I Love Your Bubblegum Smile

Harley woke up with a sick feeling in her stomach.

The feeling that something wasn’t right loomed over her, but she shook it off and attempted to let sleep take over.

After realizing that her attempts were unsuccessful, Harley threw the blankets off of her body in frustration, before peeling back the curtain to her bunk.

The bunk area was an almost pitch-black, with only a crack of light streaming in through the hall. The room was silent, except for the squealing of the tires beneath her feet and what appeared to be Rian’s snores.

She fumbled around the small bed to find her watch, and pressed the metal button on the side in order to activate the glow-in-the-dark feature, which was one of the reasons why she had bought it in the first place. The illuminated numbers indicated that it was somewhere around four in the morning, which would explain the lack of light.

Still confused as to why she remained awake, Harley blamed hunger as the problem and sleepily walked towards the front lounge where the fridge was located.

She staggered inside and made her way towards the fridge, only to see half a cup of coffee already made on the counter.

Tired but pleasantly surprised, Harley got a dark colored mug that appeared to advertise an insurance company from Baltimore on the front, and poured herself some coffee.

“Dammit Lisa!” A voice cut through the silence, startling Harley so much she almost dropped her coffee in the process.

She whipped around to see Alex sitting on the couch in the corner, with a laptop on his lap as he tugged at his hair and scowled at the screen in front of him. A phone was perched against his ear, though it didn’t appear to be turned on.

“Alex?” She questioned, thoroughly confused as to why Alex was up at this time of day.

His head jerked upwards in surprise, but he returned to the computer once realizing it was only her. She grabbed her mug before making her way towards him, briefly wondering if he cared for her company.

She took a seat next to him, far enough so she wouldn’t invade his privacy, but close enough so that she could make out his features in the dim-light. She rested the mug on the table, before turning to look at Alex.

He looked like a mess, with his rumpled hair that was in a disastrous state of disarray, with the bags under his eyes that were turning an ugly shade of violet and the way his bloodshot eyes moved across the screen with his jaw clenched. Harley could tell that something bad had happened.

“Do you want some coffee?” He looked up at her briefly before shaking his head and gesturing to the identical mug in front of him.

Silence filled the air as his fingers flew across the keyboard in front of him. It was too early to be awake, and all Harley wanted was to crawl back into her bunk and go back to sleep. Her body betrayed her, and instead she found herself opening her mouth to speak.

“How long have you been up?” He contemplated this.

“Well, I haven’t really gone to sleep.”

His voice was hoarse, even worse than after he had finished singing a set. It startled Harley how raspy his voice sounded, which justified his lack of sleep.

“Well, why not?!” She didn’t want to sound pushy, but at this stage, she felt as though she could be assertive without getting in trouble for it.

“Just some stuff I have to deal with,” he sighed, patting his hair down so it became a flattened mess on his head.

“Some stuff with Lisa?” Harley took a guess, watching as his face scrunched up in confusion.

“How do you know about Lisa?”

His tone was almost threatening.

“You just blurted out her name.”

“Oh.”

The corner of his lips turned downwards, before he turned his attention back to the computer.

“Alex,” Harley sighed, not even believing her own ears, “what’s wrong? Obviously something is bothering you; otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting here at four a.m.”

“I’m fine, nothing happened.”

His answere was short, and it was obvious he was hiding something.

“I don’t believe it. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He sighed before turning away from the computer.

“It’s just I had a girlfriend,” he frowned, “and she broke up with me. Now she wants me back, and I’m not really sure if I want her back.”

Harley laughed.

“That’s what this is about? Just deal with it in the morning.”

If his ego was broken because a girl had dumped him, did he really need to get so emotional about it?

“I knew you wouldn’t understand,” he spat, and Harley watched in amazement as he almost looked...upset. He cradled his head in his hands as he stared intently at the coffee table in front of him.

“Wait,” Harley frowned, suddenly feeling sorry for him, “why did she break up with you? I’m sorry, I just didn’t consider what happened.”

“Well,” he sighed, as though he was going to launch into a long tale, “her name was Lisa and we met in high school. We were good friends and everybody liked her. She and I started going out, because I liked her and she liked me. Soon, we became really close. She was the Kara to my Rian. When we got famous, she supported me all the way, and when we got shot down she was there for me. When we went on tour, things started to get shaky, because she thought I was cheating on her with one of the fans. I told her that I had to be nice to my fans because they supported us, but she didn’t listen and wanted me to stop talking to the fans. Eventually, she said that she ‘Needed some space’ and broke up with me.”

“Wow...that’s terrible,” Harley frowned, completely shocked at the fact that Alex had a steady girlfriend.

He always seemed like the player type. Come to think of it, Harley had never actually seen him with a girl so far on Warped Tour.

“The worst part is that apparently she went out with one of the tech guys a day after she broke up with me. And she called me at around one this morning to tell me that she wanted me back and that she was sorry. I love her, but I know that she might freak out on me again and if she can’t trust me, I don’t know if a relationship would work.” He rambled, his voice cracking.

“I—“

“I was gonna marry her, you know?” He blurted out, stunning Harley into silence. “I had the ring planned out and everything. 24 carats, with a gold band. We went to Tiffany’s to get a necklace for her birthday one year and I saw it. I had almost gotten it on layaway. It wasn’t going to be right away, but I knew that one day she would be my future wife. I mean, I’m only twenty one. I know it’s cheesy, but I even planned out how it was gonna go. Rian, Jack and Zack would be my best men, and her sister and Kara would be the bridesmaids.”

“I’m sorry that happened, but I really don’t know what you’re going through.” Harley admitted honestly, watching as Alex sent a desperate look towards his laptop.

“What do you think I should do?”

This amazed her. Alex had never actually asked for her opinion, let alone on something so serious.

“I think you should give her a second chance,” Harley chose her words carefully and watched as Alex’s face slowly lit up, “I mean, if I were in your shoes as I guy, I probably would. I think Lisa was feeling neglected because you had touring on your mind and other girls were paying a lot of attention to you, so she felt threatened. I would too, if I was dating you.” She paused for a minute before breathing sharply. Something was happening, and for some reason Harley didn’t feel right giving Alex this advice.“Not that I will ever date you or anything. And even if it doesn’t work, you’ll have the experience to know if she is the right one for you and you won’t have that feeling that you missed out on something.”

Alex stared at her in surprise and astonishment, taking in her words and applying it to his failed relationship. Slowly, a grin broke out onto his face.

“How do you know so much about this?”

“I don’t.” She laughed with a small shrug.

Truth be told, Harley only had five boyfriends in her lifetime so far—one in fifth grade who went out with her for three days before moving onto the girl who sat next to her, two that cheated on her in her freshman and junior years, one who turned out to be gay in her senior year and one at the beginning of college who transferred out after the first semester.

“You’re cool, you know that?”

At the small compliment, Harley’s cheeks flushed a bright red, before she laughed awkwardly.

“Thanks,” she finished off her coffee and got up as Alex reached towards the phone to tell Lisa about his decision.

She glanced back at him as a sudden urge filled her stomach and she found herself walking back towards the couch where he sat.

“Alex?” He nodded at her for to continue, as she leaned down. Her fingers found her way to his golden hair. She ran her fingers through his tangled locks to give it volume and comb out knots. “Get some sleep.”

He smiled and thanked her, wrapping an arm around her in a semi-awkward hug, before he took a breath and dialled a number on the phone.

The buttons made an obnoxious squeaking noise as they were pressed and as he heard the phone ring, Harley detached herself from his side.

“Good luck,” she mouthed, from the doorway.

Alex bounced his knee up and down, a sign that he was nervous, before pulling at his hair once again.

His lips pulled up in an involuntary smile. He took a deep breath, before turning his back towards Harley.

Her work was done.

“Hi, Lisa? It’s Alex.” He laughed nervously, “Do you have time to talk? I have something to say.”