Lost In The Stereo Sound

Natalie's POV:
My head was spinning as I drove home. Alex looked so different from three years ago. I know I looked the same, except being taller. His brown scruffy hair that was constantly in his face was a lot lighter with blonde highlights. He looked a lot older and less awkward. I think it was the smile wrinkles that formed around his eyes that made him look so different. His smirk was the same though. That bastard.

"Hey!" Lauren said as soon as I walked into our apartment. "Where were you?"

"Um," I said distantly, "I was at breakfast with Liam."

"Oh, did you go to Venice Beach?" she asked between bites of her strawberry Special K.

"Yep," I said plopping down on a kitchen chair across from her. I knew if I looked at her, she'd be able to tell something was wrong so I kept my eyes fixed out the window.

"How was it?" she asked with a mouthful.

"Good," I said quietly.

"Yeah?" she said. "Want to go out tonight?" Well, now I had to tell her what had happened and why there was no way in hell I would be going anywhere for a while.

"Uh, I have to tell you something," I said taking a deep breath.

"What's up?" she asked casually.

"Alex is here," I said as if it were totally normal.

"What?" Lauren said almost before I finished saying his name.

"I ran into him on the boardwalk," I explained.

"With Liam?" she asked, eyes about to pop out of her head.

"Nope," I responded.

"Nat, what happened?" Lauren asked with extreme curiosity.

"I sort of froze up and made up an excuse to leave," I admitted.

"How do you feel?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm so fucking confused, Lo," I sighed. "This... I don't need this right now."

"Are you going to see him again? How long is he here for? Where is he staying?" Lauren said bombarding me with questions.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I'm so stressed out already and then this had to come back into my life at the worst time," I vented rubbing my temples.

"I know what you need," she said with a smile.

"What might that be?"

"You need a night out!" she practically squealed.

"Lo, that sounds like a terrible idea... I should be doing something productive if I want to maintain my GPA for that job interview," I huffed.

"Shut up," she snapped. "This is not up for discussion. I said you're going out, so you are."

"Oh, really?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, so get ready to leave here around eight, bitch. We're getting dinner first," she smiled as she got up from the table.

"Fine, asshole," I said retreating to my room. Sometimes, Lauren was right. This was one of those times.

Alex's POV:
Natalie looked better than ever, if that was even possible. Her legs were longer and she radiated warmth. It might have been her hair. It was literally golden, thanks to the sun. Slight freckles dotted her cheeks, but in a cute way. I couldn't stop thinking about her as I wandered back toward where the rest of guys were sitting, waiting for me to make the call that I never did end up making.

"Is she still pissed?" Rian asked as I joined them on the beach.

"Who?" I said forgetting entirely what he was talking about.

"Dude, Zooey," Jack chimed in.

"I don't know," I said making a face.

"Weren't you just talking to her?" Zack asked shading the sun from his face.

"No," I laughed.

"Chicken out or something?" Matt asked.

"Not at all," I responded.

"Just tell us what the fuck happened, Gaskarth," Vinny said with a groan.

"You'll never believe who I just ran into," I said with a smirk.

"We're not guessing so just fucking tell us," Rian added.

"Natalie," I said flatly.

"Natalie Laurent?" Zack exploded.

"What other Natalie do we know?" I said with a laugh.

"Holy shit," Jack mumbled.

"How is she doing?" Rian asked narrowing his eyes at me.

"She said she's doing fine," I said.

"That's it?" Matt asked.

"I think I caught her off guard and in the middle of doing things," I explained.

"Well, she has no reason to expect you to be in her turf, you know?" Vinny said.

"Not to be cocky, but don't you think she would sort of keep up to date with us?" I said contemplating what I'd just said.

"You're such a bastard," Zack laughed. "I doubt it."

"You don't really stalk your ex's life after you break up with them unless you're crazy," Rian added.

"Oh, yeah, like you've never done that," I scoffed at him.

"With the way things ended, I highly doubt she'd want to," Matt said.

"I don't know," I said.

"Are you going to see her while we're here?" Jack asked.

"I think I need to," I said honestly.

"Don't forget you have a girlfriend," Rian added. He never liked that I kept a girlfriend and still managed to mess around on tour. He was right to, though. It wasn't fair.

"Ok, mom," I said rolling my eyes at him.

"Look," Jack said, "do what you want, but don't be a gigantic asshole to Zooey. She doesn't know any better."

"I know," I said feeling shitty already.

"Does she even know who Natalie is?" Vinny asked.

"I doubt it," I added. "I never told her."

"Looks like this will be a crazy few months," Zack added.

"I always liked a little scandal," I admitted.

Natalie's POV:
I didn't know what the hell do with myself until later tonight and my mind was running wild with memories that I'd tried so hard to forget and push aside. I settled on working out. It took me a good half hour to get to the gym I belonged to. I ran for a solid hour. Just as I was about to get off the elliptical, something on the TV caught my attention. The station was set to MTV2.

"Make sure to check out this show tomorrow because All Time Low is giving us a sneak peek into the making of their new album," the announcer said.

I nearly fell off my elliptical from seeing the picture of the boys I used to call best friends. Well, I guess they did 'make it'.

"I love that band," the girl next to me said. She looked to be about sixteen.

"Yeah?" I said wiping the sweat off my face. "Are they any good?"

"Duh!" she said as she flashed her iPod at me. Apparently this was one of their previous albums. "The lead singers writes all these amazing songs you can just tell are about specific people."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Like, I guess some bitch broke his heart or something because a lot of his songs are about it," she said between breaths.

"Oh, really?" I said immediately becoming defensive. "Do you know the girl who supposedly did this?"

"I don't know... I heard that she was from his high school. He wrote a song about how she just left him, actually," she explained.

"What's it called?" I asked shocked that he'd do that.

"Remembering Sunday," she said. "Why do you care so much?"

"I don't," I said quickly. "Just wondering."

"Yeah, there are loads more about stuff like that," she continued.

"Interesting," I said taking a drink from my water bottle.

"They're recording their new album in Hollywood, actually," she said.

"I know," I said absentmindedly.

"Wait, I thought you didn't know this band?" she said staring at me quizzically.

"It's a long story," I said. "I've got to go." In my rush to leave, I dropped my phone.

"Here you go," the girl said picking it up. "You've got a message from.... Holy shit!"

"What?" I asked snatching it back. My stomach fell to the floor when I saw the name of the sender. Alex Gaskarth. "Fuck."

I opened it slowly. I'm not sure if you've changed your number, but if this is still you, I think we should see each other soon... You know, catch up :)

"You know him?" the girl asked halting on her treadmill.

"I used to," I said without even thinking about it.

"Wait," the girl said finally connecting the dots, "are you that girl?"

"I need to go," I said avoiding eye-contact.

"Oh my god, you are!" she yelled as I ran out of the gym.

I literally hopped in my car and drove as fast as I could home. I stormed into my apartment and flipped my laptop open. I clicked on the iTunes icon as fast as possible. Waiting for it to pop up, I brought up the text message Alex had sent me on the phone. I couldn't believe he was actually here. Or that he had kept my phone number for so long. But then again, I did the same. The iTunes store finally loaded and I purchased every single song by All Time Low. I had to hear this shit. I wasn't sure if I'd regret it, but I knew I had to listen to that one song. It finally downloaded and I clicked PLAY.

The kid always had a way with words, but damn did he make me look like a bitch. Everything about the song was harsh and flat out cruel. I felt more and more terrible as the seconds passed. His voice sounded amazing though. After it ended, I clicked on the next song, Six Feet Under The Stars. A smile formed on my face as I remembered the events that the song was so clearly inspired by. Especially the being underage part. Ok, so maybe he wrote a few songs about me that were nice. My heart skipped a beat as the song Vegas came wafting through my speakers. Knowing perfectly well what this was about, I braced myself for the story that was bound to unfold before me. I stripped from my clothes and decided to save it for after my shower. I couldn't handle it yet.