I Can't Remember the Good Old Days

"This is where I live?!" Alex exclaimed, getting out the car and staring at the big house, "how could I afford this place? It's huge!" He exclaimed happily, running inside. Rian laughed at Alex's excitement, "That's what she said." Alex chuckled and smiled at him. Rian still felt a little uncomfortable with having Alex around, but he missed the old Alex, and he was determined to make him stay.

"Uhm... You won the lottery, but you actually bought this before that... Uh, Jack helped you with the money" he said, and he wasn't lying, he just wasn't telling him the complete truth. The night before Alex had cried for hours, mainly for what Jack had screamed at him. He was scared that Jack would hate him forever. At some point of the night, Rian had convinced him that Jack would listen and forgive him, but he wasn't so sure about that. "I won the lottery?! Really? Fuck yeah!" He tried to open the door and luckily it was unlocked. The place looked nice, but for some reason, it felt empty. It was way too big for only one person. "I'll go look around!" he exclaimed, running upstairs like a kid with sugar overload. Rian started looking around as well, just a little more relaxed. He found Alex in his living room, admiring his own TV. He chuckled at the sight and kept walking around. "I HAVE A NEW GUITAR! HELL YEAH!" Alex yelled and making Rian chuckle.



Rian had stayed with him all afternoon, as Alex had insisted to tell him about the eleven months he had missed, at least the good stuff. Apparently, Rian and Cassadee had gotten married ("Finally!" he had exclaimed), Zack was still single and Jack was dating a girl named Holly. Rian said she was too old for him, but Alex didn't really care much as long as Jack was happy. Rian had asked if his head still hurt, and if he really didn't remember anything at all. Not even little snippets. "Nothing at all. It feels weird, you know… like, for me, a week ago I was with Jack, consoling him because his girlfriend had broken up with him. I don't even feel like I've forgotten something" Alex sighted, sipping his cup of coffee. "I'm so sorry, Alex…" Rian said, not really knowing how to make him feel better. That used to be Jack's work. "Rian… I know you rather wait before telling me what happened, but… I just really need to know this…" Alex started and Rian burrowed his eyebrows, staring at him with confusion, "Did I have a drug problem? Like, did I become an addict?" he asked nervously. Rian's eyes widened and he gulped silently, he shook his head slightly and shrugged at the same time. "Are you sure? When I… When I went to Jack's place he yelled that h-he didn't…" he took a deep breath "… he didn't care if I was in trouble with drug dealers." Rian leaned and hugged him, giving him an apologetic smile, "You did have a few problems, but you didn't become addicted, thanks god." Alex nodded, hugging him back.

"I have to call Lisa" he said suddenly, pulling away, "I totally forgot… shit, she's gonna kill me" he chuckled. Rian lent him his phone and he took the small piece of paper with Lisa's and Matt's phone numbers. He dialed, "Hello Lisa!" he exclaimed, but as soon as she started talking he had to take the phone away from his ear because she wasn't talking, she was yelling, "WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?! I WAS HORRIBLY WORRIED, ALEXANDER!" "Breath Lisa, I'm fine… I had some trouble and I was pretty out of myself, but I'm good now, really" he lied, he wasn't fine. His best friends hated him, for fuck's sake. She sighted into the phone, "Just, don't leave me waiting like that, okay? I tend to worry too much." Alex agreed and promised. They chatted for a while, but he didn't tell her about the whole Jack and Zack incident. He didn't want her to worry even more. After he ended the call, he texted Matt, knowing that he would be satisfied with only being informed that Alex was still alive. "I'm glad someone took you to the hospital… and visited you and shit" Rian said when Alex gave him his phone back, "They're nice guys" Alex said, giving him a small smile. "I missed you" Rian almost whispered, but Alex heard. He leaned and hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry, Ri" he mumbled, and repeated it continuously. He obviously had no idea why he was apologizing, but he felt like it was the right thing to do. God knows what he had done to his friends, and out of the three, Rian was the only one who took him back in. Alex was forever in debt with him.

"Its getting kinda late… maybe I should head back home" Rian said, pulling away. Alex nodded and smile, "Maybe you could, uhm… explain Cass? She was one of my best friends, I would really like her to know, even if she won't forgive me" Alex said, mumbling the last part. Rian smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder "She will, Alex, you'll see. You know how much she loved you and cared about you. I probably wouldn't have had the guts to propose to her in the first place if it wasn't for you." Alex smiled at that, 'well, at least I did something good' he thought. "Thanks for everything Ri… really" he smiled, walking him to the door. "Are you sure you're going to be okay on your own?" Rian asked, concerned. "I'll be fine, really… now get the fuck out of my house!" Alex exclaimed, pushing Rian out the door. He laughed and hit Alex's shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt him. "Asshole… hey, one last thing. I was wondering if you could give me Matt's and Lisa's numbers, I need to thank them" Alex rolled his eyes, but ran inside to copy the numbers on another piece of paper anyway. "Remember you can call me whenever you need"