Maybe It's Been You All Along - Alex Turner

51

Alex pulled up to his house an hour after sunset after a long drive down from San Fransisco to LA. The Monkeys had a show the next night but left tonight free for them to rest. The night air was warm and made him sweat slightly under his leather jacket as he carried his bags to the front door. He could see the lights were on inside and pulled out his keys, unlocking the door and carrying his bags inside. As soon as he stepped in his and Rosanna's house he dropped his bags expecting for her to come running into his arms. He was wrong.

It was eerie, to be greeted with an empty corridor. He decided to call out in case she didn't hear him open the door. "I'm home baby!" he said and began making his way down the hall to their kitchen and living room. "Rosanna are you here honey?"

He walked into the living room and his eyes immediately went to a figure sitting on one of their kitchen stools.

"Hey sweetheart," Alex said. Rosanna swallowed the lump in her throat and turned around to face him. Her eyes were red and she had tears staining her cheeks. In her grip was her phone. She was holding it tight to stop her hands from trembling. Alex's face fell the moment he saw her expression.

"What the fuck is this?" Rosanna said, her voice harsh and broken at the same time. She threw her phone at Alex, catching him off guard as he fumbled with it until he caught it.

Alex looked at her and then slowly shifted his gaze down to the phone. He felt sick as he looked at the image on the article she had up on the screen. His stomach dropped as the memory of what he did the night before washed over him. He'd forgotten until now but now that he saw these pictures it all came back like a movie scene he'd seen a million times.

It was a picture of him holding hands with the blonde girl leaving the venue together and another of them going into his hotel together. Alex wanted to beat himself up. You sick son of a bitch.

He was speechless. He didn't know what to say. Rosanna just watched his expression, her heart in her stomach as he slowly forced himself to look up at her. He looked winded.

"What is that Alex?" Rosanna asked, her voice cracking. She was desperately trying to keep herself together but inside she was broken. She'd been crying non-stop for hours, never thinking Alex would do such a thing. She wanted to be in a nightmare. She just wanted to wake up and for this to be all over.

Alex opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He knew he'd fucked up. Big time. It was all settling in as she stared at him with the most broken expression he'd ever seen in his life. She looked more devastated than the day she and Andy broke up. More devastated then when she found out her father had gotten in an accident. She looked like she'd been shot in the chest.

"What the fuck happened Alex?" Rosanna demanded. She just kept wishing in her heart that this was all some sort of misunderstanding even though she knew it wasn't. She kept hoping to wake up from this nightmare. Seeing those photos killed her. She never thought Alex would hurt her like this. She didn't want to believe it.

"Rosanna..." Alex finally managed. His voice frail and broken. The way he said her name made her eyes water. She just wanted to shatter like a mirror onto the floor and cry until she couldn't anymore. It sounded so distant. It no longer had that warmth it always did when he said it.

She could see the torment in his eyes. The look in his face alone as he first saw those pictures cemented the reality of the situation. She could read Alex like a book. Or at least she thought she could. She'd never thought he'd ever in a million years do this to her.

"What happened?" Rosanna repeated, tears welling in her eyes again. Her voice was trembling. He'd never seen her so broken. Her voice showed the strain in her eyes. He could see the betrayal in her expression.