The Way We Talk

“And this, would be my humble abode.” I smiled as I opened the door to my apartment.

It was a Tuesday afternoon and the guys had finished laying down the third track on the new album. The rest of the guys had went back to the Hotel but I decided Alex and I could use a good conversation.

Alex followed me in with a smile on his face. I set my purse down on the coffee table and kicked off my heels. Alex looked around in silence.

“You have no pictures of us..?” he asked.

“I left them all in Baltimore when I took off. I do have one though. I’ll go grab it. I’ll be back.” I said.

I skipped back to my bedroom and opened my dressers top drawer. Inside was every single little present or card Jack had ever bought me. And of course the oak frame that held a single picture in it that had gotten me through the hurt of leaving my friends.

I smiled and traced my fingers over all the faces in that photo. There was Rian with his arm around Kara, they were both sticking their tongues out and glaring at the camera. Then next to them was Alex, he was hugging Lisa tightly to his chest and they grinned cheesily. Off a couple feet were Jack and I. He was holding on to my wrists lightly and I was staring up into his eyes. My hand cupped his cheek softly. We both had a look of pure love on our face. Everything was so in tune. We were a perfect distance away from each other, and our body language could be read from a million miles away. I smiled softly as a tear ran down my cheek.

“Abs! You okay?” I heard Alex yell.

I nodded as if he could see me and wiped the tear away.

“Coming Al!’’ I croaked.

When I got to the living room I noticed Alex wasn’t in there. I walked into the kitchen skeptically. Alex was sitting on my floor flipping through a cookbook I had bought the previous day.

“You cook?” He asked without glancing up at me.

“Well… I’m learning.” I shrugged.

“Yay! Can I come over and cook with you sometime?” he asked.

I laughed at the huge grin that was plastered on his face.

“Of course M’dear!” I smiled.

I slid down the door of my fridge and sat next to Alex. I handed him the picture frame.

Things were silent as Alex stared at the picture. I stared at my hand as my heart suddenly felt weighed down. I would give anything to go back to those days. Back to my senior year, when everything was okay again. With Kara and Lisa.. With Jack, being in love. Everything was better. I was better, I was happier.

My thoughts were interrupted by Alex’s sniffle. I looked over to see a tear falling down his face.

“Look at us Alex.” I giggled, “We’re crying like retards!”

Alex laughed and nodded. He wiped away the tears from his face and said, “We all look so happy…”

“We were happy.”

“Those were the days…” he agreed.

“I’d give anything to get those days back…” I sighed.

“It’s just a daydream away Abs. Close your eyes and just float back to it. I do it all the time. It makes me feel better..”

I took in the words Alex had spoke. My tears flew heavily and more prompt now that I had a sobbing Alex next to me.

“I miss Lisa, Abs. I really truly do… I love her more than anything in my life.” he stuttered through his tears.

“I feel the same about Jack…” I sighed.

“Abby, I want my daydreams to be real. Let’s get this back!” he pointed to the picture.

“We’ll never get it completely back Alex… Kara’s in Australia and Rian has Cass. Not to mention Jack is seeing someone and NOBODY will tell me who.” I vented.

“It’s not our place. Jack needs to tell you Abs..” Alex sighed.

“Al. Look we have a week of only guitar and bass tracking. GO! Go home! NOW! Go fix things with Lisa! Please! Don’t live a lie like I am! I’m not happy, and it’s shitty. All I want is Jack and I can’t have him…” I cried.

“You’re right Abby…. I can’t let love go. You and Lisa are the only girls I have ever loved, I can’t let her go too….” He agreed.
“My laptop’s on the coffee table in the living room. I suggest you go book yourself a plane ticket.” I smiled through my tears.

Alex hopped up and scurried away. I sat for a while just in the silence. I was startled when my blackberry began to vibrate on the counter. I pulled the phone down to see Jack calling.

“Hello!” I said trying to gather myself.

“Hey Abs… You okay?” I could just picture Jack raising his eyebrow in concern.

“Yeah! Ha! I am perfect! So what’s up?” I quickly lied and put on my faux-happy voice.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie with me. I am dying from that rare disease called boredom.” He joked.

“Sure! When?”

“Can you come pick me up in like half an hour? Alex and Rian have the rental cars.”

“Yepp! I’m gonna change and then I’ll be at the hotel. See ya soon!” I hung up the phone.

I walked into the living room. Alex had his credit card out and was ferociously typing away. I laughed at his expression. Having heard the laughter, he looked up.

“I’m going to see a movie with Jack. Feel free to stay here as long as you’d like.”

“Thanks abs.” He smiled.

**********************************

“Thanks for saving me Abby!!” Jack thanked me as he hopped into my car.

“I’m glad to help, Jack” I smiled as I drove off into the busy streets of LA.

I just wandered aimlessly, finding movie theatres in LA wasn’t really a hard task. Jack scrolled through the songs on my iPod while I sang along to the Jack Johnson song playing.

“AGH! I love this song! I haven’t heard this song in forever!” Jack screamed.

I began to laugh hysterically at Jack’s outburst. When he got excited he sounded like a small child. I sang along quietly to the verses of the song. But when it came to the chorus, Jack and I bothe belted it out. It was such a fitting song for us both to be singing. Once more, Valencia rang true.

Someone please help me out
I never meant to take this so far
Now I've fallen way too hard
Take a long step back to
To The days when I was younger
Decisions never mattered all this much

*****

“Abby! Absolutely Not! I made you come!” Jack argued.

I had foolishly tried to pay for our movie tickets. I should have known, with Jack the saying “Chivalry is dead” rings false. He never let me pay for anything and sometimes it got annoying.

“Fine, I’m paying for it next time though.” I rolled my eyes softly.

“Next time?” Jack questioned quietly.

I was taken back. I had no clue what to say. Was he hinting he didn’t want this to happen again? What did he mean? Instead of freaking out I looked down at my manicured nails and tried to pretend I didn’t hear what he said. (I know, I’m lame)

“Does that mean you’d like to hang out with me again?” he smiled softly.

“Of course Jack. I love spending time with you.” I nervously glanced around the room after I said that. Unsure of what his reaction would be, I braced myself for the worst.

“Me too.”

Those simple words made my heart stop. Jack did not notice but I completely stopped moving. He began to walk away to hand the guy our tickets. I tried to catch up before he noticed and then walked with him to the correct showing room.

Maybe there was hope for us…