Carlie POV

I can’t believe I said the word love how I could I be so stupid there was no way Alex loved me yet anyway; if he ever could love me. As people I think could guess I didn’t have very high opinions of myself and I definetly didn’t think very highly of myself especially with my looks. Alex was starting to help me with my confidence though. I hadn’t had a panic attack in about a month and a half which was a new record for me. Things were looking up for me.
It was about 6pm when we stopped so I had slept for about 4 hours which is more sleep than what I got the night before.

“Guys lets’ just grab a few coffee’s and some snacks and then get back on the road,” Rian said before asking, “Who’s driving next”” to which we all instantaneously said “Not Jack!”

Jack didn’t look impressed; it’s not that Jack couldn’t drive it was just none of us felt like dying anytime soon.

“I’ll drive,” Zack said quietly.

After we all got what we needed from the service station we all got back into the van; this time Alex and I sat at the very back while Zack and Tay sat in the front because Zack was driving for the next four hours.

I know they all had it planned out but it still felt weird for me not to know where we were going. I didn’t even know where we had stopped.

“Guys where exactly are we?” I asked all because I was intrigued also if I could work out where we were I could work out where we were going.

“If you don’t know then we ain’t going to tell you. It’s a surprise you know that,” Jack laughed making me groan.

“Guys you know I don’t really like surprises right, they kind of scare me,” I replied.

“You’ll like this one babe I promise,” Alex replied trying to calm my nerves.

As we drove out of the service station I cuddled into Alex. After a while I felt Alex lift my chin up and then he kissed me sweetly.

We made out for a good twenty minutes and when we pulled away we were both breathless.

“Wow! I still can’t get over how much I like kissing you and how good it feels. I really mean it; you are so beautiful. And do you know what fuck it I shouldn’t be scared to say how I feel so I am going to just say it. I love you Carlie, there I said I love you and I hope you love me to,” Alex gasped.

He said it he actually said it; Alexander William Gaskarth loves me. On the inside I was dancing; on the outside though I was just staring with my mouth open and I then realized I hadn’t said anything until Alex dropped his head and muttered, “Forget I said it, it was stupid we haven’t even been dating that long. I meant it don’t get me wrong but it was stupid of me to say it just yet. I understand it’s a shock.”

I grabbed his face and loudly said the words I had been bursting to say, “I LOVE YOU ALEXANDER WILLIAM GASKARTH AND I MEAN IT. I can be myself around you. You are amazing, when you said those words I was so happy. I didn’t even realise I was staring. I love you to though Alex.”

His face lit up as I kissed him and all our friends applauded. I cuddled back into Alex not being able to imagine a life without him in it. He meant everything to me. After my ex-boyfriend and my past I never thought I would find a guy that I could love again and I was in love again, I really did mean it. I’d been hurts so much. How could I ever explain to Alex how damaged I really was. Being with my granparents, Alex and my friends has been amazing. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been but what if they find out about my past and they tell me to never speak to them agai. I couldn’t take that I really couldn’t.
It was hard enough hiding the scars on the top of my legs from everyone and the scars on my back. Fair enough the scars on my legs were self-inflicted but, the scars on my back weren’t. I hadn’t cut since August which was an achievement for me; my guess was because I’m happy. There’s always going to be that part of me that sometimes feels like cutting but at the moment I haven’t and I really hoped I never had to again.

Alex fell asleep and I couldn’t help but stare at my perfect boyfriend. I put my headphones in and started listening to music while reminiscing about the last two months. After the day Alex asked me out we had spent almost every single moment we could together.

**FLASHBACK**
Alex and I had been dating a month and he was taking me out on a special date. I didn’t know where we were going because he wouldn’t tell me he loved to surprise me. I was waiting for him to pick me up; he told me to dress up so I had on a red dress and my red converse. Cass had come round and she had done my hair and makeup. I was all ready to leave anxiously waiting for the knock to come on the door. When the knock came I grabbed my leather jacket and my bag and ran down the stairs two at a time.
Alex was talking to my granparents, they really liked him which I was glad about because if they didn’t it would have been awkward.
He took me to this really nice restaurant and despite my protests paid for the whole thing. He then took me to this beyond gorgeous spot in the woods; it was breathtakingly beautiful.
From that moment on it became our place; our place where we could get away from all the craziness.

**FAST FORWARD 3 WEEKS**
Halloween! Halloween my favourite time of the year and Alex’s to; a time where adults, teens and children alike can dress up and no one can say anything about it.
My granparents were away for the week and they had givenme permission to my surprise to throw a party, with alcohol on the one condition I cleaned up thoroughly afterward.
It was my first American party and I was super excited. I was dressing up as a very sexy little red riding hood and Alex was dressing up as a werewolf. Cass and Rian were coming as Batman and Catwoman, Zack and Tay were going to be Hugh hefner and a playboy bunny and Jack and Vic were going to be the beast (Jack) and a male Belle.

I knew it was going to be a night I would never forget.

Cass, Tay and Vic came round to help me set everything up because the others were at Alex’s getting ready. After everything was set up we all got ready. Cass did my hair and makeup before I went into the bathroom to put on my costume. When I walked back into my room everyone that was in there stared at me’ I felt slightly selfconscious, it was the first time I had ever worn something so reavealing.
The lads turned up just as we were putting the last finishing touches to the house. We had gone all out with the decorations and the house and the front and back garden looked super scary. We had taken pictures of the house before everyone showed up; when the lads showed up we took loads of pictures of us together.
The party was amazing and people really enjoyed it. We all got super drunk and just crashed. Alex and I slept in my bed, Alex slept in his boxers and I slept in my Nightmare before Christmas pajamas. Our friends just crashed wherever they could find a place. Jack and Vic slept on my bedroom floor, Rian and Cass slept on my granparents bed and Tay and Zack slept in the other spare room.
The party may have been epic but the cleaning up after was horrible; it took us all day well afternoon because no one woke up till 2pm. It didn’t help either that we were all extremely hung over.
We couldn’t fault how good of a night it was though.
A lot of people our friends included though Alex and I had, had sex that night we didn’t say yes but we didn’t say no either. It could have happened because we were both extremely drunk but it didn’t neither of us were ready for that step yet.

**BACK TO PRESENT DAY**
Thinking back about all the good times I had, had so far with my friends put a smile on my face. I know it sounds bad but I was kind of glad my parents had died and I know that probably makes me a horrible person. If they hadn’t I wouldn’t have met Alex and my friends. Maybe that’s really bad but I was the happiest I had ever been. I never had friends in England. I was always the loner emo with the rich parents’ but I apparently dressed like I was poor because I wore ripped skinny jeans, old converse that I would wear till they fell of my feet and band t-shirts from the worlds’ greatest pop punk or rock bands.
I didn’t fit in, in England that’s why I’m so that I do in the U.S.

I watched Alex sleep for a few hours while I daydreamed and listened to music. I woke him up just as we stopped again so Zack could swap with Rian when it came to the driving. It was pitch black when we stopped so I still had no idea where we were or where we were going.

“Lex wake up we’ve stopped again,” I said sweetly tapping him to wake him up.

He groaned and went back to sleep, so I did the only thing I could of think of to wake him up; I kissed him and it worked because he kissed me back. We had stopped at a small diner so we all got out and went inside picking a table we could all sit at.

“Hey, Welcome to Mel’s what can I getyou kids tonight?” our waitress asked, I read her name tag which read Charlie.

I answered first knowing exactly what I wanted, “I’ll have a cheeseburger and curly fries with a banana milkshake please.”

Everyone else ordered following my lead and we all waited for it to arrive. Zack told everyone that they should be at their destination sooner than planned because so far there had been no traffic. I noticed that people from other tables were looking at us; probably wondering what a bunch of teenagerswere doing out this late. I looked at the time and it was just after midnight. We had been driving since 3 which meant Zack had been driving for 5 hours instead of 4 like was apparently planned. Jack was acting like an idiot by pretending to be a walrus with his fries when the food came. He was making us all laugh though.

“So Car, what do you normally do on your birthday?” Tay asked.

“Well 90 percent of the time I would usually be alone all day then my parents would take me out for some stuck up meal and they would just give me money. That is when they even remembered or if they weren’t on business in some foreign country,” I replied.

“So wait you’ve never had a party or proper presents to open?” Jack asked taken aback and dropping the fries he was using to do his walrus impression back on to the plate.

“Nope,” I said popping the “P”.

They all looked down at their plates before Alex squeezed my leg and said, “Well that is all about to change this is going to be your best yet. I promise you that.”

“Thanks guys. Now everyone eat up ‘cause the quicker we eat the quicker we can get back onto the road and I can find out where the fuck we are going. Not knowing is killing me big time,” I said putting a smile bak on everyones faces.

We all hurriedly finished eating, paid and then we got back into the van with Rian driving this time with Cass as his co-pilot next to him in the front. I sat behind Cass with Alex, Jack and Vic next to me.

“So Cass, I gotta ask ‘cause I have wondered since I met you and never asked’ how’d you and Rian meet?” I asked Cass leaning over the seat.

“We met the first day of freshman year. I had known Vic since kindergarten because we grew up together. Rian and I were made lab partners in Biology; as much as I wanted to be with Chris Morley who back then I though was the hottest guy ever. You wouldn’t know Chris he left Sophomore year his family moved to Boston. Anyway Rian and I started talking to which we realized that we had so much in common. We only ever spoke in Biology for about a month; then Rian asked me out I originally said no but, I then saw Chris making out with Bailey and I was heartbroken. I apologized to Rian who was by then in a band with Alex, Jack and Zack. Rian accepted my apology and we became friends again. Rian’s birthday came around and I asked him out, luckily he said yes and we have been together ever since. That’s when Vic and Jack got together and also Tay and Zack,” Cass explained.

“So you guys are the original power couple?” I asked.

“Pretty much, yeah!” Cass replied.

We spent the next few hours singing along to random songs and laughing about random things. I didn’t even realize that I had fallen asleep again until I woke up with the sun shining through a window and in a bed that wasn’t mine.

Notes

there you go another chapter for you guys,

a bit of back story for a few of the characters.

hope you guys like it. i know i enjoy writing this.

comment and rate and let people know about this story :)

love you guys