Walls

I was sat between Alex and Jack on a rounded couch in the corner of a big room with a dance floor, a DJ, and big speakers spread throughout the room. Alycia was on the other side of Jack, and then Zack and Rian were on her other side. I felt like some sort of celebrity, sitting with these four hot guys at a massive party. Either that or we were the kids who thought they were too cool to dance with everyone else. But I highly doubt that second theory, since Jack was itching to dance with someone.
“Pleeeease someone dance with me!” Jack begged. He turned to Alycia and began tugging on her arm like a child. “Please please pleeaasseeee!” He pouted. Alycia rolled her eyes and surrendered. Jack clapped and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the middle of the dance floor.
Zack scooted over; filling the space between us, and Rian got up to get a drink. I was watching Jack dance like an idiot with Alycia dancing awkwardly next to him, while I felt Alex shuffle next to me slightly. Out the corner of my eye I could see his head twitching funnily, and he was mouthing silent words to someone. I guessed it was Zack since he was on the other side of me. Just as I was about to lean back and see what they were doing, Zack got up and walked off, saying he needed to go to the bathroom. Right.
Alex inconspicuously rested his arm on the back of the couch behind me. Was he making a move? I tried to hide my red cheeks at the thought.
“So... what brings you to America?” Alex started up a conversation.
“Well, I graduated from University a couple of months ago, and I got offered to be a part of a program for new maths and science teachers, and it sounded like such a great opportunity so I had to accept,” I explained.
“Ah, so you’re a smart one! So are you teaching maths or science?” He asked.
“Maths. It’s so easy to me. It always has been,” I smiled.
“So that would make you... 23 years old?” Alex guessed.
“Almost. I turn 23 in a month. Alycia’s already 23, she’s 6 months older than me. She’s been my best friend for forever.” I smiled fondly at Alycia, still dancing with the dorky Jack.
“Maths wasn’t my best subject in high school. I was okay. Rian was much better at it; he’d always have to help me with homework.” He laughed to himself.
“What’s so funny about that?”
“Well, we’d tell my mum that’d we were doing homework, when actually we’d just jam in my bedroom. And then Jack would sneak in through my window. There’s no way my mum would let Jack around if I told her I was doing homework; if he was around nothing would ever get done,” he chuckled. “Jack’s been my best friend for forever. I can tell you’re just as fond of Alycia as I am of Jack. He makes everything more fun.” He smiled like a dork.
“That’s so cute,” I had to point out. It really was! I’d never heard any guy talk about their best friend like that! “You two must have been the coolest to grow up with.”
“Yeah, we are pretty cool,” he agreed.
I was having such a great time, hanging with Alex, and watching my best friend have the time of her life dancing with the guitarist from her favourite band. I was so glad I decided to come to Baltimore.
“You’re pretty,” Alex said out of nowhere. Say what?
“Uh, thanks?” I replied awkwardly. This was random.
“I’m going to be honest with you right now; I think I’ve had one too many beers, and ever since I met you at the airport I thought you were the prettiest girl I’d ever met,” he said brightly and confidently.
I didn’t know what to say. Here was this hot, famous, amazing musician, telling me that I’m pretty. Surely he’d seen prettier girls than me; he’d been all around the country! I blushed and looked at my feet, trying to hide my face. Alex tilted his head so it was on the same level as mine and grinned at my reaction. His hand moved from the back of the couch and rested on my shoulder.
“Come on, we should dance,” he suggested.
“Uh no way. I’m good thanks. You can go dance with Jack.”
“No way, I am not leaving you here by yourself, that would be rude of me. Let’s go! It’ll be fun.” It wasn’t his words that convinced me, but the look in his eyes that said he really wanted me to dance with him. I sighed and stood up simultaneously with Alex. Just as we reached the dance floor, the DJ changed the song to a slower one. Seriously? Great timing, DJ. Way to make things less awkward.
Alex seemed pleased with the song choice, and he held out his hand to me. “May I have this dance?” He asked, acting like a complete gentleman. How could I say no to that gorgeous face?
“Yes you may, kind sir,” I accepted, playing along. He took my hand and placed it on his shoulder. I moved my other hand so they joined behind Alex’s neck, while his hands slid around my waist, and we began sort-of swaying and sort-of dancing. It was hard to tell.
The female voice coming from the song was familiar. Maybe it was another one of Alycia’s favourite bands? Alex smiled in recognition of the song.
“Ah, Cassadee sounds great in this song! I’ve always loved this song,” he said.
“What’s it called?” I asked, curious.
“It’s called 6 Months. Cassadee and her band are great friends of ours. They’re called Hey Monday.”
Ah, Hey Monday. I recognised the name from Alycia’s continuous ramblings about anything to do with All Time Low. “She has a beautiful voice,” I commented.
I glanced around to look at the other people dancing. I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted Alycia’s arms stretching around Jack’s neck, and his lanky arms sitting comfortably around her waist. They looked really cute. Alycia looked calm on the outside, but on the inside I knew she was probably freaking out and screaming with excitement.
“Aw look at that,” Alex said, also looking at Alycia and Jack.
“She deserves someone like him,” I blurted out, lost in my thoughts. Alex looked like he was going to question what I said, but he seemed to let it go and concentrated on our slow dancing again.
The song finished way too early for my liking; I wasn’t done having an excuse to have my arms around Alex yet. I smiled to myself at my corniness. To my luck, another slow song started. And not just any song, but ‘I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing’ by Aerosmith.
“Do you want to keep dancing?” Alex asked me, and I nodded in reply. Sub-consciously, we both seemed to move closer to each other; my forehead was now resting on his shoulder and his mouth near my ear. It was so comfortable, like we’d always been like this. He was so warm; I felt I could just hug him all the time. What am I even saying? There’s no way a guy like Alex would even be going for me in the first place; I had to stop imagining things like this. And I’d only known him for two days!
I sighed. “This is one of my favourite songs,” I said gently to him. He didn’t reply, but he began to hum, in perfect tune with the song of course. The song progressed and his humming became louder. Soon he was actually forming words, rather than humming. It was still quiet, but loud enough for only me to hear. His voice was even more magnificent when it was right next to me. Swoon.
Alex pulled away suddenly. He held one of my hands, stepped back, and spun me around, while still singing. He moved gracefully towards me, and I stepped in to meet him half way. He was making up his own dance moves, twirling me around while trying to look graceful and professional. He was trying to keep a straight face but I could tell he was going to burst any second, because I was already laughing. With one last turn for the song, he dipped me and we froze there, staring at each other, idiotic smiles on our faces. He pulled me up and I straightened up my dress. Alycia and Jack walked over to us and Alycia sent me a look saying we-really-need-to-talk-right-now-before-I-burst. We excused ourselves to the bathroom, and I think we made it just in time before Alycia let out a quiet, yet high pitched scream.
“I can’t believe this is happening Sierra! I think I’m going to faint, or cry or something!” she hugged me tightly, and I think I began to lose circulation to my arms. “You’ll never believe what Jack said to me! We were just chatting during the slow dance, and then he started talking about Alex. He said Alex hardly slept last night; he just kept talking about you! And then he was worried that he’d never get the chance to see you again! Sierra, you have to tell me; do you like him too?!”
I was shocked at what Alycia was telling me. I didn’t know if I could believe her, but I did because it was Alycia. “I uh... but... are you sure? I mean, of course I like him! He’s amazing, funny, cute, caring, sweet... but, I’ve only known this guy for two days!”
“I have to get you two on a date, seriously. This could be big Sierra!” Alycia babbled. Oh God, what is she going to do to me? She walked out of the bathroom suddenly, and I followed her. She headed straight to the bar where Jack was standing, and I headed back to the couch confused, where Alex and Rian were talking. I sat next to Alex timidly, now paranoid because of what he’d told Jack. Should I say something? Should I ask him out? No, I couldn’t do that. I can’t risk that level of embarrassment. Could I?
I realised Alex and Rian were looking at me then. My eyes had been stuck to my fidgeting fingers in my lap, but I realised it was quiet and looked up. “Are you okay?” Alex questioned.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I assured him.
Jack and Alycia came back over, and Jack asked Alex if they could go talk. Alone. Uh oh, Alycia had gotten Jack in on this, hadn’t she? Dammit Alycia. I didn’t want her to do this, but something tugging at the back of my mind was glad that she was doing it and almost saving me any embarrassment.
A couple of minutes later the boys returned and Alex sat back between me and Rian, but a little closer to me this time. Jack whispered something to Rian, and he winked at Alycia. Before I knew it, we were on the couch alone again.
“Uh...” Alex muttered.
“Do you know what they’re up to? I think I do,” I broke the silence.
“Oh, well Jack was just telling me that I should ask you out.”
My heart jumped and my eyes widened. My palms became clammy. He’d made the statement, but was he going to ask?
“I gotta tell you, he put up a pretty good argument. But I didn’t really need to listen to his argument much. I’d already decided what I was going to do.” Uh oh, this didn’t sound very good to me. I wish I could read his mind. Just say it already! “So, Sierra, ever since yesterday I’ve really wanted to ask; would you like to go on a date with me?”
He asked? What? I thought this was going in a completely different direction. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought I would be asked out by Alex Gaskarth, a guy who I had only met two days ago and realised what he does for a living today.
“I’d love to,” I answered. His face lit up like Christmas.
“Great! So, how about tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up around 6?”
I felt really excited now, I almost felt like jumping up and down. God, Alycia was rubbing off on me. “Sounds perfect.”
Alycia and the rest of the band joined us again a little while later, and we talked for what felt like hours. The party crowd began to shrink, and soon enough we were the last ones there, laughing and telling stories. The owner came up to us and spoke. “Okay guys, its midnight, we gotta close this place up.”
We all groaned in unison, but grabbed our things and headed back to the tour bus parked in an empty car park. We continued our own little party on the bus, where Alycia and I met some of the band’s crew. There was Matt Flyzik, their band manager, Vinny Vegas, their merchandise guy, and Evan Kirkendall, the sound guy. They were all really cool. By the looks of it, everyone wasn’t surprised that Vinny was drunk and giving everyone hugs and kisses on the cheek. I wonder why? It looked kind of strange.
By the time 3am rolled around, it was pretty obvious that Alycia and I were ready to fall asleep. Luckily enough, Flyzik wasn’t drinking, and so we told him the name of the hotel and he knew exactly where to go.
I was parked on one of the couches with Alex, his arm sitting comfortably around me, my head resting on his shoulder. I wouldn’t say I was drunk, but Alex was a bit of a different story. He couldn’t sit still, and his words were slurring together slightly. It was probably a good thing that he kept moving so I didn’t fall asleep on the bus.
We arrived at the hotel, and Alex and Jack insisted on walking us up to our room. The elevator ride was interesting. Jack couldn’t keep anything in his pants, and Alex continued to laugh like a little school girl. If I was sober, I would have been weirded out, but because I was just a little bit tipsy, the little things they were doing were just hilarious.
We reached our floor and stumbled out of the elevator and down the hall to the front door. Alycia fumbled for the keys in her handbag with Jack while Alex leant on the wall next to me.
“Ya know, I had a really good time with yooou tonight,” Alex slurred.
I giggled in reaction to how he was talking. The door opened behind me and Alycia and Jack went inside but Alex and I stayed where we were. It was silent for a moment. Then, Alex began to lean slightly. Was he going to kiss me?
He seemed to think about what he was doing, and then stopped. “Hmm. I spose I should probably leave some things for the first date.” I think he saw the disappointment on my face, and so he leaned in and simply kissed me on the cheek. Just a little peck, but enough to leave me dying for tomorrow. “Goodnight Sierra,” he smiled.
“Goodnight Alex.”
Alex leaned through the doorway. “JACK! GET YO LAZY ASS BACK ON THE BUS!”
I tried to stifle my laughter at how loud he was shouting. He had probably woken up half the hotel! Jack slumped out the door and headed towards the elevator, pushing the down button continuously. Alex winked at me and walked off.
Man, I can’t wait till tomorrow.