Mixed Feelings - Chapt. 2

Story by RoketTiger on SoFurry

, , , , , , , , , ,

#2 of Mixed Feelings


It had been a rough day and all Alex wanted to do was go to sleep. 'That was so stupid of me...' he thought. 'I didn't think he'd react that way.' He headed up the stairs and made his way to the only place where he could escape the world; his bedroom. The sound of classic cartoons coming from his sister's room stopped him before he could open his door. Alex decided he'd go talk to his sister to cheer himself up and maybe even get some advice on the situation. He opened the door and Marlene nearly pounced on him. "Oh my god! Alex!" she shrieked. "Baby brother, it's been so long!" She picked him up off of the floor and gave him a very loving embrace and then suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" Marlene wasn't all smiles anymore. She stepped back from Alex to sit down on her bed while she fixed her bosom and flipped her brilliantly pink hair.

Alex took a seat next to his beloved sister and sighed. "Marlene, do you know what it's like to lose your entire world?" Marlene sat for a second pondering the question and shrugged her shoulders "No, not really." A tear ran down Alex's face and he began to sob. Marlene held him tight and let him cry into her shoulder. "It'll be alright, Alex." She said reassuringly, "Tell me what happened." Alex continued to cry for a few minutes before he finally got the strength to look up and actually talk. "You... remember Richard?" he choked in between sobs. "Yeah, what about him?" Marlene asked trying to figure out what Alex's best friend could've done to him. Alex continued, "Well, he... I told him that.... I'm in love with him.... today... and he..." Alex began crying again and couldn't finish his statement. Marlene held her little brother tighter, "It's ok. Let it all out." She cooed. They sat there until Marlene realized Alex was asleep on her shoulder. She laid him down, slid his legs up on her bed and put a quilt over the the sad wolf. She walked toward the door and turned out the light. "Sleep tight." she whispered with a slight smile, then she closed the door.

Alex woke up and noticed that he wasn't in his bed and that he still had on all of his clothes. 'What happened?' he thought. All of the memories of before he fell asleep rushed back into his conscious and he sat up slowly with a sigh. He hated the fact that his best friend treated him that way. It wasn't like that at all when he came out to the fox.

Alex came out to Richard during the winter break of their freshman year and the fox was totally fine with his best friend being gay. It had even gotten to the point where Richard would point out guys to see if Alex thought they were attractive. The two were a dynamic duo and were only separated when they had to be. Alex shook his head as if to clear his mind of the thoughts he was having and proceeded to strip down to his boxers as he headed to his own room. He threw his clothes in the corner and laid down in his bed to stare at the ceiling. 'That was totally unlike him...' Alex thought. 'Why would Richard make that big of a deal out me liking him? He usually doesn't care who I like...' Alex sighed and resolved to get as much sleep as possible.

The next morning was very slow and groggy for Alex, especially at school. Since he had Richard in photography class right before lunch, that would make his whole day, until it was time for that class, filled with fear and nervousness. Alex trudged into his English class expecting the usual routine: journal entry, vocabulary, grammar, and reading; all in the corner of the room by himself since he generally loathed everyone in that class. But today was different because there was a very handsome and well built tiger sitting next to Alex's usual seat. His curiosity caused his ears to perk up at the sight of this unfamiliar face and he proceeded to take his assumed spot. Alex unpacked his things and noticed that the tiger's eyes were closed, he had earbuds in, and was rhythmically tapping his left foot. The minute bell rang and the handsome orange brute took out his earbuds and turned to power off his music player and that's when he noticed Alex sitting there next to him. The tiger gave a huge toothy grin, that Alex found irresistible, and began introducing himself. "Well, hello there!" the tiger beamed with an incredibly soothing, smooth voice. "I'm Peter. But you can just call me Pete. I just moved here from California." Pete extended his arm to shake Alex's hand. "I'm Alex. Nice to meet you, Pete." Alex gave a slight chuckle and was surprised that the new guy was so nice. It turned out that the actual teacher wasn't there, so instead, there was a substitute teacher in the classroom that pretty much left everyone to their own devices and conversations. Peter turned to Alex and began a friendly conversation.

"So, where are you from, little guy?" the tiger said with a grin still on his face. Alex blushed because people don't usually go out of their way to talk to him. Especially cute new guys from California. "I'm um, actually from Texas." Alex mumbled as if he were ashamed to say it. "Nothing wrong with that, dude." Pete said nudging Alex in the shoulder. "I'd actually like to live in Texas. From what I hear, it's not so bad." Alex laughed and pulled out his phone to show Pete pictures of his old home. Pete's eyes widened and he let out a whistle of disapproval. "Um, never mind about that." he said, making Alex giggle. The two continued talking about miscellaneous things until the bell rang.

"Damn, I have to go to photography now..." Alex said under his breath, but Pete caught it. "So do I, man! Do we have the same teacher?" he said handing Alex his schedule. Alex immediately handed it back. "There's only one photography teacher in the school, so yeah, we're headed to the same class." Pete zipped up his backpack and followed Alex to the door. "Awesome." he said. Alex was dreading going to the class and it definitely showed in the way he was walking. Pete noticed how the wolf was dragging his feet and became curious. "What's so bad about photography?" Pete inquired. "Does the teacher give a lot of work or something? I mean, how much work could you possibly do in there?" Alex took a deep breath and let out a depressed sigh. He responded, "It's nothing like that. It's just... there's this guy, and-" Alex suddenly reconsidered what he was about to tell his new friend. "Ah, never mind." As the two walked into the classroom, Peter looked around at how large the room was. Alex adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath. 'I hope nothing is... weird today.' he thought. Alex took his usual seat and Peter took the one next to him. "We're kinda early, aren't we?" Peter questioned. Alex rested his head on his hand and sighed nonchalantly. "Yeah we are. But what else is th-" Alex stopped talking at the sight of his best friend. Richard and Alex made brief eye contact before the teacher walked in and pushed past Richard. "Alright, who is this kid?" the wallaby bellowed. "Are you in my class, son?" he asked as he hopped over to Peter's desk. The tiger was confused and scared of the way the teacher approached him. "Y-yes sir, I am." Peter stuttered. The wallaby sighed angrily and gave Peter a run-down on the classroom rules. "Since you're new, I'll give you a warning this time." he began. "This is my classroom and you don't come in until I've seen you and confirmed that you're here, got it?" Peter just shook his head hastily as he listened to the art teacher chew him out. "And all these seats are assigned to people already, so you need to get your things and move up front to the chair next to my desk. You won't be using desks in this class much anyway." Peter had a look of fear in his eyes and did as the wallaby told him and moved to the front seat. Alex shook his head at the teacher's rudeness to his new friend.

Richard took his usual seat next to Alex and looked around as if to see if he were being watched. Alex couldn't help but notice everything the fox did; it was all he could think about. Richard ripped out a single sheet of paper and scribbled something wildly on it. Alex turned around to try to get him off of his mind and then felt something hit him in the back of the head. He turned around with a frown and picked up the crudely constructed paper plane that was thrown at him. The sloppily folded paper read "we need to talk before lunch" written in Richard's handwriting. Alex looked over at the fox and saw through his eyes that something was wrong. A very snobby, distasteful vixen named Melissa walked into the classroom and went right over to hug Richard. Alex couldn't believe what he was seeing. 'Richard hates girls like her!' he thought. 'Why would he be HUGGING her?!' He began to feel his stomach turn flips and he now felt sick.

Melissa went up to the teacher and told him something that seemed to be about Alex because she kept pointing in his direction and looking at him. And, to no surprise, the vixen trotted over to Alex and bent over his desk in a very sexually suggestive fashion with as much cleavage as possible showing. She twirled her long blond hair, "Um, sweetie, I hate to break this to you, but this is my seat now." she flashed a fake smile as she chewed viciously on her bubble gum; popping it with each jaw movement. Alex looked at her, first in shock, then in disgust. "And who wrote your name on this seat?" Alex retorted. He was always rude to girls like this because he refused to let them push him around just because they have money to their name. Melissa adjusted her bra and stopped twirling her hair to put both hands on the desk. "Aha, cute. Look, wolf boy, since you want to play hardball..." she pulled an industrial sized sharpie out of her purse and wrote in all caps 'MELISSA CUTLER' on the desk. She looked Alex in his bright blue eyes with her cold grey ones. "I did." Alex looked carelessly at the writing, then back to Melissa. "You're still not going to get me out of this seat, Melissa." The vixen grunted and huffed in anger. "Mr. Wallace!!" she bellowed. The wallaby got up from his desk and hopped over to the commotion to end it. "Mr. Stevens, you need to either get up now, or get escorted out by security." Alex shook his head, got up and moved his stuff to a desk closer to Peter. "This is bullshit," Alex mumbled under his breath.

Mr. Wallace gave the class a very easy group assignment and Pete and Alex were partners. "What got in that chick's tail fur today?" Peter asked, referring to Melissa. "She's always like that." Alex responded. "Born a stuck bitch with no sympathy for others." Pete picked up scissors and began cutting a picture from a magazine. "Except that big fox guy over there, apparently." he chuckled. "She went through the trouble of having your seat moved just so she could sit by him." At the sound of the words that came from Peter's mouth, Alex cringed and got immediately upset. He connected the fact that since the two had met, neither Richard nor Alex had dated anyone. The two were inseparable; except when a significant other was involved. Peter noticed Alex cutting random pages in a magazine, fuming with anger for some reason. "Dude, chill out!" Peter exclaimed as he took the magazine from Alex. "What are you so mad about?" Alex dropped the scissors and rubbed his head. "I'll tell you some other time" he said. "But right now, I need to get out of here." Alex packed up his things and walked out of the classroom. He wasn't sure if the anger he was feeling was driven by jealousy, or just anger towards his best friend. Alex never thought a girl could come between them like that. He pulled out his phone and texted Richard "If you really need to talk to me, I'll be in the bathroom next to the cafeteria." Alex put his phone away and headed to the bathroom he'd mentioned in his text message.

Richard walked in the bathroom and Alex checked the time; it was 10 minutes until the bell rang for lunch. "Look, Alex, before you say anything, I really want to apologize for yesterday." Alex looked around. "YOU'RE the one who said we needed to talk. I wasn't going to say anything to you at all." Richard shook his head. "Don't be like that. Just give me a chance to explain." The wolf looked at his watch and back at Richard. "I'm all ears." "Okay, the reason I acted the way I did was because Melissa was at the stairs when I answered the door. I invited you over to chill with us for a bit, but I forgot she has a problem with gay people. And I kind of... told her I do too." Richard looked down at the floor and sighed. "So, yesterday was a big mistake on my part and I wanted to tell you tha-" Alex interrupted "Richard, I don't want your apology. You're not even going to tell me anything that's worth hearing. Don't treat me like Melissa, dude." Richard's eyes widened "Are you... jealous, Alex?" Alex folded his arms and blushed. "No... at least I don't think so." he pondered for a moment. "In all the time we've been friends, neither of us has dated anyone... I guess I'm not used to it. It's weird with you dating... THAT type of chick." Richard let out a hearty laugh "Dude, get a grip! You really think I like her?" Alex looked at Richard with an extremely quizzical expression. "You... don't like her?" Richard shook his head. "Of course not, I hate the bitch. But she's rich and she gives me like, 200 bucks after every date. I'm saving up all that money to get a better car. You know mine sucks." The wolf couldn't believe his ears. "...wow" was all Alex could muster.

There was a lingering silence in the bathroom for a few moments before the bell for lunch rang. "I have to catch you when she can't be around, dude." Richard said. "I mean, you're still my best bud, but I have to play it safe if I want to get this car. You could come over this weekend if you want. I told Melissa that Weekends are only for me and my guy friends." Alex gave a slight smirk, "Yeah, that'll be fine. Just text me. When you're not around the succubus." Both boys shared a chuckle and gave each other a friendly embrace. "See ya around, man. And sorry, again." Richard said as he left the bathroom.

Alex was satisfied now that he knew why Richard acted the way he did, but one question was still on his mind. 'How does Richard feel about me?' He shook his head as if to rid himself of the thought and walked out of the bathroom to find Peter standing there by the door. "Pete? How'd you know I was-" "Dude, you have a distinct scent. I trailed you all the way out of the classroom." Alex shrugged his shoulders and the two began to walk together. "You wanna come smoke a bowl with me?" Peter asked. "Uh, no. Not today." Alex wasn't really the type to smoke or drink unless he was in a bad mood or he wanted to really forget something. "Suit yourself," Pete exclaimed. "I'll see you after lunch." The tiger disappeared into the crowd of people pouring into the cafeteria. Alex noticed he was enjoying Pete's company more than he usually enjoyed friends' company. He was developing a crush and very rapidly too. 'Ugh, this is going to bother me for a while...' Alex thought 'Oh well, I guess I'll stay here until he gets back.' And then the wait begins...