This Is What Happens When Love Meets Destruction

Dialing in the last number to my locker combination, I heard the lock click and I pulled it off of the locker. Sitting down on the bench in front of the lockers, I opened the door to my own locker and reached inside, pulling out my belongings. Slowly, I kicked off my volleyball shoes and my kneepads, throwing them into my locker before I slid my feet into my worn pair of skateboard shoes.

Although I had no idea how to skateboard, I still loved their style of shoes. Alex teases me endlessly about my style, especially because he was there when one of our friends 'attempted' to teach me how to skateboard.

Ah ... Alex.

The good mood that I had been able to build up during the duration of volleyball practice was instantly severed as I recalled Amy's conversation with me just a couple of hours prior. She had her greedy little eye on Alex, and there was nothing that I could say or do to stop her.

Shaking my head as if to shake away the hurtful words she had spat at me, I pulled my backpack on and kicked my locker shut, making sure to fix the lock on it before I left. On the way out of the locker room some of my friends bid me goodbye and I replied with an appropriate response. Before long, I emerged from the side entrance of the gym that was right next to the main parking lot of the school. Wanting nothing more than to go home and take a nice, long shower, I started off toward the road to make the long walk back to my house.

I had barely taken five steps, though, when a familiar voice called out my name, asking me to wait for them. I stopped in my tracks and looked over my shoulder to see Alex jogging toward me, waving at me as if I hadn't already seen him.

I raised my hand and waved back to him, a smile slowly pulling across my lips. My smile faltered ever so slightly though, when Amy came into my view as well, catching a hold of Alex's arm to stop him.

"Hey Alex," she smiled, causing him to turn his gaze to her, "how was your first day of class?"

"Oh, it was pretty good." Alex replied. "How was yours?"

"It was great," Amy said, flipping some of her unnaturally auburn hair over her shoulder, "listen, are you doing anything right now? Do you maybe want to head over to Starbucks or something and grab something to drink?"

"Actually, I already had plans to steal your cousin away, Amy." Alex said, pulling his arm out of her grip. "Maybe some other time?" Much to my pleasure, a sour look spread across Amy's face when Alex didn't even wait for her response, but rather started to make his way toward me once more.

I gave him another smile and adjusted my bag a little before I went to meet him.

"Hey Vinnie," he grinned, "all done with practice?" He asked.

"Yup, all done for the day." I said. "What the heck are you still doing here? I thought you'd be home right about now, sleeping, fuckin' around with your guitar, or making out with your boyfriend Barakat."

"I'd bet you'd pass out from the excitement if I made out with Barakat, huh?" Alex laughed. "Actually, I already went home, but I came back here to pick you up."

"Pick me up for what?" I asked quizzically.

"Because Jack and I want you to listen to our new song that I was telling you about, and then maybe after that we can go out and grab some dinner or something." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, I have to go home to take a shower and change real fast, Alex." I said. "I'm all sweaty and I'm still in my practice clothes." I added, motioning to my pair of spandex shorts, and my tight fitting tank top.

"You mean you don't want to parade around in that," Alex said, nodding to my outfit as well, "in front of me and Jack?" A fake sound of hurt shone in his voice as he put his hand over his heart. "But, the view is absolutely amazing ... are you sure you don't want to have a night out on the town in that?"

"Alex, shut the hell up," I grinned, hitting his arm. "I need to shower, and change."

"Vinnie, you can just shower at my house." Alex insisted as he draped an arm across my shoulders. "You still have a couple of outfits that you left there when you spent the weekend with us."

I laughed as he steered me toward the parking lot, where I saw his car to be sitting in its usual spot by the main gate. "Alex, that was like two years ago; I highly doubt I can fit those clothes anymore."

"Why not?" Alex asked. "It's not as if you've put on an extreme amount of weight between the time you spent the night and now."

"Alex," I groaned. I wanted to keep arguing with him, but I knew it was a battle I would ultimately lose, so I didn't say anything more during the remainder of the walk to his car. At his car, he politely opened the passenger side door for me and took my backpack while I climbed inside. After throwing my backpack into the backseat, Alex shut my door and went around taking his place behind the wheel.

Before long, we had left behind the parking lot of the school, and were well on our way to Alex's house. We exchanged a light amount of small talk, not discussing anything too serious throughout the ride, and soon we were slowing to a stop in the driveway of Alex's house. Parked near the garage, I recognized Jack's black and silver scooter that he had bought during the summer.

"Your parents aren't home yet?" I asked as we climbed out of the car.

Alex shook his head. "They're out of town for a couple of days." He said simply.

With that, Alex linked his arm with mine, pulling me to the front door. After we got inside, Alex led me straight to his room where Jack was sitting on the floor, flipping through the latest issue of Playboy. He glanced up when he saw me enter, and then hastily tried to hide the magazine underneath Alex's dirty clothes pile as soon as he realized who I was.

"Hey, what's up Vinnie?" He asked, trying to keep his tone casual.

"Nothing much," I grinned, "how about you, Jack?" I asked. "Catching up on some reading?" I suggested, nodding to the partially hidden Playboy on the floor.

Jack laughed nervously, his cheeks flushing a light shade of pink. "Uh ... nice outfit." He said, trying to change the subject. Needless to say, he succeeded and I put a hand on my hip, turning back to Alex.

"Where're my clothes at?" I asked.

He held up a finger, signaling for me to wait while he walked to his closet and opened it up. He searched through his things for a minute or two before he finally pulled out a denim miniskirt and my favorite Good Charlotte shirt that I had thought I had lost. He tossed them over to me before he closed his closet, and then turned to a separate pile of laundry that was by his desk. Digging through it, he pulled out a towel and threw it to me.

I caught it and eyed it hesitantly before looking back to Alex.

"Don't worry," he said, "my mom just ran these through the wash for me."

Without another word to either of them, I turned around and made my way down the hallway to the bathroom. I took a quick shower, just rinsing my body off and washing my hair with Alex's good smelling shampoo. Within a few minutes, I was completely dried, fully dressed, and heading back to Alex's room. When I walked into the room, Alex and Jack stopped their conversation in mid-sentence and turned to watch me as I sat down on Alex's bed.

"Don't mind me," I said, putting my hands up as if in defense, "please, carry on."

Neither of them said anything else, but rather went to grab their guitars.

"We've just finished writing this last night, so you're the first person we're playing it for." Jack said, flashing me his quirky smile before looking back down to his guitar.

"I feel honored." I replied as I stretched out across the bed.

Alex looked up at me, examining me with a distance look for a few seconds. It seemed as if he wanted to open his mouth and say something else to me, but rather thought better of it, and then soon turned his attention back to his guitar. Soon, they started their song, which didn't have any words, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the sound of it.

When they finished, a few minutes later, I sighed softly and wished that they'd start playing it over again.

"I loved it." I said quietly.

"There're words to it, but, they're not really finished it yet." Alex said shyly.

"You should sing to me whatever you have so far." I said, opening my eyes to find Alex sitting in the same spot, his eyes downcast as he turned his guitar pick over and over in his fingers.

He glanced up at me, giving me a half smile as he shook his head. "I'll sing it to you when it's done." He smiled. "I promise."

"Alright," I said, "I'm holding you to that."

Alex laughed softly to himself as he stood up and set his guitar aside. While Jack followed suit and turned the amps off, Alex crossed his room and held his hand out to me, helping me up. "You ready to go get some dinner?"

I nodded my head and Alex gave me a little wink as he tightened his hand around mine, leading me from the room and through his house. Jack followed close behind, but bid us goodbye when Alex and I stopped by the kitchen. I had to wait for Alex to search for the grocery list his mom had left for him before we headed out of the house and back down the sidewalk to the driveway.

"Where do you want to eat, Vinnie?" He asked, gazing up into the bright blue sky.

His question was simple enough, but there was something about his voice that made it seem as if he had something else on his mind. I looked up at him, tilting my head to the side as I examined his distant expression, but it was no use. I had no idea what was going through the boys mind at the moment.

So instead, I tightened my hand around his ever so slightly and sighed softly. "I don't know, Alex." I mumbled. "We don't even have to go eat dinner; I don't have my wallet or any money on me."

"I'll pay for it." Alex offered. "I mean ... that's what I was thinking anyway when I suggested we'd go out to dinner." He said, shrugging it off in a nonchalant way.

"You don't have to, Alex."

"Come on, Victoria," he said, a little smile pulling across his lips as he pronounced my real name, "it can be a date."

My heart leaped involuntarily into my throat, and I had to swallow numerous times to get it back into place, and regain full use of my vocal cords. "A date date?" I asked hesitantly.

Alex finally turned his gaze from the sky and looked down at me. "Yeah," he grinned, "a date date."

"Well, okay then." I said, returning a soft smile.

Alex didn't say anything else, but held his smile as he opened the passenger side door for me once again, and then waited patiently for me to get inside before he closed it. I bit my lip as I watched him cross in front of the car and couldn't help but wonder what the rest of the day had in store for us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Alex held tightly to the bill as we stood in line at the front of the restaurant, waiting to pay for our meal. Finally, the rather large group of people in front of us finished paying and stepped out of the way so that Alex could pay. Alex handed the bill over to the cashier and waited for him to ring up the total.

"Thirty-four seventy five, sir." The cashier said in a lazy voice. Alex held up his bank card, and the cashier sighed softly. "Credit or debt sir?"

"Debt." Alex replied and the cashier pressed a button on the register before nodding to Alex, indicating for him to slide his card through. After he did that, he entered his PIN number, and then got his receipt from the cashier.

Thanking the cashier softly, Alex shoved his card back into his pocket before he reached over, gently sliding his hand into my own. I bit my lip and slowly turned my gaze in his direction. I didn't have to be so sly about it, though, because Alex was currently looking the other way, examining the various pictures that were decorating the walls.

The entire time, it seems as if Alex had been sending me mixed signals. The way he would look at me sometimes made me feel as if we were there as more than just friends ... he looked at me like we were actually dating, like I was the only person in the entire room that he saw. The way he would talk to me sometimes was as if he was carefully choosing his words, only picking the ones that would praise me to no end. The way he smiled at me sometimes, was the smile he'd reserve for only his happiest of thoughts. He made me feel like he was actually longing for us to be more than just friends ...

But other times, he'd fall back into his carefree character, talking animatedly about random things, chatting about other songs he and Jack we working on, bugging me about what other guys in my senior class I should give a chance to. What little interest he would show in being with me like 'that' would be squashed by his suggestions of different guys I could ask to the upcoming Homecoming dance.

It's a known fact that teenage boys are confusing, but Alex Gaskarth was by far the most confusing boy I had ever known.

When we stepped outside, I found that the sun was just beginning to set, painting the rest of the sky a mixture of red, pink, orange and yellow colors.

"The sunset is beautiful tonight." Alex whispered beside me.

"Yes, it is." I agreed. "Very beautiful."

"I had fun tonight, Vinnie." Alex said softly, causing me to turn my gaze to him. "Well, I always have fun whenever I'm with you, but ... " He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he gave me a small smile.

"I had fun tonight too, Alex," I replied, "You're a pretty good date."

"Yeah?" Alex grinned.

I nodded my head. "Surprisingly, yes, you are." I laughed.

"Why does that surprise you?" Alex asked with a hint of laughter in his own voice.

"Because, you're Alex Gaskarth, I've known you for a while now, and not once did I ever get the impression that you could be such a good date." I grinned.

Alex laughed quietly before he reached up with his freehand, caressing the side of my face. I shivered slightly as his soft touch brushed against my skin, and it was all I could do not to lean into his touch, giving away how much I really wanted him.

Then, without warning, he leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine, catching me in a gentle kiss.