Break Your Little Heart

Alex’s post-concert high lasted all of the five seconds it took for the boys to walk off stage. The moment they were out of sight of the fans Zack had the singer pinned against the wall by his throat. Alex snarled at him, pissed that Zack would dare take this moment of victory away from him.

“You come near my cousin again and I’ll kill you.” He uttered lowly, his voice steady and sure in Alex’s ear before he tossed the lankier boy aside and stalked out the back door.

“Seriously, Lex, what the fuck is your problem?” Rian spat out giving a disgusted shake of his head before following Zack into the cold.

Alex scoffed and turned to Jack, looking for support. Instead he found himself eye to eye with a best friend that look angrier than Alex had ever seen before. He opened his mouth, but Jack cut off whatever bullshit was about to come out of it.

“'The Chloe Chronicles'?! Are you fucking kidding me, Alex???? I know that you’re hurting, but you weren’t the only one who lost her that summer! Chloe left all of us, bro, and now that she’s finally back you go and pull this shit?! You’re just going to push her away again, and where will that leave those of us who still want her around, huh? You think the world revolves around you because you’re the one that’s in love with her? Well, NEWSFLASH, we all fucking love her! And you’re just going to fuck it all up again because you can’t move out of the past!”

“She’s not 'back', Jack!” Alex cried, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. Why couldn’t they see that Chloe was the same manipulative bitch she had been back in high school? Why couldn’t they see that she was the one who had caused all of this?? “She’s not gonna stay here or suddenly be your best friend again. She’s going to leave just like she did before because she doesn’t care about you. She doesn’t care about any of us!”

Jack recoiled as if he’d been slapped. Alex sighed, but didn’t apologize. He had only spoken the truth. If Jack couldn’t handle it that wasn’t Alex’s fault.

“Fuck. You.” Jack’s voice was so cold Alex almost shivered.

“Jack!”

But the damage was already done. Alex watched in dismay as Jack turned and joined his two other bandmates outside. Alex groaned, slamming the back of his head into the wall behind him before sinking to the floor. His head fell to rest in between his legs. There were a several beats of silence before the clack of heels on concrete brought his head back up. A small part of him vainly hoped it was Chloe. But instead of finding a pair of crystal clear blue eyes when he looked up, Alex found himself gazing into Lisa’s deep green, sparkling even brighter with unshed tears.

“Matt told me you were doing a show tonight. At first I couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t told me. I thought it was probably just some last minute thing that had just slipped your mind, but boy was I wrong.”

“Lisa…” Alex sighed.

“Don’t.” Lisa lifted a manicured hand harshly, effectively silencing him. Alex waited as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again. “It’s always going to be about her isn’t it?”

“Lise –” Alex tried again.

“I said don’t!” Lisa eyes flew open, pinning him with a glare that was neither sad nor angry but a perfect blend of the two. “Were you ever going to tell me that you still loved her? Were you ever going to actually care, Alex? Or was I just an easy side piece to keep your bed warm at night? Don’t answer that.” She snapped before he could even take a breath. She shook her head, willing herself to calm down before continuing. “I told you five years ago that I wasn’t going to come second in your life to Chloe Danske, and I still won’t. Don’t come home tonight. I’ll be gone by tomorrow, and I don’t want to see your face for a very long time. You need to figure your shit out, Alexander. Chloe is gone. You can’t waste your life chasing some high school fantasy. Grow up.”

Without another word, Lisa turned on her heel and marched out of the building through the steel door just like everyone else he cared about. He vaguely overheard her asking the other guys if they needed a ride home and figured that must mean that Chloe had taken the car when she left not even a full song into the set he had come up with just for her.

Good. He told himself angrily. That was the point after all. Alex had wanted to put Chloe through as much pain as possible tonight. He wanted her to suffer the same way he had suffered all these years. So why did he feel like such shit? No, he shook his head, Chloe deserved it. She had brought this on herself. Alex repeated the words over and over again as he climbed from the ground and went in search of a bottle of alcohol to drown himself in.