He's Dying to Get Inside

It was finally the day of prom, juniors and seniors were too anxious to sit still in class. Majority of the girls signed out after noon so they could get their hair and nails done. Kara did, leaving Raylee to be the only girl at the lunch table; she felt awkward as Jack and Rian went into detail about their expectations of the night. From her side, Alex remained equally silent as her, wondering how he would get through prom without her.

Raylee took a ride home from the boys, wishing them luck at prom. She took her shower and went to bed early so she could be awake during the late party. She set her alarm for eleven, it would give her enough time to get ready and go with Kara to Alex's to help set up.

Alex stepped into the limo, an instant feeling of unwelcomness waved over him. Around him were his friends, entirely happy with their dates, he was stuck sitting next to his ex and her last minute date. As soon as they pulled into the parking lot of the hall he wanted to get home, because the three hours he had ahead of him would be boring without Raylee; he hated himself for not buying another ticket and forcing her to go.

They all filed into the building, sitting down at their table and setting their stuff down. Jack to Alexandra to the punch bowl and Rian and Kara scampered off to the dance floor. Alex watched as Lisa and Kevin sat at the table across from him, getting a sense that they wouldn't be moving, he got out of his seat and started to wonder around the area.

He took a cup of punch and leaned against one of the flower wrapped poles, looking around the crowd hoping that Ray would just pop up, and confess how much she liked him. He pinched the bridge of his nose, not used to feeling this way about any girl. Alex's eyes turned to the stage where a live band was about to play a few songs, he rolled his eyes at the white-haired musicians, knowing that they would be calling for a slow dance and he would be without a partner.

He could feel a pair of eyes on him, he scanned the room and caught sight of a group of cheerleaders in brightly colored elegant gowns; one of the girls was openly staring at him, moving the straw around in her drink before slowly taking it to her mouth. He quickly looked away, not wanting to test his restraint.

"Hey Alex, no date?"

He looked up to find the blonde in the rosy pink dress that had been eying up. She smiled at him, her glossy lips catching the dim light above him. Carmella, a name that fit her, he thought, a girl no one turned down, had been Lisa's competition all throughout their school years. He ignored her baby blue eyes and kept his own on the punch in his hands.

"I have a date for my party, I'm not going to two-time her."

"That brainy chick? You can't seriously have a thing for it, it's so lame. You need a real woman, like me, Lisa can't even touch what I've got."

"I'm not interested Carm, I'm sure you can find someone more your taste."

"Oh, I'm sure I could; but aren't you the least bit angry Lisa has moved on so soon?"

"No, not really. I'm sorry, I'm not going to take part in you dragging her down the popularity pyramid. Do what you want, but don't use me, I'm sure she could care less about me; she and I've established that."

The blonde stared at him, her baby blue eyes shaking with the intensity she put in her expression, but Alex didn't buy it. Annoyed, the cheerleader walked away, swaying her hips as if trying to change his mind, as she went back to her troop.

Alex drank his punch and crunched the cup in his hands, wishing that he didn't have to go through this. His reputation hadn't changed any, his friends were the only ones that believed he was a better person, they didn't even buy it completely, so how could anyone?

He threw the cup out and went caught Jack's arm as he walked past him. The skunk haired boy arched his brows waiting for an explanation, Alexandra wondered back to the table.

"I'm gonna get going."

His friend looked at his watch, "It's not even eleven yet, you don't need that long to set up the party."

"I didn't get the soda and chips yet, I'll see you there," Alex smiled to hide his lie, turning around and heading for the double doors.

A soft hand grabbed his causing him to turn around, Lisa looked up at him with wide eyes. She placed a key in his hand, and closed his palm.

"My brother left the car here in case we wanted to get away, I'll just take the limo home, go get her."

"Go get who?"

"Don't play dumb with me, I know you're going to get Raylee. I'm sorry I messed things up in the bathroom, I think you almost had her."

He kissed the top of her head, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, just go get her."

Alex walked out of the hall and scanned the parking lot for a run-down black jeep. He found it and jumped in, rolling his eyes at the almost empty gas tank; as much as Lisa claimed Manny liked him, he was always cheep when it came to sharing what money he did make off of his drug deals.

After filling up the tank, for Lisa's sake, he pulled up a couple houses away from Raylee's. He walked up to the house and noticed that majority of the lights were off; to avoid getting her in trouble, he walked to the back of the house and looked at the windows. When his eyes caught the window with a sticker of Saturn he took a couple steps back to find a way up. Taking a deep breath, he climbed the small tree in the yard onto a landing a couple windows away; he closed his eyes and scaled the ledge as quickly as he could, hoping anyone in the rooms he was passing would see him.

He crouched down by the window he was praying was Raylee's, he half wished that he'd asked her if he could come over before. He hit the glass with his knuckles a few time and tried to peer into the room. A dark curtain pulled back and a groggy girl jumped when she saw him, she pulled the glass up and pressed her hands against the screen to pop it out.

"What are you doing!?"

Alex smiled and climbed into the room, "I was so bored at prom, I kept wondering what you were up to."

"Sleeping. A logical person would call," her hushed voice rose with her annoyance.

He laughed softly and shut the glass, "I didn't want to wake your parents if they were sleeping. Were you gonna ditch my party? I mean, you were sleeping too."

In the darkness he caught her take a glimpse at her bed, as she realized how intense his eyes were on her, she grabbed the silky robe to cover herself, "I was just resting; I always go to be early."

"I'm sorry."

Raylee ran a hand through her untamed curls, "This is embarrassing."

"You want to get dressed? I'll go in the closet or something."

"Um no, Kara was supposed to help me with that, just don't look past my face."

He did as asked, he looked up and caught the glowing stars. "Those are cool, that must have took forever."

"Derek helped, he was supposed to help me get the planets up the weekend that he left, I haven't had it in me to do it, especially by myself."

"I could help, if you want."

"Not right now, I don't want my parents to hear the hammer and come in; they'd be so mad if they saw you here at this hour."

"That's why I didn't use the front door."

Ray sat down on her bed, getting a slight feeling of uneasiness as he sat down next to her. After Kara had mentioned that Alex liked her, she started to put the pieces together, but she still couldn't fathom it; all the concentration on him had brought some feelings for him out. She was afraid of what could happen at the party, she didn't want him to try to make a move and her flip out on him, she just wanted to take things slowly.

"Do you want to rest, I can leave?"

She shook her head, "It was probably hard for you to get up here, I don't even know how you did. I'm fine with you being here, just don't--"

"I know Ray, I'm sorry about that."

Her hazel eyes locked with his chocolate ones, "Please don't drink tonight, I don't want to see you like that again," she cupped his cheek, "you're amazing now, someone is going to be very luck to be loved by you."

"About that--"

Alex was cut off by her alarm clock, she smacked the end button and turned back to him, waiting for him to speak but he remained silent.

"I'll meet you at your house, do you need Kara and I to pick anything up?"

"My mom did while I was at prom, she probably wiped out the store. I'll see you soon, I can't wait to see your dress."

She laughed, "I can't believe Kara convinced me to wear one, and heels!"

"Maybe then you'll come up to my shoulder."

She punched his arm, "Get out of here before my parents wake up, you should be able to get out through the door."

~x~

"Where's Alex?" Manny asked as his sister walked into the house, no date in hand.

"Oh, he's setting up for his party."

"Are you going?"

"I wasn't invited, it's just for a few people, it's nothing big."

"It's never not big for Gaskarth, we're going, what time does it start?"

Lisa quickly took a judgment call on when the party would almost be over and told him that time, wanting her ex to enjoy sometime with his friends before all hell broke loose at that party; she had no idea how to diverge what was about to happen.

~x~

Kara applied the last of the shimmery pale green eyeshadow on Raylee's eyelid, she traced her lower lash line with a medium brown eyeliner to make her eyes pop. Stepping back she smiled, leaning forward to fluff the curls she'd adjusted with the curling iron a few minutes before.

"You look amazing."

"Are you sure?" Ray turned around to look in the mirror and froze when she saw her reflection, she looked more sleek, a subtle rosy color filled her cheeks as she smiled, "Thanks."

"Alex is going to eat you up."

The girl looked at her friend as she pulled on her heels, "He came to my house, he left prom. I think you're right, about him liking me."

"Do you like him Ray?"

She ran her fingertips over the curls that hugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure, my feelings aren't as obvious as they were with Derek."

"I think you do."

Kara stood up and grabbed her clutched purse, "Let's go help set up a party!"

As the girls got down stairs the front door bell rang, they went out to the curb, following Rian to the limo. The two sat talking softly, soon met my Alexandra.

"Hi, girls."

"Oh, hey," Raylee said extending her hand, "I'm Raylee Jones."

"The girl Alex Gaskarth left prom for, Carmella is pissed; she had it in her head that it was their night."

As Ray turned around Kara shook her head, "They didn't go together."

"So are you two, like, together?"

"They aren't, Lexi."

"Bummer, I think you two would be so cute together."

As the blonde spoke, the limo pulled up the the big house. The hazel eyed girl nervously clutched her knees, she didn't want her second party experience to be bad, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach left her worried that she wouldn't be getting what she wanted.

"You okay, Rayls?"

She smiled at Rian and nodded, slowly getting out of the limo and taking her heeled steps carefully, wanting to avoid any cracks in the stone. The glass door swung open as she got halfway up to the door, Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house.

"What do you want to help do?"

"What are you doing?"

"Baking," Alex watched as her face grew confused, "seriously, I need help getting powdered sugar on the cookies."

"Um okay, I'm good in the kitchen."

"As are most science lovers," he said leading her to the kitchen, "I can't believe my mom let the chef have off today, I would rather be picking out CDs."

She picked up the nut filled cookie and rolled it in the bowl of powdered sugar, "I'm sure Jack will do fine."

The hour until party goers arrived slipped by quickly, the band and their dates found themselves mixed in the crowd quickly. Raylee clung to Kara's side as Alex played host, she tried to keep the frown off her face, she'd spent two hours alone with him today, she shouldn't be fighting for more.

"Here comes your man," Alexandra said as the caramel haired boy approached them, in a tee shirt and faded skinny jeans.

"May I steal Raylee?" he asked holding his hand out, she took it and they walked away. "I think I forgot to tell you how pretty you looked, earlier."

"Thanks, Alex."

He smiled, "I'm just being honest, do you want to dance?"

Her face scrunched up.

"I'll go easy on you, no worries."

He placed his hand on her hip and started to gently push it to the beat, causing her to step along with him. As she stumbled and landed against his chest, a nervous giggle slipped from her lips. Alex gently stood her back up and smiled, happy that she hadn't run off in embarrassment like most girls did.

"Alex!" The two turned to see Lisa, her hair in a tangled mess and a look of fright in her eyes.

"You need to leave," Raylee said narrowing her eyes.

"You don't understand, Alex, Manny came. He's pissed, he wants to see you, I don't know what he'll do. He was heading towards Jack, if he finds out about Raylee... oh my god. Lanky boy is pointing at us, get her upstairs."

"I'm confused," the curly haired girl bluntly told them.

"Raylee, come on."

"No, I want to know what's going on."

"If you don't come with me, you're going to get hurt. He's caught sight of you, Manny doesn't stop for anything," Alex grabbed her hand and turned to one of the football players a couple people away, "hold Manny off please."

"Sure, no thing."

Raylee wanted to take the stairs slowly, but Alex was pulling her faster than she could manage in the heels. With a yelp, her tripped and twisted her ankle; not giving her time to stand back up, he took her into his arms and ran into his room.

Rian and Kara jumped, sheepishly looking at them. The singer didn't say a thing he just placed Raylee down on the floor of his closet, kneeling down and holding her cheek as he talked.

"I'll explain everything later, we'll get you to the hospital soon, you just don't understand what that guy is capable of."

"I am, he killed my dog."

"I know, your father told me. I'm going to go talk to him."

She grabbed his hand as he went to walk away, "Be careful."

"I will Ray," he looked at his friends, "If you hear Manny outside, shut the closet door and make sure he doesn't search it. She can't move, she sprained her ankle coming up."

"Why is he here?"

"Lisa probably told him that we weren't getting back together."

"He won't be happy," Rian frowned, "let me go with you."

"No, you need to protect the girls."

With that, Alex took off down the stairs, hoping that things wouldn't get too rough downstairs. All he wanted from this night was to have fun with Raylee, possibly confess his feelings and pray she was feeling the same; but no, he had to protect his head by getting himself out of a ridiculous fight.

"We need to talk Alex."

The tall boy turned to Manny, he could see a few people watching them with frightened looks, already knowing that something was about to happen. No one knew what Manny had done to Lisa or Manny's plans for his sister and Alex; they all thought Alex had done wrong, so no one attempted to help.

Jack ran to the phone while Zack headed towards the fight, when Manny pulled a knife, the bassist started screaming at Alex to get away...