Nothing Personal

“Wait! Zo!” The guy claiming to be Alex called as she continued through the huge crowd toward the exit. She didn’t even bother to try and find Penny. All she wanted to do was get out of this place. She needed to be alone. She needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

Passing the security guards at the door, she didn’t even bother getting her hand stamped. Not caring if she came back inside or not. She had had her bag with her so it didn’t really matter anyway. Penny could take care of herself.

The cool breeze nipped at her cheeks as she walked outside and down the side walk. There were already people from the concert outside along with some of the other members from the bands that had played before hand. But she didn’t pay any attention to them. All she wanted to do was find a place so she could think and try and figure out what the hell was going on.

Before she knew it, she found that she was heading for their hotel room. The streets around her were still busy with traffic and even the sidewalks still had people littering them. She checked the time to see that it was almost ten at night and found it strange that people were still out and about that late, but that’s about as much thought as she put into it. Her mind was on so many different things.

Like the fact that she had just run away when that guy said he was Alex. The more she thought about it, the more she got the feeling that he was telling the truth. I mean apart from him being her best friend and knowing his name and a few of his friends names, she really didn’t know anything about him. All she knew that he was in a band that she didn’t know the name of and that his best friends name was Jack.

And from what she could tell and from what she had read in reviews was that Alex and Jack from All Time Low were really close. Like brothers. And Alex either went to only her or Jack for important things. Oh God, did she just completely screw things up with Alex? Was he really the person who claimed to be?

Her phone suddenly started to ring making her jump. She had been so lost in her thoughts that it actually scared her when it started ringing. Pulling it out of her pocket, she didn’t bother looking to the caller id, she already knew who it was going to be.

“Hey Penny, sorry I needed some fresh air. I’m just about to get back to the hotel.” She said once she picked it up. There was a short pause and she noticed that there wasn’t any noise in the background. Was Penny still inside? Or was she heading back to the hotel too?

“It’s not Penny,” the person on the other end replied and Zo stopped walking. Alex.

“Alex what the hell happened? Why did you suddenly stop talking earlier? Are you ok?” Zo asked as she heard a faint chuckle.

“Yeah Zo I’m fine,” Alex started to say but Zooey cut him off going off into a fit. Alex was basically yelling her name and telling her to calm down on the other end and finally she did. “God Zooey, you’re on a role tonight aren’t you?”

“Well I have good reason to be,” she muttered. “There’s this guy I met who claims to be you.”

Alex left a pause and she could hear him sigh, “I know.”

“What do you mean you-”

“Zooey, what did I tell you. Just calm down and turn around.”

“Turn around? Why the hell are you asking me to do that?”

He sighed again. “Just do it.”

“Fine, but I don’t see the-” she started as she spun around and locked eyes with Alex and noticed Jack a few feet behind him also. When they made eye contact, he raised his eyebrows and took his phone from his ear and pressed a button and Zo heard the call disconnect.

Oh God. It was really him.

There were so many things going through her head that she really didn’t know what to say as he slowly walked up to her. He had a small smile on his face and she couldn’t help but notice how cute he was. Shit. She was acting like a fan girl. This was so not what she needed right now. All she wanted to get down to the bottom of this.

“Why don’t we go up to the hotel room so we’re not standing here in the cold. You’re shivering.” Alex said once he realized that she wasn’t going to say anything. She looked down at her arms and noticed that they were in fact shaking. Though she didn’t know if it was actually from the cold or not.

All she did was nod and mumble a ‘follow me’ as she turned and began walking again. Alex stayed right next to her as they walked closer to the hotel. Jack was following them also whistling quietly to himself and Zo remembered Alex telling her something about Jack couldn’t handle silence very well.

They walked into the lobby and she continued to the elevators and then up to her room. She pulled her key card from her pocket and unlocked the door walking in with the boys behind her. When the door was closed and both boys were inside she looked to Alex and sighed knowing that all the built up emotion and frustration was about to come out...

“What the hell is this!? You’re freaking Alex Gaskarth? Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you tell me? Didn’t you think that that would be useful information to know when we first met? What the hell is wrong with you? And what happened tonight? All I know is one minute we’re talking and the next you’re gone. Like you hadn’t even been in my head for the last four years!” She basically yelled. Alex just stood there since he was so used to her outbursts but Jack’s eyes were wide and he was just staring at Zooey.

“Is she always like this?” Jack asked as Alex glanced at him and just shrugged and nodded. “Damn, who knew that such a small girl had so much in her?” Alex just snorted and agreed.

“Why is he even here? He knows? Are you going to say anything?” Zooey asked really getting upset that he wasn’t saying anything. They knew each other for four years and now he decided to keep his mouth shut?

Alex sighed, “Yes he knows. And Zo, it’s nothing personal. I just wanted you to know me for me and not by the image people make of me. Can you honestly say that if you knew that I was Alex Gaskarth when we first met that you wouldn’t have acted differently? You basically trash talked my band every time it was brought up. Not to mention today in the car when Penny started to play our new stuff.”

Ok, he had a point. “Fine, but don’t you dare lie to me again.”

Alex smiled, “I would never dream of it.”

Zooey couldn’t help but smile back as she closed the distance between then and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Alex didn’t even hesitate to wrap his arms around her and she couldn’t help but smile more. This was real. This was really the Alex that she had become so close with, in her head. This was really her meeting him in person for the first time even though it felt like she had known him for ages.

“Aw, I want a hug too!” Jack whined as they both started laughing and Zo grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a group hug.

When they let go, Zo couldn’t help but smile as it sunk in that this was really Alex in front of her. Then she looked at Jack and frowned, “wait. How does he know about us?”

“Apparently I got really drunk one night and told him.” Alex explained as he sat on her bed.

“You were drunker than Jack was?”

“Hey! Why is that so hard to believe?” Jack asked as they both gave him a knowing look. Then burst out laughing at Jack’s reaction.

Alex took a deep breath and Zo could tell that whatever happened really bugged him. “It was right when Sara, um…”

“Oh God,” Zo replied quickly so Alex didn’t have to go on. No wonder it was so hard to talk about. Zo remembered when the whole Sara fiasco happened, and she had honestly been worried for his life. He had taken it really hard and was worried he was going to do something stupid.

“Yeah so while he was hammered, he randomly told me about you.” Jack continued knowing that Alex wasn’t going to want to finish. “He had you call him and you must not have known that you were on speaker and he played that number game with you.”

Zooey rolled her eyes and glared at Alex, “really?”

“What, I honestly don’t remember any of that. So you really can’t yell at me about it.” He replied as she just rolled her eyes again.

The fell into silence and then since Jack couldn’t take it anymore, he started to ask more questions. “So how old are you?”

“18,” Zo started but Alex cut her off.

“19 in a few weeks.”

“Ooh! Last year of being a teenager! I wish I was still a teenager,” Jack mumbled as Zo laughed.

“Well you certainly act like it,” Alex muttered under his breath as Jack glared at him.

“Oh, speaking of that. What ever happened with the damage to the golf carts?” She asked as Alex started laughing again and Jack grinned like an idiot.

“You would tell her about that,”

“What, she was the one who told me to steal the keys from you.” Alex said as Jack pouted.

“Aw c’mon Zo, you should be on my side about this!”

“Sorry Jacky, but I need Alex to live.”

“Whatever,”

Zo glanced at her phone when she felt it vibrate and found she had a text. Opening it, she found it was from Penny wondering where she was. “Damn, Penny’s on her way back.”

“Shit, ok. Jack we need to go.” Alex said as he stood and began grabbing his jacket. Jack gave him a quizzical look and Alex just sighed. “Just trust me. You do not want to be around when Penny freaks out. It’s not a pretty picture. And if she see’s us her she’s most defiantly going to freak out.”

Jack just nodded and grabbed his things too before walking toward the door with Alex. But Alex turned just as he was about to open it and then looked to Zo. She smiled slightly when he came back over to her and pulled her into a hug.

“It was really amazing to finally meet you in person.” He mumbled still holding her tight. She hummed in response before letting him go so she could look him in the eye.

“This better not just be a dream and you’re screwing with me. Because I will kill you when I wake up!” Zo replied as Alex started laughing.

“This is most defiantly not a dream. I swear.” He sighed as he looked at her sadly. “I wish we had more time,”

Zo just nodded sadly as he hugged her once more and started to walk back to where Jack still stood by the door. “Wait!” She said as they were about to open the door again. They both turned and started to play with her necklace as she continued, “I have a favor to ask…”