The Only Exception

The beach wasn't something that Alex Gaskarth was necessarily accustomed to. He had been born in England, and during the summer, his family had vacationed by the ocean occasionally. When he moved to Baltimore, there were some trips to the beach in the summer with his friends. But living on the beach was something that Alex had yet to experience.

It was an idea that thoroughly intrigured Alex though. Beaches were always nice places; girls wore bikinis, sunglasses were commonplace so no one could ever tell if you were staring at them, and beer was a necessity to keep yourself hydrated.

"Dude, this is amazing," he praised as he walked around his friend and bandmate's new house.

"It's so calm here," Zack said, "I love it."

The place in question was Huntington Beach, California. When Zack had told his bandmates Alex, Rian, and Jack that he was planning on relocating to California, they had at first been worried about what that would mean for the band. But it was proving to work out quite nicely: While they were writing for their new CD, Zack had invited his friends to come stay with him in his beach-front house.

"It's not gonna be calm for long!" Jack, the guitarist of All Time Low, exclaimed as he produced a bottle of Captain Morgan's from his backpack. "It's par-tay time!"

Zack smiled ruefully. "I didn't think that you guys would be up for just hanging out," he admitted as he walked to a cupboard and opened it. They were greeted with bottles of Grey Goose, Stoli, and Alex's personal favorite, Jager.

Alex grabbed one of the bottles and gave Zack a pat on the shoulder. "You're a good man, Merrick," he grinned. He decided to get a head start on his buzz before the party started, just to make sure he was in the right state of mind for the night.

It didn't take long at all for Jack and Zack to pull together a group of people to come party at the house with them. While Zack was ordering pizza and running back and forth to the store for junk food and beer, Jack was sitting outside, inviting girls to come hang out with them when he deemed them pretty enough and telling them to invite their friends if they interested him as well. Throughout the preparation that Jack and Zack were engaged in, all Alex did was sit on the couch with Rian, the band's drummer, and play Call of Duty.

But that didn't mean that once everyone arrived Alex didn't quickly become the life of the party. He drank whatever was placed in front of him, danced to every song that came over the speakers, and flirted mercilessly with the pretty girls that Jack had ensnared. Everyone who came into contact with Alex Gaskarth that night loved him, for he was the epitome of care-free rockstar. He was attractive, he was fun, and he was up for anything.

Although the night was good, it didn't mean that it was going to be memorable for Alex, especially considering all of the alcohol that he had drank. At times Alex was a little concerned by the fact that there were several nights a month that he had absolutely no recollection of, but at the same time, it could be a blessing: he could do whatever he wanted and not have to worry about being embarrassed or ashamed in the morning. As long as he made sure that everyone around him was just as inebriated, there would be no evidence of Alex's outrageous acts.

"Zack!" he called drunkenly as he stumbled outside and into the sand. The beach behind Zack's house was relatively quiet. There was a small fire burning, and Zack was sitting in the sand with a blonde girl that Alex didn't know. "Come skinny dipping with us," Alex grinned as he and two girls stumbled past Zack and his companion. Alex had no idea what the girls' names were, but he did know that one was very pretty and the other was making him laugh, which made them good enough company for the time being.

"I'm good, Alex," Zack declined, "You better slow down though."

Alex laughed and raised his bottle of Heineken to his mouth. He swallowed most of it, but several rivulets of the liquid dripped down his chin. Was every day in Huntington Beach going to be this fun? He finished off his drink before dropping it in the sand and pulling his shirt over his head. The girls beside him were already giddily stripping down.

Although he was still partially dressed, Alex jumped into the water. It was cool, nearly cold, and happily engulfed him. The waves broke on the sand loudly, and for a minute, Alex forgot about the two girls that were waiting for him. He laid down in the sand and stared up at the sky. It was navy blue and lightly dotted with specks of silver stars. It was perfect and momentarily made Alex wish that he could just lay in the comfortable sand and take it all in for a while.

"Aleeex!"

He looked up and saw the girls clad in their tiny, matching bra and underwear sets. "Are you still coming?" one of the girls asked, toying with the strap on her bra. A drunk grin slid onto Alex's face, and he weighed his options. Girls or stargazing. It was an easy decision, and he clumsily pushed himself to his feet before staggering after the girls.

He was in heaven.
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There was a downfall to Huntington Beach, as there was with most things, but Alex didn't discover it until the morning after the impromptu party at Zack's house. California was so terribly bright, which was not at all conducive to Alex's hangover. "What are the plans for tonight?" Jack demanded the next morning as they lounged on the beach. "Last night was fun until everyone passed out."

"They only passed out because you kept forcing drinks into their hands," Rian reminded Jack.

Jack shrugged. "Sober people aren't fun," he said defensively.

"Don't we have to meet with Squire tomorrow?" Alex asked, rubbing his eyes behind his black sunglasses. They were bloodshot and puffy and not something that he felt like revealing to the world at the moment. Besides, his glasses helped shield the harsh glare from the sun.

"We can't drink with Squire?" Jack asked, sounding let down.

"Not if you want a coherent record, Jacko," Alex chuckled. He cracked open a cold bottle of Fiji water and drank half of it in one gulp. His mouth tasted like sawdust.

Jack sighed and chucked Rian's flipflop towards the water. "Fetch," Rian ordered, pointing at the shoe, which had fallen into the sandy surf. Jack jumped up and raced towards the small waves.

"At least he's easy to train," Zack mused.

Alex gave a small chuckle before he began scanning the beach. There were so many gorgeous people there. All of the girls were long and lean and tanned. There were several guys that made Alex feel a little intimidated. "Do people like own parts of the beach?" Alex asked Zack as he noticed that there were some bare spots on the beach, as well as overpopulated ones.

"Yeah, it depends on your house and who you buy it from," Zack said. "My real estate agent lives like right next door, and she gets you parts of the beach when you buy from her. Expensive as fuck."

For a moment, Alex was having trouble locating Zack's real estate agent/neighbor. Then he noticed that the house was a little farther own the beach. "Well, at least you won't have to worry about neighbors calling the cops on you," he muttered to himself. Then he noticed someone sitting in the sand that he guessed was part of the realtor's private beach.

"Is that your agent?" he demanded, looking at the girl. At least from the distance, she was gorgeous.

"Oh, no," Zack countered. "That's her daughter. She's not totally right though."

"How so?" Alex inquired as he watched the girl cast something aside and walk towards the ocean water. She was wearing a light rose colored sundress that the breeze was whipping around and the bow tying back her curly brown hair matched her dress perfectly from what Alex could see. "She's pretty," he added.

Zack quickly intervened. "Don't think about it, Alex," he warned, "There really is something wrong with her. Like in the head."

The waves picked up a little bit, and the girl gave a surprised squeal as one hit her a little higher than her knees, wetting her dress. The girl's only companion, a blonde in a spotted bikini laughed somewhat before beckoning her friend back to the blanket that they were lounging on. The curly haired brunette dutifully obeyed and laid on her back on the blanket before pointing at random spots in the sky. Alex looked up. Was she making shapes out of the fluffy white clouds?

Despite the fact that he was one of Alex's best friends, Alex couldn't deny that sometimes Zack could be overly critical of people. So when he said that his realtor's daughter wasn't right in her head, it could just mean that she was... eccentric. An individual. That wasn't a bad thing at all.

"Do you think I can meet her?" Alex asked.

Jack returned to their group and dropped Rian's sandal in front of him. Rian patted him on the head like a dog.

With a sigh, Zack rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get a beer," he decided. He stood up and walked away without answering Alex's question.

And of course, when Alex Gaskarth didn't get an answer, he just assumed that it was a yes and went ahead with whatever idea was forming in his mind.