Eyes Open ✰ Jalex

2 // Hands Open

Hi! Here's the second chapter. As said before, I am going to attempt to update this semi-regularly so look two updates in April so far. Woo.

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// i just keep hoping

// that your heart opens

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Alex Gaskarth didn't like combination locks. He wasn't good with numbers, he wasn't good with spinning the lock in the right directions, and he wasn't good at pressing it down hard enough at the right times. He didn't like seeing Jack watch as he struggled to open the stupid lock on his stupid locker out of the corner of his eye. Alex was almost waiting for Jack to offer his help, and that's just what happened.

"I can open it, you know. I know the combo." Alex didn't ask why Jack knew that, just stepped back and let Jack open the locker. Jack smiled at him, a gesture which Alex didn't return. Jack knew that Alex had messed up; Alex himself knew that he shouldn't have let that smile slip in gym class. Grabbing his bag, Alex walked down the hall and out the doors, with Jack at his side. Jack said goodbye to him, telling him to have a good rest of his day and left Alex standing staring at the car in front of him. It was his car, the faded turquoise Honda Civic that belonged to him, it was the same car. Of course, there was more rust on it, and a little dent right above the right front tire.

"Lexxxx!" The car pulled up to the curb, and Alex jumped inside, smiling at the smell, smiling at his half brother's face. He could smile here, in the soft seats of the car. Leather, cigarettes, and the familiar smell that Tom seemed to carry around with him everywhere filled the car, and Alex felt relieved and happy. He only felt that way for maybe fifteen seconds, until he realized that he was actually sitting in his half brother's beaten up turquoise car.

"Why are you here?"

"Don't I get a hello?" Tom started driving, automatically seeming to know that Alex had "therapy," or "counseling," or whatever the fuck it was called right after school.

"Why are you here?" Alex repeated, not wasting any time with greetings, getting right to the anxiety brimming in his chest. Tom didn't reply, and Alex got straight to thinking. Thinking was something he was good at, and bad at at the same time. Sometimes he just ended up thinking too much, thinking about things that he shouldn't be considering. Then, he could think about math. He knew math. Math was the only thing that he was really good at, there were no problems when it came to math. And then there was the thinking about reasons his older half brother had shown up out of nowhere to pick him up from school. Tom never visited unless he needed something. They were nearing the office of Miss Beatrice Emilia Lodonson, Alex's therapist or counselor or whatever the fuck she was called, and Alex needed an answer.

"You need money." There was no other explanation for Tom showing up other than wanting, or needing, money. He would always trick Alex into believing that he cared about him enough to spend time with him, get what he needed, and then leave without even saying goodbye. Too many times Alex had woken up, expecting Tom to be there with his sly smile and stupid nicknames, but only being left with the regular silence of the house that existed without the company of the only person that really acted like they cared about Alex.

"It's not like that-"

"Of course it's like that! You never come just to visit, you come for money! Money to buy you things that you don't even need. Don't you even care about us?"

"Of course I do, I just, I-" They were in the parking lot and Alex leapt out of the car, slamming the already dented door behind him.

"Fuck you," he spat behind him, kicking the door of the damaged car with fresh anger. Alex glared at Tom as he turned on his heel, marching up the stairs while he continued his thinking, positively fuming.