Disaster • Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

[ten]

Alex's POV

Disaster girl stared at me like I had gone mad. And maybe I had.

Maybe that's why I chased a girl I hardly knew out into an alley. But something told me she hadn't forgotten me the same way I hadn't forgotten her.

She looked different now than what I'd remembered. She was lankier than I'd previously thought, her legs looking incredibly long in shorts. Her makeup was smudged around her eyes, giving her a darker appearance. Her hair was still fucking mess.

She still wasn't what I'd describe as beautiful. She was something much better--

She was interesting.

Disaster girl crossed her arms. "So we just randomly showed up at the same club on the same night, you see me, and suddenly decide that you want to answer my completely rhetorical question from almost half a year ago that was meant only to offend you?"

I took a drag of my cigarette. "Yeah."

She didn't believe me. It was written all over her face.

"Tell me what you really want," she demanded. "Or do I wanna know?"

"Glad to know you think highly of me."

"How could I possibly think highly of someone who got me fired?"

She'd been fired over that? I hadn't even thought about that part of it.

"You got yourself fired," I said before I could stop myself, instantly regretting my words when her eyes turned to slits.

It felt like I could never say the right thing to this girl.

"It's been lovely seeing you again," she spat at me, beginning to walk around me to the door. "But if you don't mind, I have a party to get back to."

She was trying to leave. I couldn't bring myself to let her disappear on me again.

So I threw my cigarette down and put my hand on her arm. The gesture seemed to shock her, because she froze, her eyes locked on mine.

"Just wait a second," I said. "I'll tell you what I want."

She didn't move.

"I want to dance with you."

Her face went blank for a moment, before twisting with anger.

"No," she said.

"...What?"

She pulled away from me. "Invite the naive college girl to dance. Get her drunk, take her home. Never speak to her again."

"That's not-"

"Maybe a lot of people might not see who you really are, but I do. I know exactly who you are."

She either had some serious trust issues, or she just really fucking loathed me. Probably both.

She tried to move passed me again but I stepped in her way.

"We won't drink," I said. "We'll just dance."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "You say that now."

"How can I make you believe me?"

She searched my face for a moment, deep in thought, and then held out her hand.

"Give me your cellphone," she said.

"Give you my what?"

"I'll dance with you if you let me keep your cellphone. You won't break your promise if I'm holding the power to destroy you career and personal life with a few texts."

Fuck. Who was this girl?

"Is it worth it?" she asked, obviously convinced that I wasn't going to give her my phone.

But the more she talked, the more fun we were missing out on. And I wanted to prove her wrong

So, to her apparent shock, I handed her my cellphone.

"Yes," I said. "It is worth it."

She tried to look collected, but I could see the crack in her demeanor. She hadn't expected this outcome.

"I still don't understand why you're so popular," she said, noticing my screen lit with messages and calls from unsaved numbers. She scoffed and then shoved my phone in her back pocket.

"It's the hair."

She rolled her eyes and moved toward the door. But before she could pull it open, she stopped and turned to me.

The feistiness that had been there just moments earlier had vanished. She looked apprehensive. Vulnerable, even.

"One more thing before I agree to this," she said.

"Go on."

"Why do you want to dance with me? There's a million people inside this place, and you could have any girl inside. Fuck knows why, but you still could."

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "I guess I'm just tired of dancing with girls I don't know."

"You don't know me."

She was right. But for some reason, I wanted to know her.

"You're right," I said. "But I want to have fun tonight, and you certainly keep things interesting."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Think about, Indi," I said, watching her surprise when I called her by her name. "We won't ever see each other after tonight. The lads and I go back to Sheffield in 3 days, and you'll go back to Kansas whenever, and our lives will go on like this night never happened. So don't over think it. Just dance with me."

She was silent for a moment, her face stern. I held out my hand for her, and after a reluctant moment, she took it.

I opened the door, booming club music splitting the night air around us.

"Last thing," she said as I led her inside.

"Hm?"

She looked over at me and smiled at me for the first time ever, and the sight of it almost paralyzed me.

"Try and keep up."