Maybe It's Not My Weekend, But It's Gonna Be My Year

Summer’s POV
I looked at Zack and Rian as they left to go to sleep. Something was up with Zack, but what would it be? I had no idea. He’s been acting strange all day. It made me sad, since I always had a great time with Zack and I was looking forward to it. I intended to ask Zack what was going on tomorrow.

I tried to follow the conversation Alex, Jack, Donna, Pete, Nate and Matt were having, but I couldn’t focus. My mind was somewhere else. With Zack. I woke up from my thoughts when I heard my phone buzz. I took it out of my bag and saw that I had a new text. I unlocked my phone. The new text was from Luke, my boyfriend. I opened it.

Hey baby, how are you? I miss you! Are you sick of those guys already? Love you x Luke

I rolled my eyes. Luke didn’t like Alex, Jack, Zack and Rian. He thought they were weird and he didn’t get why I was friends with them. It annoyed me. He didn’t even know them. I had only been with Luke for a couple of weeks and he hadn’t even met the guys. I once watched Straight To DVD with him because I was proud of my friends and I wanted to show that to Luke. He soon turned it off, because he thought they were weird and inappropriate. I couldn’t have been more offended. I did love Luke though. He was just very different from me. I was another version of myself when I was with him. I would hardly curse when he was around. The reason why I hadn’t introduced Luke to the band is because they wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t understand what I liked about Luke. He’s like the opposite of Alex. They would think he was lame and Luke thinks they’re weird. Also, I wouldn’t know how I’m supposed to act when I would be with all of them. The guys would make fun of the way I acted around Luke, and Luke would be disgusted by the way I acted around the guys. But I did love him. He made me feel special, and if a guy makes me feel special, I can’t resist him. Therefore I pressed ‘reply’ and started typing.

Hey babe, I’m fine, what about you? I’ll just ignore that nasty comment about my friends. I miss you too xxx love you

I send the text.

‘Who was that?’ Jack asked me curiously.
‘My boyfriend’ I replied.
‘Oh yeah, you had a boyfriend! Tell me more about him’ he said, sounding like a girl who wanted to hear some juicy gossips.
‘Well… His name is Luke’ I started. ‘He’s 23 and he lives in Baltimore. We’ve been together for 6 weeks’
‘He lives in Baltimore and you’ve been together for 6 weeks? Why didn’t we meet him?’ Alex interfered.
‘Because I don’t think you would like him’ I replied honestly. ‘He’s not like you, you know. He doesn’t like your kind of humor, nor your music. I made him watch Straight To DVD once and he turned it off after 10 minutes’
‘What!’ Alex exclaimed. ‘How could you possibly be with a guy like that?’ He looked confused.
‘He makes me feel special’ I replied.
‘So what?’ Alex asked. ‘More guys can do that. This guy just sounds like an idiot’
‘Don’t talk about him like that, Alex. I have never complained about your girlfriends, have I? And name one guy who can make me feel special like that’
Alex opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but then he shut it again.
‘That’s what I thought’ I said. ‘Girls like to feel special, and if a guy can make them feel special, it’s hard to resist’
‘That’s very true’ Donna agreed with her.
Jack looked at Donna. His crush on her was so obvious.
Alex didn’t reply to that, probably because he didn’t know what to say, but I saw that he wasn’t happy about my choice of boyfriends. He had never been. Frankly, I didn’t care. I loved him, but I wouldn’t let him keep me from being happy. It’s not like I’m his property or something.

Alex’s POV
I couldn’t believe this. This was not like Summer at all. Only a couple of months ago she would just hate everyone who didn’t like All Time Low.. Not that that was necessary, but I was shocked by this sudden change. So shocked that I had almost told her how Zack felt about her. Zack would be a much better boyfriend for her. He wouldn’t try to change her. He has loved her for years. I had to do something about this, and I would need Zack’s help. Whatever I was going to do, I knew it would piss Summer off, and she would probably have the right to be pissed. She was right, she never complained about any of my girlfriends, even though I figured she didn’t like some of them… Who am I kidding, she didn’t like most of them. But she would thank me later. I wouldn’t let some jerk ruin my amazing best friend. She was perfect and no one should ever ask her to change, let alone make her change.
‘You shouldn’t be with someone who doesn’t except you for who you are, Sum’ I tried.
‘Alex, he doesn’t try to change me!’ She defended Luke. ‘He just doesn’t like you! Is that so hard to imagine for you?!’
I couldn’t believe she had just said that. It hurt.
‘If that’s how you feel, fine! Go be with that stupid son of a bitch’ I yelled at her. I upped.
‘Alex, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that…’ she said.
‘Yes, you did’ I yelled angrily. ‘Get out!’
‘Alex, you can’t…’ Jack started.
‘Yes I can! I asked her to come along, so I can tell her to leave’ I yelled at Jack.
Everyone in the room looked at me in shock. Even Zack and Rian, woken by the noise of my yelling, came to see what was going on.
‘Alex, please just calm down and think before you do something stupid’ Jack tried to calm me down.
‘You should tell her that’ I said, pointing at Summer who was about to start crying. I hadn’t seen her cry often.
‘Alex, please! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that! I was just angry and it came out before I realized it. Please don’t yell at me’ she said with tears in her eyes and a scared expression on her face.
I calmed down a little. Well, I managed to control my anger.
‘Fine’ I said. ‘Then I will leave’ I turned around and started walking towards the door, pushing Rian and Zack who tried to stop me aside.
‘Alex, please don’t!’ I heard Summer cry desperately, but I made my decision and kept on walking.

I opened the door of the bus and walked out. Luckily, it wasn’t cold outside. I was only wearing a t-shirt. I looked around. I had no idea where I was, so I didn’t know where to go. I just chose a direction and started walking. I kept on walking, until I had found a park. I searched for a bench and sat down on it. What was I going to do?

Jack’s POV
I was shocked when Alex just walked out. Summer upped to follow him, but I stopped her.
‘Let me’ I said. I walked to the door and opened it. I looked around but didn’t see Alex anywhere. I was gonna have to search for him.
‘I don’t see him anywhere…’ I said to everyone in the bus.
‘We have to go find him’ Rian said. The others agreed. Rian and Zack changed into the clothes they had worn that day quickly. We all went outside.
‘I’ll get the crew members to help us find him’ Zack said.
I nodded and Zack went inside the venue. A few minutes later he came back with Matt Flyzik, Matt Colussy, Danny Kurily, Alex Grieco, Vinny Vegas, Ian Planet, Jeff Maker and Evan Kirkendall.
We gathered quickly and I explained what happened.
‘I suggest we go search in couples. He’s walking so he can’t be far. Unfortunately we don’t have any cars, so we’ll have to be fast if we want to find him.’ I said. ‘Make some couples quickly’
When everybody had found a partner, we all went separate ways. I went with Summer, who was still very upset.
‘We’ll find him’ I said, trying to comfort her. It wasn’t really working though.
We walked around the town, but we didn’t find anything. I took my phone out of my pocket, and I tried to call Alex. Summer had tried that already but maybe he would pick up if I called. I had no such luck. His phoned went straight to voicemail. He turned it off. I was worried about my best friend. It’s not that he couldn’t take care of himself, but I knew how much Summer meant to him and fighting with her killed him inside, no matter how angry he was. We had to find him before he would do something stupid. Where would Alex go? He didn’t know his way around here. He probably just went somewhere, and even if he wanted, he wouldn’t know how to return to the venue. Summer and I kept on walking, not saying a word. She was too upset to say a word, and I didn’t know what to say to comfort her. I felt bad for her. Alex overreacted. He knew she didn’t mean it like that. I texted Rian, Matt Flyzik, Vinny, Matt Colussy and Jeff if they had found him yet. I didn’t have the numbers of Donna, Pete, Nate or Matt, which was kind of stupid now that I thought about it. Well, how am I supposed to think straight if my best friend is missing? I looked at Summer who looked devastated, and wondered why Alex had to do that to her… Or to me… I may not look devastated like her, but I sure was worried. Alex might be a grown man, but we all knew he couldn’t take care of himself. We kept on walking, but I had no idea where we were or where we were headed.

Rian’s POV
I walked through the streets of Atlanta quietly with Zack by my side. I really hoped we would find Alex. I was worried and by the look on Zack’s face I could tell so was he. I got a text from Jack asking if we had found Alex yet. I replied with ‘no’.
‘Who was it?’ Zack asked.
‘Jack’ I replied. ‘He asked if we had found him yet’
I looked at Zack. He looked horrible. Very tired and sad.
‘If you need to talk, this is the time. It’s not like we have anything better to do’ I told him.
‘What’s there to say?’ he asked. ‘I have pretty much told you everything already.’
‘Have you figured out what you’re going to do yet?’ I asked him.
He shook his head. ‘No I haven’t… Well, I guess I’ll go talk to her tomorrow. At least, if we find Alex. If not, I can’t focus on this. But I might as well tell her’
I thought about the conversation between Alex and Summer I had just heard since I wasn’t asleep yet.
‘Did you hear the conversation she and Alex were having?’ I asked him.
He nodded.
‘Yes… I just can’t picture Summer with a guy like that. We always liked her boyfriends… And she has always introduced them to us. The fact that she didn’t introduce this guy to us, says enough to me’.
I nodded. ‘I’m sorry dude… I can’t believe she chose that guy over you’
‘She didn’t really choose him over me’ Zack disagreed. ‘She just doesn’t see me as an option.’
‘That’s possible. Did you notice Alex almost told her though?’ I asked him, referring to Alex starting to talk after Summer asked him if he knew another guy that would make her feel special and suddenly shutting up.
Zack nodded.
‘Yeah I did… I wouldn’t have mind it though… He would just do what I didn’t dare to do. But I guess that wouldn’t have been fair. I…’
I wasn’t really listening. I saw a figure on a park bench that looked very familiar to me.
‘Isn’t that Alex?’ I interrupted Zack, and I pointed at the bench.
Zack looked in the direction I was pointing at. ‘It could be him’ he said.
We walked towards the bench.
‘Alex?’ I asked. The figure on the bench turned around quickly, startled of my voice.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked as we approached.
‘Searching for you, of course’ Zack replied, while I texted everyone whose number I had.
I could tell Alex had been crying.
‘We should go back’ I said slowly.
‘Is Summer gone yet?’ he asked bitterly.
‘Come on dude, we all know you don’t want her to leave. You love that girl.’ I said.
‘No, Zack loves her, and she chooses some stupid jerk who wants to change her over him’
I sat down next to Alex.
‘Yes, but you love her too. You know I’m right. And you’re more upset about the fact that you’re fighting with her than about the fact that she’s dating some stupid idiot’ I said.
Alex didn’t reply, knowing I was right. He got up, and looked at Zack.
‘She should’ve chosen you, man… You’re the only one I want her to be with’ Alex told Zack.
‘Thanks man… That means a lot to me’ Zack replied with a sad smile.
‘So, how are we gonna get back to the venue?’ I asked them.
‘Let’s just walk back to where we came from’ Zack suggested.
We did as he said, and eventually things started to look familiar.
‘Dude, could you please not go this far next time?’ Zack asked Alex.
‘We’re almost there’ he replied.
He was right. As soon as we turned the corner, we could see the venue. We walked onto the parking lot, to the bus, where everyone was waiting already.
‘What am I supposed to say to her?’ Alex asked skeptical.
‘Just tell her that you’re sorry and that you love her and that you don’t want to fight with her’ Zack said as we got closer.
‘Yeah, and that you think she should be with Zack’ I joked.
We were now standing in front of them. Summer obviously didn’t know what to do. I pushed Alex towards her. He walked up to her and hugged her.
‘I’m sorry, Sum’ he spoke softly. ‘I don’t want to fight with you. I may not like this guy but it’s none of my business, and I overreacted. You know I love you right?’
Summer looked up to him, and nodded. ‘I know’
‘Great, now let’s go to bed’ Jack said, ruining the moment.

Notes