Maybe It's Been You All Along - Alex Turner

33

Alex carried Rosanna in his arms as he walked down the hall to the door of his apartment. One arm around her back and the other under her knees as she laughed and held her arms around his neck. He let her down gently as they reached his door and he pulled out his keys, unlocking his own apartment for the first time in months. That familiar smell his place held hit their noses immediately. It smelt of one thing: home.

"Fuck I've missed this place," Rosanna sighed and fell down onto his settee. They'd arrived back in Sheffield a few hours ago and spent the entire time moving instruments and suitcases to and from different places. Alex apologised to Rosanna for her first full day being twenty four after her birthday being spent on a plane and moving luggage. She didn't mind one bit.

She never thought she'd be so happy to see Sheffield. It was her home and she'd missed it dearly. She didn't even care about going straight to her apartment, Alex's was just as much home as her own. And as long as he was there, she was happy.

They both slept the majority of the plane journey and when they weren't they were watching movies together or joking around or Rosanna would be thanking Alex again for everything he did for her on her birthday.

She hadn't taken the necklace off from around her neck since Alex put it on her the day she received it. She couldn't stop looking at it. She couldn't stop thanking him for it either. And the songs; they were stuck in her head ever since he played them for her. Every time she remembered their tunes tears would prick her eyes and she would become overwhelmed with the amount of love Alex had for her. She'd never felt so loved in her life, nor felt so passionate about someone. He was her once in a lifetime. He was her soulmate.

He'd played her a soft acoustic version of 'Mardy Bum' the night of her birthday after everyone had left and it was just the two of them. She cried like a child. She didn't think she deserved such love. Alex made her feel like his entire universe. He loved her so much it made her emotional. He didn't fail to make her feel beyond special that day; and every other.

"Don't cry love," he said softly once he'd finished the song and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled and buried her face into his chest. "But you just make me feel like...all the stars in the sky. You make me feel like a million diamonds. I love you so much Alex and I'm not sure I deserve you and everything you do for me."

"Of course you do," Alex said and kissed her head, "if anything, I don't deserve you baby. I still question what on earth I did that made me worthy of you. I really do. Because you're the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me." She turned to look up at him and he wiped her cheeks carefully. "You're me mardy bum, me moral compass." He placed a hand softly on her cheek and looked deep into her eyes, "You're the love of me life and I don't ever want to be anywhere but with you."

Alex closed the door behind him and tossed his keys on his island bench, chuckling at his girlfriend who was lying sprawled on his settee, and shrugged his jacket off his shoulders, hanging it off the back of a chair and kicking off his shoes.

"I cannot wait to sleep in and sleep in me own bed," Alex said, trudging over to Rosanna.

"Believe me when I say that I'm not going to wake up until the afternoon," Rosanna said.

Alex chuckled and rested his elbows on the backrest of the settee, "fair enough."

"Are you gonna stay here? Or go back to yours?" Alex asked softly. He didn't want to force her but he wanted her to stay with him. He just wanted to hold her in his arms in his own bed. He hadn't been here since they got together. The last time he was in Sheffield he was still hiding his feelings from her.