Just Hate Me and We'll End It Here

Bailey

That’s it. The ride home? I’m going to pretend to be asleep, I swear. And dead asleep, so that she-devil will leave me alone. She creeps me out, okay? And annoys me like crazy. I can’t wait for Monday to come, I swear. Just let me walk home, please?

“We’re here,” Mrs. Gaskarth sings cheerfully.

Inwardly groaning, I open my door, but hear a shout from Alex. Confused, I pause and look over, but suddenly he’s gone and out his door, slammed shut. What…? “Madam,” comes a deep voice. I turn back to my door, and Alex is holding out his hand for me.

Oookay, then… well, maybe I should get used to it? I swallow and give a slight nod, putting my hand in his and he gently tugs me out of the car, on to the grassy field. I lift my head curiously and look around. Slight hills all around, a few trees, no tables, though that looks like a bench in the distance towards the right. And I think I hear a stream somewhere… well, anyways, I suppose it is… nice.

“Children!” Mrs. Gaskarth sings, following her husband more towards the grassy field and I watch as they spread out a large red plaid blanket to sit upon.

Alex turns to me grinning. “Ready?”

“No, but it’s not like I have a choice,” I sigh and shake my head. “Come on.” And at the same pace, we make our way across the field and over onto the blanket, sitting across from his parents.

We get to eating the sandwiches and salad that has been prepared, a few random comments here and there for the first while, since no one really has anything to say, until…

“So, Bailey. You live in L.A.?”

I jerk up at the sound of my name. “Oh, um… yes. I do.”

“Hm. Do you work?”

“Yes, I er, have three jobs. Working at an animal shelter, a café, and a vintage clothing shop,” I add and try not to look at them. Maybe if I do that, they’ll stop talking to me. Maybe…

“Really, an animal shelter? Is that volunteer? You really work with rodents and everything?” Mrs. Gaskarth cocks her head, staring at me.

“Um, no. This shelter only cares for cats, dogs, birds and rabbits. We don’t take care of ‘rodents’ at all,” I explain. “And it’s not volunteer, I do get paid. Not the best, but it doesn’t really matter.”

Mr. Gaskarth gives a slight smile. “I see we have something of an animal lover here, eh? Good, good. So, how did it go with your parents, finding out about this?”

Alex coughs on his bread. “Erm, they’re… out of service, in Africa,” he starts lying.

I shove him slightly and shake my head. “No, they’re not.” I turn to the real married [and sorta old] couple. “My parents died when I was eight.”

Alex’s mom gasps, putting a hand over her heart. “Oh, you poor dear, what you’ve gone through! No mother or anything! What then, dear? You weren’t on the streets, were you?” And she gets this very disgusted look on her face.

I’m so, so tempted to tell her the real truth, just to mock her and make her dislike me all the more. I sigh and ruffle my hair. “No, of course not. Foster homes till I was eighteen,” I breeze through the lie airily. I feel Alex staring at me, but I ignore it.

“College, then?” She changes the topic quickly. “What are your plans for the future? You’ll stay at home with the children, won’t you?” She jabs in.

“Oh, kids won’t come around for another ten years,” I smirk, waving my hand. “Maybe more, there’s plenty of time. And I quit college to keep my jobs.”

“But surely you’ll stop now,” she instructs, “seeing that Alex can provide for you.”

“Oh I’m sure I could, but I like to get out and see other people,” I shrug, not really caring that it might sound wrong. But it’s all irritating me- these two people are trying to make me feel uncomfortable and awkward, but I don’t want to let them win.

“So if you’re not going to have children just yet,” she says a bit tartly, “I presume you’re on the birth control pill?”

Aaaand it’s my turn to choke on my drink. Alex quickly pats my back, helping me cough it up and I shake my head. “I, uh, no. No, I’m not,” I manage to pant.

“Well surely! You two are just married, and it’s only natural for newly weds to-” she rambles.

My face just keeps growing redder. Okay, maybe they are going to win on this awkward subject. Never was comfortable… my mind starts thinking fast, trying to find an excuse to interrupt this… this very odd dinner. “We’re not,” I finally tell them. “Not doing anything.”

She blinks at me. “Why? Is there something wrong? Alex was always just fine with it… so is there something wrong with you? It’s okay to say,” she nods firmly, “we’re all family here after all.”

“Oh please,” Alex grins at me. “Do tell, we’d all love to hear.”

I glare at him, unable to believe he’s seriously mocking me like this, fully comprehending that- ugh! I quickly consider the opportunity of punching him… maybe? Yea or nay? My empty plastic cup crumbles in my tight grasp. “Oops,” I mutter and toss it down.

“Well?” Mr. Gaskarth looks at me blankly.

“Well nothing,” I say carefully. “I’m just not interested.”

She gasps. “Oh, dear! There must be something wrong. Perhaps you should go on the pill, dear. I heard it can work wonders. You know, my friend uses one and it’s really brought her and her husband together after all these years, after all.”

Oh. Holy. Cheese.

Get. Me. Out. Of. This.

“Now, speaking of being together,” Mrs. Gaskarth starts trailing softly. “I mean, now that I think of it- you two don’t seem to act as though you two are in love. Naturally as newlyweds, I’d think you’d be inseparable. Are there problems between you two? I’m sure we could work them out, even though you two did suddenly decide to marry. Dear, I don’t think I’ve seen you two ever even kiss!”

Alex and I look at each other, a little shocked and panicked. To make this believable- which is part of the ‘rules’- everyone has to believe this, including his parents. Now what do we do? My brain starts going sixty, trying to think.

“Of course we kiss,” Alex chuckles uneasily and scratches his head, fumbling with his beanie. “Uh, you two just, never really… see us doing it or anything,” he offers.

They just stare at us suspiciously.

Alex groans. “You two are so embarrassing! Of course this- we- are real! See,” he offers and before I can ask what he’s doing, he leans forward, making me lean back and he puts a hand between my shoulder blades, keeping me there as our lips meet.

Ehm… as nice as it is, I squirm underneath his grasp after a minute, trying to escape this kiss, just to prove to his parents that this is real… even though it really isn’t. I bite his tongue to make him get off, and that does it- though he has to hold in a squeal, of course.

Mrs. Gaskarth clasps her hands together dreamily. “Ah, young love,” she sighs sweetly.

I scowl at Alex and stand. “I think I need some fresh air,” I manage to say calmly. “So I’m going to take a walk.” Without another word, I start walking off in a random direction.

After a few moments, I hear footsteps pattering over towards me and eventually, Alex catches up to walk beside me. I turn away a little, continually walking and just ignoring him.

“Aw, come on,” he protests. “You liked that kiss.”

I give him a side-glance of a glare before crossing my arms and ignoring him. Alex sighs again but continues walking beside me and muttering to himself. A moment later, he takes my upper right arm and makes me stop to look at him. “Okay, I’m sorry,” he says, frowning slightly. “So maybe that was a little wrong, not asking for your permission,” he says a bit sarcastically. “But come on, Bay. What did you expect me to do? Tell them the truth?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” I return the sarcasm. “Then we could just get this over with and I could go back home.”

He takes a deep breath, leaning his head back to look at the sky momentarily. “Bay, you’re so… so confusing!”

I blink.

He lets out the deep breath and looks at me imploringly. “You’ve got these constant mood swings. You hate me, then you like me. Or you haven’t noticed? This trip is miserable enough as it is- it’s not like I enjoy being back home myself, Bay. And this- this trick lie thing isn’t making it easier. And just… when you’re like this, it’s like I’ve got this personal rain cloud over me.” He pauses, sighing. “So please, please, Bay, can’t you just cool it? I think we both enjoyed the kiss but we didn’t like the circumstances. Now could we move on, and at least be friendly about all this?”

I stare.

Then I look down at my bare feet, since I took my shoes off over at the picnic blanket. Then I sigh and rub my arm, looking around. “Fine.” I confess. “I get it.”

He beams, pumping a fist in the air. “Yes! Awesome!” He grins at me. “Now, milady, shall we continue this walk?”

I open my mouth to say something sarcastic, but I bite my tongue in time, and give a slight nod. Alex grins cheerfully and traces his fingers from my elbow to my fingertips. There, he wraps his hand around mine, entwining our fingers, and he starts leading the walk carefully, sticking at my speed.

After a while, I recall something and tentatively decide to bring up the subject, figuring I’ll have to talk about it sometime with him, I s’pose. “So…” I begin uneasily, but fall silent.

Alex, still holding my hand, turns to look at me after a silent minute. “So…? So what? Did you want to talk about something?” He asks a bit hopefully.

My free fingers fumble to push away my hair. “Well, I just… I was wondering, um, about… well, this summer,” I allow a bit nervously. “I heard that, uh, you guys have some tour or something, and if, um… I don’t know,” I wince a little. “Just… yeah.”

Thank goodness he seems to catch on. Alex nods slowly and shrugs a little, rubbing his thumb in circles on my hand. “Right, it’s been mentioned. It’s not quite a normal tour- it’s Vans’ Warped Tour,” he corrects slowly. “We’ll be heading out in June for a quick recording session with them for a song or so, and then we all get on the road together.” Then he glances at me. “And because of the uh… this, it’s been decided that you’ll be touring with us. All Time Low’s last tour date is August 23, and then just a few more days till September…” he trails off.

I nod slowly. “So, then, I’ll be on the bus with you?” I ask slowly. “Who else?”

“The band, of course- Jack, Zack, and Rian. We all take turns driving to save the cash,” he adds, “oh, and Matt. Matt Flyzick, our manager dude. It’s a pretty swell bus, though we think we want a bigger one, especially with…” he trails off and frowns. “Oh, dang.”

I let go and turn right to him. “What? ‘Oh dang’ what?” I frown, getting this odd vibe from him as he fumbles with his beanie nervously.

“Oh dang, as in… we’ve got four bunks,” he says sheepishly.

I blink. “But… but what about your manager?” I offer, frowning.

“Well, when we drive all night,” he explains, “someone’s driving. That, and we take turns sleeping on the couch. It’s only now and then when we actually stay in a hotel.”

Silence, until I finally ask the question. “What, then, Alex? Where am I supposed to stay if I have to come with?”

Silence…

“They’ve given me the biggest bunk permanently,” he explains sheepishly.