Here, Darling.

They hadn’t talked about the date at all, something that made Alaska a constant bag of nerves, worried if she was now developing feelings, which she never thought she would have, for a boy that didn’t reciprocate them.

Zack hadn’t mentioned a second date either which got her thinking that maybe she did something wrong on the first one, said the wrong thing or didn’t say anything at all, causing him to not want to see her again in that way, making her mind spiral causing her to think thoughts the maybe she wasn’t attractive enough, or not as slim as the kind of girls he liked, maybe she wasn’t as smart of as funny. Alaska knew she wasn’t perfect by any means.

Zack had grown on her in way’s she hadn’t realised; she was beginning to notice things that she never would have before. Thing’s like how his eyes twinkled when he laughed, the way his nose crinkled slightly and a dimple formed in his cheek when he smiled.

The subtly way he rolled his eyes when Jack or Alex made a foolish remark that made them seem even more ridiculous, how occasionally he would send her a crooked smile beginning a game of ‘What If’ while they were waiting for something or someone, just finding ways to pass the time.

Alaska didn’t want to breach the subject, always worried about getting rejected and then having to hide away with embarrassment until she finally felt comfortable enough and less embossed by the whole situation.

Instead she was trying to drop subtle hints, hints that everyone but Zack seemed to be pick up. Even Jack had picked up on it, bringing the topic up and embarrassing her in a teasing manner whenever he saw fit, not stopping until he saw the red colour her cheeks.

For some reason she had agreed to let Ava go to the studio with Lucy, allowing her chance to go and see the work that had been started at her shop, making it easier to plan what she had left to do until she could officially hand her notice in at O’s.

She wasn’t worried about Ava being alone with Lucy and the guy’s, the little girl was constantly getting spoiled the bunch, at least two or three times a week she was going out on day trippers with one of them, coming back bright eyed and giggling telling her mother excitedly the stories of what had happened.

This was something that Alaska was happy about, she was worried that Ava wouldn’t have anyone to confide in if she didn’t feel comfortable opening up to her mother, but with Lucy and the boy’s it was like Ava had now got a whole family, one that she was missing since her parent didn’t talk to her and Max never called, always too busy with work.

She missed her brother, even though he was two years older and they did have the occasional arguments her and Max were always quite close, especially when their parents started to ruin their relationship, their anger and repulsion for each other reflecting and starting to affect Max’s and Alaska’s.

Well that was until Josh, it seemed like that was one thing that Max couldn’t get over. Sure, he forgave her for accidentally breaking his playstation, flushing his action man down the toilet and losing his signed basket ball but the fact that in his eyes that Alaska had stole his best friend, his confidant, was the last straw.

Their relationship hadn’t been the same since, even after once Josh had died. Sure Max was there for her, helping her slowly work through the pain that they were both suffering after losing someone that they were both so close to but the phone calls got fewer and further apart, always promising to call back sooner and to meet up but they never did.

Ava had lost out on one biological uncle, one that didn’t even know she existed but had somehow gained five and an aunt, people she looked up to and seemed to love always constantly asking for them to be added into plans just so she could spend more time with them, playing ridiculous games and doing things that she knew Alaska would never let her do.

The bakery was coming on great, in the few short months since she had bought it the improvements was already coming on good, the shop hadn’t needed much repair work when she bought it, making it easier for her to do the bits up she needed to and use the extra cash she would have left over to personalise it and make it the way she wanted it to look. Her dream bakery.

According to her project manager, within the next four weeks all the heavy work would be done and there would only be personal touches left to do. Leaving Alaska to get all the interior things she needed, sort out some member of staff that would be willing to do long hours for not very much pay. Things were getting tight, but at least they were going to get done, finally letting Alaska live out her dream.

“Miss Darling, all we need now is for you to pick a colour scheme and then once we’ve got the last of your cabinets installed and then your booth’s fitted it should be ready” Lauren called, a clipboard tucked under her arm as she pushed her glasses from her eyes and up onto her hair, turning on her heel to survey her teams handiwork before looking at Alaska, eyebrow raised.

“Thanks Lauren” Alaska smiled, taking the colour swatches that the young woman was handing her, walking over to a lone table and sitting down, spreading the colour around on the table as her eyes scanned them, looking for the perfect one.

Her eyes quickly discarding the yellows and pinks, pushing them into a pile and then spreading the rest out, picking them up and peering closely, pushing her lips to the side slightly as she discarded the purples, narrowing her choices down now to the blues and the silvers, toying around the colour worried about making the wrong choice.

“What about these two?” Alaska questioned, lifting two of the swatches and showing them Lauren, pursing her lips slightly as she waited for the girl to survey the choices, who simply nodded, pulling out her biro and circling the two chosen colours, tucking them into the manila file she had with Alaska’s name scrawled on it.

Alaska smiled, thankful that this was the last of her duties for the day, dying to head home and pull her shoes off, changing into her pyjamas and curling on the couch until it was time for her to make dinner.

She loved Chris to piece’s, he would always be her best friend, sticking it out with her through her toughest times, but he was seriously beginning to wind her up, going on and on about Lucy, not believing that she didn’t want him in the slightest, trying to come up with ways to make the girl crack and admit she had feelings for him.

Lucy just scoffed whenever she saw him, rolling her eyes and exiting the room, muttering darkly under her breath about how much of a pig he was and how she couldn’t believe that Alaska was friends with him.

Jack just pouted, not liking the fact that someone was now stepping on his turf, Alaska had thought early on that Jack had a thing for Lucy but the boy was too stubborn to admit it, always rolling his eyes and pulling a disgusted face telling her to stop being so stupid because after all it was Lucy he said in a tone that made it sound as though Alaska was brain dead.

Because Jack was too stubborn to admit his feelings to Lucy he usually just starred darkly at Chris whenever he was arrived his eyes glaring at him so intently it was as though he was sending him death glares.

This was now Alaska’s new project, Jack just seemed so vulnerable at times that she had took him under her week, adopting him into a little brother kind of role and she was adamant at fixing him up with Lucy, who she could tell deep down had feelings for him to. How she was going to do this she didn’t know in the slightest but she was hoping with Alex’s help they would be able to figure it out.

She sighed as she headed down the street, running a hand through her hair as she tried to follow the directions to the studio, Jack’s messy scrawl making it close to impossible for her to read.

After thirty minutes, heading down five wrong streets, making seven wrong turnings and Jack getting direction nine and ten mixed up she finally stumbled across the studio, tucked into the corner of the side road, barely visible to passersby.

She smiled with relief as she stepped through the doors, the heating instantly warming her through to her bones, she looked around finally spotting the receptionist as she pulled her hat off, approaching the desk, slightly nervous as she took the receptionist in.

Short dyed jet black hair stood from her head as though she had been electrocuted, the longest pieces only seeming to reach her shoulders, but it was hard to tell with the messy style. Chunky like green glasses were perched on her nose, the lenses so big they seemed to take up all her face, contrasting with the rich red lipstick she used to paint her lip making her pale complexion seem lighter than what it was.

“Can I help you?” she asked, her voice high pitch and nasally, causing Alaska to wince slightly as she came to a stop in front of her, hand reaching out to tap on top of the wooden counter.

“I’m here for All Time Low?” Alaska questioned instead of stated, noting the not so subtle eye roll the receptionist shot her, turning slightly as she pretended to look through her file, obviously counting to thirty before turning back to Alaska sending her a fake smile.

“As are many people, dear” she stated in a patronizing tone, leaning forward as though she was more superior than her just because she was sat behind some fancy mahogany desk she thought she was the Queen of fucking England. “But unfortunately for you they aren’t in this building so if you could just leave” the girl continued, turning her back on Alaska just in case she hadn’t realised that she was now dismissed.

Alaska just gaped, she didn’t know what she was expecting but it wasn’t that, she turned on her heel, stalking away from the desk and instead heading to the corner, pulling out her phone and tapping furiously on the screen, glaring at the woman’s back as she waited for the other person to answer.

Five minutes or so later she saw skunk boy heading down the corridor, walking to the receptionist who instantly sat up a little straighter, pushing her chest out slightly as she bit on the pen, staring wide eyed at him.

“I’m here for a delivery” Jack told her, hands tapping quickly at the desk to some beat she had never heard of before, the receptionist just tilted her head slightly, looking around her desk as though expecting the package to arrive, pouting slightly when she couldn’t find what he was looking for.

Alaska scoffed, practically skipping over to the desk, happy to metaphorically give the receptionist the middle finger as she tapped Jack on the shoulder, causing him to whip around and practically tackle her onto the floor.

“A!” Jack beamed, crawling off her and jumping to his feet, offering his hand to the girl who gratefully accepted it, grabbing the now crumbled box which they had fallen onto “I found the delivery!” Jack beamed at the receptionist who shot Alaska a filthy look as Jack dragged her down the corridor by her hand. Alaska 1, Civilians 0.

When Alaska got told she was meeting them at the studio to get Ava she thought they would be non-stop busy, constantly in and out the booth trying to perfect the songs they had wrote while Lucy and Ava was sat somewhere probably playing a game or doing a colouring book.

But the sight Alaska was met with was completely different, while Zack was in the recording booth, eyes on the floor as he thrashed away at the strings, head nodding slightly along to the beat that was playing through.

While this was happening Alex, Rian and Matt were perched in the control booth, sat around a table with Lucy and Ava playing finger football which from what she could tell Alex was losing and was trying to slag the other two off in a subtle way without alerting Ava.

“Jack, what was the delivery?” Alex questioned in monotone, as the door slammed behind the pair, not bothering to turn around as he tried to make the perfect shot between Jacks fingers, though at the last moment Jack nudged his shoulder causing the shot to miss by a couple of feet.

“Just some hot mama that bought me food” Jack said, turning to wiggle his eyes at Alaska who scoffed, collapsing on the sofa and handing the box to Jack as she took a pastry out for herself and a brownie, knowing that if she didn’t grab some now then there would be none left.

“Who’s a hot mama?” Zack questioned, stepping through the room, running a hand through his hair as he wiped at his forehead with his shirt sleeve, instantly getting shouted out at Alex for causing him to mess up his re-take shot.

“Alaska of course, but you already know that right?” Jack chuckled, sending Zack a wink as Ava ran across to Alaska, jumping on her lap and wrapping an arm around her mother’s neck, who was only able to shoot Zack a smile as he collapsed on the seat next to her.

“Brownie!” Ava pouted, sending her mother the puppy dog eyes who merely chuckled, placing the treat in her daughters hand before she quickly jumped off running back over to Lucy and jumping on her seat, grabbing the black crayon and instantly getting back to the task of now giving Cinderella what she could only guess was a tattoo sleeve.

“Wow, she’s got you under her thumb” Zack chuckled, leaning across her to grab himself a muffin from the box that was now perched on Jack’s knee, most of the delicious treats now already demolished, the only evidence was the crumbs that clung to Jacks lip and trailed down his shirt.

“I prefer the term ‘wrapped around her finger’” Alaska shrugged, nibbling at the edge of her lemon slice pie, as Zack observed her, mouth pulled up slightly on one side as he shrugged back, chuckling as he nodded at Alaska, reaching down the side of the sofa to pull out a can of soda from a mini fridge, offering it to Alaska before getting one for himself, Jack running over to the table to assist Ava with her colouring expedition.

“Well I’m sure Ava has many people wrapped around her finger after all she does take after her mother” Zack shrugged, causing a light blush to dust Alaska’s teacher as she awkwardly shook her head, causing her straight hair to fan around her face to cover it.

“Zack” was all she could say, immediately feeling like an eleven year old girl who was talking to her crush for the first time, not knowing the right thing to say without embarrassing herself “You’re so stupid” she scoffed before cringing slightly realising that that was completely the wrong thing to say.

“Wow Addie, that’s harsh” Zack gasped feigning hurt as he bumped his shoulder against Alaska’s as he took a sip of his drink, instantly easing the tension between the pair and Alaska felt free again as though she the awkwardness had never ran through her veins.

“So, I really enjoyed the other night” Alaska mumbled, reaching a hand to took her hair behind her ear, bunching her hat up and pushing it further into her pocket as she diverted her eyes from Zack’s face and instead turning to watch Ava, Jack and Lucy. Chuckling to herself as Lucy was reprimanding Jack for colouring Ariel’s hair the wrong shade of purple, Ava snorting with laughter while she continued to draw down Cinderella’s arm.

“Me too, you were different to what I expected” Zack shrugged, causing Alaska to whip around, her eyes diving on him as a small frown erupted onto her face, her eyebrows furrowing together as her mind began to race wondering what exactly he meant by ‘different’ after all that word could never be used as good, it was always a backhanded compliment.

“Oh” was all she muttered, taking a bite of her pie, wiping the crumbs away from her lip as she diverted her attention to the floor, wishing for it to open up and swallow her, preferably hole.

“Listen, Adelaide, you know I didn’t mean it like that” Zack began to back track a hand reaching to rub the back of his neck as Alaska didn’t turn to acknowledge him, instead twisting her thumbs as the frown stayed on her face.

“Well what did you mean then?” she mumbled, picking away at her thumb nail as she waited for him to explain, she didn’t expect it to hurt that much after all they barley knew each other and they only had one date together.

“I don’t know you’re just different, most girl’s would have wanted a fancy dinner and something extravagant you were just happy to go somewhere small and nice that actually meant something to me and you didn’t complain once” Zack shrugged, touching Alaska’s arm and trying to get her to look at him,

“I like you Adelaide, I just want to take thing’s slow if that’s okay?”