Skinny Love
Title: Skinny Love
Author: echostone155
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Jack/OC, Alex/John and slight Jalex
Summary: And she was Jack's new girlfriend.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author Notes: This is gonna be a two chaptered fic so yeah! :) Next part will mostly be Jalex
It was a late Monday night and Alex was laying on his bed, listening to Jimmy Eat World. He was exhausted even though it was just a Monday, but school was a bitch just before the holidays with ten tests in a week.
Jack was also maybe a reason to why he was sulking on his bed. You see, today Jack had introduced them to Jamie. Jamie was a girl, and she was pretty with long, curly hair that had a dark brown color, piercing blue eyes and she was nice too. And she was Jack's new girlfriend.
Alex wanted to hate her so much but she made it close to impossible. She wasn't mean and Alex never saw her being rude or mean to anyone.
Hey, Alex. It's me. Why were you so weird at school today? I'm worried about you, please call me when you hear this.
Jack had already called him twice but Alex honestly didn't feel like talking to him now, so instead he called Rian who knew pretty much everything about Alex.
'Hey, Rian,' Alex started, 'I need to talk to you and maybe cry a bit,' he continued, already feeling the tears in his eyes.
'Hi, Alex, we've been trying to get in touch with you for ever,' Rian said.
'We?' Alex asked.
'Yeah, me, Jack and Jamie,' he said and Alex knew he was looking at them with an excusing look and walked out of the room, 'I'm guessing that's why you called,' Rian said with a soft voice, just above a murmur and Alex could hear Jack saying 'Let me talk to him,' in the back.
'Yeah, Rian, I don't know if I can handle seeing him with her. Like, I can handle it when he goes to a room with a girl when he's drunk, because then he's drunk. But now he's sober and Jamie, she's so nice and I hate myself for wanting them to break up. Does that make me a horrible person?'
'It doesn't make you a horrible person. It's natural, of course you don't want them to be together when you like him. I get it, and you better not ruin this for him either, because as much as I want you to be happy, I don't think he's the one you're gonna be happy with. I'm sorry, but as for now it seems like he's with Jamie for a while. Maybe you should try and find someone else to date?'
'You're right, as always,' Alex said and hung up, but it didn't make him feel any better about himself or the situation.
He was frustrated, angry and sad. He didn't know how to handle the situation and he wanted to hold Jack close to him, to just feel him being there, being all his. Not Jamie's, but his.
Maybe he would go out and find someone so he could get over Jack. Yeah, he most definitely would.
~
It had gone a lot better than expected, really. His friend, Matt Flyzik, had hooked him up with a mutual friend that Alex didn't remember as hot, but he most definitely was.
John O'Callaghan was a year younger than him and he was the definition of perfect. He was tall and skinny, brown hair and a great personality. He didn't have a single flaw, Alex thought, and it was weird thinking this about someone else than Jack.
John had taken him out on a date, and as cliche as it was, Alex loved it. Loved being the center of attention and not having to gain it from Jack who didn't even like him back.
~
'Do you play any instruments?' John had asked him, and from there they had just clicked. Finding out they both were musically talented they spent hours talking about music, and they sang together and John learned Alex to play the piano and Alex learned John how to play a guitar.
~
'Hey, do you wanna hang out with my friends tomorrow?' Alex asked one day they were sitting in Alex's bedroom playing Scrabble. It was 1 AM and they were bored but couldn't watch a movie because it would wake his parents up.
'Uh, yeah, I guess that would be nice,' John smiled back and Alex knew that John appreciated it. Alex had been putting off introducing him to his friends for a long time now, longer than necessarily.
'I guess it's technically today, so we should get some sleep,' Alex said, mostly because he would win the round of Scrabble if they quit now.
'You're only saying that so you'll win,' John pouted.
'I know,' Alex laughed and stood up starting to take off his clothes, 'Hey, stop staring and come to bed with me,' he laughed.
John got up from the floor and repeated Alex's actions, taking off his clothes and laying himself close to Alex under the duvets.
'You smell good today,' John said, smiling into Alex's neck, 'You smell good all the time, but you smell nicer today,' he added.
'Thanks I guess?' Alex laughed and pressed a soft kiss to John's lips before the two of them drifted off to sleep.
~
My place at four! Is John coming too?:)
Alex woke up to his phone buzzing from the floor and smiled when he read the text. He had only told Rian about him and had asked him to keep quiet about it. Rian had been asking Alex every time they were going to hang out if John was joining them too, and this was the first time that Alex could reply with 'Sounds good! John is coming too, yeah. Don't tell them that, I want it to be a surprise:) Thanks for being so understanding, by the way.'
'Hey, wake up,' Alex said after he had showered and changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, 'We're going to Rian's in an hour, thought you might wanna shower and eat before we go,' he added and kissed John before he walked downstairs to make them breakfast.
Twenty minutes passed by and John was walking down the stairs in Alex's jeans that were slightly too short and baggy, but he had rolled them up so it looked really good anyways.
'You look really good,' Alex said, wrapping his arms around John's neck and kissed him. They stood like that for a few minutes, just hugging and making out every once in a while.
'Thank you, Lex,' John grinned, 'So do you.'
~
'Alex, I'm really nervous, what if they don't like me?' John asked nervously, walking really slow so they wouldn't get to Rian's house quickly.
'John, stop it! They'll love you! I mean, they have to since I'm dating you,' Alex laughed, putting his arm around John's hip, 'But seriously, they'll love you.'
~
'We're here now so I guess you'll find out. But hey, just be yourself, okay? I promise that they're great people and they won't be rude to you, okay?' he reassured him, placing his hand on the small of John's back.
John nodded and Alex rang the doorbell. Not even eight seconds later, Rian was standing in the door with Jack, Jamie and Cassadee behind him, all looking very excited to what was going on.
'Rian, you said you wouldn't tell,' Alex whined, and stood in front of John a bit.
'I didn't! I swear! I just said that you were bringing a surprise for them and well, they didn't wanna wait in the basement so they came up here with me,' Rian sighed, sending death glares to the people standing behind him.
'Yeah, can we come in tho?'
'Fuck, yeah, yeah, sorry,' Rian laughed before he walked to John, giving him a bro hug which looked dumb, considering John was a lot taller than Rian and John was so nervous he was like a stick.
'I'm Rian, and dude, relax a bit, we're not gonna kill you,' he laughed before passing him on to whoever wanted to meet him, which was Cassadee who gave him a hug.
At the end it was only Jack left, who fist bumped him and told him his name, nothing special and it bummed Alex out a bit. Surely Jack would be like the rest, giving him hugs. Even Jamie had done that and she hardly even knew Alex. But whatever, Jack would probably get used to it.
It wasn't like Alex brought home guys all the time, actually he had never done it.
The first thirty minutes John clung to Alex's hip, and Alex couldn't even go to the toilet if he wanted to. Alex found it pretty cute that John was so insecure, Jack found it pretty fucking annoying.
Even when John had opened up and started cracking jokes with them and Alex could see on him that he was having a good time with his friends, and he couldn't hold back the grin that was stretching across his face, Jack found it annoying. The way he just fitted in and everyone seemed to love him.
'So how did you meet?' Jack asked, sitting closer to Alex, not talking too loud so he wouldn't interrupt whatever the others were talking about.
'Matt hit us up about a month ago,' he smiled.
'A month, Alex? A month and you didn't even tell me, your best friend?'
'It's not like you told me about Jamie either,' Alex puffed, not really wanting to deal with Jack's bullshit.
'I know I didn't, but that's still different! You told Rian before you told me man.. I don't know, just forget it,' he said, going back to where he was sitting right before.
'Hey, we're ordering pizza, what do you guys want on it?' Rian asked, dialing the number to a local pizza parlor.
'No pineapple, no jalapenos or anything like that, extra cheese, a lot of sauce, ham and I think that's it for me. What about you John?'
'The same,' he smiled, wrapping his arm around Alex's hip.
~
'Your friends are nice,' John said when they were walking home.
'I told you there was nothing to be scared of. I'm glad you like them though,' he smiled, catching John's lips in a kiss.
'They're all very nice people,' he nodded, 'but Jack doesn't seem to be my biggest fan.'
'Don't think about him, he's just butthurt that I didn't tell him before I told Rian. In my defense he never told me about him dating Jamie, so I guess we're sorta even,' Alex replied, linking his fingers with John's.
After John's mother had picked him up from Alex's house, he texted Jack asking him if he wanted to come over.
It's not like I have anything better to do.
'Okay, if that's the way he's gonna be, then fine by me,' Alex grumbled to himself while he picked up some clothes from his floor and threw them in the closet.
Moments later the doorbell rang and he heard his mom letting Jack inside.
'He's in his room, sweetie,' she said, 'It's nice seeing you around here, it's been a long time since I've last seen you now! You've grown so much since then!' she had laughed before letting him walk up to Alex's room at the end of the hallway.
'Nothing's changed here,' Jack laughed as he walked over to Alex's bed, throwing himself down on it. He'd never felt something as soft as Alex's bed and the fact that it was almost two meters wide didn't exactly make it worse.
'Yeah,' Alex smiled, dropping himself down onto the mattress.
'Hey, I'm sorry for not telling you about John. I just, I really like him and I wanted to make sure this was something that was going to last y'know before I told everyone. I'm also sorry that I told Rian before you,' Alex sighed.
'So you really like him then?'
'I do,' he smiled.
'Lex, I'm sorry for acting like a douche earlier today when I met John. I guess I was just sorta bummed that you brought him into our group or whatever, and yeah. I know I did the same with Jamie and I guess it's not different,' he said, sitting up.
'I'm just sorry for this whole fucked up situation. I feel like we've drifted apart since you got with Jamie you know. I've missed hanging out with you and I've missed skipping classes with you to watch shitty movies and eat gross pizza,' Alex laughed.
'Jack, can I give you a hug?' Alex asked nervously, playing with his fingers.
'Seriously, Alex? Have we drifted that far apart that you have to ask me for a hug?' Jack asked and Alex could see the tears forming in his eyes and by the way his bottom lip was shaking he knew they were spilling any minute now.
'I didn't mean it like that, of course I don't have to ask. I know I can always get a hug from you, I just don't know why I asked really,' he comforted, wrapping his arms around Jack's tender frame. 'We're the same as we were before, okay? Nothing has changed, we're just not single,' he laughed.
'I know. I'm such a fucking girl,' Jack said, wiping away the tears. 'I guess it comes from spending time with Jamie,' he said, and it made Alex lose the butterflies that had earlier erupted in his stomach. He didn't like talking about Jamie at all, he avoided talking about her at all costs really.
'L-lex? Can I do something and promise that you won't freak out no matter what?'
'Of course, Jack,' Alex smiled reassuringly.
And that's when Jack placed his hand on Alex's cheek, his thumb gently stroking over his cheekbone and his face inching closer to Alex's. Both boys stomachs were filled with butterflies and they could feel each others breath fanning across each others lips.
The nervousness was almost getting to Jack, but he couldn't stop it now. Not when he knew that Alex wanted it too. So Jack closed the small gap between them. It wasn't like kissing John, it was so much more different. Maybe because he had wanted this for years now and he finally got it. He wished however that it was under different circumstances, but he didn't care. All that mattered was that Jack's lips were molding perfectly with Alex's.
'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that,' Jack said hurriedly when they had been laying on Alex's bed not really knowing what to say.
'You didn't do anything wrong,' Alex breathed before he started laughing.
'Why are you laughing? I just fucking kissed you! You shouldn't be laughing,' Jack grumbled but he soon started laughing too.
'I fucking hate you, Gaskarth,' he laughed before laying down again.
'We're not telling anyone about this, right?' Alex said.
'No, I guess we won't,' Jack sighed, 'It was nice though,' he added with a smile.
'It was,' Alex smiled.