We Gamble With Desire

“Alex!” I yelled over the music, “Can I turn it down?”

“Why would you want to do that?” He asked laughing. We had the windows, down the music blaring, and were driving way over the speed limit on some empty back road.

“Pretty please Alex?” I said batting my eyelashes attempting to look innocent.

“Oh fine.” He said turning down their new album, ‘Nothing Personal’, my surprise. “What would you like to talk about my love?”

“Gah, Alex you’re so full of yourself!” I said replied bluntly, laughing. “You’re listening to your own CD.”

“Come on, don’t pretend like you don’t like it.” He said grabbing my hand.

“Oh, it’s not pretending.” I said pretending to be serious as I held his gaze.

“You’re such a liar, you love us; that’s the whole reason we met, do you not remember this?”

“Oh shush! I do love the new album though, I'm glad you got me the first copy." I said happily looking at the cover art that I had helped create. "I do think that Weightless is my favorite though.”

“Yeah, we're thinking of releasing that one early." He said looking at me briefly.

"That's a good idea, it's a great song! But Lost in Stereo is also really amazing." I said smiling at him. The lyrics he came up with, the way he sang and the music the other boys made never ceased to amaze me.

"You should, it's kind of about you." He said focusing on the road, nervousness etched on his face.

"How so?" I asked shocked.

"Well the first night I saw you...I guess I just started writing it to get all of my frustrations out."

I was shocked, lost for words at the fact that I actually had a song written about me. I hit the back button on the radio, forcing the song to play again. "Explain more?" I asked smiling widely at him.

"Alright well it's pretty much about this amazing girl that I don't exactly know why I like but I do and I just want to talk to her and get to know her but she's so involved in what she's doing that she doesn't have the time or patience for me...kind of." He rambled nervously.

"You're too cute Alex." I said squeezing his hand. "Did you write it with me in mind specifically?" I asked, knowing they could easily fit.

"Yeah, but it was kind of difficult to finish after everything worked out. But it was a really good song and the guys all liked it so I just filled it in." He replied smiling, clearly happy with my acceptance for it.

"I love you Alex."

"Love you too Spencer." He said.

“Anyways, will you tell me where we're going now?”I begged after a little while of silence.

“You’ll see, just sit back and relax; you’re going to love this place.” He said happily.

“Alex, you’re adorable when you’re excited.”

“Oh, I know.” I shoved him a gently on the arm. “Ouch Spencer, you’re so abusive.” He said pulling the hand I held away to take the wheel so the opposite arm could rub his arm where I hit him.

“And you’re extremely full of yourself.” I responded laughing.

“Wouldn’t you be if you were me?” Alex asked, giving me a cheesy smile.

“No.” I said seriously, before laughing loudly.

“God, would you two keep it down just a little bit?” Jack whined from the back seat.

“You should’ve rode with Rian.” I said accusingly. “What were you expecting?”

“Melissa's in their car!" He pointed out. "Besides I didn’t think I was going to get so tired.”

“Well wake up dude.” Alex said looking at him in the rear view mirror

“I can’t.” Jack whined.

“Oh Jackie, calm down.” I turned back towards Alex, “How much longer?”

“Probably another three hours.” Alex replied looking around and then at the clock.

“THREE?” I shrieked. “Alex that’s five hours.” Now I was whining.

“What were you expecting? Didn’t Alex tell you it was in Mich—“

“JACK!” Alex yelled cutting him off. “I told you I was keeping it a secret.”

“It’s true. He hasn’t even given me a hint.” I said turning around to look back at Jack.

“Oh well, I’m sorry.” Jack grumbled quietly, looking sad.

“It’s fine.” Alex said, paying attention to the road.

“Lets play a game Jackie.” I suggested, quickly once the car became too quiet.

“What one?” He asked excitedly, waking up.

“Doesn’t really matter much to me, how about twenty questions?”

“Yeah!” He exclaimed excitedly.

“Can I play?” Alex asked looking at me.

“As long as you pay more attention to the road.” I warned.

“Deal.” He said happily.

We played for a little over an hour, “God, Spencer, you’re way too fucking good at this game.” Jack said leaning back in his seat for the first time since we started playing.

“Sorry boys.” I said giggling. “Alex, can we stop somewhere? I really need to pee.”

“Well that’s real lady like Spence.”

“Oh shut it Gaskarth, I’m serious.”

“Yeah, I’ll pull into the first gas station I see.” He said squeezing my hand. "Call Rian though and let him know we're stopping." He said as he looked for road signs.

"Alrighty." I said pulling out my new phone. I dialed the number quickly and pushed the phone to my ear. "Hello Rian!" I said happily, holding the 'o' in hello longer than usual. "We are stopping soonish, once we find a suitable gas station for bathroom and coffee."

"Spencer when you talk that fast I can barely tell what you're saying." Rian said laughing. "We're stopping soon?"

"Yes, at a gas station." I said cheerfully.

"Sounds good, I need to gas up soon and Melissa's hungry." Rian said, the slight sound of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh no!" I said in mock horror, before the both of us started to chuckle. "I'll text you when we find one, okay?" I asked looking around at our surroundings.

"Sounds good Spence." He said happily. We both said our goodbyes and hung up. After putting my phone away I pushed the mix CD that I had made for the trip into the stereo, allowing Never Shout Never’s ‘Big City Dreams' to fill the blue car. I turned the volume down slightly and rested my head against Alex's arm lightly.

I wasn’t sure how much time had past when I woke up to Alex saying, “Spencer baby, wake up.”

“Why? I’m tired Alex.” I whined not opening my eyes.

“Because Miss, you have to pee and you're not doing it in my car so hurry! You can come back and sleep. We still have a while to go.”

“God does this car ride ever end?” I asked getting up, “What time is it Alex?”

“It's almost two. Go!” He said pushing me towards the gas station. “You’re procrastinating.”

“Gah, I’m going.” I said laughing. Fifteen minutes later we were back on our way. “Jacky! Put in the CD you made.” I said popping the top of a pepsi

“What’s on Jack’s CD Spence?” Alex asked a tad apprehensive.

“Why does it matter?” I asked confused.

“It doesn’t, just wondering.”

“Oh, it just has music on that he asked me to put on when I was making my CDs.”

“Here you go.” Jack said handing me the heavily colored CD.

“It looks like a sharpie box threw up on this.” Alex said laughing as I popped it in.

“I like sharpies.” I responded defensively.

We sat there the rest of the way listening to Jack’s CD.