Rhythm of Love

Alex's Point of View

I couldn't believe I was here, at my mom's apartment, for Nora.

I grimaced as I rang the shrill doorbell. When Nora hadn't shown up at my uncle's place, and nobody wanted to take the party to her, I took it on myself to grab a pizza and head over.

Damien didn't tell me much. Nicolette didn't say much either. But knowing Nora, whatever I said impacted her the wrong way, and I had to fix it. I had been surprised when Eli didn't want to come, but I didn't wait for him to change his mind. As much as I wanted my brother to be happy, I selfishly wanted Nora more.

Now Nora stared at me in surprise, standing in the doorway to my mom's two floor apartment. I moved the pizza around a little, wafting the scent toward her. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, and I stepped inside the aparment.

"Let me guess," I said, looking around at the familiar layout. "You're sleeping..." I ran up the stairs and into my old room. "In this one," I said with satisfaction. I threw the pizza on the bed and walked around. It smelled faintly of smoke and a certain kind of axe Eli and I couldn't get a hold of in Europe. I stepped over to the closet, opened it, and reached into the back of the top shelf, pulling out a stash of Axe cologne.

"Would you look at that," Nora said from the doorway. "I never knew that was there."

"No one but me and Eli," I said with a grin. "We stole these from Wal-Mart when I was ten. Back when stealing these were easy." She curled up on the bed and I threw the box aside.

"You smell like smoke," she said, wrinkling her nose cutely.

"Yeah, but you've always loved the smell of me." I laid out next to her and opened the pizza box. The warm scent of Chicago style Pizza wafted through the room and we both immediately grabbed a slice. "So I heard you puked breakfast and dinner." She grimaced.

"Yeah. It was gross."

"You know on my plane ride to France, I barfed five times?"

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. Any attraction the guys had for me is long gone." She laughed.

"I always thought Ivan acted weird around you." I joined her laughter.

"It was a lonely year and a half," I finished out with a sigh.

"But you had the guys- and all those screaming European fans!"

"Eh," I replied with a grimace. "When there's that big of a language barrier..." She laughed.

"But you speak French!"

"I went to Spain too!" She shook her head, smiling. "And the guys all had their girlfriends to kick it with. Xavier..." I put my head in my hands. "Zay got with Adele."

"What!?" Nora said, another slice of pizza halfway toward her mouth.

"That's what I said! But he ended up dumping her. And a day later he's dating some platinum named Cady." She smiled and shook her head again, taking a bite of the pizza. I picked up another slice. "Ivan finally dumped that whore in New York and started puppy dogging some girl named Bebe. Conner was dating some Spanish girl living in France. Marissa? And Eli--"

"Eli?" I stopped and cursed myself.

"Oh, y'know us Barlow boys, gotta keep on the move."

"You're lying," she said calmly, finishing off her second slice of pizza.

"Yeah, okay. He was dating some chick named Dia. He dumped her after about a month though. He got with her cause she looked like you. Dumped her cause she acted like you, too."

"Oh? How so?"

"She lied." Her third slice of pizza stopped midair.

"What do you mean?" I shrugged.

"She lied about a lot of things. There was one time she said something that reminded me of an excuse you used in eighth grade. You walked into History and said your dog died, and when we were leaving the teacher said she was sorry about your dog, and you said, 'What dog?'." I laughed. "You were so busted."

"I had a week of homework to turn in!" she said indignantly. I shrugged.

"But how innocently Eli reacted, made me realize you never told him what went down between us."

"You can't have believed I would tell him that--"

"I thought you cared about him Nora. When I told him--"

"You told him!?" I laughed.

"Hell no, I didn't. How can I know you're bullshitting me if you can't tell when I'm bullshitting you?" She looked away. "Seriously though, Nora, you have to tell him."

"But--"

"No buts. No way in hell am I going to start dating you if you're keeping secrets from my brother." She was silent.

"So you're going to start dating me?" I rolled my eyes.

"Of course that's the only thing you hear."

"But you want to start dating me?" I threw the empty pizza box in a nearby trash can and pulled Nora under my arm. She curled up against me.

"Maybe," I said. "If you tell everyone the truth-- starting with Eli, and yourself."

"What?" she asked, hiding a yawn in my side.

"You'll understand. Now go to sleep." She fell asleep and I picked up her iPod, careful not to wake her, and pressed play. Automatic by Tokio Hotel started playing. I grimaced.

But it felt so right, with Nora sleeping next to me. Why were things so weird?