Its In The Past, Now Lets Try And Focus On The Future - Alex Gaskarth

I woke up the next day with a smile on my face. I knew Alex and I were far from perfect but we were a step in the right direction. I pulled my naturally wavy hair up into a pony tail and swept my bangs over my eye.

“Well someone’s in a fantastic mood this morning.” Cassadee joked when I walked into the front of the bus and grabbed a pop tart out of the cupboard. I grabbed the box of strawberry pop tarts and realized that there was only one package left. I glared at the box. It was full the other day and the box was clearly labeled, “Willow’s Yummy Pop tarts: Stay Away or Face the Ultimate Dome.” I grabbed the last package and growled.

“I’m going to kill Jersey!” I exclaimed, turning to face Cassadee, “He ate all my pop tarts.”

“Well I guess he’s going to be facing the ultimate dome.” She said, and began laughing. I pout at her and grabbed the empty box and my package of pop tarts and hopped of the bus. I was hunting for Jersey, when someone else caught my attention.

“Hey Willow,” Alex said as he approached me, “Strawberry pop tarts, you haven’t changed much.” He joked when he saw my box. My smile grew as I recalled the pop tart wars Jack and I would get in back in high school.

“Strawberry pop tarts are the best, but I have to go kill Jersey for eating them all.” I said, showing him my death note. He laughed.

“Well, there are always strawberry pop tarts on our bus if you need some.” He said and I smiled. Then things got silence and really awkward. We stared at each other for a couple minutes.

“Well,” I paused and looked at my boots, “I’ll keep that in mind, but I need to go find Jersey, I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, sure” He replied. I gave him a small wave and began my journey once again.

“Oh and Will,” I turned to face him; “You look cute today.” I smiled and turned away quickly so he wouldn’t see my blush.

As I walked away my cheeks still warm from Alex’s comment I couldn’t help to wonder why it was so awkward. Alex and I hadn’t had a decent conversation in years, and I think it surprised us both how easy it was.

My thoughts were stopped when my eyes focused on Jersey standing by the half way set up merchandise tent. My eyes squinted into a glare and I broke out into a sprint towards him. Our bodies collided and I tackled him to the ground. His face was one of shock until he saw it was me. Realization took over and he held up his hands.

“I’m sorry! I’ll buy you more pop tarts.” He begged. I just glared and held the box in his face showing him my threat clearly printed on the box. I stood up and he quickly sprang up from the dirt. I pointed at my eyes with my pointer finger and middle finger, and then pointed at him. As if warning him ‘I’m watching you’. I turned to walk away and Cassadee was standing there with the rest of the band laughing there asses off. Alex had a video camera and I’m assuming he got the whole thing. I smiled at them and began to walk towards the venue. Cassadee caught up with me quickly.

“And by the way,” She started, “before I found the rest of the band and a video camera I saw you and Alex and you just look so cute today Willy!” She said as she batted her eye lashes. My jaw dropped and I smacked her in the arm.

“Not another word.” I said pointing my finger in her face. She held her hands up defensively.

“At least I didn’t eat your pop tarts.” She pointed out.

“Oh,” I thought for a second, “so true!” I laughed.

I decided to actually stick around for the performances tonight and was currently sitting in one of the back rooms waiting for the performances. I was playing with the fringe on my boots when the door walked in and Rian and Zach walked in. When Rian saw me his face broke out into a huge smile and he ran over and scooped me up off the coach and hugged me tightly. Zach stood back and watched awkwardly.

Zach and I had a weird relationship. We were never actually friends, but still were always together because we had the same friends. When I got into drinking and drugs he began to distance himself more than he already was. We were never close like Rian, Jack, and Alex was. I always got the feeling that he didn’t like me and I never really understood why.

“Hey Rian, hey Zach,” I said briefly making eye contact with Zach, “How’ve you guys been?”

Zach muttered a ‘good’, while Rian went into great detail about what he had been up to these last
few years.

“Oh my Gosh, you’re still with Kara?” I asked, shocked when he mentioned her.

“Yeah!” The smile on his face grew. “She’ll actually be here in a week or so!”

“That is so awesome!” I stated, looking forward to seeing another one of my old friends. We talked for a couple minutes until the show started.

I nodded my head and sang along with The Friday Night Boys, Hey Monday, and We the Kings. They were all absolutely amazing but my excitement grew even more when they began to set up for All Time Low’s set.

“You excited?” Jack said from behind me, causing me to jump.

“Of course, I haven’t seen you perform since the beginning of high school.” I said and Jacks eyes widened.

“Has it really been that long?” He questioned and I nodded my head.

“You’re in for a surprise.” He mumbled, I gave him a questioning look.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing,” He started, when someone yelled for them all to head to the stage, “Enjoy the show!” He said and ran past me.

I stood still wondering what Jack had said. Once the first beat of the drum rang out through the venue, the screams and yells were deafening. Now I stood shocked, that was the loudest I’d heard the crowd all night. These guys that I had gone to high school with who had their small garage band were now huge. I stood frozen at how good they were. The way they interacted with the crowd was amazing. When I finally came out of my daze I focused all my attention on Alex. Hearing his voice again was amazing. When we were younger he would always sing to me to calm me down.

As my mind was once again in flashback mode Alex looked over and our eyes locked. He had caught me staring, but at that point in time I didn’t care. I was hearing the voice that captured my heart back in eight grades for the first time since tenth grade.

~x0x~

I was crying silently on my bed with my door to my room locked. Not even two hours ago I learned that my father had died. I was only 13, almost 14 and no longer had a dad. My mom had given up on trying to get me out of my room about half an hour ago and now the only noise that could be heard through the house were my quite sobs.

I rolled over on to my side and pulled my knees up to my chest, trying to breathe and calm down. I heard my window slide up and a soft thud as feet landed on my carpeted floor, then footsteps began to approach my bed.

I knew who it was right away so I didn’t flinch when the other side of my bed sank in and arms pulled me into their warm chest.

“It’s going to be alright Willy,” Alex’s soft voice said in my ear. I rolled over and looked into his dark chocolate colored eyes. They held nothing but concern and love. I pulled him closer to me and buried my face into his neck. His lips gently pressed against my forehead. I sighed as the last few tears fell from my eyes and the calmness that only Alex could provide me washed over my body. Alex softly hummed in my ear and I smiled. Soon he was singing an old Blink 182 song into my hair.

~x0x~

That was the first night I had ever heard Alex sing. He was able to pull me out of the darkness I was in from my father’s death just by singing me to sleep that night, and many nights after that.

As I watched them play I tried to recall the last time I saw them. It had to of been before they began writing their own songs because I couldn’t for the life of me recall any of their songs. When they first started they would only cover Blink 182.

They had grown up so much since then, physically and musically. Alex’s voice had matured slightly, but still gave me the same calmness it did that night I learned my dad had died.