Alex slept on the couch for about an hour.
Mitch and Scott ate their sandwiches in the kitchen quietly as he slept, Mitch too perplexed to speak.
Scott leaned over to kiss his shoulder. "Babe... I know it's hard to think about, and.. I can't imagine how upset you are, but... Will you please talk to me? Please explain to me what's going on in that head of yours?"
Mitch glanced over at him, placing his sandwich down on the plate. "Is that a sarcastic question? You want me to talk about how I feel about ruining our best friends' relationship?"
"That's not your fault, babe. You know that. You can't put this blame on yourself."
"Too late. I shouldn't have allowed him to flirt with me, I just... I just thought he was being cute, I didn't know he actually meant it."
"To be absolutely fair... I don't really blame him for having a hot dream about you, considering what you look like. And I... I trust him enough to know he wouldn't lay a hand on you. The only problem I have, is that he didn't tell me he felt this way. And... Also that he often gets mean and bosses people around, and... I don't want him to hurt you accidentally."
"You think he might?"
"I think... Avi has a habit of wanting to protect the people he loves, and... In doing so, he likes to push them around because he thinks his opinion is right, and he wants to keep them safe."
Mitch looked down at his lap. "Do you think... Um. He and Alex are gonna turn out okay?"
"I certainly hope so. As hard as it was for them, I really think it was beneficial. Alex teaching Avi to be more kind, and Avi teaching him to have a backbone and stand up for himself."
Mitch shook his head slowly, and leaned against Scott's arm. "How could this have happened? Everyone was so happy."
Scott's arm immediately slid around Mitch's waist. "Well, you're the one with the brain, so. What do you suggest we do about all this..?"
"I have no idea, honey... I guess just... Take care of Alex, and... Support his decision. And you need to make sure Avi doesn't do anything stupid. Got me?"
"Yeah, I got it. I can do that."
*
Alex finally woke up on the couch, and he stood slowly. He found his phone laying carelessly on the table, only to see a dozen calls from Kirstie, some texts from Kevin, and then about a thousand things from Avi on different social media.
He walked into the kitchen, meeting Mitch's eyes first. "Mitchie... Will you please feed me?" He asked softly, almost inaudibly.
Mitch jumped up quickly. "Of course, babe. What are you hungry for?" He glanced back at Scott. "Do you have any stuff to make a salad? Or something really healthy that he'll like?"
Alex spoke before Scott did. "Actually, can we order a pizza or something?"
Mitch stared at him with wide eyes momentarily, but then nodded quickly. "Sure, yeah, of course."
Alex sniffled again, and leaned against the door frame as Mitch hurried past him to find his phone.
Scott eyed him anxiously. "Alex, why don't you come sit over here with me? Are you doin' okay?"
Alex wandered over slowly, sitting beside him. "I'm fine." He pushed his phone toward Scott. "I don't wanna look at these... Would you mind reading them to me, maybe?"
Scott shrugged. "I don't see why not." He grabbed Alex's phone, and started with Kevin's messages. "Kevin's worried, obviously. He wants you to know if you need anything... You know where to find him."
"Tell him thank you, and that I'm doing just fine at the moment." He mumbled back, both hands folded in front of him.
Scott typed away quickly. "Okay... Gotcha. When do you need to go home, babe?" He paused for a second. "Sorry, I didn't mean to call you that. Just kinda rolled out."
"I don't even care." Alex mumbled back. "Home whenever I want. Parents went out of town. I hope I'm not inconveniencing you... If you want alone time with Mitch, just tell me to go, and I will."
"Don't be silly, Alex. You're our family, and we need to protect you." He tilted his head at Kirstie's messages. "I think we need to FaceTime her..."
Alex pouted. "No, we can't... I look like shit, I feel like shit, I--"
"I disagree about the first part. And she's not gonna care, Alex. She just wants to make sure you're okay."
Alex turned the pout toward him. "Fine. I'll call her." He grabbed the phone, and quickly found Kirstie's contact. "Will you grab me a beer?"
Scott's heart nearly stopped. "What? Since when do you drink beer?"
"Since now. Please?"
Scott shook his head slowly. "Mitch is gonna kill me... But fine, I guess." He stood to find one in the fridge.
Kirstie answered the FaceTime in a matter of seconds. "Allie, oh my God! Are you okay?"
"I'm okay... I just wanna be away from Avi for a while, I think... And just take some time for myself I guess."
"I'm so sorry this happened, Alex... Can I come over maybe, and... See how you're doing? Do you need anything? I can bring over some ice cream maybe or--"
"No, no, I'm okay. Thank you, but... I'm okay. Mitchie is ordering food for me... But I promise to call you if I need anything."
"Maybe you can spend the night sometime? And we'll go shopping and hit on cute boys and anything you wanna do. Okay?"
"Okay... Thanks, Kit. I... I'll text you, okay?"
"Okay. I love you, babe."
"I love you too."
Alex hung up, and placed the phone down on the counter just as Scott placed an open beer bottle in front of him.
Alex shoved the phone toward him again. "And the ones from Avi you can just delete."
Scott nodded once, but went ahead to read through them all anyway out of curiosity. "You don't even want like a summary of what he's saying?"
"No. I told him I needed time."
"I understand that, Alex. But he's pouring his heart out to you right now."
Alex glanced over at him. "Fine... Brief summary, then. Please."
Scott sighed loudly, shaking his head a little. "I feel weird about reading these, but... He just wants you to know how much he loves you, and... That he's sorry about what happened. It was an accident."
Alex stared at the beer in front of him. "Okay."
Scott put the phone back down, knowing Alex didn't want him to type out a response. "Listen... I know this doesn't mean shit. And you know this whole thing pissed me off because of Mitch being involved... But... But he's my best friend, Alex. And if he says it was an accident, then I have to believe him."
"And that's fine. That means your guys' relationship is fine. But my relationship with him might not be."
"But why not? I know you need time, but... I don't--"
"Scott, I'm so sorry... Can we please not talk about this anymore?"
Mitch walked back into the room, phone in hand. "Twenty minutes, okay Allie? Can I make you anything to snack on..?"
Alex shook his head quickly. "No thank y--"
"Since when do you drink beer?"
"Since my heart started hurting this badly."
"You can't, Alex. What if you get drug tested before graduation?"
"Leave me alone, Mitch." Alex looked away from him. "I just want to make my own choices for once, okay?"
"Fine. Can't stop you, I guess."
Scott patted the seat beside him with his hand. "Come here, Mitchie."
Mitch walked over slowly, taking the seat. "Why'd you give that to him?"
"Because he's an adult, Mitch. Makes his own decisions. And he's also not our prisoner. We're trying to help him."
"But that's not helpful. Letting him drink is--"
"I've been drinking since I was ten years old. I don't really have room to judge anybody else about it."
"But that's different. You're not a student athlete. You're not going to a highly ranked college. There's no time for him to be making mistakes right now."
"Okay, I'll ignore how rude that was because I know you're upset. One beer isn't gonna kill him, Mitch. It's not like I handed him a bottle of Smirnoff or something."
Mitch frowned a little. "You're right... That was super rude, I'm sorry."
"It's okay... Maybe you should have a beer too." He chuckled a little.
"No thank you." He glanced over at Alex. "If you need something to take your mind off of it, we need to work on our graduation speech."
**