Just Hate Me and We'll End It Here

Alex

I wake up with a big yawn and stumble around, still partially asleep as I shower and change and walk out. Then walking down to the kitchen, I find Bailey with her head on the counter, still really tired. Beside her is the coffee pot, partially being done.

Chuckling, I finish it for her and pour us each a big mug. Taking a long swallow, I tap her on the head. She jerks up, blinking. Her shoulders slump somewhat seeing me, but then spots the coffee. She raises it to me in thanks and takes a long obviously content swallow.

“Sleep at all?” I question her.

“Eh,” she shrugs. “A bit. Little after you started your playing…”

“Playing? Oh!” I recall after a moment. “Right. Uh, sorry. It just… kinda helps when I’m trying to sleep.”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s okay. It kinda helped, actually. It was… pretty,” she allows and looks away, swallowing some coffee and watching as Georgie literally tackles his food. I watch her face stretch into a small smile watching him, and that makes a little smile come on mine.

“Do you play an instrument?” I offer her.

Yawning, she shakes her head. “Nope. All I can do is dance.”

I nod and shift, trying to figure out how to ask. Should I? Shouldn’t I? What could go wrong? Just asking… “Well,” I offer, shrugging my shoulders. “Um, you know, if you wanted to… I could teach you… you know, guitar?” I mumble the last part.

Her eyes flicker up to meet mine. “Really?”

I nod.

“Why?”

I blink. “Well… I don’t know. But I think you might like it. And I’m a patient teacher. It’s really great you know, being able to play the guitar. It’s like you become connected and everything just soon becomes natural and it’s just… like world peace, in a small sense. I dunno. But being able to play is one of the greatest things. It just sets you free, like, to do more or something… you know?”

Since she asked the question, her eyes have been on mine, watching me thoughtfully. When I’m done, she takes a sip of her coffee and sets it down. “I suppose we could try it out,” she says levelly. “If it comes free, of course.”

“Eh, never know. The price might just be a kiss,” I grin.

“Keep dreaming, lover boy,” she rolls her eyes and gets off the stool. “I’ve got my job now, so I’ll be going.”

“Wait, the interview,” I hurriedly mention. “It’s at three.”

“And I’ll be at the café,” she shrugs. “Don’t be late.” And she continues walking up the stairs.

Grinning to myself, I let Georgie out to go chase a bird and do his business. Sighing, I run a hand through my hair and glance at the stairs, as if I’m watching her strut back up the stairs like the woman she is. Man, she just blows me away…

Three p.m. doesn’t come soon enough. We’re at the studio before then, finishing pieces on our next album, Nothing Personal. And it reminds me we still have to work on the music video for Weightless…-they’d pretty much done everything for it, except for the pieces with me in it. Which was a lot, of course. Cameras love me, what can I say?

“So why does Alex get to bring his girl, but I can’t bring mine?” Rian questions during lunch.

“We could all be asking that,” Zack points out.

“Chill, guys,” I roll my eyes at them. “After all, you guys have done it before. But your girls don’t usually last that long, and you’re not supposed to be married to them.”

“He has a good point,” Jack grins.

Zack and Rian throw their tomato slices and pickles at him.

Then the three of them are off to the Hollywood E! set and I head back for Bailey. I come in when she’s talking to an apparent gay friend of hers, who eyes me. I raise my eyebrow at him as he winks and struts off.

Well, he had Bailey in a good mood. Shouldn’t complain, right?

Okay, so I’m a little jealous they were hanging out… stop it, Alex!

“Ready to go?” I ask her.

“Yeap. Let me just grab my jacket,” she adds and returns behind the kitchen for a moment where she comes out, holding a jacket and her cell phone.

We head out and I ask her about her jobs a little more and we talk about how business goes and everything like that, not really turning to any personal subjects at all or anything. And after all, it’s a pretty long drive.

Finally though, we reach the building and I lead Bailey in by the hand. She stares at the set. “Wait, I thought this was… you know, like a… an interview. For a paper,” she wrinkles her nose.

“Oh… sorry?” I offer.

She gives me a rude look.

“It’s fine, you’ll do great,” I assure her. “Come on, though. They might want us wearing some other clothes. And everyone knows you’ll be here, so they probably have something for you, too.”

They have me switch hats, belt and shoes, and they also give me some sunglasses. Through it, as they fix my hair and make up and crap like that, I hear about how Bailey’s been giving them some trouble, refusing to wear the dress or do much with her hair.

“I’ll talk to her,” I promise as I’m finished up and looking around, I find her.

She’s sitting in a chair grumpily, her hair partially curled and a rack full of clothes- mostly bright- next to her. As I arrive, she glares at me, but I see that she straightens a little.

“Not having fun?” I grin. “Come on, it’s only for an hour or so.”

“I don’t want curly hair. Or a dress,” she adds grumbling.

“Then don’t,” I roll my eyes and start looking through the rack. “See?” I show her the skinny jeans. “Yours have holes. These don’t. Then… wear this,” I offer a long plaid shirt.

“It’s red,” she wrinkles her nose. “Don’t they have anything black? Gray, even?”

“Fine,” I roll my eyes and then after a minute, I find this baby blue shirt that has black bats on it. “See? There’s black on it. And here’s some shoes that aren’t old like yours,” I shove black converse her way. “Now go change, Bay.”

She keeps the unhappy look on her face but she doesn’t say a thing as she finds the curtain and spends a few minutes changing. I take the moment to find a hippie headband thingy in black with a feather hanging down, and grab a hair and make-up artist.

Bay comes out as I explain what to do. “Her hair’s going to be straight, okay? You can fluff it a little if you want, but remember she is with us and she likes the straight hair stuff. Make up is only enough to be fine on camera, with smoky eyes. No lipstick, got it? Nothing more than that.”

They drag Bailey off and just in time they bring her back, looking fabulous. I grin. “See? It’s not too bad at all.” I grab her arm and lead her on set with what’s-her-name… what? So sue me, I don’t watch this shoe. I don’t care about other people’s lives that much, and yeah.

“We’re on in five, four, three,” and the camera man mouths the last two numbers silently but with hand signals.