Pen Pal Project [Alex Gaskarth]

Chapter Thirty

"Three weeks. Your dad will be home in two though."

"Oh."

My eyes remained closed, even when her bedroom door shut after a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, followed by a short 'love you' from her mom.

"You haven't really fallen asleep on me, have you?" I smiled at her words, hearing the light giggle as her lips touched mine and I quickly realised that all of this could go in different ways.

"Callie." I whispered and she shuffled closer. I jumped when a door from around the house banged, followed with footsteps and then the front door slammed shut, the car engine starting off loud and then fading to silence.

"Charlia." She responded evenly after a few moments of the silence.

"Where does this leave us?"

"We could be something for everyone, or we could be just us. It's up to you alien." I couldn't help it, I laughed.

"Can we just be us? I don't want to hide but I don't want-" Her lips covered mine and she smiled into the kiss.

"Just us. We don't need to tell anyone; we don't need to have labels. Hell, if you don't want to be exclusive, I'm okay with that."

"Really?" She nodded her head.

"We can stay friends and just have benefits with our friendship." A smirk filtered onto her lips and before I knew it her lips were at my neck and I felt my body shake with anticipation.

"Okay."

Between Alex being on tour, school and my project, the stolen moments we had over the next three weeks made me feel incredible.

The guys were okay with us being us in front of them. At least, more like ourselves but just with a few kisses exchanged as well. They teased us, but it was never anything offensive. Just the small jokes of 'And here Charlia comes to kiss her girlfriend again.' And even though we didn't correct them on the label of our relationship, I still blushed.

They helped us hide our relationship from others too, covering when we wanted a couple of hours to ourselves and hiding it from the adults.

I wasn't ready to face that backlash.

My hair had been growing more without the chemo causing it to fall out, so at this point, I was sporting a pixie cut. I still covered it with the beanie that Alex had given me on my first day, especially as I sat waiting for him at the airport.

Since I drove here in his SUV after passing my driving test, he was gonna drive us both home.

I greeted the guys with the usual hugs before latching onto Alex. He laughed at me.

"Anyone would've thought that I've been gone for years, not weeks." He teased me. I elbowed him in return.

"I missed you, dork. How was tour?"

"It was incredible. The fans were really nice and got so many gifts, some for you as well." I grinned as he rambled on about the different countries, laughing at the faces he pulled when demonstrating his reactions to trying out of the ordinary foods.

We settled back into routine fairly quickly, but I still snuck out and spent night at Callie's without really telling him.

Especially when her parents were away, I wanted to be selfish as anything.

I just didn't expect him to pull me up on my sneaking out a few weeks later.

"Sleep well?" Alex's question made me focus on him, and something was off. He was too still.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Better than I did, I'd imagine? Seeing as you were gone all night without telling me where the fuck you were?"

I didn't flinch, but I could feel the shame bubbling in my chest. My eyes dropped to the table top.

"I guess, I just wanted to be rebellious?" I offered as an excuse. The stern glare he gave me told me that he wasn't going to take that.

"Charlia, you're sick! How could you just wonder off at night, without even considering what might happen? And I wouldn't even know till the next morning!"

I couldn't look at him.

I knew he was disappointed.

"Why? Give me a damn good reason why you sneak out. And if you say for a boy I will flip. No boy is worth sneaking out right now." He snapped and I hesitated.

"You're gonna hate me." I whispered, my hands shaking. I finally lifted my eyes to his, and his stern glare softened considerably.

"I could never hate you little bird."

"Even if I'm different?" I hesitated, my words of choice confusing him now.

"Baby, what's happened? How are you different?" Fuck, how could I tell him without throwing up. I couldn't stop moving my fingers

He moved from the kitchen counter and stood in front of me, his calloused fingers taking mine and smoothing them out.

"Charlia, you can tell me." He murmured softly.

"Please, please don't hate me." Even I could hear the desperation in my words, but I couldn't tell him without knowing he wouldn't hate me. He nodded

"I can't hate you, even I tried." I tried to pull my lips into a smile, but they only trembled. My heart was going a mile a minute.

"I'm bisexual. But I'd rather be with a girl." The words tumbled from my lips, and I knew if either of us moved at that moment, he wouldn't have heard me. But he did.

"You're an abomination," I felt the dagger in my heart at those words, tears brimming in my eyes. Before I could pull away though, he pulled me into a hug. "You're such an abomination that I can't let you leave home ever. You're stuck with me for good and so is the girl who you decide to love."

I cried.

I hugged him back, tears falling freely as he comforted me.

"Who am I to judge who you love? Hell, half the fanbase ships Jack and I together. Why'd you think I'd be any different with you?"

"The attacks, I, I didn't want that to happen, not from you." My quiet response came and he understood instantly.

There had been so many attacks on the LGBT community, it was wonder I was scared to even admit to my adoptive dad that I preferred women.

But Alex took it in his stride.

"I want to meet the girl who's been causing you to sneak out at least." He commented once I'd calmed down and we had our bowl of cereal in front of us.

"Uh, you kind of already know her. It's Callie." I mumbled and he paused for a second before nodding.

"She's gonna be getting the talk from me still." He teased. I laughed and punched his shoulder. "Just, don't hide or lie to me about leaving the house Charlia. You're on the radiotherapy soon and I don't want to worry about you more than I already do."

"Isn't that part of the job description? Worry about your child until you go grey?" I teased and he stuck his tongue out at me.

"Shut up and get in the living room. Movie marathon today."

"Harry Potter time!" I shouted, ditching my empty bowl and racing Alex to the living room.

As we settled on the sofa and I was curled against him, I knew we'd be fine.

famous last words lmao. yeah i know i'm lame with my updates but i got here. so this chapter right here is dedicated to my lgbtq+ siblings. you are never alone and if you need a big sister then i'm here.

vote & comment!

peace, love n tiger stuff xo