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Smooth Criminal

eighteen.

The fact that it was two o’clock in the morning and I had just been squashed to death by Jack as a wake up call made my mood pretty crappy already. Throw in the fact that my dad had texted me about a million times, blowing up my phone with unnecessary questions like “Are you okay?” “How was the drive?” And “Is Amanda’s mom a good driver or do we need to come and get you?” I was super annoyed with life in general and I was not afraid to let these people know it.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked me as the group of us shuffled into the isolated hotel lobby. I stared at him with an exhausted, blank expression.
“I’m so fucking tired,” I grumbled, not in the mood for talking. My breath tasted disgusting in my mouth, I could feel my hair shooting up in all sorts of directions, and my back was so sore from sleeping in the van. I just wanted to crawl up in a bed and sleep for the next ten years.
“She’s not a morning person,” Amanda explained as we all sat on the couches in the lobby while the moms and Matt checked us in.. “So unless you plan on giving her coffee in the near future, I wouldn’t plan on carrying any sort of conversation with Stella unless you’re fully prepared to have your head ripped clean off your body.” I closed my eyes and laid my head down on the arm of the couch while my friends carried on their own conversations around me. I felt the cushion next to me dip down under the weight of someone as they sat next to me. I realized it was Alex when he started running his fingers through my blonde hair, sending me into a deeper sleep. I heard voices in the distance, but was too asleep to make out what they were saying. Out of nowhere, though, my body was being lifted from the couch so I’m assuming it was the moms saying that our rooms were ready. I nuzzled my head into the person’s chest and took in the familiar scent that I had grown used to, knowing that I was safely in the arms of Alex. A rush of happiness and contentedness fled my body and I relaxed into his muscular yet scrawny arms.
“You’re so adorable, Stella Lucille,” he whispered quietly into my ear and I moved my head about a centimeter to acknowledge his statement. “We’re almost there.”
Our friends talked excitedly amongst themselves as they walked down the hallway and entered the elevator, careful not to wake me up.
“Is she always like this?” I heard Zack chuckle.
“Stella is on a weird sleep schedule. If she doesn’t get a certain amount of sleep, her body shuts down and she goes into freaking Godzilla mode. She’ll be better once she wakes up in the morning. We’re gonna have to make a coffee run though. Or else she’ll be a miserable bear all day long,” Amanda explained to everyone. The elevator made a ping noise and I heard the doors open, followed by the clutter of footsteps of everyone exiting the space with their suitcases.
“Alexander, drop Stella off in her room and then go back to your’s and get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,” Mrs. Barakat instructed the boy and I felt his body move as he nodded his head.
“Yes, Mom. I’ll be just a moment.”
Amanda lead the way, her flipflops clanking against the carpeted floor as she walked while Alex followed her.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Amanda whispered to someone, Jack I’d assume, and then opened up the door to our room. The chill of the blasting AC slapped me in the face as we crossed the threshold of the room, causing me to bury my face deeper into Alex’s chest. The smell of Alex mixed with the cleanliness of the hotel room filled my nostrils and made me lightheaded. Alex placed me delicately on one of the two queen sized beds in the room and disappeared to turn down the other bed for me. I opened my eyes ever so slightly to see what was going, drawing the attention of Amanda.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” she gushed at me. I stared at her with a blank, unamused expression.
“Hi,” I yawned. “What time is it?”
“It’s like two forty-five,” Alex offered as he fluffed a pillow on the other bed. “We’re about to get some sleep, baby. We’re just waiting for the moms to pass out and then Amanda’s gonna go back to Jack.”
“Can you do your hair like that all the time, Stells?” Amanda laughed as she gave my appearance a solid look. I glared at her, not even having to look in a mirror to know that my hair was all kinds of fucked up, and flipped her off.
“I think she looks adorable,” Alex defended me. I rolled my eyes, wanting nothing more but to just go back to sleep. I was tired of relocating and I was tired of people talking around me when I was trying to sleep. “Go back to your boyfriend and let us sleep,” Alex grunted at Amanda, who gave him a dirty look.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she grumbled, grabbing a t-shirt and a pair of Nike shorts. “I just broke up with someone. I’m not lookin’ to be tied down to anyone just yet.”
“I really don’t care. I just need you to leave,” Alex laughed. Amanda rolled her eyes and finally exited the room, leaving Alex and I alone. “Come here.” The whine in his voice was adorable and I couldn’t help but smile at him as I dragged myself from one bed to the other.
“Better?” I asked him quietly, burying myself in his protective arms that immediately wrapped themselves around my torso and pulled me closely into his warm body.
“Much,” he confirmed as he placed a small kiss on my shoulder. I smiled contently to myself and not too long after getting situated, I found myself falling into a deep sleep finally.

“Sound check is at three and if any of you are late, I will personally cut off your balls and ship them off to your mothers as Christmas ornaments,” Matt explained to the boys as we all sat around a table in a Denny’s near the hotel. Amanda and I exchanged glances of horror while the boys and Kara seemed totally unphased by the threat.
“I feel as if that is a direct threat towards me and I do not appreciate your hostility sir,” Alex chuckled as he took a bite of his burger. “I was late, like, one time.”
“You’re late all the fucking time, Gaskarth. What are you talking about?” Zack argued with a smirk. Alex rolled his eyes and looked at me with sad eyes.
“Babe, they’re bullying me. Beat them up.”
I laughed and shook my head at the group of guys.
“I’m too scrawny to beat anyone up,” I pointed out. “Especially Zack. He’d crush me in a heartbeat. I think I’m good.”
“Oh my, God. No one loves me. Even my own girl won’t stick up for me,” Alex sighed dramatically. Rian threw a fry at him and everyone erupted into laughter. Everyone except for Matt, that is, who still had his serious game face on and was waiting patiently for everyone to knock it off.
“Anyways,” Matt rolled his eyes. “After soundcheck, you have a photoshoot with some of the photographers that they hired for this thing. Which reminds me. Stella, I found a job for you. You’re All Time Low’s appointed photographer. I’ll make sure you have the right passes for access and such. We need up-to-date photos for the MySpace page. So that’s your job while Kara does merch again and Amanda hands out demos and works the crowd.”
I arched my eyebrow at Matt, not quite sure why he thought it would be a good idea to appoint me such a big job. I’ve never dealt with a camera in my entire life.
“I’ll give you a camera to work with,” Zack offered to me. “And then we can go through a quick tutorial on how to use it. I gotchu, babe.” He sent a playful wink at me and I laughed, blowing him a kiss, which he “caught.”
“Hey!” Alex shouted at Zack. “Get your own lady friend!”
“She seems to like me back, dude. I dunno,” Zack joked, causing Alex to pout and sulk like a toddler. I giggled and kissed his cheek, silently reassuring him that he was the only one I had my eyes on.
“Okay, cool. So when we’re done here, we can head back to the hotel and Stells and Zack can do their thing and everyone else is free to do whatever until three. I suggest you get to venue at least ten to fifteen minutes before hand though,” Matt continued to ramble, but the only thing I could focus on was the upset look that Alex wasn’t even making an effort to hide.
“What’s wrong, Lex?” I finally asked him as we were all leaving the restaurant. He shook his head absentmindedly and grabbed my hand while we walked back to the hotel. “Babe.” I urged him to open up to me about whatever was on his mind.
“Do you like Zack?” Alex finally asked once we were a good distance in front of our friends. I stared at him like he had five heads.
“He’s my friend, so I mean, yeah. I like Zack…” I trailed off, not sure where this conversation was going.
“No, Stella. I mean, do you have feelings for Zack?”
The pain-filled look that had glazed over Alex’s eyes broke my heart and I wrapped my arm around his torso as we walked.
“Alex, Zack is my friend. He and I seem to have a lot in common, yeah. But that’s about it. You’re literally the only guy I have any romantic feelings for,” I tell him as he leans down to put his head on my shoulder, which was very difficult considering I’m almost a foot shorter than the boy and we were walking.
“Okay,” he finally responded. I wasn’t sure if his tone with filled with relief or skepticism. But I wasn’t about to push the conversation any further. Where the fuck did that even come from in the first place? Yeah, I considered Zack one of my closest friends but that’s just because he understood where I came from. He and I were both very quiet natured and we were into some of the same things. He was more of a big brother to me. I could never have any other sort of feelings for him; that would just be really awkward and weird. I just needed to find a way to show that to Alex, who had suddenly taken on the jealous boyfriend role… And I wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t even my boyfriend…
The realization made my stomach hurt and the wind was knocked out of me. I liked this guy so much, and, as far as I’m concerned, he liked me too. So what the hell was taking him so long to make this thing official? Was there something wrong with me? Was he embarrassed by who I was? The questions all filled my head at once, causing my mood to take a massive nosedive. Good thing Zack and I were about to have some one-on-one time and I could talk to him about it and get everything sorted out…

Notes

I just finished chapter 20. And, once again, I'm soooo excited for y'all to read it. This chapter was kind of boring, I know. But once 20 comes out, it gets so much better and it'll be worth it. I promise.

Comments

This was one of my absolute favorite stories. I am very curious to know if you are going to continue with this? Because I have to know what happens next.

BreaClift. BreaClift.
6/14/21

I want to know if there is going to be sequel to this story?

BreaClift. BreaClift.
3/26/19

I don't remember anything. I need to restart this. Damn, all I remember is loving this. Only more reason to read it all again.

Haha, keepin' it real. :) No worries, the only one that was kind of concerning was the Blink-180 because I think that's the first time I've ever seen that. XD But I figured it was a typo.
:)

Nanook Nanook
1/4/19

@Daydreamers her big reveal will be in the last chapter ;) hang tight.

katybear18 katybear18
1/4/19