Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Jade's POV

It had been a couple of days since the sleepover where we had successfully pranked the boys. It would be safe to say that Melanie, Matt and I were all hiding out from them, though I had talked to Rian the day before, but he had been cool about the whole situation, explaining that he hadn't been there to clean up the mess.

Alex had to spend his whole Saturday picking up our little pranks on his property.

Melanie and I had spent a fair amount of time together after that, Matt included; just watching movies and chatting about random subjects, mostly music. We were currently all sitting on their couch, watching some movie I barely paid attention to. I'm sure none of us were. When the doorbell rang, Melanie and I both turned to Matt, who rolled his eyes and crawled off the couch, walking to open the front door.

“Oh, hey, Alex.” Melanie and I turned to each other, a smirk on both of our faces.

“Oh, hey, asshole.” The front door closed and footsteps were heard making their way into the living room. Both of us turned to see Matt and a very distraught looking Alex standing in the archway. When Alex's eyes met Melanie's, they immediately became harsh and a full on glare was directed in her direction.

“You.” Alex said, raising his hand and pointing at Melanie.
“Me.” She mocked, rolling her eyes, her smirk growing into a full blown smile.

Before anyone could react, Melanie was pinned underneath Alex on the floor, her hands over head and a look on his face that made it seem like he was ready to go in for the kill.

“I had to clean up my entire fucking yard.” Alex seethed, his glare still set on Melanie, her smile faltering a bit.

“Not my problem.”

“No. My problem. Your fault.”

Melanie shrugged to the best of her ability, “So?”

“So?!” Alex yelled, his face growing redder with anger, “What the fuck do you mean by so?!” I stood up from the couch, walking over to Matt, seeing as how he was the farthest away from the angry mass also known as Alex Gaskarth.

“Aren't you going to do anything?” I whispered to Matt, my eyes still focused on Alex and Melanie arguing on the floor.

Matt shook his head, “Nah. I totally saw this coming when Melanie pulled me from the house on Friday night.” I snickered and turned my attention back to the couple on the floor.

“You owe me.” Alex said through clenched teeth. “You're going to clean my garage tomorrow.”

“You know I won't.” scoffed Melanie, rolling her eyes once more.

Alex's smile was one of pure evil, “Right. Which is why you're going to take care of hanging out with Jack tomorrow after band practice.”

“That's not so bad. I mean, I have to put up with you on a daily basis,” Melanie smirked.

“Ah, but three cans of Red Bull, a bag of Halloween candy, and a whole bunch of coffee, and I'd say that's one hell of a punishment.”

Melanie's eyes widened dramatically, “You wouldn't.”

Alex smirked, “Pay back's a bitch, Flyzik.” Melanie lifted her knee, jabbing it directly into Alex's crotch, causing him to crumble and let go of the dark brunette completely. She crawled out from underneath the pained teenager, standing over him with a small smile on her face.

“That's paying you back for paying me back, you bastard.” Before any further movements could be made on Alex's part, Matt clapped his hands together.

“Well, don't you have somewhere to be, Mel?” Matt asked looking over at his sister.

Melanie slapped a hand to her forehead, “Fuck. Yeah, I gotta go to Jack's.” I looked over at Melanie, a questionable look on my face, “School project. Unfortunately.” Matt nodded and looked over at me.

“Do you mind giving me a ride over to the car dealership? They have my car and I kinda need to pick it up, considering I promised Bailey.” Matt nodded and looked over at Alex.

He sighed, “I guess I'll tag along.” Matt nodded and we all made our way over to the car; Alex and I taking the back seat and Melanie and Matt in the front.

“Hey, you think you'll be okay by yourself, Jay?” Matt yelled from the driver's seat as I held open my door. Alex turned to look at me, a worried expression on his face. I forced a smile, shaking my head.

“I'll be fine, Matt.” Alex shook his head, opeing up his door and closing it before another word was spoken.

“No, she won't. I'll go with her. You take Mel over to Jack's, okay?” Matt nodded and said goodbye to both of us as he drove off onto the road and out of sight.

“You know, you don't have to come with me,” I muttered, beginning to walk away as Alex jogged to keep up with me.

He shrugged, turning to face me as we walked into the large building, “I know, but we haven't spent any time together for a couple days. So, I though this was a good place to start.” I smiled over at him, his smirk growing on his face.

Alex and I walked up to the front desk of the car dealership where they had been working on my car since arriving in Lutherville; apparently the car had some serious damaging problems since we had originally bough it a few years previously and had decided to die on our trip over Maryland. Truth be told, the car was a hand-me down. I cringed at the thought and slightly shuddered, which Alex noticed.

“Are you cold?” He asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. I shook my head, looking up into the eyes of a pudgy man with a bushy black mustache and a receding hairline. The man smiled.

“What can I do ya for, miss?” He asked, a small Boston accent in his voice.

I forced a smile, “I'm here to pick up my car.” The man and I exchanged information and he told Alex and I that the car would be ready in a couple minutes.

Alex looked over at me, a slightly worried expression on his face. He had been staring at me like that ever since we had gotten about halfway to the dealership. Because he could read my emotions like a book, he had offered to stay with me to get the car as Matt drove his sister to Jack's house. I hadn't been grateful to have Alex with me until now.

“You sure you're okay?” Alex whispered, squeezing my bicep in his hand gingerly, comfortingly. I forced a small smile and looked over at him.

“I'm fine. I just want to get my car and go home.” Alex nodded and looked away. As always, he was either being extremely kind and letting it pass for now, or he hadn't noticed that I was lying through my teeth.

Truth be told, I dreaded getting in this car again. I had almost gotten on my hands and knees to plead Bailey to pick up the car, but she had fed me some shit about meeting up with Zack to go for a run. If I wasn't so fed up with both of the being madly in love with each other and not doing anything about it, I would have to told her to jump in a ditch and get the fucking car while she was at it. But, being the loving sister that I am, I allowed her time to spend with Zack, because, God only knows that those two need all the time they can get to figure out that they belong together.

But really, I didn't want to even have to look at the car again, which would be a hell of a lot harder to drive home that way. I didn't want to set foot in it, let alone let its memories haunt me.

The pudgy man soon returned, dangling the keys in between his thumb and forefinger, smiling over at Alex and I on the hard bench against the wall.

“Here you go, kids. Take good care o' her. She's a good car.” I nodded and forced another smile, clutching the keys in my fist to the point where it felt like they were breaking the skin of my palm. Alex thanked the man and walked me out to the front where the small car stood, ominously looking at me, as if it were taunting me.

I bit my lip and pried open my fist, pulling out the keys and sticking them into the driver's side door, opening the door with a small creak. The wafting smell of old leather and worn out air freshener hit me like a ton of bricks. The smell itself brought tears to my eyes. Alex opened the passenger seat and buckled his seat belt as I stood outside on the pavement, looking in. It was like watching my past meet my present.

Slowly, I pulled myself into the driver's seat, buckling up and placing my hands on the steering wheel, looking out into the vast open area of pavement. Cars were rushing ahead of me on the street, but it felt like everything was in slow motion.

Alex was fumbling with the seat next to me, mumbling something about it being too far forward for his taste, claiming it uncomfortable because of his height. From the corner of my eyes, I could see his knees scrunched up almost to his chin. As he tried to adjust the seat, he sent himself flying forward into the glove compartment, causing it to open and all of the contents inside to topple out onto the floor of the car.

All of the memories flooded back as I glanced at each of the items sprawled out on the old mats of the car. Pictures, snack wrappers, letters, coloring book pages, homework, everything. And it could all be described in three words.

Samuel. James. Bates.

Alex mumbled curses under his breath, not looking over at me as he picked up the various objects on the floor. As soon as he began to look through different items, the tears I had kept at bay came flooding down my cheeks. When he got to a certain picture, the tears fell faster.

It was a small photograph of three small children sitting on top of a slide. The first little girl was covering her eyes as her brown hair curled past her shoulders; Bailey. The next girl was holding the brunette around the waist, her smile bright and cheerful as she turned back toward the boy who was holding onto her middle with obvious protectiveness. His smile matched hers, both of their green eyes meeting as they began to go down the slide. I had remembered that day. And I could still see Sam smiling into my face as we slid down the metal slide together and into the sand below. The memory stung and more tears rolled from my eyes.

Alex smiled, looking over the picture, “Jade, is that you?” He turned to face me, his smile instantly dropping as he saw the tears streaming down my face. His eyes widened and he unbuckled his seat belt, leaning over the console and wrapping me in his arms as I cried into the fabric of his hoodie.

“What's wrong-” Alex cut himself off as he took a second look at the picture in his hands. I could feel his grip tightening around me as continued to look at the picture. “This is Sam...isn't it?” He whispered as he pulled away enough to look thoroughly into my eyes. A single tear fell out of my eye, which Alex wiped away with his thumb.

“On his eighteenth birthday, Sam gave Bailey and I his car because he had gotten a new one,” Alex's eyes flitted between mine, understanding and pain filled all of his features, “He gave us this car.” Alex's face softened and he pulled me back into his chest again as I let out another heart wrenching sob. My body shook uncontrollably as I cried into his hoodie. I had cried buckets of tears since arriving in Lutherville over my older brother, but I hadn't been so close and so alone in Sam's memory before. Here I was, sitting in the car that reminded me the most of my deceased brother, and I didn't even have my sister here to keep me sane. Instead, I had Alex, the boy I had cried to on more than one occasion.

I don't exactly know the reasoning for it, but I had let out more emotion in Alex's presence than I had to anyone in my entire life. Why was he so different?

I pulled away from Alex, my sobs not ceasing in the least, “Why?” I managed to choke out as I looked at him. He looked completely at a loss for words, “Why is it that I can break down in front of you like this, in fucking Lutherville, when I didn't cry at all in Essex, where I should have been crying? Why?!” I exclaimed, slamming my palms against the steering wheel as more tears flooded down my cheeks.

Alex opened his mouth, placing a comforting hand on my back, “Maybe-”

“No,” I interrupted, “Don't tell me that this is fine, that I'll be fine because I know I won't be. I'm not Bailey. I can't convince myself I'm fine, I can only hide it,” I looked out the window, leaning my forehead against the cool glass, “While we were in Essex, I was composed, and she was the wreck. Now, everything is messed up and she's progressing, while I'm stuck going in reverse.” I pushed myself off the glass and looked over at Alex, a somber look on his face.

“Why is it that when I met you, I suddenly became the person I should have been?” Alex look taken aback, his eyes widened slightly, “Why is it, that you, a dick joke telling, immature, 18 year old boy, can just...talk to me and suddenly I want to tell you my life story? Why? Answer me that.” The sobs broke through my words and another break down started, my forehead resting on the steering wheel as my hands still gripped it.

Alex's hand continued to rub circles into my back as he spoke, “I-I don't know why you trust me so much...but I'm glad you do,” I looked up at him, the cool air hitting my cheeks, making it feel like the tear stains were freezing onto my skin.

“Why?” I whispered, looking deep into his chocolate brown eyes. A smile was hidden there; it comforted me slightly.

Alex didn't answer, he merely opened up his door and stepped outside, walking around the hood of the car and opening my door. He unbuckled my seat belt and picked up my helpless body into his arms, carrying me around to the opened passenger door and sliding me in, buckling me up and wiping away some of my ever streaming tears.

“I want you to cry harder than you've ever cried, okay?” I nodded and didn't fight the tears that threatened to fall. I let them come, and, for some reason, I started to feel a little better.

Alex closed the door and walked around to the driver's side, sliding in and starting up the car. He grabbed my hand in his, lacing our fingers together as we started off the drive back home.

When he pulled up to the house, Alex quickly unbuckled himself and ran around the car to my side, where he helped me get out and picked me up into his arms; his hand securely underneath my head and knees. I could feel him walking up the stairs of the porch and the sound of a door opening before my sister's worried voice filled my ears,

“What happened? Is she okay?” She whispered frantically to Alex as tears continued to stream down my cheeks. I could feel Alex nodding, walking through the hall and towards the stairs to my bedroom as she continued to prod Alex for answers.

“Yeah, just a few more memories of Sam than she could handle,” I could hear a pair of footsteps halt, causing Alex to stop and turn around to face my sister; the tears still cascading down my cheeks as I snuggled closer into Alex's chest.

“H-How do you know about that?” Bailey whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

I felt Alex's chest rise and fall as he sighed, “I'll be right back and we can talk, okay?” Bailey mumbled a confirmation before Alex continued up the stairs and into the safety of my room.

He softly placed me on the bed as I looked up at him with a sad smile.

He returned smile and leaned down, placing a kiss to my forehead, “Get some sleep, okay, Jay Bird?” I nodded, snuggling closer into my pillows, though I was suddenly very cold. Alex must have noticed the small shiver I produced because he proceeded to tug off his hoodie, placing it over my torso.

I smiled up at him, sitting up so I could place my arms though the sleeves, falling into the warmth of the cotton. Alex pulled me into a hug, kissing my temple softly, “See you later, Jade.”

“Bye, Alex,” I whispered, laying back onto the pillows of my bed and watching as he walked out of the room, softly shutting the door behind him as I began to drift into a much needed sleep.