I Had It All

-Alex’s Point Of View-

“Hey Kelsey, uhh…I guess you’re busy or whatever, so… I guess I’ll call you back later? Or, you can call me back if you hear this or something. Whatever, you know. So, uh…yeah. Just, um…yeah, I’ll - I’ll just call you. Yeah. Okay, so…bye.”

“What the fuck was that?” Jack asked, laughter threatening to escape his lips. “You had so much more game in high school. Not so smooth now are we, Mr. Gaskarth?” His laughter instead relegated to a wide smug grin, teeth barred and pearly white.

“Shut up.” Flipping my phone closed, I gently tossed it onto the cushions of the couch, leaning back against the hotel bed headboard. “I just don’t even know if any of this is worth it, you know?” I rubbed my eyes, which were bloodshot, courtesy of staring at the blindingly bright screen of my cell phone for far too long throughout the day. “I mean, last night…I don’t know. She started seeming really distant after a while. It was probably some sort of kiss-off.” And then I realized: “Oh my god! I’m so stupid! She’s got a boyfriend! What was I even thinking, trying to get her to like me again? He’s probably some tan, ripped, Brad Pitt look-a-like or something. I don’t even compare to the guys she could date.”

Jack looked at me thoughtfully from the leather recliner. “That’s very true,” he replied with a nod. “You definitely couldn’t.”

“Thanks a lot, asshole,” I seethed, tugging harshly at my hair in frustration.

“Maid Service!”

Squeezing my eyes closed in aggravation, I shouted, “Come in, Rian.”

He popped his head through the threshold of the unlocked hotel door, jutting his bottom lip out sadly. “How’d you know it was me?”

“I’ve known you for years. I live with you. I know what your voice sounds like.”

“Right.” Finally, he closed the door and stepped further into the room, plopping down onto the opposite bed. “Just came in to see when you’d stop moping around and complaining to Jack all day,” he said nonchalantly.

I grunted angrily, flipping my body over in one quick, swift motion and landing on my stomach. I pressed the pillow firmly over my head and shouted, “Why should I? What’s the poiiiint?”

Insert Rian’s eye roll here. I couldn’t see it, but I knew him well enough to expect nothing less. “Zack and I talk to Kelsey more than you think we do,” he said simply.

Curiosity aroused, I flipped the edge of the pillow upward, allowing visual access to him. “You do?” My eyebrows quirked and excitement spiked, although there was something slightly unnerving about what he‘d said.

Nonetheless, Rian merely shrugged in affirmation. “Yeah. She called Zack this morning.”

“What?!” I screeched, fully ripping the snow-white pillow off my head, throwing it at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Again, he shrugged. “Didn’t think it mattered.”

I just shook my head, not even knowing how to respond. Of course it mattered! But that was beside the point, at least for now. “What did she say?”

This made him back down a little, his now-evident uneasiness rising. “Uh, she sounded…she sounded a little bit…distraught.”

“Distraught? I just saw her last night! She seemed just fine. What did she tell you?”

His eyes flashed concern, but his lips lied. “Nothing.”

Jack and I exchanged a “you and I both know that’s bullshit” glance, and glared at Rian, coaxing him for more information.

“Look, it really doesn’t matter, okay? The point is, she called Zack, not you. Wait, no! That isn’t even the point. The point is, I came in here in the first place to tell you that we all have to go up to the AP building again. I guess there was some sort of mix-up or something. I don’t really know the details.”

“Why would there be a mix-up?”

“Like I said, I have no clue. But you, Jack, and I all have to go down there with Matt,” Rian informed us.

Jack squinted his eyes in perplexity, his usually goofy personality morphing to inquisitive. “What about Zack?”

Rian’s mouth opened, then closed immediately. “Uh, actually…” he trailed off, “He’s not going to be there. At least not today. And he might be out tomorrow again; I’m not completely sure.” My eyes, as well as Jack’s, were again probing for more information. “Look, I honestly don’t know when he’ll be back. I’m telling you as much as I know, and as much as I’m allowed to tell you.”

“Allowed to tell-” I started, getting cut off when Rian just rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm, ripping me from off the bed. “Just come down to the lobby. You too, Jack. Matt’s waiting.”