The Beach

“SAWYER” Two female voices were shouting at her from the doorway of Alex’s house before she could even make it a foot into the door.

After several hours of being trapped in the car (with a few stops for food, gas and restroom breaks) they had pulled up to Alex’s house more or less in the same condition that they had left the beach house in. Although Sawyer would have to say that even though Alex had managed to calm her nerves down through the drive, the second that they pulled into Alex’s drive way, they came back full force and more intense.

Alex spent ten minutes sitting in the driveway calming her back down and reminding her that she had another 24 hours before they were going to be face to face with his parents. Right now, it was just another night with his friends.

Those ten minutes had helped and they had gotten out of the car, heading to the door, which is where they currently stood as Sawyer struggled to breathe with Jayce’s and Austin’s arms thrown around her, gripping her much tighter than necessary,

“Gonna. Faint.” Sawyer managed to gasp out, causing both girls to loosen their grip on the strawberry blond.

“Life is so boring in Baltimore. Why did you let us leave the beach?” Jayce whined, only causing chuckles to escape from Sawyer’s lips.

“How come I don’t get a greeting like that?” Alex questioned, looking at the three girls in front of him, a pout resting on his lips. The only response he got was two shrugs from the other girls and a smirk from Sawyer.

“Because they don’t wanna have sex with you.” She responded, earning giggles from her friends and raised eyebrows and a smile from Alex.

“They wanna have sex with you though?” He questioned, pulling her to him, clashing their hips together.

“Hey. Don’t even think about having sex in the foyer” Rian’s voice rang as he entered the walkway, shaking his head at the couple in front of him.

“Hey, I live here too!” Alex whined, and everyone just laughed, because really, he wasn’t winning anything right now.

“Come on. Zack and Jack are in the living room with the pizza. They’re more than likely going to eat it all if they’re left with it for more than a couple minutes.”

“I’m starving.” Sawyer exclaimed, moving from Alex’s grasp and heading in the direction of the living room (or where she hoped the living room was).

“You seem cozy” Rian stated as the girls left the walkway, leaving both him and Rian alone in the entranceway of their home.

“Dude. I can’t even being to explain what’s happened since you all left the beach.” Alex said, a dopey smile fixing itself on he made his way to the front room, following the path that the girls had taken just moments ago, leaving Rian confused as to what had just happened.

The two boys walked into the living room, finding the other five lounging on their furniture, circling the coffee table that housed four boxes of pizza. Alex laughed as he saw Sawyer chomping down on a slice of pizza, looking like a starved person.

“We did eat not that long ago, you know.” Alex said with a laugh before moving towards Sawyer. She glared at him, but stood anyways, allowing Alex to sit before settling herself onto his lap. She continued eating her slice of pizza, only to be interrupted by a tap on her side by Alex. She turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, confused as to what he could possibly want. “Are you gonna pass me a piece of pizza?” He asked, earning a scoff.

“We didn’t eat that long ago Alex.” She replied, mocking Alex’s earlier words with a smirk on her face.

“Alright brat. Hand me food or I’m ticking you.” He said, firmly grabbing hold of Sawyer’s hips, letting her know he was dead serious.

Sawyer sighed before leaning forward and grabbing another slice of pizza, passing it to Alex with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m glad Alex brought you here.” Austin said before taking another bite of her pizza.

“Yea. Life stuck with these boys gets old fast.” Jayce continued, earning a chorus of ‘heys’ from the the four boys they were surrounded by.

“It’s nice having another girl around to even things out.” Austin said, continuing from where Jayce left off, ignoring the outburst from the guys.

“So are you two spending the rest of Sawyer’s vacation here in Baltimore?” Jayce continued, causing Sawyer to stop mid bite into her pizza, getting stiff again.

“No. We’re home for the weekend to go to a family dinner and my cousin’s wedding.” Alex said, causing all eyes to turn towards Sawyer and Alex.

“SEE! THEY ALL THINK IT’S A BAD IDEA AS WELL!” Sawyer exclaimed, turning herself in Alex’s lap just enough to shove his shoulder a bit harshly with her pizza free hand.

“It is not a bad idea and they don’t think it is. They’re just shocked. That’s all.” Alex proclaimed, turning to look at everyone with the best glare he could muster while not getting caught by the now huffy Sawyer in his lap.

“It’s not that it’s a bad idea.” Zack stated, trying to help Alex out. Lord knows he’s been through a few dramatic episode’s of Jayce’s and he usually felt the need for someone to help him because really, the girl could over react and was just so polar opposite of Zack that sometimes, he just didn’t know what to do.

“It’s just. Well. What are you gonna say about you two? And, not to bring the mood to a low point, but what are you gonna say about the lack of Allison?” Austin asked, trying to soothe Sawyer’s worries, but make it clear that there were concerns.

“Firstly.” Alex said, glancing over at Jack who was the only one besides Sawyer to know what happened with Allison. “I broke up with Allison before I went to Virginia.” He said, and everyone else’s eyes went wide, not knowing any of that prior. “And we’re dating. That’s what we are telling everyone. That Sawyer is my girlfriend.” Alex stated.

The room was dead silent for a minute before Jayce stood up and grabbed one of the boxes of pizza, Austin standing with her and moving to Sawyer, who’s hand she grabbed, pulling her off of Alex’s lap.

“We’ve been apart for just a few days and all this happens? Sorry, but we’re gonna go have a girl’s night for the rest of the evening. If you need us, we’ll be taking over Alex’s room.” Jayce said, moving to take the pizza with her before departing the room, Austin dragging Sawyer with her as she followed, leaving behind four very confused men.

“What the hell just happened?” Jack just asked, stunned by the sudden exit scene.

“Which part? A lot just happened and I’m not sure I even know where to begin.” Rian said, turning from Jack to Alex, who sighed, falling back to lean into the couch.

“Anything you wanna tell us?” Zack asked, directly the question to the brunette who looked like he’d been shot down by a Victoria’s Secret Model.

“Uh.” Alex said, not even knowing where to begin the whole story. “What do you wanna know?”

“Let’s start with Allison.” Rian suggested, a shrug coming from him as he moved to lean forward, elbows resting on his knees, hands folding together to be a resting place for his chin.

“We broke up.” Alex said with a shrug, hoping to god he could keep this simple.

“Not entirely. You broke up with her.” Jack said, earning a glare from Alex, which only earned a shrug in response.

“Wait. You know what happened?” Zack asked, a bit confused, although he realized very quickly that if anyone were going to know about Alex and Allison’s relationship, it would be Jack. The two boys were very attached at the hip, even when Allison was a part of the picture.

“He does. It was another fight. Just worse. And I don’t exactly want the story making its way back to Sawyer. We’re kinda, we’re on a test run?” Alex said, but his lack of confidence made it seem more questionable than a fact.

“A test run?” Jack asked, now intrigued because this was something even he didn’t know.

“One week. Boyfriend and girlfriend to try and see if we can make a relationship work. To see if we really want this. I told you guys, I don’t want her with Jake. I’ve loved that girl for years. This is my chance to prove to her I want her forever. She’s giving me a one week trial to see if we can make something of whatever we’ve been doing for the last few years.” Alex said, trying his best to explain his relationship with Sawyer, but he wasn’t entirely sure he was doing it any justice because honestly. The whole thing was a mess regardless. It also seemed silly; he had to admit, to be in a fake, trial relationship. Who does that? It seemed brilliant when he had suggested it, but even he had doubts about what would happen after the one week was over.

“Ok. So how does this play in with Allison. Because obviously you two broke up before this whole test run dating thing happened.” Rian pushed, and again, Alex sighed, because this was just gonna make everything seem so much more stupid.

“When the bus was here waiting to be picked up, and Allison came over, she offered to help me get some stuff out of the bus that I’d left on there and do a final sweep, making sure none of us left anything that we had missed. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but she offered to double check all the bunks.” Alex said, and the two boys who didn’t know much looked beyond confused. Why would that start an argument? “She got to my bunk, and in my bunk, on the side, I keep a picture of me and Sawyer from about two years ago.” Rian and Zack cringed, already knowing what happened next. They had been witnesses to several of Allison’s temper tantrums, most of which included accusing Alex of sleeping around behind her back.

“I take it she flipped?” Rian asked, and Alex scoffed.

“More like flew off the handle and hit Jupiter. She went absolutely berserk. Accused me of cheating, wanted to know who the girl was and why we had a picture together. Barely gave me a chance to speak until I got so fed up I started yelling too. I told her that Sawyer was a family friend, even offered to take her to my mother and show her the picture so she could ask if she knew the girl. This only pissed her off more because she told me I shouldn’t have girl friends, especially ones that she didn’t know about. I told her that I had known Sawyer a lot longer than I had known her, and I wasn’t going to throw a friendship away because she was jealous. It turned into this big brawl, which eventually ended with her telling me that I couldn’t contact Sawyer ever again or we were finished. I just stared at her, because she was being absurd. Sure, not the best option to hide Sawyer from her in the first place, especially since Sawyer always has been more of a friend, but really, it was to avoid this. So I told her I’d save her the trouble and just tell her we were over because Sawyer had been around a lot longer and her friendship was more important to me than with someone who didn’t trust me.” Alex said, taking a deep breath as he finished. The three boys looked at him, confused, relieved, nervous, and a whole lot of other emotions that they couldn’t exactly pin point.

“Damn.” Zack finally said, and Alex shrugged.

“Sawyer just doesn’t know anything more than I was the one to call it off. And I don’t really wanna ruin anything. I really like her and she doesn’t need to know that she inadvertently ended a relationship I didn’t truly want anyways. She’ll blame herself; tell me that I’m meant to be with Allison, blah, blah, blah. I’m really trying to prove to Sawyer that I want to be with her. I don’t want anything to change that.” Alex stated, and the three nodded in understanding.

They liked Sawyer a hell of a lot better than Allison anyways.

“So what about the whole family thing” Jack’s questioned only earned a sheepish smile from Alex.

“I may or may not have gotten her to promise to go to the family dinner tomorrow and then my cousin’s wedding, introducing her to my family as my girlfriend. Obviously, she’s met my parents before, but she’s never met the whole family. Not to mention, my parents don’t even know we still talk. It’s gonna kinda be a bit much and Sawyer’s a bit freaked out about ‘meeting the family’ especially since we’re kinda faking everything. But I think we got most of it worked out. We came up with a slightly altered version of the truth to tell my parents, that I think they’ll buy, and I’m kinda hoping for the best on this one.”

That signaled the end of the conversation, the boys moving back to the pizza and focusing on the TV that was still running, trying to figure out what the hell they were watching.

Things in Alex’s room were a bit more dramatic, and it wasn’t helping Sawyer’s nerves what so ever.

Ever since they dragged her into the room, Jayce and Austin had been frantically talking back and forth about the new information they had just heard about Sawyer coming home to meet Alex’s family. However, they still hadn’t heard the full story from Sawyer because they kept talking, interrupting her anytime she thought she might be able to get a word in edge wise.

She had been sitting listening to them go at it for the better part of an hour, getting more and more annoyed as they continued to talk back and forth, almost as if Sawyer wasn’t there. It was becoming extremely aggravating, and doing absolutely nothing for the nerves that had reformed since arriving into Baltimore.

“SHUT UP PLEASE” Sawyer raised her voice just enough for the girls to notice, going silent and turning towards the strawberry blond who looked more than exacerbated. “Sorry.” She said, once she had their attention “but I was starting to feel like I was invisible in a conversation entirely about me and my life.” She stated, and the girls frowned, apologizing.

“So. What the hell is going on then?” Jayce asked, and Sawyer sighed, giving a half hearted shrug.

“Long story incredibly short. Alex and me are on a trial dating week. He has a week to convince me that we belong together. He informed me that he broke up with Allison, and he initiated it, and no, I don’t know anything more than that. He took me out on a date, which was the most incredible thing ever, and between us, because Alex doesn’t know it yet, but I plan on saying I want to be with him. No faking, no more summer flings. Just us, in a relationship. But before I tell him that, I need to survive a Gaskarth family dinner and his cousins wedding. And yea, I think that sums just about everything up.” She said, and the two girls sat on the bed with her wore huge smiles. Obviously, they approved of this plan.

“This is awesome!” Austin gushed, squealing a bit as her body shook from excitement. “Does this mean you’ll move to Baltimore?” Austin asked, and Sawyer shrugged.

“I honestly don’t know what it means other than I want Alex. I’ve always wanted Alex. And knowing he wants me in the same way? Well, it doesn’t make sense not to pursue it. We can figure out the rest last, once I actually ya know, tell him that we’re together and not testing it out.” She said, and the girls just continued smiling.

“And what about this date?” Jayce pressed, and a dopey smile followed by a small brush found its way onto Sawyers face as she recanted her date with Alex. She told them every little detail, from the morning when everything started this whole fiasco, to the entirety of the date, recalling every little detail of what Alex had done for her.

“That boy is so head over heels for you.” Austin stated with a wide smile, and Sawyer returned it.

“And I’m crazy about him. I mean, obviously some sort of crazy given I agreed to be his girlfriend on short notice for a family dinner and a wedding, where I know all of him and his parents. But, I love him. However, it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna let him sweat for a bit trying to figure out if we’re gonna work. Because hell, it’s not like I ever dragged him to family weddings or family dinners by surprise. So he can sweat it out while I’m having a nervous breakdown about the whole situation he’s put us in.” Sawyer stated, causing a fit of giggles to erupt from the three girls, just as a knock was heard at the door, Alex poking his head in to see the scene of the three girls camped out on his bed.

“If its alright with you, I’d really love to spend time with Sawyer as well.” Alex said with a smirk, and the two girls next to his girlfriend scoffed.

“You get to spend time with her all the time. You’ll see her later. Let us have our girl time.” Jayce said, flicking her hand to shoo Alex away.

“Fine. But I’m getting a kiss from her before I leave since you two stole her so abruptly.” Alex said, entering his room and making his way to Sawyer, leaning down with no hesitation to press a kiss to her lips.

“Try to kick them out soon. All that driving made me exhausted and I’d love to sleep in my own bed” Alex whispered lowly to Sawyer, who giggled and nodded before kissing him once more. He smiled into the kiss, only to pout when she pushed him away with a smile. He shook his head at the girls before departing, closing the door behind him as the girls awww’d at the couple.

“You two are so in love its almost painful to watch.”

“Like a train wreck, or a car crash. You don’t wanna look, but you can’t turn away”

Sawyer just smiled with a shrug. “I don’t care.”