Walls // Jalex

Four: Keep Your Cool, Gaskarth

Zack begins walking back to his dorm and Jack follows, set on their plans earlier to hang out.

"That went really well." Zack says and Jack just nods in response. "What's wrong with you?" He asks. Jack's hardly ever quiet.

"Nothing." Jack mutters but in reality his thoughts are racing. Seeing everything he had in common with Alex was incredibly frustrating. He didn't want to like him. He shut out the idea of befriending him a while ago and while he's now repressed the reason he did that he's sticking to it.

The two boys walk back to Zack's dorm. "Did you still want to drink?" He asks and opens up his closet, revealing a few bottles of vodka and some whiteclaws.
"God. Yes." Jack sighs and they do just that.

After about an hour Jack's head is spinning and that mixed with his stress from earlier he feels like shit. "I'm going back to my room. I need to sleep." He whines.

"Do what you gotta do." Zack says, never being pushy.

Jack makes his way safely back to his room and gets in his bed. He's not usually an emotional drunk but today he sure as hell is.

"Alex." He mumbles as he shoves his face in his pillow. "I'm sorry."

~

Alex gets to his dorm room and crashes onto the bed. He still has a few more things to put away but he's exhausted from the move-in and dealing with Jack's attitude all day. He sends a quick text to his mom and one to Rian, who sent him Zack's phone number, before he puts his phone on do not disturb, setting it down on his desk.

He pulls out a book he's been reading, Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and reads that for a while before Jack comes crashing into the room. He rolls his eyes and ignores the clearly drunk boy, focusing his attention back on his book. He quickly loses focus, however, when he hears his name and the words I'm sorry. His heart flutters again.
Jack is sorry? What for? Is this even a real apology?
His mind races as he figures out what to do. Do I ask him why? Do I just say it's okay? Do I ignore him?

He decides on just accepting the apology. "Don't worry about it, Jack, it's okay."

Jack turns his head to look at Alex, the room spinning a bit as he does so.
"No, it's not. You don't have to say that." He says, not knowing what's coming over him to act like this but he can't promise he'll remember it in the morning.

Jack gets up and moves to Alex's side of the room, sitting on his bed. "I like your posters." He says and smiles a bit. "Alex, how did you know you were gay? I'm not. I know I'm not.. but maybe I'll be more open minded if you tell me about it?" He says not intending to but staring at Alex's lips the whole time he talks.

Alex shakes his head, wanting to brush off Jack's apology and go back to ignoring each other. He's feeling a little anxious and doesn't know why Jack is suddenly apologizing, but he's not sure it's sincere. Why would it be? They've been here for one day. And Jack's right, it's not okay. But he's not going to say anything about it.

His eyes widen as Jack leaves his own bed and approaches his, sitting down. What the fuck?
"Thanks" he mumbles, averting his gaze to look at his posters. Blink-182 Green Day Knuckle Puck Neck Deep some of his favorite bands, all his musical inspirations.

He hears his name and the word gay and looks right back at Jack, shell-shocked. Jack can tell he's surprised because he quickly recovers. He notices Jack's stare, where his eyes are pointed, and he blushes, heat rising to his cheeks. He ignores the stare the best he can and answers the question.