Forever Seventeen

Alex walked up to the dimly lit house and sighed, certainly not excited about the night's events that he was sure would take place in the next ten minutes or so. It was safe to say he didn't want to be home right now as he groaned, entering and slamming the door roughly behind him.

"Alex, sweetie, is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm home." It had been a few days since the blowout in the assembly so he assumed that the principal had not called his parents. For that, he was thankful. He trudged lazily into the kitchen where his mom handed him a plate of food that she had saved for him in the microwave.

Sitting down and shoveling the casserole into his mouth, he barely tasted anything he ate. He hadn't been hungry much lately and he only ate at dinner to appease his worrying parents. When they were satisfied and left he would toss the rest in the garbage and barricade himself in his room as per usual. It had become merely routine, as had his life.

"How was the library?"

Alex shoved a much larger amount into his mouth to keep from smirking as he played with the signed Blink-182 guitar pick that hung around his neck. Jack had given it to him for his sixteenth birthday, complete with Mark's signature scribbled on the back, one that Jack had scored himself. The thin piece of plastic between his thumb and pointer finger brought to mind where he had actually been for most of the day, at Jack's. They had played the guitar and worked on songs for almost the entire time. Alex was never more happy than when he was with Jack and doing the one thing they loved more than anything.

Though, now that he was home, the depression began to sink in once more. The looming memory of a son and sibling lost suffocated him.

"It was fine."

"That's good." Mrs. Gaskarth busied herself with putting up the remaining dishes, her happy tone not quite meeting her eyes. "Did you get a lot of studying done?"

"Yeah." He nodded, staring at his plate. He couldn't look into his mother's hopeful eyes and tell a lie. She didn't deserve that. Alex knew it was only because she cared, but smothering him was not going to make him forget. It wasn't going to make him all better like everyone seemed to think.

"Well, that's lovely. I am going to head up to bed. You should to, kiddo. You look exhausted." She rubbed over his long light brown hair and down the side of his face, paying special attention to the purple bags under his eyes. Lifting his chin, she placed her lips to his forehead quickly before Alex could voice his protest to showing emotion. "I love you, Alexander." Her smile was infectious, causing Alex to smile genuinely up at her for a few seconds.

"I love you too, Mom." She turned to leave and he immediately sprung into action. He tossed his, surprisingly clean, plate into the sink and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time until he reached his bedroom at the end of the hall. He shut the door lazily and fell onto his bed with a happy moan of comfort. Alex relished in these moments when he was all alone with no one to impress or pretend for. The moments he could truly rest.

His eyes had almost shut when his ears picked up a noise coming from his window. He cocked an eyebrow at it.

Tap, tap, tap.

Alex shut his eyes tightly.

Tap, tap.

No matter how hard he squeezed his eyes shut the tapping wouldn't stop. Finally giving up, he huffed as he trudged over to his window. Not really paying attention to the tapping intervals, he jerked the window open quickly.

"What?" He hissed angrily right before a medium sized pebble collided with his right eye. "Arg!" He cried out whilst cupping his injury. Using his good eye he stared accusingly at his attacker. Lisa stood with her hands over her mouth, stifling a giggle.

"I-I am s-s-so sorry. I had no idea." And with that she burst into a fit of quiet laughter. He smiled at her, not being able to stay mad, and ducked underneath the window, stepping out onto the roof. His hand still nursed his eye.

"So, where's the party?" His breath materialized as it hit the frigid air. She stopped laughing and looked up at him, feigning offense.

"What makes you think there is a party? Maybe I just wanted to come see my good friend."

"Sure." Alex laughed, ignoring her frown. "When you visit me at my house, it always ends up being because of one of two things. Either you need a ride to a party or you are wasted and can't go home. Since it's much too early and you aren't stumbling around I am assuming that it is the first one."

She held her shock for a few more seconds before smirking at him as well. "Ah, how you know me, Gaskarth. It's in Roland Hill."

"Alright, fine. Meet me out front." Jumping back into his window, he checked his pocket for the essentials and stealthily crept down stair and out the house. Lisa sat in the passenger's seat, bouncing in place from excitement. He started the car and pulled out onto the road.

*****

Watching as Lisa twirled and sashayed on the dance floor in the crowd, Alex took another sip of his drink. This was his usual place at parties, unless he was with Jack. The nights usually folded out a bit differently.

But those were college parties, and this was a high school party, and he could deal with it.

Lisa spun for the final time and their eyes clashed, she smiled wickedly and beckoned him with her pointer finger. Alex didn't dance but he was just drunk enough not to care.

Digging his fingers into her hip, she began to grind on him seductively. This was what they did. They partied but they never put a label on things. Yeah, they had heavy make out sessions every now and then but to Alex it was just fun and he also knew Lisa's on again off again boyfriend, who he couldn't remember the name of, wouldn't appreciate them labeling themselves anymore than friends.

Entwining their fingers, Alex began dragging Lisa out of the house. Walking someways down the road to get to his car, she flirted and teased Alex until he thought he would go insane. Once Alex fiddled with the lock on the back for a few moments he finally got it open. Pushing her against the car he forced his tongue into her mouth and took dominance over the kiss. Opening the door he never took his lips from hers. Spinning them around she shoved him into the back seat and straddled him.

"I thought I couldn't wait." He smirked into the kiss. "Just couldn't keep your hands off of me long enough to make it to the house, huh?" He stopped to look up at her before she attacked his face again.

"Parents are home." Kiss. "Your parents are home." Kiss. "And using someone else's bed just isn't classy." Kiss.

"And my car is?"

Lisa stopped to scowl at him and he chuckled light-heartedly whilst playing with a piece of her long, strawberry hair.

"Shut up and kiss me."

This is what he loved about this girl. She was so innocent and shy when they met and she still was, he guessed, but when she partied, she didn't have a care in the world. All that mattered was her and him. She never did anything too crazy. The first time they got drunk and made-out, she wouldn't look him in the eye for two weeks. It was only after much reassuring and talking, they restored their relationship, if you would even call it that.

Running his hands up her back, she gasped at the cold feeling. He felt her shiver and smirked again. As she began removing her clothing, Alex knew it was time to stop things before they got too far, although his body was definitely protesting. Pulling away from her, she pouted which made him laugh.

"Okay. I think that's enough for tonight."

"What? You aren't having fun?" She crossed her arms making him groan. He flipped her over and leaned down grazing her neck with the tip of his nose until he reached her ear.

"Are you seriously asking me that question right now?" He bit down slightly on her earlobe which made her squirm.

"Alex, I'm ready." He raised up off of her and his eyebrows knitted.

"No, you aren't." He sat up and rubbed his hands through his already tousled hair. She sat on her knees leaning into his side and began to tease his neck like she had many times before.

"I am, I promise." He placed his hand on her knee.

"We aren't dating, we are in my car, and you are wasted. This will not be your first time. I won't let it." He handed her back her t-shirt, her swiping it from him with an annoyed expression and throwing it on haphazardly. He laughed into his hands, an unamused laugh, and wondered why he had to be such a good guy.

"Okay." She looked downward, and her cheeks were a bright shade of pink. Great. He embarrassed her. Now he had to fix it.

"You want to sleep over?" He offered.

"Of course." She looked up smiling, that twinkle in her eye that attracted him to her returning. "Do you want to watch The Fifth Element?" She spoke, her tone hopeful.

"Sure." He rested his hand on her knee. "Come on, let's get going."

She jumped in excitement and crawled into the passenger seat. He smiled, seeing she was back to her normal self. But an unsettling feeling was still present in the boy's stomach