13 Days, 10 Hours, and 22 Minutes of Being Married to Alex Gaskarth

13 DAYS 7 HOURS 3 MINUTES

The Conspiritors were sitting silently in the hot tub of All Time Low's hotel. They weren't sure what there was left to say and at the moment all of them were far too exhausted to try to discuss anything. Neither Alex or Taryn had gone to bed until 6 am, both talking constatly to their best friends about what they were going to do in a few short hours.

"I'm kind of afraid to be too hopeful" Jack commented quietly as he leaned, half asleep, on Ashley's shoulder.

"Well we all know where Alex stands, where's Taryn?" Matt Flyzik, business as usual, questioned Ashley. Ashley sighed, completely exhausted. She hadn't slept in almost 24 hours.

"Hell if I know. That girl is so fucked up in the head right now even I don't know what's going on. She had everything figured out until her dad came back today." Ashley replied in a slight growl, moving so she was resting against the top of Jack's head.

"I think my nuts have been boiled." Rian commented, looking down at the water. Matt rolled his eyes.

"Can we fucking focus? We're in crunch time!" Matt demanded. The whole group fell silent, observing the irate man to the side of them.

"Alright, Flyzik. Spill. Why is this so important to you?" Zack demanded with an added eye roll.

"I'm terrified of what will happen to Alex if this doesn't work out." Matt ruffled the back of his hair and rested his elbows on his bare knees, his head down. This had been a fun game, manipulating the situation and their friend, but it had suddenly become serious.

All Time Low didn't handle serious well.

"So what do you do?" Jack asked. Matt sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"I don't think we can do anything. This one is up to them now." They all shared a look. They had to rely on Alex Gaskarth and Taryn Evans?

They were so fucked.

**********

13 days 9 hours 45 minutes

I closed my car door with a purposeful 'click' and tossed my slightly curled hair over my shoulder.

"Game face" I whispered to my self, adjusting the bag on my shoulder.I kept telling myself I needed to have that tough exterior.

Be Angelina Jolie.

No one fucks with Angelina Jolie and no one fucks with TarynGaskarth Evans. At least that's what I told myself. My black patent heels clicked painfully on the tiles on the Las Vegas Courthouse. Each tap slowly pushed away the terrifying dread that was filling the pit of my stomach. I adjusted my black business jacket, smoothed out my skirt, and sucked in a deep breath before turning the corner.

And there, sitting on the bench outside Justice Anderson's office, was Alex Gaskarth.

His blue plaid button down was slightly wrinkled, but it didn't even compare to how scrunched his black skinny jeans were. Not to mention his brunette hair was coated by his filthy gray knit beanie. I looked down at my attire and then at his. Everything screamed that I was making the right choice today. Which means I had to be, right? I took another deep breath before walking foreward. Alex was alerted to my approach by the sound of my heels on the tile. He sat up with a start, pocketing his phone, and taking in my appearance with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow..." He trailed off.

Alex Gaskarth, meet Taryn Evans, attorney at law-to-be.

"Hey, Alex. You ready?" I asked calmly, switching my black leather bag to my other hand. Alex frowned and stood up.

"Ready for what?" He questioned hesitantly. Another deep breath. I'm a lawyer. Sorta.

"To sign the papers. It's been 2 weeks, that's the state alloted time necessary fo-"

"Taryn, what the hell are you doing?" Alex exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down we're in a court house." I hissed.

"I know exactly where we are! Now what the hell do you think you're doing?" I gulped and forced my eyes to meet his. Angelina Jolie.

"Alex, we can't do this. I'm going to law school in a year, you're constantly touring and live in Maryland. You really think you have the income to help pay my fees? You think I want an absentee husband? I mean, my God, Alex! Look at us! Could it be any clearer that we aren't suited?" I exclaimed, gesturing to our drastially different appearances. Alex was grinding his teeth roughly not meeting my eyes. Suddenly his eyes flew back to bore deeply into me.

"Taryn, I love you." He growled.

...

WHAT?

Really? Now? NOW he decides he loves me? when I'm about 30 seconds from divorcing him? I stood open mouthed, just staring at him. What the hell was I supposed to say?

I love you, too?

I couldn't!

Could, I?

NO! Yes! No...fuck!

"Look, we're going in there and its your choice. I'm not signing if you're not." Alex stated and then piveted and walked resolutely into Justice Anderson's office. I followed in silence, folding into a chair gracefully, and my ankles crossed perfectly.

But inside I was a complete wreck.

"Ah, the Gaskarths. Yes, I figured I would see you today. Already have the papers drawn up." He slid a small packet of papers in my direction and handed me a pen. I stared at it, my heart pounding and my hand frozen.

"Your move, Taryn" Alex Whispered. There was a roaring in my ears and I just kept reading the words "marriage dissolution" over and over again. I took a deep breath and took the pen with shakey fingers. I forced my inner lawyer to take back over.

I'm Angelina Jolie, damn it.

I slowly scrawled my name on the dotted line above "Taryn Rose Evans" I choked back the tears threatening to fall and I put the pen carefully down on the table. Alex snatched it up, quickly scribbled his name over the "Alexander William Gaskarth," threw the pen down, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him. I slid the copy into my leather bag, breathing heavily but calmly.

"Is he ok, Miss Evans?" I snapped it closed and surveyed the justice expressionlessly.

"Not my problem anymore." I stated, stood up, and left his office. I glanced at my watch. 10:22

After 13 days 10 hours and 22 minutes, I was no longer married to Alex Gaskarth.

I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat, finding it very difficult to keep my lawyer intact. I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket and dialed quickly, holding it to my ear.

"Daddy?"

*********

13 DAYS 10 HOURS 20 MINUTES

All Time Low and Ashley were bouncing on the balls of their feet outside of the court house. Well, Matt, Zack, and Rian were. Jack and Ashley were seated on the stairs, giggling and kissing lightly. Zack was starting to get sickened.

"Keep it in your pants!" He whined. Jack pulled away from Ashley slightly, grabbed an empty vitamin bottle and chucked it in his direction. However, Jack has horrible aim and missed terribly, smacking Rian in the ear with the bottle.

"Hey! Watson, control your woman!" Rian exclaimed. Ashley giggled.

"With pleasure." She purred, using her finger to turn his face back to hers.

"Guys! It's Alex!" Matt exclaimed. Ashley immediately jumped off of Jack's lap and rushed over to the rest of the band, Jack close on her heels. The watched the figure approach. But that's when they realized it was only one figure. The group looked on in silence as Alex stormed passed them, stomped up the stairs of the bus, and then heard the door of the back room slam.

"There's Taryn," Zack murmered. All the heads then turned to see the black suit clad Taryn walk out of the court house and to her car, calmly sliding in and driving off. It was then that they all shared a look between them as the horrifying realization of what they thought was impossible struck them.

The Conspiritors had failed.

***********

3 weeks, 4 days later

It was getting to the point where I couldn't give a fuck about law. Isn't that sad? My entire life used to be so focused on my goal: law school by 22, partner by 30, office by 40. But for these past few weeks now I've had no motivation. Somehow I've pressed on. Because I'm TarynGas- Evans.Damn it.

"Ashley, can you hand me a pencil." I muttered, holding my hand out without looking up from the page.

"That's it! I can't take it anymore!" Ashley shrieked. I jumped 3 feet in the air from my position on the red couch in our living room.

"Jesus, Ash. What is your issue?" I gasped, trying to still my rapidly beating heart.

"YOU! YOU are my issue!"

"Ash, I'm just sitting here reading..." I was thoroughly confused.

"Exactly! That's all you've done for the past 3 weeks, Taryn! It's fucking summer!" She exclaimed. Ash was seriously starting to scare me.

"Ash, I-"

"NO! you are not going to feed me some bullshit excuse. You're still sad." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ok, fine. I'll get the pencil myself..." I said, uncurling my legs from beneath me and walking to the desk.

"No!" Ashley suddenly gripped my wrist in her tiny little hand. Ashley is tiny, but terrifying.

"Why haven't you talked to him?" She asked, her voice lowered slightly. I knew who she was talking about, but I didn't want to. I had done everything in my power in the past month to forget him.

"Who?" I questioned, trying to play dumb. But I forgot this was Ashley Watson. She put both her hands to my shoulders and shoved me back onto the couch.

Again, terrifying.

"Don't you dare! We invested far too much time in this!" Ok, now I was genuinely confused.

"We?"

"The Conspiritors. We've been pushing you together every-"

"Who are the Conspiritors?"

"What? Oh, Jack wanted to name us. So we're super heroes or whatever. Anyway, the Conpiritors have done far too much for you to throw it away!" At this point I stood up.

"Ashley. What the hell did you do?" I growled. If I understood where she was going with this, she had been interfereing with my life. I don't take kindly to that.

"You didn't honestly think all of those little things that drew you and Alex-" I cringed at his name. I hadn't heard or spoken it in 3 weeks. It hurt.

"-yeah. I said it! drew you and Alex together were chance, do you? 'Losing' your wallet? 6 flags? Getting you drunk at the club? Please, we orchestrated all that!" Ashley shouted.

"Why the fuck would you do that?!"

"Because you're perfect for eachother! Don't you get it Taryn? I have never seen you more happy then you were with him. You both admitted you loved eachother-oh yes, I know you loved him- and then you fucking threw it away!" She threw her arms in the air. I shook my head at her slowly.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about." I muttered lowly.

"Don't I? Taryn, who knows you better then me?" Her voice was lowered gently. She was right. I sighed deeply and sat back on the couch.

"So now the question is, Taryn, do you still love him?" She said, sitting next to me on the couch. I looked at her. Ashley had let me be for 3 weeks, not mentioning anything about Alex or All Time Low. But after her little confessions about, what was it? THe COnpiritors? I was insanely wary of her confrontation this morning. Ashley Watson was far craftier then I expected her to be. Far craftier...

"Give me the phone, Ash." I demanded with a roll of my eyes. Ashley's eyes widened in shock.

"Wh-what are you talk-" I sighed again and took the Blackberry out of her pocket before she could react. I held it to my ear.

"Hi, Jack." I stated.

"Hi, Taryn!" Jack squealed back through the blackberry. I cast my eyes at Ashley and she visibly recoiled, her cheeks burning pink. I clicked the blackberry onto speakerphone.

"What are you two planning, Jack?"

"Operation Save the Dumbasses." He stated confidently. I rolled my eyes.

"You think of that stupid name, too?" I questioned dryly.

"I KNOW you didn't just call the Conspiritors stupid! She didn't just call it stupid did she, Ashe?" His voice had the wavering of potential whining in it.

"Of course not, baby." Ashley responded to the phone, shooting me a glare that read Do NOT put me through that!

"What the hell are you guys doing?" I sighed, placing the phone on the table.

"I, I just, I can't stand seeing you hurting anymore." Ashley said, her early facade falling to sincerity.

"Ash, I'm fine! Really!" It sounded fake, even to my own ears.

"Well, that fucking sucks then since Alex is a god damn mess." Jack commented harshly. I looked over the the phone.

"What do you mean?" I questioned quietly.

"What do I mean? How fucking blind are you, Taryn? Did you really think he would get over that? He was, no IS, in LOVE with you! He can't concentrate on anything! His stage performance sucks balls, he hasn't talked to any of us in weeks, and he has stayed in his fucking house since we got home! You fucked him up bad, Taryn, and if you're staying away even though you're in love with him then you're just as fucked up." I stared at the disembodied voice of Jack Barakat in shock. Jack doesn't yell at people. Ever. He was the biggest goof ball and I don't think I've ever seen him raise his voice.

"Taryn, you're still in love with Alex. Why can't you be with him?" Ashley asked, taking my hand in hers. All the pain that I had been forcing myself to ignore for almost a month was currently running through me to the point where I could barely fight to keep the tears away. I had tried to lie to myself for so long, but everyone could see the truth except for me.

I was in love with Alex Gaskarth and there was nothing I could do about it.

I took a deep breath and ruffled my hair in agitation.

"I hate you guys as I couple." I muttered. Ashley squealed and hugged me.

"Yes! that took about five minutes longer then I expected, flight's in an hour, Ash." Jack commented.

"No worries, I already packed our bags." I looked at Ashley in shock.

"Are telling me-"

"That the Conspiritors just planned that whole thing? Of course." She giggled, then took her phone off the table.

"You made an awesome bitch, baby." Ashley gushed into the phone. I rolled my eyes and stalked into my room to grab my pre-packed bag.

**********

"Ash, what am I doing here?" I mumbled as the taxi pulled up to Alex's house. There were several cars parked outside of the house.

"You're here to start dating the love of your life again. Now get your ass out of the car." She demanded. My insides were starting to quiver. I wasn't sure if it was nerves or excitement. As I rolled my bag closer to the house, I realized what it was.

Fear.

I was completely petrified of going in and seeing Alex again. It hurt just to hear his name. God knows how bad it'll hurt seeing his face. And if Jack wasn't lying about how bad off he was, It would hurt even worse. I knocked on the door and within seconds it flew open

"AAAAAAH!" Jack shrieked, hugged me quickly and then darted to Ashley, who also squealed, and jumped into his arms with her legs around his waist.

"That is so creepy." I commented, watching the display.

"Tell me about it." I whirled around.

"ZACK!" I exclaimed. He grinned and stretched out his arms catching me in a hug.

"What're you doing here? I thought you were in California!" I squealed.

"What? You thought I would miss this? pfff." He laughed. I punched his shoulder.

"Hey! I thought I was your favorite! Why don't I get the first hug?" I looked over Zack's shoulder to see Matt walking out, Rian behind him. I laughed and walked over, wrapping my arms around Matt in a tight hug.

"Hey, Zik." I grinned.

"What's up, Tar?" I wrinkled my nose.

"Point taken." I muttered, before going to hug Rian.

"YOU! What're you still doing out here, bitch?" Jack squealed, bouncing over with Ashley laughing on his back.

"Saying hi to people?" I replied.

"There's only one person you need to say hi to!" Ashley added, hoisting herself up a little higher on Jack's back.

"Up stairs, second door on the right. God, they're obnoxious couple." Matt said, jerking his thumb at the door. I nodded and walked into the house, setting my bag against the door. My heart pounded painfully in my chest as I made my way slowly up the stairs. The door in front of me was plain, oddly unlike Alex. I took a deep breath and raised my hand to knock on the door.

I'm Angelina Jolie...

"C'min." I heard Alex's muffled voice behind the door. I took a steadying voice and pushed the door open. Alex was sitting on his bed, his laptop on his stomach. His brunette hair was in a disarray and he was in his typical tight blue jeans and tshirt. Still incredibly sttractive.

"Hey" I murmered. Alex started, nearly dropping his Macbook, his eyes raising to meet mine.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He muttered lowly.

"I- I don't know." I murmered. Alex snapped his Macbook closed and threw it aside.

"Then. Get. Out." He hissed, grabbingmy shoulder and shoving me out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

"Alex, please." I murmered, leaning my forehead against the cool wood. Silence.

"Alex, I'm-I'm sorry." I choked on a light sob and struggled to hold back my tears. I really shouldn't be surprised. I deserved this. I deserved him hating me. I deserved all of it.Suddenly the door flew open.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Alex hissed, eyes narrowed.

"I'm-I'm so sorry, Alex, I-" I stammered.

"Shut up." Alex growled, taking a step toward me. I gulped and took a step back, the firey look in his eyes startling me into movement.

"Don't you fucking dare. You think a fucking apology is going to make up for the living hell you put me through? What did you think, Taryn? That you would come here and say 'sorry' and then we'll be fucking friends?" Alex's voice had raised to shouting and he was throwing his arms around in anger.

"I was scared." I murmered.

"You were scared? Don't you think I was? But I was willing to take a God damn chance! Don't you fucking GET IT, Taryn? I don't WANT to be friends. I fucking LOVE YOU and you just threw me away! Damn it, Taryn, I don't understand!" He threw the knit beanie that usually adorned his hair roughly onto the carpeted hallway and stomped back into his room. I paused for a brief moment before taking a step forward, leaning lightly against the door frame. Alex was seated on seated on his bed again, his laptop back on his stomach as he ignored me. I took a second steadying breath, even though it didn't halt the silent tears from cascading down.

I'm Angelina Jolie.

"All my life I had had one thing set before me. My Dad was a politician, my mom the ideal politician's wife, and I was the perfect candidate's daughter. 4.0 and headed to law school to follow in my father's footsteps. I was to marry a wealthy political asset who would not only provide a stable family, but boost my career. My mother instilled this into me since I was young. I never thought about doing anything else. I didn't even know there were other options. And then I married you." Alex was still staring at the laptop screen, but his fingers had stopped moving across the keyboard.

"Tour was probably the most fun and confusing experiance of my life. For once there were decisions that hadn't already been made for me. New doors opened. Options. It, quite frankly, scared me to death. When I came home, I didn't know how to mesh my life pre-Gaskarth to my life pro-Gaskarth. I didn't know how to handle falling in love with you." Alex sat completely frozen on the bed.

"So when I got home? I got scared, especially with my parents reaction. I thought it would just be easier for both of us to end it and move on and someday I would stop loving you. I was wrong." I finished to silence. At least Alex was looking at me now. Neither of us moved.

"I don't understand." Alex broked the silence.

"I-I don't know what else I can say. I'm sorry, I love you, I was wro-" Alex cut off my rambling with a shake of his head. He stood up off the bed and stood a couple inches in front of me. My heart pounded and my breathing was ragged, the proximity of Alex. Sparks shot through my skin as he gently took my hand, leading me a couple steps into his room and shutting the door behind me. His fingers gently brushed my dark hair away from my tear glitening eyes.

"No, I mean, I don't understand how you can be crying and still look so damn beautiful." He murmered, and then gently, almost so gently I didn't feel it, he pressed his lips to mine. The blood rushed to my face and my breath caught in my throat. I easily maneuvered my body to press tightly against his, savoring the beautiful feeling of his form that I had missed so much. Alex's hands clutched at my waist while I held his tshirt in an unbreakable grasp.

"I love you." He whispered between kisses. I smiled against his lips.

"I love you, too." I whispered.

"Don't you ever fucking do that again." He grumbled. I laughed lightly before pressing another quick kiss to him again.

"I promise." I whispered. I opened my eyes to meet Alex's. That familiar devious smirk crawled back up Alex's lips and his fingers pressed deeper into my waist, guiding me with him to his bed. I grinned, but then quickly remembered something.

"Hold on a sec" I murmered. Alex frowned as I pulled away from him and walked to the door. I pounded my fist roughly against the door. I heard several male, and one female, muffled shouts of "OW!" and "FUCK!"

"Back off, ya pervs!" I shouted. This was quickly followed by the shuffling of multiple feet and a girlish giggle, sadly from Jack, not Ashley. I smiled in satisfaction and made my way back over to Alex, standing on my tip toes to press a kiss to his lips.

"What was that?" Alex mumbled against my lips.

"That? Oh, our friends have been conspiring to get us together since day one." I replied, not removing myself from the kiss.

"Figures." He grumbled. I laughed lightly before pulling him to me. Alex grinned, what I had come to recognize as his 'oh yeaaaaah' grin, and turned me around, pressing us down onto his mattress.

"CONSPIRITOOOOOOOOORS!" Came Jack's victory shout from down stairs. Alex lifted his head and glanced at the door.

"What was that?" He questioned. I lifted my fingers to his chin and rotated his face to look back down at me.

"Don't worry about it." He nodded, smiled, a leaned back into me. I'll let the 'conspiritors' have their fun. Besides, even though it took 3 weeks longer then originally planned,

The Conspiritors had succeeded.