In Denial | Alex Turner

XVI

This is very bad.

"Makayla?" I could hear Alex yell-whisper after he opened the door.

I panicked, looking around at my surrondings for a place to hide. The door was shut but not locked. I shuffled through everything in the drawers of the nightstands. Hell, I even found fucking condoms, but the key was nowhere to be found.

"Who's in there with you? Whose is this coat here, Alex?" she was practically yelling by now. Her annoying high-pitched voice echoing through the flat.

My eyes fell on a silver key being pushed inside the room by the bottom opening of the door. I mentally thanked Alex, grabbing the key and then locking the room quietly.

"No one was 'ere, May," he sighed. "What d'yer even want 'ere? We ended it."

I knew it was wrong for me to eavesdrop, but there wasn't much of a choice. Makayla was yelling and Alex was trying to calm her down from just outside the door of the room.

"You ended it, Alex!" she emphasized on the 'you'. I could imagine her pointing her red acrylic nail at him and her eyes widening.

"Still, that's not a reason for yer to be 'ere on a Saturday morning, waking everyone in the building up!" he slightly raised his voice.

"Tell me who is in that room, Alex!" she demanded. I could hear footsteps coming my way but I stayed silent with a hand over mouth, trying to keep myself from making any sort of noise. 

"No one is in the room!" he replied defensively.

"Then why is it fucking locked?" her shouting could break glass. The door handle turned and Makayla tried opening the door to prove her point.

"Please, get out of me house before I need to call the police, Makayla," he replied seriously. I widened my eyes.

"Alex, I swear-"

"I'm dialing the number!" I could imagine him raising the phone up to her face, showing her he wasn't kidding.

And with a scoff, I heard Makayla storm off the flat, shutting the door behind her furiously. A wave of relief washed over me and I placed my hand on my chest, falling back on the bed. I tried steading my breathing and closed my eyes.

It wasn't like something had happened between Alex and I, but if Makayla saw me in his bed with his clothes, she'd get the wrong idea. To be honest, anyone would get the wrong idea.

A soft knock on the door and a laugh made me sit up. I took the key and unlocked the white door, revealing a freshly-woken Alex on the other side, leaning forward with his hand placed on the top of the doorframe.

"What a nice way to wake up, isn't it?" I joked as I felt his warm breath close to my face.

"If I were you, I would 'ave already quit me job," he laughed, shaking his head as he walked past me and fell on the bed.

I nodded with a smile as I watched him cuddle with the soft bedsheets. His product-free hair was all over the white pillow and his face was buried in it.

"Breakfast?" I asked after watching him cuddle for a while.

"Please!" he cried out like a little child and shot up from his seat.

-

Sent by Jamie to Me at 12:34pm:
Did you get home safe last night? You weren't there when I woke up.

Sent by Me to Jamie at 12:35pm:
Yes, stayed at Alex's.

Sent by Jamie to Me at 12:35pm:
Alex's?
Is there anything we're not aware of, Mon? ;)

Sent by Me to Jamie at 12:36pm:
Oh, fuck off.
We just came back to his, had a few and then I couldn't drive.

That was completely believable, Monica, congrats.

Sent by Jamie to Me at 12:36pm:
Yeah, sure, whatever.
Up for some lunch? Matt is cooking and told me to invite people.

Sent by Me to Jamie at 12:37pm:
If there's free food, always count me in.

Sent by Jamie to Me at 12:37pm:
Great. See you at Matt's in an hour. Bring Alex.

I was still at Alex's, sitting on his settee with a mug of coffee in my hands. Alex was sitting on the other edge of the settee with his acoustic guitar in his hands. He was picking random strings and strumming random chords. His hair was messy and fell in front of his face. The sun was able to squeeze through his big window and hit his face gently, but he didn't seem to really mind.

I realised I had been staring and looked back at my phone before pushing a strand of hair out of my face and placing it behind my ear.

"Jamie invited us at Matt's for lunch in an hour," I eventually looked up from my phone.

He looked up from his guitar with his big brown eyes. "I'll go get ready then," he placed the guitar on the floor and rose from his seat.

"Wait, can I play a little?" I turned my phone off and placed it on the wooden coffee table. He looked at me with furrowed eyebrows and nodded.

"Yer don't 'ave to ask, love," he smiled and left for his room.

I grabbed the guitar and sat up straight on my seat, placing it on my thigh and hugging it over with my right hand. I placed my left hand on the neck of the brown instrument and started picking random strings, while pressing on random frets. 

I was just messing around and picking random strings and Alex came rushing from inside, wearing just his jeans. His bare chest took me aback but I didn't say anything. He was holding a paper and a pencil. He hit the paper on the coffee table and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Can you play that again?" he asked with his big eyes.

"I- Sure?" I replied hesitantly before looking back down on the guitar strings, trying to remember what I played.

I started playing what I had come up with and realised why Alex came rushing from inside. I explained to him how I played it and he wrote it down in a hurry. I was happy he liked what I played.