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“Is it weird?” Alex asked. “Its probably weird. God, why am I so weird?” He hoisted his backpack higher on his shoulder.
“I don’t think it’s weird to be in love with your boyfriend,” Luke said as they trudged up the path on the UCLA campus. He was trying to sound sympathetic, but he was mostly exasperated. They’d been talking about the same thing since they’d left Hedrick Hall for the Acosta Training Center, then for their entire workout, and were still talking about it on their walk back to Hedrick. Reggie had been upset he’d had to miss their workout for a math lab, but right now Luke was pretty sure Reggie was the lucky one.
“But it’s only been three weeks!” Alex said again. “Do people really fall in love that fast?”
Luke shrugged. “I fell in love with Julie the same night we met.” He'd immediately noticed the beautiful girl with the gap between her teeth at open mic night at the Sunset Village Stage, and then was completely blown away when she started to sing. He’d known that second he was going to marry her.
“But you didn’t tell her that night,” Alex said.
“No, because that would’ve been creepy. It’s not creepy after three weeks.”
“What if Willie thinks its creepy?”
Luke rolled his eyes. “He’s not going to think it’s creepy! He loves you, man! He’s probably dying to hear you say it.”
Alex shot him a cynical look. “He hasn’t said he’s in love with me.” He had to shout to be heard over the landscaping truck rattling slowly down Charles E. Young Dr. as it kept breaking for all the students.
“Because you haven’t told him!” Luke said forcefully. “He’s probably afraid to say it first!”
“I’m afraid to say it first!” Alex said. “Because it’s weird!”
"Oh my God, Alex." Luke ran his hand through his hair, then grimaced. It was still damp from his workout. “It’s not weird! Love is beautiful! You’re a musician, you know that.”
“But life isn’t a love song, Luke!" Alex insisted as they stopped at the crosswalk across from Sproul Hall. "Love songs are simple and life is—who’s that idiot trying to skateboard down the Sproul stairs?”
Sproul was notable for its square architecture and the fact it was pronounced “Sprowl.” It also had a wickedly long staircase leading to the top of the hill, where Hedrick Hall was located. Luke turned to see who Alex meant. There was a young man with flowing long brown hair balanced precariously on a skateboard at the very top of the steps. He was too far away to make out details, but his maniacal grin was obvious. Luke narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that—”
“Oh shit!” Alex cried. “That’s my idiot!” He took off running towards the Sproul building.
Right into the path of the landscaping truck. Luke tried to yell a warning but he was too late. There was a terrible sound of the shriek of brakes, and then the even worse sound of metal hitting flesh.
Alex bounced off the truck’s grill and hit the pavement, hard enough that for a few horrible seconds Luke was sure he was dead.
He wasn’t dead. “Ow,” he wheezed and Luke was beside him in the next instant.
“Are you okay?” he said desperately, hands out to do… something, but he had no idea what.
“I’m okay,” Alex said. He tried to sit up and then sagged back down. “I don’t think I’m okay.”
“Don’t move!” Luke admonished him. His eyes searched his friend for any obvious injuries, but except for the pained look on his face, he couldn’t see anything.
“Jesus, son, you ran right in front of me!” The driver of the truck had come out of his vehicle. He was a white guy with a grey beard, probably a bit older than Julie’s dad. He took out a phone. “I’m calling an ambulance.”
“Did Willie make it down the steps?” Alex grabbed Luke’s arm. His grip was pretty strong for someone who just got hit by a truck.
“I don’t know!” Luke said. “Hey,” he called to the closest person, “was there a massive skateboard wipeout at the bottom of the Sproul stairs?”
The woman turned to look behind her. “Um. No?”
“He’s fine.” Luke smiled reassuringly as he could at Alex, even while his stomach churned with worry.
“My ribs hurt,” Alex said. He coughed, then winced.
There was the unmistakable sound of sirens and then a police car and an ambulance came into view. They parked. A police officer went to the landscaper and two paramedics went right to Alex. Luke moved back, well out of the way.
The paramedics did some kind of assessment, then loaded Alex onto a stretcher. One of them turned towards Luke. “Alex says you should come with us,” he said, snapping his gum. Luke nodded and loped over to the ambulance, where he watched them put Alex into the back. He went to climb in. “Hey.” The same paramedic stopped him. “Not in the back.” Luke nodded and climbed into the passenger side.
The other paramedic was already in the driver’s side. Her head was shaved, which suited her, and wore glasses. She gave off a strong mom vibe. “I’m Hen, and the man taking care of your friend is Chimney,” she said. “Do up your seatbelt.”
Luke buckled himself in. Chimney and Hen were bizarre names, but Luke didn’t care as long as they took good care of Alex. “Is Alex going to be okay?”
“Tell him not to run across the street without looking, and he should be fine,” Hen said.
“Where’s Alex?” Willie said by way of greeting.
Luke sat up from where he’d been slouching in the uncomfortable chair of the ED waiting room. “They took him to get a CT Scan for his ribs.”
“Shit.” Willie sat down beside him. His cheeks were red and his hair was mussed from the wind. That, plus his skateboard made it pretty obvious he’d boarded the whole way there. His eyes were large with worry. “Is he going to be okay?”
“They’ll know more after the CT scan,” Luke said. The doctor hadn’t seemed too concerned, but maybe she’d just seen a lot of badly-injured students in her career. He wrung his hands.
“What happened?” Willie asked, “I saw the commotion on Charles E., but I didn’t know it was Alex until…” his voice trailed off and he swallowed.
Luke nodded. He’d texted Willie and Reggie from the ambulance. Reggie was on his way, but public transportation in LA took forever. “He ran into traffic.”
Willie looked horrified. “Ran into traffic? Why?”
“Because of you,” Luke said, probably sharper than he needed to. “He saw you at the top of the Sproul stairs.”
Willie looked even more horrified, if that was even possible. “But I’ve taken those stairs lots of times!”
“He didn’t know that!” Luke snapped. He was angry at Willie for Alex getting hurt, even though he knew it wasn’t really Willie’s fault. “He saw his idiot boyfriend on a skateboard about to go down those huge steps and he panicked.”
“Fuck. This is all my fault.” Willie put his hands over his mouth.
“Well, maybe you should’ve told him you could handle stunts like that?”
“Yeah, yeah, I totally should’ve,” Willie agreed immediately. “He could’ve died.” He put his head in his hands.
Some of Luke’s anger dissipated with Willie’s distress. “Its not your fault,” he admitted. “Alex should’ve been more careful.”
“It’s all my fault,” Willie said again. “I know how anxious Alex can get. I didn’t even think.”
“I don’t think you expected him to be there,” Luke said.
“God. What am I going to do if he dies?” Willie said. When he next looked at Luke his eyes were red-rimmed and his throat bobbed, like he was trying to hold back tears.
“He’s not going to die!” Luke tried to reassure him. “The doctor said he’d just hurt his ribs. He’ll need some time to heal, but he’ll be fine.”
“I need him to be okay. I can’t imagine my life—I just need him to be okay.” Willie’s sentence ended in a whisper.
Luke leaned over to put a hand on Willie’s shoulder. “Alex is tough. Tougher than he looks. He’ll be fine.”
“He does look like a big cinnamon roll, doesn’t he?” Willie laughed wetly.
“Yeah.” Luke smiled.
“I can’t believe he ran into the street to try to save me. That’s just… “ Willie shook his head.
“Yeah,” Luke agreed, even though Willie hadn’t really said anything. “You know, I’m Alex’s best friend. Like, we’re like brothers. I know he’d die for me without a second thought. But he’s never run across the street like that for me.”
“Maybe you just don’t do dumb shit.”
“Dude! You don’t know me very well,” Luke said with a laugh. “I invented dumb shit.”
Willie chuckled softly, but then he ran his hand over his face. “But why? Why would he do that?”
“Because he’s in love with you,” Luke said bluntly.
Willie’s eyes went huge. “He’s in love with me?”
“Yup.”
“Like, really?” Willie asked again, like he couldn’t believe it.
“Really,” Luke confirmed. “It’s all he talks about. It’s fucking annoying.”
Willie smirked at Luke’s sarcasm, but then his expression sobered. “So, he nearly died because he loves me?”
Luke nodded.
“Why hasn’t he told me?”
“Because you’ve only been dating for three weeks. He thinks it’d be weird.”
“It wouldn’t be weird. I’d love for him to tell me,” Willie said.
“You should tell him," Luke said on a sigh. "Because he thinks you’ll dump him for being creepy.”
“I’d never dump him,” Willie said, and there was so much conviction in that sentence Luke did a double-take.
“You two are kind of serious, huh?”
Willie nodded. “I’ve never met anyone like Alex.”
“He’s pretty special,” Luke agreed.
“He’s more than special,” Willie said vehemently. “He’s kind, and funny, and so smart! And brave, and I love how passionate he is about his music, and how much he cares about you guys. He handles his anxiety so well, and he’s so good with other people. And he’s so generous—”
“I get it. Saint Alex of Mercer,” Luke said jokingly. “But yeah. Alex is easy to love.”
“Easy to love,” Willie repeated. His mouth opened. “Holy shit. I love him.”
“You should tell him!” Luke said encouragingly. “Like, really! He’d love to hear it. You really should tell him.”
“It’s not weird?” Willie bit his lip. “I mean, I know we just talked about it, but it’s only been three weeks?”
“Oh my God.” Luke rolled his eyes.
Alex’s ribs really hurt.
The doctor had told him his ribs were only cracked, like it wasn’t a big deal, given him a prescription for pain medications, told him to “take it easy” for the next six weeks and to follow up with his family physician. Then she’d left.
Alex had approximately two minutes to freak out whether “take it easy” meant "no drumming" when Luke and Willie had torn back the curtain around his bed and bounded over.
“Don’t hug me!” Alex put up his hands to stop the forward momentum of his best friend. “I cracked my ribs!”
Luke stopped dead in his tracks, arms still open to embrace him. “Oh, shit.” He lowered his arms.
“Are you okay?” Willie asked.
“Willie!” Alex said, overjoyed his boyfriend was there. Then he breathed and his chest hurt. “My ribs are cracked? So, no?”
Willie’s face crumpled. “I should never have gone down the stairs! It’s all my fault!”
"Why" Alex demanded, fear spiking. “Did you get hurt?”
Willie blinked. “What? No. I’ve done that lots of times.”
“Oh my God.” Alex sagged against the pillows. “I thought you’d gotten hurt.”
“I'm fine. You were the one who got hurt,” Willie said, like Alex needed the reminder. “Because you ran into the street to stop me.”
“I should’ve looked,” Alex said. “That’s not your fault.”
“Not your fault,” Luke repeated to Willie. “See?”
Willie ignored him. “You could’ve died because of me!” he said to Alex.
“But I didn’t,” Alex said. “And you didn’t. So no harm done? Except my ribs, but the doctor says they should heal in six weeks.”
Luke looked aghast. “Six weeks! Does that mean no drumming?”
“Maybe? It depends how much it hurts?” Alex winced.
“You’re really injured.” Willie looked like he might be sick. “I hurt you.”
Alex struggled into a sitting position. Willie pressed a button on the side of the bed, raising the headrest, and Alex sagged back against the pillows. “You did not! I ran into traffic by myself. Remember?” He grimaced. “Fuck. The nurse can come with my painkillers anytime.”
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry,” Willie said, looking like he might cry. “You got hurt because of me, and I hate that. I’m so sorry!”
“I’m not,” Alex said. “I mean, I could do without the crushing pain in my chest, but I’m not sorry I got hurt trying to stop you. Because…” He took a breath, then winced as his ribs twinged with the expansion of his chest. “Because you mean a lot to me.” He finished. It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say, but it was probably good enough?
Willie took his hand, and Alex felt instantly better. Just being with Willie made everything better. He wished he knew if he could say it yet. “You mean a lot to me, too,” Willie said. “More than you know.”
“This might be a good time to tell Willie what you told me,” Luke said to Alex. “I mean, you did almost die and all.”
Alex glared at Luke. “It’s only been three weeks!” he hissed.
Willie swallowed. “I don’t think it’d be weird. You know, whatever it is you want to say. Because I… well, I might want to say it too?”
Alex met Willie’s gaze. His brown eyes were soft with affection, and maybe something more? He licked his lips, unsure and suddenly shy. “Did you want to say it first?”
“Oh my God!" Luke burst out. "Alex, Willie, you’re both totally in love with each other! Now stop being fucking stupid and Just say it!”
Alex’s face flamed. “Way to ruin the moment, Patterson.”
Willie laughed, then he bit his lip. “But… he's not wrong. I love you, Alex.”
Alex’s heart leapt. “I love you, too! I think I’ve been in love with you since the moment we met.”
“Me, too!” Willie said, eyes dancing. He leaned over, and then they were kissing, exactly as desperately and passionately as Alex would’ve expected after a near-death experience.
Willie pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against Alex’s. “I love you,” he said again. “Please don’t run into traffic.”
“I love you,” Alex repeated. “And I won’t if you promise no more skating down the Sproul stairs. Check that:any stairs. No skateboarding on stairs at all.”
Willie chuffed out a laugh. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Alex said. And then they were kissing again.
“I got here as soon as I could!” Reggie exploded into the treatment room. “Is Alex okay?” He stopped short. “Oh.”
“Alex is going to be just fine,” Luke said.
END