After finishing off a few more drinks together, it was late by the time Alex and Brian decided to head back to their respective buses. Alex was surprised to find the All Time Low bus mostly quiet, save for a few of the guys who were still up and playing a video game in the back lounge.

Sliding back the curtain on Summer’s bunk, Alex tried to stay as quiet as he could. He smiled to himself as he looked down at the sleeping girl. He carefully leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before tucking her blankets around her tightly and sliding the curtain
on the bunk close again.

Alex stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt before crawling into the dark bunk he shared with Riley. He assumed she would asleep by this time so he just quietly situated himself under the blankets, trying his best not to wake her up.

“Welcome back,” Riley greeted in a sleepy voice, rolling onto her side to face Alex.

“Hey. You’re up,” Alex smiled, rolling onto his own side to face Riley and match her position. “Sorry; I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t. I was only just starting to drift off. I was trying to wait up for you.”s

“Well, I’m glad you made it,” Alex smiled again, leaning down to kiss her, but only really getting her upper lip and the tip of her nose.

“Are you drunk?” Riley giggled.

“Noooo. It’s dark in here,” Alex shook his head, causing Riley to giggle again. “But maybe a little bit.”

“I prepared myself for that – especially when you didn’t come back with the rest of the guys.”

“Yeah,” Alex said slowly. “We’ll talk more about that later as you might be a little mad at me for more reasons than just maybe being a little drunk.”

“Oh great,” Riley groaned. “But it’s okay if you are,” Riley said. “Because you wouldn’t be the only one in this bunk who’s maybe a little drunk.”

“Who else is in the bunk?” Alex asked with a laugh, lifting the covers and looking underneath.

“Me,” Riley replied, pointing her index finger in her own direction.

“You’re drunk? Really?” Alex asked, surprised.

“Just a little bit,” Riley answered, now holding her thumb and index finger up slightly apart.

“How?”

“Whiskey.”

“Wow,” Alex laughed. “Were you and Summer just ripping shots together in the back lounge?”

“No, Summer was not involved with the whiskey. Derek and Angela actually came by very shortly after you all left. They took her out for ice cream.”

Alex nodded slowly. “So you were drinking alone?” He asked, a little worried.

“Nope. Oddly enough, very shortly after Derek and Angela left with Summer, Jess came by with a bottle of Jameson.”

“Jameson,” Alex repeated. “I should have known.”

“Don’t you find it interesting that Jess happened to come by to talk the one time I had the bus to myself?”

“No,” Alex said slowly. “Should I?”

“Should you?”

“Wait,” Alex laughed, “Are you suggesting I set all that up?”

“Did you?”

“No,” Alex shook his head. “You made me promise not to get involved.”

“Yeah… I did but I have a feeling that all went to shit tonight.”

“Maybe… but we’ll talk about that in a little while. What did you and Jess talk about?” Alex asked, changing the subject for the time being.

“We talked about us.”

“Us.” Alex repeated. “Like you and me us?”

“Yep,” Riley nodded. “Alex and Riley us.”

Alex nodded. “She didn’t ask about you disappearing for nine years and secretly having a baby?”

“Oh,” Riley laughed. “She mentioned it but she decided that it wouldn’t be fair if I told her everything before Brian. But as you know, he’s still not talking to me.”

“Yeah,” Alex nodded. “That may change soon…”

“Okay,” Riley leaned up on her elbows. “Why don’t you just tell me what you did?”

“Well, there are three specific things that happened tonight that you may be unhappy with me over.”

“Great,” Riley rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you start with what’s likely to make me the least unhappy and work your way up from there.”

“Excellent idea,” Alex said. “So, it started at the restaurant-“

“Wait!” Riley interrupted him before leaning over and pressing a firm kiss to his lips. “Just in case this goes really bad, I don’t want the last time we kissed to be that half sloppy nose kiss.”

“Do you feel better now?” Alex asked when she pulled back.

“Yep; now just go ahead and make me mad.”

“You got it,” Alex smirked. “So, at the restaurant, we had a cute server named Cindy. She had blond hair and well, she was rather well endowed in the upper portion of the front of her body…” Alex carefully explained.

“A server at Hooters knock-off restaurant with blond hair and big boobs? How original…” Riley smirked.

“Yeah,” Alex nodded. “So every time she came by me, she would not so subtly brush herself against my arm. Every damn time. There were times she brought out things I didn’t even order to put down in front of me just for another excuse to rub up against me.”

Riley bit on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smirking anymore as she listened to Alex continue to share his story.

“I guess the part that I’m afraid you’ll be mad at me for is that I could have asked her to stop and I didn’t…”

“And why didn’t you?” Riley asked.

“Honestly? It was a bit of an ego boost that she picked me over all the other guys at the table.”

“Interesting…”

“Let the record state that I never would have acted on anything. I never had any intention of anything. I don’t think I even really flirted back. I just didn’t ask her to stop flirting with me.”

Riley nodded slowly. “Let me ask you something… When the bill came did you all split the
check evenly or did you divide it up by what each person ordered.”

“We divided it evenly. Why do you ask?”

“So the tip was included in that?” Riley pried.

“Of course…”

“Now, let me ask you something else. Did you leave anything extra for a tip?”

“Yeah…” Alex nodded slowly. “We were a big table and she worked it basically by herself. I threw an extra twenty-five dollars in at the end.”

“Sucker,” Riley giggled.

“Sucker?” Alex gasped. “What do you mean sucker?”

“I was a server for a little while back in Arizona and for an even shorter time when I went over to London. It’s sort of an unspoken thing to single guys out in hopes of a larger tip.”

“Really?” Alex frowned.

“Sorry to burst your bubble…”

“So she didn’t really think I was cute?”

Riley laughed. “It would be impossible for her to not think you were cute. That’s probably why she chose you to be her sucker off that table.”

“I guess that makes me feel a little better.”

Riley smiled, leaning over to kiss him. “You’ll always be my sucker, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” Alex laughed. “So this didn’t make you mad?”

“Not at all. I’ve witnessed plenty of females and even males hit on you right in front of me so I can’t imagine it doesn’t happen when I’m not around.”

“And that’s why you’re the best,” Alex smiled, leaning over and kissing her.

“Not so fast,” she said against his mouth, pulling back. “There are still two other things you
could have done to make me mad…”

“Well, moving on then…” Alex said, sitting up a little straighter. “After dinner we decided to head over to a bar that was about two blocks away. Instead of waiting for cars to come get us again, we walked. On the way, we passed a tattoo shop. Zack wanted to go in, so some of went in and someone of kept walking.”

Riley’s eyebrow raised. “Were you one of those someones who kept walking or went inside?”

“I went inside,” Alex answered.

“Mhm…” Riley nodded for him to continue.

“I had no intention of getting anything. I was just off by myself looking at pictures hanging on the walls of the different work they’ve done when this gentleman came up to me. He introduced himself as the owner of the shop. He’s owned it for over 20 years with his wife. He handles the tattooing and she handles the business.”

“Please don’t tell me you want us to own a tattoo shop together one day…”

“No, no,” Alex laughed. “Not that… He started asking me about what tattoos I had. So we talked about my skeleton, my flowers and the skull behind my ear. He asked me what each tattoo meant and asked a bunch of questions about them. Then he noticed the lips that you drew on the inside of my wrist.”

Riley’s eyebrow raised again. “Go on…”

“At first he thought it was another tattoo but I explained that my girlfriend, who’s an artist, was just goofing off before I went out for the night,” Alex continued, pausing after referring to Riley as an artist. Even though it was dark in the bunk and he couldn’t completely make it out, he knew she rolled her eyes at the mention of her being an artist. Even though she was an art major, ran an art gallery and often worked on her own art projects, Riley didn’t like to refer to herself as an artist.

“Okay.” Riley nodded slowly.

“Then he asked me a bunch of questions about our relationship and how long we’ve been together and you know, all that corny junk…”

“Yeah, I’m sure talking about your girlfriend of four years is real corny junk…” Riley scoffed.

“Tell me about it…” Alex played along.

Riley giggled and lightly kicked Alex in the shin under the blankets.

“Anyway, after I yapped his ear off for fifteen minutes about you and Summer and showed him pictures of the three of us off my phone he decided the lips on my wrist would be a great tattoo and I agreed.”

“Shut up,” Riley gasped.

“Where did you think this story was headed?” Alex laughed.

“I figured he just sweet talked you and suckered you into getting any tattoo but not something like that.”

Alex shrugged. “Either way I guess that’s two people that made me a sucker tonight.”

Riley tilted her head to the side. “Did you really let him tattoo my lips on your wrist?” she asked, skeptically.

“I really did.”

Riley flipped on the lamp that hung above them in the corner of the bunk before yanking the blankets away from the two of them. She held up Alex’s arm and carefully studied the freshly tattooed skin underneath protective clear wrap.

“Holy crap,” she gasped. “You really did it…”

Alex laughed. “I told you!”

“You really tattooed my freaking lips on your body….” Riley muttered as she continued to stare at his arm.

“And your initials, look!” he said, pointing to the small RH below the lips.

Riley leaned over and kissed him. “You’re a psycho,” she said against his mouth before kissing him again.

“Have I made you mad yet?” Alex asked.

“No,” Riley replied, shaking her head. “But I suspect that’s going to change now when you tell me what you and Brian talked about…”

Alex let out a nervous laugh. “Look, I promise that I didn’t plan on talking to him about anything when I found out we were all going out tonight… We were leaving the bar and he was still sitting by himself. I felt bad so I sat down with him and started talking and it all just sort of happened.

“What did you tell him?”

“Honestly, I didn’t say much.”

Riley rolled her eyes. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “He’s really conflicted with how to feel about this whole thing so I sort of just let him vent.”

“So you just listened to him tell you what a crappy person I am?” Riley frowned.

“No. He never said you were a crappy person, Riley. He’s just upset and is trying to
understand what exactly happened with you guys. He may have also admitted to being
super in love with you back then.”

Riley tensed up and took in a long breath. “That must have been awkward for you.”

“There were a few beats of uncomfortable silence after that; I will admit but I had to figure something like that was bound to come up. Plus, I kind of assumed as much anyway.”

Riley nodded slowly and nervously chewed on her bottom lip.

“Anyway,” Alex continued, sensing her nerves, “obviously, I didn’t go into details on what knew that happened but I told him that he should talk to you.”

“And let me guess, he told you to buzz off?”

“Actually, no. He told me that he would talk to you. Eventually.”

“Eventually,” Riley rolled her eyes. “I guess I’ll just wait until then…”

“He just needs time to process it all.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex sighed. “I should have just left the bar and never said anything.”

“No,” Riley shook her head. “You did the right thing. You were being a good friend. I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m just frustrated by the whole thing but I have no one to blame but myself.”

Alex gave her a sad smile before resting his head sleepily on her shoulder. “So, you’re not mad at this either?”

“No, I’m not mad at this either,” Riley answered, pressing a light kiss to his forehead. “I just still can’t believe you got my lips tattooed on your wrist.”

“Why is it so hard to believe?” Alex gasped.

“Because,” Riley shrugged, lightly running her finger across the skin above the tattoo. “This thing is forever, man.”

Alex laughed. “Well, so is this,” he paused, gesturing between him and Riley. “Man…”

Riley got quiet and shifted slightly which Alex definitely noticed.

“Sorry,” Alex muttered. “Was that too much?”

“No,” Riley said quickly. “Not at all.”

“Then what is it?” Alex asked.

“Okay,” Riley took a deep breath. “You know how we talked the other day about talking about maybe talking about moving in together when we get back to LA after this tour is over?”

“It’s ringing a bell…”

“I think we should just be grownups about things and just talk about it now,” Riley blurted out.

“Like right now?” Alex repeated.

“If you’re up for it, yes, right now.”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Alex said, sitting up a little straighter and folding his hands in his lap.

“Okay,” Riley nodded.

“Here. I’ll make this easy. I am going to ask you two yes-or-no questions. You answer one-hundred-percent honestly.”

“Shoot.”

“Do you want to live with me?”

“Yes,” Riley nodded.

Alex smiled slightly, “Alright…”

“Before you ask me your second question, let me ask you my first question,” Riley interrupted.

“Shoot,” he mimicked her.

“Do you want to live with me?” she asked.

“Yep,” Alex nodded.

“One for one.”

“Ready for question number two?”

“Go for it,” Riley encouraged.

“Let me preface this by stating for the record this is not an official proposal but do you want to marry me?”

Riley laughed quietly to herself before answering. “Let me preface this by stating for the record that this is not an official declaration of marriage, but I do.”

Alex laugh, bumping his shoulder into Riley’s. “Wiseass.”

“Hey, same question for you – blah, blah, blah, not an official proposal, do you want to marry me?”

“Yep,” Alex nodded again causing butterflies to erupt in the pit of Riley’s stomach.

“Well, there you go…” Riley said with a playful smile on her lips.

“There I go,” Alex said, leaning over to kiss her.

“Wait,” Riley backed away from his kiss. “I think we need to answer two more questions.”

“What two questions?”

“I’m going to ask the questions and I think we should answer at the same time.”

Alex laugh, a little nervously. “Okay…”

“Do you want to move in with me right away?” Riley asked. “On the count of three, we’ll
answer.”

After counting to three the both answered “yes.”

Alex let out a relieved sigh. “I think I can assume what the second question will be. Do you want to get married right away?”

“One…” Riley counted.

“Two,” Alex followed her lead.

“Three…” they said together before they both still paused.

“No,” Riley finally said.

“Oh thank God,” Alex laugh. “Same, it’s a no for me too.”

“It’s just not the right time, you know?”

Alex nodded. “I do. Plus, I’d like to live with you for like a year before I decide it’s something I want to do forever, you know?”

Riley laughed. “So a year from now you’ll be ready to get married?”

Alex paused for a second and then shrugged. “A year should do it.”

Riley nodded. “So we’ll put a pin in the marriage conversation until next year.”

“Deal,” Alex said, pressing a kiss to her lips.

“But now the living together thing… I know I’ve brought it up before but how would it work?”

“You and Summer will move into my house in LA for now. But we will look for another place.”

“Why would we need another place?”

“Well, my place now only has three bedrooms. One for us, one for Summer and then of course we’ll need a guest room.”

Riley raised an eyebrow. “Seems like the perfect number of rooms to me.”

“For now, yeah. But eventually we’ll need more rooms.”

“For who?”

“I’m pretty sure Summer isn’t going to want to be roommates with an infant,” Alex answered like it was obvious.

Riley nodded slowly. “You’re talking about having another kid?”

“Technically it wouldn’t be another kid for me.” Alex stated matter-a-fact.

“Fair enough,” Riley agreed. “But still…”

“Yes, I’m talking about having another kid. Is that not something you want?”

“Of course it’s something I want,” Riley nodded. “But I’m a girl.”

“And I’m pretty sure I made it clear what I want,” Alex said, holding up his wrist.

Riley smiled and pressed her lips to his. “Crystal clear.”
***

Notes

Damn this is a long one...

Question guys. In an upcoming chapter, I am going to do a series of short flashbacks, mainly moments between Alex, Riley and Summer. Anything specific you guys would like to see? I'm definitely opened to suggestions. :)