Status: first story ever done in the third person, hope it's decent!
Scream, to Be Heard
Chapter 5.
Chapter 5
“….Bro. It only took me like 2 hours to finish the project.” Jack questioned as all four of them played Madden. It had been two weeks since the project was assigned, and Alex had to explain where he had been the other night. Zack was confused as fuck, but he was used to it.
“I know, we were just finishing things up.” Alex lied. He couldn’t get himself to tell the guys that he and her were friends now. They already thought him taking a week and a half to do the project was a little sketchy.
“Why, did she have you proofread one of her little…stories?” He was getting irritated. Why couldn’t the guys just shut up about it? They didn’t know her, what she’s been through. He did.
“No. Now just…shut up, okay?” Rian paused the game and looked over at Alex.
“Alex, dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? You trying to save the weird ass blonde chick?” That was it. He put his controller down on the couch.
“I’m going home.” He spat out, storming out the front door and slamming it behind him. The other boys didn’t know what just happened, but they wanted to find out.
Alex wasn’t headed for home, however. He passed his house, and headed to the brown and white house on the corner. Anxious to talk to his new friend, he rang the doorbell.
“Oh, hi Alex!” her mom greeted cheerfully, “I thought the project ended?”
“It did, but I wanna talk to Bailey, is that okay?” She nodded and let him in the house. The boy jogged up the stairs. Ellen smiled. It was nice to have another guy in the house, even if he was just a boy from school. It almost made her smile when she had to pick up the soda cans he left around Bailey’s room, because it reminded her of when her husband had done the same.
Alex stopped in front of her bedroom. He heard the harmonic strumming of an acoustic guitar. “That must be her”. She had never played around him before, partially because she was too embarrassed. I mean his band was opening for some pretty big acts, how could she compare? Sure, she loved to perform. It seemed natural for her. But she felt like Alex would judge her.
The music stopped. She must have been doing something else. He opened the door.
“Hey blondie,” he joked. Bailey looked up from her notebook.
“Oh, hey Alex.” She said with a smile, “what’s up?” He flopped down on the bed next to her.
“My friends are assholes.” She laughed and laid down next to him.
“What else is new.” He explained what happened.
“They just…they don’t like me hanging out with you.” The girl screwed up her face and looked up at her ceiling. She knew why. But she didn’t get pissy about it.
“I understand.” And that was all she really needed to say. The two of them, confused and tired as fuck, just laid there. Did this mean he couldn’t be friends with her anymore? Thoughts like these ran through Alex’s head. “This sounds like a problem 6 year olds have. God damn.” She rolled over to look at him.
“So…I guess that means you’re not coming over anymore?” Bailey was sad, really. She was. Alex visited nearly every day after band practice. It made her day. He wasn’t a douche bag at all, he just needed to be understood. Because nobody he knew could really relate. It felt good, being the one somebody came to when they needed help. Being wanted. Needed. A feeling Bailey hadn’t experienced in a very, very long time.
“I’ll come over as much as I can.” He sighed and smiled weakly. His friends could be such dicks sometimes. She smiled.
“Whatever works.” The girl traced patterns along her comforter, wanting the conversation to go elsewhere. Her wish was granted.
“….so I heard you playing guitar earlier…”
“ALEEXXXXXXXXXXXXX.” She groaned, shoving her head into a pillow. He laughed.
“What’s so bad about it? You were awesome!”
“Lies.” She grumbled, voice muffled by the bedding.
“Alex Gaskarth never lies.” He smirked. All she could do is roll her eyes, because she knew that in itself was a lie. Bailey slowly looked up from the pillow.
“You know, I find that a bit hard to believe.” Alex cocked an eyebrow and smirked. She chuckled and sat back up.
“Well believe it.” The boy checked his watch. Almost nine. He really should be getting home.
“Bails, I gotta go. Sorry.” He sighed, sticking with the nickname he had given her a week ago. The blonde frowned.
“Agh. Fine.” A reluctant chuckle passed her lips, “See you soon?” Alex bit his lip and leant against the doorway.
“I hope so.” He was about to walk out the door, when he turned around. She was just sitting there, staring down at her comforter.
“Wait…Bails.” She looked up, still smiling from the nickname.
“Hmm?”
“What do I do if I feel the need to cut…but I can’t come over?” Him coming over had really helped with his cutting. The cutting his best buddies didn’t even know about. She gave a sympathetic expression.
“Well, just do what I do. Write a song about it, sing it, do whatever. You’re good at that, Gaskarth, otherwise you wouldn’t be in a band.” He laughed and said goodbye for real this time. And then he was gone. Bailey stuffed her face back in her pillow. Why was she so upset over this? Sure, she didn’t show it around Alex. But she thought that the boy with the beautiful hair (that she now allowed herself to think about) had enough shit going on in his life, and didn’t need more from a disappointed girl he had been forced to work with on an English project. She sighed. “I just..I just want to be able to hang out with him without it being frowned upon” Why was it so wrong for them to be friends? And why did Alex have to be so amazingly kind to her? It made her stomach flip, and she had no clue why. The boy turned her whole world upside-down in just a matter of days. Were people supposed to be able to do that?
“What the hell is wrong with meeeee” she groaned before drifting off to sleep.
___________________________________________________________________
“Alex, what the fuck? Where’d you go last night?” Jack asked the next morning.
“I went home.” He wasn’t really in any mood to argue. He just wanted to get through the day.
“Bullshit. Rian called and you weren’t there.
“Says who?” The older boy was starting to get concerned. How did they know?
“Your mom, dimtwat.” The skunk-haired one poked, and then put the rest of his stuff in his locker.
“…..so?” Jack was getting irritated. How stupid did Alex think he was, anyway?
“Why do you keep going over there?”
“Over where?”
“FOR FUCKS SAKE ALEX. You know where.” He slammed his locker door, causing Alex to jump a little.
“I don’t…I don’t know.” He really didn’t.
“Well…stop,” Jack laughed awkwardly, “you’ve been weird lately.” He was addressing Alex’s leaving practice early, especially when Rian yelled at him, the walls that he had seemed to put up, the defensiveness. It was all very unlike Alex.
“What do you mean?” And Jack told him just that. The other boy leaned up against the lockers.
“Jack….it’s just that…” He didn’t really know how to explain it. Before Alex could finish his sentence, Rian walked up to them.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” Jack lied. Even though he wasn’t supportive of this Bailey thing, Alex was his best friend. They always covered for each other.
“Huh,” Rian went to put his binder away in his locker, “So, Alex. Where’d you run off to last night?” He already knew the answer, he just wanted to see if Alex would own up to it. Of course, he didn’t.
“Nowhere in particular.”
“You gotta stop seeing her.”
“..wha-…”
“You heard. It’s messing with the band, dude. We have a show coming up in two weeks. You gotta stay focused, man. She’s just getting in the way. People are talking.”
“Rian…”
“I’m serious man. It’s what’s best for the band.” Alex couldn’t argue. He took a deep breath.
“Fine.”
“For real?”
“It’s what’s best for the band.” Rian smiled and patted him on the back.
“Nice to have you back, Lex.” With that, Jack and Rian walked to French as Alex went to study hall. “Why did I just do that.”
Bailey found herself bored out of her mind after her drama rehearsals. She basically sat on her bed, doodling in her book.
“Knock knock.” The blonde looked up. Her two best friends, Emily and Chloe, were standing at her door. She ran up to hug them.
“Hey you guys!” She saw them every day, it wasn’t really all that exciting. But they were huggy people.
“We were bored and decided to drop by.” Chloe said, immediately going over to flop onto her bed. Emily went to check herself out in the mirror. “Typical,” Bailey thought to herself, laughing. They all sat on her bed.
“So…what’s the deal with Alex?” Emily asked, fluffing up her dark brown hair. Bailey sighed.
“…there isn’t really a deal. Like, last week, he came over almost every night after practice, just to talk. And it was great, because we really understood each other.”
“So? You guys are friends, that’s a deal.” Chloe said, fixing the artificial-red mop on her head. They were all obsessive over their hair. It was a girl thing, really. Granted, so was Alex.
“But...his friends hate me.” The blonde frowned.
“Because you’re a drama kid? That’s such bull!” Emily was obviously irritated. Nobody messed with her girls. Nobody.
“I know, I know. Ugh. You know this shouldn’t bother me. It really shouldn’t.” Chloe grinned upon hearing this.
“…youuuuuuuu like him.” What? She couldn’t believe her best friend’s accusation.
“Do not!” Just because her heart skipped a beat whenever she heard his name, or she got butterflies in her stomach when she lied down next to him and talked, or how she wanted nothing more for him to put his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay, didn’t mean she liked him. Or did it?
“You so do!” Emily was jumping on the bed now. She was a very excitable person.
“I do not!”
“YOUUU LIIIKKEEE ALLLEEXXXXXX” They sang, poking her and bouncing all over the place.
“You guys! I don’t like Alex! He’s just a friend, okay? Now leave it alone!” Her friends stopped.
“Alright, alright,” Emily sighed, falling back onto Bailey’s full-sized bed, “…..but you two would be super cute together.” Bailey cracked a smile.
“Shut up!” She hit her brunette friend with a pillow, and it turned into full on war. Chloe grabbed a pillow and ferociously smacked both of them.
“I mean just think about it, Bailey. He’s adorable. How could you not like him?” She mentioned in between blows. The blonde laughed.
“He does have really nice hair.” She admitted, hitting Chloe and Emily once more.
“See! And those eyes…” Chloe couldn’t even finish her sentence before getting hit in the face with a pillow, thanks to Em.
“If you like him so much, why don’t you go out with him?” She laughed.
“I prefer the skunk-haired boy myself.” She was referring to Jack. Bailey ‘aww’-ed.
“THAT’S SO CUTE. YOU TWO COULD BE HAIR DYE BUDDIES OR SOMETHING.” Emily shrilled.
“And what about you, Em?” Chloe asked. The pillow fighting ceased.
“You know that one from the other school? Zack?” He was attractive, neither of them could deny that.
“So, Chloe likes the gangly one, I like the buff one, and Bailey like the one with the great hair, but won’t admit it.” She got a final blow from the pillow for that one. They all laughed and changed the subject. But Alex was stuck in Bailey’s mind. The conversation with her best friends had her really thinking. Did she like Alex like that? She shook her head. How could she? His douche-bag friends came before she did, and while he knew them longer, she still didn’t appreciate it. The boy didn’t even acknowledge her during school for crying out loud! They would just walk past each other, looking at each other through their peripheral vision, but never making eye contact, and never talking to each other. Because he was embarrassed. He didn’t want to hurt his reputation.
But there was something about that boy, something that drove her wild. He was the first thing Bailey thought of when she woke up in the morning and the last thing on her mind before she went to sleep. She ached to see him play live, to hear his angelic voice in her ears and his lyrics hanging in the air. And, though she would never admit it, she wanted more than anything to sing with him, to play guitar with him, just…just to be with him. She wanted to be more than just his friend. She wanted to be his best friend. She wanted to be his everything. But Bailey knew that, until he got over this…this public embarrassment thing, that that would never happen. Ever.
The girls said goodbye and left, and Bailey turned on her stereo. Blink-182. Perfect. She sang along, dancing shamelessly around her room. All she could do was think about him. Alex. Beautiful, amazing Alex. She had a little crush on him, even if she denied it. There was a tapping on the French doors that went outside. Bailey looked over and saw Alex. “Did he just see me dance around my room? Awkward. Fucking awkward.” She jogged over and unlocked the door and let him in. He smiled.
“Nice moves, blondie.” He laughed.
“I try.” She responded, also laughing. They sat on her bed.
“Actually, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Anything. That’s why I’m here.” The boy took a deep breath and began.
“So…uh…I can’t come over anymore. Or talk to you.” Her heart sunk. After that discussion with her girlfriends, and finally coming to the conclusion that she had a little crush on him, this happened.
“..W-why?” Alex felt really bad. He didn’t want to see her upset, not again. It hurt him too.
“Well….the guys say you’re distracting me…and they don’t like me hanging out with you…” Bailey looked down.
“Oh. So that’s what this is.”
“No, Bails…” He put his arm around her, but she moved away.
“Alex, I understand. It’s embarrassing to be around me. I get it.”
“Bailey, that’s not what I meant.”
“Of course that’s what you fucking meant.” She was getting angry now. How could she be so stupid? He didn’t care about her. He only cared about his band.
“Admit it, Alex. That’s why you don’t talk to me in school, why you deny being friends with me, why you make excuses for coming over here…” Bailey could feel her eyes well up with tears. She wasn’t really the emotional type, so she had no idea why this…this boy…could make her feel this way.
“I can’t help it, okay? That’s just how shit works in our school.” She scoffed.
“And who made it that way? You and you jack ass friends! It doesn’t have to be this way, Alex. You should be able to talk to whoever the fuck you want without being ridiculed!”
“But it’s not like that, alright? I have a reputation…”
“A reputation. Is that all you’re concerned about? Will talking to me prevent you from fucking a different girl every night? Alex, you can’t keep hiding yourself from everyone.”
“…Bailey, c’mon…”
“You’re not even denying it. Ugh. Why did I even try to convince myself that I liked you. Honestly. You’re as much of a douche as I thought you were before.” After realizing what she’d just said, she covered her mouth, eyes wide. “…FUCK.” Alex was just as surprised as she was.
“You..you what?”
“…Nothing.”
“...You like me?”
“That’s not the point, Alex. When you learn to put your feelings before your reputation, let me know.” For some reason, the thought didn’t make him upset. It made him kinda…happy. His heart sped up, and he didn’t even notice the smile pulling at his lips until a few seconds later. He shook his head, wiping the idiotic smile off of his face.
“I’m sorry, okay? Just…just calm the fuck down!” He was yelling, and he didn’t know why. The boy got up, went to the French doors, and opened them.
“Goodbye.” He snapped before jumping off the railing onto the ground. About a 8 foot drop, but he didn’t care. He climbed up there without a problem.
“Bye.” She responded coldly, slamming the door behind him. She slid down against the wall onto the floor, head in her hands.
“Well,” she sighed, “there goes that relationship.”
“….Bro. It only took me like 2 hours to finish the project.” Jack questioned as all four of them played Madden. It had been two weeks since the project was assigned, and Alex had to explain where he had been the other night. Zack was confused as fuck, but he was used to it.
“I know, we were just finishing things up.” Alex lied. He couldn’t get himself to tell the guys that he and her were friends now. They already thought him taking a week and a half to do the project was a little sketchy.
“Why, did she have you proofread one of her little…stories?” He was getting irritated. Why couldn’t the guys just shut up about it? They didn’t know her, what she’s been through. He did.
“No. Now just…shut up, okay?” Rian paused the game and looked over at Alex.
“Alex, dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? You trying to save the weird ass blonde chick?” That was it. He put his controller down on the couch.
“I’m going home.” He spat out, storming out the front door and slamming it behind him. The other boys didn’t know what just happened, but they wanted to find out.
Alex wasn’t headed for home, however. He passed his house, and headed to the brown and white house on the corner. Anxious to talk to his new friend, he rang the doorbell.
“Oh, hi Alex!” her mom greeted cheerfully, “I thought the project ended?”
“It did, but I wanna talk to Bailey, is that okay?” She nodded and let him in the house. The boy jogged up the stairs. Ellen smiled. It was nice to have another guy in the house, even if he was just a boy from school. It almost made her smile when she had to pick up the soda cans he left around Bailey’s room, because it reminded her of when her husband had done the same.
Alex stopped in front of her bedroom. He heard the harmonic strumming of an acoustic guitar. “That must be her”. She had never played around him before, partially because she was too embarrassed. I mean his band was opening for some pretty big acts, how could she compare? Sure, she loved to perform. It seemed natural for her. But she felt like Alex would judge her.
The music stopped. She must have been doing something else. He opened the door.
“Hey blondie,” he joked. Bailey looked up from her notebook.
“Oh, hey Alex.” She said with a smile, “what’s up?” He flopped down on the bed next to her.
“My friends are assholes.” She laughed and laid down next to him.
“What else is new.” He explained what happened.
“They just…they don’t like me hanging out with you.” The girl screwed up her face and looked up at her ceiling. She knew why. But she didn’t get pissy about it.
“I understand.” And that was all she really needed to say. The two of them, confused and tired as fuck, just laid there. Did this mean he couldn’t be friends with her anymore? Thoughts like these ran through Alex’s head. “This sounds like a problem 6 year olds have. God damn.” She rolled over to look at him.
“So…I guess that means you’re not coming over anymore?” Bailey was sad, really. She was. Alex visited nearly every day after band practice. It made her day. He wasn’t a douche bag at all, he just needed to be understood. Because nobody he knew could really relate. It felt good, being the one somebody came to when they needed help. Being wanted. Needed. A feeling Bailey hadn’t experienced in a very, very long time.
“I’ll come over as much as I can.” He sighed and smiled weakly. His friends could be such dicks sometimes. She smiled.
“Whatever works.” The girl traced patterns along her comforter, wanting the conversation to go elsewhere. Her wish was granted.
“….so I heard you playing guitar earlier…”
“ALEEXXXXXXXXXXXXX.” She groaned, shoving her head into a pillow. He laughed.
“What’s so bad about it? You were awesome!”
“Lies.” She grumbled, voice muffled by the bedding.
“Alex Gaskarth never lies.” He smirked. All she could do is roll her eyes, because she knew that in itself was a lie. Bailey slowly looked up from the pillow.
“You know, I find that a bit hard to believe.” Alex cocked an eyebrow and smirked. She chuckled and sat back up.
“Well believe it.” The boy checked his watch. Almost nine. He really should be getting home.
“Bails, I gotta go. Sorry.” He sighed, sticking with the nickname he had given her a week ago. The blonde frowned.
“Agh. Fine.” A reluctant chuckle passed her lips, “See you soon?” Alex bit his lip and leant against the doorway.
“I hope so.” He was about to walk out the door, when he turned around. She was just sitting there, staring down at her comforter.
“Wait…Bails.” She looked up, still smiling from the nickname.
“Hmm?”
“What do I do if I feel the need to cut…but I can’t come over?” Him coming over had really helped with his cutting. The cutting his best buddies didn’t even know about. She gave a sympathetic expression.
“Well, just do what I do. Write a song about it, sing it, do whatever. You’re good at that, Gaskarth, otherwise you wouldn’t be in a band.” He laughed and said goodbye for real this time. And then he was gone. Bailey stuffed her face back in her pillow. Why was she so upset over this? Sure, she didn’t show it around Alex. But she thought that the boy with the beautiful hair (that she now allowed herself to think about) had enough shit going on in his life, and didn’t need more from a disappointed girl he had been forced to work with on an English project. She sighed. “I just..I just want to be able to hang out with him without it being frowned upon” Why was it so wrong for them to be friends? And why did Alex have to be so amazingly kind to her? It made her stomach flip, and she had no clue why. The boy turned her whole world upside-down in just a matter of days. Were people supposed to be able to do that?
“What the hell is wrong with meeeee” she groaned before drifting off to sleep.
___________________________________________________________________
“Alex, what the fuck? Where’d you go last night?” Jack asked the next morning.
“I went home.” He wasn’t really in any mood to argue. He just wanted to get through the day.
“Bullshit. Rian called and you weren’t there.
“Says who?” The older boy was starting to get concerned. How did they know?
“Your mom, dimtwat.” The skunk-haired one poked, and then put the rest of his stuff in his locker.
“…..so?” Jack was getting irritated. How stupid did Alex think he was, anyway?
“Why do you keep going over there?”
“Over where?”
“FOR FUCKS SAKE ALEX. You know where.” He slammed his locker door, causing Alex to jump a little.
“I don’t…I don’t know.” He really didn’t.
“Well…stop,” Jack laughed awkwardly, “you’ve been weird lately.” He was addressing Alex’s leaving practice early, especially when Rian yelled at him, the walls that he had seemed to put up, the defensiveness. It was all very unlike Alex.
“What do you mean?” And Jack told him just that. The other boy leaned up against the lockers.
“Jack….it’s just that…” He didn’t really know how to explain it. Before Alex could finish his sentence, Rian walked up to them.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.” Jack lied. Even though he wasn’t supportive of this Bailey thing, Alex was his best friend. They always covered for each other.
“Huh,” Rian went to put his binder away in his locker, “So, Alex. Where’d you run off to last night?” He already knew the answer, he just wanted to see if Alex would own up to it. Of course, he didn’t.
“Nowhere in particular.”
“You gotta stop seeing her.”
“..wha-…”
“You heard. It’s messing with the band, dude. We have a show coming up in two weeks. You gotta stay focused, man. She’s just getting in the way. People are talking.”
“Rian…”
“I’m serious man. It’s what’s best for the band.” Alex couldn’t argue. He took a deep breath.
“Fine.”
“For real?”
“It’s what’s best for the band.” Rian smiled and patted him on the back.
“Nice to have you back, Lex.” With that, Jack and Rian walked to French as Alex went to study hall. “Why did I just do that.”
Bailey found herself bored out of her mind after her drama rehearsals. She basically sat on her bed, doodling in her book.
“Knock knock.” The blonde looked up. Her two best friends, Emily and Chloe, were standing at her door. She ran up to hug them.
“Hey you guys!” She saw them every day, it wasn’t really all that exciting. But they were huggy people.
“We were bored and decided to drop by.” Chloe said, immediately going over to flop onto her bed. Emily went to check herself out in the mirror. “Typical,” Bailey thought to herself, laughing. They all sat on her bed.
“So…what’s the deal with Alex?” Emily asked, fluffing up her dark brown hair. Bailey sighed.
“…there isn’t really a deal. Like, last week, he came over almost every night after practice, just to talk. And it was great, because we really understood each other.”
“So? You guys are friends, that’s a deal.” Chloe said, fixing the artificial-red mop on her head. They were all obsessive over their hair. It was a girl thing, really. Granted, so was Alex.
“But...his friends hate me.” The blonde frowned.
“Because you’re a drama kid? That’s such bull!” Emily was obviously irritated. Nobody messed with her girls. Nobody.
“I know, I know. Ugh. You know this shouldn’t bother me. It really shouldn’t.” Chloe grinned upon hearing this.
“…youuuuuuuu like him.” What? She couldn’t believe her best friend’s accusation.
“Do not!” Just because her heart skipped a beat whenever she heard his name, or she got butterflies in her stomach when she lied down next to him and talked, or how she wanted nothing more for him to put his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay, didn’t mean she liked him. Or did it?
“You so do!” Emily was jumping on the bed now. She was a very excitable person.
“I do not!”
“YOUUU LIIIKKEEE ALLLEEXXXXXX” They sang, poking her and bouncing all over the place.
“You guys! I don’t like Alex! He’s just a friend, okay? Now leave it alone!” Her friends stopped.
“Alright, alright,” Emily sighed, falling back onto Bailey’s full-sized bed, “…..but you two would be super cute together.” Bailey cracked a smile.
“Shut up!” She hit her brunette friend with a pillow, and it turned into full on war. Chloe grabbed a pillow and ferociously smacked both of them.
“I mean just think about it, Bailey. He’s adorable. How could you not like him?” She mentioned in between blows. The blonde laughed.
“He does have really nice hair.” She admitted, hitting Chloe and Emily once more.
“See! And those eyes…” Chloe couldn’t even finish her sentence before getting hit in the face with a pillow, thanks to Em.
“If you like him so much, why don’t you go out with him?” She laughed.
“I prefer the skunk-haired boy myself.” She was referring to Jack. Bailey ‘aww’-ed.
“THAT’S SO CUTE. YOU TWO COULD BE HAIR DYE BUDDIES OR SOMETHING.” Emily shrilled.
“And what about you, Em?” Chloe asked. The pillow fighting ceased.
“You know that one from the other school? Zack?” He was attractive, neither of them could deny that.
“So, Chloe likes the gangly one, I like the buff one, and Bailey like the one with the great hair, but won’t admit it.” She got a final blow from the pillow for that one. They all laughed and changed the subject. But Alex was stuck in Bailey’s mind. The conversation with her best friends had her really thinking. Did she like Alex like that? She shook her head. How could she? His douche-bag friends came before she did, and while he knew them longer, she still didn’t appreciate it. The boy didn’t even acknowledge her during school for crying out loud! They would just walk past each other, looking at each other through their peripheral vision, but never making eye contact, and never talking to each other. Because he was embarrassed. He didn’t want to hurt his reputation.
But there was something about that boy, something that drove her wild. He was the first thing Bailey thought of when she woke up in the morning and the last thing on her mind before she went to sleep. She ached to see him play live, to hear his angelic voice in her ears and his lyrics hanging in the air. And, though she would never admit it, she wanted more than anything to sing with him, to play guitar with him, just…just to be with him. She wanted to be more than just his friend. She wanted to be his best friend. She wanted to be his everything. But Bailey knew that, until he got over this…this public embarrassment thing, that that would never happen. Ever.
The girls said goodbye and left, and Bailey turned on her stereo. Blink-182. Perfect. She sang along, dancing shamelessly around her room. All she could do was think about him. Alex. Beautiful, amazing Alex. She had a little crush on him, even if she denied it. There was a tapping on the French doors that went outside. Bailey looked over and saw Alex. “Did he just see me dance around my room? Awkward. Fucking awkward.” She jogged over and unlocked the door and let him in. He smiled.
“Nice moves, blondie.” He laughed.
“I try.” She responded, also laughing. They sat on her bed.
“Actually, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Anything. That’s why I’m here.” The boy took a deep breath and began.
“So…uh…I can’t come over anymore. Or talk to you.” Her heart sunk. After that discussion with her girlfriends, and finally coming to the conclusion that she had a little crush on him, this happened.
“..W-why?” Alex felt really bad. He didn’t want to see her upset, not again. It hurt him too.
“Well….the guys say you’re distracting me…and they don’t like me hanging out with you…” Bailey looked down.
“Oh. So that’s what this is.”
“No, Bails…” He put his arm around her, but she moved away.
“Alex, I understand. It’s embarrassing to be around me. I get it.”
“Bailey, that’s not what I meant.”
“Of course that’s what you fucking meant.” She was getting angry now. How could she be so stupid? He didn’t care about her. He only cared about his band.
“Admit it, Alex. That’s why you don’t talk to me in school, why you deny being friends with me, why you make excuses for coming over here…” Bailey could feel her eyes well up with tears. She wasn’t really the emotional type, so she had no idea why this…this boy…could make her feel this way.
“I can’t help it, okay? That’s just how shit works in our school.” She scoffed.
“And who made it that way? You and you jack ass friends! It doesn’t have to be this way, Alex. You should be able to talk to whoever the fuck you want without being ridiculed!”
“But it’s not like that, alright? I have a reputation…”
“A reputation. Is that all you’re concerned about? Will talking to me prevent you from fucking a different girl every night? Alex, you can’t keep hiding yourself from everyone.”
“…Bailey, c’mon…”
“You’re not even denying it. Ugh. Why did I even try to convince myself that I liked you. Honestly. You’re as much of a douche as I thought you were before.” After realizing what she’d just said, she covered her mouth, eyes wide. “…FUCK.” Alex was just as surprised as she was.
“You..you what?”
“…Nothing.”
“...You like me?”
“That’s not the point, Alex. When you learn to put your feelings before your reputation, let me know.” For some reason, the thought didn’t make him upset. It made him kinda…happy. His heart sped up, and he didn’t even notice the smile pulling at his lips until a few seconds later. He shook his head, wiping the idiotic smile off of his face.
“I’m sorry, okay? Just…just calm the fuck down!” He was yelling, and he didn’t know why. The boy got up, went to the French doors, and opened them.
“Goodbye.” He snapped before jumping off the railing onto the ground. About a 8 foot drop, but he didn’t care. He climbed up there without a problem.
“Bye.” She responded coldly, slamming the door behind him. She slid down against the wall onto the floor, head in her hands.
“Well,” she sighed, “there goes that relationship.”
♠ ♠ ♠
nothing all that interesting down here. carry on.