Maybe It's Been You All Along - Alex Turner

22

Rosanna drove Alex back to his place in her car as he left his in his apartment block the last time they visited Sheffield.

"Didn't plan ahead did you?" Rosanna teased as she turned out of the parking lot.

Alex scoffed, "no of course not. When do I ever?"

"Good question," Rosanna smiled.

She missed him so much and now that he was next to her, she felt at home. It was as if he was her home. He looked so good with his hair tousled like it was. It looked a lighter brown too. She thought it looked sexy when it was gelled back but she couldn't stop herself from loving it when he let it go rouge and fluffy like when they were younger.

All he was doing was sitting next to her and humming along to her playlist and he was driving her crazy. It was like everything that she had held back was now spilling out of her like a dam finally broken after years of storage.

  "You going away for Christmas?" Alex asked and looked over at her hopefully.

  "Depends on whether you'll tell me what you want," Rosanna said.

  Alex groaned and rolled his eyes. "Get me a bottle of ketchup. There."

  Rosanna shook her head with a grin. "I'm not too sure yet," she said, answering his question. "Mum and I were talking about it when I visited. They said they might go visit Dad's family who just moved to France so..."

  "Where abouts?" Alex asked.

  Rosanna laughed and shrugged her shoulders, "Fuck knows. But it's looking like I might stay 'ere this year. Either that or I'll go visit Mil and Lance."

  Mil and Lance was in reference to Rosanna's cousin Millie and her fairly newlywed husband Lance. Rosanna and Millie didn't talk much but were still very fond of each other and kept in touch as much as they could. Alex had only ever met Millie once and she was quite the character. Granted, he met her when she was pissed drunk.

  "What about you?" Rosanna asked and glanced over at Alex.

  Alex shrugged and sat back in his seat. "Probably stay 'ere. Might drive up to High Green Christmas Eve or Day to see the parentals but other than that. I got no plans." Alex ran a hand through his hair and looked over at her. "Matt was saying we could all get together for Christmas or summat and just get smashed and have a good laugh."

  "Sounds better than what I was planning," Rosanna smiled.

  "Wait, you'll stay?" Alex asked quickly.

  "Yeah maybe," Rosanna said. "Offer's tempting. I also think a Christmas with you lot is exactly the way I need to end this year."

  Alex was internally ecstatic. The only thing he wanted on Christmas was to see her smile in person. He just wanted to be around her every second of every day. Her smile made him melt. Just looking at her made his heart race a million miles an hour and when she spoke, it sent chills up his spine.

He kept looking over at her through the tinted glass of his sunglasses, hoping she wouldn't notice his glance. Rosanna said something that triggered him into a fit of laughter. He wasn't sure if it was actually funny or if he was just laughing because he missed laughing with her. Either way he was cackling away in the passenger's seat, holding his rib cage as he laughed.

Rosanna looked over to Alex laughing and couldn't help but smile. His laugh was so beautiful and it rung in her ears. She fell in love with that laugh and him all over again. He just looked so good all the time and his smile and laugh made the world light up. The sun couldn't compare. She loved how he would try not to smile or laugh and fail miserably. Resulting in a half downturned smile that slowly turned into a full blown laugh. And when he laughed a lot, tears would start dripping down his nose. He would slap his thigh repeatedly as if it did anything to stop his laughter as it switched from silent wheezes to loud, hearty chuckles.