Dark Scene of the Crime

Alex’s POV

It had been two weeks since Rowan and I had started talking again. Everything was great now. She stayed at my house every night, and almost all of her clothes were at my house. My mom had come to love her and thought she was the sweetest girl in the world. Jack, Rian, and Zack had become accustomed to having her at band practice and were coming to love her too. We had become even closer now. We always held hands, we kissed a lot, and we cuddled in bed every night and fell asleep in each other’s arms. It was almost like we were a couple, except we weren’t.

“Dude why don’t you just ask her out?” Zack asked. We were currently in my room. Rowan was at the high school helping the future freshmen on their soccer skills. She had been on the varsity soccer team all throughout high school. I hadn’t even known she played until she left one night to go help the kids.

“I don’t know Jack, I just can’t,” I told him.

“Well you can’t just lead her on. She isn’t like your other girlfriends, Alex. She has real feelings. And she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. You’re dealing with someone really sensitive,” he said. “She’s a really sweet and cool girl, and I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“I know and I’m not leading her on. I just can’t ask her out yet. But I do plan to take her on warped tour with us.”

“Then why don’t you call her and ask her?” he suggested. I nodded and grabbed my phone, dialing Rowan’s number. I put the phone to my ear and waited. On about the ninth ring, I was ready to just give up, but then she answered.

“Hello?” A wide smiled spread across my face at the sound of her voice.

“Hey babe,” I said. Zack’s body tightened up and I sent him a quizzical look.

“Hey.”

“I have something to tell you.”

“Go for it.”

“All Time Low is going on warped tour this summer,” I told her.

“That’s amazing!”

“I know,” I took a deep breath, “And we want you to come with us.”

“Are you serious?!”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“That’s so cool.”

“Does that mean you’ll go?”

“Well duh, of course I’ll go!” I smiled.

“Great.”

“Well I have to finish up with these kids, so I’ll be back in about an hour, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Bye.”

“Later,” I said as I hung up the phone. “I love you,” I whispered. Zack’s body tightened up even more. I looked at him. “You okay dude?”

“Perfectly fine,” he said stiffly.

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” he snapped. “Now I gotta get home.” I nodded as he stood up, a confused expression laced across my features as he exited my room.

About an hour and a half later, I was sitting alone on my bed. I was staring at Rowan’s backpack, which was sitting in the corner of the room. We had graduated 3 days ago, so she didn’t really need it anymore. Next to it, was her camera; she was really into photography. Next to her camera was a pile of papers. I walked across the room and picked up the pile of papers. It consisted of a paintings. The first two on the top were the two she had shown me when we first met. She was really good at painting. I flipped through the other pictures; they were all great too. I set the paintings back down on the floor before I grabbed her camera. Turning it on, I went to the pictures and flipped through them. The first few were of the sky and close up of trees and rabbits and flowers. She was really good at taking pictures. She had a close up of a dandy lion that was slightly bent from the wind, and looked professional. After I had gone through the pictures of the outdoors, I came across pictures of people. The first picture was a picture of herself sitting by a window in a room. I was guessing that it was her room at her dad’s house, and that she had set the camera down to take a picture. Once again, the picture looked professional. The next one was of me. I wasn’t even looking at the camera. In fact, I didn’t remember taking the picture. She must have taken it with me without me knowing it. In the picture, I was outside and I was laughing. She caught a picture of me looking really happy; she was really talented. The next couple ones were of me, too. She actually had quite a few pictures of me. She even had a couple from band practice. Another picture was me sitting on my bed playing my acoustic guitar. I remembered that. I was playing for her, I just didn’t know she was taking pictures. I moved to the next picture. This one was of mine and her hands. They were intertwined together, and she had a close up of it. It looked like something from a movie. The next picture was of me and her. She was laughing and I was kissing her cheek, a smile on my lips too. I smiled and ran my finger over the picture. Seeing the pictures made it seem so much sweeter. This one was my favorite of all her pictures.

“I like that one too.” I jumped at the sudden noise, spinning around quickly. Rowan was standing right behind me, leaned forward; she must have been looking over my shoulder.

“How long have you been standing behind me?” I asked.

“Geez I don’t even get a hey,” she said sarcastically. “Since I came into your doorway and saw you looking at my paintings. And you picked up my camera just as I was sneaking behind you. I was gonna scare you, but I decided to let you look at the pictures.”

“Going to? You did scare me!”

“Right, sorry.” She laughed.

“Its okay.” I smiled as a smirk came across my face. “By the way, you sure do take a lot of pictures of me.” Her smiled turned from amusement to embarrassment.

“You’re fun to take pictures of,” she said nervously. My smirk widened.

“Oh am I?” She gulped and nodded, blush spreading over her cheeks.

“You are. Sorry.” I laughed.

“Relax, I was just kidding. I don’t care if you take pictures of me. I like them, you’re really good at it,” I told her. Her smiled returned.

“Well thank you,” she said. I smiled and grasped her hand, pulling her against my chest with a ‘thud.’ “Ow,” she mumbled. I laughed.

“Sorry,” I said as I kissed the top of her head, looking down at her hair. That’s when I noticed something different. I gasped and pulled back. “Holy shit you cut your hair!”

“That I did.”

“Why?”

“Its summer, and its getting hot. Plus, I like my hair better shorter. I usually have it short, but I let it grow out this year,” she told me.

“Holy crap,” I said, still in shock.

“Does that mean you don’t like it?” she asked, her smile fading. I shook my head quickly.

“Of course I like it. You’re beautiful no matter what, its just so different. I’ve only seen you with long hair, so its so short,” I said, running a hand through her now short hair. Her once long hair was now sweeping just above her shoulders and had a couple layers in it. It was slightly thinner now too. Her bangs were slightly shorter too, but they still came from the right side of her forehead and swept across to the left side. She was still amazingly beautiful. “Trust me, I like it. Its just different.” She nodded.

“Glad you like it then,” she said. I smiled and leaned down, kissing her lips softly. I felt her lips spread into a smile against mine as I pulled away.

“Now lets get you packing, we leave tomorrow morning,” I told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to the drawer in my dresser which was filled with her clothes. I pulled open the drawer, dropping her hand and pulling out clothes, throwing them behind me. Once I had emptied the drawer, I turned to her. “Take all that shit,” I said. Noticing she was covered in clothes, I started laughing.

“Dickhead,” she muttered as she picked clothes off of her. I gasped in mock horror.

“Oh no you didn’t!”

“Oh I think I did.”

“Don’t make me bitch slap you!”

“Is that all little Alexandria can do?” she cooed.

“Alexandria?! But my name is Alexander! I’m a man!” I cried.

“Sure you are.”

“I am!”

“Prove yourself then,” she said as she folded her arms across her chest. I smirked and shrugged, slowly walking over to her. I put my hand on her hip and moved to the back of her, trailing my hand across her stomach to her other hip. I grabbed her hand and placed a small kiss on it, trailing up her arm with soft kisses. When I got to her elbow, I turned her arm over and kissed the bend of it. She shivered involuntarily as I kissed the sensitive spot. I smirked and continued to kiss up her arm. When I got to her shoulder, I placed hot kisses on it, trailing over to her neck. I wrapped my arm around her hip, bringing her close to my body before returning to her neck. I kissed the soft skin lightly, barely brushing my lips over it. She shivered again and relaxed into my chest. I smirked.

“That’s right babe, just relax, I’m the man here, ” I murmured, kissing up her neck to her earlobe. I bit it lightly before spinning her around and attaching my lips to her jaw line hungrily. Her breath stopped before a second before it came out as short, ragged breaths. I kissed down her jaw line softly as I moved up to her cheek, kissing across it until I came to the corner of her mouth. I kissed it lightly and brought my lips to hers, hovering over them and letting mine just barely brush over hers. She inhaled sharply and opened her eyes, looking up at me. I leaned my forehead against hers and stared at her, leaving my lips hovering over hers. Her eyes bored holes into mine, silently begging me to press my lips against hers. I smirked and pulled away from her. “Well, we better get you packed,” I said as I turned away from her and walked to my closet, pulling out a suit case and throwing it onto my bed. She groaned.

“You’re such an asshole,” she grumbled.

“Oh should we repeat what just happened? You do remember what happened just a few minutes ago when you called me a dickhead right?” She groaned again.

“Dickhead,” she muttered. I smirked and shook my head, walking over to her.

“I guess I’ll just have to kiss you this time,” I said, putting my hands on her waist and spinning her around. I pressed my lips against hers forcefully, moving my hand to the small of her back and pressing her against me. Her hands rested on my biceps as she kissed me back just as forcefully, running her tongue along my bottom lip. I was shocked at her boldness, but I quickly granted, parting my lips just as she did, pushing my tongue past hers. One of her hands traveled up my arm and stopped behind my neck, entangling her fingers in my hair. I quickly slid my arm around her waist, hoisting her up as she slid her legs around my waist. Without pulling away, I turned around and pushed her body against the wall, her legs still enclosed around my waist. My hand traveled up and down her side as she pulled my closer and deepened the kiss. I pulled the hem of her shirt up the slightest and caressed the soft skin that was now exposed. A low groan escaped my throat. I felt a smirk come across Rowan’s lips just before she pulled away.

“Well, I better get packed,” she said as she jumped out of my grasp and walked over to my bed, straightening out her shirt. I turned around and stared at her. “What?” she asked innocently.

“That…you just…you can’t…what the hell?” I asked, out of breath from the kiss and confusion.

“Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?” she said with a sly smirk as she began to pile clothes into the suitcase. I groaned and walked over to the bed, standing behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist.

“Come on baby, that so isn’t fair,” I whined, rested my head on her shoulder.

“Well you definitely weren’t fair, so I think you deserve it,” she stated. I whined.

“Come Onnnnnn,” I whined again. “That’s just not right. No woman should tease a man like that. I have needs baby, you can’t tease me like that.”

“Well, I just did. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Wanna bet?” I whispered in her ear, kissing the spot behind it.

“Come on Alex, I need to pack,” she said. I groaned.

“Fine,” I grumbled, releasing her and helping her pack clothes into the suitcase.

“WAKE THE FUCK UP ALEX!” I groaned as I opened my eyes, rubbing them before they opened completely. Jack was straddling me.

“Dude what the hell are you doing?” I asked.

“Trying to wake you up,” he said with a shrug. “I tried to wake up Rowan, but she’s like dead asleep. So you have to wake her up. The bus is here. Your’s and Rowan’s shit is already in the bus too, so get your ass up and lets go.” With that, he bounced out of my room. I groaned as I sat up in bed. Getting up, I pulled a shirt over my head and put on a random pair of skinny jeans along with a random pair of shoes. Looking back at my bed, I decided I would just carry Rowan to the bus. I walked back to the bed and slid my arms underneath her, picking her up bridal style. I carried her easily down the stairs.

“Later mom,” I said as I walked out the door.

“Bye sweetie! Take care of Rowan!” she shouted as I walked down the driveway. I entered the bus that was parked outside of my house and carried Rowan inside.

“Well look who’s awake!” Jack shouted. I flipped him off before carrying Rowan back to the bunks. “The bunk with your’s and Rowan’s stuff in it is your guys’!” he shouted. I nodded as I spotted a bunk with mine and Rowan’s stuff resting outside of it. I pulled the curtain open and laid her under the covers before I crawled in after her and pulled her close to my body. Wrapping my arms around her tightly, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to fall asleep.