Where to Find You - a boyXboy original story

Chapter 14: Morning Routine

(Neal's POV)

What I had said about loving Alex was completely true, I know that I just met him, and it might be moving fast, but that is the only word to describe what I felt towards him. A couple of hours had passed when I had finally got the courage to move. Alex was peacefully asleep on my chest so I carefully shifted him into my arms so that I could carry him.

Once I was standing with him in my arms, bridal style, I cautiously made my way to his room. His room was about the same size as my room also having the same plain white walls as the rest of the school dorms. Carefully, I set him down on his bed which was pushed up against the farthest wall. ​

I set him in the bed then pulled the light pink/yellow blanket over him. After making sure that he was comfortable I finally got the chance to look around his room. There was a cluster of posters hanging from one wall. He had a few anime posters, one of Chris Pratt, and another of Tom Holland in his spider man outfit. ​

After looking at the posters for a little bit longer I then turned around towards his desk which was adjacent to his bed. On his desk there were two pictures in light brown picture frames. Of course I couldn't just not look at the pictures, so I quietly made my way to his desk.

In the picture on the right it showed three people. ​One of those people was Alex who was standing next to a younger girl. The girl was probably around the age of ten in the picture. ​The girl had light brown hair and blue eyes. She had her arms wrapped around both boys as if she was holding them there for the picture to be taken.

The boy on her left looked to be around fifteen or sixteen. He had dark brown almost black hair and brown eyes. He was clearly the tallest of the other three. Alex looked to be around the age of twelve, but his hair was a normal light brown. I assumed that these were Alex's siblings. ​

I then looked at the other picture. In it there was a woman and a man smiling happily with a black kitten in their arms. The man looked more Latino which had probably contributed to Alex's Latino skin color. They looked younger maybe around their late thirties. It looked as though Alex had the perfect family.

Sighing deeply and running my hand through my shaggy, tangled, golden blonde hair- I left Alex's room.​

Once I was in my room, I tried to sleep but I felt as though something was missing, I wouldn't admit this to anyone, but I missed Alex's small frame atop mine. I had finally given up on sleep and changed into jogging shorts and a black V-neck shirt. I crept through the dorm and quietly closed the door behind me.

It was around four or so in the morning, the sky was a placid grey and I could hear the faint call of multiple birds. I walked over to the black jeep and got in. The drive back to Hank and Martha's house was uneventful, one could even call it boring. ​

After about ten minutes, I pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. I walked around the house to the back door and quietly made my way into the kitchen. The house was silent most likely meaning that Hank and Martha were sleeping. Unexpectedly I was surrounded by both dogs who were vigorously wagging their tails. I patted their heads then went to find their leashes. As I walked further into the house, I could see that Bow had once again started to chew on the couches and cardboard boxes that were lying around. Finally I had found their leashes. I took the dogs back out with me. ​

I started jogging down the road at a steady pace both dogs eager to be exercised. Despite this being a main road it was quiet, nothing compared to Sydney where I had spent most of my life. My mom was born in America then moved to Australia when she was eighteen. My parents met in collage in Sydney then got married at twenty-one. At twenty-five they had me. We lived in Sydney then went to New York where my mom's parents were. We lived in New York for three years, that's why I know and use American slang. ​

My parents were a sensitive subject for me, I had a whole rebellious faze that was directed at them despite them not being there. Now that I was thinking about it, I didn't know if I was ready to tell Alex about them or not. Thinking about that had just made me angry and frustrated. I ran faster and harder causing the dogs to speed up. After a few more minutes of running off my rage, I slowed down, then turned around and jogged back home.

Once the dogs were back in the house with food and water, I left. I was surprised at Dare who was ten years old and still able to keep up with Bow and me. It made me sad to think that he was getting older and wouldn't be able to run or play with me as much.

Trying to push those thoughts out of my mind I turned on the Jeep's radio and listened to some random morning talk show. A few minutes later and I had arrived back at the dorms. I tried my best to quietly creep into the house. Deciding that I needed to get ready as it was already six-o-clock and school started at seven-thirty I went to my room and grabbed a towel and my hygiene supplies. ​

Last night when Alex had showed me around, he told me that he had his own bathroom so this one would be mine and that I could personalize it. It wasn't that big but big enough to suite me. The shower curtain was golden yellow with small clouds scattered around. I chuckled at the childish curtain and wondered if Alex had bought it. I turned on the shower and did my thing.

After I had showered and shaved, I realized that I hadn't brought my clothes in the bathroom with me. I silently cursed myself while I peeked through the door hoping that Alex was still asleep. I couldn't hear any signs of life in the house, so I opened the door and stepped out. I stretched slightly causing my muscles to flex and my towel to ride lower on my hips. A small gasp filled the silence behind me. ​

I turned around slowly to face an embarrassed looking Alex. He was staring at the edge of my towel then his eyes slowly dragged themselves across my abs and up towards the tattoo on the left side of my chest. He stared at it in confusion. ​

"If you take a picture it might last longer," I said with a smirk. ​

He blushed and looked down. I suddenly got a sick feeling in my stomach and the only thing I could think was that I hoped he wouldn't ask about the tattoos on my shoulder blades. ​

Thankfully, he asked the more innocent question in a quiet voice "N-not to pry but why do you have a girl's t-tattoo on your chest?"​

I laughed then smirked down at him "About a year ago I got drunk with some guys and they ended up daring me to get a girly tattoo so of course me being a drunk dumbass I agreed to the dare. I woke up the next morning not only with a hangover but with a new edition to my ever-growing collection of mistakes." ​

He smiled with amusement then looked up at me and replied "It's not that girly, it is a pretty cool mandala with a nice swirl in the middle. I can't imagine how much it hurt though." ​

"It didn't hurt that bad," I said smirking.​

He blushed and looked back down at my abs. I laughed then told him that I was going to change, and I'd be back out for breakfast. Once I was in my room, I smiled to myself at how innocent he seemed. I felt that today was going to be a good day.