August Is Over

Where in the hell is Alyson? She went to go change nearly fifteen minutes ago. I know for a fact that it doesn’t take Alyson that long to change. She said that she would be ten minutes max, yet here I am, still waiting. I groaned, and looked at the clock. At this rate, we’ll be eating McDonalds drive through instead of sitting down at a diner and eating. I’ll give her at least five more minutes before I go looking for her myself.
Since I had a little extra time, I might as well use it. I stood up from the chair and walked into the bathroom where Jack was fixing his hair. He used his straightener to expertly style his hair. The blonde and black blended in well with him. Sure, it’s a little weird, but come on. Jack’s a little weird himself.
“Hello there, Lex.” He stated, running the straightener through his head for the trillionth time.
“Hi, Jackie,” I replied with a sigh.
“Whoa there…why the long face?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Alyson is just taking forever and a day to get dressed.”
“Alyson? You’re Alyson?”
I nodded my head.
“That’s what I said too, man.”
“Hmm…doesn’t sound like her,” He stated before setting his straightener down. “What brings you in here?”
“I really need to finish my hair.”
“Step into my office!” He stated before picking up his flat iron.
“Should I really trust you?”
“Come onnnnn, it’s me.”
“Exactly why I’m having a hard time convincing myself,” I stated.
Jack rolled his eyes before he started to fix my hair. By the tenth time he went through it, I figured that it was done.
“Wait! I’m not finished!” He stated childishly as I stood up.
“Yes, you are,” I called back, walking out of the bathroom. “Have you guys seen Alyson?”
“Nope,” Rian shrugged, now watching TV.
“Not at all,” Zack replied, lifting weights as usual.
I groaned and walked out of the dressing room. I had small hunch where she might be, but I honestly didn’t want to be right. I slowly started to walk toward the venue door when laughing caught my attention. That’s definitely my Alyson’s laugh. I shook my head, trying not to get angry as I followed the sweet sound. I winded up on stage where John and Alyson were trying to fix mic’s. Keyword here is trying. When in fact, they weren’t doing that good of an job. John’s foot was tangled up and Alyson was desperately trying to get it untangled while he tried to keep his balance. Given anyone else, I would have laughed. Considering that it was John, I was furious.
“Alyson!”
Her name came out harsher than it was supposed to.
“Oh..hi, Alex.” She replied awkwardly, still bending down at John’s foot.
“Don’t ‘hi’ me,” I snapped. “Where have you been? It’s been thirty mother fucking minutes. It only takes you ten minutes to change,”
“Whoa, man. I’m sorry, It’s my fault.”
“Don’t even,” I snapped at John.
Alyson rolled her eyes.
“John needed help with the microphones. Some of The Maine’s went dead and I offered to help him. No big deal, Lex.”
“It kind of is when we had a date planned.”
She frowned.
“I’m sorry…”
“Whatever. Let’s just go,” I huffed, ignoring the pained look from her eyes. I didn’t need to see what my harsh attitude was doing to her.
“Thanks for the help anyway, Aly,” John called out.
“What the fuck!” I shouted. Alyson’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t you ever call my girlfriend Aly again!” I warned, mad that he was stepping on my toes.
“Alex, come on, he didn’t mean too…” She trailed off, tugging at my arm. “Let’s go get something to eat, yeah?” I shook my head and yanked my arm out of her grip before I started toward the exit, leaving her to follow behind me closely and John in a tangled up mess. He’ll live. Fucking douche deserves it. No one called Alyson Aly. Everyone knows that. Well, I thought everyone knew. “Come on, Alex.”
“Come on Alex, what?” I snapped, turning back around toward her.
“John didn’t mean to call me Aly. It was an honest mistake. He didn’t know that you’re the only one allowed to call me that.”
I rolled my eyes.
“What suddenly makes O’Callaghan more important than I am?”
“What?” She laughed. “Alex, you can’t be serious? John’s just a friend. You’re important.”
“Really? Then why are you spending all of your free time with him?”
Alyson looked at me confused.
“I’m with you right now aren’t I?” She asked. “I want to be with you, Alex. Once again, He’s just a friend. Let’s put this behind us and get grab some food.”
I shook my head.
“You can go. I’m not so hungry anymore.” I shook my head before walking toward the bus instead. I got on the bus and crawled into my bunk. I picked up the framed picture I had of Alyson and I graduation night. That night was good. It held good memories. Sure, that was right before tour, but at least we weren’t fighting. We left on good terms. Hell, touring had been great until recently. It’s not the first tour she’s ever been on with us. So why is it the hardest? I continued to stare at the picture. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t hear the tour bus door open or the foot steps once the person was inside. I barely even moved when someone opened the bunk door.
“Alex…” She sighed.
I didn’t take my eyes off of the picture.
“We were so happy,” I stated. “We finally got to a point in our lives where we knew that we wanted each other more than anything. What happened to that, Alyson?”
She smiled weakly at me.
“I don’t know…”
“You don’t even wear the promise ring anymore,”
“But I always have it with me,” She stated, picking the ring out of her pocket. “You’re the one who told me not to wear it. If press or fans found out that you’re promised to someone else, what would happen?”
“What if I said that I didn’t care about that anymore?” I asked, still looking at the picture.
“Then I would proudly wear it again,” She replied.
I finally looked over at the beautiful girl standing next to my bunk.
“You would?”
“Of course,” She laughed. “Alex, I want to be that happy again too. I don’t like fighting with you. I don’t like feeling like I’m the last thing on your mind either,”
“I guess we have a few things that need to be worked out huh?”
“Definitely,” She nodded. “Scoot over.”
I set the picture down on my stomach as I moved over, allowing her to slip into the bunk next to me. She still had the ring clutched in her hand before she slid it back on its rightful place.
“That’s better,” I stated with a small smile.
“I thought so too,” She agreed. Alyson’s arms wrapped around my torso. “I love you, Alex. I’ll do anything to get us back on track.
“I love you too, Aly.”