Looking from a window above

 "Yes, I called his mom," Eric didn't know what Liv wanted to hear. Maybe she was right. It was all his fault. 

They'd met up at the coffee shop after his last class. He wasn't sure he knew what to say. "I have been careful around him." After all, he was the older one. Alex was still in school. "It's just..I've never met anyone quite like Alex." He felt a little sad about it. Like maybe he'd been wrong for Alex all along. Even his foster mother had told him it wasn't going to work out.

"I mean..I thought we had a good summer. Sure, he had his hangups, sometimes. I mean, he could be so..so happy and then he wasn't..and then it was like I didn't know him at all. I didn't know if..if he was trying to be a guy or a girl." He squinted hard. "I'm just trying to be honest. I didn't pressure Alex in..in to anything. I guess..." Eric sighed. "Maybe he wanted more. I just didn't want to..you know..I just thought he wanted to date. OK."

Liv nodded as if she understood. 

"I guess I was waiting for him to break up with me." Eric was even lipped about it. He tried to smile. "I guess I'm unlucky in love. I dunno. I mean, I just remember how it was with my first boyfriend. My foster mom thought..thought I was being exploited and I certainly didn't want anything like that to..to happen with Alex." He sighed. "I do care about him. And yeah, I called that night as soon I got home from having dinner with an old friend, that he knew about and didn't want to go with us. I kept calling and texting." 

Eric cradled his cold brew. He felt like crying. He didn't know what to do. 

"I thought..if..if he would call anyone, it would be you." He nodded.

Liv remained quiet.

"He talks about you a lot. I think..well, he wants to be somebody like you. Maybe." Eric told her. "I don't know. Maybe he's actually in love with you, but just..just can't express it."

"He was being peculiar," Liv said. "I mean, he kind of went crazy right here at the coffee shop." She told him she thought Alex had already broken up with Eric by the way he was acting.

Eric looked at her wide-eyed. He hadn't expected to hear that. He thought Alex really liked him, but maybe that was for a fleeting moment.