“The neighbors have finally moved in!”

That joyful exclamation could only come from Victoria’s mom, who was more than pleased to finally have another friend, being the social butterfly she was. “Thought no one would ever take that house,” Victoria muttered as she flipped through pages of her book and sitting on her bed.

“Speaking of moving, you’ll be doing just that from this place in your room when we invite them over for dinner tomorrow.” She said, tapping Victoria’s shoe as she left the room.

The book immediately fell to Victoria’s lap. “Excuse me?” Her mom looked back at her, seeing her sit up surprisingly. “I don’t recall me agreeing to this.”

“Give me attitude like that again, and you won’t recall anything from the last two weeks.” She pointed a finger at the teenager, causing Victoria to scoff. “And I want to make a good impression on the family. So dress somewhat nice.”

“Whatever,” Victoria rolled her eyes.

“Victoria―”

“I wasn’t giving attitude!” She put her hands up in defense and continued to read her book.

The next night, Victoria tried her best to fulfill her mother’s orders. Although the only nice piece of clothing she owned was a comfy knit blue sweater her grandmother bought her from H&M a couple years back. It still surprisingly fit, and she paired it with a pair of dark skinny jeans, Converse, and her favorite guitar pick necklace. “This is safe,” she said to herself as she checked the mirror.

Even throughout her dread to go to this, Victoria felt somewhat excited to see the boy across the street again. What did his voice sound like? Was he taller than her? Where did he come from? Better question: what kind of music did he like? Even if the guy was a total dick, they could at least bond over similar music tastes … somehow.

It was when she arrived down stairs that her mom explained the plans had changed and they were eating over the neighbor’s house, causing Victoria to argue about how she hated that house and the smell and didn’t want to be reminded of Mr. Ray, of which her mother retorted how Victoria never cared for the old couple anyways. It ended with Victoria’s mom ushering Victoria forward as the whole family walked across the street and knocked on the neighbor’s door. The door flew open to reveal the couple Victoria had seen yesterday and welcoming them with actual British accents. These people were from the UK?

“I even brought a plate of my special peanut butter cookies for you.” Victoria’s mom smiled warmly.

Victoria just stared at her mom with her usual confused expression. “Really, mom?” She muttered, causing a snicker to reach her ears in the background of the house. She turned, spotting the boy behind his parents as they ushered her family inside. As soon as Victoria’s family’s feet hit the ground of the house, the boy’s smile vanished and was replaced by a frown.

The dinner itself went by smoothly―for the parents at least. Victoria sat next to her dad, right across from the boy. He kept quiet the whole time, only giving a few nods when his parents gestured to him. I mean, Victoria did the same, but she did give the occasional fake smile as well.

“Where are you all from anyways?” Victoria’s father asked, finishing off the meatloaf on his plate.

Mrs. Gaskarth―whom Victoria finally learned the name of―smiled. “Well, we moved from our home of Essex when Alex was just 7, but moved to America because of the boosting economy.”

Alex, Victoria thought, such an ordinary first name for such an interesting last name.

“And look at the economy now,” Victoria’s mom laughed her usual loud chuckle, causing Victoria to sigh. “Have you guys always been living here or just moved?”

“Actually, we were on the other side of town while Alex was attending a nice private school. But he mentioned how he wanted to attend public high school for his senior year, and we decided that having him attend there was a nice choice.” Mrs. Gaskarth beamed at her husband. “He just doesn’t know how to get there from our new house.”

“Oh! Victoria can show him the way, she walks to school every day.” Victoria’s mom grinned.

Victoria looked up. “Um, yeah. I guess so.” She caught Alex’s eyes on her and she quickly looked back down at her plate.

“Can I be excused?” Alex suddenly piped up, causing everyone to stare at him with surprise.

“Of course, kiddo,” Mr. Gaskarth nodded with a smile.

Alex sighed at the name, turning his attention to Victoria, who sat timidly in her seat. “Wanna join?”

She looked at her parents, who waved their hands for her to venture off. “Sure,” she shrugged her shoulders. Her calm state disguised her nerves pretty well.

He didn’t even wait for her as he headed for his room across the hall. She followed quickly behind, almost being hit with the door in her face. She slowly shut the door behind her as she watched him lay down on his bed and sigh into his hands.

“I know a guy who can help you with your anger issues if you need it.” She spoke out.

He sat up with a confused look. “What?”

“I get really angry too sometimes.”

“I don’t have anger issues.” He scrunched his thick eyebrows together.

“Oh,” she cleared her throat. Smart move, she thought to herself. She walked about his room, her eyes catching an Incubus poster. “You like Incubus?” She turned around to him, surprised he was watching her as she was walking around.

“Yeah, been listening since I was a tot.” He smiled for the first time since she arrived. She noticed the way his dimples sunk into his cheeks, and to her surprise, she found herself smiling too.

She noticed she was staring longer than usual. “They’re pretty rad. I saw them live once.” She laughed a little.

His eyes lit up, making her a bit surprised. “Are you fucking joking?”

“Do I look like I kid?” She chuckled.

“That’s it, you’re probably going to be my first wife.” As soon as the words escaped his mouth, they both stepped a bit back, becoming uncomfortable. “I mean―”

“Well,” she patted her sides, trying to create less tension, “isn’t it just dandy that I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Single?” He seemed almost surprised, but that could have just been Victoria’s mind twisting things out of context.

“And not ready to mingle,” she muttered, causing utter silence from him.

He soon responded, “Same.” After a pause, he said, “Girlfriend cheated.”

“The dreaded cheating scandal in a private school,” Victoria replied in a sing-song voice. He laughed as she spotted something below the Incubus poster: a notebook with the words “lyrics” written over the cover. “You write songs?” She grabbed it and started to flip through the pages full of scribbled lyrics in blue pen.

“Um―well―uh―only a little, really―” He stuttered over his words and quickly snatched the notebook away from her.

“Hey!” She snapped.

“You had enough of that.”

“No, I didn’t.” She narrowed her eyes. “Besides, those lyrics were good. Are you in a band or something?”

“Nah …” When he caught her frowning, he quickly added in, “But I plan on creating one possibly. Maybe at this new school.”

She grabbed the notebook from his hands and started reading the pages again. “You really should, or at least consider a career in music.”

“If I do, I’ll be sure to invite you to the first practice.” He smiled.

She couldn’t believe it. Was Victoria really going to go outside and hang out with people sometime? That was a shock even to herself. She anxiously hoped he wasn’t just pretending and would actually create a band. She really liked Alex, and she most certainly would get off her lazy ass to hang out with him any day.

Notes

Hope you guys like it!
NOTE: Jack once said an in interview how Alex hated Blink 182 and looked like an "Incubus and Bob Marley kid" xD
Rock on \m/ :D