Disaster • Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

[twenty two]

Alex's POV

I couldn't believe my eyes.

No, seriously, I thought I was hallucinating for a solid 25 seconds after disaster girl barged in the door. I thought Nick or Matt had put shrooms in my food again.

But as her bright face twisted into wide-eyed horror, it became all at once apparent that I wasn't hallucinating. And when I realized my arms were still wrapped around Chanel, I sort of wished that I was.

What was she doing here? Had she found my location and come to tell me that last night had been the best night of her life, too? Or did she come back for her sweater?

My head fucking spun because she was standing right there in front of me again. Something I thought was an impossibility for the last eighteen hours.

"What are you..." I couldn't form a coherent thought. I moved away from Chanel, pushing her arms off of me. 

I couldn't take my eyes off of disaster girl, sure that she'd disappear in a cloud of smoke if I did.

She opened her mouth and then closed it. Her eyes flicked back and forth between Chanel and I, and her dumbfounded expression melted into pure anger.

Fuck.

"Who are you?" Chanel hissed at her.

Indi shook her head, and for a moment I thought she was at a loss for words, but of course she wasn't.

"Staff," she said without missing a beat. "I just wanted to let Mr. Turner know that the doctor sent in the ointment for that nasty rash. I put it in your medicine bag with the Viagra."

My jaw dropped.

"And we got your weekly colonic scheduled for tomorrow." She turned around and opened the door with such ferocity that I thought she might rip it off the hinges. "And no overtime this time. They charge a fortune."

Okay.  It was safe to say she was royally pissed.

I couldn't move for a second. Chanel stared at her, looking utterly stupefied, before looking over to me.

She might have said something. I don't know. I left her so quickly that I'd forgotten why I was there in the first place. I followed Indi out the door as fast as I could.

"You're here," was all I managed to say as I struggled to catch up to her.

"Not for long."

"Why... what are you doing here?"

"I don't know anymore."

I grabbed her arm and spun her toward me, about 90 precent sure she was going to deck me in the face. But to my surprise, she didn't. She just pulled back, glaring viciously at me.

"Did you come here to find me?" I asked her.  "Because I've been thinking about y-"

"You fucking wish," she spat, cutting me off. "I'm only here because my friend fell in drunk love with your friend at the club last night."

Matt. The Claudia Shiffer girl he wouldn't shut up about. How was this even real?

She looked at me like I was scum.  "Did you bribe him, or something?"

"...Did I what?"

She scoffed. "You see me with Rose last night, you convince your friend to hook up with her so that you can get to me somehow."

"You think I did all of this?"

"I don't know," she said, throwing her hand in her hair. "But it can't be real. This can't all be coincidence."

Heat rose to my skin. Disaster girl was making me out to be some kind of scumbag. 

"And how do I know you're not behind all of this?" I shot at her. "You could have very well found out our schedule somehow and planned everything as revenge for that interview-- the club, the fight, this."

Her eyes were daggers. "You really think I'd waste my time on someone like you?"

Ouch. 

 She took a step closer, burning me with her stare.  "Someone who almost kisses a girl in a bathroom, but forgets to mention that he has another girl? I knew you were like this from the start. Fuck off, Alex. Or perhaps fuck off might be too kind."

I opened my mouth to say something I would probably regret when Matt and Nick came running over.

"What's going on?" Matt asked, his eyes jumping between the two of us.

"Nothing," we both fumed at the same time. Very convincing.

"Wait," Nick said, pointing at Indi. "Bathtub girl?"

"Indi," she corrected him.

"Indi.... wait, you're one of Rose's friends, aren't you?" Matt said. "She was telling me about you at the club last night. How... how do you know Alex?"

She gritted her teeth. "Long story."

Chanel and Tom appeared then, just when I thought things couldn't get more fucking complicated.

"Is everything alright, Al?" Chanel asked, grabbing my arm.

I don't think I'd ever seen Indi roll her eyes so hard.

"Everyone, just calm down," Tom said, stepping in between us. He turned to Indi. "Are you supposed to be here?"

"She's staff," Chanel answered for her. "She got Al's rash ointment and scheduled his colonic."

Everyone went silent besides Indi, who let out a sharp laugh.

Jesus fuck.

"Alright, out you go," Tom said to Indi.

"We'll take her out," Matt said. "She's going up to the cabin with us. You are, aren't you?"

She nodded. I don't think she had much of a choice.

Matt and Nick nodded for Indi to follow them out the door. We kept our eyes locked on each other until she turned away, looking more pissed than that first day at the radio station.

"Alex and Chanel, back on set," Tom ordered. "We have work to do."

In the heat of the moment, with my best mates slipping out of my sight with disaster girl, I said something I should have said a long time ago.

"No."

Tom froze.

"What do you mean no?" He asked, stepping toward me.

"I mean no I'm not going on set," I said, freeing myself from the death grip Chanel had on my arm. "I'm going to the cabin with my mates."

"You don't have a choice," Tom laughed. "I'm your manager. I call the shots."

"Not anymore."

And with that, I left him and Chanel standing in the resort lobby, slack jawed, and caught up with Indi, Nick, and Matt just as they were walking out the door.

The three of them turned around to look at me, confused.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked.

"I'm going up to the cabin with you," I said. Indi's eyes flicked to mine, like she couldn't believe what I'd just said. I couldn't really believe it, either.

Matt's brows pulled together. "What about the video?"

"Fuck the video."

He smiled at this, pushing the door open. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that."

Disaster girl looked less than pleased, but that was alright. She could hate me all she wanted, but all that mattered was that she standing next to me, pissed, but tangible.

As long as I had that, I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else.