This World's An Ugly Place

"Angel Rose! Do you see that clock?" Ms. Wendy demanded as soon as I walked through the door. After my little outburst, we all ended up heading back to Sebastian's house - the place I considered my real home - and ate pizza and watched movies. Alex was slowly opening up more and more, but he still wasn't saying much. It was understandable, though, since it had only been a day. The only person he really talked to was me, which I couldn't help but be flattered by.

"Yes, and I see that we're not late," I pointed out, Alex walking into the home behind me.

"By two minutes!" she went on. "You know, you worry me so much with never being here. And now you're rubbing off on poor Alexander," she said, shaking her head.

Alex and I shared a look and a smile broke out on both our faces. "Look, we're sorry. I would say it wouldn't happen again, but, it probably will," I said honestly, kicking off my shoes. "But, we're past curfew, so..." I shrugged my shoulders and Ms. Wendy wagged a finger at me.

"And I hope you know that both Sebastian and I are upset with your grades," she spoke.

I let out a groan. "I know, I know. And it's only one grade: Mrs. Red's, but that's because she's a total jerk! Right?" I asked, turning towards Alex.

"Y-Yeah, total jerk," Alex repeated.

Ms. Wendy's face lit up into a bright smile now and Alex gave me a startled look. I shrugged it off before grabbing Alex's arm and lunging us both up the stairs. "We're going to bed, goodnight!" I shouted before disappearing into Alex's room.

"What was that all about?" he asked me as soon as we were settled in his room. I was looking over his CD collection once more and he was sitting on his bed.

"Those are probably, like, the first words you've said to her." I shrugged. "Ms. Wendy is very sentimental about stuff, so..." I trailed off, waving it away.

Alex sighed, leaning his back against the wall.

"Okay, my friend, you are about to have your eyes opened to a brand new world," I told him and I turned around. I held up my Guns N' Roses CD that I snagged from my house and walked over to his boom box. I popped open the CD compartment and placed the CD inside. "All right, this is their first album, it's called Appetite for Destruction."

"Sounds inviting," he said with a smirk.

The beginning of the first song began to play, which just so happened to be Welcome to the Jungle and I sat down on the bed beside him. "So, you're telling me you've never heard this stuff?"

"Well, I guess technically I've heard this song today," he said, gesturing towards the boom box. He was referring to my guitar playing earlier. "I recognize the riffs."

I nodded my head. "Very good, yeah. This is one of their best songs, and in my opinion, this is their best album. Nothing beats their first," I said, leaning back and enjoying the music. I let my eyes close and sighed. It was times like this that I missed my mom and dad the most. I remember my mom bopping around her bedroom singing along to their songs while she got ready for work. I remember my dad teaching Case how to play this song on guitar, back before I even thought about playing one myself.

The song faded as the next song began playing and I lazily opened my eyes only to see Alex watching my intently. Realizing he'd been cut, he looked away quickly and I could detect a slight pink growing in his cheeks, but I chose to ignore it.

"So, you play or what?" I asked, scooting closer to him and gesturing to the acoustic guitar beside him.

He shifted awkwardly under my gaze. "I, um, know a little bit. I'm actually better on electric, but this one used to be my uncle's and I wanted to keep it, so..."

I nodded my head. As curious as I was about his past, I wasn't going to ask him about it. When he was ready to talk, I was here. All I knew is that when people pushed to know about my past, I snapped, which is why I didn't exactly have a lot of friends in school. "Yeah, well, you want to show me a few chords?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I'm not ready," he nearly whispered, his eyes dropping their gaze from mine.

I bit down on my lip. "Yeah, I understand," I said quietly. The CD, again, changed and Night Train then came on.

A smile spread across my face. "Man, this song always makes me want to hop around," I said with a chuckle. Half the time when I was around Alex I was usually the one who did all the talking. "Sebastian and I would blast this whenever my mom would put it on at our house and then we'd hop from couch to couch."

A smirk crawled onto Alex's face. "You close with your mom?"

"Yeah, I was," I said, nostalgia growing on me. "She's actually the one who got me into the music. You'll probably not believe it, but Guns N' Roses is one of the reasons how my mom and dad met."

"Seriously?" Alex asked.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, they both worked in the same place before my dad opened the music store. My mom was the receptionist and read his last name, which was Rose, and the lead singer of Guns N' Roses' name is Axl Rose and she wanted to see if they were some how related. Unfortunately for her, they weren't, but, well, they ended up hitting it off."

Alex chuckled softly at that. "Wow. So if it wasn't for them you wouldn't even be here."

I smiled. "Nope, I guess not."

Alex sighed and looked down at his hands and I could tell his past was beginning to swallow him in so I hopped off the bed. His attention turned back to me and I crouched down next to the boom box and changed the song to Think About You.

"Here's another good one," I said, standing back up.

"I have a feeling every song on here is a 'good one' for you," he teased and I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"You got me there," I said, holding my hands up. "You dance?"

He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Come on, just answer the question," I said, a smile growing on my face.

"No, not really, I guess," he admitted.

"Well, today you're going to be," I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. I turned the music up louder just as the chorus came up and I held onto his hands. "Come on, just hop around to the beat! This music is easy to dance to," I said, beginning to move to the beat.

Alex was reluctant to follow my lead, though. "Won't we wake up the others?" he asked, referring to the loud music.

"That's why we should dance before they catch us," I said continuing on. "Come on!"

A smile slowly grew onto his face he finally gave way to my request. He was awkward about it at first, not really liking the idea, but before I knew it he was beginning to dance wilder than I was.

"That's what I'm talking about!" I said with a giggle.

As the song began to reach its ending, there was a loud knock on the door followed by Ms. Wendy's voice, "Angelica you turn down that music right this instant!"

I quickly did as she demanded and my eyes traveled up to Alex's and we both stifled our laughter until we heard her foot steps walking away. "I guess she's not a fan of your music," Alex mused, looking down at me. It was now that I realized my hands were still holding onto his and how close we were standing.

"I guess not," I said quietly. His smile dropped and his gaze suddenly became serious. "I, um, should probably actually get to bed," I said quickly, dropping his hands and walking towards the door. I couldn't let myself get too close with anyone else. "I'll see you tomorrow, you can keep the CD for now."

"Wait," Alex's voice stopped me as my hand rested on the door handle. I slowly turned around to look at the tall boy standing in the middle of the room now alone. "Please...stay?" he said quietly. "I can't sleep alone."

My eyes were suddenly filled with empathy for the poor boy. I slowly nodded my head before my hand tightened on the door handle. "Okay. I will."

Notes