She's Thunderstorms | An Alex Turner Fanfic

Chapter 15: Hiding Tonight

                                           HIDING TONIGHT

        Arielle stood shocked in the doorway. Her mouth hung open. After a minute, she slammed our door in our faces and we could hear the click of her heels as she walked away.

        “What the fuck was that...”, Alex laughed.

        I laughed back, semi ignoring what he had said. It was quiet. I should probably be upset about all the awful things Arielle said about me but for some reason, all I could focus on the last thing Alex said. That moment was as if the world stopped. Slow motion almost. Did he actually feel something for me or did he just say that to get Arielle off his back?

        I just stood there thinking about this when Alex said, “Hey don't listen to anything she says. She's just jealous.”

        I snapped out of it, actually hearing what he said. “Jealous of what...?”, I laughed. Why would she be jealous of me? She is gorgeous, successful. Why would she be jealous of my weird, awkward self.

        “What wouldn't she be jealous of Beatrice? You're so clever, witty”, he stepped closer to me keeping eye contact, “And beautiful...”

        I for some reason stepped back and said, laughing, trying not to bring down the mood,

        “Pfffft...me? Compared to Arielle? Doubt it....”

        He shook his head, melancholy. “Beatrice...?”, he called, “I wanna show you something”

        He grabbed my hand, our fingers intertwined. This time he didn't blush or let go quickly. He just grasped it, tightly, yet gentle at the same time and looked back, crooking his mouth into a smile, a melancholy look in his eyes. I just smiled and followed him. Inside I felt like I was floating. Ya know that moment when you go off a big drop on a roller coaster? It felt like that times a million.

        Alex lead me to my bedroom and he sat on my bed and reached for his guitar which was resting on the bed. We were practicing for my meeting tomorrow before Arielle showed up. He smiled and said, “I wanna play you something...”, I can't describe the look in his eyes. It was melancholy and confused, yet happy. I sat down on the bed next to him.

        He played a few chords and his smooth, relaxing voice sang,

        “Tomorrow I'll be quicker. I'll stare into the strobe light. Flicker and afloat I'll stay. But I'm quite alright hiding today.”

        The song was so beautiful and calm. The lyrics were so poetic and well crafted. I could tell he spent so much time on it. Every lyric had a specific thought or memory behind it. I could tell it was most definitely written for someone special. I didn't know who though.

        “And I will have a game on the coconut shy. And win a prize even if it's rigged. I won't know when to stop and you can leave off my lid, and I won't even lose my fizz.”