Don't Leave Me

Saturday arrived after a long tiring week. Drew and I started dating officially now, but we also had our first fight yesterday after the guys called me saying that we had an emergency meeting so I had to ditch my boyfriend of three days. Today my parents were out and I was watching over Adrian when I was called to go into the studio. So here I am on my way to the studio with a hyper five year old sitting in the backseat.

"A, you gotta behave alright?" I warned my little brother who only laughed.

"Nope." He told me.

"Great. Why did Josh had to leave?" I groaned as I parked in front of the building I had become familiar with over the past week. "Come on kid."

I grabbed Adrian's hand and his little superhero backpack as we walked across the parking lot and into the building that was buzzing with more people than normal. Adrian clung to me a bit scared and I led him into the usual meeting room where Zack and Rian were talking about sports. They looked over when I walked in and smiled at the boy clinging to me, desperately trying to climb up into my arms. Eventually I did lift him up and he held me tight.

"Kid, loosen up on the choke hold there will ya?" I warned my brother.

"No." He whispered.

"Who's this little guy?" Rian cooed as he walked over to us and tickled Adrian's stomach.

"This is my younger brother Adrian. Kiddo, these are Zack and Rian, my friends."

Adrian waved at them and we sat down, Adrian still clinging to me, especially after Jack walked in with Matt Flyzik. Jack glared at me before realizing there was a child on my lap.

"Please tell me he's not your kid, Alex." Matt told me as he and Jack took a seat.

"No. There was no one at home so I had to bring him." I told Matt who sighed in relief.

"Okay, don't ever scare me like that. Boys, it's time to let your fans know about Alex."

"You sure about that? Maybe we'll end up losing fans because of Alex's fugly face." Jack spoke up and I sighed, not in the mood to deal with his shit. "What, no insult? I'm offended, Gaskarth."

"Fudge off, Jacktard." I told him, letting Adrian curl up into my lap so he could take a nap.

"Boys, calm down. Alex, your twitter is set up as of now, but we need to send out a tweet from the band's account to introduce you to the crowd. You ready for the next big step?" Flyzik asked me worriedly.

"No, but let's do this." I sighed.

"Good, cause there's no backing out now." Matt grinned at me and we all rolled our eyes.

Matt shoved the iPad over to Rian who was sitting next to me and he opened up the band's twitter account and hit the compose new tweet button. I watched his fingers move across the touch screen quickly as he typed the message almost as if they had rehearsed what was going to be written.

'And finally, introducing our new singer! Go follow @AlexAllTimeLow and give him a big warm welcome to the family!' I read on the screen and nodded in approval.

I set Adrian down on the empty chair next to mine so I could pull out my phone.

"Picture, so the fans can see us." Zack suggested.

We all squished together and Rian snapped a pic before uploading it to the twitter page. After that we did a Q and A session and answered as much questions as possible, but they kept coming in. A few insults, a few saying I probably wouldn't last long and others welcoming me nicely. Adrian was fast asleep on the chair and I was glad he wasn't giving us trouble. Eventually I was able to go home, but stepping out of the building I found Drew in the parking lot.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered so I wouldn't wake up Adrian as we walked to my car.

"I followed you." He said simply and I turned to glare at him, but retreated my gaze to somewhere else when I saw his furious eyes.

"Let me get Adrian in the car first." I told him and he opened the door for me, letting me set my brother in the backseat before he grabbed my arm roughly.

"Why didn't you tell me you're the band's new singer." He growled.

"B-Because I couldn't." I stuttered out in fear.

"I'm sure you couldn't because I know you told your family, Josh, his band and who the hell knows how many other people, but not your boyfriend. I come first to you now, Alexander and you need to understand that." Andrew spat out, face red in anger.

"No, my family will always come first." I argued back and Andrew slapped me hard across the face, making me stumble back into the car as I held my stinging cheek.

"Alex, is everything okay here?" Zack asked me as he walked over to me with Jack trailing behind, glaring at Andrew and not me for a change.

"Y-Yeah, he's leaving. Right Andrew?" I hissed.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow babe." Drew kissed my forehead and left, leaving me standing there awkwardly with the guys.

"You sure you're okay? You're shaking and your cheek's really red." Zack asked me worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you on Monday." I whispered and walked over to the driver's side and got in.

"Lexy?" Adrian spoke up and I jumped. "Andy's scary."

"Y-You saw that?" I stuttered out, looking back at Adrian who nodded.

"Champ, don't tell mom okay?" I begged him and he hesitated a bit before nodding. "Good, now let's go home."

I pulled up my car in the driveway and sighed before getting out and opening the door for Adrian who still looked a bit scared. I don't blame him. Andrew can be scary when he's angry. Walking inside the house my parents greeted us with a smile and Adrian ran over to mom who lifted him up.

"How was your day boys?" Dad asked.

"Great. I took Adrian to the studio and he met the guys." I said.

"And were you a good boy sweetie?" Mom asked Adrian who nodded and smiled.

"I'm heading up to my room. I'm tired." I told my parents.

"Alex, what's that on your cheek?" Dad spoke up as he walked up to me and turned my face to the side.

"I-It's nothing." I lied, but Adrian just had to speak up.

"Andy hit Alex."

"Adrian." I whined and my little brother simply gave me a sad look, looking a bit wise and mature beyond his years.

Mom put Adrian down and she walked over to me.

"Sweetie, is this the first time he hits you?" She asked me.

"Yeah, but he didn't mean it." I defended Andrew though I wasn't sure why. I mean yeah he's my best and only friend, but the guy has anger issues he needs to get checked out and he's always scared me a bit.

"Alex-"

"I know mom, but he's not like that. It was a one time thing and it was on accident. I promise he'll never do it again." I told my parents who looked at me skeptically.

"Fine, but we see one bruise on you and you and Andrew are done." My father told me and I nodded before heading up to my room.

Once in my room, I shut my door and started getting ready for bed when my phone blared out one of my favorite Blink-182 songs. I recognized it as Drew's ringtone and I really debated about ignoring it, but fear consumed me quickly and I answered.

"Hello?" I spoke cautiously.

"Babe, I'm so sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to hit you, you know." Drew apologized with sincerity in his voice.

"I forgive you, but you gotta forgive me too for not telling you."

"Don't worry, Lex. I forgive. Wanna go out tomorrow? I can make it up to you."

"Sure, that'd be great. I'll see you tomorrow then." I told him with a soft smile on my face as my heart calmed down.

"See you tomorrow."

After hanging up, I laid down in my bed under the covers and with the lights off. I kept thinking about how much my life would change now. I wondered if being under the public eye would be good for my condition. I wondered if Jack and I would ever get along. But most importantly I wondered why he hated me so much. Why he kept insulting me. Why we could only get along in front of other people besides the band.

The next day is Sunday meaning no work, no school and my date with Andrew. I was still scared. Not as much, but yeah. He picked me up at noon and we went out to lunch before he drove us to the mall because he insisted on buying me something nice. I wasn't one to be spoiled, but I let him do it. In the end he bought me a bear from Build-A-Bear and he bought us necklaces with each other's initials engraved on the star. He picked out a star and not a heart because according to him I'll be his little rock star.

"Thank you so much for today." I told him as he dropped me off at my house.

"Your welcome. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Drew smiled and leaned down to kiss me.

I kissed him back but then pulled away. I gave him a smile and walked inside my house with the bear clutched tightly to my chest. Tiny feet slapping against the hardwood floor snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked to my left to see Adrian running over to me with a smile. I grinned and lifted up my little brother into my arms and kissing his cheek.

"Hi kiddo, how was your day?" I asked him as I moved us to the living room and sitting down with him on my lap.

"Fun! I missed you." Adrian told me and snuggled into my chest.

"I did too kid." I smiled and held him tight, setting the bear off to the side.

Adrian told me a crazy little story about his imaginary friend Kitty. I just smiled and held my brother, my eyes scanning the living room until they locked with a picture of my sister and I.

She was beautiful. Very smart and had a great life ahead of her. She had a boyfriend, was in her sophomore year of college and she just pretty much had a perfect life. One day she was driving over to surprise us since she went to college out of the state. She was maybe half an hour away from here when a drunk driver hit her head on. Meg died on impact and the guy recovered. I hated him, I still do. Just like I hate my older brother for trying to leave me.

"Lexy? Why are you sad?" Adrian asked me as his caramel colored eyes bore into mine and his tiny finger wiped away an unknown tear.

"It's nothing, A." I told him and gave him a sad smile.

"I miss her, too." Adrian mumbled as he pointed at the picture.

"I know kid." I sighed.