Kill Me With Words (All Time Low Fanfiction)

Chapter 18

“Er...” Alex looked kinda stunned. “Well, I mean I’m not going to break up the band, obviously. But we can tour less if it means a better environment for Finley, we probably tour too much as it is -”

“No, Alex!” I interrupted. He rolled his eyes at me.

“I’ll make a home for Finley, no matter what it takes. She can come on tour with us with a tutor, or stay with my parents, or whatever makes her happy and keeps her safe. If I’m adopting her, then I’m taking responsibility for looking after her, so I’ll always have her best interests at heart.” He shrugged. “We haven’t actually discussed how it’ll go, but we’ll make it work. That’s what being a family is all about, isn’t it?”

Cassia smiled. “I suppose it is. Rest assured, I’ll be willing to help out if you ever need it.”

“Thank you,” Alex said.

“Also, if you wouldn’t mind, Alex, I’d like to talk to Finley alone for a moment?”

“Sure.” Alex got up, the legs of his chair scraping off the lino floor. He patted my shoulder as he left the room.

 

Cassia turned to me, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Finley, do you remember when you first met me?”

“Yes.” I was twelve, my father had just died. I was sitting in this office, except it was Jacob sitting beside me.

“You didn’t like me very much, did you?”

That hadn’t changed. “I guess not,” I admitted as politely as possible.

“People usually don’t. We don’t like change, Finley, especially change like becoming an orphan.” She hesitated. “Finley... I am happy for you. You know that I was pushing for you to like Alex ever since you met him, and I’m so glad that you have... I’m just worried that you’re feeling like you’re being pressured into this. Like you don’t have a choice.”

“I have a choice,” I said slowly, “I know that.”

“Do you really?” So patronising.

“Yes!”

She pursed her lips. “I just want to make sure. As your social worker, I have to have your best interests at heart.”

“Alex wants to have my best interests at heart,” I muttered. Then sighed. “I’m a big girl, Cassia. I know what I’m doing.”

“Just because... Less than a month ago you’d decided that you didn’t want Alex to adopt you. You were quite adamant about it.”

“Less than a month ago I was two seconds away from jumping off a bridge. Things change.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I realised what I was saying. But I tasted them in the air, and they were true. Things had changed. The thought made me smile.

Cassia peered at me. “Alright... Well, if you’re really sure about this... I’ll call Alex back in and we’ll sign those papers.”

 

Twenty minutes later and I was officially... Alex Gaskarth’s daughter.

“I think we should celebrate!” Alex said. He threw his arms into the air, beaming, eyes sparkling beneath his sunglasses. “This is it, Fin! This is us!”

I couldn’t help but laugh with him. “Yup. This is the start of us.” It was nice to laugh, freely and easily. Or maybe it was just nice to be with Alex.

“You see that coffee shop there?” Alex said suddenly, pointing to the one beside us.

“I see it?”

He looked at me. “When I met you we went to that coffee shop. And you told me that you didn’t like coffee, so I promise that I’ll make you a hot chocolate every single morning, unless you change your mind and decide you like coffee, and then I’ll make you both.”

I laughed. “Are you okay?”

“And your favourite breakfast food is pancakes... I’m gonna make you pancakes every day.”

“Alex?”

Alex laughed. “This is where it starts, Fin.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. This is where we start.”

Maybe it was the most exciting place, but as Alex had made clear, it was a fairly important mark in the history of our time together. So on that idea, we went and celebrated in our coffee shop.

"What do you want?" Alex babbled, "You can have anything, bagels or doughnuts or sandwiches... do you like grilled sandwiches? Oh! We could have pancakes! They're your favourite!"

I laughed, but decided to just go along with it. "With lemon and sugar?"

"With everything!" And he really did mean everything; he asked them to bring the pancakes with lemon and sugar, syrup, nutella, honey, peanut butter, whipped cream, every kind of fruit. Half of the things I wasn't even sure would taste that nice, but I couldn't have cared less.

We went back to the booth where we'd sat that first time, after we'd ditched the social worker's office.

"Our flight leaves tomorrow at ten a.m.," Alex informed me, "so make sure you're ready to leave by seven at the latest."

" Got it," I said. I felt giddy inside. Like this entire thing was a dream. But it wasn't. I'd just been officially adopted by Alex Gaskarth.

"Have you packed yet?" He began to dig I to the pancakes, lifting up the syrup bottle and letting the golden liquid rush out.

"That'll rot your teeth," I told him, to which he laughed. Then; "Yeah, I've been packing all my stuff over the last few days. I finished last night."

" Do you have a lot of stuff?"

I frowned at that. "A bit, especially since you brought me shopping. I'll need to bring two luggage bags, but it's fine, I have the money for it -"

"You've got to be joking," Alex interrupted. I stared at him blankly.

"I mean... I could try and cut it down to one bag?"

He glowered at me. "Finley, I keep telling you to stop worrying about money."

"Oh..." I said slowly, "right... that."

"Yes, that." He shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Don't be, it's fine. Anyway, take as many bags as you need to. On me."

I smiled. "Thanks, Lexy."

He scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Lexy? No. No, stop that, don't say that again."

"What's so bad about Lexy?" I laughed. "You need a nickname, and I think it's cute."

"I'm not cute!" He sounded insulted, "I'm a man! If I really need a nickname, it has to be something manly and strong... like... Lex Stronghorn."

I burst out laughing. "Lex Stronghorn? No, that's a total porn star name!"

"No it's..." Alex thought for a second. "Actually, you're right, I'm pretty sure that's from one of the Bryan Stars's interviews I've done."

I tutted at him. "Damn, reusing old jokes. That's pretty bad, Lexy."

"Stop calling me that!"

A/N- PLEASE READ!!!

Also, there's something I'd like your input on; I have a big twist coming up fairly soon in this story, but before that I need some fillerish chapters - just about Finley moving in with Alex and whatnot. I was hoping that some of you readers might have idea of what I can write about. Is there anything you'd like the to do? Any conversations you think they should have? Any people you think Finley should meet?

Okay, that's it from me. Don't forget to vote, follow and comment if you enjoyed it!