"Lately I've been seeing things." The rumble and buzz of the ambiance provided by the plane hummed in Alex's ear. Thankfully, his seat was spacious, juxtaposing the muddled state of his mind. His elbow crushed against the wall of the aircraft as he leant against the window. Beside him, Matt had his nose buried into the screen of his phone, flicking through different photographs he'd transferred from his camera earlier at the airport.
"Like what?" Matt said, his eyes and attention still on his phone, responding for Alex's sake and not much more.
The airplane air was dry and harsh on their nostrils, seats uncomfortable against their backs after six long hours of minimal movement. Alex's hand fiddled with the watch on his left wrist, wringing it back and forth purposelessly. "Noticing things..." Alex replied. "I don't know...like hands...people's hands I've been seeing more than I used to."
"People's...hands?" Matt asked, looking up at his friend briefly.
"Like what's on their hands," Alex clarified. "Like watches, rings...I dunno, I've just been seeing more rings around the place. And...what are the things you carry babies in?"
"Prams?" Matt asked, raising a brow.
"Yeah, prams," Alex said and clicked his fingers, "been seeing heaps of prams around the place which is strange cause I didn't really expect there to be so many in big cities or the airport." Matt was visibly confused as to the purpose of this conversation but it seemed he was never going to get an explanation as Alex was already onto his next train of thought, one which he was only sharing with himself as he looked out the window.
"That's it?" Matt asked after a minute of silence from Alex. "That's the whole story?"
"Hmm?" Alex looked over at him with raised eyebrows. Matt gave him the 'are-you-kidding-me' look. "Oh right. Um...yeah...that's it." Sometimes, Alex wasn't consciously aware of some of the things he'd say out loud.
"Pfft okay," Matt chuckled and turned back to his phone as Alex's eyes travelled back out to the window; foot tapping as he impatiently waited for landing.
His heart began to race as the twinkling lights of a city manifested in the window beside him. The world coated in a dying blue as the sun ran behind the plane and began setting over the country they were slowly descending on. Only one person made his heart race like that, there was no point in spelling out who.
They met like every other time. Her running up to him the second she spotted him and leaping onto him as he welcomed her with open arms, holding her up as she squeezed the life out of him. Her scent invaded his nostrils in the most beautiful sensation, comfort exuded her. He was met with those deep brown eyes shortly after she'd tangled herself within him, sparkling like glitter as the most perfect smile blessed her lips. She had one of those smiles you'd see maybe twice in a life time, her lips spreading out and evenly into this picture perfect smile as seen on advertisements but she wasn't faking it. Her bottom lip sitting just under the line of her top teeth and framing them perfectly as the corners of her mouth spread wide enough to create a dimple on each side and form two rosy round apples on her cheeks. He could never get sick of it.
"I missed you so much," she exhaled and hastily pushed his long hair out of his face, bringing his lips to hers with a hand on his neck. His legs went weak like jelly at her electricity, consuming him completely with nothing more than a simple kiss.
"Don't worry baby, I'll be here for awhile," he promised her, holding her delicate face in the palm of his hand.
Alex was waffling on about the last two months of his life after Rosanna had eagerly asked him to share her every single detail. Driving through the traffic as Alex sat beside her in the passenger's seat. All they'd been able to do since he began touring for the North American Leg of the tour, following the release of the new album, was video and phone call as Rosanna was stuck attending to her duties in London. Alex barely had any down time so it was lucky that the second leg was is the UK.
"We've got these lights now, these red lights, that sort of beam on and off before we come on stage with that sound from the 'Four Out Of Five' music video," Alex was telling her, "thought it might be cooler than just walking on and expecting everyone to give a damn — but I won't spoil the whole thing for ya."
Rosanna hadn't so much as attended one show of the new tour, too busy with recording her second album and taking care of the record shop she and Oliver still owned. Now being stuck so far away, Rosanna missed how flexible her schedules used to be where she'd be able to travel entire tours with them and work on the road. Now she was grounded and could only travel now and then.
"Yer favourite is still on the setlist," Alex mentioned as Rosanna continued to drive back to her townhouse.
"I'm glad," Rosanna said, breaking a smile.
"Are y' gonna be there tomorrow night?" Alex asked hopefully, looking over at her as her eyes lingered on the road, her hands resting at the base of the steering wheel.
"Course I am," Rosanna said, "I've missed too many already." It was somewhere in the late evening when they arrived at Rosanna's doorstep, carrying Alex's gigantic bags into the house and dropping them by the foot of the bed.
"Come here," Alex smiled and grabbed Rosanna's waist, pulling her down and onto the bed with him, lying beneath her as her hair hung like vines over his face. Reaching a hand up, he brushed those few strands behind her ear and pulled them all to sit over one shoulder. "I missed you so much," he hummed as his arms fell back to her waist. Her face had only remained in his memory for the past two months and every time he was separated from her he managed to forget just how beautiful he found her. His memory always tumbling short of reality and photos never did her all justice either. "I thought of you every day."
Rosanna smiled and leaned closer to him, her chest brushing his as her hand ran through the dark locks of his hair. "Well aren't you just a sappy romantic?" she teased him and let her eyes fall to every inch of his face and down to his neck where he was still wearing the silver chain she'd bought him all those years ago.
Alex let out a soft chuckle and moved his head up to kiss her. His lips starving as he pulled her in so deep he could've swallowed her whole. His tongue searching for something unspoken as it explored her mouth that he knew all too well. Rosanna began giggling as Alex trailed kisses down her neck, hitting all of her ticklish spots and nuzzling into her with a grin on his lips. The bristly hairs of his beard grazed her skin as he slid an arm around her waist and gently spun her so that she was beneath him. Mumbling something incoherent into her neck as he slid both his hands up her arms and interlocked their fingers, holding her hands by her head as he made his way back to her lips.
"I want you," he said onto the corner of her lips, voice breathless and deep.
"Right now?" Rosanna asked, feeling his weight on her body increase.
"Only if you want to," Alex said and looked down at her, studying the wavering pools of coffee that were her eyes. Rosanna bit her lip and felt her stomach flip inside her, one of Alex's legs being situated between her own playing as a heavy influence on her decision.
Rosanna's fingertips grazed over the cold metal of the chain still around Alex's neck, tracing the delicate rings one by one. His collar bone raised up and down with each of his panting breaths, small beads of sweat decorating his pale skin. "I can't believe you still wore this," Rosanna said quietly as she lay propped up on her side beside him as he lay exhausted and satisfied under the covers.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked in a deep, hoarse voice, his hand stroking her hip ever so gently.
"You wore this even when we were apart," Rosanna said even quieter, almost regretting that she brought it up after realising what memories it linked back to.
Alex nodded and looked down at her hand as it continued to graze over the chain. "If I'm honest I don't feel complete without it." Rosanna managed a smile at the way he was able to turn a bitter memory into something sweet and kissed the edge of his mouth.
"It suits you," she smiled and placed her hand down onto his neck. "Tell me a story Al," she said.
"A story?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Or one of your dreams," she said but wouldn't admit that all she wanted was to hear his voice for as long as possible. She'd missed him more than she was willing to let on.
Alex let out a chuckle and shrugged, "okay...well I were in a hotel room in Berlin—"
"Is this a dream or a story?" Rosanna quickly interrupted.
"A dream," he nodded as she made herself comfortable on his chest. "I were in a hotel in Berlin, it were small and compact but there was this gigantic chandelier hanging from the ceiling that was all out of place. Real regal and all, you know the ones with millions of crystals decorating it. There were two architects talking about it down the hall who covered the walls in blueprints. And all of a sudden I just got this feeling and I started running, out onto the balcony; it turned into some kind of bridge stretching over the city and the next thing I know, I'm looking around and I'm on a beach. One of those really flat Mediterranean beaches that are sheltered by huge rock cliffs. The waves were crashing against these gigantic stone pillars and from 'em was this swing over the ocean. You were swaying back and forth on it, tipping all the way back that I thought you were gonna fall off. I met you on the water, we were standing on it like it were frozen over, you looked like the garden of Eden."
"I was naked?" Rosanna asked, cocking a brown at him.
Alex's cheeks burned, "no," he chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair and swept it over one of her shoulders. "Not that kind of dream. You had flowers all over ya, like in 'American Beauty'. I was chasing you, laughing and all and then we stumbled into the Leeds town hall."
"Why?" Rosanna giggled.
"Beats me," Alex shrugged, "I'm not boring you am I?"
Rosanna shook her head, "You've got me captivated."
"Tell me if it's getting torturous," Alex said and continued the outline of his fantastical dream. Rosanna was the only person that ever had the patience to sit through them. Her eyes twinkling with wonder as she admired him storytelling for almost an hour, never boring her once.
"You know what that reminds me of?" Rosanna said once Alex had finally concluded.
"What?" Alex asked curiously. The dream had ended with Alex explaining that he found himself rolling over haphazardly cut grass with the stars pulsing like a Van Gogh painting above him and Rosanna just an arms reach away. She'd faded in and out of the dream during Alex's journey, and he'd explained that even he sometimes was non existent in his own dream, instead taking form in other people and seeing through their eyes.
Rosanna propped herself up on her elbows once more, hovering over his relaxed body. "The night we met," she said, a small smile tickling her lips.
The corners of Alex's lips turned upwards, "I didn't even realise. You're right."
"We weren't even in love but there was still a certain romance about the whole thing," Rosanna said down to Alex as he looked up at her from his very comfortable position buried into his pillow.
"Feels like a lifetime ago," Alex hummed, his exposed chest rising up and down with each breath, the covers only covering him from his bellybutton down.
"I still remember it like yesterday," Rosanna said, the sheets swept over her rear making her look like some marble statue of a Greek goddess. Venus de Milo in the flesh with her hair falling over her shoulders.
"I'm surprised you remember it at all," Alex teased, "the state you were in."
"I wasn't that bad," Rosanna smiled and moved closer to him. "I was just young and reckless."
"Reckless is a good word for it," Alex smiled up at her as her face inched closer.
"Fuck off," Rosanna chuckled and kissed him softly.
"There's a lot of nights that I regret going out to... but that night will never be one of them," Alex smiled against her lips and suddenly, they were back in Sheffield.
It was two-thousand and six, a day in mid August, about as warm as a summers eve in Sheffield city could be. Sat on a tassel carpet, skin smooth and taught with youth, was an eighteen year old Rosanna, dressed in some dress borrowed from a friend that she found uncomfortable. Her two other friends were separated around the house. One glued to the bathroom mirror and the other making pre-game cocktails before they went out.
"Lou hurry up!" Rosanna called from her spot on the carpet, her fingers fiddling with the laces of her short heeled boots. A half arsed response cooed back from the bathroom.
"We're gonna leave you," the other friend, Sophie, teased as she walked over to Rosanna and handed her a glass of expertly mixed mojitos; Sophie was a bartender. At the time, Rosanna was living with these two in a small flat they all pitched in to afford. She'd left Leeds seven months prior to pursue her studies in Sheffield.
"I'm almost done!" Lou, or Louise, called back. It was a good ten minutes after that that they actually left. Lou was the friend that was late to anything and everything. The gig they were heading to was no exception.
As the night crept in darker it promised the beginning of something revolutionary. Rosanna sat beside Lou on the terribly cut grass, their attention going from the bands playing on the stage about a hundred meters away, to each other whenever they made little comments. The place was fairly busy, a group of energetic people taking to the very front of the stage to jam out to the rock and roll echoing out over the park. Rosanna had been there earlier in the night but had now retired to sitting on the side of a hill and watching from afar. She checked the time. Eleven thirty. Time had flown by and little did she know her night was only about to begin.
She was talking to Lou about the all-girls rock band on stage when Sophie came bumbling back over, three drinks in hand. "I just met the cutest guy I think I've ever seen," she said as she handed everyone their respective drinks. "I'm gonna go back over to the bar and talk to him if you guys wanna join?"
Rosanna and Lou looked at each other quizzically. "Oh come on! He's got some mates with him too," Sophie said, rolling her eyes. "Rose there's a blonde one that I reckon you'll really like." The 'blonde one' she was talking about was Jamie.
"I told them I'd introduce you guys," Sophie whined once neither of her friends responded.
Rosanna sighed and joined Lou as they stood to their feet. "I'm gonna need to be a bit more drunk for this," she said and took Lou's flask, downing at least two shots worth of vodka before handing it back. Meeting people made her nervous, she always found herself more comfortable in awkward situations when she'd been drinking. So with her head spinning and her energy through the roof, Rosanna followed her friends back through the crowd of people to the bar where this 'group of guys with a blonde one that Rosanna would really like' was.
Alex and Rosanna's paths didn't cross immediately. She was introduced to Matt and Jamie and a couple of their other friends but for the moment, Alex was off using the bathroom. Buying herself another drink, she delved right into an endless conversation with the two present Monkeys about music — their forte and she didn't even know it.
When Alex returned to his group of friends he saw that they were all talking to this group of girls and that intimidated him. He'd just secretly tossed up a bit in the toilets and was worried that he was going to instantly embarrass himself the second he rejoined his group. He was still very much that timid, shy little boy from High Green Sheffield.
"Yeah just one mate," Alex said to the bartender as he ordered himself another beer, something for him to hold as he approached the circle Matt and Jamie we're talking in. "Ey I'm back," he said, tapping Matt's shoulder.
"Bloody hell y' shit in there or summat?" Matt teased him and stepped out, making room for one more person in the conversation circle. "Uh Al, this is Sophie and Rosanna," Matt said and pointed to the two dark haired girls. "Yeah, this is Alex," Matt said to them.
Alex smiled awkwardly at both of them as politely as he could but as soon as he saw Rosanna's face, he just got this feeling that he wanted to talk to her and her only, all night long. It was like the universe was drawing him to her, like it was foreshadowing that she was going to be the person to change his whole life, the woman he was going to fall helplessly in love with.
His first word to her was a simple "hey" and hers was nothing more than a sweet "hi."
The shaggy-haired boy that was introduced to her as 'Alex' stole Rosanna's attention slowly. Each comment that slipped from his little lips intrigued her more and more to who he could be. It wasn't just what he said, but the way he spoke, phrased things, the words he chose, all unlike anything she'd ever heard before. Like he was some type of scholar locked inside the body of a teenager. He didn't speak much but when he did, Rosanna listened with full attention. Laughing at every joke and not just because he interested her, but because she genuinely found him hilarious.
They began feeding off each other's jokes, layering them up like some kind of cake only they found delicious. As Matt always said, they clicked immediately.
"Going back to the bar, anyone want anything?" Alex announced about an hour into knowing Rosanna.
"I'll give you a hand," Rosanna offered after a fair amount of his friends had expressed an interest in acquiring another beverage.
"So what are you doing out in a place like this?" Alex asked, mentally punching himself for making himself sound like an absolute dick.
Luckily for him, Rosanna knew the game he was playing: small talk...he was just very, very bad at it. "Sussing out the local music scene."
"Are you from Sheffield?" Alex inquired as they walked side by side.
Rosanna shook her head, her dangling earrings swaying against her neck, "moved from Leeds earlier this year." She admired the side profile of his face for the first time, "What about you?"
"Yeah, Sheffield's home to me," Alex smiled and scratched his hair shyly.
"Ah so I've trampled into your hometown," Rosanna teased, already a little tipsy. Now that they were alone, they could get to know each other properly.
Alex chuckled, "nah, don't say that. You make it sound like a bad thing."
"Could be," Rosanna said and cocked a brow at him, "you barely know me."
"I have a feeling," Alex smiled at her and they approached the bartenders. "What did everyone want again?" Alex asked her.
"Think it were just beers," Rosanna said, leaning against the bench, kicking her heel into the grass making a small hole. "You wanna do a couple of shots for the sake of it?" she suggested.
Alex smiled, "well I don't see why not." And from there, their night began. Drink after drink, joke after joke. Going into the mosh pit, Alex hoisting Rosanna up onto his shoulders as they cheered for the last few bands, and challenging each other to drink chugging contests. They began with their group of friends but after the third trip to the bar they decided to walk off on their own, swaying side to side in their steps. They made jokes about how close Matt and Sophie were getting, talked about Rosanna's studies and eventually found the topic of what Alex did.
"Yer in a band?" Rosanna asked with alcohol induced excitement.
"Yeah," Alex smiled shyly, "with uh, Matt and Jamie back there."
"Playing tonight?" Rosanna asked as they walked along the grass at a painfully slow pace.
Alex shook his head, "just 'ere to support the other bands."
"What's your part?"
"Singing...guitar," Alex said and sipped his ninth beer.
"Well aren't you a talented little weasel?" Rosanna teased and poked his arm. She looked him up and down and realised she had this silly, drunk little smile on her cheeks that she just couldn't put away. Her cheeks aching yet refusing to ease themselves when Alex was present. "I really like you Mr Alex," she blurted out. Idiot. "Sorry."
Alex smiled, his eyelids heavied by his intoxication, "why are you sorry? I find you exquisitely intriguing as well."
"D'you read the dictionary to go to sleep every night?" Rosanna asked out of the blue.
"How'd you know?" Alex asked seriously.
"Wait do you actually?" Rosanna asked, eyes wide, stopping in her tracks. She saw the truth in Alex's eyes and began laughing uncontrollably. "As if I were right."
"Stop teasing me," Alex whined.
"I'm not teasing ya, it's adorable," Rosanna smiled and sort of stumbled onto the ground. She reached up a slender hand, grasping at Alex as if inviting him to join her. "Do you really?" Rosanna asked as Alex sat down on the cold grass next to her.
"It's peculiar I know," Alex said and took a swig of his drink.
"It's adorable," Rosanna said, her words coming out slightly mushy and less articulate than when she was sober.
"What made you think so?" Alex asked curiously.
Rosanna reclined onto her elbows, letting them sink into the dirt and crossed one leg over the other, "the way you speak. What other twenty year old chav from Sheffield uses the words 'peculiar' 'exquisite' and 'incognisant' instead of 'fucked' 'neat' and 'pissed'?"
"Ay, I use those words too," Alex defended and offered her a swig of his beer; which she took gladly. "At least it makes me different right?"
Rosanna wiggled her eyebrows at him and finished the bottle without his consent. A small smirk made its way to her lips as she tossed the empty bottle along the grass. "You know what? I were gonna say summat witty but it does, it does make ya different," she said and flattened her back against the grass. "Guess it makes you a good songwriter then."
"I'm flattered Rose," Alex chuckled and wrapped his arms around his legs, watching her as her hair sprayed around her head like a crown.
"Ugh, don't call me that," Rosanna said, her face souring like she ate something bitter. "I hate it."
"Just 'Rosanna' then?" Alex asked.
She shook her head, "I hate that too. I hate my name."
"Why so?" Alex asked and reclined next to her.
"Such an old person name," Rosanna said and looked over at him, not even caring that her hair was now intertwined with twigs and grass blades. "Makes me sound all aged, Rose, Rosanna, never sounds nice rolling off the tongue," she explained.
Alex let out a soft chuckle and nodded his head understandingly, "I never much liked 'Alexander' either."
"At least 'Alex' is a good nickname," Rosanna said, "Rose makes me sound like the bloody old lady from 'Titanic'."
Alex laughed, "I'll call you 'Ro' then."
Rosanna sat up and looked down at him, "I love you," she stated.
Alex smiled and sat up next to her, "that were fast."
"Everybody else has told me I'm being stupid when I say I hate my name," Rosanna said, "you are the wonderful exception."
"Wonderful am I?" Alex smirked, sinking back into the grass as his head began to dizzy with intoxication.
"You're not about to sleep are you?" Rosanna said, kicking his foot.
"Resting me eyes," Alex said as his eyelids settled over his round brown eyes.
"Oh get the fuck up!" Rosanna said and shook him playfully, "c'mon I'll buy you a drink."
"Well shit that's all you had to say," Alex chuckled and sat up slowly. Rosanna smiled happily and stood to her feet, reaching out her hand to give him some help up. Alex gripped her hand in his and used her to pull himself to his feet when she stumbled over and ended up tumbling back onto the grass, bringing Alex down the hill with her.
"Fuck," Rosanna cackled as they lay at the base of the small hill, her legs lying upwards and her hands tangled in her hair. Alex was beside her on his stomach, dirt on his left cheek.
"Well that were a tumble," Alex chuckled. Neither of them attempted to get up and just lay there, sprawled like children on the cool grass facing that stars above.
"I'm sorry," Rosanna laughed, kicking her legs up into the air and reaching her hands up to the toes of her boots. "I think I'm a bit drunk," she slurred.
"Makes two of us," Alex smiled. He'd never met someone so easy to talk to and he told her this. "Feel like you're me other half," he also said.
"That's a helluva compliment," Rosanna said and dropped her legs back down the the ground. "I think you're my new favourite person ever." She rolled onto her stomach to look at him, "promise me we'll talk after tonight?"
"I promise," Alex said.
"We can be best friends," Rosanna giggled.
"Will you even like me when you're sober?" Alex asked.
"Course I will, you're the best thing Sheffield's had to offer in the seven months I've been here," Rosanna said.
"Yer gonna make me go red," Alex blushed.
"You could use some colour in your cheeks," Rosanna teased.
"Ay Al!" a booming voice called from somewhere. Both their heads craned up off the ground and searched for the speaker. Their eyes settled on Matt who was carrying a very drunk Jamie toward a taxi. "We're leaving mate!"
"Ah fuck," Alex sighed and pushed himself up.
"Are you leaving?" Rosanna asked and forced herself to her feet, as unstable as they were.
"C'mon Al! Jamie's bout to puke, you can continue yer date tomorrow, taxi's 'ere," Matt called out. That's when Jamie tossed up onto the grass.
"Oh dear," Rosanna laughed and walked cross-legged with Alex over to his friends.
"I'll call you," Alex promised her as he jogged over to help Matt hold Jamie up.
Rosanna was laughing and laughing as she waved the three boys who would change her life, goodbye. Jamie was stumbling about everywhere, mumbling incoherently, it was making everyone laugh their arses off as they helped him into the back seat of the taxi. Matt jumped into the front seat and then it was just Alex. He hesitated entering the car and held the door open as he looked at Rosanna one last time.
"I'll see you soon Ro!" he called out, "I promise ya!"
"Don't forget to read the dictionary tonight!" Rosanna grinned. Alex smiled that little shy smile she would grow to fall in love with and would realise that only she would ever be the one to receive.
"I won't, love," Alex chuckled.
All Rosanna could do was smile until her lips felt like they weren't going to split and waved him a drunken goodbye, almost tripping over her own feet, swaying side to side. Alex blew her a kiss goodbye and hopped into the taxi, closing the door after him. She stood there waving goodbye until the taxi had disappeared.
He did read the dictionary that night, even through his double vision, finding a list of words and their meanings to give to her the next time he saw her. And he called her the next day, having got her number through Sophie who Matt had snagged the number of. And to say their friendship was like a ball of snow rolling down a hill, growing larger and larger as it went, was an understatement.
They met up for food the following day, and by the next year were inseparable. Rosanna began to go on legs of tours with them, attend their shows, see them through all their relationships as they saw her through hers. Crying on each other's shoulders, laughing together until their stomachs ached. The slow progression of her and Alex falling for each other, their destruction and their rehabilitation. All leading to now. How long ago that night in Sheffield was now.
It almost seemed impossible, to have known someone so long, lived their life with them and been in love with them all along. But here they were, lying side by side with nothing between them. Not even the past. They'd watched each other grow up, watched each other evolve into new and better people. Into adults who shared a house. In those moments where they said their first hello and goodbye neither of them could've ever imagined landing where they were in present day. Finding solace in each other's arms, relief in the sound of the other's voice, adoration in the touch of their lips.
"I love you you know?" Alex said quietly, his once youthful face now softened with gentle creases by the corners of his eyes, only subtle enough that Rosanna could only see them when studying him up close. His once shaven face now bristled with fine facial hair that matured him significantly from the boy she first met.
Hearing him say those words was like being hit in the heart by Cupid's foul arrow. Melting her to the point where only he could reconstruct her. "I love you too," she whispered and kissed him slowly, as if it was both the first and last time. The cosmos crashing above them at their touch.
"Why did you take me back Ro?" Alex asked quietly, swallowing a lump in his throat. Every day he worried she would fall out of love with him but her next statement sent that fear into oblivion.
"There's no life without you Al," she said, "there's no love if it's not you. You ruined me in the most beautiful way possible. I took you back because I love you and can only ever possibly love you. You made a mistake and I didn't want us to spend our whole lives apart because of one fucked up moment. And we're passed that moment now. We're passed it because I love you, more than all your love songs combined; and I am yours no matter what."
"Monkeys! On stage in five!" the stage manager called out as everyone gathered back stage and in between dressing rooms. The supporting act had come off about ten minutes ago and now the stage and all its trinkets were being set up for the first of the Arctic Monkeys' London shows.
The dressing room under name 'A.T.' was occupied by two. Rosanna sitting on the vanity bench with Alex standing before her in between her legs. Her fingers roamed through his hair, styling it somewhat in its long locks. No longer the quiff she'd become an expert at.
"You gonna be in the wings?" Alex asked as Rosanna perfected his hair and removed her hands from his scalp.
"Course I will be," she smiled and straightened out his blazer, unbuttoning a few of his shirt buttons while she was at it.
"I'll be singing to ya," Alex said and placed a hand on her cheek. Only now did it dawn on them that it would be the first time she would watch him perform since that show in Canada, right before that fateful night. "Every word."
"I can't wait to see the lights," Rosanna teased, making Alex break that soft smile.
"They'll probably steal the show," Alex joked and held her hand in his other.
"It'll be just like the old days," Rosanna said, "still remember the first gig I came and watched you guys."
"We got drunk that night too," Alex pointed out.
"We often did back in the day," Rosanna said and scooted closer to him, loving the warm sensation that radiated off his chest. His scent like a lullaby, calming her whenever she needed it. "I wanna kiss you but I don't think you wanna go on stage with pink kisses all over you."
"I don't mind," Alex smiled and leaned in, pressing his lips to hers before she could object. His hand moving to her waist and hugging her tight to him. Her lips sweet like cinnamon and her touch like electricity.
"Alright horn bags, time to break it up," Matt said, standing in the doorway.
The two grinned and parted from each other. "Thank god we have you to keep us in check Matt," Rosanna smiled at him and slid off the bench. Wiping her thumb over Alex's lips to smudge out her lipstick. They followed Matt backstage and all of the boys geared themselves up to go on stage, sticking in their earpieces and shoving the little devices in their back pockets.
"Gimme a kiss for good luck," Alex smiled as the blaring sound of the red light boomed on stage. Rosanna smiled and reached up onto her toes, planting a perfect kiss on his cheek to go on stage with, promising him more when he came back.
"Go get em tiger," she said and watched as he walked up the stairs to the stage, being the last one.
"I love you," he reminded her, just as he was about to step foot on stage.
Rosanna grinned and shook her head, "get up there! I love you too."
Alex smiled as he fell in love with her all over again and disappeared on stage. Not long after, she heard his voice singing to a roaring crowd. She found herself standing in the wings, watching the boys perform from behind. Jamie the furthest away, Nick the closest, Matt asserting his dominance at the back of the stage, and Alex, her Alex, standing right in the middle. Her eyes wandered out onto the crowd. The venue was filled. Everyone was singing along. All their eyes sparkling as they looked up at the band, flashing lights illuminating their faces.
The Monkeys were no longer those boys from Sheffield she met twelve years ago. They weren't just a band, they were friends that had made themselves into something else entirely. All the flashing cameras, all the eyes, all the cheers, it was all for them. Their music. Their mark. And she'd watched it all grow. Being proud of them was an understatement.
She barely blinked watching them perform, it was like the very first time. Alex spotted her quickly and kept glancing over and smiling every now and then. "I'll sing to ya," he'd always told her. And now he was doing it again, as he did a hundred times before and would do a hundred times after. Under the twinkling lights and under the eyes of all the pretty visitors that came to wave their arms.
Her favourite tune, and the goodbye of the new album. His heart aching for her with every final word. She was his beginning and his end. His hand clamped around the loose microphone as he made his way around the stage. His voice ricocheting off each wall of the venue, all directing right back to her. A ballad for her. A performance for her. A life for her. Everything he did was for her. And so as he sang the closing stanza he found his eyes meeting hers. Arm reaching out just to grab the possibility that she was and holding onto her with everything he had. The boy who told her he wouldn't sing to her about the stars.
"Oh the dawn won't stop weighing a tonne,
I've done some things that I shouldn't have done.
But I haven't stopped loving you once..."
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒏𝒅