Don't Let This Memory Fade Away

“Farah, wake up!” Marian shouted as she flung my door open, causing the knob to hit hard against the wall.

“Ugh,” I groaned and rolled over “What time is it?”

“The time you told me to wake you, 5:45.”

“Why the hell did I tell you to wake me up so early?” I whined and rolled out of bed. Marian shook her head and left the room so that I could get ready.

I pulled out a Beatles tee and some dark wash skinnies. I didn’t bother to straighten my hair; it looked fine as is. After I did my makeup and brushed my teeth, I went downstairs to find that breakfast had been prepared. My mouth began to water as my eyes moved from the fruit to the pancakes, then to the bagels and the muffins. I piled everything onto my plate and wolfed it down within minutes.

“Someone’s hungry.” Elliot said as he walked into the kitchen.

I patted my stomach “Not anymore.”

He smiled “Well, Marian and I probably won’t be home when you get back from school, so here’s a key.” He placed the key on the table in front of me.

“Oh, Elliot, I think I’m going over to Rian’s after school to watch the guys practice, if that’s okay.” Zack had invited me the night before, and I was more than willing to take him up on the offer.

“Of course.”

“Thanks so much!” I smiled wide.

“You know,” he said “you’re one lucky girl.”

“And why is that?” I asked as I pulled the carton of orange juice out of the fridge and poured some into a cup.

“Because, you get to see and become friends with your favorite band before they become famous. I would have loved to be able to do that with Lenard Skynyrd or Aerosmith.”

I laughed “My cousin knows Steven Tyler.”

“Does he really?” his eyes widened.

“Yeah, he sold him a boat or something and now I guess they’re friends.”

“Really? Have you met him?”

“Unfortunately I have not had the pleasure.”

“I see. But once again, I cannot stress how lucky you are, Farah.”

“Yeah…” I sighed then looked at my phone for the time. “Well, I should get going. Have a nice day, Elliot.”

“You too, Farah.”

I walked out the door and headed down the street. There were a few other people at the bus stop. It wasn’t the most comfortable setting. I shuffled my feet and crossed my arms, waiting impatiently for the bus to arrive. I wish I could have listened to my iPod, but since the iPod touch had not yet been released, I was stuck without it.

The bus pulled up, finally. I was relieved to see Alex sitting alone, staring out the window.

“Hey.” I said as I sat down next to him.

“Hey!” He replied, smiling. “The Beatles, huh?”

I looked down at my shirt. “Yeah, they’re pretty good.”

“Of course, they are, they’re The Beatles.” He smiled “So you’re coming to practice today, right?”

“Indeed I am.”

“Well, it’s only going to be like an hour, so I was wondering if you would want to come back to my place and hang there for a little bit?”

“Yeah, definitely. I’ll just have to check with Elliot and Marian.”

“Awesome. So how’s the new puppy? Zack told me you got one.”

Oh no, Edward. I forgot about the little guy.

“Oh, Alex, thanks for reminding me. I don’t think I can go to your house, I’m really sorry. I have to go home to Edward. He’s only a little baby; he can’t be alone for that long.”

“Oh, well, we could pick him up. It’s no problem.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure.” He said smiling “I want to see the little guy anyways."

“Awe, thank you Alex.”

“No problem.”

Before I knew it, we were at school. I walked off the bus and stared at the edifice. It was much bigger than my own school back home, and I felt slightly uncomfortable. How would I adjust to this?

“You ready?” Alex asked as he hooked his arm in mine.

“Do I really have a choice?”

He laughed. “No, you don’t.” With that, we entered the school.

*******************

I rushed to lunch. It was the only period I had with Alex, who as of right now was my closest friend here. I was a loner in all of my classes and everyone just stared at me. I didn’t like it. At all.

When I walked into the lunchroom, I looked around for Alex, but I didn’t see him.

“Hey! Over here!” I heard someone call. I looked in the direction of the voice. Alex and the boys, along with a few other people I didn’t recognize, were standing up waving for me to come over and join them. I made my way over, and as I did so everyone stared. It was starting to get annoying, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Hey guys.” I said as I took the only empty seat next to a boy with small stretched ears and a lip ring.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Farah.” Alex announced.

“Hi Farah.” Everyone said in unison.

“Hey.” I replied.

“Farah, that’s Matt.” Rian said pointing to the boy next to me. I looked at him, and I knew who he was immediately. Matt Flyzik, All Time Low’s future tour manager.

“And that’s Kara, Holly, and Derek.” Zack added.

I recognized Kara as Rian’s girlfriend from pictures I had seen. Holly and Derek, though, I did not recognize.

“Nice to meet you all.” I said and smiled at all of them.

“It’s nice to meet you too!” Kara said enthusiastically.

“So, Farah,” Matt started “Tell us a little about yourself, starting with whether or not you’re single.”

I looked at Alex and Jack. They were staring at Matt, anger rising in their eyes. I contained my smile.

“I am single,” I started. “I’m from Massachusetts. I love Fall Out Boy and Blink-182. My favorite color’s black, I like reading… I’m not too interesting honestly.” I laughed nervously.

He smiled in reply and continued picking at his food.

“She’s an amazing singer.” Jack said.

“Are you?” Derek asked.

“I guess I’m okay…”

“Oh shut up, you know you’re good.” Alex said.

“Sing something.” Matt demanded.

“No, not now…”

“Now.” He ordered.

“Okay Mr. Forceful.” I mumbled.

I bit my lip. I really didn’t want to draw attention to myself. Well, any more than I was already receiving.

I sighed “What should I sing?”

“How about some Jason Mraz?” Holly suggested.

“Oh, God, Holly. You and your damn Jason Mraz.” said Matt.

“Oh, shut up, you. It was just a suggestion.”

“I guess so. I’ll sing The Remedy.”

“Yeah! That’s it!” Holly chirped.

“I’m only singing the first verse and chorus.”

“Whatever floats your boat.” Matt said.

“Oh, now I have options.”

Alex snorted and looked away, trying to hide his laughter. I smiled and took a deep breath.

“Well I saw fireworks from the freeway
And behind closed eyes I cannot make them go away
'Cause you were born on the fourth of July, freedom ring
Now something on the surface it stings…”

I tried to sing as softly as possible, and once I was done I looked around the table.

I looked around the table, and everyone’s eyes were wide, except for Alex, Zack, Rian, and Jack. They were sitting there smiling. Holly and Kara’s jaws had dropped.

“You sounded better than Jason!” Holly shrieked.

“Thanks.” I replied, a wide smile spreading on my face.

Just then, I heard an uproar of clapping around me. I looked back to see everyone looking at me. They were applauding /me/.

“You go new girl!”

“Sing more!”

“You’re amazing!”

I could feel myself blushing, and I looked down.

“You were great.” Matt said.

**********

“Here’s Anthem Part 2 by Blink-182!” Alex announced before the boys started playing their last song for the night.

I couldn’t stop beaming. I absolutely loved this song and hearing All Time Low perform it made it so much better.

“Great job guys!” I said as I got up off the couch and hugged each of them.

“You think so?” Alex asked.

“Absolutely.”

After that, Rian’s mom called us upstairs. She demanded we have something to eat. None of the boys refused the offer. Kara, Holly and I weren’t too hungry, so instead we chatted amongst ourselves while the boys had a food fest. They filled me in on relationships and what was going on in everyone’s lives. I was being welcomed into their circle quite quickly, and I was glad to have made some more new friends.

When the boys were done, Alex and I said our goodbyes and headed back to my house to pick up the puppy. Thankfully Rian’s house was only a few streets over from mine.

I fumbled with the key to the house but finally managed to open the door. I flung it open quickly. “Edward!” I called, and he came bounding to the door. “Do you wanna go to Alex’s house?” I asked as I scooped him up.

“Aw, this is little Eddy?” Alex asked.

“Edward, Alex, Edward. But yeah, this is him.”

“He’s adorable. His legs are too funny.”

“Shh, he’s self-conscious.”

Alex rolled his eyes at me.

We backtracked our way to Rian’s street, where I found out Alex lived just down the road from Rian. We walked into the house fawning over Edward. I looked up for a moment, and then I saw him.

He was tall, skinny, and had dirty blonde hair. He looked a lot like Alex except his eyebrows were, how shall I put it, more petite? His face was rounder as well and he had big blue eyes instead of Alex’s brown.

“Farah, this is Dan, my brother.”

I felt my heart stop in my chest for a moment. The boy that Alex sings about in Lullabies is standing before me right now, very much alive. I couldn’t believe it.

“Hey,” He said putting out his hand for me to shake it “nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I replied and shook his outstretched hand.

“Do you want to go up to my room?” Alex asked as he started towards the stairs.

“I’m not sure, Alex...”

“I won’t pull anything. I promise.” He said “Oh, and you can leave Eddy downstairs if you like. My mom would love to play with him. Just put him in the kitchen. Dan, show her where the kitchen is, would you?”

“Edward.”

“I’m sorry I can’t here you.”

I sighed and looked at Dan.

“Right this way.” He said and motioned for me to follow him.

“This is our kitchen,” He said “Where we have almost every kind of food imaginable.”

I smiled “That’s cool.”

“Hmm, not so enthusiastic I see.”

I placed Edward on the ground and he sat at my feet. “I’m sorry; I’m just a little shy.”

He smiled “No worries.”

I just smiled back at him. This was so weird. Daniel was… alive. And he seemed absolutely fine. But then I looked deeper into his eyes.

There was something off, you could tell. He noticed what I was doing; analyzing him, reading him like a book. He looked away quickly.

“So,” He said as he cleared his throat “You haven’t been here for that long, but Alex hasn’t shut his mouth about you.”

“Is that so…”

“Yes, it is.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Well, Alex is probably waiting.” I said. The conversation was getting stale quickly.

“Yeah, he is. Don’t do anything naughty!” he snickered.

“I’ll try not to.” I replied sarcastically. I began to walk away, but stopped.

“Hey, Dan?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay? Now or in the future.”

“Okay... what made you say that?”

“No reason. Just don’t.”

I continued upstairs and looked to my left. Through the open door I saw that Alex was sitting in what must be his room strumming a song on his acoustic.

He looked up as I entered the room and smiled. “Oh, hey.”

“Whatcha playing?” I asked.

“Actually, a song I’m working on. I’ve got like, the first verse down, if you want me to play it.”

“Yeah, go for it.”

“Alright, here it goes” He cleared his throat “I said I'd never forget your face
Vaulted away inside my head
And memories never seem to fade
You were the best part of my life, my last regret” stopped strumming abruptly and looked at me. “That’s all I have so far.”

Memories That Fade like Photographs.

“It’s great, Alex. I love it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

I wanted to ask who it was about, but then again, I really didn’t want to know. He would tell me if he wanted to share.

Out of nowhere, he kissed me. I wasn’t even prepared for it; it took me by complete surprise. I didn’t try to stop him from proceeding. It suddenly clicked with me; I’m kissing Alexander William Gaskarth.

I started to smile as we kissed and slowly, hesitantly, Alex pulled away. He just stared at me and smiled.

“I really like you Farah.” He said.

“Likewise.”