After my father paid for my hotel I walked up to the room by myself, thinking. We didn't talk for the remainder of the car ride and after he handed me the key he left saying he would come back tomorrow to pick me up. I walked up to my room, the only thing I currently had were the clothes on my back, my phone, my phone charger(thank god I shoved it in my pocket earlier) and my keys to my impounded car. When I got into the room I kicked off my shoes and took off my jeans before laying back in the bed. I had a bunch of missed calls and texts from Jack and I sighed remembering the way Alex had talked to me earlier.
It hurt that he thought I could do that to him and it made wanna cry just thinking about the way he had spoken. I look through the text message and saw they were begging me to call them back. I sighed, should I? I didn't know if I could take it if Alex didn't believe me and still hated me. As I read the rest of the text messages I thought about calling Jack back, he seemed like he really wanted to talk to me. I took a deep breath before calling him and putting the phone to my ear. The phone rang twice and then Jack's voice filled my ear. "Leah! Are you okay? Alex told us what you said! What happened?" he asked quickly, sounding worried. "Well, uh, Jack, you don't believe I would say those things on Facebook right?" I asked him hoping he was on my side.
"No Leah, I know you didn't, Alex knows you didn't too, all the guys know you didn't. Alex was just upset, he's been snapping at people all day, don't feel bad, he's just PMSing." Jack told me. I let out a deep breath but I still felt upset about the whole Alex thing. "Are you sure about Alex? I feel like he hates me Jack and I don't want him to hate me." I said, laying my head back against the pillow. I suddenly realized how exhausted I was. "Leah, there is no way in hell that you could convince that guy to hate you." Jack said and my heart fluttered. Did that mean he still loved me? Did that mean I had a chance with him? All of a sudden I heard loud voices in the background.
"Jack is that Leah? Leah is that you?" I heard Alex's voice and then "Leah! Are you okay?" it sounded like Zack and Rian had shouted it at the same time. Then I heard rustling, shouting and screams of pain. "Leah? Jack stop! Let me talk to her." Alex said. "Yeah." I said, not sure what else to say. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry Leah, I didn't mean, I mean I did but I didn't… Forget that, I'm stupid, I hope I didn't hurt you." he said getting softer and softer towards the end. "Don't worry about it Alex and yeah, I'm fine besides the whole I have nothing right now, I'm single, I don't have an apartment, I'm in a hotel room and I owe my father bail money and money for the hotel." I said rolling over onto my stomach. I was in awe that my whole life just fell apart in one night. I owed my father more money then I had, I had gotten arrested and could be going to jail for a year, I had lost my boyfriend and I would probably lose my job because I couldn't come to work because I would probably kill Hannah if I saw her again.
"What? What happened?" Alex asked. I thought for a moment, I would tell Alex then when Jack took back the phone I would have to tell him to and I just wasn't okay on telling this story twice in one night. "Alex, can you put me on speaker so I can just tell you guys once, I don't think I can repeat this, I'm already really tired." I said, knowing I might cry or fall asleep during the second telling of the story. "Alright, one second." he said. I heard him moving around and the sound of his hand scraping against the phone. "Alright, you're on speaker, now speak woman!" he said laughing. "Well, Hannah and I made up earlier and I told her everything that happened with Alex, which I now realize was a giant mistake." I said but oddly I didn't regret it really. If I hadn't told her then Chase wouldn't have broken up with me. I felt oddly free and happy knowing we weren't together. I wasn't stressed over cleaning the house, making myself perfect for him and his family and I just felt like I could be myself even if I was a crazy idiot.
All the guys were waiting quietly and I started my story again. "Well after Alex hung up on me earlier during my break and I thought he was mad at me and I got upset and she wouldn't leave me alone. She kept asking what was wrong and then I snapped at her. She was mad and left but I didn't really think anything of it. Well after work I went home and I found all of my stuff in boxes and a very angry Chase." I paused here and took a deep breath. It hurt sort of, even though I was glad I wasn't with him anymore the fact that he broke up with me somewhat hurt. It also hurt that what he said was true, I was a slut and a whore. I had cheated on him even though I promised myself I would never do such a thing.
"Leah! Stop pausing and just tell the whole story." Jack shouted when I stopped for too long. "Fine, I'm sorry, so uh, yeah, when I got home I found an angry Chase and he told me that I was a slut and Hannah had told him that I cheated on him with Alex and then he dumped me and kicked me out." I had to pause here cause all of the guys started shouting and swearing angrily. "Guys! Guys! Calm down!" I shouted when they didn't stop after 5 minutes. Slowly they quieted down. "You're not a slut Leah and he's a douche bag. You should've let me kill him when I had the chance." Zack growled angrily.. I knew it would be pointless to even fight with them so I let them say what they needed to about Chase. "Are you guys finished now? I need to finish, I'm tired." I said yawning. "Oh, we're sorry, finish and then we'll let you sleep." Alex told me. "Well he kicked me out, after I got everything I owned into my car you called me. After we hung up I went to Hannah's. Then I kind of sort of fucked her up.." I said trailing off towards the end. All the guys burst out laughing and I blushed even though they weren't there.
"Good, I didn't like her anyways." Alex told me happily. I laughed, "Well, uh, someone called the cops and I got arrested and my dad had to come get me." I said. I heard all the guys start mumbling stuff. "Well, that's it, that's the story, so I'm gonna go." I said softly, kind if not wanting to talk to all of them anymore. "Wait Leah." Alex said and I heard movement. A couple seconds later I heard a door shut and then more movement. "Hey, it's Alex, I'm alone and you're not on speaker. I just wanted to say I'm sorry Leah and I love you. I didn't mean to hurt you by being a jerk, I was just upset." he said softly.
Instantly I felt amazing, Alex said he loved me. I was quiet, thinking happily, Alex loving me was good, maybe that meant possibly in the future we could be together. "Leah? You still there? You're probably tired, you've had a long day, I'm gonna go." he said sounding upset. "Alex, wait, I'm here, I, I love you too. Can you do me a favor please?" I asked hoping he would say yes.
*Alex's POV*
Instantly I smiled largely. She loved me, she said it, it was official. I would do anything this girl asked me without hesitation. As I thought about her something came to mind, I didn't think I could be on tour anymore. The only thing I wanted is to go see her at this very moment. "What is it Leah?" I asked hoping I would be able to do whatever she would ask me to do. "Can you sing me to sleep?" she asked sweetly sounding exhausted. "Of course, any requests?" I asked her. She was silent for a moment, probably thinking. I heard her yawn and then "No, anything you want Alex." she said sleepily. I thought, what was something sweet but soft that would help her sleep. "Oh, I got it." I said and I heard her yawn again.
"We watch the season pull up it's own stakes and catch the last weekend of the last week, before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced, another sun soaked season fades away, you have stolen my heart, you have stolen my heart." I sang Stolen by Dashboard Confessional to her softly, leaning up against the bathroom door. " Sleep well, sleep well, you have stolen my, you have, you have, you have, you have stolen my heart." I sang as I heard her sigh contently. When I finished the song I heard nothing but her soft breaths. "I love you Leah, sleep well beautiful." I said. I was about to hang up when, "I love you too Lex." Leah mumbled softly and then I heard nothing but her soft breaths again. I smiled and hung up knowing she was already asleep. I walked out of the bathroom and to the back where all the guys were. "Why did it take you so long to say goodbye?" Zack asked nosily. I shrugged and handed Jack his phone back before sitting down next to him.
"Mhmmm, really, what did you guys talk about?" Jack asked raising his eyebrows at me. "I apologized and then she asked me to sing for her so I sang her to sleep." I said like it was no big deal. I looked up at the movie and saw they were watching Dodgeball. "Aw! That's cute." Rian teased and I rolled my eyes. "She's had a long day I wanted to make sure she got some sleep." I said not looking up from the TV. "So, are you guys going to get back together?" Jack asked excitedly. I thought for a moment, were we? I wanted to but did she? She said she loved me but did that mean she wanted to be with me?
"Well?" Jack said and I was brought of my daze. "I don't know Jack, I want to but I don't know about her. I just urgh! I wish we weren't on tour, I just want to go see her." I said sadly. All the guys looked at me with sympathy and I got up, going to lay in bed. "Night guys, I'm really tired. I'm going to lay down." I said softly before walking out. They all mumbled goodnight and I went and laid in my bunk, thinking about Leah. I needed to find a way to go see her and soon. I was thinking of different things to do when it came to me. I jumped out of the bunk and walked over to Matt's. I opened the curtain and slid in next to him. He didn't roll over or move, he just kept on sleeping and I poked him. He groaned but didn't move and I poked him again, harder this time. "What?" he groaned tiredly.
"I need you, please do me a favor? I will never ever bother you ever again." I said shaking him. He rolled over and then pushed me out of the bunk. "Alex, can't this wait til morning?" he asked. I stood up and put my head into the bunk. "Matt, it can't wait, please, I really need you. You're the only person who can help." I said, sticking out my bottom lip when he looked at me. He groaned again, "Alex, I swear, this better be for something good or I'm killing you." he said before pushing away my head so he could climb out the bunk. I smiled happily as we walked into the front and I explained to Matt my plan.
*Leah's POV*
The next morning I woke up really early and called Jake. The phone rang for a couple moments and then he answered. "What is it Leah?" he asked, he sounded like he was doing something and I felt bad for interrupting but I really needed to talk to him. "Uh, Jake, don't be mad at me but I really need to take the rest of this week off." I told him nervously. Jake was usually really cool but I didn't want to piss him off, he could be a real jerk when he was angry.
"What? What for? If you don't have a good reason then I'm not letting you miss work." he said sounding slightly annoyed. I took a deep breath, "I got kicked out of my apartment and I was arrested last night so I need this week off to get some things settled." I told him while I walked over to the bathroom. "What? Are you okay Leah?" he asked. Jake was my manager but we were also good friends. I had known him for 3 years and I knew he would be worried. I wasn't the one to do something stupid and get arrested and I was usually smart enough to not piss Chase off so I wouldn't get kicked out. "Yeah, I'm fine. I got into a fight with Hannah after she told Chase and the whole world some pretty personal things." I said.
He growled, "I never liked Hannah, what did she do?" he asked. I told him the whole story and he quietly listened, not interrupting once. "Wow, take as much time off as you need Leah, just call me every once in while and tell me what's going on, okay? You've become like a sister to me over the years." he said and I grinned. Maybe it was just me who was stupid enough to befriend Hannah. It seemed like no one liked her. "Alright, I have to go." I told him before hanging up.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized no one really liked Hannah. She was my first friend and I always brought her around but it seemed like everyone hated her. I never understood why they hated her, I thought she was nice and a good friend but I was obviously wrong. I realized that I had made some poor choices when it came to a boyfriend and best friend. They both were jerks and it made me sad that I had realized it too late. I sighed and decided there was no point on dwelling on it now, I couldn't go back in time and change it. There was only one way to move and that was forward. I wanted to shower but I had nothing to change into so I just laid in my bed with only my underwear on. I waited for my father to call me like he said he would and I let my mind drift.
I thought about Alex and how I missed him. Maybe when this whole thing was settled and he was over with tour I would take a trip to Maryland and surprise him. That was a good idea until I started thinking about all the things that could go wrong. What if he had a girlfriend? What if he decided there was no point of being with me, that I was a cheating whore? It hurt to just think about it and I decided to call Jack, he could make me feel better. Once I clicked his name in my phone I put it to my ear and waited for it to ring. A couple seconds later he answered. "What?" he moaned. Crap, I woke him up. "Oh, Jack, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, I'll call you later." I said quickly. "No, wait, Leah, don't be, I'm fine. What's up?" Jack said sounding more awake almost instantly. "Nothing, I just needed someone to talk to." I said sadly.
"What's the matter?" he asked and I sighed deeply. "I'm just worried and not about what I should be worried about." I said, feeling dumb. I should be worrying about being put away for a year instead of worrying about whether or not Alex wanted to be with me. "Well tell me about it, I'm listening Lee-Lee." he said. I cringed at the dreaded nickname and bit on my lip. "I'm just worried cause I really like Alex, actually I love him and I want to be with him and I know he says he-." before I could finish Jack cut me off by blowing a raspberry. "God, you two. Alex loves you and is worried cause he doesn't know if you want to be with him and you're worried cause you love him and you don't know if he wants to be with you. Well he DOES and you two idiots should just shut up and be together already." Jack said sounding like he was fed up with us. I laughed as soon as he finished. Alex and I were ridiculous, here we both were worrying about the same thing and in the end we should just be together.
"Jack, you're-" but I was cut off by knocking on the door. "Jack, someone is knocking on the door, I have to go." I said quickly. "Wait, Leah, I'm what?" he asked but I hung up before pulling my jeans back on and walking over to the door. When I opened it my father was standing there in a suit and looking like he was in a rush. "Uh, hey." I said as he pushed passed me and walked into the room. "Hello Leah, we need to go and get things done, why aren't you dressed?" he asked looking down at me. I looked at like him like he had lost it. Oh yeah, cause I'm totally gonna take the boxes from my car that I don't have and wear the clothes that are in the back. "I don't have anything else dad. When you dropped me off I had nothing, do you think I'm a freaking magician and can make clothes magically appear?" I asked him before going to put on my sneakers.
"Watch it Leah, I'm doing you a favor. I could just not do anything for you. Just, let's go. We need to get your clothes and then go to court. I'm going to try and convince the judge to drop your charges." he said before walking out. I tied my shoes and made sure I had everything before I left the room, shutting the door behind me. I had to walk quickly to catch up with his long strides and soon we were walking out of the hotel and down to his car. When we got in I put on my seatbelt and he didn't say anything to me. I felt awkward around my own dad and I just stared down at my feet as we silently drove.
Almost 3 hours later we had gotten my car, I had gone back to the hotel, changed, gotten dressed and was looking presentable. I drove quietly to the court house where my dad told me to meet him. When I got there I parked quickly and stepped out. I instantly recognized the person walking in front of me and ran up to them. I grabbed her arm and pulled her around so she was facing me. Her face was bruised and cut and I held back a laugh. When Hannah saw me she jumped back and looked scared. "Hannah. Stop, I'm not going to hurt you." I said, trying my hardest to keep my temper under control. She instantly stopped looking scared and a dirty look came across her face. "Then what do you want? And I'm not dropping the charges, I don't care." she said rudely. I sighed, "Fine Hannah, do what you want but I just hope you can live with yourself. Yes, I will totally admit that I was wrong by putting my hands on you. That was immature." I said, trying hard to not say what I really thought.
Even though I knew it was wrong to hit someone, I felt like Hannah deserved it and it took all my self control to not say that. I really needed to get myself out of this mess and I wouldn't do it by saying what I thought was the truth. I sucked in a deep breath. "I'm really sorry but I was mad. You really screwed me over last night. It was unexpected and I was pissed. But as wrong as I was so were you. Just remember though, when your pressing charges against me that I was your only friend, the only person who stuck up for you. The person who showed up with a carton of ice cream, all your favorite movies and missed a date with her boyfriend so she could be there for you when you got dumped and were crying." I said before walking off. Hopefully it would give herself something to think about.
I knew I was getting my hopes though. Hannah was the kind of person who would keep going until you lost every single thing you loved, every single that was important to you. If she had her way I could expect a year in prison. I sighed before walking slowly into the court house. I hated being here, me and court houses didn't get along at all. I sort of blamed them for taking my father away from me when I was young but they weren't to blame for the relationship we had now. That was all my fault, my ability to cut off people and not even turn back was something I hated about myself. It made me lose a lot of important people and I vowed to work on it. I was tired of losing relationships with people I loved because I was too stupid to work on them. I looked around when I got in and instantly saw my father over by a bench. "Dad." I said when I got over to him. He didn't smile at me nor did he give me any acknowledgement. "Why are you ignoring me?" I asked him softly when I got closer.
"No one knows I have a daughter your age and I want to keep it that way. So I would prefer it if you called me Mr. Hunter." he said before standing up. My jaw dropped, "Uh, we have the same last name, how are you going to explain that one?" I asked him. He was really starting to piss me off. I knew he was helping me but it didn't matter. The fact that he couldn't and wouldn't admit I was his daughter hurt more then all the things my mother ever did. While she used to smack me around she never denied me like he was. "I can just say it's a coincidence. Hunter is a common last name. Now sit here, I need to go talk to the judge and the other lawyer." he told me before walking off.
I watched him walk away and then looked down at my knees. I was only staring at my knees for a moment before I heard my phone vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked down at the text from Jack. *I was what? Tell me please before I go insane!* I chuckled as I read the text and then texted him back. *I don't even remember, that was hours ago Jack, I'm sorry.* I said feeling bad. I tried to remember what I was going to say but my mind was blank. Damn me, I spaced too much and I couldn't remember certain things that happened 5 minutes ago, forget something hours ago. I racked my brain trying hard to think but nothing came up and I sighed before leaning up against the bench. I hoped my father could convince the judge to drop the charges. I was not looking forward to go anywhere near a prison forget having to live at one. I had seen Locked Up, I knew what went on in jail and I was just not built for it. I bit down on my lip nervously as I stared at the door at the end of the hall and waited for it to open.