Angst And Antagonism

Alex Gaskarth

"Who?" I asked, sobering quickly and sitting up.

"Well, there are people out there who, uh, would not, let's say, appreciate, the whole 'us fighting' thing. So I think someone got wind of Ryan helping us, figured he was important, and um, yeah. But, I think specifically it was Tara Barnes. I saw a jacket in Ryan's room that was most definitely not his, and it had her monogram on it."

"Wait, Conner, what if it was there because her and Ryan were, um, dating?" I didn't want to just run up accusing the most powerful woman in our society on a whim. We could get executed. Or tortured. Neither of those outcomes were pleasant.

"Cleo, please. Have you met her? She'd never be held down by a guy. She screws like nine different guys a day, I don't think Ryan would put up with that." Okay, he had a point, sure, but I needed more concrete proof.

"I just need more to go off of. I don't want to be wrong and get murdered for accusing her of killing one of her own." I put my hand on his cheek. "Look, honey, I know you want to find out who killed him, and I know you want justice, but we have to be careful about this, okay? We can't just run up and blame anyone, a Barnes, no less!"

We fought after that; I stormed up to my room and Conner left the house. I came back down in the morning to find him sitting on my couch with chocolate. Rolling my eyes as I realized he was asleep, I smacked him. He woke up, frightened, and I was clutching my sides as I laughed.

I thought those huge eyes of his would pop out of his head.

"Very funny, jackass," he growled, throwing the chocolate at me. It hit me in the side and left a bruise.

I pulled off his beanie and hurled it out the window. "HEY! That was autographed!"

"By whom?"

"Alex Gaskarth. You threw my autographed beanie, signed by ALEX GASKARTH out the window!" With that, he fled to go retrieve said beanie. It was perfectly fine, just a little dirty.

"Here, I'll wash it." I said, taking it from him.

"NO. The signature will wash out."

"Who the hell is Alex Gaskarth?"

"WHAT?" I started to repeat myself. "--NO, I HEARD YOU. I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT. 'WHO IS ALEX GASKARTH?!' SHE SAYS." He started getting hysterical at this point. His voice was shaking and I got concerned. "I CANNOT HANDLE YOU RIGHT NOW." Still muttering under his breath, he stopped screaming. "'Who is Alex Gaskarth' she says. What self-respecting person doesn't know who Alex Gaskarth is. I know for a fact she listens to All Time Low."

"Is he like the drummer or something?" I asked, hoping to calm him down. Nope. He was back to screaming.

"'IS HE LIKE THE DRUMMER OR SOMETHING?!' DEAR LORD, CLEO, HOW DO--you know what? I'm done." He plopped on my couch again, head cradled in his hands.

He didn't talk to me for the next three days. I'd caved and Googled Alex Gaskarth, and found that he was the lead singer of my favorite band. It was quite understandable that Conner has freaked out when I said I didn't know who he was.

"I'm still mad," Conner pouted. He looked cute, but I wouldn't say that to his face. Or anyone's face. That thought would be carried to my grave.

"It's been three days, dude." He just glared at me, his eyes flashing a radioactive green color. "WOAH, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"What?"

"Your eyes just turned green. A really bright green. Like super green." I stumbled over my words and said green a lot more, but I'll spare you that dialogue. Anyway, he started mumbling to himself about Ryan saying this might happen.

"I have to get out of here," he said, leaving and slamming the door behind him.