"I told you, she was just a work colleague," Lee's father's voice bellowed from the lounge. I sat on the third step from the bottom as I looked down at where Lee was sitting, right on the last step. His forehead resting against the banister stand, his blonde hair dishevelled from the earlier occurrence it had with his hands - when he'd ran them through his locks obsessively from frustration.
It was dark, the light emanating from the doorway, where his dad and mum were conversing, was the only thing keeping us from sitting in darkness.
My chest felt heavy as I recalled what Lee had told me when he rang me up about an hour ago. I wasn't talking to him, for obvious reasons, but with the way his voice was shaking - straining to even push out the few words he managed to speak - I couldn't ignore him. I couldn't neglect the responsibilities of being a best friend, my conscience wouldn't let me.
I raced straight over, finding him in his bedroom where he was sat hugging his knees. He won't admit when he looks back at it, but there were visible streaks of tears running down his cheeks as he'd explained to me that he'd caught his dad with another woman. Well, he was doing a lot more than just being with the woman, from what I heard. Lee had told his mother, and when his dad returned home, that's when we found ourselves on the steps, listening in on the confrontation.
"Alexandra, you know I would never do such a disgus-"
"And all the late nights at the office, Tony, were you with her?" Lee's mum's voice cut his dad's off, their argument droning in the distance. I was thankful that Kimberly and the other Towson son, Murphy, wasn't around to hear it. But it killed me that Lee was, out of all of them, Lee was the one that'd always hoped to continue having a happy family. I didn't want him to listen to it, asked him to go on a walk with me, but he refused.
I slid down the steps separating me and Lee, stopping by his side where I wrapped an arm around his shoulder. With his head hung low, he fell against me and I wrapped my arm around him tighter before sliding it into his hair and resting my cheek atop his head. His body shivered from the heavy breaths he was taking, trying to force the tears away - because he'd be damned if he'd let himself be weak, as he put it.
"Come on," I whispered. "Let's go." I didn't give him a choice, grabbing his wrist in my grip and pulling him up. He barely seemed to have the strength or determination to stand, his body slouching against mine. I pulled him towards the door and, very quietly, opened and shut it behind us. The air was cold and dark with only a slight breeze to tinge our cheeks a pale red.
I could hear him sniffling into his sleeve as I walked us both, clumsily, down to the river that we liked to think of our place. It was only a short walk away, down through a muddy field, we arrived at the small, grassy bridge that arched over a stream. The noise of the water flowing underneath us was calming. I perched him against the bridges' wall where I sat myself beside him and waited patiently until he felt like talking. I didn't have to wait long.
"I don't get it, Jake," he began, wiping the tears away. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"I know Lee," he abruptly stood up, turning on me with a pure look of anger.
"No, you don't fucking know! You're fine, Jake, your parents are still fucking together!" He yelled, his face turning red and the veins on his forehead standing out. "How could you possibly know what it's like?" He said through gritted teeth. I didn't react the way he wanted, he was just cruising for a fight that I wasn't about to give him. He soon realised and decided to stick with talking.
"Just- just seeing him with that...whore... just fucking made me sick." His face demonstrated his feelings before he broke out in a surge of frustration and kicked his foot, hard, against the brick wall of the bridge. I made a wise decision in staying silent. "I can't believe he would do this. Everything was great, just fucking awesome, and he had to go screw it up." He started up kicking the wall again and I had the urge to stop him, but I thought it was best to just let him work his anger out of his system.
But kicking soon turned to punching; the ridged, sharp edges of the bricks cutting against the skin of his fists with every hit. I wasn't listening to the incoherent bursts of insults and curses aimed towards his father's name as I grabbed either side of his arms and pushed him back, up against the other side of the bridge wall; pinning him there, struggling against the shoves as he fought to calm down.
"Lee, just fucking chill," my voice was loud and echoing across the area of fields that surrounded us. "It's okay, just calm down. You're bleeding." He continued to ignore me. "Stop!" I resorted to shouting, shoving him harder against the wall, painfully. He ceased struggling and just stood there, his chest rising and falling heavily whilst he huffed out breaths of air that wisped off in swirls of grey mist.
I dropped my hands to his wrists and raised them between us, examining the damage that was barely visible in the dim light, from the single street lamp that loomed over us by our side. The cuts were shallow but his knuckles were beaten up pretty bad. He's always had a bit of an anger problem.
"Look at you, you're a fuckin' mess Lee."
"Thanks," he muttered, his voice so low I hardly heard it. My eyes flickered up to connect with his, we held gazes in silence for a few moments. "Jake, please," he whispered, choking back the tears. It was vague, but I knew what he meant, and my heart mentally sunk in my chest.
"I can't, Lee." I dropped my eyes down to our hands, my fingers wrapped around his wrists to avoid staining them with the blood that dripped from Lee's. I swallowed and chewed the inside of my cheek.
"Why not?" I briefly wished he'd raise his voice a little so I could hear him better, but also wished I couldn't hear him at all.
"Because I don't--I can't-- I'm not into you like that." I kept my head low, not willing to see his expression and hoping he wouldn't kick off like the time bomb he is. Each day I'm just waiting for him to explode; he's so unpredictable it's scary.
"Yeah...don't give me that bullshit, Jake. It's fucking obvious you got somethin' hot for me." Suddenly, his tone took a u-turn from sad to humorous.
"What the fuck? How'd you come to that conclusion?"
"It's written all over your face when you look at me, mate, and I'm not even gonna' start on what's going on in your pants..." A blush crawled it's way up my cheeks, in spite of my defense. I turned my head to the side, away from the light. Lee's hand left my grip and his thumb and forefinger tilted my chin back to meet his gaze. "Why are you so stubborn?" I chose not to grace that question with an answer.
"Look, if you're feeling better I'm gonna' head on home." I stepped back and made to leave before Lee took a hold on my arm and pulled me back to face him.
"Seriously? Just gonna' ditch when things approach a subject you're too much of a dick to deal with?"
"I don't wanna' talk about it right now, okay?" I glanced down at his hand still wrapped around my arm, the blood thankfully dried and not currently staining my white jacket.
"You never wanna' talk about it, Jake." His tone was bored, his eyes rolled and he sighed, pulling me closer. His gaze alternated between staring into my eyes or at my lips - occasionally they'd look up at my hair.
"Yeah, well maybe there's a reason for that-"
"So what's the reason?" He interjected eagerly, anticipating the answer with excitement. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Let go of me, Lee." I murmured. I heard him chuckle quietly, but he did the opposite and tugged me closer.
"Tell me first." I could feel his eyes burning expectantly against my face. That urge began welling up inside me, and before I could weigh out the pros and cons and what was right and what wasn't, I surged forward. My lips slammed against Lee's, our teeth clashing together with a brief shoot of pain. His feet stumbled backwards from the impact and, probably, a little out of shock.
I pulled his bottom lip into my mouth with my teeth, sucking. A small sound of a moan came from Lee's mouth as I did so. His grip on my arm released and his hand fisted into my hair, with his other finding a place against my hip. A rhythm developed and our lips moved in time, my head being pulled to the side so Lee could deepen the kiss. He wasn't one for holding back, apparently.
The hand on my hip slid it's way under my shirt. My back curved inward, away from the freezing touch of his fingers but wanting more all the same. I shoved him backwards, against the wall of the bridge again, our lips not once losing contact; our mouths complementing each other with appreciative gasps and slight moans. I hooked both my thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans, pulling his hips forward to increase the friction.
"Fuck, Jake," he managed to mutter. I found myself kissing along his jaw line, a hand sliding into his hair to pull his head to the side, gaining better access to his neck. My teeth nipping at the taut skin before sucking and licking. "Oh, God, shit,"
I paused to whisper against his neck, "You're very articulate tonight," with a hint of a smile playing around on my otherwise occupied lips.
"Sod off." Was his reply. I pulled back to laugh, unable to hold it in.
A/N: I've just realised I spelt "Alexandra" wrong on my banner, oops.