Pen Pal Project [Alex Gaskarth]

Chapter Twenty Four

November 5th

The week had gone by far too quickly for my liking.

The day after Halloween, the guys had the day off, so I decided to spend some time with Alex. We planned and prepared a picnic before going off on a small adventure together. He was taking photos every few minutes.

I just laughed at how dorky he was being. But I found it endearing.

On the 2nd, they were playing another show so I watched backstage. Like I had promised Danny, I helped him out and handed off guitars to Alex. Although Jack went to throw his guitar at me and I panicked, knowing full well that I couldn't catch a heavy guitar.

That was when we'd realised what my limitations of treatment were.

I could deal with the inner jokes, I could deal with the mockery of being bald. But when it came to the simplest tasks of picking something up or catching something, there was only so much I could deal with. Small insignificant stuff, I could deal with. But when it came to things that a normal girl my age could carry easily, that was when I had the problem.

The guys dealt with it. They started to throw things at Jack for fun, just to make me smile.

On the 3rd, we had a water fight. It was surprisingly warm, but Alex refused to take any chances, so the balloons were filled with lukewarm water for my benefit. Alex doused Jack with a bucket with icy water after he soaked me.

It was almost like we turned into this tag team without saying anything. It creeped everyone out.

I also had my chemo session in the afternoon, so I spent the evening throwing up and crying about how much I hated the treatment.

No one could really console me because no one understood what I was going through.

The 4th was another show day, but this time, I spent some time with Rian and he taught me a few drumming basics.

"C'mon Charlia, do this, for me?" Groaning, I held my hand out to Rian who wasted no time in pulling me up from my comfy spot on the lounge sofa. Jack was quick to take up the space and I scowled at him.

"You're meant to be at soundcheck as well, dumbass."

"I've got less time than Rian, princess because I'm perfect." I could hear Alex laughing with Zack and Cass as I flipped him off

"Perfection is having actual talent, Jackass and you have none." I called out to him and allowed Rian to drag me into the venue.

It took us ten minutes to make sure things were set up correctly before he sat me down on the drumstool.

"Right. I am gonna teach you light work, but it'll be handy, especially for your muscles."

"Really?"

"I read up about it, keeping the muscles healthy is a good thing during chemo and it also means you're keeping fit, which is what they want." I thought about it for a second before nodding my head in agreement.

"Okay, so why didn't you tell me this on the bus?" The sheepish look he gave me answered my question pretty quickly

"I didn't want them to try and overdo it if I said that. I know that they love you, hell Alex absolutely adores you. But once they hear something, they latch onto it. And I couldn't really put you through that as well as the treatment." His answer hadn't been what I was expecting.

"That was.... really thoughtful of you. Thanks." I got a grin in return as we started going over the basics.

An hour later, everyone trouped in for the full soundcheck and I was happily knocking out at few beats that Rian had shown me causing the guys to cheer once I'd handed the drumsticks over.