Ten Things I Hate About Alex Gaskarth

One week ago, I had stumbled into my apartment, my heart pounding and my nerves on edge. Leila had been sitting on my couch and her eyebrows rise in sight of my body falling inside.

“Where were you last night?” my best friend had asked, standing up to go over to the girl lying on the ground in the kitchen.

I had just made a muffled noise.

“Answer the question, dumbass,” Leila had scoffed, kicking at me in the ribs, noticing that my clothes were the clothes I had worn the night before. “Jack and I lost track of you after you left the apartment. Where did you go?” I could tell Leila had her suspicions, but she kept them to herself as she waited for me to answer.

I breathed in before looking up at my friend, the shadows under my eyes shining like a black eye. “I was at Alex’s house,” I admitted quietly. Leila’s jaw dropped. “We, uh, we may have…kind of…uh, had sex.”

“You had sex with Alex?!” Leila all but screamed.

I got to my feet clumsily and slapped a hand over my friend’s mouth. “Could you have said it any louder? I don’t think the old guy who’s deaf on the top floor heard you.”

I ripped my arm away from her face, walking into her living room and plopping down on the couch. “How did it happen?” Leila asks, following me and sitting beside me.

And I told her everything.

It feels like such a bad dream. Why, oh why, did I sleep with Alex? Did I think it would be wise? Our relationship was already tangled enough as it is, and I make the decision to just…spread my legs for him?

Am I a fucking idiot?

“Ana,” Leila says loudly, snapping me back to reality. I look over at her, shaking my head. That was a week ago, I tell myself. And you haven’t heard from him. Let it go.

“What?” I ask, leaning against the table in front of me.

“Have you heard from Alex?” she immediately asks, leaning as well. I groan and pull back, standing up out of my chair to wander into the kitchen. She’s asked me that everyday of the week since last Saturday, the day that Alex and I had our little adventure in the bedroom.

“No,” I reply shortly. “And I thought we were discussing my party? That is, by the way, in two days. And, by the way, I have to attend. And, by the way, you need to tell me when it starts. ‘Cause I don’t know the times.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been daydreaming about Alex, you would’ve heard me say the time.”

“I wasn’t daydreaming about him,” I scoff, realizing how bad of a liar I am. “I was thinking about how I need to get over it. Of anyone, I would think he’d be the one to contact me after our little…escapade, but he hasn’t. Obviously, that was the closure to our fucked up time together.” I give her a sarcastic smile, setting my water bottle down. “Happy?”

She looked taken aback. “So that’s it?”

I roll my eyes. “What’s it?”

“You’re just gonna give up?” Leila asks, standing up and walking over so we were on opposite sides of the counter. “You’re not even gonna run after him? Tell him that night meant more to you than he thinks?”

“Why would I?” I ask haughtily. “He hasn’t called.”

“So why didn’t you call him?”

I tighten my jaw. “Because…” I trail off, realizing there was no liable reason for this. And what Leila doesn’t know, was that I never said goodbye to Alex the morning after we slept together. I had just fucked and run.

I was gone by the time Alex woke up after we had sex.

“Because?” Leila urges me on, a knowing glint in her eyes.

I take a moment of silence, catching my thoughts and putting them back in a neat train so they were jumbled and chaotic. When I was done, I open my eyes and give a look to Leila. “Can we return to the times and guests? This is on two days and I don’t want to worry about it any longer. I want to get it done and over with so I can get this all fucking behind me.”

I saw the exasperated look my best friend shot me, but I chose to ignore it and walk back over to the table, sitting back in my previous seat.

I knew she wasn’t happy with my arrogance over this, but if she were in my shoes…

She would understand.

Or…at least…I think she would.

Alex—

One week ago, my eyes fluttered open.

My limbs stretch and my bones crack as my arms reach over my head. I yawn, arching my back. And my lids pop once I realize I’m naked. Naked.

The events of last night flood back to me.

I grin, reaching over to pull Anastasia into me, but find nothing there but sheets and pillows and blankets. I look over, my brows scrunching when I see an empty side of the bed instead of the warm, soft body of a girl. I sit up instantly, searching around for a note that maybe indicated a reason for her leaving.

There wasn’t one.

Well, maybe there was an emergency and she had to leave and she didn’t have time to write a note, let alone get dressed and leave my house…

I gather the sheets farther around my body, breathing in and out deeply.

Who am I kidding? This was a hit and run sort of deal. She made it perfectly clear last night when we had been arguing. She doesn’t want anything to do with me. No wonder I wouldn’t find her here in the morning.

But then why did she have sex with me?

It was a nightmare. It had to be.

I mean, Anastasia isn’t the kind of girl to have sex with a guy and run off. She would never do that. She may be a bitch sometimes who has a tough exterior, but she isn’t that cruel as to fuck with my emotions.

Or is she?

I groan out into my living room, tangling my fingers in my hair. It’s like I don’t know her anymore. She’s completely different.

And I hate it.

That night a week ago had been fantastic. It was everything I’d wanted for years. And more. So why did she just ditch it after it finally occurred? Was she scared? Did she mean to have sex with me and then disappear?

Another groan.

My phone rings, and I don’t even bother with the I.D. before answering.

“Hello?” I ask, sounding tired and groggy even to myself. I could tell it was either Jack, Rian, or Zack, because they were the only ones who’d been calling me.

“Alex?” I hear a crackle, and then a female voice. “Alex, it’s Leila.”

I perk up on my couch, my back straightening and my breathing going even. Maybe she had news on Anastasia. “Yeah?” I ask, getting to my feet, needing to move or pace or something.

“Hey,” she says, the sound of a smile in her voice. “Listen, I just wanted to remind you that Ana’s party is tomorrow at eight. You planning on going?” I could tell she was hoping for the positive answer, judging by the tone of her voice.

I hesitate. “I don’t know….”

“I know you guys are going through…a rough patch,” she remarks, avoiding a hole I knew she was about to dig herself into. “But…I know it would mean a lot to her.”

“It would mean even more she had called me,” I answer bitterly.

She groans. “You could have called her, too!”

“She’s the one who disappeared the next morning, without even so much of a, Hey! I’m leaving! She just upped and left!” I didn’t mean to scream into the receiver, but that’s how much tension had built inside of me since last week. And judging by the shocked silence, this was brand new information to Leila.

“She hit and run?” Leila gasps.

I nod, even though I wasn’t seen. “Yeah,” I reply more softly.

I could tell she was thinking. “I’ll talk to her,” she responds sharply. “Please consider showing up. It’ll be good. For the both of you.”

Then there was a dial tone in my ear.