Alex's Guardian Angel
Chapter 15
By and © Anthony Lane
Saturday turned out to be a normal day with no appointments or visitors to the Western household. The boys spent most of the day playing on Justin's consoles and going for a run. Alex was able to keep up with Justin easily now he was feeling better after his accident. Simon kept his word and took both boys out for Justin's driving lesson. Alex was certain that he was going to pass with flying colours when he took his test, Justin seemed so confident behind the wheel. They spent the evening cwtched up watching more of the Queer as Folk DVDs. Alex was really enjoying the series, he could see how Justin loved watching them. One of his favourite characters was Debbie the mother hen of the group. It made Alex wish his mother had been as accepting as Debbie was.
Alex fell asleep cwtched up to Justin while they were watching the telly, this time Justin made no move to wake him. When Justin was ready to go to sleep, he just put the telly and DVD on standby with the remotes and settled down to sleep with Alex in his arms.
Alex woke up in the middle of the night and felt disorientated for a few seconds before he realised where he was. He felt a little awkward, he got up from Justin's bed as softly as he could so he wouldn't disturb him, pulled the duvet over Justin so he wouldn't get cold, even though he was still dressed, and then went down to his room to go to sleep in his own bed.
When Justin woke up on Sunday morning he felt a little strange. It only took him a second to realise that Alex wasn't there and that he was wrapped in his duvet. He got up, stripped his clothes off and went for a shower, where he could take care of Junior at the same time. After his shower he went down to the kitchen to see if Alex had gotten up.
Alex wasn't in the kitchen when he walked in, he said good morning to his parents who were both sat at the breakfast bar and made his usual breakfast of sugar puffs. He was just about finished when Alex walked in. His parents noticed the way his face lit up when he saw Alex and both looked at each other and smiled.
"Morning Alex, you looking forward to church today?"
"I am, Easter services were usually some of the better ones at my old church. If Friday's is anything to go by today's should be pretty good." Alex started to pour some cornflakes in a bowl.
"Mark is usually pretty good whatever the service, he seems to look at the Bible in a different way to a lot of people."
"Are we having lunch before we go or when we come back?"
"The service is due to start at one so you boys can go for your run this morning as usual. I thought it would be best if we had a light snack before we go, as I have a big dinner planned for this evening, we have a couple of friends who would like to meet you."
"Who's coming over mom?"
"Rick and Alan. Now your father and I want to know if either of you had plans for tomorrow?"
"Only going for a run why?" Justin's curiosity was peaked.
"I thought I should start studying for my exams in the summer, the teachers were going on about it before we broke up for Easter." Alex said.
"It's just that we were going to take a trip down to the beach, it's probably not going to be as hot as it would be in summer but we thought it would be nice to go as a family."
"Sounds good to me. We going to Barry or Porthcawl?" The thought of Alex in swimwear was making Justin hard, which was awkward considering his parents where there as well.
"I don't mind, it's been a while since I went to the beach." Alex said.
"We thought we'd go to Barry, they have a few descent rides there when we get bored of the beach."
"Cool. Do you need me for anything else? If not I'm gonna go upstairs."
"No you can go upstairs if you like, we do need to have a word with Alex though."
Justin wondered why they needed to talk to Alex and not him, but thought it was probably to do with his parents or something, so he swilled his dish out and went upstairs. Alex assumed it had to do with Simon seeing Justin and him holding hands in the cinema last night and was expecting some sort of lecture about leading Justin astray.
"Sarah and I want to talk to you about something and we want you to think about it before you answer us." Alex was certain this was to do with the cinema.
"As Sarah has already explained to you, when it comes to money we are not short a bob or two. I know you didn't want to feel obligated to us for taking you in when you thought you would have to accept handouts. We also know you felt more comfortable when you learned your parents would be paying money towards you staying here." Alex was beginning to wonder where this was going, it didn't appear to be a lecture about Justin.
"What we want to talk to you about is you having some spending money of your own, pocket money so to speak, for you to get things when you're out and about without having to ask for money. We give Justin twenty pounds a week and we want you to have the same. What do you think?"
"I.....um.....I do feel uncomfortable when Justin keeps paying for things when we've been out on our run, but are you sure I should have so much?"
"Look at it this way, you might find that some weeks you don't spend it all, if that's the case put it away and then you have some money saved for those times when you need a little extra. Does that sound ok with you?"
"I suppose, thanks. Was there anything else?"
"Nope, you can go up to Justin's room if you're finished."
"Thanks for everything. I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for your kindness and generosity."
"I told you it was no problem, it's been a pleasure having you here and I'm sure Justin's glad that I stopped and brought you home too." When Alex saw the smile on Sarah's face he couldn't help thinking she knew more than she was telling.
As soon as Alex got in Justin's room Justin started with the questions. "What did mom and dad want? It's ok if you don't want to discuss it."
"They just wanted to talk about me having pocket money, that's all."
"I thought it may have had something to do with your parents."
"Nope, I haven't heard a word about them."
"This trip to the beach tomorrow is gonna be cool, have you got any swimming stuff?"
"No, I've never been swimming before. Dad thought it was something I didn't need to know about."
"Well I'm gonna change that. What would you say about me teaching you how to swim?" Justin had his reasons for offering to teach Alex how to swim.
"I'll have to check to see when I'll be able to go what with this bandage. Will we have time? I mean when school starts we are both gonna be swamped with studying and stuff."
"I will make time, besides I think it will be fun, and it's another way of getting some exercise. What we could do is go swimming three times a week and go running the rest. Sound like a plan to you?"
"You really sure you don't mind?"
"Like I said I really think it would be fun. Now all we gotta decide is what you're gonna wear? Will you go properly and wear a Speedo or go more conservative and use swimming shorts?"
"What'll you be wearing?"
"I thought that I'd wear shorts on the beach, but I always wear Speedos in the pool."
"I'll need to go shopping to get some."
"No need, I got plenty of both, why don't you try a few on and see what you feel comfortable with?"
"I....um...I....It's just that.....it's my arms, I don't like showing them if I can help it, the only ones to see them are you, the doctor I saw on my birthday and your mom."
"Well you'll be alright tomorrow coz you'll be able to keep your top on, but if you're not comfortable with showing your arms, we can leave the swimming for another time."
"I want to learn, it's just I'm ashamed of the scars."
"They don't look that bad, sure there are a few obvious ones, but most of them you can't see unless you're up close."
"You having a laugh, they're horrible."
Justin lifted Alex's head so he was looking directly into his eyes. "They are not as bad as you think, I've seen a lot worse. There was one guy my mom knew, he was like in his thirties, he'd been on the streets for a while until my mom helped to get him into a hostel. She took me along to see him one day, his arms were covered in scars, most of them were red and really nasty looking. He wasn't embarrassed to show them, he told me that when he had done that to his arms, he had been in a bad place. You can ask mom if you don't believe me."
"So you don't think they are so bad?"
"They are not perfect, you know that yourself, but believe me they don't look as bad as you believe."
"Do you mean that? I don't think I could take people staring at me."
"Your arms will be in and out of the water for a lot of the time so people are not going to be able to see that much of them."
"I suppose you're right."
"So you gonna try these on now or not?"
"I guess I should make sure they fit before we go to the beach tomorrow." Alex took the shorts and Speedos from Justin and went into the bathroom. When he came back out he still had his top on but instead of his jeans he was wearing the shorts. Justin felt a thrill to see Alex's legs even though it was only from the knees down. "What do you think?"
"Looks ok to me." Then Alex moved to undo the drawstring that was holding the shorts up. Justin noticed the movement and felt Junior stirring. When Alex dropped the shorts he took Justin's breath away. While Alex was changing in the bathroom he had put the Speedos on underneath the shorts.
"What about these, do you think they fit ok? They don't look too small?"
"Um.....uh.....It's difficult to tell properly because of the top you got on, can you take the top off for a second?"
"Well.....I suppose." Alex took the top off and Justin's breath caught in his throat. Junior was throbbing and pushing to get out and making it obvious to Alex what was going on with Justin's groin. There was no real definition of muscle on Alex's torso but there was a small treasure trail leading from his belly button down to the Speedos.
"God you look sexy, those Speedos definitely suit you. Junior thinks so too." Alex went bright red.
"I'd noticed someone was standing up when you were sat down."
"Well I think you'd better get dressed or I won't be able to control myself for much longer, and I don't want to do something that will upset you. But God you are sexy."
Alex picked up his clothes and went back into the bathroom to get dressed again, when he came back he noticed that Justin had rearranged himself so that Junior wasn't so obvious.
"What do you want to do now?" Alex asked.
"Well I thought we could have a few games of tennis on the Wii and then go for our run."
"Sounds good. I guess I should have taken the running gear in to change into, would have saved me changing again."
The boys had a few games of tennis with Alex coming close to winning. Their run went the same as the previous couple of days, when they got back they showered separately and while he was wet, Justin took care of Junior, before he went down for lunch.
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