The Bad Boys Saw Me Naked. Again

(3)

"You don't have a date?" He frowns.

"Do I need one?" Jesse raises an eyebrow.

"You do if you're going to be hear long enough." Alex growls.

"Alex!" I try to stop him, appalled.

"Don't worry about it Harper." Jesse assures me. "Alex, I will be staying until I am no longer needed here."

The silence is irritating. 

Eventually, Alex finishes his soda and throws it away. 

"I'm going to bed." He says bluntly, before disappearing. 

"It was a really long drive." I sigh.

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"I'm so proud of you." Cole grins.

"Aw, thanks. It's nothing really." I laugh, as he looks over all of my articles.

"You're a first year at Harvard and you already write in their newspaper." Zane snorts, washing another plate. 

"That's a pretty big achievement." Jesse whistles, reading a headline. "I especially love this one. Calling out the cafeteria stuff on fake meat? Brutal."

"I'm a hard hitting journalist." I tease. "Only the truth."

The others went to bed awhile ago, and we stayed down to catch up. I decided to let Alex be, hoping he would calm down on his own.

"How's everybody doing at school?" I ask, sipping my tea. "I feel like I've missed so much."

"Everybody is fine." Cole shrugs. "Hayden is graduating, and I think already told you that he got into Princeton."

"You did, that's amazing!" I gush. "Has Vince started to apply, senior year is going to be hectic enough."

"Bit of a touchy subject." Zane grimaces. 

"He's applying to community college." Cole explains. "And everybody is happy with that, he can do really well there. He just isn't as excited, he keeps comparing himself to Hayden."

"Which he shouldn't be doing." Jesse frowns. 

"So, I'm helping them both get ready for all of that." Cole says. "Exciting."

"And the others?" I ask.

"I'm forever in Asher's principal's office trying to talk him out of suspension." He rolls his eyes. "The twins are working hard towards football scholarships, which includes several car rides a day."

"So you go to work around midnight?" I frown, thinking his schedule is insane.

"I fit it in." He shrugs. 

"How's school?" I question.

"I'm going to pull out for this semester." He shrugs. "Community college can wait, I'm needed here."

I look at Zane and Jesse incredulously. Did I just hear what i heard?

"We're trying to stop him." Zane surrenders. "I try to help out as much as I can, but work is really important at the moment, Will still needs constant doctors visits." 

"I've been stopping in when I can." Jesse says.

"What about Jake?" I ask.

"Jake is working really hard at school, like I told him too." Cole says firmly. "It's important."

"Yeah." I almost shout. "It is." 

He doesn't answer me, knowing I have him caught. 

"I'm handling it." He shrugs. 

"It doesn't sound like it." I frown.

"Bianca is loving her ballet school." Zane changes the subject. "She visits all the time, and if I see her in the splits, in front of our T.V,  watching ballet recordings, and stretching her shoes all at the same time again I might scream."

"I know, she's loving it." I smile. "She better come see me sometime while I'm here."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Jesse snorts. "Her and Jake can't seem to get enough of each other."

"Speaking of partners." I yawn. "I think I'm going to head to bed, talk to Alex."

"I'm sorry about him." Jesse says. "But it's really not my place to ay anything.

"Don't worry about it." I shrug. "I'm sure he'll tell me. If not, I'll beat it out of him." 

I  say goodnight, and head upstairs, listening at Alex's bedroom door, to the sound of gunshots. He didn't? I open the door, and sigh.

"You did not bring this thing with you?" I complain, standing in front of his Xbox game.

"The guys packed it for me." He says, continuing to play. 

I  ignore him, turning the T.V off. 

"It's late." I fall onto the bed, exhausted.

"It was a long drive." He says. I roll my eyes, not wanting to bother with that piece of irony.

"You were really mean tonight." I grumble, as he joins me on the bed. 

"Jesse deserves it." He kisses my lips.

"He seems like a nice guy." I ignore him.

"He's not." He moves on to my neck.

"Are you even going to tell me?" I sigh, wishing he didn't make it feel so good.

"Not tonight." He fiddles with my shirt.

"He made us stir fry." 

"Can we discuss this later?" He smirks, rubbing my thigh. I hold in a moan, reaching for his shirt.

We can discuss this later.