If These Sheets Were States

39. Call Me Foolish, I Feel Hopeless

A couple of months had passed, and Bella and Paige had settled in perfectly. They loved every second of it, and even though it got difficult with the boys being away a few nights a week, it was still the best thing ever.

Alex had come home one night, a few weeks in and surprised Bella. He walked in with a bag of Chinese food, and Zack had followed with a bag of bottles. Most of them were fizzy drinks and there was one bottle of wine. Really expensive wine at that, which she could never remember the name of. Then Alex had turned around after the food and before the alcohol, and pulled out a little box. Bella remembered how much her heart skipped just looking at it, knowing she wasn't quite ready for the question she swore he was about to ask. Although she'd expected him to be down on one knee when the day eventually came. But no, he'd sat there next to her with this little box in his hand, and he'd placed it in her hand and told her she couldn't open it yet. She remembered how he'd made her stand up and had stood behind her, with his hands clasped tightly over her eyes. And the way he had asked her a million times if she could see anything. He'd slowly walked her somewhere and she remembered that Paige and Zack had followed, as they were both just as curious. Bella remembered suddenly feeling cold and hearing doors open and shut, knowing she was outside. Her eyes had regained sight and standing in front of her was Alex, telling her to open the box. She remembered the expression on her face when she'd opened it to find a single key. A car key. And he had spun her around like a little child being given a big present, and her eyes had lit up. If they had have shone any brighter, they would have beaten every star in the sky at that moment, hands down.

"A convertible. An Audi convertible, just like you've always wanted." He had said and she'd jumped him with such glee, that she almost knocked him over. He'd spun her around and knew she would never be able to repay the favour, even though her tenant back home was paying her a hefty amount of money each month.

Everything felt so much better right now. There were no more sad moments. She felt sad when Alex had to go for a few nights, but she always had Paige. Paige was her life-saver when Alex wasn't there. She knew that this had all been planned out just perfectly.

The best thing was that All Time Low were touring soon, and both Paige and Bella had the opportunity to go on the tour with them. All they had to do was say either yes or no, and they were still deciding on what to do. But for now, everything was just fine the way it was.

Apart from the fact that Zack and Paige had gone out and Alex was in bed because he was really tired. She hated the thought of waking him up, because she didn't want him to feel all sluggish as she did right now. Maybe it was the thought of the taste of that wine, that she'd drunk the night Alex had given her a car. Bella walked over to the cupboard and searched high and low, looking for something to make herself for breakfast. She knew she had to eat but she really did not fancy anything that was in front of her. She settled for a bit of toast with some Nutella.

Bella sat down at the kitchen counter and ate her breakfast, feeling like she was forcing down every bite. Upon finishing, she decided to walk back through to the bedroom to check on Alex. He could sleep for a thousand years, she swore. She looked at his face and the way it was crushed against the pillow, the way his arms seemed to reach out for her and the way he seemed to.. moan when he touched air where she should be laying. Leaning against the door frame, Bella let herself steal this moment and took it all in. She still couldn't really get used to it. Two months and she still couldn't get used to the fact that she was living in another country, and was dating the most beautiful man on the earth.

Alex started to stir.

Bella slowly backed away from the doorway and headed for the bathroom, chuckling to herself as she stripped off her jogging bottoms, and then her vest a couple of steps later. And then another couple of steps, she let her hair down and left the hairband on the floor. She closed the door but left it open, just ajar and stepped into the shower, starting it up as the water fell onto her and the steam engulfed her body.

Alex woke up and frowned as he looked around for Bella.

"Why does that woman never sleep past a reasonable time?" He mumbled to himself as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He heard the shower running and a dirty grin plastered his face.

Getting out of bed, he stretched and yawned. This was early enough for him, he didn't do early mornings. He forced himself to make the bed up all nice and neat and walked out of the bedroom, smirking when he saw a trail leading up to the bathroom. As he got to the bathroom door, he removed his boxers, knowing that Zack and Paige wouldn't be home for a long time. Paige could shop for the Olympics.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Alex, stop it!" Bella laughed loudly, as Alex tickled her ferociously. He'd pinned her down on the couch and their game controllers had fallen to the floor. Bella had beat him in a game of 'Call of Duty' and he was getting payback. "You just can't handle the fact that I'm better than you!" She squealed as she stuck her tongue out, writhing beneath him in a bid to try and free herself from his tickling hands. "Alex, stop! It hurts to breathe!" She carried on laughing as she placed a hand on her stomach, as Alex finally got off of her.

"Okay, you win. For now. By default."

"Default of what?!"

"Being cute?"

"You absolute sap." Zack shouted as he walked in, numerous bags of shopping in his hands, followed by Paige who was carrying even more bags than him.

"I thought the man was meant to carry more than the woman?" Bella questioned, raising one eyebrow.

"Hey, these things are heavy! Have you TRIED carrying them?! I fucking weight lift and these hurt me!" Zack defended himself.

"She may look frail, but she's fucking tough as iron." Alex said matter-of-fact.

"Shut up. There is nothing fucking frail about me right now. Look at me! Bella, this is code red. I'm getting fat and I need to go to the gym. It's all this American food!" Paige said as she poked her stomach, having put the bags down. "Look! All this podge!"

"Shut up!" Bella laughed, still recovering from the tickle war. "Look, we'll get the gym sorted next month or so, alright? It'll give us something to do when the boys go on tour. For now, don't fucking worry about it!"

"I'm not.. much. Anyway, I need to show you the new outfit I bought for myself for their show tonight!"

"Oh, awesome! Let's go!" Bella hurried Paige through with the many bags of shopping.

"Wanna know what's even more awesome?" Paige asked, as she watched Zack steal Bella's seat next to Alex, picking up the controller and playing a new game.

"What?" Bella said with a genuine look of wonder.

"Ibought you an outfit for tonight." She winked. "But you can only haveit if you help me to pack all this God damn stuff away!"??