The Good Life

Alex

I got up at five am like I did every Monday but I called a sub to take over my classes for today. I wasn't going to go to work. I was going to surprise Rian at his job instead. I needed to talk to him and make sure he was okay. I tried calling him but every time it went straight to his voicemail meaning he probably blocked my number. I even tried calling from Jack's phone too, but it was also blocked. He probably knew I would try calling from Jack's too. It wasn't like Rian to hold a grudge. Usually he would be angry for a few hours maybe a day and then forgive the person, but that wasn't the case this time.

I got out of bed and went to throw something on. I knew Rian had to be at work at six am so I was planning on getting there a little after that so I could meet him in his office. I've never been inside the building before so I didn't know how it was set up.

Once I was dressed and kissed Jack, who was still sleeping, I went into the kitchen for coffee and Oli was there. I forgot he had to go to work too, but he didn't have to be at work until seven.

"Why are you up this early?" I asked him.

"I have to be at work at seven." He answered.

"Exactly so why are you up at so early?"

"The studio isn't down the street. It's an hour drive from your house and forty-five from mine."

"Oh."

"Why are you dressed like that? You can't wear jeans to work can you?" He asked.

"No but I'm not going to work. I'm gonna go visit Rian at his job." I said.

"Good luck with that." He snickered and left.

I rolled my eyes and left out behind him. Rian's job was kind of far off too.

I made it at around six-ten which was perfect because Rian was there too. The parking lot was kind of full but I still saw his car. I parked and walked to the building.

The smell of coffee from a café hit me as I walked in. I was going to stop and buy Rian some coffee but knowing him he probably already had two cups by now. Instead I walked to the help desk to see if they could tell me how to get to Rian. He was a manger of this insurance company so I knew he had to have his own office.

"Hi, welcome to Turbine! How can I help you?" The info guy asked.

"Hi, I'm looking for Rian Dawson's office." I said.

"Oh okay May I have your name?" He said politely looking down at a piece of paper.

"Alex Gaskarth."

He looked at a list before saying, "I'm sorry Mr. Gaskarth. Unfortunately you're on a list of people Mr. Dawson prohibited from visiting."

"You're not serious." I said.

"I am." He said with a straight face.

"Dammit Rian." I whispered to myself. "Uh can you tell me who else is on that list?" Maybe I could convince Jack or May to come do my dirty work for me.

"Yeah he told me to tell you regardless of if any of you asked or not so you all wouldn't waste your time anymore." He said and I rolled my eyes. "Let's see there's an Oliver Sykes in big red letters and next to his name says 'under no circumstances'. There's you and Cassadee Pope-Dawson. He made an exception for a Jack Barakat, Austin Carlilie, and Isabella Barakat-Gaskarth as long as they're promise they're not here to talk about you, Oliver, or Cassadee." He read off the list.

I sighed annoying not caring about that stupid list anymore. "Okay well I'm going in there anyways so tell me where his office is." I demanded.

"He mentioned that you and Oliver might be unwilling to listen so I'm sorry about this... Security!!" He yelled.

I was confused until I saw a big muscly guy in a security uniform came up to me. I didn't stand a chance against this guy.

"Let's go" he said in a deep voice.

"I'm not going anywhere until I speak to Rian." I blew him off. The next thing I know I was being lifted off the ground and pulled towards the door.

"Hey put me down!" I yelled, making a scene in front of all the workers there. I saw Rian come out of one of the offices in the back. "Rian! Rian! Tell him it's okay! That I'm okay!" I yelled to him. The security guard stopped and waited for Rian's answer.

"Keep going Frank." He said and security guard continued to walk me to the door.

"Rian wait! It's about Izzy!" I said desperately. I needed to get Rian to stop him.

"Wait Frank." Rian said. "Put him down."

He dropped me to the floor. I made sure I didn't break any bones before getting up and following Rian to his office.

"What is it?" He said sternly.

"She's pregnant." I said. I know this isn't why I came, but I needed him to let me in.

"What?? How?"

"Well there's this thing called sex and-"

"I'm going to get Frank back in here." He said annoyed.

"No no I'm sorry. Vicki and Emilio's son got her pregnant." I said.

"She's still a little girl." He sighed.

"I know it's really fucked up."

"Damn I'll have to call her when she gets out of school." He told himself. "Well was that all?"

"Rian, please just here me out." I started and he nodded as he pressed a red button on his office phone. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you about what happened with Oli and Cass. I swear I was going to the day we went to try on our tuxes but you were so happy and I didn't want to be the one to ruin your wedding. But they were both drunk I promise it was just a kiss and it meant nothing to either of them. Cass just had cold feet and she panicked. I honestly didn't think it was a big deal. It was just like a simple friendly kiss." I was kind of lying. If I remembered correctly, they fully made out but Rian didn't need to know that.

"Okay well thank you for stopping by Alex. I'm sorry to hear about Izzy. Frank if you could kindly show Alex to the door." He said ignoring my whole speech.

"Sure thing, Mr. Dawson." I jumped as I felt Frank's hands on my shoulders. Then I was being pulled off my feet again. This time I didn't fight him. I let him carry me all the way to the door and put me down. I sadly walked to my car and drove home. Rian was seriously hurt and it was killing me to know I was part of the reason he felt that way.

When I walked into the house I saw Jack and Izzy sitting on the couch in the living room together. I wondered why Izzy wasn't at school today, but I wasn't going to ask. I hadn't talked to her since I found out she was pregnant mostly because I didn't know what to say. I felt so betrayed by her. I know she thought I was being mean when I told her she was allowed to see Vic, but I was trying to protect her from something like this happening. And I thought we were on the same page when she said she was over him, but she lied. I should have noticed by the way Vic always looked scared when he came around Jack and me. I just didn't know how to handle this whole situation so not speaking seemed like the best option.

"Hey why are you home so early?" Jack asked.

"I didn't go to work. I went to try and talk to Rian." I told him.

"How did that go?"

"Bad. He didn't want to listen to me. He's still pissed."

"Well of course, I could have told you he would have been." He said.

"Thanks for the support." I grumbled and he chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but he just needs more time. He and Hannah both do."

"I know." I said.

"Yeah, but I didn't make Izzy go to school today because of all the craziness that happened this weekend." He told me. I knew what he was doing. He was going to slowly try and make me talk to Izzy.

"Okay." I stated.

"Plus now that you're off we can spend quality family time together."

"I don't know about that, I have a few papers I should start grading." I lied and tried to get up.

"Alex, you were just complaining about Rian not listening to you so it's very hypocritical of you to do the same thing to Izzy." He raised an eyebrow at me and Izzy looked down.

"Fine. I'm listening." I sat back down.

"Go ahead Izzy." Jack said.

"Daddy, I know I let you and Papa down and I know an apology won't undo the disappointment. I just...really wish I would have listened to you two and avoided this whole problem, but now it's too late." Her voice became shaky.

I sighed, "I'm not going to say it's okay, because it's not. And disappointed isn't a strong enough word to describe my all of my feelings; try mad as hell. I literally cannot wrap my head around the idea of you going behind our backs to do something so stupid, Isabella. I gave you warning after warning but I guess I was just wasting my breath. And while you're here pregnant you know what Vic's going to be doing? He's going to go continue his dream of being a rock star. I mean really you are sixteen. You wanted to be a 'teenager that relied on her parents' for a few more years but in nine months that ends because you'll have a baby. You're going to have to grow up quickly, do you understand that?"

"Yes." She sniffled.

"Alex." Jack whispered to keep me from saying any more.

I got up and went to sit next to them on the couch. I laid Izzy's head on my shoulder.

"I love you, babe but you made a really dumb decision." I told her.

"I know." She sighed.

"But you're not alone."

Notes

I love all your passion for the story! Thank you for reading!