Lavender Love (boyxboy)✅

Chapter 12

Whoever's poking me needs to stop.

But the poking wouldn't stop.

I opened my eyes to find Jimmy sitting on Alex's bed, poking me with a long stick. Alex and I lay together in each other's arms, our legs tangled in the sheets.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I said, sitting up. "Jimmy, what the fuck are you doing in here? Get out! Get the fuck out!" I stumbled out of bed and attempted to punch him, but I was no match for him. He could have easily killed me with one punch. He clutched my wrists, preventing me from moving. I burst into tears, yelling at him, begging him to get out. My family knew about me and Alex, but they'd never seen it with their own eyes. According to Walter, someone had seen us with 'our pants down,' but I didn't know who.

"Hey, relax, Jo Jo," Jimmy said.

"I fucking locked the door!"

"Gimme a break. We all know how to pick locks."

By now, Alex was awake and cowering under the sheets. Jimmy released my wrists. I found a pair of underpants on the floor and pulled them up.

"Seriously, Jimmy, what are you doing here?"

"Walt and I are heading to Maine for a few days. Just the guys. Wanna go? You can bring Alex, too. We're gonna camp along the Kennebec River... you know, out in the middle of nowhere. You always liked going there."

"You broke into my room to ask me that? Couldn't it have waited?"

He stared at me as I sat on the edge of my bed.

"You gotta be more careful, Jo Jo, or something's gonna happen to you and Alex. Walt and I won't always be around to protect you."

"I can take care of myself. People always talk about me... about us. I'm used to it."

"Yeah... well... you can't be so obvious. You should know better."

"Do you think we're perverts?" Alex asked, holding the sheets up to his chin.

"You and Jo Jo?" Jimmy laughed. "Hell no. Perverts are sickos who have sex with little kids, animals, or corpses or something like that. I know people think that homos are communists and pervs, but I think that's all bullshit. Word has it that Eleanor saw you and Alex kissing."

"We never kiss in public, so that's a lie," I said.

"Well, she saw something."

"I thought she got over me. She's fucking crazy."

"Yeah, well, just be careful. It'll be good to get away. You can borrow Donnie's tent. It's bigger than yours, so you and Alex can be together. You can protect him from the moose."

"Moose?" Alex said. "We'll see moose?"

"Just kidding," Jimmy said. "You don't want to see a moose. They're scary as hell because they're so big. Talk to Walt. He'll tell you a story."

Walter was petrified of running into a moose. He told a story of when he and his buddies went camping, driving along an eerily quiet road at the butt crack of dawn. It was so foggy, he could barely see in front of him. He spotted a moose on the side of the road and was scared shitless he'd run in front of his car. After that morning, he hoped he'd never see a moose ever again.

Alex had never gone camping. Before joining the Hadley family, he hadn't done much except fight to stay alive.

As soon as we got to our campsite in the middle of nowhere, Walter ordered Alex and I to gather wood for the campfire. Swimming would have to wait. "Why don't we put up the tents first?" I said.