Found

Back In Time

Tobin POV

I couldn't fall asleep after that. I tossed and turned for a while and then sat up in bed. I turned to see Alex fast asleep, curled up with a blanket, seemingly smiling. I pay her on the leg and got up. I walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water and sat down on the couch. I was bored as hell, and I stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like eternity, until my neck hurt. I looked down to the table by the couch. There were three pictures on the table. One of us on our wedding day, one of us on tour together, and one of us in high school. I picked up the one of us in high school. I remember it clear as day. Kelley took the picture, it was us, sitting in the tree outside of Alex's house that I used to climb up to her window. That day was the day I decided I needed to make sure we ended up together.

School that day was more annoying than usual. Servando, was looking rough, he was kicked off the soccer team, and from what I'd heard, his grades weren't too hot. He gave me a dirty look every time I walked down the hallway. And today it happened to be more. He rammed an elbow into my stomach as we walked by.
"What the fuck dude?" I asked out of breath.
"Servando you're such a dick!" Alex said from behind trying to help me off the ground. I put my hand out to tell her I'm alright.
"Get over yourself dude." I said slinging a backpack over my shoulder as I stood up.
"Shut it, you ruined my life Heath." He mumbled through his hair and hood covering his face.
"Listen, I'm sorry dude, but I can't help it if your girlfriend was more interested in me." An abundance of "ooh's" arose from the crowd. Alex hit me from behind, not approving. Servando grumbled. He reached behind him to the back of his waistband.
"Yeah maybe she'll be more interested in-" he was cut off when his friend came up behind him and held his arm. He whispered something in his ear and Servando nodded.
"What do you say we meet after school Heath? Behind the baseball fields?" He said with a smile. Alex grabbed my arm. And whispered.
"Please, don't, please." I looked back to Serv.
"Three o'clock." I grumbled and walked away with Alex trailing behind.
"Tobin." She whispered. "Tobin. Tobin!" I stopped and turned around.
"What Alex?" I asked.
"You can't fight Servando!"
"I've done it before, and I'll do it again." I said.
"But I don't want you to. We talked about this."
"Alex he's talking shit about you."
"Yeah and you kinda were too." She said.
"Yeah but I love you." I said.
"And so did he." She retorted.
"So what do you care if he loved you or not?" I asked a bit lighter.
"I think he still might." I heard a locker slam behind me and jumped the bell rang and everyone scurried to class. Alex tried to walk past but I stepped in front of her.
"Who gives a fuck if he still does?" I asked.
"Tobin can we talk about this later? I need to get to class."
"No, I wanna talk about this now." I said.
"Ok, now you're acting like him." She said. I took a step towards her.
"Never. Never say that again." I lowered my voice.
"Well its not my fault you're doing it."
"Alex Servando needs to be put in his place."
"Maybe you do too." She said walking away.
"If you fight Servando," she turned around before walking though the door, "trust me when I say that won't be your biggest fight of the day." She gave me a glare and angrily pushed the door open. I looked around frustrated and punched a locker. I trudged off to last period and slipped in somewhat unnoticed. I drifted through the day until the day ended. It was three o'clock. I had to walk past the baseball fields anyway to get home, but Alex was so much more important to me than a fight with Servando. That was the plan at least. I walked past trying to be unseen, but no dice.
"Yo Heath! You coming over here or what?" He yelled. I kept walking.
"Ha, didn't think so, you always were a loser." He chuckled. I shook my head and kept walking.
"Where you going? Back home? To see your girlfriend? Well I don't think you're gunna find her, unless you look on the end of my-" I cut him off.
"You finish that sentence and I'll kick your teeth in." I said storming over. There was already a crowd gathered, expecting a fight.
"Do it Heath." I revved back and punched, but he dodged it. I looked over his shoulder and saw Alex in the crowd. She looked devastated. She turned and ran away. I was too busy watching her to notice Servando pulling back. He punched me square in the nose. I grabbed my face and yelled. He laughed and punched me in the side of the head. I fell to the ground and he was about to kick me, but his friend came over and grabbed him, assuming I'd had enough, he was right. The crowd cleared and I was left lying on the ground, bleeding. I'm not sure how much time passed, but eventually I sat up and picked up my bag. My face was red from the nose down. I touched it, and still bleeding. I stir into the grass, all red. I stumbled three blocks home to see Alex sitting on my steps. I let out a sigh and walked up with my head hanging down.
"I honestly can't believe you. I just asked you to not fight someone. Is that honestly so hard to do? To not punch someone in the mouth?" She kept talking but physically couldn't listen anymore.
"Alright Lex, my nose is bleeding out and my head is pounding, can we talk about this later?" I said softly.
"Um no I wanna talk about this now." She said mocking me from earlier. She stood up and I sat in the steps. She screamed and screamed.
"Tobin, are you even listening?" I nodded without looking up.
"If you can't listen to what I say, how are we ever gunna make it past high school?" She asked. Just then we heard snickering from the sidewalk. There he was again.
"Aw, trouble in paradise?" He asked. I sighed out, there was no way I could fight him again, even if I wanted to.
"Fuck of Serv." She said without turning around. I looked back up to her. Her eyes were burning holes through my skull.
"Aw why don't you come over here Alex, I'll show you a good time, I'm not the one who lost the fight." He ended with a chuckle. This made Alex turn around.
"Servando, what the fuck makes you think that you can say that? If would you be saying this shit if I was dating a guy? Or if Tobin was "cool" by your standards? Serv I don't give a fuck what you think about Tobin. What I do care about, is the amount of times you've given her shit just for dating me. Let me tell you, Tobin's tough. Tougher than you can imagine. She can handle it when you insult her in the hall. She can handle it when you "accidentally" bump into her. She can even handle it when you may have broken her nose. But I'm not as tough as Tobin. I can't stand to watch you do that to her. I can't stand to watch you insult her. She'll brush it off but sometimes, it eats away at her. And I can tell you she'll go home in a bit and clean herself up. But she'll look in the mirror and she'll see her nose is red and swollen, and she'll just think of it as a reminder of you. I can't stand to watch you hit her." By then she'd walked over to him.
"Now I'm not as tough as Tobin, but, I am tough enough to show you, that you aren't either." I was not ready for what happened next. She reared back and socked him square in the face. His head flew back and he fell to the ground. She was about to pounce in him, but I jumped up and ran to her before she could. I held her arms down to her sides as she tried to wiggle out. I whispered in her ear to try and get to calm down as she started to cry. After a few minutes Servando stood up fuming.
"You touch her, and I'll bury you." I said.
"Yeah because that went so well the first time." He said.
"You can hit me all you want dude, but the second you lay a hand on her, you better wish you were hitting me. And the next time you talk to her, it better be to apologize." He gave me a death stare. And walked away.
"Trust me when I say you'll both pay for this." He said walking away. Once he was a ways away Alex's knees gave out, and I fell to the ground with her. She was still crying her eyes out.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She said. I rubbed her back, trying to get her to calm down.
"No no no Lex, this is my fault. This is all my fault. You told me not to do something, and I should've listened to you." We sat there for a while, until it started to get dark.
"I need to get home, come with me, just for a while?" She asked. I nodded and we walked hand in hand to her house. We were almost there when we saw her parents happened to be sitting on the porch. She walked up and distracted them, while I climbed up the tree by her room. I waited on a branch for her to come up and she opened her window. I climbed in and she cleaned up my face. Some time passed before I decided to go home. I climbed out and sat on the branch. I was about to jump down when she stopped me. She walked out and sat down next to me.
"Thank you for today. I don't think you handled everything totally right, but I know where your heart was. And I'm so lucky to have you." She said.
"I love you Lex, and next time, I listen to you. Maybe I'll get punched less then." She laughed and leaned in to kiss me. Just as I went to deepen it, we heard a click behind us. I looked down to see Kelley and Ash laughing their asses off.
"Alex and Tobin sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" They yelled. They scared me so bad I fell out of the tree. Alex was worried and jumped down.
"God you've made me fear for your life twice today, could we please take a break for the next few days?" She asked laughing. I made a sarcastic face and attempted to kick Ash from the ground.

I was snapped out of my day dream to hear a knocking on the door. Tillie ran out from our room wanting to know what happened. He was followed closely by Alex rubbing her head.
"Toby? What's going on? Who's there?" She asked in a groggy voice.
"It's alright, here, sit down. I got it." I said. She sat on the couch as I went to get the door. I unlocked it and was meant with a real unpleasant sight.
"Hi, uh, I know it's been a while. But, can we maybe, talk?"