The Remembering (Alex Gaskarth Fanfiction)

42. Lost in Stereo

A lake was what we had walked all the way to. With the towels in Alex's hands, I automatically knew what his idiotic idea was.

"No," I bellowed. "There's no way,"

"I didn't even say anything!" He chuckled, "C'mon, let's sit."

        We walked hand in hand to the edge of the lake, which was glistening in the moon's light. I had to admit, it was beautiful out to night. The air was dead, but at a nice temperature, and the moon was nicely out, glowing with a shine on everything in its light's path. It was all breathtaking and...Peacefully quiet. It was actually discreet for once in both our hectic lives. It was reliving to catch a breath and be able to devour a moment like this.

"Are you okay?" Alex randomly asked.

I frowned. "Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?"

"You haven't mentioned anything about the stars yet." he claimed.

     Instantly, my eyes followed upward, and gazed the dark blanket that had millions of tiny shining lining in it. Once again, the stars had me at a loss of words. Constellations, galaxies, and perhaps aliens were visible from my very small place on this Earth. 

   "Ah, that's the speechless Laila I was looking for." 

    My attention went back to the brown haired boy, and quickly I shoved him a little. "Oh, shut up,"

He shrugged and opened his bag, pulling out whiskey and a pack of cigarettes. Of course, it wasn't surprising, but at this point, I couldn't care any less. It was his choice, not mine.

"Want some?" he lifted the bottle with his eyebrows raised. I sighed, oh what the hell.

       Grabbing it from him, I took a swig, and almost immediately regretted my action. The liquid drastically burned down my throat in a slow simmering motion. It was thrilling almost, immediately a tangling sensation buzzed in my stomach. 

       I glanced over at Alex, but only to find him hiding behind a cigarette. The smoke crept its way to my breathing, but at this point, it was useless to tell him to quit. I knew all too much of why he was smoking. The scene that he was in can be addicting almost. The booze, the girls, and the cigarettes, it was common and a persistent scene.  I think his choice was the cigarettes. He had his problems, and it was either those three things. If he had chosen the girls, I would be long gone and packed up my bags. He already picked out the booze before. I still remember entering his apartment for the first time, cups after cups and empty bottles were scattered everywhere and it didn't surprise me to find out they belonged to him.

     Alcohol was clearly not cutting it for him. Now he was with the death sticks, and they were going to kill him sooner or later. But either way, everyone in life dies anyway.

        I took another sip, finally getting a feel of the whiskey. It was actually horrible, but now I know why people drink it. Whiskey wasn't the type of drink you drank for the hell of it for its taste. It was for drowning the pain, as poetically awful it sounds, it was true. 

"I miss him a lot," he whispered.

     My heart skipped a beat in the moment I realized who he was mentioning. It was random but what better time was it to speak about it then now, when we're away from the busy lives of Baltimore?

      A dull pang surged in my chest at the look of Alex. He was broken just as much as I was. He missed his brother, Jonah, just as much as I missed my sister.

There are things in life that we don't get back, and people who are near dear to our hearts were a part of that list.

     "I know how it feels." I grievingly sighed, and slipped my hand into his cold one.