Runaway Kat

Katerina Jacobs:

I adore Florida. The sun, the beaches, the shopping malls. What was not to love? Roxy and Kara live with me too; which is amazing. Kara and Rian mutually split when All Time Low went big. Same with Roxy and Zack. I was still in contact with Roxy when I left Baltimore 5 years ago, so she and Kara moved to here; without telling anyone so to speak.

If they told anyone where they were going, they would be led back to me; and I didn’t necessarily want to be involved with people from my past. No, that would be bringing back too much shit which I couldn’t deal with then, and wouldn’t be able to deal with now.

My life was nice as it was; I had Roxy and Kara, who were the nicest people to be with. I enjoyed being in their company. They knew what happened 5 years ago, and they don’t judge me.

I was a photographer now; I enjoyed taking pictures of moments that stuck out to me. I liked my job; I enjoyed the hours, I enjoyed it in general. I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Love life however; sucked. It REALLY sucked. Every time I went on a date; I couldn’t help but pick at their flaws and compare these lovely guys to- them. Either one of them was on my mind at some point during the day; it was agonising.

One girl at my work is obsessed with All Time Low, and she talks about how sexy they are. She favours Alex; and would practically give up her life to be with him. She honestly needs to get a life.

I walked into my home, and noticed Kara sitting on the sofa with a tub of ice cream in sweat pants and one of Rian’s old shirts. “Are you ok Kara?” She pointed to the TV; and I saw Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday on the screen with Rian’s arm around her waist. Every so often she’d kiss his cheek, or vice versa; and Kara would scowl unattractively.

That’s when I noticed the rest of All Time Low there, and only moments later I was sitting there, watching the two boys I’d left back home for selfish reasons. They both loved me, and I had feelings for both; so I thought I was doing them a favour by running. What’s the point of being with one of them knowing the other would be pining after me? It wasn’t a logical situation.

Then some plastic, blonde haired Barbie girl came on; and hugged jack while he kissed the top of her head. That was enough to send jealousy coursing through my body. “That’s Holly Madison, former play-boy bunny.” Kara mumbled. “Oh, so she probably sucked off Hugh Hefner. He’s got a keeper there.” I said sarcastically rolling my eyes. Alex came on screen next, and claimed to be single; which calmed me down slightly.

What the hell was I doing? It’s been five years for goodness sake; of course they’re going to find other people.

But fuck, they were so hot. Jack’s hair had changed from the blonde/dark brown floppy hair he had going on when we were younger; and was now a solid darker brown, which flicked out all over the place in a sexy sort of way. Alex’s hair had changed too, it wasn’t the dark brown I remember it was a lighter brown now; with faded blond highlights which suited him well. His hair was all flicked out too.

I wonder what Raven’s up to these days...

Roxy walked in a few minutes later; saw what was on the TV; saw Zack, perked up slightly, until she saw some girl trying to throw herself at him. She immediately sunk down on the sofa with another spoon; and popped some ice-cream in her mouth.

“Fuck our lives.” She mumbled incoherently; and Kara and I grunted in response. “Come on guys; let’s go to the beach and cheer ourselves up.” Kara finally said after a long time of sheer moping; after watching the ‘Straight to DVD’ film from All Time Low.

So we quickly changed into our bikinis, and headed down to the beach which was only a few minutes away; and basked in the sun’s glory which was soaking our tears and hurt away.

Alex Gaskarth:

“FLORIDA IS FUCKING IMMENSE!” Jack screamed immaturely, and I couldn’t help but laugh at my best friend. He never found out about me and- her, and I wanted to keep it that way. He was my best friend, and I couldn’t believe I’d been so cruel to him because of my own feelings. I wasn’t making that mistake again...

But he was right, Florida is immense. The beaches, the shopping, the sun; all of it was just amazing! Not that we’d had the chance to properly explore; we’d literally only just arrived. I felt my phone vibrate, and I whipped it out my pocket and opened the new text message.

Name: Raven- stalker.
Msg: Baby I miss you:( xx

I groaned and chucked my phone on the tour bus sofa. That girl would send me a text every day without fail. We broke up a few weeks after Katerina’s disappearance, due to the fact that like Kat had said, I did take what she’d done to me out on Raven. Raven dealt with it, but I didn’t want to; so I ended things suddenly, to the shock of my band mates.

They genuinely thought I was so in love with her, that I would conquer any obstacles that got in our way. They didn’t know they she’d turned into a possessive freak and I’d fallen completely head over heels with Kat. And I don’t plan for them to ever find out either.

Clubbing that night was amazing! I scanned the crowd and found a dark haired girl, staring at me as if I had two heads. I approached her, and her jaw dropped to the floor in shock. “You’re-you’re-” She stuttered. “Alex Gaskarth?” I answered, and she honestly looked like she was going to pass out.

Many drinks later; we were back at her apartment- which was exactly what I planned.

The next morning she was up before I was, getting ready for work. “Could you do me a huge favour?” She asked innocently, and I reluctantly nodded. “There’s this girl at where I work, and she doesn’t believe that I would ever have a chance with you; could you possibly come with me today so I can rub it in her face?” She asked. “Where do you work again?” I asked. “I’m a photographer!” She exclaimed, offended that I’d forgotten.

“Yeah, yeah; sounds cool.” I replied. She smiled happily; and ushered me out of her bed and into my clothes.

“She’ll be here any minute now!” She squealed happily; and I rolled my eyes. Why was I doing this again? Oh yeah, I like the attention. Sometimes being an attention-hog can be irritating. My back was facing the entrance, and I was looking at this girl. Her name was Hayley I think? Not sure. She was cute; but she was just a one-night stand.

“Oh my God there she is!”

Katerina Jacobs:

I walked into my work, frappucino and camera in hand. “Oh my God there she is!” Hayley exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes. A guy was standing beside her with his back to me. A grey beanie was covering his hair; which was flicking out underneath it. He leaned down and kissed her. She looked at me, and I frowned. “Kat, I want you to meet... Alex Gaskarth!”

He turned, and my frappucino fell to the floor as my eyes widened. His facial expression mirrored mine, pure shock and horror. “Alex, this is my work colleague Katerina Jacobs.” She introduced us obliviously, and I honestly just wanted to run away, hide and cry my heart out. Hayley continued being oblivious, as she didn’t even realise how awkward things just got.

His eyes turned angry; as he narrowed them at me. I flinched slightly, and down-casted my eyes immediately. “Nice to meet you.” I mumbled, before walking past in a hurry to my office. I slammed the door behind me and quickly locked it, before sliding down it. I started to cry pathetically as all the memories I’d tried suppressing re-surfaced once more.

The worst part was; if Alex was here, he wouldn’t be alone. Jack would be here too; and it wouldn’t take him too long to find out that I was residing here too; and had been for the past 5 years.

Alex was tormenting me. He was sticking around with Hayley; and if I knew him, he was just waiting for me to emerge so he could corner me and scream and shout at me for leaving. But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. I was hiding out in my office with the blinds down, only peaking through them to check where he was, and he was always close; and always staring intently at where I was standing.

It was intimidating. I didn’t want to leave my office; it was like my safe-place. What if he found out where he lived? What if he discovered Roxy and Kara lived with me too? I’m just being paranoid; no way would he find out where I lived!

I waited until everyone was gone before I stepped out of my office; and I literally sprinted home. I only lived 10 minutes away from where I worked; so I saw no point in driving. Just as I turned the keys in the lock, a hand grabbed my shoulder; and I jumped. I turned, and it was Alex.

He’d followed me home.

“Leave me alone...” I mumbled sadly, trying to hold back my tears. “You have no right to tell me what to do anymore.” He hissed, and I flinched away- or tried, the hand on my shoulder was digging into my skin, I couldn’t move. “Alex please-”

“You just ran away without warning. I told you I fucking loved you; and that’s how you treat me? What’s bad is you didn’t just treat me like shit; you treated Jack like it too. It killed me and him; but the worst part is I couldn’t show it. I had to pretend like it didn’t matter, like I wasn’t in love with you; knowing deep down being without you was ripping me apart. So thanks Katerina; thank you for making my life a hell-hole back then.” He shoved me away, looked at me venomously; before storming away.

“I’m sorry!” I cried, but he only swore at me in reply. He never looked back to see me crumble on my front door step; crying out for him to come back.