I'm Not Your Average Girl Next Door [Alex Gaskarth Love Story]

Chapter Eleven

Rhiannon's POV

Two months later:

        You haven't talked to Alex much since the dinner party. A small sad part of you misses him, he was one of your best friends. You spend almost all of your time with Carter and the time you spend with Addison is now with Adam, Addison, Carter, and yourself. You talk to Jack and Rian when you can, without Carter knowing. You try to get all of your school work done, but its hard. You know your grades are slipping and you're definitely not proud of that. But you just don't know what to do.

Backtrack, one month ago.

Last actual conversation you've had with Alex.

        At this point in time you were still wanting  to try to make an effort to be friends with Alex. Was it all his fault he's a walking fucking machine? Okay, probably, but he'd been your best friend for a long time. You weren't about to throw all of that away. Even after your fight.

        You met up with him at the diner for lunch, you had an hour for lunch before you had to get back to campus. He walked in looking better than you remembered, you knew you were gawking, and you knew exactly how upset Carter would be if he knew. "Hey Annie girl," he said coming up to the booth, kissing your cheek before sliding in on the other side. "Hey Alex," you muttered, already feeling guilty. You shouldn't be doing this. Carter wouldn't be happy that you were meeting up with Alex. He will be pissed if he finds out! Alex flashed you one of his charming smiles before asking, "How have you been?" "I've been good. How have you been?" "I've been pretty great actually. Are you still with Carter?" He practically growled the last statement as you realized the reality of what was going on. Alex was pissed you were with Carter, and you wished you could tell him how much you would get out now if you thought you could. Yet you couldn't. You didn't know how. Within the month that you hadn't seen Alex, your life had spun so far out of control that you could have never imagined it. Alex would be ashamed and angry if he knew the truth. Ashamed of you. You haven't been fine at all.

        You had stayed quiet for quite a while after he asked, things processing in your head. Memories of the last month crashing over you. He waved a hand in front of your face, a look of pure worry across his face. "You alright, Annie girl?" You smiled up at him, "Of course." "To which question was that to?" You looked up at him, a dark expression covering your eyes before stammering, "Both."

        More silence covered the table until the waitress came to take your order, then a couple more minutes after that. You looked up, "You still with Jessica?" He smiled a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "Yeah, yeah I am." From there on, you just laughed and talked about small things. You found peace in being able to talk about past memories. You both knew now that deeper conversations would only cause silence. A month had changed your friendship. A month had changed everything. A month had destroyed you.

That evening.

        He was waiting outside of the door, and with that your heart beat started pounding in your chest, you knew what was to come. You tried to brace yourself. Minutes went by in a blur, until you were a ball on your front porch. Glad to be covered in darkness. Happy for once that someone forgot to leave the porch light on for you. You wouldn't want them to see what they would have saw. "You went on a date with that trash, Gaskarth?" He yelled it in your face, but it didn't seem so loud against the ringing in your ears. Your head had hit the side of the house pretty hard, you knew it was bleeding. You stammered out the words the best you could, trying to explain it wasn't a date. Just lunch with a friend. Although you deserved what he was doing to you now. You knew better than to see Alex. He had told you that he didn't want you seeing anyone anymore. Why hadn't you listened? If only you were a better girlfriend. A better student. A better daughter. A better friend. You knew you were nothing but a worthless whore. You weren't pretty, that's why Alex never wanted you. That's why no guy ever wanted you. You were useless. Worse than trash. You were just lucky Carter loved you like he did. He was better than you deserved. You could never do better than Carter. No one else would ever love you.

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Back to Where We Started. . .

        No one had seen you in a week. Addison had left a couple of messages on your cell that you hadn't returned or even listened to. You cried now, knowing that was your only friend. If she even considered you a friend anymore. You didn't deserve her. Becca stopped hanging out with you because Spencer didn't want her around Carter. Spencer always apologized to you though. Like he saw through your façade. You didn't see Addison much anymore. Just a phone call here and there. She would ask about the bruises, why you were wearing such conservative clothing. You were never so clumsy before.  You never wore jeans and sweatshirts constantly before. But you wore them now, they covered the evidence. Your face was constantly caked with make up, and you wore scarves, bandanas, hats, whatever you could to cover cuts and bruises on your head. You weren't recognizable anymore. You never curled your hair like you used to, it had been your favorite style. You hadn't talked to your mom in almost two months. You felt horrible. Most of the time, you stayed with Carter at his place. He could better take care of you if you were there. You were too helpless to take care of yourself. Carter knew that. He was just looking out for you.

        A week and a half ago things got out of hand, Carter was upset because apparently he heard you had been sneaking around seeing Alex. You had bruises that covered your back, chest, stomach, face, arms, legs, and pretty much everywhere. There was a gash across your forehead, and your body ached so bad you could barely move. You were beginning to hope you would just die, and the pain would be over with. You just had to keep reminding yourself that he said he loved you. Your parents had left a message that they were going to be out of town. Carter had a huge test coming up and would be at the library most of the night. You decided to take advantage of the time alone and went back to your house. Just to be able to take a nap in your own bed in the bedroom where you'd felt safe growing up. You could wake up and get back to Carters before he ever knew you were gone. He didn't want you leaving his apartment. Did you want everyone to see the result of what he'd done? He loved you. He just didn't want you seeing Alex. It was all a mistake. It wouldn't happen again. Too bad you hadn't even seen Alex in a month. Carter didn't want to hear your lies though. That's all you were. A useless liar.

Alex's POV

        You were sitting in your room playing acoustic, trying to write a new song. Your phone rang and you sighed, thinking it was Jessica. You weren't going to answer but decided you better check the i.d, just in case it was someone important. Which you doubted. When you looked at the called i.d it was almost strange to see the number, it was Rhiannon's home phone. You automatically panicked. What if something happened to her? It was obviously her mom, and she would call you no matter what. Even if you hadn't talked to her daughter in a month.

        "Hello?" Then you heard crying, "Alex, Alex honey, is that you?" You sighed, "Hey Julie, whats wrong?" You automatically knew the sound of Rhiannon's mom, and your heart sped up. What if something was wrong? You tried to keep a calm composure though, not freaking her out. She sobbed a bit before choking out, "Do you know anything about Rhiannon's boyfriend, Carter?" You scoffed a bit, "What do you mean Mrs. Lewis?" "Was that a yes, darling?" You sighed, "No, I don't know him, but he definitely seems like a jerk." She sobbed harder. What had you said that was so bad? He seemed like a jerk to you! After choking on a couple more sobs, she asked a question which gave you chills, and was sure to give you nightmares for quite the while. "Do you think he's the kind of jerk who would beat his girlfriend? MY BABY GIRL!" And your heart seemed to stop beating.