Oh, Calamity (Alex Gaskarth/ ATL fan-fic)

Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)

Alex's POV:

I stood in the kitchen, stirring the contents of a pan, making a varied teriaki vegetable stir fry, with steaming rice on the side. It was very important to me to make Marina a half-decent meal tonight; she'd hadn't been eating well all week, and I knew she didn't eat anything today while she was alone. It wasn't like she was starving herself, but moreso that this entire event made her unable to keep anything down. I wanted so badly for her to be better again, but sadly, I couldn't help her until I was repaired as well.

Sebastian ran to the window and started barking. Circles crawled along the windowpane, gazing out the window as well. Rina opened the door, then closed it behind her. She seemed more rejuvinated than before.But still, there was unrest in her demeanor.

She snaked around the pets and the coffee table, opening wide and giving me a hug. Even though things had been rough, I still longed for her embrace. She seemed to simply stay alive in mine.

"Are you making me dinner? I love you." She kissed my lips.

"I love you, too. You seem in better spirits. How was your day?" I asked lightly, twirling her around.

"Brilliant. It was really nice to escape all the drama for a few hours." She stumbled into me again.

"I know how that feels." I rolled my eyes.

"And you'll never guess who I saw."

"Who?"

"Lisa."

"Oh really. What'd she say?" I asked. I wondered what she would say to my girlfriend when I'm not around.

"She just gave her condolences and a little bit of advice. I kind of explained how I'm feeling, and she basically said to just be a shoulder, and be sympathetic, but not fake empathy."

I pondered my thoughts for a moment. "I don't really know how to feel about this. Should I be concerned that my girlfriend is becoming buddies with my ex?"

"I wouldn't nessicarily call us buddies." She shrugged it off. "But she's been nothing but nice to me, so I owe her the same amount of respect. Why, are you not cool with me being friendly?"

"No, I think that's actually really cool. I mean, I'm not worried. Lisa may have put me through some shit, but she's not immature enough to manipulate you."

Marina looked almost offended, but shrugged it off. "Hey, there's something I wanna ask you about."

I paused. Was she gonna say something about Lisa? "Shoot."

"So I talked to Colby a little bit on the phone today, and she and Kianna are heading back to SD in two days, and they're bringing Emily with them. She wanted some new scenery, you know? Just for a little bit. I was wondering if I should go." she rubbed her arm.

"Leave already? I mean, Emily needs the support and everything, but how long will you be gone?" I asked.

"Emily's thinking two or three weeks. I obviously don't want to be away from you for that long, but a few days to just show that I care."

I ran my fingers through my hair. "Yeah, that would be really nice of you. But what about Zack? Is he going too?"

She sat at the table. "Come sit with me." She called. I obeyed. "Zack and Emily are both taking this really roughly, and they just want a little time apart. I know, it's shocking, but it's what they want."

It felt like someone telling me my parents were getting a divorce. "What?"

"They want to stay married, they just need time to work things out." She glared hatefully at her fingers. "Alex, I need to ask you something."