something's gotta give;; closed

It was for the best. That was what Charlotte had been telling herself the last six months. The fact of the matter was Alex deserved better. He deserved someone who could put up with his crazy schedule and life style. He deserved someone who could handle being in the spotlight simply by association. He deserved someone who could put up with hate from fans. He deserved someone who didn't run and hide the moment she realized that things were really starting to get serious between them. She couldn't be that someone, and that was why she'd left.

There were times when she had her doubts. Times when she thought that leaving while Alex was out with the guys was a bit harsh. Maybe she should have stuck around to talk to him instead of leaving a note by the front door, but she usually found herself pushing those thoughts away. If she'd waited it out, Alex would have convinced her to stay. He would have talked her out of leaving, because he was her weakness. She loved him so much. She knew that she probably hurt him, and that hurt her, but it was for the best. That had become her mantra of sorts as of late.

She put up a facade when she was around her friends though. When she left Maryland, she went to live with some old friends of hers in California. She acted like she was okay, but they knew that she wasn't. Charlotte was certain that this girls weekend to Vegas was planned simply for her benefit. She knew that it was actually.

"Isn't this better than sitting at home, binge-watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix?" Her friend asked over the sound of the music blaring through the speakers. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, she preferred the couch and Netflix. "Yeah, I guess...I'm going to go get another drink, did you want anything?"

---

"Savannah!" Jack shouted, running up behind the petite woman and jumping on her back. He was so glad that she'd been able to take off work and come with him this time. He always hated leaving her behind when he was touring or even just had one out of state show. She was one of his best friends, and he really liked having her around. To anyone who had never witnessed him do this before, it would be a comical sight seeing as she was so much smaller than he was, but anyone who knew Jack was used to his antics. He was an overgrown man-child. They expected actions like this from the lanky guitarist.

It was to be even more expected as All Time Low had just finished their show in Vegas. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins and the night was still young. He, the guys, Savannah and the crew were all going out afterwards. They'd be a piss poor excuse for rockstars if they didn't take advantage of being in the city of sin by partying it up, not to mention that would be completely out of character for all of them anyway.

"Are you ready to get shwasted?!" He was still shouting, though when wasn't he shouting? He wasn't exactly soft spoken. Zack was the quiet, mysterious one, two things that Jack Barakat certainly was not and probably never would be.

[Sorry for taking so long and that Jack's is so much shorter

Alex's heart was still pumping in his chest as they made their way into one of the many nightclubs there were in Vegas, of course stopping to talk and sign more things for their fans. "Jack, you fat ass! Get off the poor girl before you crush her!" He shouted over the music that pounded in his ears, eyes scanning over the crowd that was spread out around the dance floor and where the bar was, his eyes lighting up. Ever since she left, it seemed like he had become a lot more dependent on alcohol than previously. Trying to push Charlotte out of his mind for tonight, he put on a fake smile and let out a whoop. "Alright, fuckers! First round of shots is on me!" He fist bumped Zack, making his way over to the bar to order the first round of shots for the guys and Sav, tapping his fingers on the cool wood of the bar as he waited for the bartender to pour their shots.

His eyes flickered around the bar, his eyes catching a familiar figure standing not too far away from him, his breath catching in his throat and now he couldn't wait for the drinks to get there. Charlotte.. He hadn't seen her in ages, not since she broke up with him. Well, breaking up would have at least involved words, she just packed her shit up and left without even writing a note. Alex had a band practice that day and was going to hang with the guys afterwards, but he assured her he wouldn't be out too late so they could catch up on How I Met Your Mother. Staying true to his word he came home at eleven thirty sharp, but to an empty house. After going into the bedroom they shared, all of her things that had once filled the room were gone, leaving his belongings and of course she didn't take any of the gifts he had given her, either. His heart was ripped out after seeing the room completely empty. Sadness was the first thing he felt, and he spent the rest of his night awake and hoping, praying she would come back.

Then, he was angry. After all that time together, everything they had done together, she just left him like he meant nothing to her. Like their whole relationship was something worth giving up.

--

Savannah let out a wheezing sound as Jack jumped on her back, but really she wasn't all that surprised. Ever since she knew the guy he would always jump on her back, not even caring that he was a fucking giant compared to her small and slender frame. Wincing as he screamed in her ear, she couldn't help but chuckle at his childish behavior and Alex's words. "You fat fucker, you're going to break my back." She teased him, tilting her head to the side and pressed her lips to his cheek in a sloppy kiss as she noticed a fan taking pictures of the two, shooting the camera a wink. It wasn't uncommon for their friendship to be photographed everywhere they went, she was after all hanging out with All Time Low, her face has been everywhere since the beginning and she even had her own fan base. Of course she was no where near as popular as the band themselves, but enough people liked her and she even got to be in a few interviews and pictures, so it was pretty cool. Hell, they even had their own ship name and fanfictions galore written about them two. "Hell yeah I'm ready to get wasted!"

[ sigh i made hers short as well idk anymore. ]

Charlotte made a beeline over to the bar once her friend had asked her to get her another drink. She didn't want to give her any room to start up the conversation that she knew would follow due to her lack of enthusiasm for being there. As much as she appreciated the fact that her friends had planned this whole thing in the hopes of cheering her up, she really didn't want to be here, and she was pretty sure that any copious amount of alcohol wasn't going to change that.

She hadn't spotted Alex yet. As she waited at the bar for another round of drinks, she was trying to come up with the best, and most convincing, excuses she could use to get out of this whole thing. Sighing softly, she realized just how crowded this place was. Mainly because it was taking the bartender much longer than she would have hoped it would to get her drinks. It was to be expected she supposed, it was Vegas after all, but the number of people here made her want to be there even less than she already did. Maybe she could pull the sick card or something and just go back to the hotel for the rest of the night. She had a feeling that her friends would see right through that lie though.

Waiting there, she took in her surroundings, making a note of just how many people were also waiting for drinks at the bar. That's when she spotted him. No...it couldn't be. There were so many different bars and clubs along the Vegas strip, and what were the odds that he'd be here the same weekend that her friends had planned their girls weekend, let alone that he'd be waiting for drinks at the same bar at the same exact time that she was? Maybe it was just someone who really looked like him. Then she noticed the rose tattoo on his hand. Shit...nope. It was definitely him. Had he seen her? She felt like she was going to be sick. Thankfully the bartender set her drinks down in front of her moments later. "Thanks, keep the change." She said quickly as she blindly set down the money, not even sure as to how much she'd given the guy, and grabbed the drinks, praying to whoever was listening up there that he hadn't seen her.

---

Jack had noticed Alex's recent alcohol dependency. His friend tried to act like he was okay, but the lanky guitarist was pretty sure that anyone who knew Alex well enough knew that Charlotte leaving had hit him rather hard. Then again, Jack knew just how serious their relationship had been and he had honestly never really seen Alex as happy as he was with Charlotte, so it made perfect sense. He was pretty sure that he was one of the few people who knew that his friend had been planning on proposing some time soon. He'd had the ring and everything. Touring seemed to serve as a distraction, but that was all it really was. A distraction.

"Why do you always call me fat?" He pouted, getting off of her after she kissed his cheek. He was used to her teasing though. Name-calling and all that was a huge part of their friendship. A lot of fans seemed to dig it too. That had become even more apparent when he discovered that they had a ship name and everything. That was cool, sometimes the fan fiction got a little weird. He liked to avoid that part of the internet when he could, though it did sometimes serve as entertainment. "You're always so mean to me, Sav! You're such a bully!" He shouted dramatically, and it was clearly loud enough for him to attract attention from some of the other people in the place. That wasn't really all that surprising though, and Jack honestly could care less either way. "Rian! Tell Sav to stop being a bully!"

[Eh, it happens.]

Alex watched her take off, lips forming a frown as she slapped some money down on the bar and headed out of there like there was no tomorrow. Had she spotted him? Feeling a surge of anger and confidence swell inside him, he told the bartender to hold on as he shot straight for where Charlotte jetted off too, determined to catch her. It took him a few minutes to actually find her through the crowd of sweaty dancers, bumping into a few and receiving dirty looks. But he didn't care, he was on a mission to get some answers.

"Charlotte!" He shouted over the loud music, reaching out and grabbing her wrist tightly in his fist effectively stopping her from going any further away from him. "You ran away from me once, I'm not letting you do it again." He snapped, the insult bubbling from his lips faster than he could stop them. Maybe it was a the pre-show beers he had in his system giving him the confidence to even speak to her, but he didn't know. All he could feel right now was pure anger, and how much he just wanted to tell her off for what she did to him. "You know, you could have fucking told me you didn't want me anymore instead of being an asshole and leaving me like that!"

--

"Shut up you big baby, you love me." She teased him, nudging him in the side playfully. Savannah glanced around the crowd, searching for Alex's mop of brown hair, her lips pursed. He had gone up to the bar to get them some shots, what was taking so long? She was almost positive it didn't take more than ten minutes to grab some drinks, though the bar did look busy. But all Savannah wanted to do was party it up and get some drinks in her system. Maybe she wouldn't get too shit faced, someone had to watch the boys and make sure they didn't get into too much trouble. The only person she really had to worry about in this group was Jack, but only because he could be very childish when he wanted to, especially after having some shots in his system. When the crowd kind of shifted as a very shity song began playing through the speakers, she could make out Charlotte and Alex across the dance floor, Alex looking very pissed off. "Oh, shit. We might have to go get the shots ourselves," she mused out loud, running a hand through her hair.

Sav had, with her woman powers, managed to convince Alex to not go chasing after her, effectively ruining his career. Not that she had a problem with Charlotte, no the two girls had been absolute best friends when her and Alex met. But because she had seen how devastated he was, but she didn't want him throwing away everything he had worked for, just for a girl. Yeah, they had dated for a long time and she could tell how in love those two were, but he couldn't just ditch the band and destroy everything he had created. Alex agreed shortly after, thanking her for the pep talk.

@ pietro maximoff.

Charlotte didn't know if he'd spotted her, and that didn't matter. All she knew was that she needed to get out of there ASAP. She wasn't ready for this confrontation. Yes, it had been six months, but that didn't mean that she was prepared for this at all. She still felt bad for leaving the way that she had. She knew that she should have at least broken up with Alex instead of just running off, but that would have meant facing him, and that wasn't something that she thought that she could do. She didn't think that she could do it now either, but clearly that didn't matter, because it was going to happen anyway.

She heard him call her name, so tempted to keep on walking, but he grabbed her wrist, successfully stopping her in her tracks. Flinching slightly at the insult, she sucked in a breath and turned to face him. He was angry, that much was clear, and he had every right to be, but she didn't want to do this now. There was a time and place for everything and a random club in Vegas wasn't the time or the place for this confrontation. "Alex, you don't understand..." She said quietly. "It's not what you think...I can explain...just not here..." Her eyes were pleading.

---

"You're lucky that you're right. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't put up with your bullshit." Jack teased, nudging her back. He was beginning to wonder what was taking Alex so long as well. He'd only gone to order a round of shots, and while the place was pretty damn crowded, he doubted that it would take this long even if the bartender was swamped with different drink orders and requests. So what the hell was taking Alex so long? Glancing over to the bar, he frowned. He didn't see his friend there, so where was he?

He was about to make a joke about how they couldn't let Alex go get drinks anymore, when Sav spoke. Following her gaze, the frown on his face deepened. It was fairly obvious now where Alex had gone off to. He'd spotted Charlotte, and he looked pretty pissed off. If anything, she looked upset. Jack had liked Charlotte. She was good for Alex. It had been clear to everyone just how much they loved each other, it got kind of sickening at times actually, and he was pretty sure that none of them had expected her to run off the way that she did. Jack didn't know how he felt about her now though. After all, she was the girl who had broken one of his best friend's hearts. She should be considered enemy number one if anything. "Shit..." He swore. This wasn't good at all. "Should we do something?" He didn't know if they should just let them be or not.

@ alex g

@ alex g
[Are we still doing this? Just curious...]