Cricket On Tour

Alex. Alex was standing in the doorway looking both murderous and heartbroken. But right now: mostly murderous. I shoved John away with all my might, but I am quite ineffectual when it comes to that kind of stuff, so really it did nothing to help the situation.

I mean, really, I was about to kiss John? John!? I don’t even like him most of the time. Well, I mostly don’t like him because I like Alex so much more. But I am drunk! And people do stupid things when they are drunk. Right. Right? And this is all stupid Holly Bitch Martin’s fault because someone must be blamed right now and it sure as hell isn’t going to be me.

“Alex!” I cried jumping off the couch towards him, but in my intoxicated, and therefore clumsy, state I tripped and crashed into him instead.

“Cricket.” Alex said solemnly. “Why are you in your underwear?”

“Well,” I said thoughtfully while still clinging to him. I can’t lose Alex over this, I just can’t. So, I won’t be the one to let go. “I was hot. I think. I can’t really remember.”

“You can’t remember.” Alex said skeptically. “You’re half-naked with someone who isn’t your boyfriend and you can’t remember why.”

“I mean, there’s been a lot of tequila,” I trailed off. I looked up at him and didn’t see Alex. Well, I didn’t see my Alex. My Alex smiled all the time and laughed and acted goofy. This Alex was stony-faced and angry and sad. This was not my Alex.

“Nothing happened.” I whispered. I was scared now. This was not going to end well. “Alex.”

“I’m leaving now, Cricket,” Alex said blankly. “And don’t come back to the bus.”

“No, Alex, please.” I begged. “I love you.”

“Alex, nothing happened. I swear, she was just drunk and nothing happened.” John said starting to stand up.

“Shut up.” I hissed.

“Just stop.” Alex said pushing me off him and turning around. And he left. Just like that, he was gone.

And I lost it. He was gone. He was really gone and I was alone. This couldn’t be happening. No, no, no, no, no. Stupid tequila. Stupid John. Stupid me. I collapsed on the floor a crying mess.

“CALL LANIE!” I screamed at John.

“Cricket,”

“No, just CALL LANIE.” I said swatting his hand away from me as he tried to put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“Okay, okay,” I heard John’s buttons clicking as he dialed Lanie. “Hey, Lanie, it’s John? Can you please come get Cricket? It’s kind of an emergency?”

He was so freaked out that everything he said came out sounding like a question.

“What? A dying whale? Well, now that you mention it, yeah, she kind of does.”

And then I heard Lanie freaking out on the other end of the phone.

“Lanie!” I wailed from the floor. “If you can here me, you need to get here right now. RIGHT NOW!”

“Well, I told you it was serious,” John sighed on the phone. “Well, how was I supposed to know that ‘dying whale’ was code for the end of the world?”

Approximately thirteen minutes later, Lanie barged into the bus.

“What happened? And why are you half-naked?” Lanie screeched.

I was crying so hard I couldn’t even make out a full sentence.

“Tequila. Holly. Tabloid. John. Song. Puking. Cuddling. Alex is gone.”

“Oh, God.” Lanie sighed. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here. No, John, I think you’ve done enough here.”

I could practically hear the scathing look and scowl Lanie was giving him. Once in the car, Lanie was all business.

“Cricket, I need you to, calmly, tell me what happened.”

And from there I spilled the whole story.

“I was so, so drunk, Lanie. And I had just puked and I really just needed a hug.” I bawled. “I don’t even want to kiss John, I just want to kiss Alex. And now, I’m never going to again. He hates me.”

“Look, Crick, we’ll figure this out. It’s you and Alex. You guys are kind of perfect for each other.” Lanie soothed.

I hope she’s right because life without Alex in it would suck.