Darling, I Just Can't Go On

I managed to make it to Alex's house, but it was almost ten minutes after I said I would be there.

After shutting off my car, I jogged up the porch steps before stopping suddenly. What was I even doing here? I mean yeah Alex said to come, but what would the other three say? Would they mind?

I gave my head a quick shake before slowly raising my hand to knock on the door. I tapped three times before dropping my arm and taking a step back, the sounds of Baz barking coming from behind the door.

"Baz! Calm down!" A voice yelled to silence the dog, and suddenly the door was pulled open, revealing a very shirtless and damp Alex.

"Hey Andi," He greeted, smiling as he motioned me in. "I uh, was just getting dressed..."

I nodded meekly as I followed him down to the basement, which I had yet to see.

"I'll go grab a shirt and be back down soon." He mumbled once I had seated myself down on one of the three couches that sat in a semi circle.

He went back up the stairs that we had just come down, giving me a chance to take in my surroundings.

The basment was on the smaller side, but it was also a very homey room. There was a TV set up with different video game systems and a huge stack of games that went with them on one side of the TV, the other side holding a large selection of movies.

Across from the TV was a three person couch, with two love seats on either side, the one on the left being the one that I had sat on. In one of the corners to the right of the TV were two different electic guitars along with an amp for each of them.

The rest of the room was filled with random bits of clutter, but all in all seemed like the perfect place to hang out with friends, something I wasn't very experienced in.

I pulled my legs up against my torso as I wrapped my arms around my shins, curled up in one of my most comfortable positions.

From upstairs I heard the sound of someone bouding down the stairs, followed by the sound of Baz's collar jingling. Alex appeared soon after, now wearing a shirt, with the dog following behind him.

Baz ran over and jumped up onto the couch next to me, licking at my face happily.

I giggled as I stroked his long fur, trying to lightly push him away.

"It seems like he took a liking to you," Alex mused as he plopped down on the opposite end of the same couch. "He normally doesn't like people until he's met them at least a few times."

I just shrugged as Baz finally started to settle down, moving to lay down on my left side as I continued to pet him slowly.

"I'm good with animals," I mumered with another shrug as the small dog looked up at me with his tongue hanging out of him mouth happily.

A small silence sat around us for only a couple of minutes before the front door slammed open upstairs.

"BITCH, I HAVE ARRIVED!" The unmistakeable voice of Jack yelled before his footsteps came bounding down the staircase to the left of us. "What's up my mother fucker?"

He stopped suddenly on the last step, almost tripping forward over his own feet.

"There's a hot chick here..." He said, to him self I hoped. "Why is there a hot chick here that I was not informed about?"

Alex laughed at the confused look on his best friend's face as Jack moved over to where the two of us were sitting.

"You remember Andi right Jack?" Alex asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, you!" Jack laughed before seating himself directly on Alex's lap. "I knew you were cheating on me! I saw all the signs, but I ignored them! I thought you were better than this you slut!"

I laughed lightly at his antics making Alex smile over in my direction.

The other two showed up not too long after Jack, both of them hacing different reactions to me being there.

"Andi? What are you doing here?" Rian had asked, not even trying to hide the shock in his voice, while Zack greeted me with a mere, "Hey."

~~

"Alexxx!" Jack whined, drawing out the end of the name, "Can we watch Home Alone now?"

The three other boys groaned at the lanky one's request.

"Jack we watch that movie every single time," Rian complained.

"Seriously, pick a new movie man." Alex added, but ened up giving in to the request at the sight of Jack pouting and crossing his arms with a huff. "Such a big baby..."

I found myself laughing more and more during the night at their constant stream of jokes and mocking. Throughout the night I had caught Alex looking over in my direction more than a few times, but each time I caught him he just shook his head with a smile before looking away.

Baz stayed with me pretty much the entire time I was over, either curled up on my lap as I leaned against the arm rest of the couch, or laying next to me when my lap wasn't free.

"Why doesn't you dog love meee?" Jack had whined at one point when he tried to call Baz over to him, only to have the dog ignore him completely.

"Because you're fat and ugly," Alex replied without a second thought, his eyes staying glued to the screen as he shoved popcorn into his mouth.

"Bitch please, I'm fucking gorgeous!"

"Whatever you have to say to help you sleep at night," Rian muttered, but we all heard him.

Jack sent a shocked look over to his bandmate before throwing a handful of popcorn at him, which Rian easily dodged, dumping his own bowl over Jack's head.

"Dick!"

I noticed early on that Zack didn't talk much, but just sat back and enjoyed the show that his friends were constantly putting on. I had a feeling that I would get along with him the best if this became a regular thing for me to join them when they hung out.

~~

"So did you have fun?" Alex asked me as we stood by my car not long after I had announced that I needed to head home.

Jack had whined about me "leaving him" while the others just said a quick goodbye, apart from Alex who insisted on walking me out to my car.

"I did surprisingly," I said as I smiled. "You have some pretty cool friends."

"Eh," He shrugged. "They can be a bit much at times but I love them all the same."

I laughed lightly at his words before turning to open my door, only to have him reach out and stop my hand with his own.

"I'm really glad you showed up tonight Andi," He said as he looked me straight in the eye. "and I'm glad you had fun, you deserve it."

I blushed at his words as I looked away once more, opening the driver's side door without being stopped that time.

"I'm glad I showed up too," I replied before dropping down into my seat, Alex taking a step back as I closed the door and started up the engine.

I gave one final wave goodbye before pulling out of the drive way, letting out a big sigh that I didn't know I was holding in.