If Only I Knew How to Hate You

Alex

And five hours later, the oven is… somewhat presentable. And the smell is almost gone. John’s gone, Matt’s gone, Rian’s off…Jack is cleaning up in a lovely pink apron and Zack is scrubbing the last of the ceiling.

“Why, why why…” Bailey walks in, arms crossed, unhappy. She’s already done most of the work, grumbling to herself and refusing to let anyone help ‘with her stupidity’ until just forty-five minutes ago, until Rian kindly shoved her off the bus to do something else, and let us do the rest.

I give her a raised eyebrow. “Seriously, Bailey. You can stop now.”

She just glares at me and shakes her head. “I can’t believe I even thought for a second…” she trails off.

“We get it,” Jack snorts, plopping in the sink, literally. “You can’t cook to save anyone’s life. That’s cool. I probably couldn’t jump off a cliff to save someone’s life.” He considers that for a second. “No, never mind, I’d totally do that. Uh…” he scratches his head, trying to think of something.

I throw my sponge at his head, rolling my eyes. “It’s cool,” I shrug to Bailey. “We have it covered. And we know now, not to let you near anything, not even the microwave. Okay?”

She doesn’t say anything. Jitterly, she taps her foot, glancing around cautiously. “Well, I just- you… sorry,” she grumbles under her breath and shifts her weight to her other foot uneasily.

Jack gasps. “Eeep! She said the ‘s’ word, OMG!!!”

I throw the rag at him. Shoot, soon I won’t have anything left… oh well. I turn back to her. “Sure, yeah. It’s cool, kay? Now why don’t we go… do…. Something…” I offer aimlessly.

Wait, I’ve got it!

I smirk. “Guess what!”

Bailey raises her eyebrow. “What?” She says sarcastically. “Do tell.”

“I got you fourth of july present!”

“What?” She wrinkles her nose at me.

“Did I get something?”

I throw my last thing, the bottle of spray cleaner at him. “No, you little brat. Finish cleaning, wimps, we’ll be back.” I smirk, casually flip the bird as I fix my hat and I drag Bailey out. “Come on!” I tell her happily.

“Alex…”

“No complaining, that’s enough!”

“I complain?”

“Eh,” I shrug as she looks at me hesitantly, wondering if it’s a bad thing. “A little bit. If somewhat quietly and obtusely…uh, if obtuse is the word I want?” I chuckle nervously, shuffling my hat around. “Anyways! Let’s go.”

Sighing, she agrees and easily keeps up instead of her usual being dragged around unwillingly, muttering under her breath. I must say, quite the improvement. Licking my lips, I find us in the Vans Tent. Nothing going on in here, I shut the door, turning on the light.

“Alex,” she starts warning.

I laugh. “Nothing to worry about, doll. Now sit.”

To my surprise, she actually sits down. I pick up the acoustic guitar that I left here earlier, just for this purpose, and boooom here it is. Cautiously I strum some strings, getting it just right. “Uh, so I’ve been working on this for… for like, ever, okay? And I finally just got it right. So no laughing, got it?” I warn her. “Because it’s for you.”

“I’ll do my best,” she drawls and her eyes linger on the guitar before meeting mine, curious.

I nod and taking a deep breath, I start strumming casually, my leg tapping softly to the beat and I start singing the lyrics I wrote just for her.

“It’s just another night,
It’s just another dance
It’s just one of the parties
Where you’ll lose it all.

But then again,
There goes the story
How we’ll all win
Before the night is over.

Look around, inside the crowd
She’d steal the spotlight
But, deliberately, she’s gonna
Hide in the dark, and surprise you, whoa.

She’s not the girl you think of
When you think of her
But think again, you’ll think again,
When you see her start to move.

She holds a secret
I’m dying to know
Lying in between her lips
I’m gonna make it show, somehow.

I’m drawn in the moment,
I’m gonna risk it all
I’m dying to share the night
I’m ready to give it all.

But there she goes, whoa oh,
Preventing any chances.
She’ll tease you over and over and over
You’ll pick yourself up just to fall over again.

She holds the lifeline
I’m dying to grab
Dancing around, moving her hips
She’ll give me a show, someday.

This girl hides in the crowd,
She likes being unreachable
Hear her laughing all around,
Mocking me, teasing me, I can’t get enough.

She holds a secret
I’m dying to know
Lying in between her lips
I’m gonna make it show, somehow.

She holds the lifeline
I’m dying to grab
Dancing around, moving her hips
She’ll give me a show, someday.”