What the Past Never Told Us

To say Alex was nervous would probably be an understatment. The hand clutched in mine was sweaty and slightly shaking as we sat in the van, heading to the venue they would be playing at within the hour.

The drive up here was uneventful, apart from Jack being his usual Jack self and annoying everyone. He also kept hitting on Kara until she actually phsyically hit on him, leaving him pouting in the corner and holding his bruised arm.

“You’ll do fine, Lex.” I whisper to him, leaning over so only he could hear. He looks over at me, giving me a soft smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. I sigh and kiss the corner of his mouth. “I love you.” I tell him. Now he gives me a true full smile.

“And I you, Izzybelle.” He responds, giving me a full kiss on the lips. He seems to have calmed just a little after that but as soon as Rian’s step dad parks at the venue, his nerves obviously return.

“Let’s do this!” Jack yells, climbing from the van. I pull Alex from the van as well and he clutches at my hand tightly, looking up at the brick building sceptically. I grin and kiss his cheek.

“You are kind of cute when you’re nervous.” I tell him. He looks down at me, a small smile on his lips. “But you need to relax, you’ll do fine. And even if you don’t, that’s okay. It’s only your first show.” I assure him. He takes a deep breath and nods.

“Yeah, you’re right. Alright, let’s do this.” He goes to the back of the van and they begin unloading their things for the show. Once they had it all loaded in and they were checked in with the person putting on the show we were allowed to head backstage to the very small room delegated as their dressing room.

"Still nervous?" I ask Alex as the two of us sit in a chair placed in the room. Everyone was off doing their own thing. Rian was drumming absentmindedly on his shoe with his drumsticks, Jack was playing a game on his phone, Kara looking over his shoulder, Zack was zoned out, staring at the wall.

"Yes. I know it's just our first show so no one really expects us to be good but I want to be good. I need to know that this is the right thing to pursue." He confesses. I smile and snuggle into his neck, his arms wrapped around me tightly.

"You'll do great, Alex. You guys are amazing and the crowd will love you. Just be your sexy, charming self and you're good." I tell him, making him laugh and nod. He turns his head and kisses the side of my head. Just then the door opens and a stage hand says it's time for them to go on.

"You guys ready?" Rian asks, standing up, twirling his drumsticks. Everyone gives their sounds of acknowledgment before we all exit the room, Alex gripping at my hand tightly. When we get side stage, Jack peeks out to see how many people are out there.

"Probably like 30 or so. And most of them aren't even paying attention, they are sitting around tables drinking." He explains. Alex takes a deep breath and lets it out quickly.

"Me and Kara are going to go out there so we are there in front. You going to be okay?" I ask Alex who nods. I reach up and press a kiss to his lips, bringing my hand up to tug on his hair gently. "Good luck, my love."

"Thanks, babe." He plants one last kiss on my lips before Kara and I turn and exit the backstage area, easily making our way to the front just as the lights dim and the four of them enter the stage. Me and Kara cheer loudly while everyone else just claps politely. "What's up everyone?" Alex yelled into his mike, prompting for Kara and I to cheer even louder. "We're All Time Low from Baltimore, Maryland and this is our first ever show, so I'm sorry if we suck." With that they jumped into their first song. They all seemed nervous and tense at first but soon they relaxed and seemed to be comfortable on stage as more and more people joined Kara and I at the front of the stage, dancing to the music. "Thank you, good night!" Alex yelled after they played their last song.

"Come on, let's get backstage." Kara says to me, making me nod. We link hands and fight our way through the crowd, finally making it back to the backstage area. We see the guys side stage, toweling the sweat off their face and arms. I rush over to Alex, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"You did so good, babe!" I yell to him, making him laugh and wrap his arms around my waist.

"Did we really? I feel like we messed up a lot." He confesses, frowning. I laugh and shake my head, pecking his lips.

"I promise, you were wonderful and everyone out there loved you." I tell him, meaning every word. I really wish that Alex could see just how good he was because him and the guys were a fantastic band and were going to get so far.

"Who's ready to go back to the hotel and have some fun!" Jack yells, rushing over to us, jumping up and down. We laugh at his childish behavior.

"Just don't get us kicked out of the hotel please, Jack." I say as we all walk out of the venue, carrying the guys instruments and things. We begin to load it up in the back of the van before climbing in, Rian's stepdad heading in the direction of the hotel we were staying in.

"So, we were thinking about exploring New York a little bit tomorrow before we head back home." Rian said, turning around in his seat in the passenger seat.

"Can we go to Times Square? Please, Rian?! Pleaaaaaase?!" Jack begs, bouncing in his seat. Kara shakes her head from her spot behind him and turns to roll her eyes at me from where Alex and I sat in the very back, smiling. Zack, seated beside Jack, leaned away from the hyper teen.

"Yes, Jack." Rian tells him. "We can go to Times Square."

"Yay!" In that moment we pull up to the hotel and gladly rush out of the van.

"I say we call it an early night so we can get a lot of exploring done early tomorrow." Rian's stepdad suggests. We all agree and head to our separate rooms. Jack, Rian and Zack were sharing a room while Alex, Kara and I shared a room and Rian's step dad got a room to himself.

"Let's go on a walk." Alex whispers in my ear as we lay on our bed. Kara was sitting on her bed, flipping through the channels on TV.

"Okay." I tell him. We stand up, Kara frowning at us.

"We're gonna go venture around a bit. We'll be back." I tell her. She simply nods, going back to the TV, knowing that we'd like some time alone together. We leave the room, standing in the hallway for a second, looking around trying to decide where to go. Alex takes my hand and pulls me to the right, down the hallway and to the staircase. "The stairs? Can't we take the elevator or something?" I whine as he begins to pull me up the stairs.

"No, babe." He says, laughing. I sigh and follow him up four flights of stairs until he pushes open a door and a cold gust of wind, making me shiver.

"You took us to the roof?" I question as we step outside.

"Yeah, why not? We get a pretty good view of the city from here." He says as we walk over to the side, looking at the wonderful city skyline before us.

"Wow, it's beautiful up here." I gasp, making him nod. I shiver a little from the cold. Alex releases my hand and instead wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me into his warm body.

"I just thought we could get away, have a nice moment to ourselves." He says, kissing the side of my head.

"It is nice to get away and just be together." I agree, snuggling into his side. His arms tighten around me and he rests his head on top of mine.

"I love you so much, Izzy." He whispers. "I never want to lose you." I lift my head to look up at him, giving him a soft smile.

"You never will, Alex. I promise." I vow, reaching up to seal it with a kiss.