There are people you meet along your journey through life that change the trajectory of where you are headed. Jacob Andrews was one of those people for Alex Yates.
Jacob had only just broken up with his girlfriend of several months, Kelly, the day before. She absolutely lost her mind, taking leave of her senses. After breaking up with her, Jacob had asked Alex to be his boyfriend.
Though the boys' relationship was only just made official, they had been spending time together for the better part of three weeks. For Alex, there was hope for the future for the first time since he'd lost his mother. Alex felt like he was a brand new person.
It was a slow and gradual process but Alex was coming into his own as a young man after spending the entirety of high school rejecting himself before he could be rejected by his peers. Alex was bullied heavily in middle school after having many friends in elementary school. This made Alex believe something had to be wrong with him. That was until Jacob, the star quarterback and popular boy with model-looks, took an interest in him. Beyond the attention, Alex was receiving consistent affection for the first time since his mother died.
Last night, he'd met Jacob's own mom for the first time and had been relieved to find she was a delightful person. She was gorgeous, funny, smart and sweet, much like her son and she appeared to be genuine. If Jacob by himself was a scene-stealer then he and his mother together were absolute show-stoppers.
She'd picked up almost immediately that her son had a different kind of feelings for the much smaller boy. Of course, it did help that she'd stumbled upon their first make out session as an official couple. She didn't say a word at first, just welcomed Alex graciously to her home. She chatted with the boys while cooking before they had dinner with Jacob's father as well.
It wasn't until Jacob was taking Alex home after they'd had a steamy hook-up in Jacob's bedroom after dinner that she spoke to the boys about her suspicions. She spotted the hickey that Jacob had carelessly given Alex and, far from being angry, she wanted to make sure the boys didn't get themselves outed before they were ready. She showed Alex how to cover the hickey with a little makeup and gave him one of Jacob's old hoodies that could hide it completely out of sight.
She had also told him he could call her mom instead of Mrs. Andrews if Alex was uncomfortable calling her Fran. There was a part of him that was hesitant to do so, worried it could be disrespectful to his own mother's memory. But the gesture was no less meaningful. There was something about this night that had been truly healing for him.
Jacob also felt some of the stess he had been under lifted off of his chest. At least he knew now his mother wouldn't abandon him. And if his mother wouldn't, he knew his father couldn't because she wouldn't allow it.
If both boys had felt like the most difficult part of their relationship was behind them, it became painfully clear the next day at school that the struggle was only beginning.
Jacob's ex-girlfriend was on a rampage, spreading rumors about Jacob. No, none of the rumors were about Jacob being gay. But there were a couple rather nasty rumors about him.
She had told her circle of cheerleaders that Jacob had been abusive in private, which was blatantly a lie. She also told people he'd cheated on her and contracted gonorrhea and that was ultimately what ended their relationship.
In all honesty, the second rumor didn't really bother Jacob but the first one really upset him. He would never put his hands on a girl (or Alex for that matter). Despite how he portrayed himself, he really was a softie at heart. It was an attack on Jacob's character that threatened his reputation as a kind person and that was upsetting to him.
It was her way of getting revenge, but also an attempt to ensure Jacob remained single until graduation. She figured she could kill two birds with one stone. However, if she thought girls would be turned off, she was sadly mistaken. That much was clear at lunch.
Alex assumed his usual spot alone in a far corner. He looked over to the popular table where Jacob was always surrounded by his friends but today, their table included several new faces. Several girls had joined the table in place of Kelly and her friends.
As Alex watched, he couldn't help but notice Jacob was laughing and, if Alex didn't know any better, flirting with the girls. It didn't matter to Alex if he wasn't, it was the principle. He felt Jacob should respect his feelings enough to at least keep them at arms length.
Most of Jacob's exes loved the fact he was so desired by others but Alex wasn't like that. While there was something to be said about having a boy that everybody wanted, Alex preferred for people to leave his man alone.
Jacob might be the obviously jealous and possessive one but Alex was just as much so as well. He was just more passive but, as he sat there, he felt his blood pressure rise as one girl who seemed to be the most aggressive put her grubby little hands on Jacob. To Jacob's credit, he shrugged her off and pulled away but in Alex's mind, she shouldn't have felt comfortable enough to do that.
Alex cut his lunch even shorter than usual and spent the majority of the period in the library before classes resumed.
**********
Alex hadn't been to another football game since the first one he went to, being weary about going again. He'd had an extremely unpleasant encounter with a former bully that he refused to think about too much. Jacob had convinced him to go to this game though. He promised Savanna and Dustin, his cousin and her boyfriend, wouldn't leave him alone again and so Alex reluctantly agreed.
Alex dressed up as he had the previous time, in a pair of nice jeans and the hoodie he'd gotten Jacob's mom. He knew he'd wear the hoodie even after the hickey had disappeared. He waited on the front porch until Savanna pulled up to pick him up.
"Hey hon, how have you been?" she asked him as he clambered into the car. It was obvious to Alex she felt incredibly guilty over what had happened to him.
"I've been good, how are you?" he replied.
"I've been great! I'm so sorry what happened last time, it's going to be different this time I promise."
Before long, she and Alex were chatting like a couple of old friends. They got along great and they had each other cracking up. This Alex was so much different than even the Alex from just a couple weeks before. His confidence had obviously improved as had his comfortability talking with (some of) his peers.
He'd started to chat more in class with other students, though he hadn't pursued any friendships yet. He was just pushing himself to put himself out there more. The way Jacob was going out of his comfort zone with Alex, Alex was going out of his comfort zone (thanks to Jacob) in his social life and both boys were seeing some positive results from doing so.
This time, Dustin had arrived first instead of coming just before the game started. Dustin was waiting in the parking lot to walk them both to the stands. It wouldn't be as rowdy a crowd and game except for the stakes for Washington High tonight. Even still, Savanna and Dustin knew that if something happened to Alex, Jacob would go postal.
Even though they said nothing, Savanna could tell there was something different about Jacob's relationship with Alex. And now that Jacob was randomly "single" just a couple weeks after she started hearing about Alex, she knew where there was smoke there was fire.
"Hey bud, you doing alright?" Dustin asked after kissing Savanna.
