There's A Ghost In This Room

When we arrived at my place, my mom’s car was already parked in the driveway. I turned to look at Alex, and saw that he seemed a bit nervous.
I nudged him in the arm, causing him to look up at me with that worried look on his face.
“Hey, she won't bite. It'll be fun!” I gave him an encouraging smile.
He just shrugged and blew out a huff of air, before opening the door to get out of the car.
We both walked to the front door, and when I pulled out my key, the door suddenly swung open; revealing my mother, with a huge grin smacked on her face.
“Hi, I'm Laura! You must be Bethany’s new friend!!” She excitedly greeted him, as if we were little kids having a play date.
“Hello, Ms. Waters!” Alex smiled and politely held out his hand for her to shake.
“Come on in! I'm working on dinner right now, but you kids can just hangout till then!” She grinned, before turning around and pacing back into the kitchen.
We walked in, and I turned to smile up at him.
“Well! Welcome to my home!” I joked, knowing that he's been here about a billion times.
“Wow, what a lovely place you have here!” He played along, causing me to laugh.
“Come on.” I grabbed his hand and we walked upstairs to my room.
He walked over and plopped down on my bed after kicking off his sneakers.
“Want music?” I asked, standing in front of my CD player.
“Umm…play Blink.” He answered.
“Any album preferences, or…?”
“Can't decide.”
“Greatest Hits, it is!” I giggled, pulling out the CD from my large stack of music.
“Yeah, it's good for that.” He chuckled.
I turned on All The Small Things, and laid down next to Alex on the bed.
“So..why were you so nervous earlier? Was it about meeting my mom?” I turned my head to look at him.
“Uh..yeah, I guess.” He shrugged; his face starting to redden.
“Why? You know my mom, she's always been chill. Well you know, when she's not..”
“Yeah, I know.” He nodded, understanding what I meant.
“Then…what? Why were you so nervous?”
“Because..maybe I know her, but she doesn't know me.”
“So…what does that mean? Is this a first impression kind of thing?”
“Kinda.. I've caused you guys all sorts of pain..I just..feel guilt? Yeah, I guess that's why.” He sighed, with a sad expression on his face.
“Hey..it's okay. We're okay. Maybe everything isn't perfect in my family, but it never was! We'll be okay, alright? It's not your fault. Okay?” I gave him a look of reassurance.
When I didn't get a response from him, I elbowed him in the arm.
“Okay, Alex??” I gave him a stern look.
“Okay.” He sighed.
“Good. Now sing with me.” I smiled, before beginning to sing the chorus of the song.
“Say it ain't so, I will not go!”
He laughed, and joined in with me.
“Turn the lights off, carry me home!”
We hopped off of the bed, and began dancing around while singing the “nanana” part.
After the song was over, we had a good laugh, and then just sat back down and enjoyed the rest of the music on the CD.

By the time my mom called us down for dinner, we had listened (and occasionally sang) through the whole album.
I heard Alex take a deep breath, but I could tell his nerves calmed down a bit after our whole Blink session.
We walked downstairs and took a seat at the table, after my mom finished setting up and took a seat herself.
“I heard the music blasting up there, did she force you to listen?” My mom joked to Alex, as he began twirling spaghetti noodles into his fork.
“Oh no, I actually love that band.” He chuckled.
“Oh wow, you two have something in common, eh? Perfect match!”
I started choking on my soda after she said that.
Alex instantly started blushing, and I did too, after I recovered from my coughing episode.
“Oh no no no! We're just really great friends, is all.” He reassured her.
“Mhmm..” My mom raised her eyebrow at him and smirked.
“No, he's serious, Mom! Nothing is going on!” I gave her a look.
She just shrugged, and kept that smug look on her face.
“So, where did you two meet?” She continued.
I met him in my backyard, but that would be too weird to say.
“Oh uh, I met her somewhere in the neighborhood, a long time ago when I used to live here.” Alex smiled at her.
Nice save.
“A long time ago? Well, how long ago was it??”
“Um…a few years ago. We were just kids back then.”
Well, that's not a lie.
“Wait, so… mean to tell me that you've known this boy since you were little, and you've never told me?” My mom looked at me in bewilderment.
“Well, in my defense, I actually did try to tell you.” I retorted.
“Wait, what did you say your name was, again?” She turned back to Alex.
“Oh, I'm sorry! My name is Alex. Alex Gaskarth.”
Her eyes narrowed in confusion, and her mouth fell open.
She slowly turned her head to look at me in confusion.
“That sounds really..familiar. I haven't heard that name since…”
“Since Dad?” I finished her sentence for her.
She stared at me in an even bigger shock than before. Then, she turned back to Alex, who looked like he was going to shit his pants.
“Wait so…YOU’RE the little Alex boy that Bethany always told us about?!”
He nervously cleared his throat.
“Uhm..yeah. Yeah, that was me.” He slowly answered her.
“But..but she would always try to introduce you but you were never even there! What in the hell??” She just got more and more bewildered.
“Oh um, sorry. I was just a really shy kid, I guess. I was really dumb, I apologize.” He gave her a small smile that she failed to return.
She just stared at him intensely, and I could practically see him shrinking smaller and smaller.
“Uh..Mom?” I snapped her out of her spell, and she just blinked at him a few times before looking down at her meal.
“Well it seems I'm not that hungry, tonight. I'll just leave you two to talk and such.” She said, before getting up and leaving to go upstairs.
This left an awkward atmosphere between Alex and I, at the table.
He was frowning down at his hand, which was fumbling with the end of his fork.
I was beyond pissed at my mom for freaking out on him, like that. I knew that after she excused herself to go to bed, there was no point in trying to talk to her tonight. We would definitely have some discussing to do tomorrow, though.
“Alex..”
“No, save it.” He cut me off, shaking his head.
“What?” I furrowed my brows at him.
“I don't need to hear your bullshit about how everything will be okay and how this isn't my fault, because it is!” He snapped.
“But Alex…she's just overreacting! Everything's fine! She's just stuck in the past is all..”
“Well isn't everyone?”
“What's that supposed to mean?” I asked, a bit taken aback.
“N-nothing. But..this is exactly what I was worried about! I fucked everything up, and I can't make it right again. She deserves to hate me.”
“She doesn't hate you, Alex.”
“Listen, I'm just gonna go, okay?” He brushed me off, getting up from his seat.
I got up and walked after him to the door.
“Hey, I'm gonna talk to her about this, okay?” I said, placing my hand on his arm.
He just sighed and nodded, before taking my hand and kissing the back of it.
He gave me a half smile before exiting my house.
Meanwhile my face got red hot, and I felt tingles through my hand from where his lips were.
I've never felt this way before when he did stuff like this. It was kind of scaring me, but it also made me feel kinda happy, at the same time. I don't know, it was weird.
This'll go away, right??

Notes

Yayayayayay, special feelings!

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE! :D
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!


Thanks! :)

Title cred: Caraphernelia- Pierce The Veil