manage me, i'm a mess // a.g

3. "watch out, pinocchio, your nose is big enough as it is."

~ ALEX ~

"Rian, you fuck!" I screamed from the shower in the apartment we were sharing. "Where did you put my conditioner?" 

We were finally home after a very busy tour, and I was enjoying it very much. 

"I didn't touch your conditioner!" he singsonged, and I sighed. 

"Okay, babe, I'll just use yours!"

After I finished showering, I left the bathroom and threw myself in my bed, turning on the TV as I did so. I surfed my way through all the channels until I found Disney Channel. 

Peter Pan - 08:00 to 10:00 pm, the screen read. I let out a nostalgic sigh. 

I wondered where Erika might be today. There was a high chance that my efforts couldn't save her. But there was a minimal, nonetheless existant, chance that she was still out there somewhere. There was a slim chance that I might have saved her life. 

Why couldn't I stop thinking about her? We'd gotten so many letters like those, but usually they were delivered by friends after the people were already, well, gone. With Erika, it was different. She came out to watch us, and she enjoyed the show - she even made out with Chad Kroeger's long lost twin, for fuck's sake. And after the show, she came out to meet us. She looked so happy, so carefree. 

But I somehow seemed to get it wrong every time. 

I opened my Treasure Chest - the old crate that I used to store important things - and looked for the one thing I had to see right now. And after a while of flicking through old letters from fans, Lisa, my parents and even Tom, I finally found it. 

I looked at the Polaroid picture and admired her ability to go cross-eyed like that. I looked at how dark her eyebrows were compared to her hair, and smiled. I knew too much about her for my own good. 

"Stop looking at it!" Rian screamed from the room next door to mine. I quickly hid the picture under my pillow, and lay down and looked at the ceiling right before Rian came in. "Hurry up and get ready, we have a party to attend to." 

"Yes sir," I said. I could never say no to a party. 

+++

~ ERIKA ~

Knock. Knock. Knock. "Come in!" I yelled, knowing who it would be. 

"How are you doing, babe?" Dylan said after he opened the door and kissed my forehead. 

"I'm great, I mean, I'm wearing scrubs, I stink like the ass of a skunk, and to top it all off, I'm basically being strangled by tubes." 

"Good thing your sense of humor's still the same," he pointed out. 

Dylan had visited me every single day since the show, and slept in the couch next to my hospital bed, too. I was so thankful for that, and so thankful that he'd saved my life. 

"Penny for your thoughts?" Dylan said in his adorable posh accent, after a long silence. 

"You're in America, love. We use dollars here." 

"And you're as sarcastic as ever," he rolled his eyes and walked over to the mini-bar, which he had stocked with beer and hard liquor. 

Did I mention that thanks to Dylan, there was a minuscule refrigerator in my hospital room? 

"I was just thinking how fucking much I owe you." 

"Once again, you owe me nothing," he said for the millionth time, taking a sip of his beer. 

"No, Dylan, you saved my life, I-" 

"Shut up and let me talk, woman," he said with a grin. "You don't have to thank me for anything, and I'm surprised it took you this long to want to talk about this, but this is what happened. 

"You know how I told you Alex was doing a Twitcam after the show, but you never replied to my texts?" I nodded, and he proceeded. "The whole motherfucking thing was about you. He was kinda like, 'I met this chick today, and she was smart, she likes Therapy and can quote Peter Pan, but she's trying to kill herself tonight, so if you know her, please try and save her.' and so I did. Did you really not wonder how the hell I figured it out, Ari? I wouldn't have if it weren't for him. So you owe your life to Alex, not me." 

"What the fuck?" I said. I couldn't think of anything else that might help me express my emotions. Dylan nodded. 

"My favorite part, though, was when he said 'She left no address in the letter she wrote me, but if she had, I would be looking for her'." 

"He didn't-" 

Knock knock. "Hello, Miss Parker," a woman in white clothes said. "I'm Stacey, your nurse." 

"Hi Stacey-my-nurse," I said nonchalantly, much to Dylan's amusement. "Can I shower soon?" 

"RIght after I explain this to you." she took a deep breath, and that was all the time I needed to zone out of reality and into my own world. 

Alex Gaskarth had made a Twitcam just so he could save me. I was shocked, to say the least. Why would he? He's famous. He abused of his fame to save a petty little ordinary girl's life. 

"Did you hear what I just said, Miss Parker?" Stacey-my-nurse asked. I nodded with a huge, fake grin, and she walked away after mumbling something about Dylan and showers. 

"Watch out, Pinocchio, your nose is big enough as it is," Dylan said. "Ready?" 

"For what?" 

"For your shower, idiot," he shook his head. "She just said I was supposed to stay outside and help you with anything you needed." 

"You can start by untangling me, thanks," I said. I hated those tubes. 

"Your wish is my command," he said with a sarcastic bow. 

After my shower, I didn't feel gross, for the first time in almost a week. I didn't quite understand why hospitals had to wait this long for a patient to be able to shower, but even so, it was none of my business anymore. I was clean. 

"Undergarments, please," I said to Dylan, who was on the other side of the bathroom door, waiting for me to be done. He threw me my bra and undies, and I slipped into them. I then walked out of the shower, not caring if Dylan saw me or not, and picked up my change of clothes that he had brought from my house. 

The two of us then sat down in my bed and he flicked through the channels on TV. 

At one stage, he stopped at a very familiar line spoken by a very familiar voice. "Well, get on with it, girl." 

"My name is Wendy. Wendy Moira Angela Darling." 

"I have to find Alex," I said to nobody in particular. "I have to find him and thank him for what he's done for me."