Roommates (An Alex Ernst Fanfiction)

21: Bad News

The day after hanging out at the house, everything is calm and relaxed at the apartment. Liza and David are currently both over, sitting with Dom, Alex, and I on the couch and we're all watching a movie together. Since we're all caught up on our filming schedules and don't need to film anything for a little while, we finally get to relax and be off of the cameras for a little while.

Since we get some time out of the public eye, we all figured we'd do something fun. We decided to go out to go bowling with some of our other friends afterwards.

Currently, I am cuddled up in Alex's side as we all watch Big Hero 6 together.

Disney movies is something we all bonded over since we all adore them, and because of that we all put on the one that all of us haven't watched it, despite it being out for a while now.

Alex and I breath in sync together, and I feel his heart beating as I have my hands wrapped around his torso. His arm absentmindedly rubs up and down my arm, causing goosebumps on them as we lay quietly together, throwing a piece of popcorn into our mouths once in the while.

Suddenly, disturbing the relaxing silence between us all, my phone starts to ring.

I apologize to them all and unwrap my hands from around Alex to see who's calling. Weirdly enough, it's my father who hasn't called in quite a while.

"It's my dad, I'm going to go take this," I whisper to Alex, who nods and I untangle myself from him and get off the couch.

I walk out the sliding door and onto the balcony, shutting the door behind me for privacy.

I slide the answer button across my phone screen and put the phone up to my ear, crossing my free arm worriedly around my stomach.

I see the four of them inside worriedly look through the glass door at me, not paying attention to the movie anymore.

"Hello? Dad?" I ask once it connects.

"Dakota," my dad's husky voice chokes out, him having clearly been crying before he called me.

"Dad? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows together in anxiety.

"No, honey. It's your mom. The doctors say she isn't going to make it and she only has a little while left to live. I'm calling you and your brothers asking you to come home and see your mom before she goes. She keeps asking for all of you, she wants to see you before she goes," My dad informs me, and I hear his voice choke at the end, probably crying.

My hand flies up to my mouth as I see the tears starting to form in my eyes. They start making their way down my cheeks in a sudden rush, and I choke as I start to sob.

"She-she's dying?" I ask between cries.

"Yes, Dakota. She is. And she really wants to see you guys before she does," my dad says, his voice clearly stating that he's crying too.

"I, I'll be there as soon as I can. I promise. Tell mom that I love her and miss her so much, and that I'll be there soon," I manage to let out while I still cry.

"I'll see you soon, Kota. I love you, we'll get through this together," my dad soothingly tells me.

"Thank you dad, love you and see you soon," I choke out and hang up.

I put my phone in my back pocket and stand still in shock as the tears continue to stream down my face.

I tangle my hands in my hair as I begin to sob and absentmindedly walk in a circle on the small balcony.

My mom is dying, and I'm all the way across the country from her. I knew I should've flown out to see her as soon as I knew she had cancer, whether my agency wanted me to or not.

I suddenly become aware that my friends are probably still watching me through the door, and I halfheartedly wipe the tears from my cheeks even though they're still coming at a rapid pace. I turn from the side towards the door, and see them all looking at me with worried expressions.

I open the door and walk inside slowly, barely trusting myself to move on my own.

"Dakota, what's wrong?" Alex is the first one to ask as he gets off the couch and starts to walk towards me.

I look at each of their faces, which are very worried and sad for me.

I choke out a breath, as the tears start to come at a faster pace now, and embarrassed, I run to my room and shut the door behind me.

I throw myself onto Alex's bed, and curl myself up into a ball and hug my knees, unable to contain the choking sobs that are erupting from me.

I hear a knock and then another one after that, and when I don't answer the door slowly gets pushed open and Alex head pokes into the room. I look up at him and watch as he closes and locks the door behind him and comes towards me.

I hold my arms out to him, just wanting to be held and comforted at this moment.

Alex immediately rushes over to me and takes me in his arms, letting me put my head into his shirt and continue crying.

He rubs his arms up and down my back in attempt to soothe me, and holds me as tight as possible to him.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong? It's alright if you don't, I just hate seeing you like this," Alex whispers to me.

"My-my mom. S-she's going to die. I n-need to go to F-Florida and see her," I mumble into his shirt, barely able to get the sentence out of my mouth.

A shutter of shock goes throughout Alex's body, and he holds me even tighter now.

"It's alright, baby. I'm so sorry. We'll get plane tickets and go to Florida to see her, I promise," Alex assures me.

"W-we?" I ask.

"Yes, we. I'm not going to let you go to Florida all by yourself like this. I want to be there with you and comfort you. I'm your boyfriend, you know? It's my job to protect and comfort you," Alex tells me.

"Thank you," I whisper into his shirt. "I love you."

"I love you too," Alex tells me, still rubbing my back as I begin to calm down.

When I finally stop crying and am just hiccuping in my breaths, I pull away from Alex and wipe the tears from my face.

"Your shirt is wet now," I tell him.

"Well then maybe I should take it of," Alex jokes, wiggling his eyebrows.

I laugh at this, glad that he made me feel a little bit better.

"Now how about we order those tickets?" Alex suggests, grabbing his laptop from the nightstand and opening it.

We lay together on his bed, the laptop in between us, looking up flights to Florida.

We end up finally choosing one that leaves tomorrow afternoon, giving us enough time to pack and get ready, but is also soon enough that I'll catch my mom before she goes.

In this moment, I'm eternally grateful for Alex. I don't know what I'd do without him. I know Parker wouldn't have done anything like this for me, never mind even comfort me or offer to pay for my flight (which I politely declined, although I wasn't able to convince him so he ended up doing anyways). Without Alex, I wouldn't be as calm and hopeful as I am right now, and for that, I am absolutely grateful. In this moment, I realize that I am absolutely in love with this boy, whether he reciprocates the feeling or not. I am in love with Alex Ernst.