You Saved Me

Chapter 6

I'm out in the living room, looking through the photo albums the fans made the boys. Their fans are so dedicated. I hear a knock on the door. “ALEX! Someone's at the door!” I holler to Alex who was in the bathroom, doing his hair. “It's my family. Go let them in.” He hollers back. I walk to the door and open it up. I see who I assume to be his sister. I see a younger boy, looked around my age. He had a haircut like Alex's, with blonde highlights through his course brown hair. He looked pretty cute. They all step inside. I run back to my room, play around with my hair a bit then run to Lisa who was in her room. “Does Alex have any cousins or nephews?” I ask her, leaning on their doorframe. “Uh, he has a cousin. Nathan. He was supposed to come over today.” she says finishing up getting ready. “Oh. Okay.” I say and turn to go back to the living room.

I walk in to see Alex and the boy talking. “Joey! Come here. I want you to meet someone.” Alex says with his arm around the boy. I walk over to them and smile. “Joey, this is my cousin Nathan. Nathan, this is my friend Joey. She's staying here with us for a while.” He says walking us over to the couch in the living room. We sit down and Nathan and I start talking. “Um, I'm Joey. 17.” I say nervously. “Hey. I'm Nathan. I'm 16, about to be 17 in a January.” he says looking at me. “I heard you were starting at Dulaney Monday. That's awesome.” he says looking at my arms. I look down and see that I forgot my jacket. Shit. I cross my arms over my chest and he says, “Hey, it's okay. I have some too.” He says extending his arms out to show many scars. Wow.

“I can be your guide if you'd like.” Nathan says taking my hand. “I, uh, I'd like that.” I say taking my hand away from his. I smile at him and say, “I'm happy I'm here in Baltimore.” He smiles and says, “Why? What happened?” I explain about Mitchy, my brother, the kids at school, and then I go on to tell him about the guys' performance at my school. “Wow. I'm glad your here too. Cousin.” I actually am like family here. I look up to see Alex and everyone in the living room around me and Nathan. “Alright. I'd love for you all to stay, but I have some stuff I have to do. Thanks for coming everyone.” Alex says putting his arm around my shoulder. Nathan hands me this little card and says, “Text me sometime.” I smile as he gets up to leave.

After everyone is out of the house, Alex hollers for Lisa to come ist down with him and I. She comes and takes my hand. “Alright. I've been thinking all day about this. How about we change your last name to Gaskarth?” Alex says looking at me. “Y-You want me to be a Gaskarth? Like, you'll adopt me?” I say looking at him. “Yes. We can go to the state building tomorrow and get it changed. You have all the important documents like your birth certificate and shit like that, right?” I nod my head and smile. “I'd like to do that.” Alex hugs me and says, “Get used to being called Lil Gaskarth or Joey Gaskarth or Joey G.” I laugh. Lisa smiles at me and says, “You'll be our sister. Except, a little bit closer.” I smile and say, “I'm probably going to wear out these words, but thank you. Both of you. Thank you a lot.” They both hug me, and we sit and talk about the name change.