Miss Missing You

Chapter 2 - Alex

"Hey, you okay?" I asked Marie the next time we skyped. She looked like she just saw a ghost. Her face was pale and looked like she was about to puke every minute. "You look a little sick."

She ran a hand through her frizzy chocolate brown hair. "I'm fine."

I looked at her through the computer screen. "You sure?"

"Alex, I'm fine," she snapped. I was slightly taken back. She rarely yelled or snapped at me like that. I guess she recognized the look on my face and her angry face softened.

"I'm sorry, it's tough over here," she said.

"I understand. I shouldn't bother you."

Marie gave me a small smile. "So what city are you in today?"

"Pittsburgh," I replied. Our tour started last week and a lot of people have been coming to our shows. It was a dream come true. I never thought I'd actually do something like this. It's amazing how a small thing can start off as a hobby and then you're going to end up doing it for life. It's insane.

"Are you enjoying it?" Marie asked.

"I am, but I miss you," I said. She giggled.

"I miss you too."

"So I wrote a song," I began, grabbing my guitar from the corner of the hotel room we were staying in. "And I would like to sing it to you."

A big grin spread across Marie's face.

"And I would love to hear it," she said. I smiled and placed my fingers on the frets of the guitar. I started strumming the strings.

"Tonight, we lie awake. Remember how the coffee made us shake on those long drives? One more long night. Another seven days. Heartbeat racing. The interstate, my home tonight. For one more long night. I'm sure as hell the happiest I've ever been.

We get high, we let go. We've got more than we know. My friends are a different breed. My friends are," I sang. I sang the whole song through but I messed up a bit and Marie laughed it off.

"I really like it," she said. "What's it about?"

"Our adventure in Vegas," I said as I placed my guitar down. "Of course I made it sound fun rather than us getting arrested."

Marie smiled. "I love you Alex. Okay, don't ever forget that."

A grin spread across my face. A million little butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I never knew a single girl would make me feel this way. Damn, I was lucky. A sudden noise came from Marie's side of the computer. She sighed and turned around and yelled, "Come in!"

A girl with blonde hair came in the room and she was holding a carton of ice cream in her hands.

"Marie, Mr. David is looking for you," the girl said, scooping up a spoonful of ice cream and shoving it in her mouth. I saw Marie's back tense of the sound of the man's name.

"Who's Mr. David?" I asked. Marie turned to face her computer.

"Just my English teacher," she turned back to the blonde, "What does he want?"

"He told me he really wants to see you. Oh my gosh, is that your boyfriend?" The blonde's face was now in the camera peering at me. Her baby blue eyes got wide. "Is that Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low?"

"Uh, yeah. I am," I said. All of a sudden, the girl let out a scream.

"What?!" Marie asked, looking at the girl as if she was insane. Well, she is insane.

"I can't believe you're dating Alex freaking Gaskarth from All Time Low! Why didn't you tell me?"

I saw Marie shrug. "I didn't think it mattered. Plus, I already told you I had a boyfriend."

Blondie sighed and turned to me. "I'm actually coming to see your show here in Boston. I got tickets yesterday."

"Really? That's awesome. I'll guess I'll see you there," I said. Blondie blushed and tucked a hair behind her ear. Another knock came from Marie's room. She rolled her eyes as she went to answer it. It was the young man I saw the last time Marie and I talked. He was a teacher? Isn't he way too young to be one? I saw Marie tense again as she slammed the door in his face.

"What was that for?" Blondie asked.

"I don't want to talk to him," Marie said.

"Well he was looking for you all day, I would talk to him if I were you."

"You shouldn't ignore your teachers, Marie," I said.

"I know," she said.

"Are you guys preforming any news songs for any of the shows?" Blondie asked. I shook my head.

"Nah, we're mainly focusing on playing songs from the EP," I said. I really didn't want talk to the blonde. I really wanted to talk to Marie about this teacher.

"Cool," Blondie smiled. "My favorite will probably be Break Out, Break Out. Isn't that about Jack's herpes?"

I chuckled. "Possibly."

Blondie laughed and I saw Marie roll her eyes in the background.

"Will you please stop flirting with my boyfriend? I want to talk to him now," Marie said. Blondie let out a sigh.

"Fine. I gotta study for Science anyway." The blonde got up and waved to the camera. "Bye Alex!"

"Bye..."

"Aimee."

"Bye, Aimee," I said. Aimee walked out of view and out of the room. Marie appeared in front of the camera again. "She was nice."

"She's annoying," Marie said.

"A little bit," I admitted. "Who's that teacher who wanted to talk to you?"

Marie's face once again became pale and looked like she wanted to puke.

"I told you already, he's my English teacher," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. I studied her. Marie looked like a mess. Her frizzy hair wasn't combed and her glasses were a little bit crooked. It looked like she hasn't eaten in days.

"Marie, is he abusing you?" I asked carefully. Marie's eyes got wide.

"NO!" She said. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

I stared at her, testing to see if she was lying. "You sure?"

"Alex! Of course I'm sure. If anyone laid their hands on me or even abuses me, I will tell you," she said. Her eyes begin to soften. Even though she's not here, I could feel her soft hands on my face, focusing her eyes into mine. "I promise."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Okay."

All of a sudden, Jack busted through the door with a bottle of beer in his hands.

"Drink up! We're partying tonight!"

I looked over to Marie. She gave me a half smile.

"I guess my time is up, I got to study anyway," she said. "Have fun, but not too much fun."

I smiled. "Talk to you later?"

She nodded. "Bye. I love you. And I mean it."

"Love you too and I mean it."

I logged off of skype and grabbed the beer that was in Jack's hand.

"Are things going okay with Marie?" He slurred.

"Yeah, everything's alright. But I'm a little worried though."

Jack gave me a sloppy smile and patted my back. "Don't be. Tonight's the night to party!"

I woke up with a pounding headache. As I opened my eyes, I found a body lying on top of me. By the smell, I knew it was Jack. I pushed him off and rubbed my eyes. We were all in the van. Rian passed out in the passenger seat while Flyzik was driving. It looked like everyone else was sleeping. I got up, trying not to make any noise and trying to step on anyone.

"Hey Flyzik," I said, my voice raspy.

"What's up?" He asked.

"What do you think?"

"Headache?"

As if on cue, it started getting worse.

"It was one wild and crazy night. Good thing I was responsible enough not to drink," Flyzik smirked. He peered at me through the rear view glass. "But you did look a little out of place last night. What's up?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "It's Marie. I'm worried about her."

"Why are you worried?"

"There's this teacher at Harvard. Every time someone mentions his name, Marie tenses. And I can't help but think he hurt her in some way."

"Alex, if anyone assaulted her, she would tell you first. No doubt about it," Flyzik said.

"I know, that's what she told me last night. Well I think she told me that last night," I said as the migraine came back.

"Don't worry, Alex. She loves you."

"I know, I know."

Flyzik and I stopped talking after that. I really wish I would've stopped Marie from going on that plane. I really wanted her to be beside me and be safe. I wanted her to be okay. I felt my eyelids close, Marie still in my thoughts.