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

It was another cold, fall morning in Cockeysville and the pounding in my head was almost unbearable, but nothing out of the ordinary. The body attached to the arm around my waist shifted and tried to pull me closer to him, making me roll my bleary eyes. The warmth radiating from him was enough to make me want to stay, but the inevitable small talk I would face made me think again. I shuffled out of the bed, trying my best not to wake the sleeping form who had occupied the space with me, collecting my clothing and throwing it on as quickly as I could manage without making too much noise. Waking him was not high on my list of things to do today. I eyed the boy who had now pulled his arms into himself and dragged the covers closer to him. I took in his features; his fair hair and the way it fell over his closed eyes and the lips that has smirked at me so intently last night. I placed his name in my head, reminding myself that once again this wasn’t just another boy for no reason. I placed his name at the top of the list of many, the one thing that seemed to separate he and I.
He was the same as I, in many ways. He was reasonably popular, perhaps a little more than I, but everyone in school seemed to know our names. He seemed to gravitate toward parties each weekend, the same as I, though we rarely seemed to cross paths. Most of the guys I ended up with on a weekend didn’t speak to me again after, which suited me just fine, because the ones who did speak to me always seemed to want more than I was willing to give. Alex, on the other hand, seemed to spend all his time fighting off his latest conquest. I’d watched as he tried to talk them down, stumbling as he tried to remember their names. That was the one thing I could never do.
He shifted in the bed, groaning lightly and I knew my time was coming to a close. He would wake soon and I would be forced into the awkward small talk I’d deliberately been avoiding. I grabbed the rest of my belongings, slipping on my shoes and exiting the room.
“Jasey, are you kidding me?” My roommate, Marissa, groaned when I finally made my way through the door to our apartment. We’d barely moved in two months ago, and she more than knew what my weekends consisted of. We’d been friends for years, but she always seemed to be more in control than I did. She drank like a fish and flirted like there was no tomorrow, but she always managed to drag herself home before she made any mistakes during the course of the night. She was currently seated in front of the TV, nursing a cup of coffee with a bottle of painkillers on the table in front of her, quite obviously just as hungover as I. “I thought you were being sensible this week?”
“I know, I know,” I sighed, flinging myself onto the sofa next to her and taking a drink of her coffee. “But cute boys with cute smiles always seem to be my absolute weakness.” Marissa rolled her eyes, chuckling lightly, snatching the cup back from me.
“Who was it this time? The usual nobody with a sloppy grin?” I snorted at her words. Admittedly, I seemed to gravitate toward those I’d never heard of before. The few times I’d hooked up with anyone of any note, she’d had a field day, along with the rest of the school.
“Actually, no.” Marissa raised her eyebrows at me, prompting me to go on. “I have a feeling the name Alex Gaskarth will ring a bell.”
“Alex Gaskarth? As in, Jack’s best friend, Alex Gaskarth?” She shrieked. I rolled my eyes again. Here comes the field day.
“Well, unless he has a doppelganger I aren’t aware of, yes, that Alex Gaskarth. At least that’s what he told me last night and who it looked like this morning.”
“You mean, he was actually there when you left?” I nodded slowly, unsure on the point she was making. “Jase, he’s never around in the morning. He’s always gone before the girl wakes up.” I shrugged, still unsure what her point was. I stood up, making a beeline for our small kitchen to pour my own cup of coffee. Marissa shouting was already making my head pound more than was reasonable and I was desperate for my own drink to take some painkillers.
“You know I’m an early riser,” I called over my shoulder as the pot warmed. “Besides, I’m never there when the boys wake up.” I heard her grumbling to herself through the walls and sighed, choosing to put a halt to the conversation until I returned to the room. “Okay, spill, why is this an issue? Is it because he’s a boy with a reputation, or am I missing something?” I asked, finally seating myself back next to her.
“He’s Alex Gaskarth. He’s your best friend’s best friend. He’s the king of one-night-stands and he never, never, gets left alone in the morning. He’s going to have gone insane trying to find out who you are before tomorrow morning.”
“So, he’s me, but a guy?” I smirked, still not sure why this was an issue. He wouldn’t be the first, and he most certainly wouldn’t be the last.
“Basically, yes. But he’s Alex Gaskarth, and you’re the first girl to have ever walked out on him!”
“Can you please stop telling me his surname over and over? I get it, he’s got a reputation.”
“But it’s Alex Ga-“
“Once more, and I will throttle you with the TV cable.” Marissa continued to grumble under her breath as I grabbed the bottle of aspirin she’d left open. I quickly took my pills, washing them down with a large gulp of coffee before turning back to her. “Go on, then. Continue your disbelief.”
“I told you: he’s the king of one-night-stands. He uses his place as singer of All Time Low and all the charm he can muster to tempt girls to bed with him. Then, by morning, he’s gone. No one walks out on him; he walks out on them. You tainted he perfect record and it’s going to drive him crazy until he finds out who you are.”
“Who says he’s going to find out who I am?” I asked he, quickly losing interest and focusing on the TV in front of us. “I mean, unless someone spotted us while they were all beyond wasted, I’m not going to go around telling anyone.” That was the way the rumours usually circulated. Whoever Alex and I hooked up with, they seemed to have told the entire school by Monday morning, either to boost their macho reputation or to convince people they were finally going to make us change; they were going to ‘fix’ us.
“Not even Jack?” I shook my head, making her frown. “You don’t keep secrets from Jack.” I rolled my eyes. The crush she had on my best friend was really quite irritating.
“I don’t lie to Jack, but there’s plenty of things I’ve kept from him. I mean, you don’t honestly think this guy’s going to be actually bothered by me leaving him, do you? He should just be glad I’ve left without pestering him. He’ll have a nice, relaxed week for once.”
“I really don’t think you understand boys. They want what they can’t have, and that exactly what you’ve become to Alex Gaskarth. All the other girls swoon over him in the hallways, and you have just upped and left him like he was nobody. I’ve told you, he’s going to be going crazy over you by the time we get to school tomorrow morning.”
“I still don’t get the issue. How is this going to affect me?”
“Oh, it’s not. But the next few weeks are going to be fun. The king of one-night-stands is going to breakdown over some unknown girl, who just so happens to be the queen of one-night-stands.”
“You make me sound so important.”
“Sweetie, you said it yourself, no one walks out on you. You’re his female equivalent, only he plays on it and you don’t.” I smirked, finally seeing her point.
“Monday sounds like a lot of fun.”

Notes