Breakout

Chapter 16.

I'm gonna lie and say I'm not nervous about meeting Alex's parents. I mean, it's Alex's parents. The people that made him. I tucked a piece of hair behind my hair while I straighted my shirt.

"You look great, Marie. Stop trying to fix yourself," complained Samantha. I turned around to face her and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm trying to impress his parents. I don't want to be looking like a slob," I replied. Samantha rolled her eyes.

"I've meet Alex's parents before. They're not that bad."

"Easy for you to say, they actually like you."

"Alex's parents will like you."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're just a likeable person."

Suddenly, my phone started ringing. "Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, I'm outside your house, are you ready?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I'll be right down."

We both hung up. Samantha followed me down the stairs and out the door. I spotted Alex's car and Alex leaning beside it. He let out a small wave and I waved back. Is this really real right now?

"Have fun," Samantha squealed. She hugged me tight.

"Samantha, I can't breathe."

Samantha laughed. "Well, I better get going. Text me when you get back."

"I will," I assured her. Samantha walked off in the other direction while I headed towards Alex's car.

"Hey," he said, kissing me on the cheek. "You look great."

"Thanks," I said, peering down at my outfit. Black jeans with a New Found Glory tee burrowed from Samantha. Alex and I headed into his car and eventually drove away from my house.

"So when am I going to meet your parents?" Alex asked, as he peered away from the road to lay his eyes on me.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Whenever you want, I guess."

Alex softly chuckled and turned to face the road again. "I think my parents are going to like you."

"Weird, that's why Samantha said."

"It's true. You are a likeable person. I started liking you since the day we got paired up in Science."

"Liar, you practically hated me."

"Haha, that's true."

I laughed and hit him in the arm.

"Hey, no hitting! I'm driving!"

"You're barely driving," I pointed out. In a few minutes, we were already at Alex's house. It was just a normal house.

"You've been here before right?" Alex asked.

"For the party, yeah," I said.

"Good, so I don't have to show you my room."

I smiled. Alex and I both got out of the car. Alex instantly threw his arm around me. He grabbed his keys out of his jeans pocket and put it in the lock and turned it. We walked into the house. His house looked totally different from the party. Of course, there wasn't any cups or trash anywhere. he stepped into the living room which was painted red. I didn't notice it at the party. Beside the living room was stairs that lead up to the bedrooms. Straight ahead was the kitchen. And beside the kitchen were stairs to the basement.

"My parents are home at the moment so I guess we could watch TV," Alex said. I followed him to the couch and he instantly pulled me down onto his lap. I giggled. Alex switched on the TV and MTV was showing.

"This next music video is the most requested video of the week. Their band from Baltimore, Maryland and got recently signed to Hopeless Records. They were on Emerald Moon Records last year and released a music video for their song 'Circles'. Without further ado, here is the number one most requested song of the week, All Time Low and their song 'Circles'!"

Alex's eyes grew wide as they played their music video. A big grin spread across my face.

"Oh my gosh, Alex! You guys are on MTV!" I cheered. Alex laughed and hugged me.

"Oh my gosh! I gotta call the guys!"

I got up from Alex's lap as he went into the kitchen where his home phone was located. I squealed. This is insane. I'm totally happy for them. They deserved this.

"Hey, Jack! Turn on MTV. Now!" Alex exclaimed in the phone. I then suddenly heard muffles from the phone and then a bunch of cheering. Alex switched Jack onto loud speaker.

"This is insane dude! We are on MTV!" Jack said.

"Hey Jack, are Rian and Zack with you?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're jumping around the room!"

"I'm so proud of you guys!"

"Talk to you guys later," Alex said. "See you guys."

Alex hung up the phone and embraced me in a hug.

"I'm so happy for you guys," I said. Alex smiled and kissed me.

"Thanks for supporting us," he said when he pulled away.

"No problem."

Alex and I watched the Circle's music video as it was coming to an end. We were so wrapped up in celebrating that we forgot to watch it. After watching the video, the front door swung open.

"Alexander William, what is your dirty shoes doing in the hallway?" A women voice called out. Alex's cheeks turned red a bit.

"Sorry mom."

A women followed by a man came into view in the living room. There eyes landing on me.

"Oh hello," the women said. I could hear a British accent come out of her mouth. Forgot Alex was from the UK. "You must be Marie."

"Yeah," I nodded. Alex's mom walked up to me and surprisingly embraced me in a hug.

"We've heard so much about you," she said. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Oh Isobel, you're squeezing the poor girl," Alex's dad said as Isobel pulled away.

"Stop being overdramtic, darling."

I couldn't help but laugh. British people and their humor always makes me laugh. I couldn't help but not understand why Alex's parents have British accents and Alex doesn't. I couldn't possibly image handling Alex with a British accent. I would have kissed him as soon as he opened his mouth.

"I'm Peter, Alex's father. I'm guessing you're joining us for dinner?"

I nodded.

"Well sorry to barge in, you two carry on while we cook dinner," Isobel said. She kissed me on the cheek and walked off into the kitchen.

"Sorry about my parents, they are a little too much sometimes," Alex said. I smiled.

"Don't worry, I liked them."

"And I know they liked you."

When dinner was ready, we all sat around the table. They were serving fish and fries but in English speaking fish and chips. I liked it, nothing too fancy.

"So Marie, what are you going to do after senior year?" Peter asked me.

"Possibly going to college," I answered. I really didn't know what I was going to do. I even haven't applied for a college application yet. And I only had a few months left, it was only March.

"That's nice, what are you going to be studying?"

I don't know, I wanted to answer because I seriously didn't know. I don't like to plan things out like most people do, I just want to be surprised.

"Um, I'm going to be studying childcare."

"You're pregnant?!" Isobel exclaimed. Alex literally almost choked on his fries. I vigorously shook my head.

"Oh god no. I'm want to become a teacher."

Isobel looked relived. "Oh good."

Peter shot daggers at Isobel. "For what form?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Form?"

"Grade. Like what grade do you want to teach. In the UK, we call grades, forms," Alex explained.

"Oh," I said. "I guess either first or second grade."

Peter nodded.

"I'm surprised you're not interested in music like our dear Alex over here," Isobel said. "He's obsessed with music."

Alex slightly blushed. It was weird seeing Alex blush, I'm just no quiet used to it.

"Have you ever seen Alex's band live yet?" Peter asked. I nodded as I bit into a fry.

"Yeah. They're really good."

Peter smiled. "Even though we're sad that he won't be going off to college, we're proud of him."

"Thanks dad," Alex smiled.

"Well tell us a little about yourself, darling, you don't have to be shy around us," Isobel assured. I smiled at her.

"Well, I was actually born a day after Alex. December 15."

"For true? Well isn't that exciting."

I laughed. "I can play the guitar and piano."

"Alex has mentioned you playing 'A Thousand Miles' from the White Chicks movie," Peter said.

"Yeah, I played it for music class."

"What about your parents?" Isobel asked. I glanced at Alex who was nervously sitting there.

"Um, I just only have my mom."

"Oh? What about your dad?"

I looked down at my food. "Um, I don't know where he is."

Isobel silently nodded. "Sorry honey."

"It's not your fault," I assured her.

"Do you have any siblings?" Peter asked.

"I used to have a brother."

"Used to?"

"Uh, he died."

Suddenly, Peter's face began to pale. "Um, may I ask how he died."

"Car accident. It's not like he killed himself or anything."

Suddenly, all the Gaskarth's faces' turned towards their plate. Did I say something wrong?

"Marie, can I talk to you for a minute?" Alex spoke.

"Uh, yeah."

"Excuse us," Alex got up from his seat and I did the same. We headed upstairs and into his room. When we entered, he closed his door.

"Do you want to know what Lullabies is about?"

I was a little shocked by his question but I nodded. Alex sighed and sat on the edge of his bed.

"I had an older brother named Tom. He was the best older brother ever. He would take me to see the Orioles play baseball in the Baltimore stadium every weekend. He would help me when my homework sometimes. He even introduced me to Blink. He was honestly the best," Alex took a deep breath. "But one day when I was eleven, when I came home from school, my mom was in tears. And my mom rarely cries. My dad was in tears also and I have never once in my life seen my dad cry. I was confused on why they were crying. They told me that one of our family members died. And I was thinking I probably lost an aunt or an uncle but I was wrong. Way wrong." Alex paused and wiped a tear from his eye. I had a feeling in my stomach thinking this wasn't going to end good. "My brother committed suicide." Alex buried his face in his hands. I just stood there shocked. So that's why Lullabies is about? His brother committed suicide? I instantly felt sick. Now I felt bad for pushing Alex to tell me what the song was about. "He never told anyone he was going to do it. Not even his close friends. Not even me. And I feel like it's my fault. I feel like I'm the one who made him do it. It was my fucking fault."

I walked over to Alex and sat next to him on the bed. "It's not your fault."

Alex looked up from his hands and faced me. "How do you know? You weren't there."

I stayed silent.

"I just hate when people keep secrets from me because if they do, one of them could be committing suicide."

I continued to stay silent. A million little thoughts circling my mind. Alex finally told me what Lullabies was about. And I finally understood what I said was wrong at the dinner table.

"And I don't want to lose you," Alex whispered.

"I don't want to lose you either," I said. Alex lifted up his head and faced me.

"Promise you won't lose any secrets from me."

I nodded. "I promise."

Alex softly smiled and leaned in and kissed me on the lips. We both pulled apart and smiled.

"Question fifteen," Alex said. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

I smiled and nodded. "I would love to be your girlfriend."

Alex kissed me once more on the lips. "You are amazing," he murmured when he pulled away. I blushed.

"You too."