Best Years // Alex Gaskarth

Chapter 16 - Meet You There

I was out to lunch with Sierra as the boys were working in the studio. We decided on Panda Express as it was down the street and absolutely delicious. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and glanced at it.
Alex's name was printed across the screen.
"It's Alex. Gimme a sec." I smile and Sierra nods for me to puck it up.
I swipe across the screen, answering the call before pressing the phone to my ear.
"Hellooooo." I sang into the phone.
"Hey, what's going on?" Alex answered with enthusiasm.
"Sierra and I are out at lunch." I told him.
"Oh interesting," He says and I can hear his grin through the phone. "You don't have any plans afterward right?"
"Nope. Why? What's going on?" I ask him knowing damn well what was coming next.
Alex quickly yells to someone else, hearing the muffled voice of Jack before he speaks to me. "Would you wanna bring us some when you're done?" He asks and I look at Sierra, rolling my eyes.
"Alex Gaskarth, are you using me to bring you guys food?" I ask, crossing my arm over my chest.
I was met by silence and I raise an eyebrow. "I love you?" He mutters and I laugh.
"I love you too. Don't worry. I'll come by the studio with lunch. Just send me what everyone wants" I mumble.
"You're the best, my love. See you soon." he breathes into the phone. We both said goodbye before hanging up the phone.
"Alright, guess we're on delivery duty today." I tell Sierra, sliding my phone back into my pocket.
"Honestly I was waiting on that call." She sarcastically rolled her eyes. "The question was which one of them would it be."
~
I adjust the Panda Express bags in my hand. I purse my lips together as I come to the doors of the studio the guys are currently in. Sierra balances one of the bags on the other, opening the glass doors and we slip inside.
The secretary was standing at the door. She looked at us and our bags."You can go right in."
I smile and nod, thanking her quietly. We walk the path of the studio building, hearing the boy's voices coming from the room they seem to be constantly in.
"Alex!?" I call out, staring at the closed door. A small crash can be heard on the other side and a giggle leaves my lips as I wait for the door to be opened. The door opens and Alex looks at me large smile on his lips.
"Hey, love. You made it! How come you didn't text me that you were here? I would've helped." He says.
I shrug my shoulders, telling him it was alright as he lets me into the room. I give a small smile to the people I don't know as Michael runs up to me and grabs the bags from my hands. "Thanks for bringing lunch," he excitedly states with a grin.
"Yeah, no problem."
Luke comes over and greets Sierra with a hug and a soft kiss on her forehead. The rest of the boys shove Panda Express into their mouths. Alex and I sat down on one of the loveseats and I hand him his food container.
"So, how's everything going?" I ask as he pops open his lo mein.
Alex nods, finishing the food he was chewing on while his hand covered his mouth. "It's going well. After lunch Luke's going into the booth to record," he tells me and I nod my head.
"That's great. I'm really excited for you guys." I sighed happily.
"Whatever happened to you being a little aspiring artist?" Alex playfully nudges my shoulder. "Blackbird flyyyy"
"Shut upp." I cut him off, holding back a smile. "Life's just been busy. Haven't really been doing music as much." I shrugged.
Alex gave me a side-eye while shoving more food into his mouth. "Mhm." He hummed. "Not from what I heard."
I eyed Luke who was distracted by his beautiful girlfriend. "That motherfucker." I mumbled under my breath.
"Yep, from what I hear you've been doing it more than usual." Alex gave me a look. "Maybe when we finish up we could mess around in the studio a bit."
"Wow, you're very direct." I joked, blushing at my own comment.
Alex couldn't hold in his laughter. "Okay fine but that's AFTER you play me some music. Deal?"
"Deal." I winked.
Everyone finished up their food and thanked us again before migrating back to their instruments. Sierra followed Luke and he began plucking some notes for her. She looked at him with such admiration. I wondered if that's how I looked when I'm with Alex.
Alex gets up and sits in the chair in front of the mixing table, looking serious as ever.
"Back to work." He says to himself and cracks his knuckles.
I can't help but feel incredibly attracted to him right now. I lay my hands on his shoulders, leaning my face into his neck and putting my mouth up to his ear
"You look so incredibly good right now," I whisper against his skin before pulling away from him.
"Oh yeah?" He turns around, looking flustered.
Suddenly, the door to the building opens and Rian pops his head out. "Alex, we need you bud."
~
"Aight, mate. Studios all yours." Jack marched out, badly impersonating an Australian accent.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm about to end your whole career." I joked, digging my notebook out from my bag.

"Didn't work the first time you tried." He shot back, eyebrows raised.

"You fucker." I slapped him across the back with my notebook, causing him to let out an 'ow' between laughs.

"Just a joke, don't cancel me." He packed up his things and threw his guitar onto his back.

"I'm surprised you're not already." I stuck out my tongue and he did the same back.

"Good luck you're gonna do great." He said, his voice toning back down.

"Thanks, Jack." I smiled.

"Have fun but not too much." He wrapped his arm around Zack's shoulder and they left the studio.

Once the boys all funneled out it was just me and Alex left. It reminded me of the first time we really spent time together. The day on the bus when we sang and strummed his guitar. I took a moment to remember how far we've gotten as I warmed up with that familiar fuzzy feeling.

"Lets see whatcha got." He stuck out is hand and I gave the page to him.
He began reading through it and I watched anxiously. I knew he'd be ridiculously kind about whatever I do but I still felt intimidated. It's weird because he's my boyfriend but he's also my celebrity crush. There's a weird place I'm in between being totally comfortable with him and absolutely starstruck.
"This is.." He took his eyes off the page and back onto me. "Amazing. Stella, these lyrics are" he smiled, looking back down. "Really good. What are we thinking for instrumentals."
I shrugged and he picked up a guitar. "Start singing, I'll try to back you."
After a few hours of messing around with different chord combinations we came up with something we both loved.
"So we gonna grab some coffees and record this thing." I grinned, looking at our work.
"You're insane, Stell... of course."