Lost In The Stereo Sound

Natalie's POV:
Before I knew it, the middle of July was approaching and my to do list was growing faster. I had tried to put most of my college shopping off, but it was nearing August and I knew I had to start shopping.

"Nat, do I have to come?" Alex whined as he opened my car door.

"Yeah," I said patting the passenger's seat, "so stop being a bitch."

We drove to the nearest Target. From when we entered the store, it was clear that Alex wanted no part in helping me find stuff I'd need for college. His entire body was tense and it was obvious. He was short in his answers and would hardly look at anything except his phone.

"Why are you so pissy?" I finally said as we made our way back to the front of the store to check out.

"I'm not," Alex sighed as he typed away on his phone.

"Right," I said shaking my head back and forth. "You're being an asshole."

"How?" Alex said rolling his eyes as we placed my items on the conveyor belt.

"You just are," I said not wanting to go into detail.

"You're the one that dragged me here," he said putting his phone back in his pocket.

"I figured you'd at least be excited for me," I said realizing that it was a huge mistake to bring him here. He stayed silent and looked at his feet. "Why are you being like this?" I asked as we walked out the door to my car.

"I'm not being like anything," he said grabbing bags and placing them in my trunk.

"Whatever," I said getting into the car.

We were silent the whole ride back to my house. Finally, we pulled up to my house and Alex got out of the car before I could even say anything.

"I've got to run," he said. "I'll call you later."

He was acting so out of character. Alex always would make up excuses to see me for as much as he could. He would never randomly leave without an explanation. Not wanting to stress myself out even more, I shrugged and emptied the car myself.

Alex's POV:
"What is your problem?" Zack asked after I'd walked into Jack's basement and slammed the door behind me.

"Nothing," I replied.

"You seem irritated," Rian offered.

"I'm not," I said.

"Really? Because you sound-"

"Dammit! Just leave it!" I yelled standing up. They all looked confused as to why I exploded. I shook my head and stormed out of the basement and started to walk back to my house.

"Alex," Jack called from behind me. I sighed and continued walking. Maybe if I ignored him, he would let me go. "Dude!" he called. I heard him running up and saw his body out of the corner of my eye. "Alex, obviously something is wrong."

"It's fine," I said not wanting to talk about this anymore.

"Fucking talk to me," Jack said getting angry.

"I just want to go home," I said with a sigh.

"Well, I'm coming over then," Jack decided.

"I can't really stop you," I surrendered.

We walked the rest of the way in silence and once we reached my house, we headed up to my room.

"So," Jack said sitting down on my desk swivel chair.

"I don't know," I said plopping down on my bed. "She took me college shopping," I finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Alright," Jack said waiting for me to finish.

"It sucked," I added.

"That seriously can't be why you're being so... annoyed," Jack said making a weird face at me.

"Well, it is," I said rolling on my stomach.

"There's got to be something else because that wouldn't make anyone this upset, normally," Jack concluded.

"I don't want her to go," I said softly.

"What?" Jack said scooting over to where I was laying on my bed.

"I don't want her to leave!" I practically yelled.

"But Alex, you've known she was going to college since you practically met her. She's been working so hard for that and-"

"I know!" I yelled again. "I know. I just can't even imagine not being able to see her. I know it's selfish, but I don't want her to choose that over me."

"That's not fair and you know it," Jack said running his hands through his hair. He looked really irritated.

"I think that if I did sit down with her and talk about this, I could convince her to come with us on tours. It would be so amazing," I added.

"Are you listening to yourself?" Jack asked wide-eyed. "Jesus Christ. I knew you loved her and all, but I didn't think it was this much," Jack said shifting in his chair uncomfortably.

"Yeah," I said rolling over onto my back.

"She's really changed you," Jack pointed out. "It's weird."

"How?" I asked looking at him.

"I wouldn't say you're the committed type, really," Jack said with a smirk. "I mean, we met her in January. Do you remember what you were like in December? You were with a different girl like every week."

"It is weird to think about that," I said with a laugh.

"I don't care what you do as long as you're happy," Jack said.

"Alright, alright, you're getting far too sentimental on me," I said sitting up. "But thanks for the talk."

"Did you ask Nat about going with us for the four dates of Warped we're playing this summer?" Jack asked.

"No, I totally forgot about that," I said putting my hand on my head.

"Well, you should probably get on that," Jack said. "She can put herself to use and make us food and sell our merch."

"Easy," I said hitting him with my pillow.

"No, but seriously. She needs to come," Jack said nodding his head.

Natalie's POV:
A few days went by without bringing up what had happened at the store, but I knew that it bothered him. I think it was the whole college thing that freaked him out. I think he felt that I was moving on and he was just sitting there. I hadn't known Alex for that long, but I knew he had a reputation before we met. A pretty good one according to guy standards, I was told. To be honest, I often wondered if he missed it or if he would fuck up when I left. My worried never seemed too prevalent and often kept them in the back of my mind. When he was with me, he made me feel like I was the only important person in the room.

"Hiya, Nat," Alex said stretching his arms over his head in a giant yawn. He'd spent the night at my house and I'd been awake for a while just thinking about how the summer was coming to an end.

"Hey," I said rolling over to face him. He had a sleepy smile on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked pulling me close to him. His calloused fingers were rough against the skin on my bare back.

"Nothing really," I said resting my head in the crook of his neck.

"Come with me," he whispered in my ear.

"What are you talking about?" I asked moving my head so that I was eye-level with him.

"We're playing a few days of warped," Alex said with a smile.

"I know," I said looking at him quizzically.

"Come with us," Alex said kissing my nose.

"... Alex," I said looking at him like he was crazy.

"What?" he said. "Babe, come on."

"Are you sure?" I asked feeling excitement rise in my stomach.

"Nat, the boys love you," Alex said as if it were obvious that I'd come with them.

"Is Kara coming?" I asked not understanding what was going on with this mini-tour.

"God no," Alex laughed. "She'd probably rather die."

"Why is that?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because she's sort of... high maintenance," Alex said struggling to find the right words to say.

"That's true," I nodded with a smile. "What does that say about me?" I asked pretending to be offended.

"Natty, you can handle it," Alex said grabbing a piece of my hair and playing with it.

"So when do we leave?" I asked snuggling back in Alex's neck.

"Two weeks, I think," Alex said wrapping his arms around my body.

"Then a week after that, I leave for college. What a good way to end summer!" I said getting excited to be on the road for a little.

"For sure," Alex said. I felt the muscles on his back tense and he let out a sigh. I knew that the whole college issue still bothered him, but I knew better than to bring it up again. We only had three weeks of summer left and I wasn't about to waste any time with Alex by pointlessly fighting.

"I love you," I said noticing that he was still tense.

"I love you too, Nat," Alex said finally relaxing his muscles. "So much."