Six Feet Under the Stars

"One cream. Two sugars. Now that's how you drink coffee."

Alex ignored my words while heaping spoonfuls rivaling the height of Mount Everest into his coffee mug. The scraping of his spoon against the chipped drinking cup added to the buzzing ambiance in the crowded cafe and blended into the soundscape of chatter and gurgling coffee pots. The inside of the resaurant was surprisingly sunny for being trapped in the smoggy city. Sun beams shone through the display window casting the mismatched furniture into various shaped shadows while keeping the wooden interior bright and cheery.

The two of us were huddled at a corner cherry wood table with carvings scraped crudely into the surface, either professing love or telling the world off. I had chosen a plaid chair that rose high over my head and curved in around me, while Alex had gone for the lumpy salmon colored armchair.

"Sugar brings out a different side to it. Takes the edge off of it." He explained garnishing his mug with another trickle of crystals.

"You're defiling the best drink on Earth." I told him staring down at my own cup of steaming caffeine. "Try mine."

Shifting his eyes suspiciously as he drank showed the delicate caution he was approaching the beverage with. "Too strong."

Shaking my head in disbelief, I stole back my mug and took another sip of the warm drink before wrapping my arms around myself. "Your loss. And you didn't even get the French toast either."

"Anything else you want to complain about?" Alex asked while taking a measureable bite out of the cinnamon coffee cake he had opted for.

Some crumbs tumbled down the front of his shirt and I laughed, "You're a mess."

"With or without the split lip?"

I took a moment to consider, "Both ways."

"Damn, I thought I was getting better." Dusting the mess off of him, he grinned over at me, "Do you hear the song?"

It was almost impossible to distinguish what was playing over the loudspeakers with the grumbling crowd surrounding us. Slowly I dissected the noises and was able to focus in on a drum beat, and finally placed the song: 'Crazy' by Patsy Cline, the same song Alex and I had danced to the night before.

"Must be fate." He told me leaning back to grin at me. "You're not up for another dance, are you?"

"No, it's too early in the morning for that. And besides, I don't believe in fate."

"What?" Alex seemed amused by my opinion. "In life we run across people and experiences out of the blue. Maybe it's just with the whole success of All Time Low and everything, that I believe some things are just meant to happen. One thing leads you to another, or something even better. If I never sang, the band wouldn't have happened, we would have never had a record deal or anything. No tours either. And for that matter, I would never even have met you either. It's crazy once you try to string it all together."

"That's partly true," I admitted while running a finger around the rim of my glass. "But you also have to fight and work for what you want; most don't just come easily and present themselves. Hell, it'd be nice if they did more often though."

"I'll convert you into a believer if it's the last thing I do." Alex told me with a smile.

I scrunched my nose, "I always hated that phrase; 'if it's the last thing I do'. Makes it sound like the person is going to keel over afterwards or something."

"You seem a little paranoid about things."

"Only some things." I admitted, playing with the lake of syrup sticking to my plate. Reaching over the salt and pepper shakers, Alex commandeered a piece of my French toast and popped it into his mouth while chewing happily. "Hey!" I made a stab with my fork as his fingers tried to steal another slice. "I told you you should have gotten the French toast. You've been nibbling off of my plate for the past ten minutes."

"Well, you haven't eaten it." He complained sourly, "You can't let it go to waste."

"You haven't given me a chance to finish it off. I swear you must have a hollow leg or something."

"Sorry, but I didn't bring my prostetics to breakfast this morning." Alex apologized and dabbed at his mouth with a napkin.

I rolled my eyes playfully and then said, "Maybe I'll just get a to-go box for this and take it back to the hotel."

"And where do you plan to put it?"

"In the fridge so it doesn't go bad." It seemed like a pretty obvious solution to me.

"I mean, do you even have a room? If you still want to share with Dorian go for it, but the post break up thing might make things a little awkward when you're sharing a bed with him. Of course that's just my opinion. It could be perfectly normal." Innocently, he looked at me trying not to squint as the morning sun reflected in his eyes.

"You have a point." I bit my lip while I thought of an answer to the problem. "I could always just sleep on the tour bus or something. It'd be a little uncomfortable without air conditioning all night, but it's manageable."

"You could always stay in my room." Alex offered gently thought it seemed like an idea he had considered for quite some time.

Leaning towards him, I laughed, "No way. I only kissed you this morning and then we almost let things gets out of hand."

"By 'out of hand' do you mean 'had sex'?" He grinned mischeviously making my heart pick up a step.

"Yes." I laughed a little nervously and ran a hand through my curls. "No telling what over night would do to us."

"A world of good." was his simple reply.

"Maybe I'll room with Jack. He seems like he'd be a good roommate, but like he'd be up half the night talking. It'd be like a sleepover all over again."

"You pretty much have that right." Alex laughed at a past memory. "I remember when we went on our first tour, they overbooked the hotel so I had to share a room with Jack. I almost had to kick him out in the hall because he wouldn't stop singing Styx. That is one road trip I'd like to forget."

"Classic rock sing-along? I could deal with that."

"Easier said than done." The wooden chair legs scraped against the floor as Alex pushed in closer to the table to allow space for a waittress to get by with a tray of assorted breakfast foods. Instead of heading off to a table, she handed the tray to an older waittress and was back over at our table shifting her weight from side to side.

"Are you ready for the check?" She questioned, wide-eyed like a frightened doe.

"Sure, that sounds good." Alex smiled politely at her and she grew red.

"I'm paying." I reminded him under my breath, and saw him shake his head in mute disagreement.

The waittress didn't leave and awkwardly stood between the two of us. "Um... I don't usually do this kind of thing, but are you Alex Gaskarth?"

He nodded at her, "Yeah, I am. And yourself?"

She looked taken aback at the question. Or just shocked he cared to know. "Rachel."

"Nice to meet you, Rachel. Are you a fan?"

"I was at the concert last night." She told him, completely unaware of my presence while talking to her idol. "Everything was so great. The music was even better live than I ever imagined. I swear that was the best night of my life. And now you're here? Wow, talk about fate."

Smirking, Alex shot me a knowing look, "I never understood why people don't believe in fate."

"Me neither." Rachel immediately agreed, running an unnecessary hand over her pinned ginger hair. "Seems a little dumb to me."

Alex laughed heartily, enjoying the scowl settling in on my face. "I like you, Rachel."

She blushed scarlet and then her eyes seemed to settle in on me before returning to Alex. "Is she your cousin or something?"

Incest was not my style. But I sure as hell didn't know what I was to Alex. We had surpassed friendship when I had kissed him in the bathroom earlier, but we weren't in a relationship either. The two of us were floating in the strange in-between phase at the moment, putting me in a category all of my own.

Again, Alex began to chuckle. "No, definitely not. This is Melanie."

When he spoke my name, I noticed his smile soften a little and his eyes shone at me reflecting part of some remembered secret deep within. There was a touch of lust mingling in there and just a dash of intensity. The emotions created a unique recipe of Alex's feelings for me which I always had a hard time figuring out. Eyes really were the windows to the soul.

A stronger feeling than desire coarsed through to the surface as Alex added, "My Melanie."