Somewhere in Neverland

Saturday November 8th

“ALEX TIME TO GET - Alex? Where are you?”

That’s how I woke up at 5:15am, with Jack yelling throughout the upper floor trying to figure out where Alex is. Alex must have heard it too, because he sat up and then got out of the bed, trying not to wake me up. I already was awake, but I didn’t want to get up just yet so I kept my eyes shut. I heard the door open and close, and then hushed voices.

“There you are! What were you doing in Wendy’s room?”

“Uh, she woke up last night screaming. I went in to calm her down and crashed there to make sure she was okay.”

“Is she?”

“Is she what?”

“Okay…”

“Yeah I think she’s okay now.”

Then there were just footsteps heading downstairs so I decided to get out of bed and get dressed, in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a hoodie. On my way downstairs, I ran into Taylor who was fixing her hair into a ponytail. She was also wearing makeup and her best jeans.

“Trying to impress someone?” Her face went red and she dodged around me.

“NO!”

“YEAH right, who is it? Zack? Rian? Jack?”

“Oh my god shut the fuck up.”

“ITS JACK. IT’S TOTALLY JACK”

“What’s totally Jack?” Jack popped out of the kitchen holding a frying pan, while wearing sunglasses.

“Uh, my sweater. It suits you?” It was just a black blink 182 sweater, but I needed to come up with something fast. He put down the frying pan and stuck out his hand for me to give him the sweater.

“Fine but give me yours.”

We took off our sweaters and exchanged them, with Taylor trying to hold back a laugh at how I was covering up our conversation. Alex walked in just as soon as I had finished zipping up the sweater, which was way too big on me. I looked at Jack and he was having trouble zipping it up since it was 3 sizes too small. Taylor had just about lost control of her laughter when she saw Alex’s confused expression, and the way the sweaters looked on us.

“Jesus Wendy, this sweater is too small, what is it? Extra Extra small? This is ridiculous” He gave up trying and just left it unzipped.

“At least you don’t look like a balloon”

“Maybe if you ate more than half a salad every day, my sweater wouldn’t make you look like a balloon.” I frowned and looked at the clock, noticing it was already 5:50.

“Time to go pack the van.”

I left the kitchen, grabbing my bag from the hallway and went outside where Alex’s parents and the other guys were loading up the van with their instruments and deciding who was going in which car. It ended up being Rian and Zack in the van with Alex’s parents while Taylor and I rode with Jack and Alex in Alex’s car. Everything was ready to go at exactly 6am, and we left Alex’s house, I felt more free from life than I had since I started dating Jared.

The first three hours of the ride were spent with Jack yelling out the window at strangers, Alex singing along to the radio, with Taylor and I sitting silently in the backseat with the windows rolled down. We stopped for food along the way, but as usual I just got salad and then we were on the road again. I turned on my phone to let my mom know that we were on our way to the hotel, but I regretted it once I did. There were 5 messages from Jared and two missed calls.

[Where are you?]
[I’m coming over]
[What the fuck? You left town?]
[Bet you’re with that Alex douchebag]
[Bad move, it’s one you’ll regret.]

Suddenly, Taylor reached into her purse and sneakily pulled out two water bottles filled with what looks like juice. When I asked her about it, she sneakily lifted a bottle of tequila from her purse, to show me it wasn’t just juice. She handed me one and we drank them until the bottles were empty, only to be refilled again. I was glad she brought the alcohol, I hoped it would help me forget about Jared. When we were done, there was only half an hour left of the drive. Finally reaching the hotel, we stumbled out of Alex’s car, giggling uncontrollably. We hadn’t drank much, but we were both total lightweights, had petite figures and were definitely not heavy drinkers so the alcohol hit us pretty hard.

“The fuck is up with those two?” Alex shrugged and took our bags, since we were too intoxicated to remember even bringing any.

“They were silent the whole ride, and now they’re acting crazy.”

We had started singing and dancing in the hotel lobby, earning disapproving stares from the staff and customers. To be fair it was about 2 in the afternoon, we were wasted and acting like lunatics. Zack and Rian walked through the front doors and witnessed us singing ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet which was playing on the radio on the loudspeaker, with Alex and Jack sitting in chairs not too far away, watching us and laughing. Alex’s parents checked us into the hotel and gave us our room keys, telling us to go on up since they had to sort some stuff out. Taylor and I danced our way into the elevator with the guys trailing behind.

“Dance with us!”
Zack and Rian shook their heads, thinking we were crazy but Jack and Alex joined in happily. When we arrived at the 4th floor where our rooms were, me and Taylor decided to have a race to the other end of the hall. We took off in a sprint and ran down the hall, passing doors in a blur until we reached the wall at the end. I got there first, and had to put my hands on my knees to catch my breath, in a fit of giggles.

“HAHA I win. Fuck my head is spinning. I gotta lie down.”

I then just decided to plant myself on the floor like a starfish, and closed my eyes. I could feel arms pick me up, and voices, so many voices.

“The hell is wrong with her? - Why does she smell like alcohol?”

Then Taylor started giggling, giving us away. I heard Alex sigh, and then he carried me into one of the hotel rooms. I was sharing one with Taylor, while the guys were sharing the one next to ours and Alex’s parents were across from us. He set me down on one of the beds and pulled the covers over my body.

“Sleep it off Wendy. I’ll wake you up when we leave for the show.”

--

It was 5pm when Alex was shaking me awake. I sat upright, rubbing my eyes. There was a glass of water and aspirin beside me on the night table. Alex sat on the bed next to me, and was just staring at me for a while, frowning.

“What?”

“Why does it look like you had a black eye?” Fuck, I must have smudged my makeup.

“Um, because I did?”

“Why?” He extended his fingers out to touch it, but I flinched backwards.

“Mosh pit..” I couldn’t come up with any better excuse, but he seemed to believe it.

“Okay well we leave in forty minutes if you want to shower or whatever. Also, we have adjoining rooms! It’s pretty awesome. Anyways I’ll see ya around!”

He got up and left through the adjoining room door. Taylor came out of the bathroom, after having just taken a shower. I swallowed the aspirin and got out of the bed, making my way to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I could tell I looked as bad as I felt. My head was pounding, the bruise around my eye was faint, but still visible, my hair was a mess and there were bags under my eyes. I took a shower, swearing to myself I would never drink again while being fully aware that I most likely would be tonight anyways. When I got out, Taylor was in the bedroom dressed up in black tights, dark denim shorts and a black long sleeve top. She was doing her hair and makeup while I went through my stuff for an outfit.

“So what are you gonna do about Jared when you get back? He’s going to be pissed.” I pulled out my leopard skirt and my black and grey shredded top.

“Can we not talk about Jared?” Her head snapped up and she turned to face me.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.” And that’s when she knew.

“You don’t want to be with him.” I was silent for a moment and she smirked.

“No I don’t.”

“So leave him.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” I got dressed and threw my arms up in frustration.

“YOU KNOW WHY. You know how he is. One mention of breaking up with him and he’ll go off like a firework.” There was a thud against the adjoining door.

“YOU CAN’T STAY WITH HIM.”

“I have no way out of this relationship Tay. I’m staying out of fear for my life.” I grabbed my own combat boots and slipped them on, lacing them up.

“We’ll help you get out.”

I looked up at the sound of a male voice, and saw Jack standing in the doorway of te adjoining room, smiling. I smiled back, thankful that he wanted to help.

“What are we helping who get out of?” Alex appeared in the doorway behind Jack, with his hands in his pockets.

“We’re going to help Wendy ditch that asshat of a boyfriend.” A smile crept up on Alex’s lips and he ran over to me.

“You’re breaking up with him? Why?” I bit my lip and stood up, putting on my leather jacket.

“It’s just something I need to do. I mean I want to, but I’m scared of doing it. It won’t be easy and I can’t do it alone.” Alex wrapped me in his arms.

“Then Jack’s right, we’ll help you get out of it, even if it’s going to be difficult for whatever reason.” I smiled up at him.

“Thanks.”

“Come on we gotta go”

We all left the hotel room, and piled into the van and car, heading to the venue. Alex’s parents weren’t going to go to the show, said something about catching a movie at the theater instead. It wasn’t a long drive to the venue, and when we got there, the guys went straight to the stage to do soundcheck. Taylor and I stayed in the room backstage, waiting for the show to start. There were some beers in a fridge that one of the guys from another band offered to us, which we gratefully accepted.

By the time the show started, we were on the main floor with the rest of the crowd. The guys were the first band to play, and we were the loudest ones cheering them on. I truly was excited to hear them play, I never have before; I didn’t know what their music was like at all. And when they started I was blown away. The music itself was enticing but Alex’s voice? That was on a level of it’s own. I was captivated by it, and got lost in it.

Five songs later, their set was over and they exited the stage thanking the crowd. The guys made their way over to us, Alex and Jack running with their arms wide open. I knew what they were going to do so I took off running in the other direction, laughing. Alex caught up though, and picked me up, spinning me around, covering me in his sweat.

“Fuck Lex, that’s disgusting.”

“Too bad!” I rolled my eyes as he set me down and we started walking back to his car. Taylor and Jack were getting into the van, so it was just me and Alex driving back to the hotel. We stopped at a diner for some food on the way, and sat in a booth by the window.

“Are you actually going to eat, or just watch me eat?” I shrugged. “You have to eat Wendy, you’re so thin it scares me sometimes.”

I picked up a menu, scanning through it until I settled on a grilled cheese. We gave our orders to the waitress and then I just sat in silence, thinking about how I would break it off with Jared. When the food arrived, I just stared at it for a few minutes before Alex spoke.

“Why don’t you ever eat?”

“Because I dont want to be fat.”

“Who said you were fat?” I looked down at my lap and pulled on my jacket sleeve, biting my lip.

“Jared.” It was a whisper, but he heard it.

“Why do you listen to him? You’re not fat Wendy, please just eat. For me?”

I sighed and picked up the sandwich, taking a small bite. I kept taking small bites until I had finished half of it, and then said I was full. Happy that I had at least tried, he finished it for me, then we paid the bill and went back to the hotel. I hugged Alex before going inside my room, but when I got inside, Taylor wasn’t there. I was confused until Alex stepped in through the adjoining door.

“Taylor crashed on my bed, so I guess I’m staying here?”

I shrugged and went into the bathroom to change. When I emerged, the lights were off and Alex was lying on Taylor’s bed, shirtless. Nervously, I bit my lip and walked over to my bed, getting under the covers.

“I’m not tired, wanna watch TV or talk or something?” I turned on the light and smiled.

“Talk about what?”

“I need to know something that’s been bugging me since earlier. Why won’t it be easy to break up with Jared? The guy’s an asshole.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall. I may as well tell him; if he’s going to help me get out of this, he should know what he’s getting himself into.

“Yeah. But more than you think, more than I let on.” He sat upright and came over to my bed, making me push over so he could lie next to me.

“How so?”

I didn’t say anything, the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. It wasn’t easy to just say ‘he abuses me’ so I sat there, trying to think of how to tell him without sounding weak.

“Wendy…?”
The words still wouldn’t come, so I showed him instead. I lifted up the sleeve of my hoodie, and when he saw the bruise, he grabbed my arm to inspect it.

“Wendy…” He dropped my arm.

“That’s not all…” I lifted the side of my shirt to reveal the bruise on my ribs.

“Jesus fucking christ..and the black eye? That was him...wasn’t it?” I nodded, on the verge of tears.

“We’ll get you out of this. I promise I won’t let him do this again. Who else knows?” He wrapped me into a hug, and I relaxed in his arms.

“Just Taylor and Jack.”

“Why did you stay with him if he did this?”

“Fear.”

He shut off the lights, and we snuggled under the covers, with me falling asleep safely in his arms. It was weird, but the closer I got to Alex, the more I realized I was maybe starting to develop feelings for him. He probably didn’t feel the same way though; only time will tell.