Kids in Love

Frank left for his father's house in South Jersey the following morning. Alice returned home, her heart was still swelled with excitement from the night before. She showered and got dressed quickly throwing on the hoodie that Frank had given her years before. It was comforting and reminded her if him, how he smelt, how he felt wrapped around her. To avoid wallowing in her temporary loneliness that weekend she'd decided to make plans to keep herself organised. That day she was going to Ray's house, they were just going to relax like they used to; watching old movies and listening to music on his record player that he'd managed to keep in perfect condition all these years.

Not long after she'd finished drying her hair her phone rang, she grabbed it quickly. "Hello?" She answered, running a brush through her hair, fixing it in the mirror.
"Hey, it's Jess! Why haven't you called me in like two weeks?! I'm dying here!" Alice giggled.
"Sorry I've been busy, you've got other friends though, you're always going on about them." She joked.
"Ugh, everyone here's getting on my nerves. That guy James keeps texting me, why does he think he's some fucking comedian or something? Jesus, you're not funny dude!"
Suddenly Alice felt a pang of sadness, she missed her friends back in LA, despite being happy where she was.
"Never mind me and my endless bitching! How are you doing? You're a life preserver now or something, right?" Jessica asked,
"Lifeguard Jess, they're called lifeguards. And yeah, I started a little while ago. It's not completely terrible, I'm getting payed so that's pretty sweet." She explained, but her friend seemed completely disinterested.
"Yeah yeah, that's all well and good but what about that's not that you were pining over before?" Her voice grew more excited as she asked the question.

Even though She knew her friend couldn't see her she still blushed madly, the blood rushing to her cheeks. She remained silent for a moment. "Well?!" Jessica pressed.
"Yeah, um, we're kind of going out now." She muttered, all of a sudden shy.
"What, how long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Only a few weeks, and like I said, I've just been busy."
"A few weeks huh? So how's he in the sack?" She asked, if it were even possible Alice blushed deeper than she had before.
"Jesus Jess!"
"What, are you telling me you haven't fucked him yet?"
"No, but..."
"Exactly, I knew you would've. So tell me, how was it?"
Alice just sighed, she knew she want going to navigate around it, she thought about how to describe it and found herself at a loss for words.
"Jess, he was just... wow. I mean, it was incredible." She thought for a moment, "Do you remember when I dated that guy a while back, Daniel?"
"Mmhmm"
"Well, do you remember how I said he was great in bed?"
"I recall you saying that, yes"
"Well what I felt that time was like a mild sneeze in comparison to this. He was just so passionate and, I don't know, intimate, I guess. Like he really cared or something." She tried to explain.
"Damn! I hate you right now. But like, only a little bit. You've got Mr fuckin' perfect and I've got some clown that won't leave me alone."

While she was thinking of any other news she might have the doorbell rang. She didn't need to wait for her grandmother to tell her who it was, she knew Ray had come to pick her up already. Running down the stairs she grabbed her bag and explained the situation to her friend.
"Fine, have fun, but you better call me more often. I miss you!"
"I miss you too Jess!" She called into the phone before they both said their goodbyes and she hung up, slipping the phone into her pocket and racing to the door to greet Ray.

•••

Ray's room was damn near the exact same as she remembered it. Much like Frank's it was littered with posters of bands she'd never heard of. There was a the record player he always used to use, she loved hearing how music sounded on it. Although it was the same, it was also different in some weird way she couldn't quite describe.

They hadn't gotten to hang out this summer as much as they used to, but things were different this time around. "It's really great to see you and Frank together you know." Ray blurted out, "before you moved away we were all pretty sure we knew it would happen at some point. You practically grew up together."
Before Alice had the chance to gush about how she felt about him Ray continued his train of though.

"Although," he took a deep breath, "I don't want to come across as the bad guy here, and I hate to pint out the obvious, but everyone seems to be forgetting that you're just going to go back to LA in a couple of weeks and that'll be that. Who knows when you're going to be back again?"

Alice thought for a moment, she knew it was a truth she'd been avoiding but she still wasn't quite ready to face it yet. "I get that, but it is different this time. We're both older now and we can try the whole long distance thing..." She trailed off.

"I know, I know." He said, raising his hands in defence, "it's just that we all tried that before and it didn't work out quite so well. We all lost touch completely after like two years." He thought back. "And I'm sure he didn't tell you about it, because why would he, but Frank took it so much harder than the rest of us. For the first month or so he was just a recluse, he couldn't bare the thought of you being so far away and not knowing when he'd get to see you again. It took everything he had, and everything we had, to pull him out of that. I don't know if he could take that false hope again Alice."

She didn't know what to make of the situation, "Do you think we should break up?" Her voice almost caught in her throat and her stomach began to knot at the very thought.
"No, God no! I'm not suggesting that at all! I just want you guys to be careful is all, I guess. Frank's not as tough as he likes to let on and I want you to know that. Sorry, I shouldn't stick my nose where it doesn't belong."
"No Ray! Thanks for telling me, I actually kind of needed to hear that. I knew the end of the summer was going to come, I just didn't really want to believe it."

Notes

Hey guys, enjoy the update! I hope everyone's well this evening. I hope you're all coping well with going back to school, those of you that are going back to school at the moment that is.

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