The Times We Felt Alive

The whole house was quiet.

A girl’s voice boomed across the room, slurred by intoxication. “What the fuck do you want!?”

“I want to know why the hell you’re sticking your tongue down some pricks throat when you have a fucking boyfriend!” Alex screamed. A bunch of people gathered up around the two, I scrambled up and joined the crowd. Lisa stood facing Alex, beer bottle smashed on the coffee table. Everyone stood in anticipation, staring at the two.

“I figured since you’ve been so interested in Tiffany lately, you wouldn’t even notice or care.” Lisa pointed at me in the crowd behind Alex. I tried not to let my mouth hang open, and my face burned as I felt every eye in the room on me. Lisa continued. “And thanks for going behind my back, making a fucking SONG about me before you actually go and talk to me about our problems! I really appreciate it, you know.” Lisa put her hands up on her hips and stumbled back.

“That’s what I was going to go do now, until I found you sucking some guys face!” Alex was pissed. “And you’re the one who’s been going around telling people how much of a bastard I am to you all the time, when you’re just the jealous, emotionless bitch who gets around with other guys all the fucking time! Don’t think I’m oblivious to all the talk. I KNOW what you tell them!” Alex screamed out to the crowd of people. Now he really said it. Lisa lunged for Alex, tears streaming down her face. She threw her fists wildly, trying for any contact with Alex. Alex backed away, but she was hysterical. She ran and screamed and jumped and Alex held her arms most of the time, trying to calm her down, but one arm broke free and socked Alex right in the face.

He crashed onto the beer pong table, holding his nose. Before Lisa could strike again, Robert and another guy rushed to hold her back. She kept screaming nonetheless, and struggled in my direction.

A thousand profanities shot out of her mouth, and stung like knives when I realized they were directed at me. Everyone around me moved back when they realized this too, their eyes wide. I stood there, motionless, staring at Lisa scream at me furiously until she broke out of the guys’ grasp and hurled whatever she could find at me. I ducked, covering my face, and a second later I felt the sharp pain of glass slice the underside of my upper arm. I looked up, terrified, to find Lisa holding a piece of the broken beer bottle. She swung her arm down on me again. I closed my eyes, preparing for whatever she had planned to happen, when I heard the rest of the bottle crash on the other side of the room.

I looked up from my crouching position and saw Alex standing in between Lisa and me. His hands were balled into fists, and I could tell his chest was heaving from anger. I stood up, and she tried to swing at me from in front of Alex. He spread his arms out protectively and stepped closer to me. This seemed to make her even angrier, and she flailed around, screaming, with Alex trying to hold her. This wasn’t an easy thing to do, because when Alex had turned around in his attempt to contain her, I noticed how bloody his face looked. He looked like he was in pain. He winced and dropped her when she back-handed him in the face. “Fuck! Lisa, get away from her!” He ran towards her, but others got to her first and grabbed her.

“You need to CALM DOWN!” Jack was holding her back. She still struggled, mumbling things like “She needs to die,” “let me the fuck go,” and “you have no part in this.” Robert scooped her up and brought her outside, followed by the guy who had held her earlier and Zack, who was furious.

The room was dead silent once she left. I felt an annoying throbbing in my left arm and looked to see what the fuck was going on with it. I automatically felt dizzy when I saw it covered in blood. Before I could fall to the ground, Alex grabbed my right arm and brought me upstairs. He was quiet, but still extremely angry. He pushed open a random door, which happened to be a bedroom. There was a small bathroom attached to it.

Alex sat me down on the bed and went into the bathroom. “Let me get you something for that cut.” He flicked the light on. There was a mirror against the wall and was visible when the door was open. I felt woozy again when I saw Alex’s bloodstained face. His eyes were red and the blood seemed to still be flowing from his nose.

I stood up, mentally telling my stomach to shut the fuck up as it disagreed with my movements, and went over to the bathroom. “No way. Clean that blood up and we’ll look at your nose. It looks like it might be broken.” I may be calm in situations, but blood was the one thing that makes me queasy. But I still found a washcloth, wet it, and sat Alex down on the toilet. He now had toilet paper pressed to his nose. He winced when I first touched him with the washcloth. “I’m sorry, it won’t be much longer.”

I slowly cleaned him up, me still trying to ignore the throbbing in my arm, my head, and my upset stomach. His nose kept flowing blood at a steady rate. I advised him to take a roll of toilet paper and try his best to keep a wad of paper pressed against his nose. His shirt was ruined; I had to find one of Zack’s for him to wear.

Alex stood. “Now you sit down. You’re white as a ghost.” He held out two ibuprophen, dumped them in my hand and handed me a cup of water. I gulped them down.

“Alex, we need to look at your nose. It looks bent.” Which was true. On the left side of his face, his nose looked like it was leaning and a fresh bruise was starting to bloom. I began to stand, but my head had other ideas. My hand flew to my aching head and I put my left arm down to support me as I stood. Pain shot up and down my arm. I yelped involuntarily and fell back down on the toilet. Alex rushed to me, gently helping me down.

He kneeled down next to me, took my hand and softly replied, “I’m fine. You’re the one we need to take a look at, haha.” I looked down at him through the small tears forming in my eyes. He smiled and wiped away a tear that escaped. His face was gentle, and those deep brown eyes sparkled yet again when I exchanged a small smile. “Hold out your arm.”
He silently mended and bandaged my arm, using toilet paper and some medical tape he found in the cabinet. The cut wasn’t too deep, but was probably 5 inches long. I tried not to look at it and ignored the pain. Honestly, if Alex wasn’t cleaning it up, it would probably be a lot more painful.

“There,” He finished, the “bandage” wrapped around basically my whole upper arm.
I stood and looked at myself in the mirror. My makeup was smudged; there was blood on my top, probably stained forever; and the bandage was already starting to stain deep red.

“You look badass,” Alex commented. I gave him a look through the mirror. He moved his TP wad and examined his nose. “Wow. Maybe it is broken.” He poked it and his eyebrows scrunched in pain. He proceeded on poking it.

“Stop that!” I grabbed his hand away. “Do we need to take you to the hospital? I think we need to take you to the hospital. Come on, let’s go.” I held onto his hand and tried to get around him out the door, but he stepped in my way with each move I made. “Come on, Alex! You could be seriously hurt!” I tried to push him out of the way, but he wouldn’t budge. Now I felt myself getting even more upset.

Alex suddenly grabbed my hands and held me there, staring into my eyes. “Tiffany, I was joking. It’s probably only fractured. I’m okay.” He held up his hand and wiped my face again. I didn’t even realize I was crying. I looked in the mirror and saw my makeup running like crazy down my cheeks.

“Fuck. Alex, I’m so sorry.” My voice broke. I tried to hide my face by washing it, black running down the drain. But the tears wouldn’t stop, and I silently cursed myself for it.
Alex leaned on the counter and looked at me. “Hey. It’s fine.” I felt even more hot tears fall and I turned away, those awful sobbing, crying noises escaping my throat. I hiccupped and held my face in my hands. Alex yet again moved around until we faced each other. “Tiffany, look at me.” His voice was steady. I glanced up at him and he looked upset and concerned. His head tilted to the side when he studied me. A small, apologetic smile escaped his lips. “Come here.” He opened his arms and I collapsed into him, crying my eyes out. I hated crying, I hated crying in front of Alex, I hated ruining his relationship. Words couldn’t describe how terrible I felt right now, so I just let the tears fall.

Alex held me tight and kissed my head. He gently rocked me and whispered things like “I know,” “Don’t be sorry,” and “I’m here.” He sat us down on the bed and I leaned into him against the pillows, waiting for the remainder of my hiccups to cease. He also found one of Zack's shirts to change into, sine mine was bloodstained.

We sat in silence for a while, Alex smoothing out and playing with my hair. I sat up suddenly and moved in front of him, sitting on the bed facing him. He raised an eyebrow when I crossed my arms and squinted my eyes at him. “Yes?” He asked quizzically.

“Why aren’t you mad at me?” I asked him in the same tone back.

He raised both eyebrows and laughed. I punched his arm. “No! Seriously!” I shot at him.

Alex sighed and rearranged his position. “Why would I be mad at you? It’s not your fault Lisa freaked out.”

I stared. “Yes, it is!”

“No it isn’t.”

“Alex.”

“Tiffany.”

I punched his arm once more.

“Will you stop that?” Alex jokingly defended.

I groaned. “No! She pointed me out when she was screaming at you, and ever since I came here she’s hated me! She’s hated everything about us being together. She became a mega bitch and broke your nose because of you hanging out with me. You should want to get the fuck away from me. Why are you still here?” I noticed my voice was raising and I tried to calm down. I fought the lump in my throat that was rising again.

Alex squinted his eyes. “Because you’re really special to me, Tiffany! And okay, she was very drunk. Is very drunk. And you weren’t the reason that fight started. She was making out with some guy from School 15!”

I felt a flutter in my stomach. “I’m that special to you? And she still hates me.”

“She’s always been a mega bitch. And extremely jealous. Ever notice I’m not friends with many girls? And yes, Tiff. I would have left by now if I didn’t.” His face turned pink. He suddenly became interested in his little braided bracelet.

“Alex, you’re special to me too. I care about you a lot, and that’s why I feel so shitty about this whole thing,” I said quietly.

He looked up at me. “You know Tiff, it took me two years to realize how much of a bitch she really was to me and my friends,” he fumbled with the bracelet, undoing the knot. “And without you coming here, I don’t think I would have ever realized it.” The knot broke free and he tossed the bracelet onto the floor.

My voice was even quieter. “Why’d you take your bracelet off?” I didn’t take my eyes off of his.

“I don’t need it anymore.” His voice was so quiet it gave me the chills. But his expression was the same; our eyes never left each other. I leaned in an inch to examine his. His eyes usually look almost black, but the closer you get, the more brown you can see. Deep, chocolate brown eyes. They looked like they almost had a reddish tint.

“Who made it for you?” I whispered.

Alex leaned in close. Yep, his eyes definitely had a red tint. Lighter brown speckles scattered around his pupils. “Someone that I’m done sticking around with. Someone who hurt someone else that I really care about.” He gently touched my bandaged arm. His touch was electric. Chills went down my spine. Before I realized it, our lips were pressed together. I don’t remember who leaned in first; all I know now is my racing heartbeat, the thousands of chills exploding over every inch of my body, and our perfectly synchronized lips.

He was gentle, not too forward with the kissing. The kiss felt so right, the passion behind it was so strong that I desired for more. I let my right hand tangle in his soft brown hair. He moaned softly and pressed harder, one hand holding my waist and the other softly holding the side of my face. He caressed my cheek with his fingertips, just barely grazing over my earlobe. Holy shit, it turned me on. The chills danced over my body once more and I let my tongue slide into his mouth. Just a tiny bit though, enough for him to realize it, but not too much for him to be overwhelmed.

I could feel him giving in. He pulled me onto his lap, kissing with much more intensity. His tongue traced mine gently in our kisses. I felt a little bit of scratchiness on my face as we kissed, and realized he had a tiny bit of scruff on his jawline. Goddamn, that was sexy. It tickled me, which gave me chills once again.

He rubbed my back as I leaned on him, taking somewhat control. He giggled softly into my mouth when I took his face into my own hands, kissing him breathlessly. The vibrations of his voice turned me on even more, and I took my mouth off of his for a second to gently bite his lower lip.

He gasped lightly, and stretched his neck to lean his head back. “Tiffany…” He gasped.

I sat up, a little concerned, and breathed “Did I hurt you? Oh god, that must have been too fast. I’m sorry-”

Alex sat up quickly and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Oh my god, no. I wasn’t expecting you to do that, but holy fuck Tiffany… I didn’t know you had that in you.” He tried to hide it, but his involuntary, sexy half smile spread across his face.

I couldn’t help but smile too at him. But I was still unsure, so I added, “Was it… a good thing?”

He chuckled and pulled himself closer to me. “Yes, Tiff. It was amazing,” He whispered. And he kissed my nose lightly, then my cheek, then my lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and we just started up again when I heard someone yell from behind, “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!”