You've Never Looked Better, And I've Never Looked Worse

"But you're happier with your wife, aren't you?" I asked. He cocked an eyebrow and laughed.

"I wouldn't know, she was beyond words. Anything she did. She was bubbly, and happy, and always full of life. I never had one dull moment around her. Everything felt so right about her. I just wish I had met her sooner." There was so much admiration in his voice I think he forgot I was there.

"What happened to her?" I was pretending to be interested.

He sighed, "She left. Twice actually. I told her that i'd marry her in Vegas, and my wedding was two days away. Next morning she was gone left a note. She also showed up at my wedding, left another note. Haven't seen her since." He was sad now, I could tell. "If only I could see her one more time. Just be with her one more time. I think I could accept it more." I nodded. It was tearing me apart listening to this. How much his mood changed just talking about me.

"I hope you see her again someday." He smiled.

"Me too."

___

"Zack, Rian and I are going down the street to a bar. Want to come?" Jack aced. I shook my head I wasn't in the mood to go to a bar. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed and watch TV.

"No thank you." He smiled, as he always did to me.

"Okay, Alex is next door if you want company." He shut the door behind him and disappeared.

I grabbed my suitcase and put on my yoga pants and a tank top. There was a light tap on the door. I peered out the peephole and saw Alex. I sighed. Opening the door to let him in.

"Hey." I said, he gave me a small smile.

"Want some company?" He asked. My body always got tense around him, It would be a shock if he didn't notice it every time.

I stepped aside the door frame. "Sure." I whispered more than anything to him.

I shut the shoot behind him and he found his way to one of the beds. I sat across from him on the other bed. Alex bounced up and down on the bed, waiting for me to say something. He finally realized I wasn't going to say anything first and took the initiative.

"So what were you doing?" He asked, making eye contact with me.

It gave me shivers down my spine. It was hard to think that a boy could have so much effect on me even after I hadn't seen him in a year. "I was just sitting here watching TV." I shrugged.

He nodded. "Why didn't you go out to the bar?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"After everything today, I just want to relax." He nodded again. "Why didn't you go with them?" I asked the same question.

He laughed silently to himself. "The truth?" I nodded in a 'duh' kind of way. "I haven't drank since I was in Las Vegas last year. With, the girl I was telling you about, Ember." He stared up the ceiling as if he was in a trance. "It reminds me of her, how much fun we had, playing beer pong, her laugh. Everything about alcohol makes me think of her now."

Guilt flashed through my body. I'm sitting here in front of him, and he's pouring his heart out to, one, a girl he 'doesn't' know and two, the girl he's talking about. He face looked emotionless, I couldn't make out what he was thinking.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I finally spoke. He shrugged it off. "So, uh, did you want to do something?" I asked. He looked over at me and smiled.

"Ice cream." I bit my lip and held back a laughed.

"Ice cream it is. Let me just change." I said, starting to get up.

"No!" I gave him an odd look. "You look pretty in that." I felt my cheeks get red and my face get hot.

"Thanks." He probably barley heard me, but he got the point. I grabbed my bright pink hoodie and threw it over my head. "Let's go," I said, shoving my phone and room key inside my pocket.

We found a ice cream parlor right next door to a park, we decided once we got our ice cream we would go eat there.

"Single scoop french vanilla please." The girl nodded at me and punched it in on the register. I went to take my credit card out of my wallet but Alex took it.

"I'll have the same thing." He said handing her a twenty dollar bill.

"I'm a big girl, i'm capable of paying for myself." I said proudly, snatching my credit card back and shoving it into my wallet.

"Just say thank you." He laughed, taking the receipt.

I faked an angry face but gave up once he started smiling. "Thank you, really though."

"Think of it as a welcoming present to the crazy life of the All Time Low tour bus." I stared at him before busting into laughter.

"Alex, you're a little much." I told him as we took our ice cream and walked towards the park.

"You make it sound as though I've never heard that before." He winked at me. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the cold green grass, Alex sitting next to me.

"So Alex," I started, taking a lick of my ice cream, "tell me about your wife. What's she like?" I don't know why I asked this, but I did.

A small smile crept up on his face, but not as big as when he talked about me. "Her name is Marissa and she's a magazine editor for Rolling Stone." I arched my eyebrows, I never knew that.

"I'm assuming that's how you two met?" He nodded.

"Want to know something funny?"

"Sure thing." I said.

He laughed lowly to himself, "The other girl I was talking about, she was actually the stripper Jack, Rian and Zack hired for me in Las Vegas for my bachelorett party."

Acting as if I didn't know. "A stripper? You're all hung up on a stripper?"

"No, no, she's not like that. She was just, different. Classy, even though it's hard to believe, she really was. She had this dream, this dream to get out of there, throw everything away and start over. I always wonder, if she ever did." He trailed off again as he always did when he talked about her, well, me.

Right then and there, I wanted to tell him it was me, everything in my body told me too. But, I couldn't do it, I couldn't put us both, and even Marissa in that situation.

So I kept shut.