Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills

Banner by kinda.crazy on 'Zilla. She's made me quite a few banners, actually. Aaaand I don't know if this picture is considered nudity, but I don't care. Who doesn't love him?!

_______________________________________________________________________

I should've had a response for what had just happened, but when William pulled away and looked me in the eye, I could only stare back at him in shock, and only one single strand of thought was running through my head. Had that really just happened?

William's façade was one of slight worry, though his eyes were frantically darting from my eyes, to my mouth, to his feet, and back. Then, he cleared his throat.

"I'm….uh, I'm sorry." He says. Something in my stomach trembled and I wanted to tell him that I wasn't sorry, but the words were caught in my throat. "Come on. Let's head back to the bus."

I nodded, still dazed, and followed him back toward where the cab was surprisingly still waiting. And suddenly, I noticed just how cold my hand was due to the absence of Will's. I wanted to lace my fingers with his again, just to know that he would still be there if I were to look up at him, but when I looked down, I saw that his hands were shoved in his pockets, looking like they were balled up in tight fists, so I slipped my hands in my pockets too.

Will opened the cab door for me and I slid into the seat and to the other side of the vehicle, automatically staring out the window. I couldn't risk looking at Will and seeing the hurt in his eyes. He didn't have to say anything; I knew that my silence had hurt him just now. Since when does silence not hurt?

So I kept any words that formed in my head behind my teeth and purposefully absorbed myself with the city lights as they danced by my car window.

Will was texting someone—I could hear his thumbs tapping away on his Sidekick's keyboard—and then he released a shaky sigh. A sigh like that, under any other condition, wouldn't have phased me much, but this one in particular shook my to the core. It sounded like he was about to cry and I hated myself for hurting him like that.

We arrived back at the tour site to see that the club across the street was getting ready to close. The only reason that hadn't already being the obnoxious amount of rock stars still inhabiting its dance floor and bar. Will laughed tiredly at the scene and I tried to do the same, but choked, as always.

He climbed out of the cab, paying the driver once again, walked around to my side to open the door for me, and then walked toward what I presumed was his bus. I, however, stayed put and only stared into the back of his head as the cab sped off.

I wanted to run after him. I wanted to tell him that I had wanted nothing more than to kiss him for the longest time. I wanted to tell him that the mere thought of him walking away from me like he was now was terrifying and excruciatingly painful. But I didn't do anything. I only stood there and stared until he disappeared between two buses.

My eyes prickled and I sniffled, biting back the tears that were suddenly forming. The calm of the city around me rang in my ears and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. And when the club doors burst open behind me, I flinched but didn't stray a step from where I was rooted.

"Fine! I could find better alcoholic drinks at a kid's birthday party!" Alex Gaskarth screams to the security guard that had hauled him out of the building. The big bouncer snorted and walked back inside, leaving Alex to fume quietly to himself before brushing himself off, straightening his jacket, and walk over to me. "Hey Dani, what are yo--…" he stopped midsentence when he walked around to face me. "--…are you okay?"

I looked at him as the tears in my eyes—the ones that I had been so desperately trying to fight back—flowed down my cheeks and dripped one by one off my jaw.

"I just made the biggest fucking mistake of my life, Alex." I mumbled pathetically.

He didn't waste a second in wiping the shed tears from my face with the heel of his hand. And then, he wrapped his arms around me, letting the tears that continued to stream down my face soak into his jacket.

"Tell me what happened, love." Alex demands in a whisper and now he was steering me toward an abandoned table in front of the club. He sat me down on it and then sat beside me, never letting his eyes leave mine.

"Will kissed me." I confess and then winced when my heart throbbed with guilt.

"And this is bad?" Alex asks, perplexed, but I thought I caught a hint of knowledge in his voice.

"And I didn't say anything to him." I add.

Alex makes an 'o' with his mouth and then wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him so I could cry silently into him again. "Don't think it over so much, Dani." He says after a moment. "You can fix this."

"But how, Alex?" I ask, looking up at him through blurred vision. He was looking back down at me with a soft smile on his face. "You boys are so complex." I grumble stubbornly.

"We're complex?" he asks, staring in shock at me when I nodded at him. "What about you girls?" he challenges and he didn't give me time to defend myself. "I'll bet you anything that Bill is in his bus right now believing that he just fucked up one of the only things he's had to hang on to."

"But why would he do that? He didn't mess anything up. If anyone did, it was me." I looked down at my hands with a trembling sigh.

"But he doesn't know that." He put his index finger under my chin, bringing my face up and making me look him in the eye. "Go tell him. You have no idea how much he needs to know." I swallowed, opening my mouth to say something but Alex cut me off once again. "Dani, those six days that you were in Chicago…" he trailed off as he shook his head to himself. "…I've never seen anyone so down trodden in my life." Oh Alex and his way with words, I thought as another wave of guilt crashed down on me. "He wasn't himself except when he was on stage or talking about you."

"You make it sound like he loves me," I laugh humorlessly as those stupid butterflies of hope returned to my stomach, and when Alex didn't say anything and that stupid knowing smirk spread across his face, I couldn't help but deny what he was telling me. "You're impossible, Gaskarth. I've known him for two weeks."

"I've met couples that had only known each other for two days." He says defiantly. I was still hard in believing so he met my eyes hard. "If you could've seen how happy he looked when he saw you earlier tonight, you'd know that what I'm saying is the truth." I didn't know if I wanted to believe him or not. What if he was wrong? What if he was just making a stupid assumption?

I looked away from Alex and toward the busses, trying to pick out which one was The Academy Is…'s. And then, Alex stood up, stretched his arms above his head and explained, lazily, "They're bus is the red, white, and black one. It's parked by a fire hydrant."

I, too, stood off of the table and was about to walk away but then turned and wrapped my arms around Alex's torso, giving him a hug. "Thank you, Alex."

"Anytime, sugar." He replies off-handedly, and then I started toward the buses and those butterflies exploded in my stomach again, and I couldn't help but smile.