Stay | Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

Three- You Lose a Bit of Summat

I had to gulp down four more Dandelion and Burdock's and three shots before I was able to work up the nerve to ask Alex the question that had been burning in my mind since the moment I saw him.

"Why are you back in Sheffield?"

He was slow to respond.  He seemed to turn the question over and over in his mind, like he wasn't really sure why he was there.   I waited, a little impatiently, for his response. 

"Because I missed this place," he said after a moment.  "I missed everything."

He paused, his eyes scanning his drink and then flicking back to mine.  "I missed you."

I nearly choked on the beer sliding down my throat.  

"I know it didn't end well between us," he said, his voice softer than before.  "But I thought about you, Dav. I would have called if I didn't think you hated me.  You were my best friend."

I wanted to tell him that I did hate him.  That he couldn't just waltz right back into my life after so many years.  That I'd moved on and no longer needed him.

But I couldn't, because it wasn't true.

"You were my best friend, too," I told him, aching with sincerity. 

"I'm glad that I ran into you," he said, cupping the back of his neck with his hand.  "I think that's the reason I came here, really.  I didn't know where the hell you'd gone after all these years, but starting my search at the Hellcat seemed like the best way to go."

I raised my drink at him.  "Good call."

"I just want my old life back, ye know?" he said, looking around the room.  "You and the lads and my parents.  Just... everything."

"Why would you want this back?" I asked him, laughing.  "Now that you've been all over the world, and stuff.  You could choose to be anywhere."

He caught my eyes, but didn't answer the question.  The corner of his mouth turned up and his eyes brightened suddenly.

"You know what we're gonna do tomorrow, you and I?"

My heart leapt, but I tried to keep my demeanor causal.  "What?"

"We're gonna drive down to the Peak."

Nostalgia overtook me hearing him say that.  Despite living so close to Peak National Park, I rarely ever thought about it anymore, because going there was completely out of the question.  It brought back too many memories.  We used spend our summers up there, messing around and getting drunk. 

But where there were good memories, there were also bad ones.  Because it was also the place where everything began to unravel. 

But now that Alex was here, wanting to go back there with me, how could I resist?

"I mean, if you're free and all," he said, his excitement shying away a bit. "I mean, I completely forgot you're some big shot author now."

Big shot was a bit of an overstatement.  To Break a Heart was the only book I'd published, and I'd had horrible writers block since then.  The money I'd earned from it was beginning to dwindle a bit, and my agent Nichole had been practically begging me to just finish something.

"No, that sounds great, Al," I said, gladly choosing a day with my old best friend over a day staring at a blank word document. 

And maybe that wasn't such a good idea.  But I mean, what harm could it do?  Knowing his flighty nature, he wouldn't be in Sheffield for too long.  What harm could a day or two with him do?