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

20. "you don't smell too fantastic, yourself."

~ ERIKA ~

"Hey, Ari, wake up," a soft voice spoke, directly in my ear. 

I opened my eyes, and sure enough I was in the hospital, with Alex still asleep in his bed. 

"Dylan?" I murmured groggily. I couldn't exactly see his face, only the color of his hair and skin. 

"No, Jack," he smiled. 

"Sorry." 

"Oh, I don't blame you. You've been out for the past 20 hours, at least. Anyway, I'm taking the next AWG." 

"AWG?" I inquired, confused. 

"Freddie made it up. It's an acronym for 'Alex-Watching Gig'."

"That's clever," I smirked. "So, what am I supposed to do?" 

"Go to Alex's place. Rian's waiting for you in the car. You guys need to get him clothes, and do not forget underwear. Hair products, too, if you can." 

Normally, I would have refused to leave Alex's side, but my presence was stopping his bandmates to be able to spend time with him, and Jack looked like he'd just been crying. "Okay, I'm on it. Text me if anything new happens." 

"Will do," he said, pulling me into a hug. "Oh, Dylan left you this." he handed me a tote bag that held what I assumed were clothes. "Oh, and you definitely could use a shower." 

I laughed. "Thanks. You don't smell too fantastic, yourself." 

With that, I walked out of the hospital to meet Rian, who was in his car. To my surprise, it was pitch black outside. 

"Hiya Ri," I greeted him. He looked unbelievably clean. "You look clean. What time is it?"

He smiled and checked his dashboard. "Precisely twelve-oh-four." 

"I'm going to be a little jetlagged from this." 

"Jetlagged from your trip to the hospital?" 

"Apparently I slept through the day..." I trailed off. 

"I don't doubt that... You and Alex must've been sleep-deprived these past few days."  

"Whatever, can we focus on getting Alex's hair products for him?" 

"Sure," he replied, and from then on, our trip was mostly silent. 

When we arrived at their house, Rian announced that he was going to take care of the hair products and clothes, and for me to take a bath because I smelled as bad as the rotten fruit he always left in his high school locker. 

I obliged, because a woman should never be told she smells bad. With the hopes that I'd be seeing Alex soon, I decided to wash my hair, too. 

After my shower, I opened the bag that Jack had handed me, and sure enough, it had an outfit. 

Not just any outfit, though. Dylan had packed me the outfit I wore the first time I met All Time Low. 

+++

~ RIAN ~

"Hey, Rian?" Erika called, the echo in her voice suggesting that she was still in the bathroom. 

"Yes?" I replied. 

"You ready?" 

"Yep, come here for a sec?" 

And she came into Alex's bedroom, looking amazing as per usual. Alex's impeccable taste in women never did falter. 

"I feel like I've seen that outfit before."