Alex POV:

Ashley had gone back to her old behavior. And honestly, I don't know which one was worse. Having fun but getting totally wasted or just sitting at home, only going outside for work. After the fight we'd had Sunday, she'd spent the rest of the day at Sam's house. She'd also spent the night there and the next morning they'd gone to their work together. I knew all of that because Sam had called me on Monday. Everyone was worried about her and more people were telling me that she should see a therapist or something, but I just couldn't bring up the subject.

There had one thing changed, though. When she'd come back home on Monday after work, she'd apologised for her behavior at Noah's party and she had even eaten something. She seemed to have gotten a bit better, so I decided to wait some more before talking with her about therapy. But there was something else bothering me. Matt wanted to go on tour again and so did the other guys. I wanted to go, too. It had been more than 3 months and I wanted to go back to my old life. I just wanted to start touring again, be with my friends, playing shows, meeting fans.. But I couldn't leave Ashley alone, she wasn't ready to be alone yet. While thinking about all this, my phone buzzed and I saw that I had 1 new message.

From: Jack

Hey dude, can you come over? I'm booooored as fuck.

I laughed at his message and replied.

To: Jack

I'll be there in 10.

It was Wednesday afternoon and Ashley was sleeping upstairs, so I wrote a small note to tell her I was with Jack. I grabbed my car keys and jacket and walked to the car. It would be just like old times, a Wednesday afternoon chilling with my best friend.

"Hey bro." Jack hugged me and I followed him into the living room. "Emily not here?" I asked. "Nope, she's coming over tonight." he smiled. "You're lucky she forgave you, you know." "I know." he sighed. "Don't lose her again." I told him. "I won't." he smiled and picked up the remote. He was going through all the channels and decided to just watch MTV. "Want something to drink?" he asked and stood up. "Yeah." I answered. He walked into the kitchen and came back with a bowl of chips and two beers. He handed me one and I took a sip. "So, how is your relationship?" he suddenly asked. "She's doing a little better, I think." I said. "Dude, you're kidding right? A little better? It's been fucking 3 months and she still doesn't come outside, unless it's for work. I'm sorry dude, but she's a wreck. Last time I saw her, she was almost a walking skeleton!" He drank from his beer and looked at the television. "I'll talk to her.." I mumbled. "Yeah, you should. I'm sorry Alex, but she needs professional help or something. And by the way, we need to go on tour. It's been too long. I can see you want it, too, you just can't because of Ashley." He was right. There was nothing else I could do, I had to face the facts. Ashley needed help.

When I got home, a fun and unexpected surprise was waiting for me. "Welcome home." Ashley smiled at me and kissed my cheek. "Well hello there." I answered with a smile. "I cooked dinner for us." she said and took my hand, leading me to the kitchen. "Steak, vegetables and mashed potatoes." She announced as she gestured for me to sit down. "This looks delicious." I said as she filled my glass with red wine. "Thank you." She said and sat down across from me.

I studied her carefully as she ate. What happened in the few hours that I had been gone? I decided not to worry about it. I shouldn't complain, she'd finally done something except for laying in bed all day long and she ate again. "That was so good." I told her when I'd finished. "I did my best." she answered with a smile.

After we'd done the dishes together, I sat down in the couch and watched some channel about sports. I did that every night, because Ashley would always immediately go back to bed after dinner. But that night, she surprised me. "Move your ass, Gaskarth. Are we really watching this?" she asked and sat down next to me in the couch. I raised my eyebrow at her. "Don't you wanna go to bed?" I asked. "I thought we could watch a movie together." she shrugged. "Okay, which one do you want to watch?" I couldn't believe this was actually happening. "The Notebook." she smiled. "Then we'll watch 'The Notebook'." I put my arm around her and pulled her closer to me. Maybe it wasn't necessary to talk to her tonight.