This Is What Happens When Love Meets Destruction

Stepping out of the shower, I grabbed one towel, wrapping it tightly around my body before I grabbed a second one and used it to wrap up my hair. Sighing quietly to myself, I reached over and wiped away the steam that had collected on the mirror while I was in the shower. Just as I pulled away, I heard a soft knock on the bathroom door, followed by my brother, Casey's tired voice.

"Vinnie, telephone." He called through the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"I think its Alex." Casey replied. "Hurry up, my Top Ramen noodles are boiling over in the kitchen." He added.

Making sure the towel was still secured around me, I opened the door and grabbed the phone from my brother. Shooing him away with the wave of my hand, I closed the door and leaned against the counter top as I held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Vinnie." Alex said softly. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, just getting ready." I replied. "What are you doing? You're not already at the theater are you?"

"Oh, no, no." He said quietly. "I um ... actually called to tell you - "

"That you can't make it?" I mumbled.

"Vinnie, I'm sorry." He whispered. "Amy asked me to go to - "

"Save it Alex, I don't care to know what you two are running off to do." I frowned.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. "But, maybe tomorrow we can - "

"I don't want to do anything with you now, Alex." I said stubbornly. "I hate you."

"Victoria, you don't mean that." Alex whispered sadly.

I hesitated for a moment, thinking to myself before I replied. "No, I don't." I finally admitted. "But keep up this shit and I will hate you very soon."

"Victoria, I'm sorry, tomorrow, I promise you we'll go do something."

"You don't have to promise me anything, Alex." I mumbled. "After all, I'm not your girlfriend."

Not waiting for him to reply, I hung up the phone and threw it down angrily onto the countertop. I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't jealous of Alex spending so much time with Amy, because I really was. Before the start of the school year, Alex hadn't even spent any time alone with Amy, but now, it seemed like I haven't even seen him at all, apart from the classes we had together.

After all this time that I've had feelings for Alex, everything seemed to happen in a blur. First he admitted his feelings to me, and then I admitted my feelings to him, and then he admits that he's already dating someone else in an attempt to get over me. Strange and confusing, this whole ordeal was driving me mad.

Picking the phone back up, I turned it on and quickly dialed the number to Lauren's house, hoping that she was still there, and hadn't taken off with her family anywhere. Thankfully she was still home, and already awake, and she agreed to meet me in a few minutes at the movie theater.

I hung up with her and put on some basic makeup, nothing too fancy, just some eyeliner and mascara. After I was done, I hurried down the hallway to my room to get dressed. In record time I was dressed and ready to go. As I passed the living room, I called out to whoever was left in the house, telling them where I would be, and then I grabbed my keys, heading out the door.

By the time I got to the movie theater Lauren was already waiting for me out front. I quickly parked and went to join her at the ticket booth. Seeing the unhappy look on my face, Lauren tilted her head to the side a bit and her pretty smile turned into a frown.

"Victoria Isabella, what's wrong?" She asked. "I knew by your tone on the phone that you were upset, but I didn't think it'd be this bad." She said sadly.

"It's nothing." I mumbled, making a move to pass her, but she stood in front of me, blocking my way.

She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed me with her hazel stare. "What is it?" She asked. When I didn't reply, she sighed softly. "I think I know what it is." Raising an eyebrow, she nodded her head. "You're upset because Alex is with Amy." She said simply.

"That's ... partly true." I said. "I'm really upset because last night Alex and I made plans to go to the movies today, but just a little while ago he calls me up and tells me he's not going to be able to make it because Amy asked him to do something else." I frowned. "I would be cool with it if it were the first time it's happened, but it's not. I've hardly even seen him these past couple of weeks."

"Sweetheart, you gotta take it easy on him." Lauren sighed. "I mean, I know you hate Amy's guts, but if being with her makes Alex happy, don't you think you should cut him some slack?"

As we stood there looking at each other, I had a sudden urge to spill everything out to Lauren. About how I really felt about Alex, about what really happened a little over a week ago, about how Alex had held me in his arms and kissed me so passionately, and then pulled away from me only to tell me that he had a girlfriend. I mean, Lauren was my best friend after all. So why wasn't it that I couldn't bring myself to tell her something like this?

Well, partly because I was so humiliated by the whole thing. I mean, once you think about it, the whole thing sort of sounds like some kind of plotline that goes down in those cheesy, lame ass soap operas that they play during the daytime. And, I'm honestly not too sure as to what the other part of the reason was that I didn't tell Lauren.

Giving me a soft smile, Lauren reached over and took a hold of my hand. "So what do you say, Vinnie?" She asked. "Cut Alex some slack?"

Reluctantly, I nodded my head.

"Okay, now come on, let's go catch our movie before it starts." She said, nudging me toward the ticket booth.

After we bought our movie tickets, I tried my hardest to leave my foul mood at the entrance and followed Lauren to the concession stand. We bought our popcorn and some drinks, and then went to the theater that was playing our movie. While we waited for it to start, we chatted about random things, about school, about volleyball, about the Homecoming dance that would be taking place in about a month's time.

Finally, the theater dimmed and the movie previews began to play on the screen. Quieting down, Lauren and I turned our attention to the screen and watched silently. Soon, the previews were over, and the opening credits began to flash across the screen as the movie started.

Adjusting myself slightly to get a little more comfortable, I propped my arm up on the arm rest and brought my legs up onto the seat. Just then, someone scooted their way along the row of seats and decided to sit down right beside me. Frowning slightly, I started to move away from them, but stopped myself short when I looked up, recognizing who it was.

"Alex?" I whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Alex smiled in response and leaned over, whispering into my ear. "I missed you, so I ditched out on Amy and came to watch a movie with you, like I said I would."

At his words, a satisfied smile began to pull across my lips.

"Well," I said slowly, "I'm glad you did."

Alex laughed softly and nodded his head before he reached over, placing a soft kiss on my cheek. Needless to say, as soon as I felt the soft touch of his lips pressed to my skin once again, it sent my heart beating wildly within my chest. He let his lips linger on my cheek for a couple of seconds before he pulled away and replied, "I’m glad I did too."

With that, he turned his brown eyes to the screen, and I glanced at Lauren out of the corner of my eye, seeing that she was so completely engrossed in the movie that she hadn't even realized Alex had joined us. Biting my lip slightly, I directed my attention to the movie as well.

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

"Alex, I swear I didn't even see you sitting there until halfway through the movie." Lauren laughed as we emerged outside, facing the theater parking lot. "You have some major sneaking skills."

"I guess so." Alex grinned before he looked around the parking lot. "So, where are we off to now ladies?" He asked.

Beside me, Lauren glanced at her watch and sighed quietly to herself. "I don't know about you two, but as for me, I'm heading home. I promised my dad that I'd watch the twins for the rest of the day, starting at 4 o'clock; it's 3:50 right now."

"Well, I guess we'll see you later then." I replied.

Lauren told Alex and me goodbye, and I watched her disappear across the parking lot before I turned back to Alex. "So where to now, Gaskarth?" I asked.

Alex wrinkled his nose a bit, thinking to himself before a little smile cross his lips. "Let's go play laser tag." He said. "Come on, we haven't been there in a long time." He insisted.

"Alex, we were there a week before school started." I laughed. "It's been three weeks at the most."

"Well, you don't want that to turn into four weeks, do you?" He teased. "Come on."

"Alright, let's go then." I agreed. "Are we taking my car or yours?"

"We'll take mine, its right over here."

Taking me by the hand, Alex led me around to the side of the building and to his car. Opening my door for me, he waited until I was buckled in before he shut the door, and then went around to the other side, climbing in behind the wheel. Soon, we were on our way across town to one of our favorite hang outs. We were surprised when we had arrived there, to find that it wasn't as busy as it usually was.

Alex and I went to pay for our 'round' and then took a seat on the bench, waiting for our turn. We were able to pass the time by making small talk, talking about anything and everything except for one person. However, just as I thought he was never going to bring her up, Alex cleared his throat slightly and laughed quietly to himself.

"You know, if Amy were to see us here, she'd probably have a heart attack." He said.

Scowling, I gave Alex a dirty look and then shook my head in disgust. "Why? Has she told you never to hang out with me again or something?"

"No, no, not like that." Alex mumbled. "It's just ... she doesn't really take interest in a lot of the things I do ... that we do." He said, motioning back and forth between him and myself. "It's strange, because you two are first cousins, but you don't really have any interests in common. Never in a million years would I be able to get her to agree to go with me to the arcade, or even to play some laser tag."

"You know, when we were younger, we used to be the best of friends." I said quietly, gazing down to my hands that were folded neatly in my lap. "But, somewhere along the lines, we ended up hating each other. We weren't always like this. We used to go everywhere together, we used to do everything together. I don't know what happened." I frowned. "But now, she's become someone I don't know."

Alex was silent for a moment or two, before he took a deep breath and let it out in a quiet sigh. A second later, his hand came into my view, and I watched as it gently slipped into one of my own, holding it tightly. Biting my lip slightly, I glanced up at Alex and found him to be just a few inches away from me.

"I know that Amy is a lot different than you, Victoria, and I know that she can never be you, but she's helping me get over you; just barely though." He whispered.

"Well," I muttered, "good for her, and good for you."

Frowning, Alex shook his head. "I wish she were you, though; I want her to be you."

"You know you can have me, Alex." I said quietly. "All you have to do is ask me, and you can have me, just like that. It's not as complicated as you're making it sound."

Alex studied me momentarily and then leaned over, kissing my lips gently. Keeping them there for a few seconds, he pulled away and then brought a hand up, running it through my hair. "I can't." He said simply.

Growling lowly, I pulled away from him, and pushed his hand away from mine. "You gotta stop doing that." I mumbled.

"Stop what?"

"Stop with the kissing me shit," I snapped as I pointed an accusing finger at him, "you have a girlfriend, stop kissing me."

"I'm sorry." He whispered, "but I can't help it."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head slightly.

"Honestly, Vinnie, you have no idea how much I like you," he mumbled, "I can't just go cold turkey for you overnight."

"You have a girlfriend, Alex; it's wrong." I insisted. "No matter who it is, no one deserves their boyfriend to be running around, kissing other girls."

Frowning, Alex shrugged his shoulders and muttered a few incoherent words under his breath. Luckily, at that moment, the group we were waiting on were finally done with their round of laser tag, and the guy behind the counter called Alex and I over to go and get our things. With our 'show down' getting ready to start, I tried to focus on putting my gear on, and tried not to think about how things would be if Alex had instead asked me to be his girlfriend.