I'll Swim, You Play Your Football

Chapter 42

Song Jasper and Josh are dancing to. (I suggest listening to it during the scene)

Alex's POV

The time has come. It was the night before Jasper had to leave. We all ate dinner in silence. I took Josh's hand and he squeezed mine tight. He turned his face in my direction so he could wipe tears without Jasper seeing. He took Jasper's hand too, making Jasper look down at him. He dropped his fork when he saw more tears had fallen to Josh's cheeks. He pulled josh into his chest and held him there as quiet sobs racked his body. Jasper rested his lips on top of Josh's head and squeezed his eyes shut as tears of his own fell.

  "Fucking hell why do I have to do this?" Jasper mumbled. Josh pulled away and wiped his tears away. He put his elbows on the table and hung his head. "I'll be back in a minute." Jasper said, wiping his arm across his eyes. Josh went to follow but Jasper shook his head. He went upstairs and Josh grabbed onto my hand again. He was shaking. The table was silent. My mom and Dad were quietly muttering to each other and Shaun was watching us.

  "He'll be okay." Was all he said. Josh nodded and let out a groan.

  "Oh hey I forgot to ask you guys something." Josh said perking up. He took out a small box and put it on the table in front of him.

  "What's that?" Mom asked.

  "Well, Jasper and I have been talking about the ring situation" he held up his hand showing his engagement ring, "and he's a bit jealous that he doesn't have one. So I was thinking I could propose to him...what do you guys think?" I laughed.

"He would love that." The others nodded in support, making Josh smile.

"Wow you guys can make him smile more than I can." Jasper said making his way down the stairs. Josh quickly moved the small black box under the table and handed it discreetly to me. He stood up and threw his arms around Jasper.

"You know that's not true Jaspy." He said giving him a kiss. Jasper smiled and they stared at each other in silence. Those two were so in love. It made me feel bad for still being a little mad about Landon's little weed outing. I wanted us to be like this. I realized I was the only one left in there other than them so I quickly scurried out. I went to my room and put the black box with the ring in it on my nightstand. I then pulled out my phone and texted Landon:

  I love you Landon. Don't forget it. 😘

  I waited patiently for a response. It was nice just laying here alone in silence, but it was hard to ignore the emptiness I felt without Landon here. My phone dinged.

  I'll never forget it. You don't forget I love you more

Don't lie Lanny

It's not a lie. It's da truth ✌️

I rolled my eyes with a small smile and went downstairs. It had been over an hour and it was quiet other than some soft music playing. I saw my mom standing at the doorway of the living room, just barely peeking in. When she heard me she whipped around and put her finger to her lips telling me to be quiet. I tiptoed over and peeked in next to her. Tears immediately came into my eyes. Sign of the Times by Harry Styles was playing and Josh and Jasper were in the middle of the room with their arms around each other, slowly rocking back and forth. Josh's arms were loosely around Jasper's shoulders, but Jasper was holding onto him tight. They were staring into each other's eyes. I could see tears going down both of their cheeks. Jasper was quietly singing to Josh. He sang,

  "Just stop your crying have the time of your life. Breaking through the atmosphere. And things are pretty good from here. Remember everything will be alright. We can meet again somewhere. Somewhere far away from here..." Josh smiled and used the heel of his hand to wipe the tears, only to be replaced my new ones. My mom put her arm around me. I looked over to her and saw her wiping tears of her own. She wiped mine too. I put my hand on her back as we couldn't turn away from this intimate moment. Josh leaned up to lay a gentle kiss on Jasper's lips. The song sounded so peaceful yet I'm sure it was making them cry more. Jasper took one of Josh's hands and twirled him, making Josh giggle ever so slightly. They intertwined fingers of one hand and kept their other arm around each other, still slowly rocking back and forth, never looking away from each other. Mom squeezed my arm making me look over to her. She motioned for us to leave them be. I nodded and we went upstairs.