Page 53 of Theirs

He helps me into the white hazmat suit and hands me my goggles, before getting dressed himself.

We enter room B, and I glance around at the destruction. This isn’t the place I expected Alex to choose for his date with me. The walls are covered in layers of paint and graffiti. Curse words, paint splatters, dicks, and other images are on the wall. The ground looks like it has been swept, but that’s about it, it’s also covered in dry paint. There’s a baseball bat, sledgehammer, and a couple of hammers in the corner. In the middle of the room, there’s old computers, laptops, tires, and dishes piled up.

“Is this one of those rage rooms?” I ask, letting my eyes look over everything.

Alex hands me the baseball bat, and picks up a hammer, sliding on his goggles and putting on the gloves that we were provided. “I figured we could bond over destroying some stuff. Might let us get out some aggression.”

I smile, thinking about telling him that sex is also a good reliever, but I don’t want to push things too fast with Alex. I might have moved quickly with the other guys, but I kind of like taking things slow with Alexander. It’s refreshing.

I pick up an old Waffle House mug that is stained with coffee from the pile of dishes, looking it over before throwing it against a wall where it shatters to pieces, breaking the silence in the room.

“Atta girl!” Alex says, slamming his hammer down on a keyboard, sending some keys flying through the air with the impact.

Alex tosses a plate toward me, and I lift the baseball bat just in time to swing at it, the plate shattering into pieces in the air. I slam the bat down on a computer that looks like it’s from the nineties, and I keep hitting it until I bash the screen in. Alex puts his hammer back and grabs the sledgehammer, helping me smash the computer to pieces. I drop my bat once that is obliterated, and start chucking plates, bowls, and drinking glasses at the wall opposite of us. I vaguely notice music has turned on in the room, I glance over my shoulder and see that Alex has turned on a speaker with his phone connected to Bluetooth to turn on some metal. The lyrics to Riptide by Beartooth fill the room.

The harsh riffs push me to get all my aggression out, the anger still flowing through me from running into Matthew Barnes last weekend. I won’t let those memories drown me. I’m tired of him ruining my life.

I pick up a can of red spray paint, shaking it before going over to a wall and writing ‘fuck Matthew Barnes’ all the way across the wall. Alex comes behind me, a can of black spray paint in his hands. I watch as he spray paints something below mine. ‘And James White. Rot in Hell.’

My heart breaks. I don’t know who James White is, but I can take a guess. I don’t ask Alex, we just both stare at the wall, at our confessions. I turn around and grab a bottle of hot pink paint from the trunk in the corner and an old paintbrush. I pour the paint directly on the floor at my feet, and dip the brush in it. I paint my name on the wall over the fresh spray paint, with a heart below it, and then I paint Ben, Collin, Mac, and Alex’s names below the heart. Covering up the monster’s names with a more sincere message. Whoever comes in this room next will probably just paint a dick over it, but I don’t care. I just need Alex to know he’s not alone, he’s got me and his friends.

Alex looks down at me, and reaches for my hand, giving it a squeeze. He takes the paint brush from me, kneeling down to dip it into the paint.

‘Teagan is strong and brave,’ Alex writes below my message.

I smile at that, and dip my hand in the paint. I flick it against the white suit Alex is wearing, and his jaw drops before he charges me and picks me up, painting down the side of my face, the only spot on me not completely protected.

“Alex!” I yell, and he sets me down. I run over to the trunk and grab two paint bottles, purple and blue and open the caps. The second he gets three feet in front of me, I start chucking paint splatters against him.

We spend the last chunk of our time in the rage room having an all-out paint war. I laugh and giggle the entire time, feeling free. Alex smiles the entire time, it’s the most I’ve seen him smile. I think we both desperately needed this date night. A red light turns on in the room, followed by a siren cutting off our music, signaling that our time is up.

Alex opens the room, but tells me to wait inside for a moment. He comes back with his cellphone in hand.

“Let’s take a selfie,” Alex says. “You look gorgeous right now.”

I roll my eyes and prop the safety goggles on my head. “I look like a mess.”

He shakes his head and pulls me against his side, where we stand in front of one of the graffiti walls. He holds the phone up and snaps a picture, and then turns his head to place a kiss on my forehead, I grin as he snaps another photo of us. Before we leave the room, I see him take one last glance at the wall we painted, our names and the guys with the heart, I catch his smile right before he turns to follow me out the door.

***

Alex pulls into the driveway of Colin’s house and shuts off the car. I unbuckle my seatbelt, and place my hand on the door handle.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” I ask him shyly. “Nothing has to happen, but I... I want to fall asleep with you tonight. Just you and me.”

He grips the steering wheel before dropping his hands and looking at me. “You sure?”

I nod quickly. “Please? Mac’s coming by tomorrow anyway, it would be nice to have the four of you here for the day tomorrow. And you’re already here... unless you need to get work done...”

He leans over and places a kiss on my cheek, the paint has dried there. I need a shower ASAP. “I can stay,” Alex whispers against my lips.

We go in the house, and it’s quiet inside, Colin and Ben must have made other plans for the night. I go to the kitchen, and find that they left me a note on the fridge on our dry erase board. I smile at that.

“Looks like we’ve got the house to ourselves until later,” I say, spinning back to find Alex still standing in the foyer. “They went out to dinner with Mac, and wanted to go catch one final baseball game of the season.”

“What shall we do with Colin’s mansion to ourselves?” Alex smirks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Showers first?” I ask. “We’re kind of covered in paint.”

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