I Told You So

Music blasted throughout the small club as Abby made her way through the crowd, tugging at the bottom of her dress, wishing she had put up more of a fight against Pete about her attire. The black strapless dress she was wearing was far too short for her liking and the heels on her feet were already starting to hurt, why she wasn’t allowed to wear jeans and her brand new black sequined converse she didn’t know, especially since she had just spotted Pete through the crowd, decked out in his normal too tight jeans and a Clandestine Industries t-shirt.
“Why the hell do you get to wear jeans and I’m stuck in this,” Abby whined as she appeared next to her brother’s best friend, Pete Wentz, pushing her long strawberry-blonde hair out of her bright blue eyes, glaring.
“Cause I’m not the one who’s single, babe and in that you won’t be single for long,” came the reply followed by a smirk.
“Ahhh, you are so annoying,” Abby groaned, quickly pushing past him, looking for someone else she recognised.
“Hey, I’m just trying to help, Stump,” Pete yelled after her as she flipped him off, spotting Gabe Saporta on the other side of the dance floor.
Weaving between the sweat covered bodies of hormonal teenagers, Abby slowly made her way across the dance floor, not noticing the eyes of many young men following her progress. Occasionally she felt someone reach for her waist or hands, trying to get her to join them, but she just slipped out of their grasp, changing directions every so often to avoid groups of rather drunk looking young men.
Finally stepping out of the tightly packed bodies that represented the dance floor, she made her way over to where Gabe was talking to two guys she didn’t recognise but assumed were in a band of some sort, considering the majority of people in the club were bands celebrating the end of Warped Tour.
She was about three feet away when Gabe glanced over at her, a smile lighting up his face.
“Stump, didn’t know you were coming tonight gorgeous.”
“What? And miss out on seeing you? Never! Anyway, Pete wouldn’t let me stay at the hotel,” she replied pouting, before glancing over at the two guys Gabe had been talking to. The taller of the two had messy black hair falling into his dark brown eyes. He was wearing similar clothes to Pete, skinny jeans and a Glamour Kills t-shirt. The other guy had longish light brown hair falling effortlessly into his chocolate brown eyes. Abby couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on him longer than was really necessary.
“What are you wearing? Are you and Pete pulling some elaborate prank I don’t know about or something?” Gabe asked eyebrows raised as his eyes travelled down the slim but curvy body of the gorgeous girl in front of him.
“Yeah, it’s called ‘Dress Abby up like a slut just so I can poke fun at her single status’,” Abby replied, shooting a glare across the dance floor to where Pete was talking to her brother Patrick.
“Well, that doesn’t sound like much of a good prank, Pete must be losing his touch,” Gabe chuckled.
“I wish, if Pete was losing his touch I would have been able to talk my way out of this whole thing,” Abby sighed turning to the two guys standing next to her, a small smile tugging at her lips, “Since Gabe’s being a bitch and not introducing me, I’m Abby Stump, Patrick’s little sister and Pete’s fashion experiment for the night.”
“I’m Jack!” the taller one said bouncing forward and pulling her into a hug, “We’re going to be the bestest friends!”
“Ahh, ignore him, he’s had way too much red bull,” the other guy said as Jack pulled away from her, sticking his tong out at his friend. “I’m Alex,” he added scratching the back of his head as his eyes travelled down her body, a slight blush creeping across his cheeks.
“Jack plays lead guitar and Alex plays guitar and does lead vocals in All Time Low, your ‘All Time Favourite’ band,” Gabe added wrapping an arm around Abby’s shoulders.
“Oh, you’re a fan?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, you guys are awesome, I didn’t get a chance to see you play though, Pete ‘volunteered’ me for merch this year. And Gabe please remove your arm before I decide to tell Pete you were hitting on me... again,” Abby replied smirking at Gabe as he quickly removed his arm from around her shoulder, pouting before grabbing Jack, muttering something about over protective friends as they walked away.
“Gah, I’m so getting Pete back for this!” Abby moaned tugging at the bottom of her dress again as she spotted another group of guys checking her out.
“Well, I think you look gorgeous,” Alex said, a soft smile playing across his lips.
“Oh, um, thanks,” she blushed, “Do you think Pete would kill me if I replaced all his clothing with hooker style dresses?”
“Probably, but I’d definitely pay to see the look on his face when he found out,” Alex laughed, “come on let’s go get something to drink.”
Alex reached out taking Abby’s hand in his as they made their way towards the bar. Butterflies ignited in Abby’s stomach as she followed Alex through the packed club. His calloused hand fit perfectly in her own and she couldn’t help but wonder whether she should be thanking Pete for her ridiculous outfit.
The two ordered drinks and chatted about everything from music to family and friends. By the time eleven thirty came around Abby felt like she had known Alex all her life.
“Um, would you like to dance?” Alex asked unexpectantly, biting his lip, his eyes searching hers.
“Sure,” Abby replied a small smile tugging at her lips as she took his hand weaving through the bodies towards the dance floor.
Just as they reached the mass of bodies that was the dance floor the song ended and We The Kings’ song ‘We’ll Be A Dream’ started up. Stepping closer to Alex, Abby wrapped her arms around his neck as his slid around her waist, the two swaying to the music.
“How have we not met before?” Alex asked, his lips brushing against her ear causing a shiver to run down her spine.
“I don’t know, maybe cause I’ve spent the last couple of months selling merch, although it’s more likely because I’m not much for partying, too many guys trying to hit on me,” Abby replied softly, her fingers lightly brushing against Alex’s hair as they swayed.
“Well that’s to be expected when you’re as gorgeous as you are,” Alex whispered his eyes flicking from hers to her lips and then back as her checks flushed and her heart rate accelerated. Slowly his face inched towards hers, hovering millimetres from her his eyes asking permission. Abby leaned forward closing the gap between their lips, her heart fluttering as his soft lips met hers. Alex’s grip around her waist tightened pulling her body closer to his as their lips moved in sync with each others. Through the thin fabric of his t-shirt and her dress Abby could feel his heart, beating just as quickly as her own.
As they kissed the room faded around them and Abby wished that this night would never end, but of course, all good things come to an end.

~*~

The next morning Abby left the hotel with Patrick, Pete, Andy and Joe, headed for the airport. Although she was happy to be going home, she was sad that she would be leaving behind the best night of her life and a guy she was quickly falling for, whose number she had completely forgotten to ask for last night. After checking in their luggage the group headed straight for their gate.
Sliding into a chair Abby giggled looking over at a very hung over Pete as he attempted to avoid the warm rays of sunshine falling through the large windows that overlooked the tarmac. Sighing to herself she put in her headphones letting Alex’s voice lull her into daydreams of last night.
All too soon a hostess came over asking the boys if they would like to board the plane before all the other passengers arrived. Grabbing their bags the four tied young men made their way over to the gate.
“Abby, you going to come or you want to wait?” Patrick asked as he grabbed his backpack off the chair next to his sister.
“I think I’ll wait, I don’t want to have to spend longer on that plane than I have to,” Abby replied smiling as her brother nodded making his way over to his band mates as they boarded the plane.
Not much longer after that the lounge area became crowded as more passengers dragged their way away from coffee shops and newsagencies. When the call came for everyone to start boarding, Abby slowly stretched, gathering her things stepping to the back of the line.
She was only a couple of people from the front of the line when she heard someone yell out her name. Turning round she spotted Alex running through the chairs of the lounge.
“Oh thank god, I thought I missed you,” Alex laughed as he tried to catch his breath.
“Nope, you’re just in time,” Abby replied, her smile lighting up her face.
“Well, I had a really great night last night and I completely forgot to ask you something,” Alex said, his chocolaty brown eyes staring into her blue-green ones.
“Yes?”
“I, uh, well I was wondering if I could have your number?” Alex asked, scratching the back of his neck nervously
“Of course,” Abby replied swapping phones with him.
“Well, in that case, we’re heading for Chicago in a couple of weeks, so maybe we could meet up and have dinner or something?” Alex asked as he handed her phone back to her.
“Are you asking me out on a date Mr. Gaskarth?” Abby asked a smirk playing across her lips.
“Are you saying yes Miss Stump?” Alex smirked raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, I am.”
“Well that’s good ‘cause now I can do this,” Alex retorted, pulling her into a kiss.
“As much as I would love to hang around, I think I’m holding up the rest of the plane,” Abby whispered as she pulled away.
“Oh, right, well I’ll see you in a couple of weeks then.”
Alex pulled her into a soft hug before letting her go, handing her a magazine and smiling as he made his way back through the lounge area. Turning back to the air hostess Abby handed her ticket over, slipping the magazine from Alex into her handbag.
Making her way onto the plane, Abby turned left, walking through the business class section to the first class area where she dropped into her seat next to Pete. As the plane took off, she pulled the magazine Alex had given her out of her bag, smiling when she saw it was the ‘Farewell Warped Tour’ addition of the Warped Tour magazine. Stuck to the front was a sticky note with the words ‘page 45, my favourite pic xoxo’.
Smiling she began to flick through the pages, seeing pictures of all the bands on the tour. There were a couple of her with Pete and Patrick and a very funny shot of her and Gabe Saporta with water guns. Her smile widened as she flipped to the final double spread, pages forty four and forty five. The head line read ‘Summer Loving’ and the pages were covered with pictures of all the hook-ups that occurred over the summer, accompanied by little captions. Scanning the page she quickly found Alex’s favourite photo.
The picture showed the two of them, mid-kiss at last night’s party with the caption reading ‘Alex Gaskarth and Abby Stump, we have a feeling this ain’t just a summer fling, watch the headlines when All Time Low hit Chicago in a couple of weeks’.
“Hey, what’s that?” Pete asked looking over at the magazine in Abby’s hands bringing her out of her thoughts.
“Last addition of Warped mag, oh and thanks for the fashion tips last night Pete,” Abby replied handing him the magazine the pages still open to the page with her and Alex.
“What.... oh, see I told you so,” Pete smirked across the armrest at her.
“Yeah you did.”