The Terms of an Alpha ✔️

f o u r t e e n

[dedicated to TariusMTeeDeeMo]

Saint missed Ender. He tried telling himself he missed all his friends back at school, but that would have been a lie. In fact, he really didn't miss anyone except Ender. He missed his cocky/borderline asshole attitude. He missed Ender's random texts. He missed Ender's complaints about how cold his dorm was. He missed getting McDonald's with Ender. He just missed Ender. So, it probably was for the best that they could have a little break from each other— at least for Saint. It had to have been a bad sign that he only missed Ender out of everyone. He meant more to him than just a friend, which is exactly what Ender did not want to happen. Therefore, their temporary separation was necessary, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

Saint sighed and flopped onto on his bed. His room back home was not too different from his dorm in UCLA. The only difference was he shared this room with his brother, Sage, instead or Perez. His brother did not seem to have missed Saint that much. He was just glad to have his own personal chauffeur to take him to his friends' house. His mom, on the other hand, was so ecstatic to see Saint again. She tried to spend ever waking minute with Saint when she was not at work. Saint almost felt guilty for wanting to get back to school already when his mom missed him so much. 

A doorbell rang, breaking Saint away from his thoughts.

"I'll get it, I guess," he mumbled, since Sage made no attempt to get up from the chair he was playing video games in.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see one his childhood friends and neighbors, Tyler Greenfield. He was a short, slender man with dreads and a lot of tattoos.

"Hey man, how's it been? I actually was gonna head to your house later this week." They dapped each other up, and Saint moved back to let him in.

"I've been good. I saw your car and knew you were home." Saint invited him inside to sit in the living room.

"How has the neighborhood been?"

"Same shit as always. Maybe a little better, I guess. People are moving out and making moves," Ty answered.

"That's good, but what about you?"

"I'm trying, man. I still work at the convenience store. I've been taking classes to get my radiology technician degree," he said meekly. Saint was taken aback.

"Shit man, that's really cool! I had no idea." He and Ty were not the closest friends in high school. They never were in any of the same classes as Saint took all APs and Ty was struggling to pass his non-advanced ones. Saint always knew Ty was really smart, but he never felt the need to apply himself.

"Yeah. I actually really like it. It's cool to feel like I could have a career I would want to do for my life. It beats working at the store. I'm sick of it here. There's nothing left here," he said. "You had the right idea of trying to leave." Saint shrugged— it always felt weird discussing Saint's absence from his childhood neighborhood since he knew not everyone was lucky enough to do so. 

"Where would you want to go?"

"Well, I've been looking for job opportunities, and Houston has a lot of medical jobs available." Saint laughed. He wasn't expecting him to want to move to Texas, but it did make sense. It was weird to see how different people could become in the span of a few short years.

"Yeah? You can get yourself a little cowgirl," he teased. Ty playfully pushed his shoulder.

"What 'bout you? You find yourself a hot nerd?" Saint shook his head 'no.'