Dirty Laundry
6
2012
Neither Riley or Alex were too familiar with the streets of Paris but they were both so caught up in their conversation to worry about it. They tried to stay on the same street so eventually they could just turn around and find their way back to the club.
Riley was surprised how easy it was for her to talk to Alex. Since leaving Arizona and giving birth to Summer, she didn't have much experience (or time for) with dating. She felt rusty but with the way she noticed Alex hanging on her every word, she knew she still had it.
Alex, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all how easy it was to talk. He knew from that strange feeling he got the second he saw her in the bar that they would have some kind of connection.
As they walked, Alex asked Riley the question about what she was going to do with her degree in Art again and that's when Riley explained all about the gallery. Alex asked her a bunch of questions about different artists that he liked and she shared whatever inside knowledge she had on them.
Her knowledge impressed Alex. He was so used to meeting girls who wanted to be models or actresses or fashion designers - and not even because they liked modeling, acting or designing, they just wanted recognition. It was refreshing for him to talk to someone like Riley.
Riley had managed to shiver for about a second. Alex didn't hesitate before taking off his own leather jacket and passing it to her. Riley thanked him and they both shared a laugh at how long the sleeves of the jacket were on her.
"Oh no," Alex groaned as he held his hands out in front of him. "Did you feel that?"
Riley nodded, looking up at the sky, as a rain drop fell on her nose. "I sure did."
"We should probably turn around, huh?" Alex frowned.
"We should but I'm not sure it's going to make much of a difference," Riley laughed, pulling Alex's jacket around her tighter as the wind started to pick up and the rain came down in a steady drizzle.
"Come here," Alex said, grabbing Riley's arm and dragging her under an awning in front of a bakery they'd just walked by that was closed for the night.
"Maybe it will pass," Riley said hopeful as the rain started to pick up.
"I have an idea," Alex laughed and pulled out his cell phone. "There's a bar back at the hotel I'm staying at. It seemed quiet enough when I walked by it before. I'll call a car to come get us and bring us there," Alex suggested. Again, he didn't realize the implication of bringing her back to his hotel until it was too late. "Or," he said quickly, panicking slightly, "the car could just drop us back at the club."
"The hotel bar sounds great," Riley decided, shooting him a reassuring smile. "The club scene isn't for me much anyway."
"Okay," Alex returned her smile with his own lopsided one before pressing his phone to his ear to request a car.
Riley was sure to pay attention to the name of the hotel Alex gave as their final destination and quickly texted her friends an update on where she was going.
"So, do you have any 'trapped under an awning in the rain' stories to tell?" Alex asked with a chuckle as they waited for their ride.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Riley replied excitedly.
"Do share," Alex encouraged her.
"I was about ten or eleven. We were at Disney's MGM Studios, before they changed the name to Hollywood Studios."
"Are you one of those crazy Disney World nuts?" Alex interrupted.
"Guilty," Riley nodded slowly.
"Fair enough," Alex said, gesturing for her to continue her story.
"I was there with my parents and my aunt and uncle and two cousins. One of my cousins just had ankle surgery so she was in a wheelchair."
"Did you get to cut all the lines?" Alex asked, interrupting again.
"You bet we did."
Alex laughed and nodded for her to continue.
"So we're walking through the back of the park where they have the Streets of America area and it started to rain. We all sat under this giant awning in front of what was supposed to be, I believe, the Plaza hotel in New York. We assumed it was just a passing shower."
"But it wasn't?"
"Nope. And we had to get to the front of the park for dinner reservations. So we decided to just run for it. But then the thunder and lightning started."
"Typical Florida..." Alex added.
"We quickly ran back under that awning because we were afraid with the lightning and my cousin in the big metal wheelchair, something bad would happen."
"No," Alex laughed. "But wouldn't the rubber from the wheels ground her?"
"That argument was made but no one wanted to risk it," Riley giggled at the memory. "We were stuck there for about half an hour, making us late for dinner. The staff found our story funny though and still got us a table quickly."
"That's quite a story," Alex said.
"I actually have a picture of all of us in front of the Disney World Plaza Hotel and then one of us in front of the real hotel in New York."
"Oh, was that the same year you guys drove from Florida to New York?" Alex asked.
Riley paused, smiling up at him. She was impressed that he had been paying that much attention to everything she had said. "It was."
Just as the rain and the wind began to pick up enough that their little store front awning shelter wasn't going to cut it anymore, a black SUV pulled up in front of them. The driver got out and opened the back door for them. Alex carefully and quickly escorted Riley to the car and they slid into the backseat.
"You're sure you don't want to go back to your friends?" Alex double checked as the driver started off towards the hotel.
"I'm sure,". Riley nodded. "Unless you wanted to go back..."
"No," Alex said, maybe a little too quickly. "I mean, no," he said again, clearing his throat. "The hotel bar is fine. Plus, I still owe you a drink."
"That's right," Riley nodded, opening Alex's jacket that was still wrapped tightly around her and looking down at her ruined shirt. "I'll probably have a nice memorial service for this one when I get back to London."
"Shut up," Alex groaned, bumping her shoulder with his. "Don't make me feel bad all over again."
"It's fine," she giggled. "Just be thankful you didn't ruin the shoes. I borrowed them from my aunt and I'm pretty sure they cost a million dollars."
"A million, huh?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, that might be a slight overexaggeration but I'm certain they were a small fortune."
Alex laughed. "Hey, I'm sorry that it started to rain. I was really enjoying our little walk."
"Me too," Riley smiled up at him. "But at least it gave me an excuse to share my Disney World story."
---
"Okay," Alex started, holding up his now half empty beer bottle. "I have another question."
"What's that?" Riley asked, bringing her beer bottle to her lips and taking a long sip.
They were seated next to each other on tall stools at the corner of the hotel's bar. It ended up not being as quiet as Alex remembered. It seemed the hotel was holding some kind of conference there earlier and a lot of the attendees were now gathered in the bar.
That just meant Riley and Alex needed to sit closer than normal to each other, and neither of them were complaining.
"Right before I came up to you at the club-"
"And used that insanely lame pick-up line," Riley interjected.
"And used that insanely lame pick-up line," he repeatedly, grumbling. "I couldn't help but notice how strongly you refused to dance with your friends."
"Oh boy," Riley laughed.
"So, what's that about? I assume there's a story there."
"Well," Riley leaned back on her stool for a moment, taking another swig from her beer as she prepared to tell her story. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"
"So ready," Alex announced, leaning forward on the bar to show Riley had his undivided attention, holding his head up with his fists.
"I took dance classes pretty much since I could walk. I loved it and I guess I was pretty good at it because when I was ten they asked me to join the school's competition team."
"Competitions? Like that crazy Dance Moms show?"
"Sort of," Riley nodded. "But only with much nicer instructors and slightly less mama drama..."
Alex chuckled at 'mama drama,' taking another sip from his beer as Riley continued her story.
"The first three years I was on the team, I only did groups, trios or duets. And we always crushed, placing at least in the top three each time," Riley explained. "I'm pretty sure my parents still have all the trophies in storage somewhere."
"What! You should have them all on display at your place," Alex insisted.
"You'd think, but when I get to the end of the story you'll understand why I don't."
Alex nodded. "Carry on..."
"I was thirteen when I got my first solo and I was pumped. I practiced and practiced and nailed it every single time. Right before I was supposed to go on, I did the number for my teacher one last time and she cried, it was so good. And then I got out on the stage..."
"Oh no." Alex winced. "How bad was it?"
"It was awful. As soon as the lights hit me and I saw all the people in the crowd, I realized all their attention was on me. There was no one else to pull focus. I freaked out and all the choreography just fell out of my head. I couldn't remember a single step. They restarted the song three times before I finally ran off stage crying."
"Aww, noo," Alex frowned. "That's terrible."
"It was terrible. As soon as I got backstage, I ended up throwing up in front of all the other dancers. I was so embarrassed and disappointed that I declared I would never dance again."
"Wait," Alex shook his head, "you didn't even do the group numbers anymore?"
"Nope. There was a group number we were supposed to do later that day that they ended up having to re-block at the last minute because I refused. I quit on the spot and I never really danced in public again."
"Wow," Alex frowned. "That is a truly heartbreaking story."
"I know," Riley nodded. "I was traumatized."
"Who's going to play you in the movie? Surely you've already sold the rights to this tale to the highest bidder," Alex teased.
"Shut up," Riley laughed, reaching over and shoving his shoulder gently. "And if she's up for the challenge, I'm hoping Emma Stone."
Alex laughed. "Emma Stone could handle it."
Riley brought her beer bottle to her lips and just as she was about to take a sip a woman walked by her, accidentally bumping Riley's shoulder with her purse. The woman mumbled an apology and kept on her way.
"You alright?" Alex asked and Riley laughed. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," she shrugged, placing her now empty beer bottle down. "At least I can get bumped into without spilling my drink all over someone else."
Alex shook his head with an exaggerated frown. "Not fair."
Riley opened her mouth to say something back but stopped when she was interrupted by a loud burst of laughter from the group of men at the other end of the bar.
"So much for quiet, huh?"
Alex shifted uncomfortably in his seat with a shrug. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I guess when I walked by here before and noticed it was quiet, I should have taken into consideration that it was about noon."
"You think?" Riley rolled her eyes with a smirk as the loud laughing continued. She let out a sigh and went for it. "You said you had a room here?"
Alex's eyes snapped up to her. "Yes," he answered slowly. "Did you want to..." he trailed off, making note of all implications of asking a girl up to your hotel room and snapping his mouth shut.
"Let's go," Riley nodded.
"Okay," Alex smiled. "I still have a few beers in the fridge up there. And my room has a balcony. Hopefully it's stopped raining and we can sit out there."
"Excellent," Riley smiled, opening her purse to grab some money but Alex stopped her. "What? Why?"
"I owed you. It's fine," he assured her, brushing the twenty dollar bill in her hand away before waving the bartender over so he could close out their tab.
"Thanks," Riley smiled, sliding off the barstool. The buzz she had going at the club was pretty much gone after their walk earlier. It wasn't until she was standing up again that she realized it was back.
"Ready?" Alex asked, after signing off on the credit card receipt and leaving a generous cash tip for the bartender.
"Yep," Riley smiled, appreciating his nice gesture to the worker, and followed him out of the bar towards the lobby.
As they waited for the elevator Riley pulled her phone out of her purse to check if she had any messages from her friends. There were a few replies typed out in all emojis. The eggplant one was used a lot, so she had to assume her friends were being perverts. She dreaded doing it, but she quickly updated them on the fact that she was heading up to his room.
Before she put her phone away, she noticed that it was almost three-thirty in the morning. She could not remember a time she was up this late where a sick and/or crying baby or an intense study guide wasn't involved.
"Sorry," Riley mumbled, dropping her phone back into her bag as they stepped onto the elevator. "Just checking in with the girls."
"Right," Alex chuckled. "They should know that you're heading up to a hotel room alone with an insane, psycho freak, right?"
"Exactly right," she nodded with a laugh.
They stepped off the elevator at the twenty-first floor and Riley followed Alex towards his room. She knew she should have felt a little nervous heading into a hotel room alone with some guy she just met, but she didn't. Alex had been nothing but a gentleman. Plus, she was the one who suggested going up there anyway.
When they reached the room, Alex pulled his keycard from his wallet and opened the door. Riley stepped in behind him and gasped at how nice the room was.
"Wow," she said as she looked around. "Do you always get to stay in rooms so nice?"
"No," Alex shook his head. "I just kind of got lucky this time around."
"I'll say," Riley mumbled as she followed Alex towards the balcony.
He unlocked the giant French doors and stepped outside. "It's not raining. And it looks like the balcony above this one stopped the chairs out here from getting really wet."
Riley stepped out on to the balcony, glad she still had Alex's jacket. She almost took it off in the bar but was slightly embarrassed by the stain on her shirt. She lied and said she was still cold to not make Alex feel bad.
"I'll be right back," Alex said, leaving Riley gapping at the view of the city, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
"This is some view," Riley commented when Alex returned with two more beers. He passed her one and smiled.
"It sure is." Riley took a long sip from the bottle but reminded herself to take it slow. She wasn't sure where the night was headed, but she certainly didn't need it ending with her head in the toilet.
"So, art," Alex started.
"What about it?" Riley asked, turning to face him as she leaned against the balcony's railing.
"I know you said you're interested in the history of it and different artists. But what about the actual skill? Are you artistic?"
Riley shrugged. "Well, for starters, the talent of most artists is subjective. I've seen many paintings sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars that I thought were garbage."
"Like the ones that look like someone had a mouthful of ketchup and sneezed all over a canvas and decided to call it art?"
"Exactly!" Riley laughed. "I draw and take pictures. I've never really had the confidence in my work to try and sell them or anything though."
"I want to see. Do you have any of your work with you?" Alex asked eagerly.
"Oh yeah... Let me just pull my portfolio out from my small purse inside..."
"Wiseass," Alex rolled his eyes. "I meant like a picture on your phone. Or a website."
Riley laughed and pulled out her phone. "Hang on. I might have a few pictures somewhere."
She quickly and carefully scrolled through the library of photos on her phone. There were tons of pictures of Summer on there and she wasn't quite ready to drop the baby bomb on a guy she just met. "Here," she turned her phone around to display a picture of a black and white sketch she did of the London skyline.
"Wow," Alex grabbed the phone from her and for the first time that night she was nervous. "I'm not going to scroll, don't worry. I know cell phone etiquette."
"Thanks," she laughed, relaxing again. "You won't find much," she sort of lied.
"This is amazing, Riley." Alex said, zooming in and out of the picture to better see the details. "You did this freehand?"
Riley nodded. "I did. It's the view from the roof of my building."
"That's some view as well," Alex commented, handing her back the phone. "I would totally buy that, by the way."
"You're just saying that because I'm standing here," Riley said with a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Nah," Alex shrugged. "I'd say it if you were standing inside too," he joked, causing Riley to laugh again. He liked that she laughed at his jokes but still called him out on their lame-ness. "How old were you when you started drawing? Did you pick it up after the traumatic dancing experience?"
"No," she laughed. "I was young. Maybe four or five. My mom says she realized I had a knack for drawing when I would play outside with chalk and make these elaborate portraits that took up the entire driveway. She's got pictures of them somewhere."
"Does she? I'd love to see them. Maybe I'll buy those too," Alex said.
Riley laughed. "Well I-" she paused and quickly shook her head. "I just realized I've been doing an awful lot of talking about myself tonight."
Alex nodded satisfied. "I know. You're welcome."
"No," she shook her head again. "I must sound so full of myself."
"Not at all. I've been distracting you with questions. You see, with what I do for a living, I'm constantly talking about myself and it's exhausting."
Riley nodded slowly. "I guess that explains why I'm so tired right now."
Alex laughed. "It's totally because you've been talking about yourself. Not because it's almost four in the morning and you've been drinking."
"Exactly," she smirked. "Okay, so your band. What do you do in it?" Riley asked, turning her attention to Alex.
"I sing and play guitar. And write the songs."
Riley nodded with an impressed look on her face. "Quite the multi-tasker, huh?"
Alex laughed. "I guess so. But I freaking love it."
"When did you start?" Alex smiled and gave Riley a brief history of All Time Low up until that then where they had just release their album Dirty Work.
"So, when you started this at fourteen, did you even imagine you'd be playing your music in another country?"
Alex shook his head. "Hell no. At fourteen we were still only playing Blink 182 and Greenday covers. I didn't realize I could kind of write my own songs until I was sixteen."
"I've always been so fascinated by people who can write their own songs. I'm so jealous."
"Do you play any instruments?" Alex asked, quickly bringing the attention back to her.
Riley gave him a look, knowing exactly what he was doing. "I played piano for a bit."
"Really?" Alex asked excitedly. "How long?"
"I think I started when I was six or seven. I stopped when I was ten though. I needed more free time then when I joined the dance team."
"Ah, in hindsight you probably should have stuck with the piano."
Riley laughed. "Probably."
"Were you any good?"
She shrugged. "I was okay. I probably would have gotten better if I kept up with it."
Alex nodded. "So you can draw, you can dance and you can play piano. Anything you can't do?"
Riley laughed. "There's plenty."
Alex brought his beer bottle to his lips and emptied the rest of the bottle. He placed it on the table next to Riley empties and clasped his hands together. "I think I know what you can't do..."
You do?" Riley asked, cross her arms over her chest. "And what's that?"
Alex paused, pressing his finger to his chin for dramatic effect before pointing to her. "You can't kiss."
Riley laughed. "I'm sorry. What?"
"You heard me," Alex challenged. "You can't kiss."
Riley laughed again. "What about anything I've said tonight would give you the impression that I'm a bad kisser?"
"It's okay," Alex faked a sad smile, reaching across and rubbing her shoulder gently. "There's no need to get defensive. We all have things we're not good at."
Riley just shook her head. "I know what you're doing here, Alex."
"What am I doing?"
"You're trying to trick me into kissing you. You think if you tell me I'm a bad kisser, I'll want to prove you wrong and kiss you."
Alex laughed. "That's just ridiculous."
"Or!" Riley exclaimed wagging her finger at him. "Or, you're really the bad kisser. And you're using the excuse of me being a bad kisser as a reason for you not to kiss me so I don't learn that you're, in fact, the bad kisser."
"Oh," Alex scoffed, shaking his head. "Absolutely not. I am not a bad kisser."
"It's okay," she mimicked him, reaching over and rubbing his shoulder. "There's no need to get defen-"
Playing into his own game, Alex took the bait. He figured at this point he'd waited long enough and just really wanted to kiss her.
Taking a small step forward, to close the space between them, Alex bent down and lightly pressed his lips to Riley's. He pulled away seconds later.
"Survey says?" Alex said, hopeful.
Riley paused like she really needed time to think about it. Truthfully she felt something ignite throughout her entire body the second his lips touched hers. But there was no chance she was going to tell him that.
"Well, if I'm being honest, you didn't give me much to work with..."
Alex nodded slowly. "Should we try aga-"
This time it was Riley stepping forward and closing the space between them before pressing her lips up to his. This time they stayed there longer and before she could pull away, Alex's hands grasped her hips to hold her in place.
Riley didn't know if it was the handful of drinks she had that made her so comfortable or if it was just because Alex had been so great the entire night.
Either way, Riley had no problem leaning up on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss.
***
Neither Riley or Alex were too familiar with the streets of Paris but they were both so caught up in their conversation to worry about it. They tried to stay on the same street so eventually they could just turn around and find their way back to the club.
Riley was surprised how easy it was for her to talk to Alex. Since leaving Arizona and giving birth to Summer, she didn't have much experience (or time for) with dating. She felt rusty but with the way she noticed Alex hanging on her every word, she knew she still had it.
Alex, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all how easy it was to talk. He knew from that strange feeling he got the second he saw her in the bar that they would have some kind of connection.
As they walked, Alex asked Riley the question about what she was going to do with her degree in Art again and that's when Riley explained all about the gallery. Alex asked her a bunch of questions about different artists that he liked and she shared whatever inside knowledge she had on them.
Her knowledge impressed Alex. He was so used to meeting girls who wanted to be models or actresses or fashion designers - and not even because they liked modeling, acting or designing, they just wanted recognition. It was refreshing for him to talk to someone like Riley.
Riley had managed to shiver for about a second. Alex didn't hesitate before taking off his own leather jacket and passing it to her. Riley thanked him and they both shared a laugh at how long the sleeves of the jacket were on her.
"Oh no," Alex groaned as he held his hands out in front of him. "Did you feel that?"
Riley nodded, looking up at the sky, as a rain drop fell on her nose. "I sure did."
"We should probably turn around, huh?" Alex frowned.
"We should but I'm not sure it's going to make much of a difference," Riley laughed, pulling Alex's jacket around her tighter as the wind started to pick up and the rain came down in a steady drizzle.
"Come here," Alex said, grabbing Riley's arm and dragging her under an awning in front of a bakery they'd just walked by that was closed for the night.
"Maybe it will pass," Riley said hopeful as the rain started to pick up.
"I have an idea," Alex laughed and pulled out his cell phone. "There's a bar back at the hotel I'm staying at. It seemed quiet enough when I walked by it before. I'll call a car to come get us and bring us there," Alex suggested. Again, he didn't realize the implication of bringing her back to his hotel until it was too late. "Or," he said quickly, panicking slightly, "the car could just drop us back at the club."
"The hotel bar sounds great," Riley decided, shooting him a reassuring smile. "The club scene isn't for me much anyway."
"Okay," Alex returned her smile with his own lopsided one before pressing his phone to his ear to request a car.
Riley was sure to pay attention to the name of the hotel Alex gave as their final destination and quickly texted her friends an update on where she was going.
"So, do you have any 'trapped under an awning in the rain' stories to tell?" Alex asked with a chuckle as they waited for their ride.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Riley replied excitedly.
"Do share," Alex encouraged her.
"I was about ten or eleven. We were at Disney's MGM Studios, before they changed the name to Hollywood Studios."
"Are you one of those crazy Disney World nuts?" Alex interrupted.
"Guilty," Riley nodded slowly.
"Fair enough," Alex said, gesturing for her to continue her story.
"I was there with my parents and my aunt and uncle and two cousins. One of my cousins just had ankle surgery so she was in a wheelchair."
"Did you get to cut all the lines?" Alex asked, interrupting again.
"You bet we did."
Alex laughed and nodded for her to continue.
"So we're walking through the back of the park where they have the Streets of America area and it started to rain. We all sat under this giant awning in front of what was supposed to be, I believe, the Plaza hotel in New York. We assumed it was just a passing shower."
"But it wasn't?"
"Nope. And we had to get to the front of the park for dinner reservations. So we decided to just run for it. But then the thunder and lightning started."
"Typical Florida..." Alex added.
"We quickly ran back under that awning because we were afraid with the lightning and my cousin in the big metal wheelchair, something bad would happen."
"No," Alex laughed. "But wouldn't the rubber from the wheels ground her?"
"That argument was made but no one wanted to risk it," Riley giggled at the memory. "We were stuck there for about half an hour, making us late for dinner. The staff found our story funny though and still got us a table quickly."
"That's quite a story," Alex said.
"I actually have a picture of all of us in front of the Disney World Plaza Hotel and then one of us in front of the real hotel in New York."
"Oh, was that the same year you guys drove from Florida to New York?" Alex asked.
Riley paused, smiling up at him. She was impressed that he had been paying that much attention to everything she had said. "It was."
Just as the rain and the wind began to pick up enough that their little store front awning shelter wasn't going to cut it anymore, a black SUV pulled up in front of them. The driver got out and opened the back door for them. Alex carefully and quickly escorted Riley to the car and they slid into the backseat.
"You're sure you don't want to go back to your friends?" Alex double checked as the driver started off towards the hotel.
"I'm sure,". Riley nodded. "Unless you wanted to go back..."
"No," Alex said, maybe a little too quickly. "I mean, no," he said again, clearing his throat. "The hotel bar is fine. Plus, I still owe you a drink."
"That's right," Riley nodded, opening Alex's jacket that was still wrapped tightly around her and looking down at her ruined shirt. "I'll probably have a nice memorial service for this one when I get back to London."
"Shut up," Alex groaned, bumping her shoulder with his. "Don't make me feel bad all over again."
"It's fine," she giggled. "Just be thankful you didn't ruin the shoes. I borrowed them from my aunt and I'm pretty sure they cost a million dollars."
"A million, huh?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, that might be a slight overexaggeration but I'm certain they were a small fortune."
Alex laughed. "Hey, I'm sorry that it started to rain. I was really enjoying our little walk."
"Me too," Riley smiled up at him. "But at least it gave me an excuse to share my Disney World story."
---
"Okay," Alex started, holding up his now half empty beer bottle. "I have another question."
"What's that?" Riley asked, bringing her beer bottle to her lips and taking a long sip.
They were seated next to each other on tall stools at the corner of the hotel's bar. It ended up not being as quiet as Alex remembered. It seemed the hotel was holding some kind of conference there earlier and a lot of the attendees were now gathered in the bar.
That just meant Riley and Alex needed to sit closer than normal to each other, and neither of them were complaining.
"Right before I came up to you at the club-"
"And used that insanely lame pick-up line," Riley interjected.
"And used that insanely lame pick-up line," he repeatedly, grumbling. "I couldn't help but notice how strongly you refused to dance with your friends."
"Oh boy," Riley laughed.
"So, what's that about? I assume there's a story there."
"Well," Riley leaned back on her stool for a moment, taking another swig from her beer as she prepared to tell her story. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"
"So ready," Alex announced, leaning forward on the bar to show Riley had his undivided attention, holding his head up with his fists.
"I took dance classes pretty much since I could walk. I loved it and I guess I was pretty good at it because when I was ten they asked me to join the school's competition team."
"Competitions? Like that crazy Dance Moms show?"
"Sort of," Riley nodded. "But only with much nicer instructors and slightly less mama drama..."
Alex chuckled at 'mama drama,' taking another sip from his beer as Riley continued her story.
"The first three years I was on the team, I only did groups, trios or duets. And we always crushed, placing at least in the top three each time," Riley explained. "I'm pretty sure my parents still have all the trophies in storage somewhere."
"What! You should have them all on display at your place," Alex insisted.
"You'd think, but when I get to the end of the story you'll understand why I don't."
Alex nodded. "Carry on..."
"I was thirteen when I got my first solo and I was pumped. I practiced and practiced and nailed it every single time. Right before I was supposed to go on, I did the number for my teacher one last time and she cried, it was so good. And then I got out on the stage..."
"Oh no." Alex winced. "How bad was it?"
"It was awful. As soon as the lights hit me and I saw all the people in the crowd, I realized all their attention was on me. There was no one else to pull focus. I freaked out and all the choreography just fell out of my head. I couldn't remember a single step. They restarted the song three times before I finally ran off stage crying."
"Aww, noo," Alex frowned. "That's terrible."
"It was terrible. As soon as I got backstage, I ended up throwing up in front of all the other dancers. I was so embarrassed and disappointed that I declared I would never dance again."
"Wait," Alex shook his head, "you didn't even do the group numbers anymore?"
"Nope. There was a group number we were supposed to do later that day that they ended up having to re-block at the last minute because I refused. I quit on the spot and I never really danced in public again."
"Wow," Alex frowned. "That is a truly heartbreaking story."
"I know," Riley nodded. "I was traumatized."
"Who's going to play you in the movie? Surely you've already sold the rights to this tale to the highest bidder," Alex teased.
"Shut up," Riley laughed, reaching over and shoving his shoulder gently. "And if she's up for the challenge, I'm hoping Emma Stone."
Alex laughed. "Emma Stone could handle it."
Riley brought her beer bottle to her lips and just as she was about to take a sip a woman walked by her, accidentally bumping Riley's shoulder with her purse. The woman mumbled an apology and kept on her way.
"You alright?" Alex asked and Riley laughed. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," she shrugged, placing her now empty beer bottle down. "At least I can get bumped into without spilling my drink all over someone else."
Alex shook his head with an exaggerated frown. "Not fair."
Riley opened her mouth to say something back but stopped when she was interrupted by a loud burst of laughter from the group of men at the other end of the bar.
"So much for quiet, huh?"
Alex shifted uncomfortably in his seat with a shrug. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I guess when I walked by here before and noticed it was quiet, I should have taken into consideration that it was about noon."
"You think?" Riley rolled her eyes with a smirk as the loud laughing continued. She let out a sigh and went for it. "You said you had a room here?"
Alex's eyes snapped up to her. "Yes," he answered slowly. "Did you want to..." he trailed off, making note of all implications of asking a girl up to your hotel room and snapping his mouth shut.
"Let's go," Riley nodded.
"Okay," Alex smiled. "I still have a few beers in the fridge up there. And my room has a balcony. Hopefully it's stopped raining and we can sit out there."
"Excellent," Riley smiled, opening her purse to grab some money but Alex stopped her. "What? Why?"
"I owed you. It's fine," he assured her, brushing the twenty dollar bill in her hand away before waving the bartender over so he could close out their tab.
"Thanks," Riley smiled, sliding off the barstool. The buzz she had going at the club was pretty much gone after their walk earlier. It wasn't until she was standing up again that she realized it was back.
"Ready?" Alex asked, after signing off on the credit card receipt and leaving a generous cash tip for the bartender.
"Yep," Riley smiled, appreciating his nice gesture to the worker, and followed him out of the bar towards the lobby.
As they waited for the elevator Riley pulled her phone out of her purse to check if she had any messages from her friends. There were a few replies typed out in all emojis. The eggplant one was used a lot, so she had to assume her friends were being perverts. She dreaded doing it, but she quickly updated them on the fact that she was heading up to his room.
Before she put her phone away, she noticed that it was almost three-thirty in the morning. She could not remember a time she was up this late where a sick and/or crying baby or an intense study guide wasn't involved.
"Sorry," Riley mumbled, dropping her phone back into her bag as they stepped onto the elevator. "Just checking in with the girls."
"Right," Alex chuckled. "They should know that you're heading up to a hotel room alone with an insane, psycho freak, right?"
"Exactly right," she nodded with a laugh.
They stepped off the elevator at the twenty-first floor and Riley followed Alex towards his room. She knew she should have felt a little nervous heading into a hotel room alone with some guy she just met, but she didn't. Alex had been nothing but a gentleman. Plus, she was the one who suggested going up there anyway.
When they reached the room, Alex pulled his keycard from his wallet and opened the door. Riley stepped in behind him and gasped at how nice the room was.
"Wow," she said as she looked around. "Do you always get to stay in rooms so nice?"
"No," Alex shook his head. "I just kind of got lucky this time around."
"I'll say," Riley mumbled as she followed Alex towards the balcony.
He unlocked the giant French doors and stepped outside. "It's not raining. And it looks like the balcony above this one stopped the chairs out here from getting really wet."
Riley stepped out on to the balcony, glad she still had Alex's jacket. She almost took it off in the bar but was slightly embarrassed by the stain on her shirt. She lied and said she was still cold to not make Alex feel bad.
"I'll be right back," Alex said, leaving Riley gapping at the view of the city, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
"This is some view," Riley commented when Alex returned with two more beers. He passed her one and smiled.
"It sure is." Riley took a long sip from the bottle but reminded herself to take it slow. She wasn't sure where the night was headed, but she certainly didn't need it ending with her head in the toilet.
"So, art," Alex started.
"What about it?" Riley asked, turning to face him as she leaned against the balcony's railing.
"I know you said you're interested in the history of it and different artists. But what about the actual skill? Are you artistic?"
Riley shrugged. "Well, for starters, the talent of most artists is subjective. I've seen many paintings sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars that I thought were garbage."
"Like the ones that look like someone had a mouthful of ketchup and sneezed all over a canvas and decided to call it art?"
"Exactly!" Riley laughed. "I draw and take pictures. I've never really had the confidence in my work to try and sell them or anything though."
"I want to see. Do you have any of your work with you?" Alex asked eagerly.
"Oh yeah... Let me just pull my portfolio out from my small purse inside..."
"Wiseass," Alex rolled his eyes. "I meant like a picture on your phone. Or a website."
Riley laughed and pulled out her phone. "Hang on. I might have a few pictures somewhere."
She quickly and carefully scrolled through the library of photos on her phone. There were tons of pictures of Summer on there and she wasn't quite ready to drop the baby bomb on a guy she just met. "Here," she turned her phone around to display a picture of a black and white sketch she did of the London skyline.
"Wow," Alex grabbed the phone from her and for the first time that night she was nervous. "I'm not going to scroll, don't worry. I know cell phone etiquette."
"Thanks," she laughed, relaxing again. "You won't find much," she sort of lied.
"This is amazing, Riley." Alex said, zooming in and out of the picture to better see the details. "You did this freehand?"
Riley nodded. "I did. It's the view from the roof of my building."
"That's some view as well," Alex commented, handing her back the phone. "I would totally buy that, by the way."
"You're just saying that because I'm standing here," Riley said with a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Nah," Alex shrugged. "I'd say it if you were standing inside too," he joked, causing Riley to laugh again. He liked that she laughed at his jokes but still called him out on their lame-ness. "How old were you when you started drawing? Did you pick it up after the traumatic dancing experience?"
"No," she laughed. "I was young. Maybe four or five. My mom says she realized I had a knack for drawing when I would play outside with chalk and make these elaborate portraits that took up the entire driveway. She's got pictures of them somewhere."
"Does she? I'd love to see them. Maybe I'll buy those too," Alex said.
Riley laughed. "Well I-" she paused and quickly shook her head. "I just realized I've been doing an awful lot of talking about myself tonight."
Alex nodded satisfied. "I know. You're welcome."
"No," she shook her head again. "I must sound so full of myself."
"Not at all. I've been distracting you with questions. You see, with what I do for a living, I'm constantly talking about myself and it's exhausting."
Riley nodded slowly. "I guess that explains why I'm so tired right now."
Alex laughed. "It's totally because you've been talking about yourself. Not because it's almost four in the morning and you've been drinking."
"Exactly," she smirked. "Okay, so your band. What do you do in it?" Riley asked, turning her attention to Alex.
"I sing and play guitar. And write the songs."
Riley nodded with an impressed look on her face. "Quite the multi-tasker, huh?"
Alex laughed. "I guess so. But I freaking love it."
"When did you start?" Alex smiled and gave Riley a brief history of All Time Low up until that then where they had just release their album Dirty Work.
"So, when you started this at fourteen, did you even imagine you'd be playing your music in another country?"
Alex shook his head. "Hell no. At fourteen we were still only playing Blink 182 and Greenday covers. I didn't realize I could kind of write my own songs until I was sixteen."
"I've always been so fascinated by people who can write their own songs. I'm so jealous."
"Do you play any instruments?" Alex asked, quickly bringing the attention back to her.
Riley gave him a look, knowing exactly what he was doing. "I played piano for a bit."
"Really?" Alex asked excitedly. "How long?"
"I think I started when I was six or seven. I stopped when I was ten though. I needed more free time then when I joined the dance team."
"Ah, in hindsight you probably should have stuck with the piano."
Riley laughed. "Probably."
"Were you any good?"
She shrugged. "I was okay. I probably would have gotten better if I kept up with it."
Alex nodded. "So you can draw, you can dance and you can play piano. Anything you can't do?"
Riley laughed. "There's plenty."
Alex brought his beer bottle to his lips and emptied the rest of the bottle. He placed it on the table next to Riley empties and clasped his hands together. "I think I know what you can't do..."
You do?" Riley asked, cross her arms over her chest. "And what's that?"
Alex paused, pressing his finger to his chin for dramatic effect before pointing to her. "You can't kiss."
Riley laughed. "I'm sorry. What?"
"You heard me," Alex challenged. "You can't kiss."
Riley laughed again. "What about anything I've said tonight would give you the impression that I'm a bad kisser?"
"It's okay," Alex faked a sad smile, reaching across and rubbing her shoulder gently. "There's no need to get defensive. We all have things we're not good at."
Riley just shook her head. "I know what you're doing here, Alex."
"What am I doing?"
"You're trying to trick me into kissing you. You think if you tell me I'm a bad kisser, I'll want to prove you wrong and kiss you."
Alex laughed. "That's just ridiculous."
"Or!" Riley exclaimed wagging her finger at him. "Or, you're really the bad kisser. And you're using the excuse of me being a bad kisser as a reason for you not to kiss me so I don't learn that you're, in fact, the bad kisser."
"Oh," Alex scoffed, shaking his head. "Absolutely not. I am not a bad kisser."
"It's okay," she mimicked him, reaching over and rubbing his shoulder. "There's no need to get defen-"
Playing into his own game, Alex took the bait. He figured at this point he'd waited long enough and just really wanted to kiss her.
Taking a small step forward, to close the space between them, Alex bent down and lightly pressed his lips to Riley's. He pulled away seconds later.
"Survey says?" Alex said, hopeful.
Riley paused like she really needed time to think about it. Truthfully she felt something ignite throughout her entire body the second his lips touched hers. But there was no chance she was going to tell him that.
"Well, if I'm being honest, you didn't give me much to work with..."
Alex nodded slowly. "Should we try aga-"
This time it was Riley stepping forward and closing the space between them before pressing her lips up to his. This time they stayed there longer and before she could pull away, Alex's hands grasped her hips to hold her in place.
Riley didn't know if it was the handful of drinks she had that made her so comfortable or if it was just because Alex had been so great the entire night.
Either way, Riley had no problem leaning up on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss.
***
Notes
Story Title: All Time Low - Dirty Laundry
And now their first kiss... <3
The next few chapters will continue to tell the story of when they first met. I'll try to keep them a little shorter. Or do you prefer them longer? Let me know. :)
Is anyone even reading this? I feel like this story isn't getting the attention I wish it did...
If you could come back and update, that'd be great <3
1/23/19