We All Fall Down

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Alex's POV

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He stood there for a while, watching as Mia's car left his driveway and turned onto the street, the bright headlights shadowing across his figure.

What had he just done?

Slowly, Alex turned to head back into the house, pushing away the thoughts that had washed over him earlier. What had possessed him to ask Mia to do such a thing? Not go to Paris? Not leave him?

He felt like such an idiot. Like a child that was begging his mommy to stay with him on the first day of school. And who was he to treat Mia like his mother? She wasn't his mother, nor would she ever be any sort of motherly figure to him in the near future.

She was his best friend.

But as he remembered the way he had held her, the way she had felt in his arms and how she had fit there so perfectly in his embrace, he felt as though his feelings for her as a best friend was beginning to change.

Then what would that make her to him?

Alex climbed up the stairs, skipping a couple in the process while he was pondering and almost trampled his way up them.

He reached his room and saw that Lena was already in there, standing alone.

Alex began making his way over towards her, preparing to put his arms around her waist from behind when he realized where she was standing. She was dangerously close to the window. Which was open.

He stopped, staring at the back of her.

The last girl that he had watched like this, the back of her, and felt that deep sinking feeling in the bottom of his gut, was Holly Sherwood.

It wasn't Suzie, it wasn't Maria, and it wasn't Mia.

It was Holly.

"Should I be worried about us?" she asked him, still facing the open window.

Alex stood there, watching Lena as he had watched Holly.

He sighed.

"No."

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End of POV

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A month had passed by and I found myself preparing for Paris.

I finished up the last of my work for school and began cleaning up my desk. Things were beginning to grow hectic and it was becoming overwhelming. I saw less and less of Jack and that was hard, but somehow, I was able to make it through. Even without my pillar of support by my side.

But I guess you could say the real reason why things weren't as hard as before was because I had stopped talking to Alex. Within only four months, the both of us had gone from the best of friends straight to barely there acquaintances. I stayed true to my vow, and refrained from ever talking to him again. It just wasn't worth it anymore. My feelings for the boy was wasted and the time I had spent over a span of four or five years was left forgotten.

Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I had given into him that day, standing in his driveway. Would he have told me what I've been waiting for this whole time--and not add the best friend part to it?

But I knew, deep down, that nothing would've changed if I had stayed. I would once again become under his wing, hiding in the shadows of Alex Gaskarth and being walked all over like a welcome doormat, or a poor and pathetic lost puppy that has lost its way. I didn't want any of those things.

For me, I just wanted to follow my own path and not follow the one that Alex took just because he was the one walking on it. I want my own life. Not the one that was formed by adjusting everything to compensate a boy's.

A stupid, stupid, stupid, boy.

"Mia bear!"

I looked up to see that Jack had entered my dorm with the spare key I had lent him. He came over towards my room, settling on my bed and setting down two large paper brown bags.

"I brought a little sustinence!" he announced, ripping one open.

I shooed him off my bed, forcing him towards the newly cleaned desk. He pouted, sitting down on my swivel chair and pulling out a cup of soup.

"Panera?" I asked, folding some of my shirts to pack in my suitcase.

He nodded. "I know you like their bread and soup."

I thought about this before shrugging and saying, "That's true."

I sat on the desk, ripping the other bag open and pulling out a couple of sandwiches. He handed me a spoon and pulled off the lid of the cup for me.

We sat there, eating.

"Are you excited for France?" asked Jack.

I turned to him and nodded.

"Yeah. It's all really overwhelming. I can't believe in just two days, I'll be heading off to a whole 'nother continent. It's exciting."

He smiled at me. "You're really just gonna go, then?"

"Of course. Why would I?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

Jack shook his head, taking a drink of his lemonade.

"I just thought you would want to stay for Alex's wedding."

I crumpled up the napkin in my hand and took a bite out of my sandwich, turning away from him. I could feel the knuckles of my hand turning white already.

"You know for a fact that I wouldn't be caught dead at a wedding. Especially in Vegas."

Jack began laughing, choking on his sandwich as I said this. He pounded his fist into the desk, trying to shake the laughter off but failed.

Finally, he breathed and started saying, "I can't believe they're getting married in Sin City! It's crazy...Alex is trying to convince Lena to have an Elvis impersonator do the entire ceremony."

"And of course she said no," I muttered, thinking of how much an idiot they both were.

"Well, yeah," replied Jack, taking another bite of his tuna salad sandwich. "But it would've been funny."

I glared at him.

He looked away, biting into his sandwich all nonchalantly.

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"You've got your ticket?"

"Yep," I replied, holding it up and waving it in the air.

"Passport?"

I flipped it open, revealing the hideous picture I had taken two weeks earlier and waved that one around as well. "Ready and all."

Jack took it out of my hands and looked down at it.

"You were born in West Virginia?" he asked.

I nodded. "My parents were visiting some old family there when my mom just popped."

He made a face. "Ew."

I laughed, pushing him away. "I'm ready, I'm ready! Alright? Are you done with your thorough inspection Mr. Barakat? I'd like to get on the plane before it leaves without me."

He looked at me seriously before pulling me into a tight hug. I laughed, hugging him back.

"You'll call, right?" he asked, burying himself into my hair.

"The moment I touch down, I'll give you a ring. But who knows what time that'll be with the time difference and all--"

"I don't care!" he shouted. "You have to promise me that you'll call!" He had pulled away from me, both hands on my shoulders and staring straight at me.

I sighed.

"I'll call you. Definitely."

He smiled sadly at me and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Have fun, kid," he said, pushing me towards the gates.

I looked back at him, waving before I went through security.

I was piling my bags and things onto the conveyor belt, getting ready to go through the metal detectors.

As I pulled out my keys and phone and placed it in one of the plastic baskets and onto the belt, I got ready to walk past the detector.

Until I heard someone shout my name.

I stopped, gasping slightly.

Slowly, I turned around to face him.