21. Local News

Chapter 21 – Local News               

   The awful crank in my neck and the beating of the sun in my eyes had woken me up. I fluttered my eyes open to only find myself on the couch. The couch alone was uncomfortable but my position had made everything worse. But the one pleasant thing was Alex, who was laying down right next to my legs that were stretched down the length of the couch.

   His mouth was once again slightly opened, and his eyes were peacefully closed. The soft snoring coming out of his plump pink lips was unbearably cute, and it left me to take in this moment.

   Despite being unpleasantly hot due to the heavy blanket wrapped around me along with Alex being amazingly close and having one of his arms wrapped around my legs together, I enjoyed this. I giggled a tad from the sight of it. He looked so innocent and peaceful in the state of sleeping. His cheeks were heated with the shade of red and his tousled brown hair was thrown everywhere on his face, some pieces sticking upward, downward, or just simply forward.

   The day had to be still early. Just by how the bright orange sun rays sneaking through the blinds of the dusty window was making me guess it had to be around seven a.m. This wasn’t my usual time I wake up on the weekends, but it was probably best if I got back home, and face the mess after Derek’s party.

    Although I didn’t want to leave at all, and just wanted to be with Alex, I knew Derek would surely flip at any time I come home. But it wasn’t like he could say anything; he threw a party did he not?

   Sighing heavily, my hands crept up to Alex’s messy hair, and gently messed with it, twirling it between my fingers. Alex seemed unfazed from my action upon his hair, still sleeping as ever. I laid myself further down, staring at celling fan go round and around. The squeaking from it, of course, was still there.

   I’m startled when Alex stirred a little, causing me to stop the twirling action on his hair. There was a slim groan released from him. His body shifted even more as I stared at the boy who was untangling himself.

   Finally, his eyes quiver a little, and then opened to find me staring right back at him. His lips shifted into a delightful smile. "Good morning, Tinkerbell."

   "Tinkerbell?" I raised my eyebrow, confused why he bothered with the nickname that he usually called me when my face was flushed just like Tinkerbell whenever her face was within the shade of red.

   "Hmmm." He hummed sweetly, scooting closer to me.

   His lips somehow found their way onto mine, warnings went through my head when the thought of having morning breath. But I simply pushed the dreadful thought away as he deepened the kiss. My hips gained pressure from his sneaky hands, gripping them lightly. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, taking in his hair between my fingers.

    When he pulled away, the sense of wanting more came in. “Sleep well?” He chuckled a little, clearly already knowing how awful I slept.

   “Good although the knot in my neck says otherwise.” I cheekily said, then deeply exhaling as I rubbed the back of my neck.

   After a few minutes of nothing but a blissful silence between us, Alex had spoken once again.

  “I would ask if you want to go out for breakfast but we do that every Sunday.” His thick raspy morning voice kicked in and merely made me melt. “Stay with me for the day?” He pouted his lips playfully.

   “I don’t know,” I hesitated, Derek was surely wondering where I was at. Although he probably has a hangover, he’s most likely up and getting the house cleaned. All I wanted was to stay with Alex for the day, and I truly wished I could.

   “Please, it will be fun!” He coaxed me even more. “And we can drop off your brother’s car and you can sneak back to that local store and we’ll go off and do whatever.”

   “And what excuse shall I use to be out of the house, Alex?” I have to admit that it was somewhat irritating that I have to come up so many lies to get out of the house. Sure, it wasn’t Alex that I should blame this on but I was getting fed up with all the lying. It made me reasonably sad that Alex and my father and Derek will most likely never have a good relation together. They hardly even met him, just the small encounter of my Dad’s fist about to pound into Alex’s face.

   “Say it’s none of their business.” He finally replied to me, sealing the sentence with a wink towards my way.

   “Ah, yes, like it’s that easy.” I rolled my eyes, his plans that he thinks will work get ridiculous. Oh how I wonder what’s going on in that head of his.

   Alex laid his head down on my stomach while his hands were still innocently on my hips. It was odd how quite okay I was with this, and by this, I mean the whole I’m-in-a-boy’s-apartment-holy-smokes. But that’s the thing of what was between Alex and I. The days sending letters to each other during school, to the Sunday breakfasts, or hanging around his apartment doing absolutely nothing besides listening to music, it was all comfortable.

   I’ve learned so much about Alex through these past months, for example, what’s his favorite color. Sure that may not be much, but it’s something, or how he liked certain things to be, even his favorite dishes to different entrees. Let's not forget about the fact I could name his top ten favorite bands.

   Speaking of bands, the flashback of yesterday came into play through my mind. I still felt guilty for the sudden up and go thing I did. But yesterday left a few questions lingering in my head, which were begging to get answers.

   "Alex?" I weakly said. "Does your band have a CD out or something?" It was one of the more simple questions that I had in mind, and it will do for now.

    "We have an EP and a CD out, the CD although was released earlier this year in July." He informed me, not bothering to open his eyes out of serenity. "The Party Scene is what the album is called."

"The Party Scene? Huh, and what about the EP?" I chuckled a little.

“The Three Words to Remember in Dealing with the End.”

   “That’s one big title for just an EP. Hmmm I smell some Fall out Boy wannabes.” I teased him, referring to the fact Fall out Boy did have some ridiculously long titles. “What’s the three words to remember anyhow?”

   “‘All Time Low’ and ‘I love you’.” He told me. I had finally realized that that’s what his band was named. “Besides, Panic At The Disco has more longer titles anyhow.”

“Panic at the who?” I frowned. I felt a little dumb not knowing the band.

   His eyes shot opened. “Seriously?” He exclaimed. “You don’t know the band? There recent album they released in September has gone crazy, you know, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out?”

   The more he explained, the more the name became similar. But I still had that one more question and could care less about this Panic At The Disco band, although watch me look them up on MTV.com later on.

   “What was that one song that you guys didn’t play last night?” I knew the song’s title but it was easier to play dumb at this moment.

   He deeply sighed while he stared into his hands. In which a sign that I knew was what he did when he didn’t want to make eye contact with me. “Lullabies.” He grimly stated.

   “There’s something between you and that song, isn’t there?” My accuse didn’t even need to be verified by him, it was crystal clear that Alex had something against playing that song during practice, or maybe when it was just when I was around.

   With no warning, Alex got up from our comfortable spot on the couch and walked into his bedroom. I felt my blood run cold, not just from the sudden missing warmth from Alex, but the fact I didn’t know what he could possibly be doing.

   I stared at the door frame until luckily, and to my relief, he came back out with a beautiful acoustic guitar in his hand. He sat back down crisscrossed in front of me. He cleared his throat a little, tuning the instrument a tad. His rather long fingers found the right place on the stings. He looked concentrated as his eyes focused to the guitar.

With another clearing of his throat, he had begun strumming.

“Make it a sweet, sweet goodbye

It could be for the last time and it's not right.

"Don't let yourself get in over your head, " he said.

Alone and far from home I'll find you...”

    My heart froze from the lyrics he had sung, and my eyes merely bulge out of their eye sockets.

Those lyrics…‘Don't let yourself get in over your head’

   Alex had said those same exact words to me on the night I had ran all the way over here when I read his journal entry after having another night mare. This one sneaky son of a bastard…

    But my mind quickly fixated to the lyrics Alex sung. His raspy and harsh morning voice was at his rawest and it made me fall in love. Fall in love… I thought. Oh god. I mentally sighed as I stared at Alex with heart eyes.

“Sing me to sleep, I'll see you in my dreams,

Waiting to say, "I miss you. I'm so sorry." ”

   The terribly sad lyrics started to ring through my mind and ears, trying to think of what Alex could have had written this song about. But it all led to one thing – The baby he had lost.

   His eyes screwed shut as he sung with deep passion and devotion. Almost as if every word that he was spitting out of his mouth was a painful memory to swallow.

   The song took a twist and I now have to question what this song is really about.

“I could have learned so much from you but what's left now?

Don't you realize you shot this family a world of pain?”

   The beautiful song started to come to the end, finishing with the last bit of it, he sung,

“I'll see you in my dreams,

Waiting to say, "I miss you. I'm so sorry."

I'm sorry, I'm sorry,”

   His hands loosely let go of their tight grip with a solemn sigh. I loved the fact he looked like he was now in a different world rather than being here, on the couch, next to me. I had many mixed emotions stirring in me, and one of them was the same solemn sadness vibe that looked like Alex had as well.

   A strong part of me was pleading for me to not ask another question, but I pushed through it with the desire and curiosity that will be the death of me. “That’s, um,” I hesitated. The attention of his eyes finally met mine. “about, the baby isn’t it?” I narrowed my eyes a little, just trying to get a full grip of understanding.

   “Somewhat, and it’s about another person,” He bit his lip a little, looking around the living, trying to avoid eye contact once again. But his body language was telling me that he didn’t want to talk about that other person.

    I was itching to know the full explanation, but I had to respect Alex’s unspoken wishes and hope that one day he’ll be able to tell me. I guess it shall only be a matter of time.

    “Your voice though,” I tried to lighten up to mood. His head perked up a little along with his hunched shoulders. “it’s very beautiful.”  The compliment sent a bright smile to his face.

     “Beautiful? Thank you for the feminine compliment.” He said, retorting playfully.

   “Beautiful happens to be gender neutral but if it makes you feel any better, your voice happens to be beautiful AND handsome.” I said, good-humoredly, although it was all very true. His voice was amazingly indescribable.

   “Hmmm,” He hummed, getting up, he walked to the kitchen.

      I watched him from where I sat. Pouring coffee into his mug, he chuckled before taking a sip.

      “What are you laughing about?” I eyed him suspiciously.

   He laughed a little more, “One of our very first hang outs happened to be at a coffee shop and you don’t even like coffee, and let’s not forget you had black coffee during the first of our Sunday morning ritual.”

   “If it makes you feel any better, I like the smell of it.” I joked, getting up. I walked over to the kitchen to be closer to him.

  His arms snaked around my waist when he placed his cup on the counter. The tightness of his hold caused our bodies to collide, molding perfectly together. My hands found their way to the back of his neck and wasted no time with fiddling with the end of his morning messy hair. His breath tickled down my neck before his lips found their way to my throat. The feeling of them had my body tingling in a warm sensation, all while he placed wet kisses down on my skin.

   “You are absolutely gorgeous, Laila Rose.” His thick morning voice nearly made my legs buckle from hearing him speak into my ear.

    My lips smashed onto his, running my hands down his back. Tugging on his pants to get him closer than ever before, I barely knew what I was doing but I knew he must be enjoying it. His tongue found his way into my mouth, controlling all dominance. The heat between us grew as my back hit the counter behind me.

   His rather large hands had picked me up by my hips and put me on the counter unexpectedly. It all caused me to squeal a little. The embarrassment ran through me and made me pull away from Alex who stood in between my legs.

   I covered my face with my hands, in which was most likely flushed with the shade of red.

    Alex’s hands remained on my thighs, and his face stooped lower to mine. “God, you’re so cute.” He said with a small distinct smile.

  “I’m no good at this.” I heavily sighed.

   It was true despite I thought I might be doing this right somehow. With all honestly, I don’t know how I even got Alex, nonetheless to be even my freaking boyfriend. There were so many girls throwing their selves at him during school, even though the word got out about Alex and I’s relationship. I’m still baffled that Alex would even talk to me nonetheless hang out with me in general. He was cool and I am just, me. Alex had his own style, and actually happened to listen to the bands he wore. And he wasn’t those type of kids at school who tried hard either, he wasn’t a jock or in the ‘popular’ crowd, but everyone seemed to like him in some ways even though he was new this year, and not including Caleb and his small posse.

   “Don’t say that,” He said, pulling my hands away from my face, and snapping me out of my thoughts. I paid attention to his roaming eyes that went to looking at my lips then back to my eyes. His fire like touch went back on my thigh, nearly making me melt, and he hadn’t even slightly moved them up them – it frighten me to not know how my body might react if he did.

Frighten.

   Alex happened to scare me, and terrified me in a good way. I’m now so emotionally invested into this relationship of ours, and to know that this human that stood before me was capable of getting me this invested, is a valid reason to be afraid of the unknown.

   “Stay with me today, please?” His swollen lips pouted a little.

   I sighed, I couldn’t say no to his cute face. But yet my heart was telling me yes and my troubled mind was screaming no.

  “Okay,” I gave in, just like that. “Let me drop off Derek’s car and change, alright?”

   His smile transformed into an ear-to-ear one, making the intimate event turn into a bright happy moment.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

   Afterwards, I drove back home. Nervous to see what the outcome of Derek’s party was, I went rather a little fast. Usually, when my father had an unexpected office call during the night, he tends to get a hotel room just so he doesn’t have to drive all the way back afterwards during the night.

   I pulled up to the house. Everything looked pretty clean on the outside. But once I walked in, it was a different story. I spotted Derek frantically moving around with a trash bag in his hand picking up plastic cups. There were paper plates, pizza boxes, and trash thrown around. Luckily, nothing appeared to be broken.

   “Dad’s going to be home less than an hour, can you please help me!” He begged, looking mighty desperate. He was too distracted to even ask me where I’ve been.

    I couldn’t say no to him  despite the fact Alex and I will be meeting up with each other to spend the full day together less than thirty minutes.

“Fine.” I sighed, giving in.

    For the next fifteen minutes, I helped picking up whatever could be found while Derek got rid of the evidence of all the alcohol.

   I was relieved to see my room untouched, although it was still messy as how I left it. For the rest of the time I had to get ready, I did the necessary things as in taking a quick shower, brushing my hair and teeth, and all the wonderful things of being a girl – note the sarcasm on wonderful.

   I blasted the CD Alex given me, the CD that was labeled ‘Songs about Laila Rose, For Laila Rose’, while getting dressed.

   I haven’t been able to truly listen to the CD until now, although Alex had supplied me a track list of what the CD contained of.

01 – Say It Ain’t So by Weezer

02 – Wonderwall by Oasis

03 – I’ll Be by Edwin Mccain

04 – Hanging by the Moment by Lifehouse

05 – How’s It Going To Be by Third Eye Blind

06 – She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5

07 – Name by The Goo Goo Dolls

08 – Creep by Radiohead

09 – Mr. Jones by Counting Crows

10 – I Miss You by Blink 182

11 – Yellow by Coldplay

12 – You’re Beautiful by James Blunt

   After I got dressed into a pair of jeans and a random t-shirt, I put on my converse and braided a single piece of my hair and bobby pinned it to the back of my head.

   I stared at myself in the mirror for the longest time it felt like, was this good enough? I shook my head and quickly changed into a grey Nirvana t-shirt and threw on a blue flannel with a jacket to protect me from the horrendous freezing weather.

   Running down stairs, I was able to sneak out without being notice – Dad had already came home and threw myself back into his study to write, Derek was eating in the kitchen.

   The guiltiness of lying and sneaking around had come to my mind once again, and it has been for a while now. But there wasn’t much I could do about it, besides either kicking Alex to the curb, and that won’t be an option. Perhaps if I actually told the truth to Derek and Dad…I laughed a little out loud from the thought.

   “Yeah right.” I said out in the open of the chilled morning, walking down the familiar street once again to the local store.

   Once I got to the destination, I checked the time. Surprisingly, I had five minutes to spare of the said time Alex would pick me up.

   My mind couldn’t stop thinking out what we possibly might do, but I was beyond excited. Despite the bubbly feeling rising in me, I still had the terrible feeling of anxiety and the anxious feeling of wow, I’m spending time with Alex.

   Again with the whole I have no idea how I got Alex thing, and sure he was my boyfriend, and we’ve hung out plenty amount of times, but I still could not get over the fact that I had him in my life.

   Thinking of Alex, he had finally pulled up. And for the rest of the car ride, it was absolute serenity silence as he held my hand. Seems like these days he only needs one hand to drive when I’m in the passenger seat.

   “I’m going to be completely honest with you, Laila.” Alex sighed depressingly once he parked his car outside of the apartment complex. His sudden seriously caught my attention with extreme alert. “I legitimately have nothing planned today.” He laughed a little at the end of his sentence – a good sign that he was joking with his seriousness at the beginning.

   “You’re an idiot.” I snorted, playfully. “Maybe we can be spontaneous today or a whim type of thing that you see in the movies. Or maybe just sit around all day watching re-runs and just stuff our faces with food.” I cheekily said, with my eyebrows raised and a smirk held on my lips.

   “God, you are surely one of a kind.” He said it so casually under his breath, pulling out the keys to the ignition.

    An hour later, we were nonchalantly lying around in his bedroom, him on the floor, while I dumped myself on his bed. The stereo played some type of indie band that I wasn’t into, but of course, Alex seemed to enjoy it.

   After four songs passed, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Can you change the album?” I asked, not bothering to even look at him, my eyes were still glued to the ceiling, since Alex and I couldn’t figure out what to do with ourselves.

   A long and burden sigh that escaped from his lips was not promising, but nonetheless, he changed it. “Just for you, Laila Rose.”

  “What’s this CD?” I curiously asked.

   “Another mixed tape.” I could hear him shuffling back onto the floor.

  “Let me guess, is this one named when-I’m-doing-absolutely-nothing-with-a-girl.” I teased him.

   “Surprisingly, no. It’s a For-When-Laila-Rose-Is-Around-Me-Doing-Absolutely-Nothing type of CD, Laila Rose.” His accent came through thick as he spoke. “How could you be so dumb?!” His tone changed into a dramatic high pitch school girl.

   It brought a wide smile to my face along with an easy going laugh. I couldn’t get enough of this moment. Okay yeah, lazily doing nothing might not sound too pleasing but with Alex, everything was undeniably fun. It was in his nature it seemed like. After all, he does happen to be a Sagittarius. 

   Later on, Alex and I made sandwiches, and I found out Alex likes turkey just like me, although he likes to have tomato, lettuce, mayo, and pickles on his sandwich, rather than me who is content with a simple sandwich of cheese and lettuce with deli meat.

  We ended up somehow making a fort – kidish but enjoyable. It was built with the four cushions from Alex’s small couch, along with a mountain of blankets and the pillows off of Alex’s bed.

  The stereo was blasting from a local Rock station, which mixed with Punk Rock. 

   When I lazily looked over to Alex who sat next to me on the floor of our little fort, he had a bright broad smile, and when he tried to stop smiling, he couldn’t. The smile on his face seemed to never go away while he tried to thin out his lips, but clearly it wasn’t working for him. The apple of his rosy cheeks showed greatly with his eyes closing after a tiny laugh escaped from his lips. He glowed a little as he did so, revealing his perfect teeth. His infamous dimples appeared along with forming those two lines around his lips – wrinkles if you will.

    It all put a smile on my face to see him like this. He certainly knew how to make me happy without even trying hard, and made anything to be exciting to do. I’d be more than happy to be around him even if he might be doing laundry, or cleaning, because I know for a fact he could put a smile on my face and brighten up my day. So easy and simple, just like that. And that’s what it was like to be around him, without the worrying thought of my brother and dad, or Caleb, and the fact Alex did indeed had an affair with a married woman.

   Just thinking about it reminded me how twisted things were for us, but that’s solely just us and we made things work despite our situation that could possibly be made into a book. Even though this was reality, the idea of how this could be made into a book made me giggle.

   “What are you giggling about now?” Alex looked over at me in the corner of his eye.

   “Us.” I bluntly said, taking his hand into my mine – being bold. 

   He didn’t say anything afterwards although he kissed my temple.

  So here we sat in our makeshift fort, smiling like fools, holding hands, listening to a crappy Rock station, and falling in love without realizing it.

   Falling in love…that’s what it was. Something that I once saw my parents fall out of, was it even possible to fall out of love? I always thought you fall in it and never go back. Perhaps real love is falling in it, and if you fall out of it, then it was never real love.

But what makes love, love?

    How could I title myself in love when I don’t know what exactly love was? Was it the affection? Maybe the happiness? The constant take over that one person has on the mind?

   Even though the questions buried my mind, I knew one thing during this moment. It was undeniable with the euphoria that filled within my veins and my captivated heart had finally realized.

   I was in love with Alexander Gaskarth. A heart throb rockery band singer who had taken my heart without even noticing, and I hadn’t realized that I was in love this whole time up until now. I could no longer deny the butterflies and dodge the word ‘love’ because it was here, all inside of me.

   Alex didn’t have to call me bluff. I called bluff on myself.

   For the first time in my life…true love.

    Although it felt right in my heart, the words were still trying to settle in with my mind and there was no possible way I could tell them to Alex himself right now, much less I could hardly bring myself to say the words in my head.

  “Did you do your history homework?” Alex voice snapped me out from my sappy dangerous thoughts.

   I shook my head with a heavy sigh following afterwards. Something tells me he’s going to ask to see it, only because he never asked me before if I finished my homework. “When do I not have my homework finish?” It was true, I always got it done the minute I could.

  “Mind if you share?” I could tell he really didn’t want to ask, just by how his brown eyes narrowed and how he bit down on his lip hard.

   Truthfully, I didn’t mind. “Are you dating me just to get my homework, Alexander?” I teased him, gently pushing him a little with my shoulder. “But of course.”

  “If I only wanted your homework, we wouldn’t be here doing this random shit.” He wavered his hand, referring to the fort, and everything else that was included. “Honestly, I don’t think we’d even last this long if I just wanted your homework.”

   His words had caught my attention – most of the time they did. He didn’t have to say no more for me to smash my lips onto his.

   The way his body reacted was obvious he didn’t see it coming, but shortly, his muscles relaxed under my touch and synced his lips to mine.

   Scooting closer to him, my body felt like it was on fire from the warmth of his kiss. His hands found their way to my lower back as I pushed myself on top of him, which he had laid his back on the floor. Every beat of my heart was longing to be more touched by him, and everywhere possible. Every single feeling that I felt in this moment, was without a doubt, and indeed, all because of Alex.

   While the kiss grew deeper out of desperation and pure lust, I still wanted more, but too unexperienced to try anything and having to be sometimes awkward would take place if I made anything of a little attempt.

   Suddenly, there was something intensely growing near my thigh, rubbing a little as well. “Mmm, God, Laila.” Alex moaned against my lips. “We need to stop, dammit.” He pulled his lips further away from mine.

  Of course, me being me, I felt a sense of disappointment and heavyhearted.

  Damn, I had it bad…

   “No, no, Angel, not like that.” He whispered, pushing a strand of my hair behind my hair. He must have noticed the sudden change of my emotions. “I just don’t want to do anything that you’ll regret.” He informed me.

   I awkwardly got off of his hips, moving to the side of him. He was too good to be true, and it was vibrant to see that he was being careful and not being selfish and using me for his own needs. This had only made my recent confession of my love of him to myself grow even further, and it was at a rapid pace.

   “C’mon, let’s go out and get some dinner.” Alex had taken this time to steer away from this topic, and oh how I was thankful.

   We ended up at a burger joint, and he ordered two classic burgers for him and me and a tray of steak fries. It was all yummy and mouthwatering, and I was glad it kept us occupied, because more and more, I felt guilty that Alex and I never have conversations out in public like this. But it was what it was.

   My confidence when I was with Alex was doubling the more we hung out I noticed while we were driving back to his apartment when I slipped my hand into his.

   He squeezed my hand a tad, before pulling away once we arrived to his apartment complex.

   When I reached out my phone, I was a relief to see no miss calls or text messages – a sign that neither Derek nor dad have noticed my absence.  My heart leaped from the sight of my medication bottle in my bag that I took with me, should I take my medicine?

   Alex looked and was pretty upset the last time I did…The strong debate in my head was unbearable to take. And the memory of Alex accusing me of having an Impulsive disorder infuriated me.

   I zipped my bag closed, leaving my medication in the dust of it. I walked over to Alex whom was casually sitting on the couch, flipping through channels on the television.

   Snuggling close to him, I tried to take the remote from him.

   “Uh-uh.” He shook his head with a mocking laugh.

   “Put Zoey 101 on and nobody will get hurt.” I playfully threatened up with a hint of seriousness.

  “What?” No way,” His stubbornness kicked in.

“Yes.” I argued with him, already knowing he’d put some dumb tv show like Ed, Edd, N Eddy.

   But of course, our bickering had led to one conclusion, and it was all Alex’s idea.  “Fine, we can just watch the local news.” He settled with.

   I gave him the are-you-kidding-me-look but that didn’t faze him at all, not one bit. But I went with it.

  The anchor talked about a few boring things, not really paying attention.

  That was until the unthinkable happened. Something so farfetched and absurd, causing my heart to leap and pound against my chest.

   To the side on the screen was an image of Kenzie, it was plastered on there with ‘Kenzie Grey’ on the bottom of her school photo. The same photo that was once all over news stations – her blonde shoulder length hair, and the brightest smile known to mankind, she was absolutely beautiful, making me jealous once a long time ago.

  Every bone in me ached as the anchor spoke.

   “It’s been nearly eleven years since the devastating lost,” They began to show photos of all the teddy bears, flowers, letters that were placed outside of my home the day after her death. I take notice of the anchors voice that held great sorrow. “and the uprising mystery of who killed the late sophomore student. It’s still to this day no one knows of who could have done this terrible crime. But now, the case seems to have reopened, and a new suspect has been found.”

   “Laila, what the –” Alex stopped midway of his sentence, completely shocked and confused, merely speechless as I was.

  They showed the suspect but my eyes drowned out every word that was being broadcasted.

  “Is that your sister, since when, wait what?” I heard Alex say, but there was no way I could response to him nor have the time to explain it all. In the corner of my eye I see his jaw is completely dropped.

   “I need to ge-get home!” I stammered, moving off the couch quickly to retrieve my shoes. I needed to get home, I was needed at home. I oh so wished this was all a dream, but it wasn’t, this was my reality. And the fact that Kenzie was brought up on the news, must mean that it was probably going to be all over the nation – just like it was ten years ago, and on the brick of being eleven. And what were the chances of Alex seeing it?

    But it didn’t matter anyways, idiots at school will be talking about Kenzie and my family by Monday and it would surely would get to Alex even if he did or not seen it on the news.

   Alex didn’t question any further, and grabbed his keys and shoes, turning off the apartment lights.

    I ran down to the elevator with Alex behind me, shouting for me to slow down. How could he tell me that? To tell me to slow down when clearly this was urgent and it was noticeable this was a big deal and that I was freaking out.

   Once we were in the lobby that felt like it was spinning, my legs wasted no time with running to his car outside, and Alex struggled to keep up.

   “Go fucking fast.” I growled when we pulled out of the parking lot. Alex did what he was told, probably because of the demanding tone of mine and urgency, something he never heard come out of my mouth.

    The heat of my blood surged through me and my heavy beating heart ringed through my ears, blocking just about every noise around me. My hands clenched out of being utterly nervous. Had Derek and Dad seen the news yet? Do they know about the suspect? Oh how my heart ached with every bone within me, poor Kenzie, oh sweet, sweet Kenzie.

    The tears began with over thinking powerful thoughts racing in my mind, making it feel like my head was spinning.

   What felt like forever despite Alex ridiculous speed, we finally arrived.

     I slammed the car door behind me and ran straight inside, searching for my family that I needed to be with.

   “Derek?” I sobbed a little while I screamed out his name. The echo of my voice went through the house but didn’t receive a response.

   “Daddy?” Of course, I used my six year old name for him; after all, I was in a desperate time of need to see him.

    My legs carried me throughout the house. No one in the kitchen, garage, dining, master, the study, but what made me cry even worse than before was when I step foot into the living room, making me slow down my steps.

    The television was on the same local news station that Alex and I were watching just five minutes ago. “Daddy…” My voice was strained, and my cheeks were coated with my tears.

     My heart couldn’t take it any more of watching the screen. I had to move on to the next room.

    It all left me to racing up the wooden stairs, never have I ran up these stairs so fast out of my whole eighteen years of living.

    Charging into my bedroom, I’m shocked at what I saw. With so many emotions building in me – betrayal, sadness, shaken, and completely confused. All at the scene of my brother and dad scrambling through papers and papers I’ve written, making my room look messier than ever.

   The only thing my body would let me get out of my mouth was one sentence.

“What the hell!?” I screamed, my hands foiling into fists, and my face redden with pure anger.

__________

a.n

Soooo, I've made an 8tracks playlist based off the mix CD that Alex given Laila, it's called 'Songs about Laila Rose, For Laila Rose' on 8tracks. Listen to it because we all know you got those Lailex feels.

The Link - http://8tracks.com/longlivekc/songs-about-laila-rose-for-laila-rose

My username - Longlivekc

Also! I've made an instagram where I'll keep you updated on writing and etc. @ writer.kc !

Big news, The Remembering just might indeed be translated into Spanish, which is exciting.

Okay, I'll stop rambling...but PLEASE VOTE! It helps out so much :)

Chapter dedication; Basedzayn :)

-Kc August 11, 2014