To Live and Let Go

(Chapter Four: Alex)

As soon as Alex saw Finley’s reaction to hearing that Rian had a girlfriend at lunch that day, his suspicions were answered. Both their reactions were all Alex needed to know the truth even though both of them were denying it. Sure it was a cruel way to figure it out but it wasn’t like Rian was going to admit it any time soon and he hadn’t even asked Finley yet either.

Finley had looked shocked and what had seemed a little heartbroken at that while Rian looked like he wanted to murder someone. Probably Alex. But how could Alex know he wanted to keep that little fact a secret. He hadn’t come out right and said not to tell Finley. And besides, he had placed that little fact so well into the sentence that it could never seem planted and that Alex was really doing it just to see their reactions.

He glanced up from the papers he was looking at from where he was at his desk and scanned the desks in front of him where his students for his eight period class sat. Finley was keeping to herself as usual as she wrote part of her assignment down in the notebook in front of her as the other kids talked and pretended that they were actually doing what they were supposed to. She was so different in class than she was when they were having lunch together.

At lunch, she was talkative and funny and loud but in class it’s like she went back into her shell becoming the same person she was when they had first met her. She became super quiet and unsure of herself. Well, until she picked up a guitar and started playing that is. Alex tried not to single anyone out in his classes but Finley really was one of the best in all of his classes that he had. He always looked forward to his eight period class since she was there.

It was easier since usually all the girls in his classes stared at him drooling over the fact that he was in a band and was considered hot. But not Finley. She treated him like a normal person not really caring that he was in a band or anything. It was a nice change and he was really glad that he and Rian became friends with her all those weeks ago.

The bell signaling the end of school rung pulling him from his thoughts and he wished his students a good day as they all filed out to head home. But as usual, Finley was the last to leave since she liked to stay behind and talk with him a little before they both went home. Though that day was a little different, Alex had invited her over to their house after school that day to hang out and do whatever they planned on doing since it was another Friday night and there was no school the next day. So they had all agreed to hang out and she was going to follow him home in her car since they were heading to the same place anyway.

“Let me just pack up my things and then we can get out of here.” He mentioned as Finley stood by his desk waiting for him.

She nodded as she adjusted the strap to her messenger bag, “is Ri meeting us out in the parking lot?”

“No, he doesn’t have a eight period class so he’s home already.”

“Lucky,” she muttered as he finished shoving all his things into his bag.

Once he was finished, they both walked out into the still busy hallway filled with students as they made their way outside towards the parking lot. When they were outside, Alex watched as Finley made her way over to a white Chevy Tracker and unlocked the door as he got into his own car. He pulled out first, making sure to pass her so she knew that it was him before making his way toward the exit so that he could head home.

Finley stayed right behind him, not falling behind even though he was going well over the speed limit as they made the ten minute drive back to Rian and Alex’s shared house. When he pulled into the driveway, she parked behind him and got out, grabbing her bag and following him into the house.

As he unlocked the door, he could hear the tell tale signs of Rian playing the drums from inside the house. He opened the door and led her inside and the familiar yip came as a white and brown puffball barreled over to them. When Finley saw the small dog, she instantly smiled as she knelt down and started to pet him.

“Hello there, you must be the famous Sebastian that I’ve heard so much about,” she cooed as the dog jumped and yipped soaking up her attention and totally ignoring his owner.

Alex laughed as he kicked off his shoes, “yes that’s Baz. Don’t mind him, he acts like I’m the worst owner in the world and doesn’t give him any attention.”

“Aw, I bet he doesn’t, poor little guy,” she said with a smile as she stood and gave him a teasing look. He just glared as he pulled off his coat also and unbuttoned the top button on his shirt. “Is that Ri playing?”

Alex nodded, “yeah, he practices every so often when he needs to unwind. Or just for the hell of it,” he replied. “C’mon, I’ll show you the rest of the house. Ri should be done soon so we can order food.”

He showed her the rest of the house than mentioned that he was going to go and change really quick. Finley nodded and he left her in the main room while playing with Baz as he took the stairs two at a time humming along as Rian played Weightless as he headed to his room. Shutting the door behind him, he went straight for his closet, pulling his shirt off as he went not wanting to waste much time. As much as it’s needed for Rian and Finley to have time alone to talk about how they feel, it’s probably not the best time. They both are only now figuring out their feelings and it needs time to fully develop and come to terms. That and Rian needs to dump Harper.

He actually didn’t even hate Harper to begin with. The first few months of their relationship was actually good. That was until she started to become and manipulative bitch calling Rian and checking up on him constantly when they were on tour. She always thought that he was sleeping around with fan girls and doing things behind his back and basically said he had to call her for permission before he did anything fun. And the whole relationship began to spiral out of control even before they hit a year.

But now that they were off tour, she toned down a little bit but her new favorite thing to nag Rian about was to give up the band. She never hid her hatred toward the rest of them and they didn’t hide it either while poor Rian was stuck in the middle. Though Alex had to say he was proud of Rian for not allowing Harper to succeed in breaking up the band. This was his dream as much as Alex and the rest of theirs and there was no way they were giving this up. They would be a band for as long as possible and they had even discussed prep for their new album a few days before to start writing and figuring out a label and if they should do it independently or get a label first or just wait until the new record was finished.

The beat of the drums stopped as Weightless came to an end and Rian didn’t start up another song so Alex took that as his cue to hurry up. Grabbing a random v-neck and a pair of skinnies, he quickly changed and went to check his hair before heading back out and down the stairs to find Rian and Fin. When he didn’t see her in the living room like she had been when he had left, he followed the voices into the kitchen to see the two of them talking randomly without any awkwardness and took that as a clue that that night wouldn’t be weird like he thought it might be.

“About time Lex,” Rian said as he walked into the room.

Alex just rolled his eyes and noticed that the drummer was in nothing but a pair of those sparkly bathing shorts that he always made fun of and was all sweaty and gross. “I thought I burned those shorts months ago. Do you actually have two pairs?”

“Oh baby!” A high annoying girl’s voice called suddenly as their front door opened and moments later a familiar blonde haired girl stood in the kitchen with heels and tight jeans on. Alex managed to contain his eye roll as Rian smiled happily to his girlfriend, stepping towards her to give her a kiss. But as he did, she suddenly stopped him and scrunched her nose up in a look of disgust.

“Oh ew! You’re all sweaty! Were you playing again?”

Rian nodded as Alex picked up on the slightly hurt look his friend was trying to hide. “Yeah for just a little while after work, I needed to work off some stress.”

“Oh, well go upstairs and get a shower, you smell. And once you’re done we’re going out for the night!” She replied giving him a huge smile as if she was proud of herself for coming up with something to do all by herself. Alex tried to hold back another eye roll.

He just nodded and leaned in to kiss her cheek lightly before walking out of the room and upstairs to get ready. Once he was gone, she turned suddenly as if she had just realized someone else was in the room and gave a tight smile to Alex and a curious look to Finley who happen to be sitting tensely next to him.

“Oh, who are you?”

Alex rolled his eyes, “Harper this is our friend Finley, and Fin this is Harper, Rian’s girlfriend.”

“Oh wow, nice to meet you. I haven’t met many of Alex’s friends.” Harper continued as she reached out her hand for Finley to shake. The younger girl took it and managed a small uncomfortable smile as Alex tried to ignore the fact that Harper made that sentence sound like he had no friends.

“Nice to meet you too, I’ve heard a lot of good things about you,” Finley replied shyly and Harper seemed to glow at the praise. Leave it to her to allow the conversation to go back to her. This happened all the time, and Alex was pretty annoyed that he was so used to it.

But even though Harper loved the attention, she waved her hand in the air as if to be embarrassed by it but Alex and Finley both knew that she wasn’t. “Rian’s just the sweetest boy I’ve ever met. He talks about me way too much, it’s embarrassing sometimes. But speaking of him, I’m going to go and check on him. It was lovely to meet you Finley.”

Harper gave them both a smile before turning on her heel and walking out of the room before Finley could even manage to reply back. Alex rolled his eye once again, something that he does more often than not when Harper is ever brought up or actually in the room. It’s a bad habit but really one he can’t get rid of since his distaste for her is almost as strong as his love for music.

“I can see why you don’t like her,” Finley said once Harper was out of the room and probably upstairs checking on Rian to make sure he was actually doing what she told him to.

Alex glanced over and caught the teasing smirk on Fin’s face. “I never said I didn’t like her.”

“You don’t have to Lex; you can clearly see it on your face. You don’t really hide the fact even when she and Rian are in the room. But she doesn’t hide it either really; she dislikes you almost as much as you don’t like her.”

Alex snorted, “yeah well there’s really nothing I can do about it. I don’t like her, told Rian so, he still ignores me and everything all the rest of our friends say about her and so they’ve been together for a year now and she gets on my nerves more and more each time I see her.”

“I can understand why,” Finley muttered as Alex heard heels clicking against the hard wood floors of their house coming closer towards them. He knew that Finley heard them too since she stiffened and took a deep breath as the blonde came back into the room with a huge smile on her face.

She didn’t say anything to either of them as she walked past as if they weren’t even in the room, humming some annoying pop song horribly under her breath as she began to rummage through the kitchen as if she owned the place. Alex wanted to say something but didn’t like usual since he knew that Rian would just get pissed at him and he’d rather not do that once again. Whenever one of them were mad at the other, the whole house got awkward, that was one of the disadvantages to having a roommate. Alex loved Ri like a brother but they could get on each other’s nerves every now and then and then the whole house got quiet and had this negative feeling.

“Hey babe, ready to go?” Rian asked as he walked into the room, freshly showered and wearing a pair of jeans with a v-neck and some boots.

Harper looked up from whatever it was she had been doing while she was in the kitchen and smiled to him as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. “Yes I am, shall we?”

“You guys going to be ok here if I go?” Rian asked, turning to them and actually acknowledging them from where they had been sitting since he left at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Alex nodded, “yep, perfectly fine. Have fun with your girlfriend while we eat a crap load of food and watch movies all night.”

Rian laughed and nodded trying to mask the look of disappointment at the fact he couldn’t join them. Even if he had tried to hide it, Alex still caught it, knowing his friend like the back of his hand. But Alex just let the look slide and plastered a fake smile on his face as Harper said bye to them and Rian linked hands with her and pulled her from the kitchen and out to his car.

They were both silent for a moment before Alex snapped himself out of all his thoughts on Rian and his annoying girlfriend and stood up. The bar stool he had been sitting on scrapped against the floor making Finley jump and glance over to see what he was doing.

“Ok, c’mon, I don’t plan on spending this whole night in silence. Let’s go pick out movies while we wait for our food.” Alex said as he stretched out his hand to Finley.

She put her hand in his and he pulled her to her feet giving him a huge smile. “Lead the way good sir!” She replied in a fake British accent.

“Your wish is my command milady,” he replied with the same accent as he pulled her into the living room to do exactly as planned and not think about Rian and all their other problems anymore. That night was dedicated to fun and nothing more.