Manage Me, I'm a mess

"Hello," I greeted the boys as I walked outside after my nap. Alex opened up his arms and I sat down in his lap, snuggling into them.

"You guys have been a couple for like..." Jack checked his cell phone. "Five hours and you're already sickeningly cute..." he gave us a disgusted look. I leapt off Alex and crashed into Jack's lap. His arms went loosely around my waist.

"Now, this I don't mind!" Jack said. I laughed.

"We need to get you a girlfriend. Or a life..." I said, grinning.

"I have a life!" he said defensively. I gave him an incredulous look. "Okay, I could use a life," I looked at him again. "And a girlfriend..." he allowed. I leaned back in his lap, thinking.

"I am so going to set you up with someone, how do you feel about someone who is slightly insane?" I pondered, half joking.

"Insane people are insane in bed, so I'm cool with it." he shrugged.

"Ewww," I slapped him on the arm, laughing.

I got up from his lap and sauntered over to the kitchen. I popped a bag of popcorn into the microwave and took it out after a couple minutes. Crashing beside Alex and opening the bag, I watched the steam come out of it.

"Mmm." I said, inhaling the smell. Alex reached for it, attempting to be sneaky but I slapped his hand away.

"HEY!" Alex said. "As a member of this band, that food is 25% mine! I DEMAND POPCORN!" He yelled.

"As your girlfriend, I reserve the right to refuse you popcorn." I said.

"I don't remember asking you to be my girlfriend..." he trailed off, grinning and pretending to think.

I gave him an 'oh no you didn't' look.

"You came to my flight gate to tell me you love me and I’m not your girlfriend?! You cost me three hundred dollars because I didn’t buy travel insurance and I’m not your girlfriend?! You-“

“Wait, wait, wait. Will you be my girlfriend, Serena?” he asked, sweetly.

“I guess.” I grumbled. Alex just laughed and pulled me in for a kiss. Suddenly, I realized something that made my stomach turn.

“Alex, Alex, what about…um…what about…” I was unable to get the words out.

“What?” he asked.

“What about Natalie?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

"Oh, that. I’ll just break it off with her. It’s not like I haven’t been wanting to do that since she asked me out…”

“Haven’t you forgotten something? Your arranged marriage!” I said.

“No big deal. My parents will get me out of it. Have you even registered how happy there going to be when they find out you’re my girlfriend? They’ll back out of the deal in a second. They never really liked Natalie ether.”

“Alex, that’s not nice…”

“Nice?! You’re worried about being nice? Haven’t you seen how horrible she is to you?” Alex asked me. This took me by surprise.

“Horrible? To me?” I asked, putting my hand on my chest.

“Yes, horrible to you. She is always undermining you and giving you subtle insults. I couldn’t
understand why you didn’t see it! It drove me crazy!”

“What?! That’s ridiculous! Name one time she did that!” I demanded. Alex thought for a second.

“Remember the time when you dragged me shopping with you two? Last month, before school ended?” he asked. I nodded. “We were in…um…that store, Forever 21? We’ll, you were looking at this dress, a blue one. And, I’ll admit, it was a little different but you could have rocked it. Then Natalie came by and said ‘that’s cute’ and she turned to you and gave you a weird look ‘but, S, come on, you would never be able to pull it off, it isn’t right for your…we’ll, just you’, Then she took the dress off the hanger and walked off to the dressing room. It was pretty obvious she just wanted it for herself. And it’s also obvious that she thinks she has this sort of power of you!” he finished, obviously frustrated.

I remembered exactly what he was talking about. I thought she was just looking out for me. I squirmed and he noticed.

“See? You know what I’m talking about,” he said softly.

“How did you remember every detail?” I asked.

“I remember because it made me so angry. I wanted to rip her head off!” he said.

Oh my gosh, how sweet is that? I think I just turned to goo.

“Does she really do it that often?”

“ALL THE TIME!”He said, throwing her hands up. “One time, she just pointed to your shoes and said ‘those are last season, sweetie’ but you don’t notice because she says it in this fake, sugar coated voice. You know what you said to her? You said ‘Oh wow, I had no idea. Thanks for telling me’. WHO CARES IF YOUR SHOES ARE LAST SEASON!?” he yelled, throwing his hands up. My brow furrowed.

“Seriously?” I sat down on the couch. I felt embarrassed and humiliated and foolish. I thought she was my friend but Alex would never lie to me. I didn’t question it for one second.

“Yeah. Remember that other time you saw a Dolce & Gabbana top and you were going to get it the next day? And then she came over to your house and told you she already bought it?”

“Yes. Ooooohhhhhh,”I moaned, putting my head into my hands.

“Don’t feel bad,” he said, stroking my hair. “At least you know. It was driving me nuts,” he said. I nodded. Then he got out his phone. The name ‘Natalie’ jumped out at me and I grabbed the phone.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Breaking up with Natalie,” he said slowly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“In a text? Alex, nobody deserves that.” I said. He scoffed.

“Natalie does,” he said childishly.

“Don’t be a jerk,” I told him sternly. He rolled his eyes. “Alex, just wait until we get home, okay?” He looked at me and his crossed arms fell as he sighed in defeat.

“Fine,”

“Promise?”

“Yes.” He said curtly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and put my lips to his ear.

“Thank you,” I breathed. I felt him shiver, planted a kiss on his cheek and walked away, grinning. I’d forgotten Jack was still in the room. He was very interested in his phone but he looked up at me and grinned. I grinned back and announced that I was going to take a shower.