Best Years // Alex Gaskarth

Chapter 8 - Snow Globe

Stella's POV
"Where'd this come from?" I woke up to Luke and my blaring phone alarm. He was holding the Charmander from last night. I snatched it out of his hand and pulled it to my chest.
"Do you knock?" I put the sheets over my head, blocking out the sun.
"Not when I've heard the same alarm going off for a solid 20 minutes." He ripped the sheets back down. "Come on. Busy day."
"Hmm." I groaned and turned back around.
"You wanna tell me where you were all day and night yesterday." He took the stuffed animal back out of my arms and hit my head with it.
"I was with" I couldn't formulate a solid lie because I paid mind to nobody but Alex yesterday. "Jack and some of his friends."
"Mhm, really? Jack actually came to ask me where you were."
Shit, I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. I noticed Sierra standing behind him. She grit her teeth and shrugged.
"Can we talk about it over waffles?" I grinned.
At breakfast, we ate in awkward silence. He was waiting for me to say something and I knew it. Sierra knew everything but was too sweet to rat me out.
Alex and Jack came down the elevator and made their way to the breakfast buffet. Alex grinned at me, he was holding Taylor's hand yet she had her eyes glued to her phone. Jack kept his on the floor.
"Okay, Stella what the fuck." Luke muttered, pulling my attention back. "What happened with them?"
"Why so you can lecture me?" I snapped, pouring more syrup on my plate.
"You know I just want you to be safe, okay? Those kinds of boys will just get you hurt and-"
"Stop, okay? Cut the bullshit. You've never cared about me hanging out with your friends or anyone for that matter. You don't want me hanging out with them because if things go wrong it puts your up-and-coming career in jeopardy. That's what this is, Luke."
"I-" He sighed aggressively. "Regardless I'm the reason you're here so you need to listen to me."
"No." I spat back, unable to get any more words out. I left my plate a mess and walked out. My own brother and my best friend were mad at me. I felt horrible and honestly just wanted to go home.
I went back to the hotel and opened my phone My whole twitter feed was about Alex and Tay. I should've expected that but it just made things hurt so much worse. Everyone was hyping up her band known as "We Are The In Crowd." I suppose management's plan was working after all. I buried my head into a pillow and screamed.
"YOU GOOD?" Ashton shouted from the hall, dramatically before letting himself in.
"Shouldn't you be with everyone else?" I muttered, keeping my head buried.
"I can't hear a thing you're saying?" He pulled the pillow away, blinding me with light. "Woah, Stella." He looked at me, my face was burning.
"I'm so sick of this. Everything that could possibly go wrong is." My phone lit up with a Twitter notif. My lock screen was an image of me and Jack. It was the night we got drunk at 2 am and walked a mile for 7-11 slushies.
"He still really cares about you, you know?" Ash says peering at my screen.
I looked up at him.
"He was looking for you yesterday, said he wanted to talk." Ash continued. "What happened?"
I sighed. "A lot." I laid my head against my hands and closed my eyes.
"Stella." He said, firmly. "You're both miserable. Talk to him."
~
Ashton was right and I did end up meeting up with Jack later that day. I went over to his hotel room. Each member got there own rooms so it gave us privacy nobody's had in a long time.
"What's up?" He leaned against the wall and folded his arms. I sat on the bed, legs crossed, forcing myself to make eye contact.
"Jack, I'm sorry. I'm so ridiculously sorry. You had good intentions and I know that." I placed my hand beside myself. "Do you want to sit with me?"
He unfolded his arms. "It's fine." I stared at him and he looked back at me. My eyes fell to the ground and lost contact with his.
"I guess I was just upset about Alex." I started again. "I took it out on you and that wasn't okay."
I felt him sitting beside me and looked back up.
"I'm really sorry, Jack."
He remained silent but put his arms around me resting his chin on the top of my head.
"Talk to me." I pleaded.
He sighed. "I understand. I should've talked to you sooner. It was just hard. Are you-" he trailed off and his grip around me loosened. "Are you still hurt over Alex?"
I didn't know what to tell him I couldn't tell him what was happening between us. It felt so wrong lying to him especially after exploding on him for lying to me. "I'll heal soon." I muttered and moved my head to look at him.
"I'll be here the whole time." He put his hand on my thigh. I wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure me but it made me tense up. He quickly pulled his hand back.
"Thanks. Uh, Want a drink?" I grabbed a few things from the mini fridge before even getting an answer. We both began downing them, it was very much needed.
I laid back on the bed and took out my phone again. Jack did the same, laying in the opposite direction. We coexisted together for a bit both stirring in our own media feeds.
I had post notifications for from Alex's twitter account.
So happy to be able to make songs with the people I love. Hope you guys enjoy this as much as we do.
It was paired with a youtube link. I pressed it and was lead to a lyric video for "Kiss Me Again - We Are The In Crowd (ft. Alex Gaskarth)" I let the video start now allowing the music to start playing out loud. Jack's attention was drawn to me. "What's that?"
I showed him my screen. "When the hell? Okay this one I genuinely didn't know about."
The chorus rolled around and I felt sick.

So, kiss me again
Underneath the moonlight
You're more than a friend, oh
I knew it from the first sight
Yeah, hold me, feel my heartbeat
Put your arms around me
And kiss me again

Their voices harmonized together. Every word they sang felt real. Maybe it was a set up but I didn't want to be anyones dirty little secret. If Alex wants to treat me like a princess behind closed doors but pretend I don't exist anywhere else it's not going to fly. Seeing him flaunt around another girl made me want to scream.
I chugged the drink in my hand, enjoying the way my tongue tingled.
I turned the video off and threw my phone on the ground. My vision was beginning to blur but I didn't care.
A lot more happened that night. A lot I didn't remember until later but A LOT.