Memories That Fade Like Photographs

Kiah would be damned if she ever forgot the day she met Alex Gaskarth.
She wasn't a fan before, didn't know he was the lead singer of the popular pop-punk band All Time Low. All she had known was that he was hitting on her, and his smile was like sunshine.
It's a shame, what life does sometimes.
-
Kiah was startled, looking up from her book in surprise, hurtled back into reality with a blink.
She'd been sitting alone in a dainty, dimly lit coffee shop that was filled with the low murmurs of lovers with a sweet background of soft indie music. Her thoughts had previously been filled with the words of John Green, until she was interrupted by a slightly obnoxious voice, that belonged to an equally obnoxious boy.
"So, if I wrote my number on a piece of paper, would you be as interested in reading it as you are that book?"
The petite girl looked into the boy's dark brown eyes, which were as mischievous as his grin as he slid into the booth seat directly across from her. She had to admit, the line he dropped was pretty smooth, and if she hadn't been so freaked out, a giggle would have passed her lips.
Instead, she frowned slightly, and in a hushed voice she asked him in all seriousness, "What the hell?"
His laugh was as loud as she imagined it would be, and she cringed at the annoyed looks people sent their way. "I'm just playing around. I'm Alexander Gaskarth. Feel free to call me Alex, as most of my friends and fans do. What's your name, Beautiful?"
Kiah frowned, thinking the boy to be a lunatic. Fans? What kind of arrogant asshole is this guy? Her anxiety fought with her urge to be sassy. Sassiness won out. She would not tolerate an arrogant jerk trying to pick her up at a coffee shop, for God's sake.
"Hi Alexander, my name is 'Idontfuckingcare', and if you'd kindly see your way out of my booth, that would be great." Her venomous tone contradicted the sickly sweet smile plastered on her face, and Alex's bushy eyebrows shot up.
"Woah there. I didn't mean to make you mad. I'm sorry." Alex said, obviously put off by her coldness. She immediately felt bad. "I just thought you looked lonely, and wanted to give you some company. God damn it, i knew that line wasn't gonna work." He muttered the last part mostly to himself.
Her eyes got big, jaw going slack before she collected herself, cheeks aflame as she looked anywhere but him. "I'm sorry." she whispered, reverting back to her usual shy meekness.
He flashed her a 'its no problem' smile, cocky facade forgotten. "Uhm, can we start over? Hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Alexander. Would you like some company?"
Kiah smiled, just slightly, and it made Alex's grin grow. "That would be lovely, Alexander. My name is Kiah."
-
Three Years Later
-
It was Warped Tour, and for All Time Low, that meant a blurry mix of parties, booze, and breasts.
Yeah, Alex was enjoying it. There was a full blown bus party happening around him, and he'd be damned if he didn't go along with it.
But he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the girl he'd met in a coffee shop. She was his best friend and his biggest crush (although she didn't know that). She was currently on tour with them, as nothing more than a hype-girl.
She was also currently pressed up against a guy that certainly was not Alex, grinding with him to an electronic beat that had too much bass. And as Alex watched, she seemed to be enjoying it.
He wanted to be mad at her. Wanted to be pissed at the person she'd become, but in all honesty, he and his band mates had made her that way. She still was the girl from the coffee shop- she loved books and cats, and her eyes always lit up with passion when she talked about something she loved, like poetry or singing or the way she thought rainfall was beautiful.
But now, she also drank Jack Daniels and liked to grind against strangers.
Zack introduced her to Mr. Daniels, Jack taught her how to grind (the awkward boner story from that was enough to make anyone laugh), Rian taught her how to mix drinks, and Alex taught her how to chat up men. He hated himself and his friends for that immensely right now.
Because ALEX wanted to be the one dancing with her. Alex wanted to be the one close to her, instead of admiring from afar how her legs seemed to be dipped in leather, how her white tank-top was stretched over her breasts and hugged her barely-there tummy. How her white-blond hair matched her pale skin, but contrasted beautifully with the dark blues of her ocean themed tattoo sleeve. Alex wanted to be the one getting her red stained kisses, inhaling the whiskey scent that lingered on her breath.
Alex wanted her, and he was clueless as how to go about getting her.
-
Three Months Later
-
"Alex..."
A breathless whisper escaped from Kiah's lips as Alex kissed her neck. Wine drunk and alone, the pair sat on a couch in the back lounge with nothing better to do than watch movies and admire each other's anatomy.
This was what Alex had wanted from the beginning. Her whispers of his name late at night as his lips pressed against her, where ever they could reach.
The petite girl was sat on his lap, and his arm was around her waist. He'd never felt more content.
And maybe some would say Alex had taken advantage of her that night, but when she woke up the next morning, Alex's scent and warmth consuming and surrounding her, Kiah couldn't say she regretted letting him make love to her. And maybe there was a reason for that, but instead of exploring her feelings on the matter, she ducked her head into Alexander's chest and allowed herself to sleep with him for a few more hours.
-
Weeks Later
-
Alex had crawled back to Lisa.
And to say that made Kiah mad was an understatement. She was enraged, furious, and filled with loathing. As soon as she had heard, she'd angirly called Alex, screaming at him for taking back the girl who'd cheated on him, screaming at him for daring to betray her like that.
Kiah had walked in on Lisa all over another man when she'd visted Alex's apartment, looking for said boy. Kiah had raged, throwing the man out, slapping Lisa and promptly telling her to "pack her shit and get the fuck out of Alex's home".
And when Kiah had told Alex later that night, he'd broken down, bawled, gotten drunk and let Kiah hold him until he fell asleep. The next morning, Kiah had allowed herself to be Alex's rebound, let him make slow, lazy love to her until the early afternoon.
And now, weeks later, Alex had given Lisa another chance, and Kiah wasn't sure how to deal. Kiah had shown up at Jack's house with teary eyes and a red face, lip bitten raw with only a small, pathetic, "can I come in?" to be said to the boy. Jack had enveloped her in a hug, and she'd began sobbing. She stayed at his house for a few days, letting herself wallow in the familiarity of the boy, how much he reminded her of Alex. One particular night, she'd beat him at Madden on the X-Box, and he'd playfully pushed her over onto couch, pinning her hands above her head, sitting on her hips. She laughed and squirmed, blue eyes bright as she looked up at the skunk-haired boy.
And after all that time, Jack had finally put together the pieces of the puzzle that she and Alex were. Jack had finally realized how gorgeous she was, realized that Alex was only with Lisa because he couldn't be with the beautiful creature right in front of him.
Kiah fell silent when Jack's expression turned sober. She wasn't exactly surprised when he suddenly said, in all seriousness, "You love him."
And Jack wasn't exactly surprised when she answered, "Yeah. I kinda do."
-
'bro, she loves you. dont fuck this up.'
Alex stared at the text from his best friend for a full five minutes, until Lisa came in and asked him what he was looking at. As soon as his girlfriend sat down, he stood up, frenzied. "I can't do this anymore." He said quickly, racing over to the door to find his shoes. Lisa had followed him, and he shrugged her off, mildly annoyed. When she'd asked, "What? What can't you do anymore?" He'd cleanly replied,
"Us. I'm done being with you."
He'd chosen to ignore the shouts of, "Alex! Wait! I love you!" From the brunette woman as he made his way to his car. She wasn't who he wanted.
He sped on the way to her Baltimore apartment, ran up who knows how many flights of stairs because god damn it, the elevator was being too slow. He still had the key card to her apartment, and he let himself into the quiet penthouse. Soft music was playing from her room, and he recognized it as his own 'Oh Calamity', the song that he'd written secretly about her. He slipped his shoes off and padded into the master bedroom, peeking in to find her asleep on her back, legs sprawled across the king sized bed, in nothing but panties and a t-shirt he recognized as his. He shrugged off his jacket and crawled into bed with her, and she rolled towards him, disturbed by the dipping of the mattress. His heart swelled at the way she seemed to recognize him, even asleep. She cuddled close to him and breathed a small, barely-there sigh of content.
Hours later, when she woke up at three in the afternoon to rain pattering softly at her window and a pair of chocolate brown eyes gazing down at her, tears welled up.
"Why are you here?" She whispered, voice still thick with sleep.
Alex's hands came up, brushing the tears from her eyes. "Because you mean a hell of a lot to me."
And Alex was confused when even more tears welled up in Kiah's eyes, until a small smile played at her lips and she murmured back, "You mean a hell of a lot to me too."
"Why are you wearing my shirt?" He asked, out of pure curiosity.
She looked down at herself. "Smells like you. And because even though I was mad at you, I still missed you."
"Jack said you stayed at his for a few days."
"Yeah. We didn't do anything. I could never hurt you like that."
Alex cringed at the unspoken, 'how you hurt me.'
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
Kiah's blue eyed gaze found his again. "I'll always forgive you." She said sadly.
Alex frowned and kissed her forehead, murmuring back, "From now on, I won't let you down."
-
Two Years Later
-
"Kiah."
"Alex."
"Come here."
Alex watched as his girlfriend walked over to him, and when she was close enough he pulled her down with him onto the sand. She smiled lightly, nudging her head into the crook of his neck. "I love you." He whispered, looking up at the stars as they lay on a small beach, somewhere in Florida.
"I love you too, Lex."
"Kiah, if I asked you to do me a favor, would you do it?"
The girl was surprised, but immediately answered with a "yes".
Alex rolled over, getting up enough to where he was kneeling. "Kiah... Would you marry me?"
The breath was stolen from the girl's lungs, and Alex pulled a silver, diamond ring from his back pocket.
She repeated herself from only moments before, a small "yes" passing her lips.
Alex's face broke into a grin, and he smiled as he kissed her.
-
Three Months Later
-
"Kiah! Kiah! Oh god, please, no- NO!" Screams were torn from Alex's throat as the EMT's restrained him, pushing him down onto the stretcher. He watched hopelessly as his lover was loaded into an ambulance, unconscious and bloodied.
They were hit by a drunk driver. T-boned on the passengers side of Alex's car. Kiah had taken the full force of the impact, and somehow she had managed to not be completely crushed.
"Please be okay." Alex sobbed to no one in particular.
-
Two Weeks Later
-
"Hello, is this Mr. Gaskarth? Yes, sir, your fiance is awake."
Alex clicked the phone off and ran out to his car. He'd be lying if he said he didn't speed on the way to the hospital.
He hadn't wanted to go home, but the nurses had made him. He'd wanted to be there when Kiah woke up, and he had rather bitter thoughts about the nurses since they caused him to not be.
He ran to her room, 214, as fast as he could. The attendant at the front desk had recognized him and just let him go.
Right outside her door, he paused. What if she wasn't the same? The doctors had warned him about brain damage- with the hit she'd taken, she was lucky to be alive. What if she wasn't the same Kiah?
He scoffed at himself. She was still Kiah, of course she was.
He put on a brave face and entered her room. She was reading- The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green. The book she'd been reading when he met her. He smiled in relief, collapsing into the chair that he'd claimed as his own for the past two weeks that was beside her bed. Alex took her hand, tears welling up, his gaze finding her's. god, how he'd missed her eyes. Large, bright blue orbs that seemed to hold the all the tiny little secrets of her soul, all of which Alex wanted to know. "Finally, you're awake. I'm so happy. I missed you so much, a-and I'm so sorry. I love you, baby girl."
Alex felt his heart clenched when she pulled her hand away, frowning slightly.
"What the hell? Who are you?"
Alex's heart dropped. No. Oh god, please, no.
This couldn't happen. Not to them, not to Kiah and Alex. They were perfect, they were meant to be- meant to fall in love, get married, raise kids on punk music and pizza.
They weren't meant to fall apart, not after all this.
After a few moments, tears overflowed from Alex's eyes, and Kiah looked alarmed.
"Oh- oh god. I-I'm sorry. Am I supposed to know you?" She asked hesitantly, and Alex smiled at the fact that, yes, she was still the same Kiah.
She just didn't remember him.
She didn't remember the boy she fell in love with, the boy she was going to marry and have a family with, the boy that had caused her so many problems, but fixed many others.
She had no idea who he even was, just that he was looked irrevocably sad, and his smile was like sunshine.
It's a shame, what life does sometimes.