Disaster • Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

[fifty two]

Alex's POV

"No, no no," I heard Indi say from behind the closed door of Rose's bedroom. "Absolutely fucking not."

I was sitting on the couch next to the bloke I learned was called Jude, both of us acting like we weren't listening to the argument going on down the hall.

"Indi," I heard Rose say. "He has nowhere else to go."

"Nowhere else to go my ass," she spat back. "He's a rockstar! He has more money and connections than everyone in our entire apartment building combined."

"You're not listening to me," Rose said. "We called his people and his parents, and they can't sort things out until they find the guy who mugged him. And that's even if they find him."

"Yeah, because he's an idiot who keeps all of his important shit in his wallet and on his phone."

"He'll fly back to Sheffield with Matt in two weeks, and that's that, Indi. We're not discussing this anymore."

"Okay, mom," Indi said. "But last time I checked, this is my apartment, too."

Jude cleared his throat awkwardly, pulling my attention away from their rising voices down the hall.

"So, uh, you're the elusive Alex Turner," he said.

I nodded, wishing Matt would come back from the bloody toilet already. If there was one thing I hated more than interviews, it was small talk.

Especially small talk whilst there was a fight about me going on. And with a guy who had tried to kiss Indi moments earlier.

The only thing keeping me from hating him was that Indi definitely didn't look into it.

"It sounds like Indi really doesn't want you to stay here," he said, laughing politely.

I slid my eyes over to him. He was posh looking- wearing a button up shirt and jeans. He was being nice enough, but I could sense an underlying tone of bitterness.

"She'll survive," I said, pulling out a cig. "Do you think they'll care if I smoke in here?"

He stared at me like I had pulled out a stick of dynamite.

"I'll take that as a no," I said, standing up and heading toward the balcony. I lit my cig and stepped outside, sliding the door shut behind me.

I realized within the first few seconds of being outside that Rose's window, which was just on the right of the balcony, was open. I contemplated going down stairs to smoke instead, not really wanting to know what Indi had to say about me, but I stayed. Fuck knows why, but I did.

"He's staying," Rose said. "So you can suck it up, Indi."

"Did you just tell me to suck it up? What, are we in middle school again?"

"Well you're sure acting like we are."

"How can you say that? I mean, it wouldn't be half bad if you were going to be here. But you and Matt have to go on that stupid trip to your parents condo in Ocean City. And you know what that means for me? It means that I'll be stuck here alone with him. For a fucking week."

"I know that things didn't end well between you too, or whatever," Rose said. "But you're both adults. You can handle one week alone without murdering each other."

I wasn't so sure about that.

"We'll see about that," Indi said.

"You're so immature," Rose snapped.

"Whatever," Indi said, her voice growing further away. "But I guess I don't have any say in this, do I?"

Rose didn't say anything and I heard the bedroom door open and close forcefully.

Fuck. She was really pissed.

I watched my cigarette burn between my fingers, the smoke wafting out into the black night, and suddenly I wished that Tom wasn't in the Barbados and could fly me out of here.

Coming here was a bad idea. But I'd known that, hadn't I?

I stayed there, trying to figure out what the fuck I was going to do stuck in a place I clearly wasn't welcome, when I heard the door slide open and then closed behind me.

"Are you happy?"

I put my cigarette between my lips and turned around. I was going to need it.

Indi stood there, her hair blowing in the wind, giving me a look that could kill. She was still in her party dress, but her heels were long gone. She looked malevolent and tempestuous and beautiful in the most vicious sense of the word.

"You think I wanted this?" I asked her, taking a puff

"I think that you wanted to fuck up my night," she said. "And congrats, because you did."

"I came to give you a present," I told her, a hint of anger sparking within me. "How was I supposed to know I would get mugged and be stranded here?"

"You should have known better than to come here at all."

She was right. I knew she was. But I couldn't help but start to feel a little pissed. I had come here with good intentions, for probably the first time in my entire life. And she was trying to tell me that it was my plan all along to mess up her birthday?

"I was trying to be a decent fucking human being," I said, flicking the ash from my cigarette a little more forcefully than usual. "I was here tell you happy birthday and apologize for Colorado. That's all."

"I don't believe you," she said.

"That's the beauty of the truth," I said, turning away from her. "It doesn't give a shit whether you believe it or not."

"That's great," she laughed spitefully. "You should use that in one of your songs. I wonder which girl you'll dedicate that one to after breaking her heart."

"You're a piece of work, you know that?" I said, throwing my cigarette and turning back to her. "I know that I was a dick, but fuck, I wrote an album for you."

"You wrote an album about me," she snapped. "Hell, you probably only led me on to use me as material."

"How would you know?" I challenged. "You haven't even listened to the bloody thing."

"I don't need to hear your fucking album," she spat. "I remember what happened between us, and I remember that it didn't mean shit to either one of us."

"It didn't?" I said sarcastically. "So you hate me for absolutely no reason? Not because I shattered your naive little dream that we could actually be together?"

Fuck. That was low. Even for me.

But Indi didn't back down. She took a step forward so that we were only inches apart. My fists were itching to hit something and she looked like she wanted to throw me over the edge of the balcony.

"I hate you because I put everything out there for you Alex," she said, her voice venomous. "And I got absolutely nothing at all."

"Well I hate you too," I shot at her, my accent slurring slightly like it did when I got angry. "Because you're so focused on you're own fucking life that you can't see the bigger picture. You don't ever stop to think about anybody else."

It wasn't true, but it was beginning to be.

"Fuck off," she said, turning on her heel and stomping toward the door.

"I would if I could."

She went inside without another word, slamming the sliding door shut behind her.

I turned away, pissed beyond belief, and gripped the cold railing as hard as I could.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

This was going to be a long week.