Don't Make This Easy, I Want You to Mean It

I stopped a few feet short of Alex and Jodie, eyeing them warily. Jack made his way over to me, the same concerned look on his face as I was sure was on mine.
“I was going to tell him tonight,” I told him, panic lacing my voice as I watched the pair of them. The rest of the crowd was dissipating and the music had started playing inside again, but I was keeping my eyes firmly on Alex and Jodie. “I promise you, I was going to tell him everything, but she just got there first. I’ve told him not to listen to her, I have, but what if he doesn’t listen to me? What if he believes her?”
“Jasey, don’t worry,” Jack said reassuringly, though his eyes still betrayed the concern he felt at seeing Jodie cornering Alex the way she had. “He trusts you, far more than he’s ever trusted any girl except his mother. He’ll listen to you.” I nodded lightly, noting just how shamelessly Jodie was flirting with him and just how disinterested he looked in everything leaving her mouth. “Come on.” Jack grabbed my arm, leading me away from the pair and toward the house. I made a beeline for the kitchen, pouring a cup full of Jägermeister and mixing it with cherry coke, throwing another cup of it to Jack and gnawing my lip.
“Where’s Marissa?” I asked him, trying to find her dark hair in amongst the crowd, though not doing particularly well. Jack shrugged.
“Last I saw her, she was with Bella and Maggie,” he told me. “But that was before we played, so it’s been a while.” I nodded, excusing myself quickly to go and find someone I knew who was likely to distract me from Alex Gaskarth for a little while. Staying with Jack would only make me dwell, and I didn’t need that right now.
“Hey, Beauty!” I heard a male voice calling as I made my way to where I’d remembered seeing my friends earlier in the night. “Belle!” I turned slowly, trying to find the source of the voice.
“Hey, Chase!” I called, smiling lightly to the man in front of me. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that it wasn’t Alex I was seeing, but Chase wasn’t too bad. He and I had been going to the same parties for years and I always seemed to run into him at some point. Admittedly, his lines were far beyond cheesy and remarkably cliché.
“Nice costume,” he laughed. I twirled lightly, making my dress dance around me.
“Do I look the part?”
“Almost perfect. It’s just the hair that seems to be lacking.” I laughed, taking a drink from my cup. It was almost directly opposite to Alex’s reaction, which had been to tell me my hair had made the costume perfect.
“Have you seen Cammy?” I asked, finding the only person in my group of friends he was actually familiar with.
“Yeah, come on,” he said, nodding. He grabbed my hand, dragging me through the crowd, which was even denser than it had been before the show, finally showing me to my friends, who had congregated on a couple of couches in the other room. He quickly sat himself down next to Cammy, in the only vacant spot around. I clicked my tongue in annoyance, rolling my eyes at Marissa who was sitting comfortably on the other sofa talking to Bella. Chase noticed my actions and patted his knee. “Plenty of room for you here, Jase.” I snorted lightly, taking him up on his offer quickly and getting myself comfortable.
“Ooh. Jasey and Chase-y sitting in a tree,” Cammy sang, showing just how drunk she was already.
“Cammy, you’re the sloppiest person I’ve ever met,” I laughed at her, taking a drink from my cup as Chase placed his arm around my waist, securing me in my seat.
“Oh, but what would Alex say?” Maggie asked, also as sloppy drunk as Cammy. It was hardly past 9 o’clock. They were awful.
“Who’s this now?” Chase asked, eyeing Maggie quickly. “Have you got a boyfriend you’re keeping from me, Jasey?” I rolled my eyes at the pair, about to tell the entire group they were being stupid and I had nothing to do with Alex, and there was nothing he would have say about it.
“Alex Gaskarth. She’s been abandoning us for him all week,” Cammy sighed overdramatically. “We haven’t seen her in days. Not unless she’s attached to him at the hip.”
“Gaskarth?” Chase raised his eyebrows at me, as if to ask ‘really?’ Alex’s name went much further than the hallways of our school. Chase was older than us, having graduated from a private school in the next county over last year. He still frequented the same parties as the rest of us, so, obviously, Alex’s name rang out there also.
“Oh, it’s a nightmare. You try telling her that he’s going to up and leave her tomorrow morning and she won’t listen to you.” I rolled my eyes quickly.
“Cammy, you’re not my mother,” I laughed. “I can look after myself, there’s nothing going on with me and Alex, and who says I wouldn’t leave him?”
“If there’s nothing going on, then why are there rumours going around you kissed him in the middle of school?” I pursed my lips, trying my best to think of some sort of retort that didn’t involve revealing my feelings for Alex and seeming just like everyone else.
“Alex is me, but with a penis. How funny do you think the rest of the school freaking out is to us?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You and your best friend getting involved with half of All Time Low is funny to us,” Maggie told me, throwing an amused look at Marissa as she did so.
“Oh my God! Barbara is cute with Dick, though!” I could feel the alcohol starting to take over as the words slipped out of my mouth. Marissa turned her head quickly, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Did you plan this?” She asked. I clamped my mouth shut, trying not to giggle at the annoyance she was showing me. “You asked Alex what Jack was going as, didn’t you?”
“Barbara, I know absolutely nothing about this. I have no idea what you’re implying.”
“Stop calling me Barbara, Holly.” I snorted at her use of my real name. “I’m on to you.”
“Well, get off me and get on to Jack.”
“Jasey!” I heard Jack’s voice from behind me and turned my head, laughing at the shock in his voice. I noticed Alex standing behind him, looking mildly annoyed, and allowed my grin to widen.
“I’m so sorry, Dick. I was just telling Barbara here about how cute you guys were.”
“You planned this.” I laughed at the accusation.
“Alex, they’re on to me.” Alex shook his head behind Jack and I pouted at him. “Well, help me.”
“You got yourself into this, sweetheart, you’d best get yourself out of it.” I scowled at him playfully, trying to pretend I was annoyed. Jack and Marissa would do exactly what I expected of them, regardless of if I played matchmaker or not.
“I need you to ply me with alcohol,” I told him, holding my hands out for him to pull me from Chase’s lap. “Then I’ll think of my way out of all the messes I’ve made this week.” I watched the annoyed look on his face fall and a small smile spreading itself across it. Alex moved closer, pulling me up. “Bye Chasey baby! Miss you, see you next week!” I laughed lightly as I got to my feet, shrieking as I felt myself being thrown over Alex’s shoulder and laughing all the more, thankful for just how long my dress actually was. Alex promptly dropped me on my feet when we made it to the kitchen and I reached for the Jager, being cut off by Alex pressing me into the counter.
“So, I think you have some explaining to do,” he whispered to me. I bit my lip, noting just how close he was to me and just how easy it would be to press my lips to his own.
“What about?” I asked, forcing a giggle and pushing him away from me. I grabbed the bottle, refilling my cup with the same concoction as before and offering the bottle to Alex.
“It’s too sweet,” he told me, shaking his head in refusal. I shrugged, putting the lid back on and taking a drink from my cup, waiting for him to explain just what I needed to explain to him. “I’ve just had a rather lovely conversation with Jodie that you seem to have been aware of days ago.”
“Jack told me,” I shrugged, hiding my face in my cup.
“And you both thought I’d believe her?”
“She can be convincing when she wants to be. Especially when someone is getting as desperate as you were becoming.”
“She’s a brunette, Holly.” I blinked at him slowly, not sure what he was trying to imply. Jodie had always been a brunette, and made it rather clear she was proud of her natural hair colour. “I’m looking for a blonde.” I snorted quickly, baffled as to how that had escaped my notice. Jack and I were the only ones whom Alex had told of the details of his mystery girl, so of course Jodie had tried to play it off like she was the one he was looking for, but I just wasn’t sure how Jack and I managed to not put two and two together.
“Oh, my God,” I laughed. “I knew Jack was oblivious, but I always thought that I was a little more observant than that.” I poured a vodka and coke for Alex, pushing the cup into his hand and hopping back onto the countertop, just like I had earlier in the evening. Alex took a large gulp of his drink, looking on at me expectantly.
“How did you know?”
“I don’t want to get into that right now,” I told him, shaking my head and letting my smile fall for the first time since I’d seen him again.
“Okay, then tell me why you were sitting in the lap of Chase Baxter while I was running around looking for you like a little puppy.”
“There was nowhere to sit,” I told him, a mischievous smile pulling at my lips when I realise I’d inadvertently wound him up; that there was a hint of jealousy in his words. “Why? Am I not allowed to sit in other boys’ laps?”
“Oh, Holly,” he whispered. “You can do whatever you want, but don’t try and tell me you want to do it with Chase Baxter. I didn’t peg you for a girl who liked pretty boys.”
“I’m not,” I told him. “Chase pines after me a little bit when parties get late and he’s got no one else. But, it’s fine, I have someone else in mind tonight.”
“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me?”
“Because I am.” I finished my drink, reaching for another, this time going for the same as Alex.
“You can’t keep secrets from me. It’s isn’t fair, I don’t do it to you.” I looked down at my lap, the guilt I had been feeling all week welling up inside me once again.
“You don’t have this secret though, Alex.” I looked up at him, waiting for a response but not getting one. He didn’t seem annoyed, that much was clear, but I still felt afraid to tell him. I knew I had to do this now, but it was becoming difficult to continue. I could only imagine just how difficult this would have been if I hadn’t been drinking profusely. “Sunday morning, 9:05, I got up a left my most recent mistake.”
“Yeah, and at 9:10, I was supposed to get up and leave mine, but she’d already gone.” I knew he’d begun to stir when I’d been leaving the room, but I hadn’t thought it had been as close as all that.
“It was me,” I blurted out quickly.
“What was you?”
“The girl who left you. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, and then I met you and… oh my God. You were going crazy over me, but I started going crazy over you. You wer-“ Alex cut me off with his lips pushed against my own. It caught me off guard, but I pushed myself into the kiss, hanging my arms loosely around his shoulders.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He breathed as he broke away from me.
“I thought you’d call me a liar; that I’d get a reputation worse than yours and then you’d reject me like I was nothing.”
“Oh, Holly, haven’t you heard? I’m crazy about you. I don’t think I could reject you if I tried.” I pressed my lips back to his, trying to convey just how happy his reaction had made me. His hands rested on my waist, pulling me closer to him and kissing me back, a hint of desperation in his movements. I began to mirror his actions, my own lips beginning to move more desperately, with no signs of breaking away from him. My arms, which had previously hung loosely around him, now moved so my hands were pressed against his face, pulling him ever closer to me.
When we finally parted for air, I finished my drink. I noticed a few unfamiliar faces looking at Alex and I and bit back a laugh. I nodded quickly to them to Alex, who merely rolled his eyes, grabbing my hand and pulling me from the countertop. I didn’t need to be told where we were going. Alex pushed me against the closed bedroom door to the spare room, bolting it behind us and beginning to kiss me anew.

Notes

Yay! Finally! Alex knows!
Considering it was less than a week, that's a lot of chapters. Phew.