I don't own anything.

Alex Gaskarth came into the apartment that he and his bandmates shared while they were preparing for their video shoot the next day. Although he had a bad day that day, at least he knew his friends would be by his side, or so he thought. He couldn’t stop the sad events which had occurred earlier that day from replaying over and over in his mind.

"Please Jasey, I know it wasn’t right to leave you after I slept with you a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You’re different. I promise I really want to be with you. Please!"

"Get away from me, Alex! As if I would ever even let you TOUCH me again after what you did! And the worst part is, you do this to so many other girls too! I’m not leaving you just for what you did to me, it’s also for what you did to them!"

Alex had felt hurt and angry that Jasey would judge him like that, but he had done something to her too, so…

This evening that thought didn’t help the pain he felt in his heart. He had sadly walked away with tears in his eyes, struggling not to let them out. He had barely won that struggle when upon entering the apartment he saw Rian storm up to him.

"What the fuck did you do to Jasey? I saw how pissed she was at you earlier!" he shouted at Alex.

As soon as Rian mentioned this, Alex could feel the tears stinging his eyes again. He barely even noticed that Rian was mad at him. When he realized, he was perplexed at what could be the cause for this.

"Oh nothing much. Just the usual." Alex tried to remain calm, but Rian was looking for a fight.

"You call sleeping with a girl and leaving her nothing? How could you do that to her? You are the biggest asshole I know, Alex! I don’t blame her one bit for not giving you another chance. You don’t deserve one!"

Alex was appalled. He realized that what he did to Jasey was wrong, but he thought his best friend would always have his back. Now realizing that Rian was against him, his face twisted in rage.

"You STUPID JUDGEMENTAL TRAITOR! How DARE you kick me when I’m down! "
"You are so selfish Alex. You don’t care about anyone but yourself, and you want me to support you? Fuck off! I don’t even want to be around you right now!"

"I know what I did was wrong, and I would expect for Jasey to be mad at me. Maybe I don’t deserve a second chance. But I definitely did deserve my best friend to have my back. I can’t BELIEVE that you are treating me this way, Rian. You were NEVER a friend to me!"

And with that, Alex slammed his fist into the wall as hard as he could, punching a hole in it, stormed out of the apartment, and just took off in a random direction. As he was running, the tears were now streaming down his face. Not only would Jasey never forgive him, but now even his best friend had betrayed him right when he needed him the most. Not only that, but both Jasey and Rian were mad at him for things he did to people that they don’t even know. In other words, they JUDGED him. That really made him angry. The more he thought about it, the more his anger grew. He had no one, because of judgementality. Looks like Alex Gaskarth was at an all-time low.

Alex thought about a quote from a horror movie he had seen about army soldiers battling an evil force. He could not remember what the name was, but in the movie, a man saw another man crying and said to him "No matter how bad things get, there’s always time for another joint!" and gave him a cigarette. Even though he didn’t smoke, sometimes when Alex felt down he would think about this and pretend to be smoking, and laugh to himself.

He and Rian had not spoken for about a week and a half now. Luckily Jack and Zack didn’t like drama, so they tried not to get involved. He heard Zack ask Rian, "so, when are you two going to, you know…"

"Probably never. Alex has crossed the line this time, using a girl like that, not to mention blaming me for us not being friends now-"

"But it’s YOUR fault that we’re not friends. You BETRAYED me!" Alex suddenly screamed at Rian.

"It’s okay Alex, you guys will make up, I will see to it, I promise." Jack said to Alex as he pulled him into the bedroom so as to avoid further confrontation between Alex and Rian.

"You’ll do that for me?" Alex asked.

"Of course, what are friends for?" Jack said.

"At least someone here is a true friend" Alex laughed bitterly. They hugged.

Even though he and Rian were still mad at each other, Alex had been able to get along well with Jack and Zack. This made him feel better to some degree. He also found out that the producers liked their video shoot despite the awkwardness of Alex having to do a video with someone with whom he had had a big fight with less than twelve hours prior. It was going to be a good day, and today Alex had time to relax. Since Rian was at the apartment today, Alex decided to go out after sleeping a little longer than he normally would. He grabbed a bite to eat, then went to the CD store to check out the competition. He smiled seeing all the All Time Low CDs there. He sometimes listened to other bands’ music though, such as Boys Like Girls, Every Avenue, and Hit the Lights. All Time Low had never had the opportunity to go on tour with any of those bands, but he did enjoy their music. He had picked up one CD from each of those bands, and was just getting ready to check out with the three CDs when he heard a familiar voice mocking him.

"Hey loser. What is a dickhead like you doing here?" He turned and saw Jasey strolling into the store.
"Leave me alone, Jasey." Alex had remembered what she said. I’m not leaving you just for what you did to me, it’s also for what you did to them! She had judged him, and Alex was angry at her for that. He checked out with his CDs and got ready to leave.

"Later asshole!" Jasey spat. Alex turned and flipped his middle finger at her. He started to walk away. The next thing he knew his arm was violently grabbed and Jasey had his arm in a death grip.

"You think you can just do that to me and walk away, you bastard?"

"I could understand you being mad at me for what I did to you, but why would you be mad at me for stuff I did to other people? You don’t even KNOW them!"

"So you think I should just turn a blind eye to all the girls that you’ve hurt? Never!"

"You STUPID JUDGEMENTAL person! You should be minding your own fucking business and stop judging me because you don’t fucking know me and you don’t know why I do what I do, so fuck off!" Alex jerked his arm away violently and began walking away.

But a random guy got in front of him, two more men catching up to him. In other words, three guys jumped in front of Alex. One of them said, "I don’t care who you are. You don’t talk to any female that way no matter what she did! Now you better apologize or I’ll-"

Before he could finish his threat, Alex punched him in the face and busted his lip, then shoved him backwards into his two friends, and all three guys fell down like dominoes as Alex walked away before he really lost it. What the fuck was that guy’s problem saying that shit to him? Alex wanted to really hurt those guys, that’s how mad he was.

Rian had heard about Alex’s fight with Jasey and was going to have it out with Alex once he got back, but Jack convinced Rian to leave Alex alone while he calmed down. Alex was still reeling about how Rian had judged and betrayed him. That night Jack and Alex had a nice talk.

"Look Alex, I know you’re pissed at Rian but do you really have to be so mean to him?"

"You’re on his side now?" Alex asked now fearing that Jack would betray him as well.

"It’s not that, but if you two want to be friends again, you will both need to learn to forgive each other. And I KNOW you both want to be friends again."

"I’ll try, but he had better be working just as hard to get along with me or the deal’s off."
"With any luck, Zack has already convinced him." Alex had to appreciate how good of a friend Jack was and hope that soon Rian could be good friends with him too.

Three nights later Alex, Jack, and Zack were sitting in their apartment. Rian had gone out for a walk, as he usually did. Today he would meet up with his girlfriend, enjoy a nice and quiet evening in the park, then return home. It just so happened that he had run into an old female classmate of his, which he had texted Jack about as soon as she had left him. However, he normally would have been back by now.

"What’s taking Rian so long?" Jack asked.

"Maybe someone should go check on him?" said Zack.

"Alex this would be a good time to show how you’re trying to get along with Rian by being the one who goes and checks on him." Jack said. Alex didn’t argue; he brandished his jacket and set out to look for Rian.

Alex thought that he might just end up getting into another fight with Rian by doing this, but he agreed anyway. Alex began to hear voices. As they got clearer, Alex began to fill with rage.

"I saw you kiss one girl, tell her you would see her tomorrow, and then hug another! I’m supposed to believe that the second one was just your friend? I’ll teach you a lesson about two timing!" Alex rounded the corner just in time to see Rian being punched by one of the very same guys he had ran into during the fight with Jasey. Two guys were holding him while a third administered the blows.

Alex now understood that the guys were judging Rian when they didn’t even have their facts straight. Rian had a girlfriend, Alex knew, but he didn’t know much about who his friends were outside the band. Regardless, Alex wouldn’t stand for this.

"Get the fuck off of him or I’ll make what I did to you earlier look like a small poke!" Alex shouted running up to the group.

Alex left hooked the guy who had just punched Rian, then quickly administered an elbow strike to the arm that was holding Rian. The guy who had taken the left hook was out cold. After Rian was free, he and Alex took down the other two thug-like men.

As they were walking home Rian asked a question. "Why did you help me out back there? I thought you were mad at me."

"Because that’s what friends do." Alex replied.

"I’m sorry Alex. I should have never judged you the way I did. I didn’t realize how wrong that was. I thought I was doing the right thing, but when those guys back there did it to me I just KNEW they were wrong. Even if what you did was bad, I should have supported you when you needed me instead of turning on you. I hope you can accept my apology."

"It’s ok. All that matters now is that we’re friends again." They shook hands.

"From now on you can do whatever you want and I won’t judge you." Rian said. "Within reason, that is," he quickly added.

"Deal." Alex smiled, knowing that All Time Low had survived their all-time low.

"However I still stand by my statement about you not deserving another chance with Jasey Rae." Rian said.

"What?"

"You deserve someone better Alex, someone who won’t judge you."

"I’m sure I’ll find her soon." And from then on All Time Low was judgment free. (within reason, that is)