2015

Waking up, Riley fished her cell phone out from under her pillow. It was just after eight-thirty and it definitely didn't surprise her to find Alex still completely passed out laying next to her in their bunk.

The guys had all gone out in Chicago to celebrate Issues last night on the tour. The band had some scheduling conflicts that prevented them from staying on until the end but didn't want to pass up an opportunity as good as touring with All Time Low and not do the tour at all.

It had been over a week since the last time Riley got to go out with the guys but she definitely was not complaining about missing the previous night's festivities. She did not want to make anyone feel bad for her and stay behind so she could go out. She knew all the guys wanted to be there to send off their friends in the departing band.

Alex had stumbled back on to the bus and into their bunk somewhere around four in the morning and Riley instantly knew he drank just a little more than he probably wanted to.

Riley tried to carefully climb over Alex and out of the bunk without waking him up but no matter how careful and quiet she was being, she still failed.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked sleepily, grabbing Riley's hips so she was stuck in a straddle position over him.

"To check and see if Summer is awake yet," Riley said, leaning down and kissing his forehead. "Go back to sleep."

"I will," he said, now wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back to lay down with him again. "But don't leave yet."

"Okay," Riley laughed as Alex curled himself against her.

"I missed you last night," he mumbled into her shoulder.

"But you still managed to have too much fun without me," Riley smirked.

"What makes you think I had too much fun?" Alex pouted.

"Because when you came to bed and kissed me, I got drunk."

"Because I'm such a good kisser?" Alex asked, looking up at her and wiggling his eyebrows.

"No, because you were that wasted," Riley reminded him.

"And I just might still be..." Alex admitted. "But really, I did miss you. Next time you guys come on tour with us, we're bringing out a nanny for Summer."

"If you say so," Riley laughed. "Don't worry, I was well aware how much you missed me. You only reminded me that I was the love of your life seventeen times."

"Well, you are," Alex replied, yawning as his eyes got heavy again.

"I know," Riley smiled, kissing him lightly. "Get some more sleep. I'm going to check on Summer and then I'll be back with the Tylenol, water and hopefully some coffee for you."

"You're so hot," Alex mumbled into the pillow.

"Right back at ya," Riley said before she hopped down, digging a sweatshirt out from the back of the bunk and pulling it on over her tank top and shorts.

Walking in the front lounge, Riley was surprised to find Summer sitting at the small table next to a blonde she'd never met before and across from Jack. They each had a bowl of cereal and a coffee mug in front of them.

"Good morning," Riley greeted when she reached the table.

"Hi mom!" Summer exclaimed.

"Hi sweetheart," Riley smiled, nodding at Jack who did not look like he was functioning well.
"I'm sorry," Riley turned to the mystery blonde. "I don't believe we've met."

"This is Sabrina. She has a really cute puppy named Twinkie!" Summer interrupted. "She's Jack's friend. He had another adult sleepover last night."

"Did he?" Riley asked, glancing back over to Jack who was clearing his throat after having choked on his coffee after Summer's introduction.

"Sorry," Sabrina mumbled, avoiding eye contact with Riley.

"It's okay," Riley smiled at her, a genuine smile. "Um, are you drinking coffee?" she asked her daughter.

Summer nodded excitedly. "Jack said I could!"

Riley plopped down in the booth next to Jack with a bounce. "That's really nice of Jack. I bet he can't wait to chase you around the parking lot later when the caffeine kicks in."

"I barely filled up half the mug. It's mostly milk and sugar," Jack defended himself.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You can chase after her when the sugar high kicks in then," Riley corrected herself, earning a small laugh from Sabrina.

"I never said I was Babysitter of the Year, okay," Jack groaned.

Riley laughed and helped herself to a spoonful of cereal straight from Jack's bowl.

"Well, it's totally going to look like I'm leaving because things got awkward. But I really should be going now so I have time to shower before work," Sabrina said, standing from the table.

"I'll walk you out," Jack said, shoving Riley a bit so she would get up so he could get out.

"It was nice to meet you, Sabrina," Riley smiled while shoving Jack back as the blonde gathered her things together.

"You too," she smiled back.

"Thanks for showing me pictures of your dog," Summer beamed. "Maybe I'll get to meet him one day!"

"Maybe!" Sabrina smiled, fluffing Summer's hair a bit before she followed Jack off the bus.

Riley bit back a laugh at her daughter's innocence. She didn't have the heart to tell her she would more than likely never see Sabrina again.

Jack entered the bus again a few minutes later and immediately reclaimed his seat from before and went back to his cereal.

Riley chuckled to herself as she started to brew a fresh pot of coffee.

"So," Summer said, leaning across the table towards Jack.

"So what?" he asked with a mouthful of cereal.

"So, who did you like better?" Summer asked.

"What?" Jack asked again confused.

Riley leaned against the counter and crossed her arms as she observed the scene before her.

"Chloe or Sabrina? Which one did you like better?"

Jack stared at Summer and swallowed another mouthful of cereal. "Chloe?"

"She had the Tinker Belle tattoo!" Summer reminded him.

"Oh! Right, Chloe..." Jack smirked. "She was cool."

"But who did you have more fun at your sleepover with?" Summer pressed.

Jack glanced over at Riley who was just shaking her head. "Sabrina, definitely."

"Yay!" Summer smiled widely. "I liked her better, too! What did you guys do that was so much more fun?"

"We played doctor," Jack answered.

"Okay!" Riley finally interrupted. "Sum, why don't you go check on Alex. Bring him this bottle of water and the Tylenol. Ask him if he wants to eat anything."

"Okay, mom," she said, jumping up from her seat and running towards the bunks with the items

Riley gave her for Alex.

"Really?" Riley turned to Jack with a glare.

"I'm sorry," he laughed.

"It's fine," she sighed. "Just please stop inviting my eight year old daughter to have breakfast with you and your one night stands."

"I'll try," Jack laughed. "But what was I supposed to this morning? We got up early in hopes that she could be gone before anyone woke up. I can't help that Summer was already sitting out here. So I offered her some cereal. She said she was hungry!"

Riley nodded slowly. "Fine! But stop saying you're having sleepovers. She's been begging me to let her have a friend come out for a few days and I keep telling her sleepovers aren't allowed."

"That's why I call them adult sleepovers. You put adult before a word and kids are immediately turned off. She probably thinks we're in my bunk reading from the dictionary all night."

Riley frowned. "I don't want her thinking anything about what you do in there... I don't even want to think about what you do in there..."

"I'll try to be more discrete..." Jack said with a smile.

"That's all I ask," Riley smiled back.

"Regretting your decision to come out here for the summer yet?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"Not yet..." Riley answered as Summer made her way from the back.

"So, I gave Alex the water and the medicine which he took. And then when I asked if he wanted to eat breakfast, he didn't really say words that made sense and just pat me on the top of my head."

Jack snorted into his cereal as he tried not to laugh and Riley rolled her eyes.

"Just let him sleep then..."

"Is he sick?" Summer asked.

"Looks like it," Riley sort of lied.

"Oh," Summer frowned. "I just thought he was hungover."

Jack couldn't hold back his laughter this time, earning himself another glare from Riley. "Regretting it now?"

"Shut up," Riley hissed. "Summer, are you still eating this cereal? If not, please clean up after yourself."

Summer shuffled back over to the table and took a seat across from Jack. "When we're finished eating, do you want to play Mario Cart?" she asked Jack, popping a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

"Only if you don't cry when I beat you," Jack replied.

"If you beat me!" Summer corrected him. "And I don't do that anymore," she argued.

"Care to make a bet?" Jack challenged.

"Definitely!"

"Uh," Riley stepped in. "No one under the age of twenty-one will be placing bets of any kind this morning..."

"I win by default then!" Jack teased.

"No you don't!" Summer groaned. "That's not fair!"

"Also," Riley continued, pouring herself a mug of coffee. "Anyone who hasn't passed third grade yet needs to get moving on their summer reading."

"Mom, I finished a whole book three days ago! Do I have to start another one already?" Summer whined.

"Just read three chapters. And that's all you have to do today." Riley decided, knowing for Summer, three chapters would be a piece of cake.

"But I want to play," she whined again. "Come on, mom!"

"Yeah, mom! Come on!" Jack chimed in.

"Three chapters and you can play all you want. No chapters and you won't play for the rest of the tour," Riley said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine," Summer caved. "I'll read three stupid chapters," she huffed, sliding off her seat and bringing her now empty paper bowl to the dump in the garbage.

"Thank you," Riley smiled, kissing her daughter on the top of the head before she stomped off to find her books.

"Have I ever told you how hot you are when you're being a mom?" Jack asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Please don't," Riley shook her head with a laugh.

Other members of the band and crew had started to wake up, making themselves a cup of coffee and something for breakfast before falling into their own morning routines.

Eventually Alex woke up and stumbled into the back lounge where Riley was sitting with Summer who had started reading while Riley did some work on her laptop.

"Morning," Alex grumbled, squeezing into the seat next to Riley.

"Hey sleepyhead!" she greeted.

"I don't feel good," he grumbled, laying himself across her lap, careful not to crush her laptop.

"Maybe you shouldn't drink so much," Summer piped up from behind her book.

"Summer!" Riley scolded. "Just because you drank coffee with Jack at breakfast this morning, does not mean you're a grown-up and can voice your opinions like that."

Alex did a poor job hiding his amusement. "It's fine. She's right. I'm getting too old for this," he sighed dramatically, rolling over so he was on his back, looking up at Riley.

Riley moved her laptop to the other side of the couch and gently ran her fingers through Alex's hair soothingly. "Anything I can do to help?"

Alex shook his head. "Nah, just let me suffer. It's my own fault."

"I'll go make you that coffee now," Riley offered, moving to get up but Alex stopped her.

"No!" he yelled, locking his arms around her waist and holding her down on the couch. "Just go back to what you were doing before," he said, guiding Riley's hands back into his hair.

"Better?" she asked, slowly moving her fingers across his scalp.

"So much better," he said, his eyes falling closed.

Summer smiled to herself from behind her book. She didn't totally understand why but whenever she witnessed Alex and her mom being sweet and goofy with each other, it made her happy.

Summer was a smart girl and from a very early age she picked up on the fact that her family was a bit different than her friends. Most of the kids she played with had a mom and a dad. And even the one friend who's parents had divorced, both parents were still around.

Over the years, Riley's explanation for Summer's lack of a father varied by her age. When she turned eight, and asked about it again, Riley gave her the closest explanation should could fathom to the truth.

"When I found out I was pregnant, your daddy wasn't ready to be a daddy yet, so we decided that I would just take care of you."

It wasn't true. It wasn't close to true. But it was the closest she could get at the time.
Summer struggled, and continues to struggle, with feeling different from the kids at school. But when she sees her mom and Alex together, it gives her hope that one day she could be part of a normal family.

"You know what I want!" Alex announced after a little while of silence.

"What's that?" Riley asked.

"A big, greasy egg sandwich."

Riley laughed. "Okay...."

"With extra bacon," Alex added. "And extra greasy hash browns on the side."

"And where do you suppose I get that from?" Riley asked.

"I just remembered there's this awesome little breakfast shop not too far from this venue."

Riley nodded slowly. "So you're going to make me go there by myself?"

"Not by yourself!" Alex said, sitting up. "Fresh air could do me some good. You want to go for a walk, kid?" he asked, turning towards Summer.

"I can't," she said, placing the book down on her lap. "I can't have any fun until I read three chapters."

"And how many have you already read?" Riley asked, standing from the couch with Alex.

"Two..."

"Keep reading," Riley encouraged. "By the time we get back, you'll be done."

"Fine," Summer sighed, going back to her book.

Riley and Alex changed their clothes quickly. Alex made the mistake of announcing to everyone where he and Riley were going so of course he left with a list of other orders.

Riley reminded them that Summer was in the back reading and she would really appreciate it if they encouraged her to finish and not let her abandon her book just because mom left the bus.

There were a few snarky comments about Riley being such a mom but Matt assured her he'd keep an eye on Summer.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Riley asked. She noticed since they stepped off the bus and started their walk, Alex kept glancing at her with a smile.

"Like what?" Alex asked, looking away.

"I don't know. You keep looking at me with a weird smile."

Alex laughed, giving her hand he was holding a squeeze. "I can't look at my girlfriend and smile?"

"I didn't say that!" Riley gasped.

"Would you prefer I looked at you like this?" he asked, shifting his gaze back to her with a
scowl on his face.

"No," she groaned, bumping into Alex and shoving him with her whole body as she laughed. "I thought I did something wrong."

"You didn't do anything," Alex laughed. "I just smiled at you because I realized it's been a while since we've had some real alone time.

Riley nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He smiled, letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer as they walked. "It's nice to have you all to myself. Even if it's only for thirty minutes."

Riley smiled, leaning up and kissing his cheek. "It is nice."

"So, aside from repeatedly calling you the love of my life, did I say anything else last night that I might regret?" Alex asked.

"You regret calling me the love of your life?" Riley gasped, faking a frown.

"Shut up. You know that's not what I mean."

"I know," Riley smiled, wrapping her arm around his waist. "I don't know if you'll regret it, but there was something you brought up last night that you haven't before."

"What's that?" Alex asked, carefully.

"Well..." Riley started slowly. "Last night you suggested that we should maybe talk about the idea of talking about maybe moving in together."

"I said we should talk about maybe talking about maybe moving in together?" Alex repeated.

Riley nodded. "You sure did."

"Huh..." Alex nodded slowly. "That's interesting."

"Is that something you've been actively thinking about?" Riley asked.

Alex shrugged. "I wouldn't say actively. But the idea has come up before..."

"Really?" Riley smiled.

"Yeah," Alex nodded. "Riley, we've been together for almost four years now. Eventually we're going to have to make some kind of move to the next step in this relationship."

"You're right," Riley agreed. "I just figured after almost four years, the next step would be something a little more sparkly," she said, stretching out her left hand and wiggling her fingers around.

Alex laughed. "You think we should skip the moving in together talk and go straight to taking
about getting engaged?"

"No!" Riley said a little too quick with a little too much panic in her eyes. "I-I just mean not yet... I was just kidding about the sparkle."

"I know," Alex teased, squeezing her a little closer to his side. "I'm not ready for that yet either. But sharing a residence with you doesn't seem like the worst thing ever."

"So, would you and the dogs be moving into my apartment or are Summer and I moving into your house with you and the dogs? Or are we looking for somewhere new altogether? What about how you still live part time in Baltimore as well?"

Alex shrugged. "I think the easy answer would be you and Summer moving in the house with me and the dogs. But I guess those are all details we'll talk about when we decide to really talk about this."

"Alex," Riley said, looking up at him.

"Riley," he repeated.

"I think when we get back to California after the tour is over, we should talk about this. Like really talk about this..."

Alex smiled. "Really?"

She nodded. "I'd also have to talk to Summer but that will be easy. The idea of her living in a house that has two dogs and a pool is her dream come true."

Alex smiled and kissed the top of her head. "And living with my two favorite girls sounds like my dream come true."
-----

"Hey, was that bus here before?" Alex asked as he and Riley entered the lot behind the venue where all the buses were parked.

"I didn't notice. Why?" Riley asked, glancing over at the other bus.

"I wonder if they're here yet," Alex shrugged.

"Who?"

"There's another band joining the tour today. Since Issues were leaving earlier, we didn't want the fans towards the end of this tour to feel like they got shorted, so we asked some of our other friends to join for the rest of the tour."

"Oh cool," Riley smiled. "Anyone I would know?"

"Actually, it'd be kind of funny if you did know them," Alex chuckled. "They're from Arizona too."

Riley stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at Alex. "What?"

"Yeah. They're a band called The Summer Set. Do you know them?" Alex asked innocently.

Riley suddenly felt sick. How could this be happening? For eight years she had managed to avoid ever having to see Brian and the rest of her old group of friends and now there would be no way to hide from her past anymore.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked when he noticed his girlfriend acting strange.

"I'm fine...Let's get the food inside," she said quickly, putting her hand on the door to the bus.

"Hey!" a voice called from across the parking lot and Riley immediately felt all the color drain from her face

Alex turned around to face where the voice came from.

"Hey!" he greeted as Jess Bowen and Josh Montgomery came walking towards him.

Riley thought about just running on the bus but all that would have done was postpone the inevitable.

"Riley, come here! I want to introduce you to someone..." Alex said excitedly.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut. This was it. She turned slowly and tried to pretend like she didn't
know who she was about to come face to face with.

"No. Way," Jess said, her mouth dropping in shock as her eyes landed on Riley.

"Holy crap," Josh gasped, his mouth dropping to match Jess's.

"Wow," Riley faked a surprised face.

"So you do know each other!" Alex said excitedly.

"You could say that..." Jess said with a smile. Alex only saw it as a friendly smile but Riley knew better.

"So, um," Josh cleared his throat. "Are you guys..." he trailed off and just gestured between Alex and Riley.

Alex smiled proudly. "We sure are."

"Isn't that nice..." Jess commented, with the same smile.

"So how do you guys know each other?" Alex asked.

"Just from back home in Arizona. We all went to school together," Riley explained, omitting quite a bit of details.

"It think we were all a lot closer than classmates," Josh said. "Maybe some of us were closer than others..."

Alex stood by awkwardly. He was starting to sense that there was a lot more to their story than just friends who grew out of touch.

Riley opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she noticed another figure step off the other bus, making their way towards the group. Almost instantly Riley knew it was Brian and she braced herself. She had no idea how seeing him after all these years would affect her.

"Oh my God," Brian muttered to himself, not believing the girl in front of him was the same girl he knew since he was a kid.

"Hey Brian," she said quietly, not daring to make eye contact with him.

"Hi," he said, still in shock. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"She's with Alex," Jess said quickly.

"Really?" Brian asked, clearing his throat and looking up at Alex and then back to Riley.

"Almost four years strong now," Alex beamed, putting an arm around Riley's shoulder.

"That's great," Brian forced an awkward smile.

"Yes," Alex turned to Riley. "I'll be right back," he said, taking the other bag of take out from her so he could deliver it to the other guys on the bus.

As soon as he was out of ear shot Jess let out a laugh.

"So, let me guess... Your new man has no idea how you just picked up and left us all behind in Arizona?" Jess asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Riley shook her head. "No."

"Jess," Brian said under his breath. "Let it go."

"Of all people, you're the last one who should suggest letting it go."

"It's been almost nine years," Brian sighed. "Riley, it's good to see you."

Riley nodded as she swallowed hard. She suddenly felt like crying but surprisingly they felt like happy tears."You too."

Brian smiled and pulled her into a hug and when she hugged him back, Riley felt tears prick the backs of her eyes. She tried to convince herself that somehow everything was going to be okay.

The brief moment of hope was quickly ripped away from her when the door to the All Time Low bus opened and Summer came barreling towards Riley.

"Mom! I finished my three chapters and Jack still won't let me have a turn on with the video game!" she whined.

"Mom?" Jess gasped.

Riley quickly turned to her daughter. "Summer go back inside. Tell Jack I said it was okay to let you play. If he gives you a problem, go get Alex, okay?"

"Okay, mom," she shrugged. "He's probably just afraid to lose to an eight year old girl," she mumbled to herself as she ran back to the bus.

"Eight year old..." Brian repeated to himself, quickly doing the math in his head.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut tight before letting out a big breath. "Brian, I-"

He held up his hand to stop her from speaking. He didn't even have to ask if Summer was his daughter. The second he saw her up close he knew it. She looked just like him.

"Is that why you left?"

Jess and Josh shared confused glances as they watched Brian and Riley. They had no idea what they were taking about as Brian never shared the news of Riley's pregnancy with them.

"I can explain," she said, tearing pooling in her eyes.

"Explain what!" Brian threw his arms up in the air. "Explain why I spend the last eight years thinking you got rid of that baby when really you went off to raise her in London?"

Jess and Josh's eyes widened twice their size as they slowly started to back away realizing how serious this conversation had just gotten.

"I know how crazy it sounds. But please, just let me explain," Riley pleaded.

"I don't want you to explain anything to me," Brian shook his head and started to walk away, only causing Riley to follow.

"Please. Just give me chance..." she yelled after her, reaching for his hand.

"No," Brian jerked his hand away. "Leave me alone."

At this point Alex had stepped back off the bus and was trying to figure out what he missed.

"Brian..." Riley tried one last time.

"Please, don't talk to me," Brian said quietly before walking off and back on to his bus.

Riley ran her hands over her face as tears began to slip from her eyes. Alex quickly ran to be at her side and pulled her into a hug.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked.

Riley shook her head, looking up at Alex with tears in her eyes. "Brian was my best friend growing up. He is Summer's father and he had no idea I gave birth to her in London."

"Wait. What?" Alex asked. "Did he know you were pregnant?" was the first question he thought to ask while there were tons more he was waiting to ask.

Riley nodded, wiggling from Alex's arms and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Then why didn't he know when you gave birth?" Alex asked carefully.

Riley took a deep breath knowing the next thing that came out of her mouth would probably change Alex's perception of her forever.

"I let him think I had an abortion."

Notes

Story Title: All Time Low - Dirty Laundry

Is anyone out there? Does anyone care about this story? There were no comments on the last chapter so I guess if that keeps happening I can assume this one's dead. :(

If you are reading, I hope you enjoyed. There's plenty of craziness to come...