Don't Make This Easy, I Want You to Mean It.

The car took a u-turn and soon we were speeding along the highway toward Towson, and on to God only knows where. Alex hadn't said a word to me about what I had told him besides his initial reaction. He was starting to scare me. I had never seen him like this before. It scared me more than anything I could possibly think of. The thought of Alex being mad at me was almost enough to kill me.
"Where are we going?" I whispered.
"The beach," was his simple reply. He didn't take his eyes off the road when he spoke to me. He wouldn't look at me. I knew this had been a bad idea. I needed to learn to say no to Alex Gaskarth. I suppose not saying no had landed me here in the first place. This week with Alex had been more than I could have hoped for. But that's all it was; one tiny, insignificant week that would hold nothing over anyone but myself in the years, even months, to come. Alex would erase it from his mind. The All Time Low boys would forget I existed. And Marissa and Jack would only remember what went down with them. I, on the other hand, would force myself to cling onto every detail of it. Every moment spent with Alex; and every night falling to sleep with a smile of my face. I'm going to stumble and fall every time another memory becomes blurred. He's the first guy that actually made me feel like I was something special. He wasn't just filling in my time until something better came along; he was that something better. I supposed that was how he worked, turning the girl into a fool until he was done with her. The constant comments on how much Alex liked me and the constant promises he made to me now felt like nothing but a cheap lie. One I had gone for hook, line and sinker. I couldn't believe I had been tricked into believing any of it.
"If you're going to start screaming at me for being selfish, do it now. I don't need extra time with you after that," I snarled. It was true. I don't need extra time with people who don't like me, no matter how much time I wanted with Alex.
"I'm only going to start shouting if you give me another reason to. We need to talk," he replied, looking at me for the first time in this part of our journey. I would have let out a sigh of relief if it had not been a dead give away of how much this was affecting me. The car pulled into the lot, facing the ocean. I got out as fast as I could, sitting on the wall with my feet scraping along the sand below. I heard my car door lock and Alex sat down next to me. The beach was completely deserted, which was only to be expected for this time of year. It was nice.
"Why did you lie to me?" Alex asked, his voice so low I could barely hear it over the sound of the waves.
"I didn't."
"You told me you were out o- Ah. June's place isn't in town. Smart."
"I'm glad you got it; Jack never."
"Jack knew?!"
"So did Marissa. It's why I fell out with him the other day."
"You fell out with Jack because of me?"
"Actually, I fell out with him over my refusal to tell you."
"Why didn't you tell me before? You've had so many chances to tell me this week."
"Like I said; I didn't dare. I was terrified that you were going to reject me. I don't think I could have handled you rejecting me. Rejection in general? Fine. Rejection from you? God, I don't even know how I'd cope. I make it sound like I've known you forever, but I like you. I like you a lot. More than just a lot."
"I would never, ever reject you. Surely someone must have told you that."
"A lot of people have, I just didn't believe them. Boys want one of two things from me; a quick fuck or friendship. And before Monday the only boy that ever asked for friendship was Jack."
"Can I make a third option?"
"If you want."
"Option three: They want you to be theirs." He ran his hands through his hair. "Your effect on guys is like mine on girls. You have no idea how many guys talk about actually being with you in the locker room. Sure, some just talk about hooking up, but mostly they want you. Haven't you noticed them staring?"
"I always thought they were staring because of the latest gossip run."
"Some are. But, Holly, haven't you realised?"
"Realised what?"
"Hols, I'm part of the third option." I couldn't do anything but stare at him. I had no words to say. It was taking half of my effort to refrain from calling him a liar and the rest to stop myself from basically jumping on him. "Holly? Say something."
"Alex, please, don't be messing with me. You have no idea how much that means to me."
"I've never lied to you, and I'm pretty sure I never will." I smiled and pressed my lips to his. "Holly?"
"Yeah?" I asked, forehead pressed to his.
"Be my girlfriend?"
"I can't believe you even thought you had to ask. Of course I will."
"How corny are we?"
"Sickeningly so." I checked my watch: 7:32. "We better get back. Marissa will think I'm dead," I laughed.
"Fuck, I forgot about that. I reckon Jack has been spamming my phone." And so he had. Only it wasn't just him. Zack, Rian and Kara had all tried calling Alex, too. Marissa and Jack were the only numbers on my phone. But the amount Marissa had text and called soon added up to almost as much as the three others that had tried Alex. Alex typed in Jack's number and hit the call button, pressing the speaker as well.
"DUDE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Jack screamed.
"Is Jasey with him?!" I heard from Marissa in the background. I felt bad for her; I had panicked her so much without giving Alex's actions a second thought.
"Yeah, she is. Look, we're heading back from the beach now," he told them, starting my engine.
"Put Jasey on now!" Marissa demanded. I suppose we were on speaker phone, too. I heard the laughter of several other people, so I assumed the others were also with them.
"You're on speaker," he laughed.
"What the fuck, Jasey?!"
"He was driving! I told him and he took me to the beach!"
"YOU TOLD HIM?!" Both she and Jack screamed.
"She told him what?" A voice I presumed to be Kara asked.
"What did he say?!" Marissa squealed, obviously ignoring Kara's question.
"I told her to let me have my way with her again in the sand. I wanted her sober," Alex chuckled.
"You fucked her drunk?!" Another voice I knew to be Zack's shouted.
"I told you we'd do it Gaskarth style."
"Fuck, dude, you're one lucky man!"
"Zack, you do remember you're on speaker, right?"
"Fuck." I laughed.
"Really though, what happened?" Jack asked.
"I explained why I didn't tell her before and why I left this morn-"
"You fucked him last night?!"
"Er, yeah... But I forgot who I got with and didn't want to check what dweeb had put his head under the pillow!"
"You did not just call me a dweeb."
"I so did."
"You're going to pay."
"You can't stay mad at me."
"Pfft, can too." I pouted.
"But Alexxxx!"
"Stop pulling that face at me!"
"Fine. I suppose if you're mad at me you won't mind if I don't kiss you."
"Whoa, hold up. Too far."
"No, you're mad. You don't want kisses."
"But Hollyyyy!"
"Are you in a good mood with me?"
"If it means I get a kiss, yeah."
"You're using me for kisses!"
"Will you two stop being cute at each other and explain what went down?!"
"Holly did."
"ALEX!" Marissa and I screamed.
"Kidding, babe," he laughed, kissing me swiftly as he stopped at a set of lights.
"'Babe'?! Alex, you did not just say that!" Jack exclaimed.
"Er, I didn't?"
"You asked her out?!"
"Erm, yeah..."
"Why didn't you say so?!"
"That would have come in my explanation if you and Alex had let me give one."
"You could have given an explanation if you tried hard enough," Alex shrugged.
"I'm not rude like some people. Everyone was too busy listening to your dirty remarks."
"You'll survive. Look, guys, we'll be at the apartment in about 10 minutes. We can hear your comments then."
"We're at Rian's."
"Even better, we'll be there in 5." He ended the call and quickly pushed his phone back into his pocket.
"You realise we'll have that times a hundred tomorrow, right?"
"Times a thousand," he corrected. I sighed. "You're lucky you have me to get you through it."
"Can't I just kill myself now?"
"Am I not good enough now?!"
"Well, yeah, but those girls are going to eat me alive!"
"At least you're not going to be beaten up by tough guys for stealing the only chance they had at getting laid."
"They only had a chance if they got me as shit-faced as I got myself last night." He laughed and we pulled up outside Rian's to the sight of five annoyed looking friends.