears from Cain's face with his thumbs, their faces at about an inch from each other.

"I'm not a good person. I only think about myself and never ever think about what others might want or need." Cain replied, more tears emerging from his eyes.

"You're an amazing person. You have never been rude to me since the day you met me, unlike so many of the others. It's not a bad thing to think about yourself. You're supposed to. You help others when they ask you for it and when you feel that you should help them." Alex said, his hands still cuddling Cain's face.

"Do you know how I feel when I see you with him? I feel devastated." Cain said without even thinking about restraining himself.

Alex frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked, confused but also not so confused.

"I like you, Alex. I tried to hold myself back but I cannot anymore.", saying this, Cain kissed Alex softly on the lips.

Alex responded but after like two seconds, woke himself up and separated his face from Cain's and stared at his face in pure horror.

Cain realized what was going on inside Alex's head.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm so sorry." Cain tried to apologize.

"I just never thought of you that way. I thought of you as a friend." Alex said.

"I'm still your friend." Cain said in what should've been a reassuring way, but Alex was too overloaded with emotions to notice it.

"I- I just need some time to think. I'll talk to you in the morning." Alex said before escaping out of the room, saying nothing else.

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Author's Note: Hi wonderful people, I had so much fun writing this chapter. Cain is a very complex character and writing about him has been tremendously exciting for me. Portraying his emotions and how every time he sees Shawn and Alex, he's reminded of Archie, and pretty much everything about him is extremely intriguing. As I write more about him, I discover more and more about him and I'm pretty much in the same place as you guys are and it is pretty much unknown to both you and me if Cain really loves Alex or if his subconscious is just relating Archie to Alex based on the similarity in their looks.