this love ☼ dreamnotfound

{ 26 }

clay was on the verge of passing out. the blistering heat, intense physical activity, and thick layers of padding were working together to make it feel like he was in hell. he was just ready to go home.

he was turned away from everyone when he felt a football hit him right in the center of his back. he was about to complain until he turned around and saw who the culprit was; alex, of course.

"was that necessary?" clay asked as alex approached him.

"not really," he admitted. "what are you doing?"

clay exaggerated, "suffering."

"same, dude," alex related. "it's hot as balls out here," he claimed. the sweat beading on his forehead could back him up.

no response came from clay. he was partially zoned-out and also just didn't really want to talk.

alex wasn't having it. "what's up with you?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows. "didn't get a kiss from george today?" he joked, playfully punching clay's shoulder.

that shouldn't have pissed clay off as much as it did. it wasn't alex's fault- from what he knew, clay and george were still disgustingly in love and nothing was wrong. clay was sure alex would figure it out at some point, or sapnap would tell him.

when clay stayed silent, chewing on the gum that he wasn't supposed to have at practice, alex grew seriously concerned. "clay, come on. is something wrong?" he wondered.

"nope," clay denied. he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and kept his eyes off of alex. he could never look someone in the eyes when he was lying.

"you're the worst liar i've ever met," alex declared. "if you don't wanna talk to me, you can just tell me. i'm not gonna cry about it."

with that, clay decided he should just walk away before he starts being a bitch. he put his helmet back on as he left alex standing alone. alex flipped him off when he wasn't looking.

foolish, who was talking to punz and sam a few feet away from them, noticed the gesture and questioned it, "what did he do?"

"nothing," alex told the truth. "he's just moody. i don't know."

punz commented, "i noticed that too- but don't tell him i said that."

foolish briefly laughed at punz's words before turning back to alex. "you should probably just give him some space. he looked like he wanted to punch you and i don't think you want that to happen," foolish advised.

"he wouldn't do that," sam insisted. him and punz were carrying on a conversation of their own while listening to foolish and alex and occasionally joining in.

"i didn't say he would," foolish defended. he explained, "just because he looks like he wants to do something doesn't mean he's actually going to."

punz rolled his eyes. "okay, man. sure," he responded.

foolish always got comically stressed out when people made him feel like he said something wrong. "i swear i don't think clay would punch alex- it was just... an expression! cause he looked mad, but not mad at alex just generally mad. y'know?"

his rambling made the other three erupt into laughter, and foolish finally realized that it actually wasn't a big deal and that his friends were just messing with him.

------

"i'm gonna cut straight to the point."

george was slowly losing his mind. he had completely isolated himself in his room and hadn't talked to anyone. he needed clay back, and he knew that getting rid of jace was the first step. it was something he should've done a while ago. clay could make as many excuses as he wanted, but george could tell that jace was driving him up the wall.