Lover Boy

chapter fifteen

Alex seemed upset when I drove him to school this morning, so I held his small hand to comfort him and rubbed my thumb softly on the top. Once we got there, I parked in our usual spot, way away from the other cars. Alex was about to get out, but I gently took his arm. He turned around and looked at me.

"Is everything okay this morning?" I asked him.

He looked down, shaking his head no. His eyes trailed down away from me and his face turned into a frown.

"What's the matter?" I asked, with a soft tone to my voice.

"My parents found out about everything that happened with Connor..." His eyes welled up with tears.

"Come sit on my lap." I told him.

He crossed over from the passenger seat, to the drivers seat and sat on my lap, faced towards me. My hand rested on the back of his head as he burrowed his face into my chest. He held onto my shirt, leaning into me.

I rubbed his back in small circles gently. He sniffled, beginning to sob. He was holding in his tears the whole car ride. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." I held him in my arms, helping him calm down. His tears soaked into the material of my black t-shirt, he then took a shaky deep breath trying to calm himself down. He stopped crying, but I continued to hold him.

He held onto my index finger and closed his eyes. "I don't want to go inside.."

"I know, let's stay in here for a bit, we will go inside when you're ready."

He nodded, cuddling into me more. I held my arm around him, starting to play with his hair.

"Richie..?" He asked, looking up at me. I looked down at him, showing him that he had my attention. "My mom and dad were mad at me for not telling them.. I don't want them to be mad at me a-anymore.." He said, frowning.

"They'll understand soon, baby." I assured him.

He rubbed his eyes asking me, "Promise?" With his head adorably tilted. 

I nodded and smiled down at him softly, "I promise."

•••

Alex and I walked down the hall towards the cafeteria for lunch. I noticed that quite a few people were looking at both of us. I wasn't exactly sure why. Alexander noticed as well when he glanced around. We walked inside the cafeteria and sat at our table to eat with the rest of our friends. He looked around at the people staring at him, which made me look around too. He tapped my arm which caused my eyes to lead down to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

he shook his head no, as his lip started to tremble. I stood up, walking to the bathroom with him. Once we got inside, I made sure there was no one in there. He immediately hugged me tightly, starting to cry. I hugged him back tightly, not saying anything yet.

"I c-can't do it.." He told me. "I heard someone say t-that I wanted what happened.. t-then regretted it.. and said it was rape.. T-That's not e-even true Richie.. I didn't w-want it.."

My eyes widened a little bit, this meant that the people who were looking at us knew what happened to Alex, and making up rumors? 

"It w-was on the news.. n-now everyone is g-going to know.. it's going to s-spread around the whole school." He starts hyperventilating, crying harder into my chest.

"I will protect you, I will try my best to keep you away from it all." I told him, holding him close in my arms.

He had tear stains on his cheeks, and his eyes were wet from crying. We stood in front of the mirror, looking into it. I was standing behind him, so I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed his head.