In My Arms: A Salex Story

Snatched!

TW: MENTION OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

The sunrise over the Nebraskan horizon awoke Alex early that morning, and he laid sleepily next to Sam, who had his arm draped loosely around the greasy black-haired singer's body. The sunlight creeping into the windows of the van gleamed against Sam as he slept, and Alex admired his physique, his muscles practically busting out of his shirt. He was starting to feel repugnantly hungover from his wild Yankee Candle mishap the night before, and winced as the headache started to set in, in addition to the overall soreness racking his body. Almost blinded by the angelic cherub-like appearance of his sleeping best friend, or should he say...lover? He nestled his face into the crevice between Sam's chest and arm, feeling the warmth radiating off of the two of them as they lay woven together on what would usually be a fairly uncomfortable surface. The solid floorboard of his van pressed against their backs, and the dusty old quilt that once provided some cushion was now cloaked over the two as if it was a veil protecting them from the outside world. Alex felt fulfilled for the first time in as long as he could remember, and in that moment it was almost like he and Sam were the only two people alive on Earth. Even if everyone else had been raptured to the heavens, Alex could care less. He would be perfectly fine if he stayed in this van for the rest of his life. As he started to drift back to sleep, there was a sudden and loud pounding on the door of the van and Alex and Sam jolted awake, terrified and confused at who could be outside this early in the morning in a motel parking lot in Omaha, Nebraska.

"Yo, what the fuck...?" Sam grumbled as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking over at Alex, who was starting to freak out. There could be a murderer or evil clown outside the door, and they were trapped inside the van with no possible weapons except their instruments. With nowhere else to turn, Alex grabbed one of Julien's drumsticks from the back as if it could offer him any protection if faced with actual danger.

Still gripping the drumstick and completely unsure of what to do, Alex got up slightly to peer through the van's window, and was hit with a wave of relief when he saw that it was just Julien standing outside the door. He slid it open and almost chuckled at how afraid he had been just moments prior. "Julien, you scared the shit out of us!" he exclaimed, putting down the drumstick and letting her into the van. She was visibly distraught, even more than she had been when punching a tree the day before.

Sitting on the floorboard, Julien was practically hyperventilating, with her head in her hands. It took her a few moments to regain her composure, and when she finally did, she sighed and looked up at Sam and Alex with tears in her eyes. "I fucked up. Big time," she stated uneasily.

Trying to offer her a degree of comfort, Sam wrapped the quilt around her, as she was shivering, more from the adrenaline than actually being cold, but the kind sentiment calmed her down. "Wait, what happened?" Alex asked, being genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of his friend. "Are you okay..? Did something happen with Lucy? Or... John?"

"NO!" she suddenly yelled, "FUCK John, this has nothing to do with him." She groaned and threw her head back exasperatedly, her tiny hands in fists. "Lucy and I snuck out last night after he fell asleep. She said she had some old friend from college who was in town at the same time we were, so we went to meet him, and.." she trailed off, trying to hold back tears. "I think he... kidnapped her...?"

"WHAT?!?" Alex and Sam shrieked in unison, their eyes wide with concern. They looked at each other for some direction of how the fuck to react to this information, their drummer's girlfriend/ex/Boygenius bandmate/whatever the hell had been taken by some mystery man in a city none of them were familiar with, and now all of them were stuck there until they found out where she was.

Trying to decipher what exactly had happened, Alex asked, "Wait, so she was just... gone? Did you see where she went? Did you see him t-take her?" he stammered, still in shock.