Do it for the memories and for Baltimore

Chapter 52

"You know, you'll have to earn back my trust" I said sternly as I pulled away from the hug.

"I'm aware of that."

"How about you come back home?" I suggested.

"Are you sure?"


"Do you not want to?"

"No, I definitely want to. I was just unsure if you thought that this would be jumping back into things too fast."

"Alex, we've been together for over a year...it's not like we were total strangers over this break."

"You're right. You're always right."

"Hmm, saying that I'm always right? Somebody's trying to make his way back into the good books quickly" I joked as we both laughed. It was the first time in too long since I saw Alex genuinely smile. I knew I made the right choice in taking him back.

——————

Alex's POV

That night was one of the best nights in recent memory. I grabbed what I had at Rian's house, and went back home to live with Rachel. Seeing her smile when me and the dogs entered the house was so worth all of the previous heartache. And the dogs were super excited to see her as well. I could barely even give her a hug because the two of them were constantly jumping at her for attention.

We had a lovely dinner, caught up with each other's lives, and settled in the living room at night to watch Inception, one of Rachel's favorite movies. I was loving how easy things were getting back to normal right now.

"Alex, would you mind turning the fireplace on?" she asked in the middle of the movie.

"Sure" I got up and put on the fireplace but sat down in front of it for a second. "Come join me for a minute" I turned my head to call her over.

"But I'm so comfy here on the couch!" she protested.

"Its just for a minute, come on."

"Fine" she paused the movie, and I heard her get up and walk over to me then sitting down.

I took this chance to put my arm around her and bring her head onto my shoulder. We both stared at the flames, just enjoying the sounds of our breathing. The dogs playing with their squeaky toys were the only other thing heard in the house.

"You wanna tell me why we're sitting here?" Rachel asked me.

"I have something I need to do, with you here right by my side" I replied. I grabbed my favorite Glamour Kills jacket from the nearby chair, the one I wore almost everywhere. I wore it on this past tour and had something in the pocket.

"Reach into the pockets and see if you can find anything. Then hand it over to me" I instructed Rachel.

"Alex, I swear if this is your idea of a proposal to me..." she started searching my pockets.

I let out a laugh, "dont worry, it's not what you think."

She finally found what I was hoping she would find and handed them to me. Thankfully, she grabbed them with the back facing up so she didn't have to look at them.

"Okay, I'm hoping that this helps you trust me like you did before" I said carefully as I turned the two papers over showing them to her. They were the two picture of Tay and I from years ago that I stole from her photo album. I saw her eyes grow as she noticed the pictures, then giving me a widely confused face.

I purposely had my thumbs covering Tay's face in both pictures, so Rachel didn't have to relive the pain of when she first saw them.

"These are the pictures of Tay and I from the past." She just nodded, most likely still in confusion. I held them up in front of her and I could tell that she didn't really want to look at them. Until I ripped them. Right in front of her face. Her eyes widened. "These were the pictures of Tay and I." Making sure that she still was focused on me, I opened the glass door to the gas powered fireplace, and threw in the shreds of paper into the flames.

It was after closing the glass door and settling beside Rachel again, I noticed that she had tears in her eyes.

"You didn't have to burn them" she croaked out, "She's still your friend after all."

"I know ripping them apart and burning them might have been harsh, but it makes me and hopefully you, realize that the past doesn't matter. What matters is the present and the future. And being with you right here in the present, makes me wish that we'll still be together in the future." It's been a while since I've spilled my heart out like that. I even started tearing up a little. I can't believe how in love I was with this woman. I missed her like hell when we were apart.

Then for the first time in over a month, she straddled my lap and gave me the most passionate kiss she could muster up. I kissed back with just as much love. Soon enough we were lying down on the carpet, slowly falling asleep wrapped around each other.

She forgave me.