Alone Together

12 - Getting Up. Slipping Up.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing there. It seemed right. It seemed really cliché.
He looked down to the stone standing in the grass. Words inscribed in the stone telling a name and dates.

"He said, yes. I think you'd like him."

The thing was, he hadn't been able to say goodbye. He hadn't been able to see him one last time, to know that he was about to leave.

"I just, wanted to say bye."

His eyes stung. He closed them tight to stop the tears he felt coming. He inhaled a deep breath, the air rattling in his chest.

"I just wanted to thank you," he said, slipping to german. "Thank you, Uncle Fritz."

When he walked back from the grave, Alfred was still waiting for him. He waited at the edge of the grass, his hands in his jacket despite the warm weather; the same jacket he was always wearing.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." He looked up to him with a soft smile. He linked his arm with Alfred's as they left the cemetery.

The two walked in silence for a moment, the occasional drip of rain dropping around them.

"You doing anything for the fourth?" Gilbert asked.

"Not that I know of. Do they have fireworks out here?"

He nodded. "You can see them pretty well from the park. You want to go?"

Alfred smiled. "I'd love to."

-

Alfred popped a few of the pills into his mouth before replacing the lid on the prescription bottle. He swallowed the capsules and looked at the bottle in his hand. It was filled with small pills. The doctor had just recently given him a new prescription. He pushed the bottle back into his pocket before looking up at a noise by his doorway. Matt stood there, staring at him.

"What?"

"That's a new prescription," he stated.

Alfred raised his eyebrows.

"You seem to be going through those pretty quickly."

"Have you ever broken your ribs?"

"No."

"Please don't question me, Matt." He got to his feet with a small grimace.

"It's been two weeks, Alfred."

"And ribs typically take six weeks to heal."

Matthew gave a shrug of his shoulders before turning to leave the room. "Oh, by the way, Gilbert's here."

Alfred got to his feet and followed close behind Matt to the front room. There he found His dad and Gilbert talking. He wasn't quite sure what he expected, but he was glad everyone was smiling. He walked up to stand beside Gilbert as he tried to pick up the conversation. Something about the military. His dad was asking Gilbert questions.

Gilbert nodded to his question. "I'm really not sure what I want to do, but the military has always been an option in the back of my mind."

"Alfred here hates the idea."

"I just don't like fighting," Alfred said. "It's pointless."

"You have to admit that it's necessary though," Gilbert pointed out. "We need people to defend us and others."

"I guess." Alfred stared at his dad for a minute.

After a minute his dad gave him a smile and left the room. "You two have fun."

Alfred looked to Gilbert who seemed as if he had been looking at him for several minutes already. He laughed nervously a bit. "What?"

"Just admiring the view."

Alfred could feel the blood rush to his face as he looked down with a smile.

"Come on." Gilbert put his arm around Alfred's shoulders and lead him to the door. "We don't want to be late."

Alfred looked to Gilbert. "Late for what?"

"That movie, remember?"

Alfred nodded. He'd forgotten about their plans. He walked with Gilbert out of the house, pulling the door closed behind them. The two boys got into the car parked in the driveway. Alfred pulled the seat belt on and watched Gilbert start the car up for a moment. "You're not going to crash, right?" he joked.

"Have a little faith." Gilbert pulled out of the driveway and drove onto the road.

Later on, the two got into the theaters and found a couple seats after getting popcorn and a drink with their tickets. Alfred took one more pill before they had walked into the theater. The music started and Alfred almost pulled his hands over his ears at the high decimal volume. After the opening, they both enjoyed the movie thoroughly.

Please excuse this short crappy excuse of writing. Story should pick up a bit after this. I say should.