Cognizant (Adopted By Alex Gaskarth: Book 2)✅

Chapter 11

I felt a finger jab me gently. I turned to see Jack poking my arm. "Go eat food," he commanded almost playfully. 

"No," I mimicked his tone and stuck my tongue out at him. "I ate earlier, I'm not hungry." 

"Well go get more food," he pointed to the food at the front of the room. 

"I told you, I ate earlier." 

"Bullshit," Alex came up from behind me, "No, you didn't, I didn't even see you eat lunch today." 

"I was at school for half the day!" 

"But don't you have lunch at twelve-thirty? I picked you up at noon for your appointment! And just because you ate lunch, it doesn't mean you can skip eating now." 

I sighed. "Fine." I began to stand to go get food, letting Alex hug me as I passed by him. I retrieved a small salad from the front of the room and went back to sit with Jack, where Vic had joined in. I sat where I had before next to Jack at the table, joining the small group of eating musicians. 

"Hey," Vic greeted me as I sat down. "How've you been doing?" 

"Good," I replied softly. 

.

"Hey," Alex sat next to me at the bar as I talked to Kellin. "You doing okay?" 

I nodded. I played with a short loose string on my sleeve as Kellin went to help Katelynne. I heard Alex order something, and then he passed a glass to me. It was filled with some type of white champagne. I looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression. 

"You can drink some alcohol, and I don't care. but only if you promise me you won't drink enough to get actually drunk and nothing too strong." He brought his own glass up to his mouth and watched me. 

I smiled at him. "Okay. I promise."

Alex nodded. "Thank you." 

"Thanks," I responded softly, returning Alex's hug as he embraced me.

.

I began getting slightly claustrophobic as the building was still filled with people, and began slowly making my way from the group of people I talked to, heading towards the door. I knocked into Zack on my way. "Hey, you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to get away from all the people for a couple minutes, I'm getting kinda claustrophobic," I admitted.

"Okay, text one of us if something happens."

I nodded and turned back to the door, pushing through the wood and glass with the hand that didn't hold the champagne glass. I fixed the hem of my shirt and sat on the curb with a small sigh, the music and excited chattering still melting through the walls to the outside. I stretched my legs out on the asphalt in front of the curb and sat my glass on the ground directly to my right.

"So what's a beautiful girl like you doing somewhere like this?" A voice came from my right after a moment of silence in the dark. I looked to see a man there, early twenties, wearing a simple white t-shirt and black slacks. He approached me and sat down next to me.

"Oh, I'm here for something," I gestured to the restaurant right behind us.

"Oh, I see. You here for the Rock Sound dinner event?" I nodded in response, not completely paying attention to the stranger. "That's amazing, I've never met such a charming musician." He gave me a small smirk, brushing out his dark brown hair with his hand.

"Oh, I-I'm actually here for family who are musicians," I explained. My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I read a text from Alex.

Zack said you went outside for some fresh air. U doing ok?