Broken Strings and Broken Dreams

Alex left by 5:00, telling me that it didn't start until 7 and that he'd be picking me up at 6:45. I was nervous.

Of course I was fucking nervous. What the hell was I supposed to wear to these things? Pants? Possibly. I didn't want to get too dressed up. I mean, it was just at Jack's house so I decided to just take a shower and just go from there.

It was a good idea then, but now that I'm standing outside of my closet trying to decide, wrapped in a towel, half an hour before I was supposed to be picked up, it was terrible.

I pulled out dark skinny jeans. You can't go wrong with pants. Especially nice dark ones that my mother used to tell me could fit any situation. Next thing I knew I was grabbing a light green tank top that kind of just hugged around me, my favorite one.

My hair was a different story. It went down to the middle of my back in complete waves and I almost never really had to do anything with it.

I was trying to pull on my Converse when my door bell rang. It surprised me since I thought he'd call to tell me and when I opened the door, I bit my lip at the sight of him.

He had on a nice shirt, a nicer shirt than what would be his band t-shirt for school and then regular blue jeans with his all black Nike's. He looked nice, really nice.

"You clean up nice." I commented and he smiled, holding his hand out for me to take.

"You look quite beautiful too." He soothed and I felt my heart swell up in my chest. He thought I looked beautiful?

When we got to his car, he opened the door for me. The music was extremely loud when he turned the car on and I almost wondered how I didn't hear him from inside the house. He fumbled with the dial when he saw my clear surprise from the volume.

"So uhm, I just wanted to let you know that Jack's mom won't be there. She left him the house and not a lot of people are coming, but more than what was planned before."

I looked at him. I told them I didn't do parties, that I'd never been to one before, but here we were, driving to a place where there would be loud people, alcohol, and more loud people. I thought I'd at least be able to ease myself into that scene.

"Before you say anything, I won't drink, and Rian's always sober with Kara if anything. I won't leave your side Madilynn. I promise." He rushed, glancing at me as he turned, from what it looked like, onto the last street.

There weren't too many cars, controllable if need be, and I recognized it as only being a 10 minute walk from my house. I nodded, sending him a soft reassuring smile.

"Okay." I mumbled and he was suddenly outside of my door, holding it open for me to get out. "Thank you." I smiled as he shut my door behind me, quickly taking my hand up in his.

"Lisa is going to be here so you know, if she says something to you about me, don't listen to her. She's bitter." He added and I nodded, walking through the front door into a livingroom semi-full of people.

There were people making out in corners and then abandoned and not trusted red cups lying everywhere. "He has soda in the kitchen, do you want anything?" He asked, dipping his head lower so I could hear over the boom of the speakers.

I nodded and we made our way to the kitchen, him getting man-hugs on the way from different kids from school. Everyone that saw me next to him looked confused. Like I was the wrong girl than what was usually on his side and I shrunk back a little bit.

I had to remember that Alex had a reputation.

He wasn't just the Alex he was around me. I pushed that away. He was my Alex for the night and it was going to stay that way, especially if I stayed here.

We kind of just stood and laughed around in the kitchen where a game of ping pong went on, consisting of Jack, Anabelle, and two other boys I didn't know. It wasn't until Alex explained the name and point of the game did I know what it was but it was funny.

"You can have a drink if you want Alex. I don't expect you to just go around with a stupid cup of soda." I piped up a little while later.

It was nearing 9 o-clock and I was hoping that he wasn't getting bored. "I made a promise that I'm going to keep. I don't need alcohol to have fun wih you. But lets go dance, I wanna see you shake those hips."

And then we were dancing, or well, swaying to the music because neither of us could dance, or I couldn't, I couldn't tell with him. He didn't push me to do anything else no matter the song and I was thankful. I could tell he was different with me, it was obvious, and I kind of wanted to know why, deep down.

I didn't say anything, of course. Tonight obviously wasn't the night to ask and when he started leading me around the house again, to talk with people he'd already talked to once or twice, I was a little less shy.

"Oh my God, Alex, she's so cute! I mean, Anabelle said she was adorable and shy and stuff but she's just so fucking cute!" I heard from next to me and jumped when a pretty long blonde haired girl jumped up to us, literally.

"Delani, please, please do not scare her." Alex whined and stomped his foot as I just looked around, confused as ever. "Madi, this is my buddy Zack's girlfriend, Delani. They don't go to our school, they go to the one across town." He explained and I was suddenly being hugged.

I hugged her back. I mean, what the fuck else was I supposed to do? She seemed nice enough and she looked thrilled to be meeting me, like she'd been waiting a long time.

Alex looked embarrassed. His cheeks were tinged red and his hands were stuffed in his pockets, except one that he dug back out to grab my hand back in his.

"Please, Delani." He begged and she seemed to get the hint because she kissed his cheek and then mine before skipping back off into the crowd where she came from. "I'm sorry. I told her not to. I told her that you were shy and stuff but I didn't know she fucking liked that shit." He apologized and I giggled.

"It's alright. She was nice." I assured him and he seemed to calm down a bit, looking around. "Can we go outside for a little bit?" I asked, feeling like I'd been around too many people for too long.

He nodded, almost eagerly, and pretty soon, we were slipping out the back door into the almost empty backyard.

It was almost 11 and the crickets were chirping loudly. "Are you having fun?" I heard him ask as we stood on the back porch, over looking a grassy well kept backyard.

I nodded, smiling at him. "Of course I am. It's a lot easier than I thought it was going to be." I said and I felt him hold on tighter to my hand, making me realize he'd never let go.

"Good. I wanted this to be good for you, you know? It's not all about who drinks the most or who you end up with at the end of the party. Sometimes it's all about who you spent it with."

"Thank you." I felt myself saying and when I looked at him, I saw something in his eyes that I hadn't seen yet. He looked like he was thinking about doing something and when he started to lean in, I felt butterflies errupt in my stomach.

He was almost there. Just a few more inches and we'd be kissing but he stopped and my half closed eyed opened back up to see why, to see him looking down at me.

"Have you been kissed before?" He asked and I felt my cheeks burn red as my inexperience went front window again. Of course not.

I shook my head lightly. He didn't pull away but he didn't kiss me either. He placed a gentle kiss on my cheek before cupping his hands around my face, looking down at me.

"I'll make that special for you too one day." He said, and then he pulled away and led me back inside to the slightly smaller party.