(A/N: Skipping ahead in time quite a bit. Things between them have been patched up and gone well since last chapter!)
Alex's POV
"Hey, did you guys know that we released Nothing Personal almost a year ago?!" I spoke to the crowd in front of my band mates and I. Tonight we were in Paris.
The crowd cheered at us and I smiled at their enthusiasm.
"What's your favorite song off that album? One, two, three, shout it at us!" Jack chimed in. We were bombarded with everyone's voices yelling different songs at the four of us. I smiled at my girlfriend who was side stage and laughing at the crowd's enthusiasm.
"Hey! I heard someone say Weightless was their favorite song! How about we play that one as our last song!" Jack asked me.
"Orrrr our second last song. I think everyone knows what our last song is" I teased the audience who obviously knew that Dear Maria was our closing song. "By the way Paris, do you wanna hear some amazing news?" Again, cheers from every single fan. "All Time Low are headed back in the studio next month! We're working on album number 3!" I announced as Rian banged his drums in excitement.
Screams that could probably be heard from outside of the venue were projected at us once again, and a few seconds later we jumped into Weightless.
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Rachel's POV
Tuesday January 12 2016
Could it be true? Am I really 26 today? And am I really in Paris for it?! I was determined to make the best of today. I was touring with Alex and the band AND in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Not gonna lie, I had tried looking for my presents these past few days, but somehow the guys had kept their mouths shut and presents out of sight.
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"Goooood morning birthday girl!" A familiar face was suddenly shoved up against mine as I sat on the couch near the front of the bus while I texted a few friends.
"Hi Jack"
He grabbed me for a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "happy birthday!"
"Thanks hun"
"So..." he placed himself down beside me, "why aren't you drunk yet?"
I couldn't help but laugh, "because its 9 in the morning, Jack. Are you insane?"
"Nope! But I think you should open your present from me now." He left to grab a birthday bag from wherever it was hidden and placed it on the couch.
I opened it up and began to laugh probably too loud at this early hour. A bottle of Jack...with Jack's face on it.
"This is the best alcoholic present I've ever received! Thanks Jack!" I placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Also...not one but two shot glasses. And they are to be used immediately, so lets open this bottle up."
I gave my bottle to Jack and he poured some for the both of us. After clinking our glasses together, we took our drinks. Only this guy could make me have a shot of Jack at 9am.
"Woah, what's going on in here?" a curious voice asked as Alex emerged from the bunk beds. He saw the bottle of Jack and the glasses in mine and Jack's hands, "...never mind."
After grabbing a cup of coffee, Alex sat down beside me a snuggled tightly into my side, "happy birthday, my love!" He shouted most likely waking up everyone else on the bus. Before I could thank him, he was plastering kisses all over me.
It had been 8 months or so since him and I took a break, but things were quickly fixed. The power of love helped out I guess you could say. Not to mention that in March this year, we would mark two years of being together. Other than that slight pause in the relationship, things were absolutely amazing with Alex, and I couldn't be happier being with him in Paris on my birthday.
"Okay, okay!" I said breaking apart from his kisses on my mouth, "thank you honey. But lets get down to the real business..." I started before he interrupted me.
"Birthday sex?" he asked eagerly.
"Woah, easy there. Wasn't yesterday morning enough for you? But anyways, no, the real business I meant was...my birthday present! Where is it?"
"Woah, easy there," he mimicked me with a high pitched voice, Jack laughed at him, "your birthday present can wait!"
I pouted, "says you..."
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Alex's POV
Our day off in Paris was spent spoiling my girlfriend rotten. She deserved the world. We visited all the major attractions in the city and thankfully, we got a break from the fans for the day. Not that we ever minded fans coming up to us while we were out and about, but it was a nice break for one day.
So after almost all day of wandering around the beautiful city, I told the band and the crew to get lost so the birthday girl and I could have the night to ourselves.
First stop for the two of us: Pont de Arts. I heard about this bridge from a travel show I once watched out of boredom. Its a bridge where people can go put a lock on the fence of it to symbolize their love. Once their lock is placed, they would then throw the key to the lock in the river so it could never be opened.
"Aw I wish I bought a lock for us to put on the fence. That would have been perfect!" Rachel said in awe of the thousands of locks that were placed on the fence.
"Yeah, too bad. All I have here is this lock with our names on it for us to put on the fence" I said slyly, earning a grin from Rachel.
I gave it to her as she walked me over to the fence, getting a free spot as we both closed the lock around the metal bar.
Happy with how it looked, Rachel needed to take a picture of our lock there. After that, she threw in the key and stared at me with wide eyes.
"Its gonna be here forever" she sounded so happy.
I grabbed her in for a hug. Knowing I was making her so happy means I'm doing my job right.
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Rachel's POV
Once Alex and I left Pont des Arts, he took me to a restaurant near the Eiffel tower just for the two of us. I couldn't get over the beautiful view and expressed that thought to Alex all throughout our dinner there. He would just reply with a corny line like "the view in front of me is much better". It's so nice having someone that loves you just as much as you love them. From past relationships to even some of my friend's relationships, there were many hard times, so I was incredibly appreciative of Alex.
Once our dinner was done and paid for, Alex suggested that we stay at the park around the Eiffel tower until we wanted to head back to the tour bus. So we did just that.
"I thought that today couldn't get any better. Being here with you guys on tour and it just so happens to be on my birthday that you have an off day. I couldn't be happier, Alex. Thank you for making me the happiest girl on earth."
"You know, it wasn't just a coincidence that we had an off day on your birthday. When Matt was booking the tour dates, I purposely told him to try hard to get us the day off in Paris for your birthday so we could make it special."
"You're the best" was all that I could say back, before kissing him.
I heard an 'aw' from a nearby person while I kissed Alex. We then stood in the grass, Alex holding me in a hug from behind me, looking at the tower which was illuminated in thousands of lights.
After a minute or two, I saw a woman and a man walking towards Alex and I with a smile on their faces. I smiled back thinking that they were just passing by, but they stopped right in front of the two of us.
"Hi, excuse me, we were just wondering if you wouldn't mind taking a photo of my husband and I in front of the Eiffel tower?" the woman asked me.
"Sure, no problem!" I happily replied, taking their camera from them as they posed for a picture.
"Damn, I take a good picture" I thought to myself as I took the picture and handed them back their camera.
"Thanks so much! It's our 5th anniversary today and this is where he proposed to me!" the woman said while looking at the picture.
Alex chimed in, "congrats on the marriage!"
"Are you two married as well?" the husband asked looking at the two of us.
I felt Alex shift uncomfortably behind me and clear his throat. I think he was scared of how to answer.
"Oh, we're not as far along in our relationship as you two," I spoke up, "we've been together for almost 2 years." I heard Alex's shuffling stop and his arms hold me tighter for a second. "And its my birthday so this guy," I looked back at Alex for a moment, "wanted to make today special in Paris for me." I smiled proudly as I looked back at the couple in front of us.
"Well, happy birthday" they both said to me, which I replied with a thank you.
"Do you want us to take a picture of the two of you?" the woman asked.
Without a beat between her question, Alex replied enthusiastically "yeah!" And suddenly I was dragged a few steps in front of the couple as Alex gave his phone to the husband. It looked like he said something to the man before he came back to pose with me.
Alex held me so close as the man took our picture. I was going to go back to where we stood before, but Alex pulled me back to stand in the spot again.
"Oh, is he taking another picture?" I questioned Alex.
"Yeah, but first I gotta give you something. Its part of your birthday present"
I gasped with excitement, "what is it?!"
He reached around his neck, fiddling with something, which is odd because all he had around his neck was his little key necklace that he wore everyday. From the corner of my eye I saw a few camera flashes coming from the man who was holding Alex's phone as we stood there. He probably thought to take a few more pictures for us.
His necklace was off his neck and he held it in his hand for a second, "this is for you." He then placed it around my neck.
"But you wear this necklace every single day" I was confused of why he would give me one of his favorite things.
"Yeah and its one of my favorite things I own. And now it's yours. Because I love you and I always want to be with you. So if you promise to wear this with you every day, it's yours."
I looked down at it as held it in my hand, then smiled to Alex, "deal."
Grabbing him in a hug, I also kissed Alex's cheek. "I have something else for you" he whispered.
"Really? What is it?"
He pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket in his pants. It was almost like deja vu from the time he showed me the pictures of him and Tay before burning them. He handed the paper over to me and I opened it up.
Written on the paper was: "Dear Rachel, All Time Low are cordially inviting you to be our sound engineer for Dirty Work. Should you accept, kiss the nearest person to you at the moment. Regards, Alex Jack Zack & Rian."
I couldn't believe they wanted me to record their album!
I leaned in and kissed him hard, making sure he got the answer. Through my closed eyelids I knew the flash went off from Alex's phone more photos being taken for us. I was officially the happiest I could ever be in the city of love on my 26th birthday.