When the Day Met the Night

"Tragedy has struck . . . we are out of peanut butter” ~Alex Gaskarth

Over the next couple of weeks I became really good friends with All Time Low, apparently they were recording in L.A. as well. They started coming over so frequently that I gave each of them their own key.

“Hey Alex, am I mentally insane?” I asked him as we lazily laid on my couch.

“Well you’re friends with All Time Low, so yes…yes you are.” He surfed the channels and nomed on some popcorn.

“Seriously. I gave you guys keys, and all of a sudden I have to buy groceries every week.”

“Now whose fault is that? You could’ve been a bitch to us. Which by the way, you’re all out of peanut butter and Milanos.”

I sighed. “I have this strange urge to always be nice to people unless they show me I shouldn’t, and sadly people eating all my food isn’t exactly blasphemous.” I sat up and looked around. Where is everybody anyway? I know Bren and Spence are in Paris with their girlfriends, but what about Rian and all them.”

“I have no idea; maybe with their girlfriends?” Alex got up and began to clean some of the fallen popcorn.

“Why aren’t you with Lisa?”

Alex shook the back of his head, his shirt riding up to expose his stomach. “She’s at um… Work. She’s at work.”

“Okay. Wanna do something then?” I asked, obviously she wasn’t at work, but I didn’t wanna pry.

Alex sighed in relief. “Well why don’t we swim or something?” Alex offered.

“Sure, and I’ll see if maybe Bren or Spence left some shorts here.” I motioned him to follow me to the guest room. I tended to find random articles of clothing in my house so I just stored them in the drawers of the guest room, whose they were, I had no idea.

“ ’Ere you go.” I handed him a simple blue bathing suit. “You’ll probably finish before me so just jump in and I’ll be out there soon.”

I left to get changed into a purple bathing suit. Even at the skinny end of healthy, I still had some body image issues so I always wore the bathing suits that had the skirt, and the tank top looking top.

When I walked to my backyard, towels in hand, Alex was already swimming in the pool.

“Cannon ball!” I screamed as I ran and jumped into the pool.

“My hair!” Alex whined.

“Quit being a baby, you can borrow my straightener.” We swam around for a while, and just talked about random things that had happened. “I can’t believe that when I first met you, I was scared out of my mind. Could you hear the accents?”

“Yea, you had like 3 different ones the first day, after that you barely ever had one. Like now, you’re just talking in what I assume is your normal voice.”

“Gah, I’m such a freak.”

“Yes, but that’s what, makes you awesome.” Alex’s stomach grumbled. “I’m gonna order some chinese, you want some?”

“Sure.” We both got out of the pool and dried off before getting inside.

“The regular?”

“Yesh, thank you m’love!” I said as I went inside. I sat down on the couch and Alex plopped down next to me.

“It should be here in about thirty minutes. By the way, thanks for just letting me hang here all day.”

“ ‘Tis no problem, you are my friend, and my door is always open for my friends.” I said sleepily. “It actually feels kind of strange when I’m here alone, it seems like someone is here every day, so I guess I really should be thanking you. Everyone is with their girlfriends. Man do I feel alone.”

“Oh yea, I forgot that you’re a virgin, you curse like you’re not.” Alex said and I playfully smacked him.

“My cursing is at an awesome amount thank you very much and it’s not gonna change any time soon.”

“Aww you’re so innocent!” Alex yelled as he pinched my cheeks.

“And you’re a bitch.” We were both laughing. That’s what I loved about Alex, no matter what we were talking about, we were just happy.

“Dude, have you ever even like gotten fingered or anything?” he was completely serious.

I could just feel my face go red. “No, I haven’t even had a kiss before.” Of course the British accent was back.

“Oh god. You really are innocent!” Alex was laughing so hard that his face was turning red, and I just curled in on myself.

“Shut the fuck up.” I threw a pillow at him, but then took it back and buried my face in it. “Just because I’ve never had boyfriend, doesn’t mean you can tease me about it!”

“Oh yes I can!” The doorbell rang before he got a chance to taunt me.

“I’ll get that!” I jumped off the couch. “Oh hey Lisa!” I greeted Alex’s girlfriend, trying to mask my small contempt for her. I don’t know why, but I never really liked her.

“Is he here?” She asked as she flicked her hair back.

“Alex?” I asked and she nodded with the air of ‘no duh’. “Um, yea, Alex, it’s Lisa!” I yelled into the house.

Alex walked up, his smile gone. “Hey Lis.” Alex said an pecked her on the lips.

“What are you doing at her house? Were you cheating on me? Because she has some ugly ass lingerie.”

I could tell Alex was about to defend me, but I interrupted him. “He’s at my house because no one was at his and he wanted some company. He is most definitely not cheating on you, and it’s called a bathing suit, sorry but I don’t prefer the slut route like someone.” Like I said earlier, I’m not a bitch unless it’s called for. “Now my question for you, is are you cheating on him, because if so, I will beat your skinny little white girl ass for being mean to my best friend. I don’t take shit.”

Alex tried to conceal his laughter and Lisa started to get red in the face with anger. “Lisa, I think we should go home.” Lisa shot one more, mean girl glare at me before stalking off to the car. Alex let himself break into a smile once she couldn’t see him. “Thanks for that, but I don’t think she’s cheating, just busy with work.” When he mentioned her ‘not’ cheating, he seemed quite melancholy.

___________________________

“Jackie. Why is Alex still with her?” I told Jack everything when he came over the next day; even the part where Alex made fun of me because of my innocence.

“He loves her, and he’s just not letting himself believe the truth. It’s been happening for a while, and we all tell it to him, yet he continues to pretend. Although none of us have had the balls to actually say it to Lisa’s face.”

“Well of course girls always have more balls than guys! And guys are much bigger pussys. It’s what makes the world spin ‘round.”

“I thought that was money?” Jack was such a dork.

“That’s beside the point. Also I just don’t understand why he loves her when she is so obviously cheating on him and breaking his heart? Honestly all relationships confuse me.”

“Love. Plain and simply love. Why does it matter to you so much anyways?” I glanced at Jack, and of course he would be eating my pretzels.

“Because he’s my friend, and it’s just so strange. How someone can continue on with something, even if it hurts them.”

“Oh yea, you’ve never had a boyfriend. Maybe once you do, you’ll know.”

“Well if this is what happens, you turn into a pile of mush and let people walk all over you, then maybe it’s best to not have one. Sometimes I really think I was born in the wrong century.”

“How so?”

“What happened when people loved each other and were actually true to the one they loved? Back when if someone cheated and other people knew, they were put to shame?” I sighed; sometimes I really didn’t feel like I belonged in the 21st century.

Jack’s phone began to vibrate in his pants.

“Hey Jack, I think your dildo turned on.” I said nonchalantly.

Jack chuckled and answered his phone. He put the pretzels back and hung up. “Hey, Charlotte is home.” Jack winked and I grimaced.

“IMAGES! MY POOR VIRGIN MIND!” I laughed and hugged him goodbye.

“By the way, you are so obvious.” Jack winked again and left.

Trying to ignore what Jack was thinking about, I went on to oovoo hoping someone would be on.

“Solara!” I was so happy to see my friend, even if it was over the computer.

“Hey dork.” Her fiery red hair was up in a ponytail and it was reaching her lower back now.

“Whoa, I’ve been gone a long time now huh? Your hair is so long now!”

“Yea, and we really miss you here. How’s it been?”

“A learning experience, yet incredibly confusing.”

“About what? Santa? The tooth fairy?”

“What are you trying to insinuate? That Santa and the tooth fairy aren’t real?!” I said in fake hysteria. “But no in all seriousness. I’ve been learning about relationships, and man, I can see why I’ve never had one before.”

“Wait does that mean you have a boyfriend?!”

“No, and trust me, after what I’ve learned, I’m not entirely sure I want one.”

“So what have you learned that is making you all sad and confused?”

“What if your friend stayed with someone, even if everyone, even themselves, know that the other person is cheating on your friend?”

“Are you sure you don’t have a boyfriend you haven’t told me about?”

“Pinky promise. If I ever magically manage to get someone to like me like that, you’ll be the first to know.” I sighed and checked my phone. Alex hadn’t contacted me at all in a couple of days.

“Well, tonight’s a study night, so bye E!” Solara waved goodbye and I reluctantly closed the laptop. Brendon and Spencer were in Paris, Jack with his girlfriend. Rian and Zack were visiting their families in Maryland, and Alex just wasn’t there. “Girl time is good I guess.” I glanced towards the clock, 7 P.M.

I painted my nails neon green with purple decorations. That only took up about half an hour. I decided I needed a new book to keep me busy, but since it was late and I didn’t have a car, I decided top just walk to the small bookstore about a block away.

Once I got there were two people were making out by the door. In fact, they were right smack in front of it, so that if I wanted to get inside, I needed to interrupt them. At first I felt bad for doing so, but then I saw who it was, and who she wasn’t with.

“Lisa?” I questioned, of course I could be wrong because it was dark; but I knew I was right the second she said.

“Oh shit, not you.” The guy oblivious to the nature of the meeting was excited.

“Whoa, you know Elizabeth Starr from Panic?” The boy had short blonde hair and big muscles, the typical jock.

“Yes she knows me. Mostly because I’m best friends with her boyfriend].”

Right on cue, Alex walked up with two coffees in hand. “Hey Lis, I got you nonfat with a dash of cinnamon, just like you like it.” Alex handed Lisa the coffee and then acknowledged me. “Hey E!” Alex gave me that awkward side hug. “Who’s your friend?”

“Why don’t you ask your girlfriend?” Lisa was glaring at me and gave a nervous smile to Alex.

“He’s just an old friend from high school. We were catching up.” Lisa’s fabricated story was so weak.

“Were you telling him about your new lipstick? Because I spy some on his lips.” I smudged some of it off his lips and compared it to the lipstick on Lisa’s lips.

Alex just stood there stunned and the guy looked ecstatic that he was near two people that were famous.

“Alex, are you okay?” I asked him.

Lisa had fake tears falling from her eye. “I love you Alex.”

I sneered. “When you love someone, you don’t cheat on them with random people. You stick with them. You wouldn’t be able to imagine yourself hurting them; much less actually hurt them, especially when you know they truly love you.” I stormed off. People make a mockery of love, and it makes me livid.

___________________________

Once I got back home I changed into a pair of shorts and a big tee. I began to work on a song. The lyrics had just come to me, although they weren’t very Panic! At the Disco-y.

The doorbell rang around 8:30. I jumped because the only times someone rings the doorbell is if I ordered in food, and I hadn’t.

I looked through the peephole and saw a very upset Alex. “Hey, what are you doing here? Come on in.” Alex nodded and sat down on the couch. I went to the kitchen and brought out some peanut butter and Milanos.

“So what happened after I left?” I sat down and handed him the food. I got worried immediately when he didn’t even touch them.

“We broke up. After 3 years, we broke it off.” I felt like Alex was about to cry so I did the one thing I could. I hugged him close to me and just whispered sweet nothings in his ear.

When he collected himself we began to watch T.V. and he asked if he could spend the night at my house.

“Absolutely! You can take the guest room.” We began to watch a movie, some sort of horror movie. Me, I’m a big baby when it comes to scary things, so of course I freaked out. Although eventually I did fall asleep on the couch.