Rush Of The Past

It was already early morning by the time I picked Alex up at the airport, but by the time we got back to my apartment, we still didn’t sleep. It took forever for either of us to fall asleep, and neither of us could wipe the smiles off of our faces. We sat in the living room with our backs against the large window that faced a small pound in front of the apartments. Candles were lit and we had hot chocolate in our hands as we sat there and let our thoughts loose on one another. It didn’t matter what the thoughts even were, all that mattered was that we were talking about them and enjoying each other’s company. “Interstate Love Song” by Stone Temple Pilots was playing lightly in the background, giving us a safe, warm feeling in the room with its company.

“I’m so stoked to get back on tour,” Alex admitted to me. It had been a few weeks since they had been touring so often in their short career, I could tell that he was already getting antsy being away from the road this long. “It’s the most thrilling feeling to be up on that stage, singing to kids all around the country and hearing them sing your own songs back to you. It’s something that’s almost indescribable.”

He chuckled a little, the smile on his face got wider and he looked down on at the floor, tapping his fingers on his coffee cup. I could tell that he was in love with his job, he was passionate when he talked about it and seemed like the most humble human alive to be having these experiences.

“That has to be so amazing, just to know that people were so touched by your music and having them know every song word-for-word,” I told him and shook my head. I couldn’t imagine how it felt to be the guys. They loved their fans so much already, and to think they had only just gotten signed in June of last year. Already their fan-base was growing tremendously and kids all over the world were experiencing this phenomenon that was All Time Low.

“You truly have no idea until you’re up on that stage,” he smiled. I nodded my head to tell him that I knew what he meant.

Suddenly, Julia emerged from her room after her four and a half hour slumber. I didn’t know why she was up; she always stayed asleep all through the night. She had yet to meet Alex since I brought him back to the apartment, but I was excited to have them meet each other finally.

“Jules!” I called out before she walked into the bathroom.

“Spider threw up on my bed,” she whined before coming over to meet Alex. I started laughing, thankful that it wasn’t my bed that he spit up all over. “Shut up, Elly.” She walked over to Alex and I with a small smile on her tired out face.

“Alex, this is my best friend Julie, Julie, this is Alex.” I introduced them to each other and they shook hands quickly.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Alex told her.

“Ah,” she said with a chuckle, “I have heard quite a bit about you, also.” They both smiled at each other, looking happy to meet each others acquaintance. “Has he met Batman and Spiderman yet?” She asked me. It wasn’t a joke either, but Alex thought it was and started laughing a little bit.

“They’re our cats,” I informed him quickly. “But, no, he hasn’t. Why?”

“I’m just wondering,” she told me, “thought he met our entire little family already, but I guess you’re just keeping him to yourself.” She rolled her eyes at me and sighed.

“Is that true or do you just want Spider out of your room so he doesn’t puke anymore?”

“I don’t want either of them in my room tonight,” she said. “I have to go put my comforter in the washer.” She started to walk back towards her bedroom to take the blanket off of her bed, but first she set both of the cats on the loveseat in the living room.

“Who’s who?” Alex asked as he looked at the cats confusingly.

“Spider is orange since, ya’know, they don’t make red and blue cats. And he’s Julie’s and Bat is the black one who is mine.”

“I don’t really like cats,” he admitted to me in a serious tone. “But these two look like they could be awfully nice.” He started to snap his fingers for them to come greet him and they both followed the sound of his fingers. Both of the cats started purring and nudging their heads against him, signaling that they liked him from the get-go.

“I’m not surprised, I mean you do have Sebastian,” I was thinking about his little brown and white dog with a pom-pom for a tail.

“Goodnight, sweeties!” Julia yelled to us as she locked up the door and started making her way back into her bedroom.

“Goodnight!” Alex and I both yelled back in unison, making the cats rest their ears back against their head, looking more annoyed than they normally do.

“Why did you name them Batman and Spiderman?” Alex asked me finally as Bat climbed up onto his lap.

“Batman is my favorite superhero, while Spiderman is hers.” I shrugged with my answer. We both knew how dumb the names were, but that’s what made them cute and stupid at the same time. The first three or four days that we had them and would call their names, we laughed hard at the ridiculous names for cats.

“Batman is my favorite, too!” His voice turned from sounding like a 20 year-old to sounding like a little kid who was getting a new toy. I couldn’t help to be fascinated with his voice and his laugh, it was too much for me to handle. Often times, it was what made me blush the most – just to know that I was in the company of such a lovely man.

During the time I spent while being distracted by how incredible he was, inside and out, I got a call along with three texts that neither of us had heard. “Jack?” I announced in a confused tone. I answered right away when I said his name. “Hello?”

“Hey, please tell me you’ve heard from Alex sometime today.” His voice reeked of panic, which told me that Alex told absolutely no one but his parents that he was leaving town for a few days.

“Yes, darling,” I said in a soft tone, “he’s sitting right next to me.” I heard a sigh of relief on the other end of the line. It sounded like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders in an instant.

“Good! I thought he died or something since no one has been able to get in contact with him tonight.” I looked at Alex with my brows knitted together and covered the receiver.

“Is your phone off?” I asked him in a whisper. He nodded his head no and slipped his hand into his pocket to double check. He smiled at it once he tried turning it on.

“Tell him that my phone is dead… Do you have a charger?” I pointed him towards the kitchen counter where two phone chargers were laying in the corner by the fruit basket. He whispered thank you and ran over there to check his phone.

“He’s putting his phone on the charger right now, dear.”

"Tell him to keep that shit charged!" Jack was demanding, reminding me of a mother who was worried sick about her child. I repeated the words to Alex, but he shrugged them off.

Alex walked back towards me, bent down towards my free ear and started to whisper. "Hang up on him, El." I could feel his breath against my skin, giving my goosebumps throughout my entire body. "Let's go to bed." He backed away and smiled kindly at me, so I obeyed.

"Jack, I'll have him call you first thing in the morning, alright?" The boy agreed, letting me hang up. I faced Alex and scrunched my nose up. He stood up and placed his hand out to help me up and I followed him into my room.

Nothing happened, we just fell asleep. And to be honest, it was more than perfect. We might not have known each other for too long, but we knew a lot about each other already, so something felt so right.