Noughts and Crosses (All Time Low Fan Fiction)

Chapter 11

“Alex,” a fuzzy voice rings in my head.  “Alex, there’s someone here to see us.”  Someone is here to see us?  Who would be here?  Where is here?  And who is us?  “Alex wake up, we have a visitor.”  A visitor?  I don’t understand.  I still can’t clear my head enough to know who is talking to me; hell, I’m not even sure if this is a dream or real life!  I hear a quiet giggle beside me.  The sound is awfully familiar.  I search through my memories and remember that I went out last night…but with who?  The same voice rings laughter through the air again; Wendy!  My eyes fly open.

“Alex, don’t sit up fast,” she says.

I turn to look at her and see a brown horse standing next to us.  That’s right, we’re at Assateague!  I know that wild horses roam here; I’ve been here enough times and seen the horses quite a few times.  Although, the horses have never come so close.  I can see why Wendy was giggling though: the brown horse is eating some of the grass and his head and lips occasionally rub against her arm.

“He’s so cute,” she says.  She looks at me and her eyes are shining.

“You like horses,” I ask.  The horse, though beautiful, pales in comparison to her.

“I love them!  I ride horses,” her mind is in a different place, “and I’ve always wanted one, I still want one, but my parents could never afford one and I will probably never be able to afford one.  They are so amazing though.  And so very kind.  I want one more than anything.”

I could buy you a horse, I think to myself.  But instead I say, “Be positive!  If you really want one, then you will have one someday.  At first, I didn’t think All Time Low would ever become famous.  We were just your average garage band.  Now, we’re pretty popular.  And you want to know why?  Because after a few years of playing with each other, we realized that we sounded pretty damn good!  We got some small gigs, sent some semi-pro recordings and live recordings to a bunch of record companies, and called them up to invite them to our small local shows.  Then one day, Emerald Records got in touch with us.  It led to a whole tour and an album and eventually, Hopeless Records swept us up and…BAM…Put Up or Shut Up got us big.  And well, the rest is history.”

Wendy’s big, hazel eyes are shining again and she’s looking at me like I’m her hero.  “Wow,” she sighs.  “You’re so amazing.  Have you always wanted to be a rockstar?”

I press my eyes closed and try to lock this picture of her in my head.  I breathe heavily before I reply.  “Yes and no…kind of.  I’ve always loved music.  When I started playing guitar and when I got my own guitar, I felt like I was on top of the world.  Then I met Jack and he played guitar too, so we started jamming together.  And when we met Rian and Zack, well, the band just sort of formed naturally.  I started writing some songs and the guys liked them so they helped write bass and drums and clean up the guitar.  And like I said, we became really good!  After that, I started hoping and eventually believing that we would become famous.  We wrote more through high school and we got recognized.  Even though we recorded some songs and had our very first EP when we were only sixteen – which gave us so much hope – we still finished up high school…just in case our careers never actually took off.  I’m glad I at least have my high school diploma.  So I mean ever since we formed that band and for me, when I got my first guitar, I have always wanted to be a rockstar.  But obviously becoming a rockstar was always twenty percent talent and eighty percent luck; I knew plenty of other kids that were just as talented as me, if not more talented; we just kind of pursued it a lot more than these other kids.  And we never gave up hope.  But just in case we never made it, I had a backup plan.  I really like animals, so I figured I’d become a veterinarian if I didn’t become a rockstar.”  I finish my long speech and Wendy is still staring at me with those big, shining eyes.  I wish I knew what she was thinking.