Alex was frantically searching inside his closet for his big black leather jacket. He hadn't used it in a while and thought that today was a special occasion for using it; he and the Arctic Monkeys were going to rehearse the new songs that Alex had recently written for the band's new album. He was quiet happy and excited, in his own special kind of way.
He finally found the black leather jacket and put it on; he looked at himself in the mirror for several seconds, analyzing his whole outfit and even winking at his reflection before heading straight to the door. He grabbed the keys from his house and put them on the pocket of his leather jacket, but he soon found something inside of them. He found a piece of paper that was wrapped in half and contained two Polaroid photos inside of it.
Alex opened the piece of paper and his happy expression soon disappear; this piece of paper was the lyrics to a song he once composed for Arielle, and the two polaroid photos showed Arielle with Alex's sky-blue Lacoste and her black knee socks. He remembered that day perfectly: Arielle bought the Fuji Film Instax Polaroid that day and was so excited about it that her and Alex took photos of each other the whole evening. Arielle kept the rest of the photos, but Alex remembered asking her if he could keep those two photos; he was fascinated with them, but mostly about Arielle.
He also remembered when he composed that song; Arielle was dancing around her house with Alex's clothes and her knee socks, and when she felt asleep next to Alex, he couldn't help himself and ended up writing this song for her. He never showed it to Arielle though.
Alex sighed at himself while reading the lyrics, and couldn't help but feel like a complete dickhead once again. It was his entire fault, of course. He perfectly knew that, but he couldn't do anything about it. He then hide the paper inside his black portfolio, where the rest of the other new songs were. He spend all night re-writing them, making a clean version of them. He even wrote another new song. So with this new song that he found he had officially now four songs.
"Well that's a good start" he thought to himself.
But when he was on his way to the door, the doorbell ranged loudly. Alex wasn't expecting anyone, so he wasn't sure of whom it could actually be. He slowly opened the door, unsure of what to expect, and saw Miles with his sunglasses and that cocky smile of his, leaning against his door.
"Surprise sunshine!" said Miles as he rapidly hugged Alex, "Weren't expecting to see me, right?"
"Miles, mate! What the fuck are you doing here?" he said with a big smile on his face.
"Well I've heard that there was going to be a party tonight, and you know how much I love a good party" said Miles while lighting a cigarette.
"You fucking bastard, I'm so glad you're here" said Alex now walking with him to the studio.
"What can I say? If there's a party around, Miles is gonna be there!" he said while passing his arm on Alex's shoulder.
"You seriously need to stop" said Alex mocking him.
"Oh shut up, a little party never killed nobody" he said while opening the door of the studio.
Matt was already in the drums practicing little tunes, Nick was having some coffee and chatting with Kelly, Jamie on the other hand was in the couch with Katie snogging each other romantically. But they all stopped what they were doing when they saw both Miles and Alex entering the door.
"Miles!" screamed Matt from the bottom of his lungs, leaving the drums instantly and hugging him, "What are you doing here, lad?"
"Oh you know, just checking how my monkeys were" he said while hugging Jamie and then Nick.
"And he also found about tonight's party..." said Alex with a cocky expression.
After chatting a little bit they all went straight to work and rehearsed mostly all day, leaving a couple of hours left to prepare themselves for the party. Alex discussed about each and one of the songs he wrote and composed, explaining to the rest of the band how they should sound. A few changes were made musically, and all of them agreed that they had never sounded so different before. It was a completely new style, really sexy and dark. They agreed that the drums and bass were going to be the main and principal components of this new album, making them have a much more fundamental role in each one of the songs. It was a long day, but it was completely worth it.
"May I ask where all this sudden inspiration came from?" said Nick while resting in the couch.
"Oh you know, here and there, the usual" said Alex, trying to avoid the subject completely. He didn't want to start that conversation once again.
"C'mon Turner, you can't fool us" said Jamie while laughing.
"Seriously, most of them are completely old. I just found them lying around, practically" he said while looking serious to all of his bandmates.
But Nick was the only one who remained silence the whole time, he didn't say a word or not even a slight comment about the songs and the origins of them. He was the only one in that entire room that knew the truth; a truth that not even Alex wanted to accept.
"I really like the last one, how was it called? Uhm, Snap Out Of It or something like that, right?" said Miles from the other side of the room, "It has attitude and I really like the tune, it just makes me want to dance" and after saying this he started to move his hips with Jamie and singing to some parts of the songs.
Alex just nodded silently with a small smile on his face while thinking about that song in his head. He wrote that song the day Arielle left his house crying; he got completely drunk and started to scribble some words that ended in the actual lyrics of a song. Snap Out Of It reflected how he felt for Arielle, he wanted to snap her out of her daydream but he just couldn't really do it. So instead of facing his problems with her, he wrote them in a song. That's what Alex did, he didn't solve his issues, he just wrote them down and expect them to become in a solution; but of course, they didn't.
"I really liked Knee Socks, that's really a good one Al" said Nick while taking a sip of his cold beer.
"Well if you ask me, I really loved Mad Sounds. I don't know I mean, I know that it's a ballad and that it doesn't have the power of the other songs but, I don't know there's something about it. The sort of feelings that the lyrics gave you mixed with the music itself... It sends shivers to my spine, the lyrics of that song..." said Katie while hugging Jamie and looking him straight into the eyes.
That right there was the sort of feeling that Alex wanted to communicate, and he could see the impact of the song in Katie's eyes. Both of them looked at each other as is the world that was surrounding them stopped existing, as if they were the only one in that room. Alex wanted to experience that so badly, that he felt a little bit sad, because he didn't really knew he could possibly do.
Miles simulated a fart with his mouth, "Bollocks!" he said while lighting up a cigarette.
"Don't we have a party to go to? Let's cut with this emotional shit and go and have some margaritas, I really fucking need one so very badly" said Miles while exiting the studio.
Katie and Jamie laughed at each other, as well as everyone in the room. Soon, the studio was empty and Alex and Miles headed towards Alex's house; they had to prepare for the party, that was about to start in less than two hours. On their way home they both talked about many things, but things got really tense when Miles mentioned Arielle.
"So, it seems that Arielle is using her magic charms on you..." said Miles while raising his brows and facing Alex, "I thought that the band already knew about her, am I still the only one?"
"Yeah, I haven't really told them yet" said Alex creating a large pause, "I really don't think im going to tell them either"
"Why the fuck not? I haven't met her but she seems like a wonderful woman, or at least from the things you told me" said Miles.
"I don't know..." said Alex while looking at the floor.
"Is there someone else, maybe? Someone who is making you doubt?" Alex looked at his friend and couldn't help but smile at him; how well did Miles know him. He was his best friend after all, he understood Alex more than he did himself.
"I'm afraid I still don't know that yet..." said Alex finally.
"Is she going to the party?" said Miles. Alex simply nodded in silent.
"Oh boy, this is gonna be a lovely evening" said Miles with a cocky expression and smiling to himself.