The Trouble-Makers (Alex Gaskarth Fan Fiction)

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Ow," Alex complained, wriggling under my grasp. He was shirtless in my bathroom, sitting on the counter next to the sink. I was currently attempting to clean him up, but he was proving difficult.

"Stop squirming, it will only take longer," I scolded, resting a hand on my hip. I reached forward to dab at one of his bruises with my rag but he caught my hand.

"Maybe if I had some motivation..." he said slyly, his half smile appearing on his face. I was very aware of his bare skin showing and how close we were in this small space, but Alex proved to make things worse by constantly teasing me about things like this.

"Quicker this is done, the quicker we can go back to the guys," I told him, trying to wiggle my hand out of his grasp but he only hung on. Right now, with him sitting down we were almost eye level.

Alex didn't respond, he simply pulled me closer to him now and I couldn't find the urge to fight him. His breath tickled my cheek. "Why did you come for me?"

I bit down on my lip, leaning into him. "How could I not?"

He chuckled lowly at that. "I think you're feeling something for me."

I smiled at that. Of course I did, I would've never kissed him before if I didn't. "And what about you?"

He paused, looking down at my lips. "You tell me," he whispered, pulling me closer and connecting our lips. He locked his arms around my back, pulling me closer and my hands wandered up into his hair.

Alex pulled away, grunting as I leaned too far into him and must have hurt one of his bruises. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry," I gushed.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't be," he said quietly, looking down at the ground. "Stella, I, uh," he furrowed his eyebrows, looking back up at me. "I wanted to make this...official."

I looked up at him. "You mean us dating?"

He nodded his head, biting down on his lip.

A smile spread across my face and I nodded my head, taking a hold of one of his hands. "You think I could say no to you?"

Alex released a sigh, as if he were afraid I would've said no, and pulled me back into his arms.

***

After cleaning him up, Alex and I returned to the boys hand-in-hand.  Now that we were official, it was okay to hold hands in front of them although I felt extremely awkward doing it.  I knew we'd be teased for the first few times, but hopefully the boys would get used to it eventually. 

Jaime, of course, was the first to notice it, a smile lighting up on his face.  "Oh my, oh my, what do we have here? Public affection? In front of us?" He playfully gasped, and Alex punched his arm lightly for that.

"Someone finally popped the question, eh?" Rian asked, raising an eyebrow at Alex.

"It's about time you guys made it official instead of sneaking around in places where we'd catch you kissing," Jack added, wrinkling his nose.

I blushed at that, hiding in Alex's chest.  "Shut up, 'tard," Alex lamely defended, holding my back.  As much as this situation was awkward, I knew the boys approved; or at least I hoped they did.  Despite the messy scenes I've seen them in, I was grateful to be accepted by them.

"Okay, now being serious here," Mike said, bringing the playful banter to a halt.  "What happened today?"

Alex's smile dropped from his face and he walked over to a nearby couch with me.  As hard as he tried to make it look like he was fine, there was a slight limp in his walk.  "Kellin just knows how to get under my skin," he practically growled, his voice turning cold.  "He shot me text saying how he had Stella drunk with him and how he was going to..." he trailed off, looking almost shyly over at me before returning his gaze to the boys.  "It threw me off, and of course I couldn't leave it with that.  In my mind, I thought he actually had her.  So I just kind of rushed over there."