Lost In Stereo (Discontinued)

Chapter 14~Alice

It was midnight when I lit another cigarette. I lost count of how many I had smoked but I couldn't care less. It was October, October twenty something.
I was sat in the old couch of my apartment in Boston, with a wooden box which had written Thanks For The Memories on it side. It had my father handwriting and it was the first time I had seen that box. Well, technically the first time I saw it, my mom was giving it to me when I left her house. She didn't want to keep anything related to Alex so she gave me that big box. I sighed before opening it.

"Concert tickets of the early 2000's... Oh Blink-182!" I looked at those tickets for a while. They were signed by Tom DeLonge and attached to them, there was a picture of Jack and my dad in front of the venue. I smiled a bit, my dad looked so happy in that picture and... I barely knew anything about him now...
I kept looking through the old memories my dad kept in there until I found a big envelope with a name written on it.

"Alice" I frowned. Who was she? I had never heard that name before.
I opened the envelope and it was full of love letters, more concert tickets, bracelets and pictures with a young girl. I would say that she was around 20 years old but in those pictures, my dad was also around that age. She had beautiful blue eyes, long blonde hair, a big smile and she had freckles on her nose.
I looked at the pictures and seeing my father that happy, warmed my heart. I remembered something about my dad dumping another girl for Lisa but I thought that it was all lies and fake information of fanpages.
They were holding hands in one picture as they walked around Hollywood, my dad holding her in a bride style on Warped Tour, kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower... Who was her? What happened? My dad truly looked happy with her and he just... Broke up with her to be with my mom?
I stood up and took my phone. When I saw his contact, I stared at it for a while. I had called him hundreds of times and none of them had any answer. I bit my lip, worried about him and confused about the things I just saw. After a few minutes of thinking, I called him.

Alex's POV

My phone was ringing. I was stuck in a song. I wasn't even stuck, all I had was a blank paper with nothing on it. All I had written in that paper in one year was "she". Who is she, Alex?
My phone kept ringing and at some point, I stood up to pick the call but just when I was about to do answer, the called ended.

"Okay then" I rolled my eyes and sat down on the wooden chair of my room. "Focus Alex, focus".
Who is she? Who are you thinking of? Is she your daughter? Is she Lisa? Is she... Shit... She is...
I stared at the paper, I was afraid of saying her name. I hurt her real bad and I just... She couldn't just come to my mind right now. I spent all my marriage trying to forget her, trying to convince myself that Lisa was the one and... She wasn't.

"Al... Alice" I finally had the guts to say her name after all this time. I sighed, I was nervous. Why was my head calling her name again? I messed my hair, stood up, picked my phone and laid down on my bed.

"Maybe I can find her somewhere... Maybe instagram or Twitter" So that's what I did for the next two hours, trying to find her desperately. When I was about to give up as it was two in the morning, there she was.
I found her instagram. Her account was public and she had like five thousand followers. I spent a lot of time scrolling through her feed. She looked exactly the same as when we used to date, about 20 years ago. I could see that she was getting older, as I was, but she kept the same beauty and the same smile... The smile that was there no matter what to help me through the hard times... Her eyes... Those beautiful blue eyes that were there, calming me down after panic attacks...
I didn't know she was the one until I saw her again. I left my whole world for a toxic relationship. I had hurt the woman who truly loved me and truly cared for me and the guys (as in Jack, Zack and Rian) for a woman I had no feelings for. I married for lust and not for love. I wanted to marry my Alice but I felt like she wasn't enough.

"What do I do now? I text her?" I sighed. "You can't text her, you left her crying her eyes out in your apartment in Los Angeles just because" I said angry at myself.

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A few months went by and I finally had the courage to talk to my daughter. I explained everything about Alice to her as she had questions. I also met the guys and started writing songs again which felt nice but something deep inside me, wasn't okay. It wasn't okay until one morning, walking around a park in LA when I saw her. I saw the blonde hair which used to smell like cinnamon because of a special champu. I didn't know what to do, she was sitting on a bench, in front of a kid park while reading a book. She was by herself and she was frowning a little, as she used to do when she was concentrated on something.
I stared at her until something inside of me push me to her. So there I was, walking to her after twelve years. Walking towards the woman I had always loved but I left for one I didn't care at all.

When I got to the bench were she was I just stood there, frozen, in front of her.
"Say something, you must look like a weirdo standing in front of her without saying anything". I cough. I don't know why but the only thing that came across my mind was a cough.
She lifted her head and stared at me for a few second before saying anything.

"A-Alex? Is that? Is that really you?" She asked shocked. I nooded a bit and she stood up and hugged me. She still smelt like cinnamon.

"Uh... I, I was just... I was walking around and... I thought you left LA?" I was nervous. I was almost shaking while hugging her. When she stepped back, I instantly put my hands inside my pockets and she crossed her arms.

"I had. I moved to Minnesota again with my mom but I got a job here in an animal shelter and I couldn't say no" Shit, that smile. She never stopped smiling until I broke her heart so seeing her smiling again was just... As if I was home again.

"Oh I see... Well I'm glad you're around yeah"

"So what about you? How's everything going with the guys and Lisa? I've kept in touch with Jack and Rian but we just text every now an then" She sat down again and I sat down next to her. I was looking to the ground cause I couldn't look at her face. How do I tell her that I got divorced?

"Well All Time Low is a big thing now, not like it used to be before" I looked at her and smiled a bit, remembering all the times we spent together. "Now we have a fan club and we travel around the world. It's just what we dreamt of" I sighed. Now the big part. "And about Lisa... I-We... We had a kid, Beth, she is in university, well not anymore I think she left university because it wasn't her thing" I spoke really quickly, like, really. "And Lisa and I got divorced about a year and a half ago".

She put her hand on my back and rub it a bit. "I'm sorry. You two made a good couple". She smiled a bit but this time, I could see sadness in that gesture.

Then, a little girl run to us. "Alice, Alice! I'm cold, can we go home now?" Then she looked at me. I said hi with my hand but she didn't answer.

"Of course we can go home love" Alice started taking her things and I helped her with that. "Alex, I really want to start talking to you like we used to and... Be friends again so text me whenever you have time, okay?" She gave me a small piece of paper with a number written on it and just like that, she left with the kid. Wait, was that kid her daughter?

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Sooooo... I've been thinking about doing a throw back to Alex's relationship with Alice but I'm not quite sure if I should do that as this fanfic is supposed to be about his daughter? I'd use some of the next chapters to describe some important or cute moments such as the day they met or maybe when Alice went on tour with the guys. As I said, I don't know if I should do that so if you let me know what do think about this, it would really help me. Thank you!