In The Back Streets Of France, Chapter 2: Alex

Chapter 2: Alex

Alex is the first one up as usual. He looks at Charcoal for a second. She looks younger than she does when she was awake. He wonders about that. Maybe everyone looks younger when they’re asleep. He blows her a kiss because he can get up the nerve to bend down.

“I thought you two weren’t going out,” says a voice. Alex jumps and scans the mattresses for a pair of open eyes. There! And it looks to Alex like they belong to Shawn. Alex turns red.

“You know, Alex. It doesn’t take that much to make you turn red. Are you going soft all of a sudden?” Shawn sighs and turns on his back. He flutters his eyelashes at Alex, teasing him. “Soft with love! Is she a hot mama!?”

Alex growls playfully. Then he turns to start breakfast. He feels hands on his shoulders giving him a massage. “Feels nice?” Shawn asks.

“Go back to bed. I don’t get you! Normally you would stay in bed for the whole day if Charcoal let you!” Alex grumbles, shrugging his hands off.

“Yeah, I would. But the hot mama won’t let me,” grins Henry.

“Stop calling her that,” Alex says softly.

“Stop calling who what?” asks Shawn, sounding innocent.

“Charcoal a hot mama,” mumbles Alex.

“OH!” Shawn declares triumphantly. “You just said that Charcoal was a hot mama!”

“What? Shhhh!” stammers Alex, not sure what he has got himself into. “I did not! I was just simply saying not to call her that.” He says in a rush.

Shawn smirks.

“Uh-huh.”

“Shut up, guys,” moans Matt. Alex and Shawn hold their breaths and looks at him. When they see that he is still asleep, they let out their breaths.

Alex turns to Shawn. “You didn’t see that, got it?”

“Oh, I think I did!” Shawn giggles.

“Shut up!” groans Charcoal, blearily opening her eyes. She turns over and buries her face in the pillow, once again asleep. Alex turns red. Again.

“Hey Lover Boy, what’s for breakfast?” asks Shawn.

“Cold cereal for you. Eggs Benedict for the rest of us,” says Alex, smiling.

“Really,” Shawn laughs. Then he chokes in a strangled voice. Alex knows there is something wrong. He turns to see Shawn doubled over, white faced. Shawn is choking, gagging, and making a heaving motion. He is trying to get something up.

“Shawn!” he hisses. “Shawn! Look at me! Actually don’t.” He goes around to the back of the Shawn and puts his hands around him. He grabs his own wrists and heaves his fists up into Shawn’s gut. Nothing happens so he heaves again. Out comes a piece of plastic and throw up along with it. It splatters all over the place but Alex doesn’t care right now. Shawn hangs limply in Alex’s arms for a few moments, catching his breath.

“You okay, kid?” he asks. Shawn nods. He is still pale. “Ok, then. Now we get to clean up all the throw up.”

“Joy!” Shawn says dryly. “Let’s go.”

They start for the bathroom and get 409, bleach, and paper towels. And nose plugs. They kneel down in the gunk and start at it. Half an hour later Matt wakes and helps. “What happened?” he asks sleepily.

They tell him about the conversation.

Matt sighs, “Oh, Alex. What are we going to do with you?”

“Don’t tell Charcoal,” Alex practically pleads. Matt just shakes his head in mock disgust.

When they are done, they sit back on their heals. Alex looks at Shawn. “Don’t do that again. What was that?”

“Hey! Didn’t mean to! Here, give me the stuff. I’ll put it back.” mumbles Shawn, hurriedly trying to avoid the last question.

“Thanks,” Alex says gratefully.

Later, when breakfast is finally ready, Alex steps into the middle of the mattresses (as usual) and yells into everyone’s ears, “BREAKFAST! Come and get it!” He sets the bowls of rolled up burnt crêpes at the heads of the mattresses. Everyone who is still in bed groans, rolls over, and grabs breakfast.

“So guess what, Charcoal,” says Shawn glancing at Alex. “Someone w-!”

“SHUT UP!” barks Alex. Everyone smiles sleepy smiles.

“Can I guess what this is about, Alex?” Charcoal asks slyly.

“Yeah!” smirks Shawn.

“Does it have anything to do with…” she trails off so Alex can pick up the sentence. When he doesn’t oblige, she asks again.

“Alex, does it have anyth-” she starts. Alex doesn’t say anything but surpassed red to maroon.

Shawn whispers loudly in Matt and Andrews ears, “He blew her a kiss.” Alex looks so embarrassed. He shifts around on his bed uncomfortably so that he can burry his head in his pillow. Charcoal smiles. “Wait, what? What did you just say?” Everyone laughs except Alex. His head is still in the pillow.

When they are all done with breakfast, Matt leaps up and collects all the bowls. He goes over to the sink and washes all the dishes. Then Charcoal says in a soft voice to Alex, “I don’t think that anyone should go to work or school today because you don’t know who that was yesterday.”

“Okay. I’ll let them know,” Alex gestures to the younger boys. “Guys! Would it rip you apart to not go to school today? It would probably be safer for you.” Matt, Andrew, and Shawn all whoop and holler. “Free day!” “No school, alright!” they jump all over Alex and he laughs along with them, forgetting for a moment all the evil in the world, immersed in the pure, innocent fun of four guys having fun.

“What do you guys want to do. We have to be inside though,” Alex pouts along with the rest of the guys and Charcoal laughs.

“I know!” Matt screams. “Let’s play Truth or Dare! In a circle!”

“Yeah!” they all shout.

When they are all on their beds, Shawn starts to his right.

“Matt…truth or dare?” he asks as everyone stares at him avidly.

He grins. “Dare!”

Shawn smiles playful nastiness. “Okay…I dare you to…hmmm…kiss Charcoal. I’m not going to be mean and say on the lips. I don’t want Alex to think…”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Scowls Alex playfully.

He watches as Matt says, “M’ lady, your hand.” And he kisses her hand.

Matt looks at Andrew and says, “Truth or dare, my friend.”

“Truth, damn. Defiantly truth after what you had to do!”

“Hmmmm? What to do?” Everyone waits with baited breath. “Oh! I know! I don’t know if this would mean as much to you and Charcoal because you don’t go to school and aren’t in our class. But…who do you have a crush on?”

Andrews face falls. “You know already!”

“Tell!” Matt holds Andrew’s gaze. His eyes are glinting with a glint that Alex has never seen before.

He is worried. “Matt. Are you okay, sport?”

“Fine!” comes a curt reply no one has heard him use before.

“I-,” Andrew whispers. “ But she’s already taken! Do I have to tell?”

“Yes.”

“I like…I like… please don’t be mad at me, Alex!”

Alex looks startled. “Why should I care if? Oh.” He realizes why he has asked. “I promise I won’t be mad, Andrew.” He says gently.

“I like Charcoal. You happy now?” he says.

Charcoal looks shaken. “Oh! I’m so sorry! Come here!”

He gets up and makes his way to her bed. She reaches up and draws his face to hers. Her lips brush his and she says, “I’m so sorry, Andrew.”

He smiles and touches his lips. “Hey! You kissed me! That was my first kiss!” He rolls onto his bed again, grinning a sloppy grin.

“Glad to be of service,” she smiles. “Okay, next!”

Andrew looks at Alex. He smiles at him. “Congratulations,” he says and means it. “Hit me!”

“Okay guys! I gotta ask you.” They all converge onto Matt’s bed, whispering. Finally they break apart and Andrew looks at Alex with a smile. “I got a kiss… (Alex groans.) Now it’s your turn. Of course being her…you know…. Of course being her boyfriend this shouldn’t be to bad! You ready? (Alex shakes his head.) To bad!” He glances at Matt and Shawn. “You have to French kiss Charcoal. (“Now?” asks Alex) Now! (“Here?” Alex asks again.) Yeah, here!” Andrew says with anticipation.

“Okay. Wait! Are you okay with this?” he asks Charcoal, hopeful she isn’t.

“Yeah. Come on!” she murmurs. “But you all have to turn around. You can listen if you want, but no looking.”

“But that’s not fair!”

She snorts in disagreement. “That or nothing. And you guys have to sit with your backs turned on Matt’s bed so I can see you! Good.”

When their lips meet in that true kiss where two become one, Alex can feel bombs going off inside his chest. She seems so confident and experienced. They only share one kiss. Alex is glad because, although he is the one who had told him to kiss her that way, Andrew looks ready to kill.

Suddenly Andrew tears into Alex. Alex, taken by surprise falls back against the wall and takes the first uppercut to the chin with no grace at all. He looks at Andrew, who is red to the max. Alex gets red too, only this time it isn’t a blush red. He is mad.

“Kid, what happened to you?” he says, diving at Andrew. He catches him square in the chest and sends him flying.

“Kid my ass!” screams Andrew. “I want to spend the rest of my life with her and you-you just want to have a girlfriend! I should be calling you a kid.”

“Why you little bastard!” snarls Alex. “You, at age 12, are way to young to feel the type of caring I have! You know what? What you’re feeling is puppy love. That’s it.”

“Guys!” yells Charcoal. “Watch your bloody language! Both of you!”

Alex can’t look at her. He can’t bear to see the look of disgust written across her face. When he finally looks up, it is to see Andrew looking at him with a startled and horrified expression.

“I…I…I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened! I- it just- it was like something went click when I saw you kissing her! I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Its fine. Pretend it never happened,” mumbles Alex. “No, I shouldn’t have called you a bastard. I didn’t have any right to. It was just-”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Alex trails off.

Matt turns to say something to Charcoal but realizes that in the heat of all the apologizing, she had left.

“Guys? Where’s Charcoal?” he asks.

“Dunno. I should probably go look for her,” says Alex. He then remembers the fight he had just had and adds hastily: “Or you could go look for her.”

Andrew smiles at the obvious generosity, but says, “No, Alex, I think you should go look for her. I’ll still be here when you guys get back.”

“Are you sure?” Alex is a little hesitant about his answer. He doesn’t want Andrew to think that Charcoal would only care for Alex. She would always care for all of them equally.

“Just go,” says Andrew, turning away to go into the bathroom.

“OK, if you say so. I’ll tell her you sent your love,” Alex calls back. This time though he isn’t joking. Both boys look at each other and hold up a hand in farewell. He turns and goes out into the mist of the day.