Break All the Rules 6

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Part 6


"What's her name?"

"Who?" Alex asked, looking up at Jessica.

She smiled at him, "You know, your girl whose been giving you all of this," and she gestured at Alex's neck.

Oh, Alex knew what she was talking about.

"Are you going to introduce us?" she asked. "I feel like I should get to know the girl you've been seeing for the past few weeks."

"We're not seeing each other," he said truthfully, "we don't even like each other, it's just a casual thing."

"I didn't have you down as a casual kind of guy," she said, quickly adding, "not that there's anything wrong with that, you just struck me as commitment and the long run."

He shrugged, "Yeah, it's not what I expected, either."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe later."

"Okay," she said, not pressuring him, "I'll be here."

Truth was, Alex didn't want to talk about it at all.

It was a mantra he and Freddie had now. After their stolen moments together, they'd always promise each other not to tell Sean, not to tell anyone, because 'this didn't happen'. It was a stupid thing to say when they'd kissed and touched and grinded up against each other so many times. But it soothed some of the guilt away if they told themselves it meant nothing, so inconsequential it was almost as if it never occurred.

Because if they ever did stop to think about it, they'd be forced to confront how terrible it was. Alex knew it already but he could ignore it because it wasn't love or something equally precious but a base desire that was as cruel as it was insatiable. It was harsh kisses and hickeys sucked into his skin, sharp scratches that drew blood and ripped his shirt buttons, and there were none of the sweet words that Freddie would whisper to Sean. Instead, they spat venom in each other's faces, angry yet helpless in the wake of it all.

The dynamic between them changed so fast and so much it gave Alex whiplash. He wasn't even sure if they were friends anymore.

"You're thinking too hard," Jessica said, poking him in the cheek. "Movie nights are not meant for thinking."

"Yeah, true, is Megan joining us?"

She shook her head, "She's seen Star Trek before. We could invite Sean, though, if he's not busy?"

"No," he said slowly, grasping for an excuse, "I don't think he's got much free time this week."

"Yeah, he's been really swamped with all his debate stuff."

That piqued his curiosity, "What debate?"

"Hasn't he talked to you about it? It's all he's been doing these days."

"I haven't seen him recently, probably because of that." Or maybe because Alex had been avoiding him.

She didn't question it, saying, "The debating society is holding a talk about non-soulmate relationships and he volunteered to argue in favour of them. It's a really big thing for him and there are some important external speakers coming as well so we agreed to go along and support him. You'll come, too, right?"

"Of course."

Alex had never been to any of the debating society's events before but they had a pretty good set up, using one of the bigger lecture theatres on campus to host the event. It was actually impressive how many people had taken the time to come and listen.

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