William Solves Differential Equations

A/N: Hey Everyone! This is another part in the "Donuts and Tomato Soup" series about Alexis and William. It goes along with thexxrevolutionx's story "I'm Not In Love" and is connected to a phone conversations Alexis and William have in Chapter 8. Remember, this story is fictional and none of the characters belong to me. Real people belong to themselves and the rest of the characters belong to thexxrevolutionx. Please review if you read.

Much love,
heavyheart21

William Solves Differential Equations

“William?” I sat up in our bed and felt for his sleeping figure, but he wasn’t there. I shook my hair out of the loose ponytail it was in and climbed out of our bunk. The bus was surprisingly quiet considering that curtains on all the guy’s bunks were pulled open, and none of them were there. I was usually one of the first to wake in the morning, so I didn’t quite understand what was going on. “William?” I called out through the bus, but I received no answer.

I made my way to the front of the empty bus, and suddenly I could hear a ton of noise outside. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before, but someone was blasting music. At first I could make it out, but as I reached for the handle on the door I heard that it was that song that Jesse Bradford’s character wrote for Kirsten Dunst’s character in Bring It On - that “You’re Just What I Need” song. Only half of the lyrics were missing and were filled in with someone singing “dah dah dah’s” instead. Weird. As I opened the door the song changed again. This time it was “Banana Phone” by Raffi.

I looked around and it seemed that everyone on the tour had organized a huge barbeque. There were what seemed like hundreds of people there. I wondered how long I could have been asleep for them to organize this. It must be late in the day. No one would have a barbeque in the morning. But usually during the day everyone was busy and no one had time for things like barbeques. I finally spotted Sisky and decided to ask him what was going on.

“Hey Sisky,” I tapped him on the shoulder, “What’s going on? Who organized this whole thing?”

He turned to face me, but I realized it wasn’t Sisky at all. It was Victoria Asher, but for some reason she was wearing a Sisky wig. “I’M NOT SISKY!” she shouted at me, “EVERYONE KEEPS CALLING ME THAT, BECAUSE OF MY COOL NEW HAIRCUT!” She stalked off through the crowd, leaving me staring after her, more confused then ever.

I turned around again and Andy was standing a few feet away from me. I walked up to him and hugged him, “Thank God I found you. What the hell is going on here?”

“Shh. Don’t interrupt the song, Alexis,” he scolded me. “This is my favorite song.” At that moment, a banana appeared in his hand and he shoved it in his mouth, “Banana!” he shouted and ran in the other direction.

What the hell?

I had to find William, and I couldn’t stand being out in this mess of a party anymore. I ran up to Michael who had just, it seemed, appeared out of thin air, “Chiz, have you seen William?”

He didn’t say anything, but turned and pointed epically to another bus that was a few feet away. I ran over to the bus and flung open the door without even extending the courtesy of knocking to it’s owners. What I found inside was horrific.

The tiny bus was filled with about forty girls. All of them scantily clad, and some were even topless. Some had written on their stomach’s in body paint, “William’s hips don’t lie”. Others had written other key phrases on themselves such as, “The Future Mrs. William Beckett”. I had to fight the urge to gag. Who were these fangirls? Then I spotted him. Sitting in the middle of the large couch, with a blonde perched on each leg, was William, a huge smile plastered on his face.

Rage flared up inside me, and I stomped up the steps of the bus. “WILLIAM EUGENE BECKETT!” I yelled at him, “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME ARE YOU DOING?”

He stared up at me blankly, “what do you mean, Alexis? I’m just hanging out with these people!”

“THESE PEOPLE?!” I screeched, “William have you looked at them? You’re surrounded by groupie whores!”

“No they aren’t,” he smiled, “They’re just really nice and invited me to hang out with them on this rad bus. I have no idea who any of them are.”

“Why would you hang out with people if you didn’t know who they were?”

“They needed me to teach them about differential equations,” He answered simply, as if that were something he knew anything about.

“Don’t give me these lame excuses, William,” I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, because I knew he was lying, and he was cheating on me with all of these girls. I couldn’t remember back to learning about differential equations in math class. How could William?

“It’s not a lame excuse,” he said, and rose from the couch dropping the two blondes onto the floor. This gave me a mild satisfaction at least. He turned to face me, and suddenly he resembled my high school algebra teacher Mr. McCarthy, as he opened up his mouth to explain differential equations to me and the rest of the girls. Once he reached the end of his spiel, he turned to me and said, “Alexis, remember to see me after class today. You haven’t shown up to my class in six years and that is just not acceptable.”

Suddenly I woke from my incredible nightmare, gasping for breath, and covered in a thin layer of balmy sweat. What the hell was that? And where the hell was William? He wasn’t in bed next to me, and I couldn’t hear anyone else in the bus either. I climbed out of the bunk and walked to the front of the bus. Everyone was gone. This was beginning to resemble my nightmare and I didn’t like it. But instead of heading for the door, I reached for my cell phone and held down the speed dial for William’s number.

“Hello?” he answered.

“William? Where are you? Are you okay?” My voice was really loud. Louder then I intended it to be. I was practically screaming.

“Yes, I’m okay. I’m eating breakfast at some little diner.”

“Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?” I demanded.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you.”

“William, do you know who you’re with right now? Like, the people who are at the diner with you?” I asked. I didn’t know why I was asking, but the dream had made me extra paranoid.

“Yes, I know the people I’m with,” he sounded clueless.

“Are you lying to me?” I asked, suspicious of the tone in his voice.

“No, I wouldn’t lie to you,” he answered, and then added, “Why would I go out with a huge bunch of people I don’t know?”

“I don’t know. I’ll talk to you about it later.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

Why did he always have to repeat everything I said? I sighed and rolled my eyes, “I love you,” I stated. And I did. Probably too much for my own good.

“Love you too. Bye.”

“Bye, Sweetie.” I hung up the phone and opened the cabinet in search of some cereal.

*****

“You dreamed about me hanging out with a bunch of topless chicks?” William asked, after I had described my dream to him later.

“Yes,” I resigned, embarrassed that I had taken the dream so seriously earlier.

“Aw man! Why can’t I have dreams like that?” he smiled, obviously thinking about dreams filled with topless girls.

“It was really a nightmare, honey. I mean, imagine if you had a dream about walking onto a bus and finding me hanging out there with a bunch of topless girls.”

The statement didn’t have quite the effect I was going for. He smiled even more widely, “SWEET! That would be awesome! Especially if they were sitting in your lap like they were sitting in mine in your dream. Oh, except you would have to have your shirt off too,” he thought about it for a second, “And it would be even hotter if you were making out with one of the girls.”

I rolled my eyes, guys and their lesbian fantasies. “That’s not what I meant,” I said shortly, “okay, try this: imagine dreaming about walking into a bus and finding me with a bunch of really hot guys with their shirts off.”

He made a face, “Ew. Why would I want to dream about that? That would be like you cheating on me! And there would be all those half-naked dudes. I don’t want them in my dreams.”

“Exactly! See? It was a nightmare for me.”

He looked puzzled, “But there were naked girls...” Obviously he was still not getting the concept that I didn’t want to dream about naked girls.

I shook my head, “Whatever. Moving on. How was breakfast?”

“It was fine,” was all he offered.

“Hey Alexis,” Andy got my attention. He’d been sitting in the room through my conversation with William, “What do you think about Jamie?”

“I really like her!” I gushed, “I think she’s super nice and fun to hang out with, Andy. I think you’re really lucky to find a girl like her, who’s smart and witty and friendly.”

“Really?” William asked, aghast.

“Thanks!” Andy said at exactly the same time.

“Not that she’s not lucky to find you too,” I added. I didn’t want him to think I was putting him down, because I wasn’t. I just wanted him to know what a unique girl he’d found, “And why all the surprise from you?” I asked William.

He looked deep in though for a moment, like he was trying to figure out how to put something, “I don’t know. Everyone just seems so obsessed with her. I don’t see what’s so special about her. Like, here, why do you like her?” he asked me as if he were going to take my words and use them as an example.

“Well we went shopping that one time. It was so much fun. And she’s just really nice and fun to party with.”

“But you only hung out with her once, so how would you even know? Yeah, you’ve talked to her, but other then shopping with her, when was the last time you spent some quality time with her?”

I thought about it, “Well, I guess we haven’t spent much time together, but that doesn’t mean I can’t like her.”

William looked doubtful, “Well, I guess. I’m not saying that you have to hate her, but I’m just wondering why everything thinks she’s so wonderful. It’s like she can do no wrong, no matter what she does or how she treats people.”

I just stared at him. This man who a minute ago had been wondering how a dream filled with half-naked women wasn’t a turn-on to me was now spouting all of these well thought-out notions. The way his brain worked was amazing to me, and all I could think to do was kiss him.

He interrupted the kiss a minute later, “Did you say that I turned into your math teacher in your dream?”

“No, I said you resembled him, but you were still you.”

“And I ordered you to see me after class?”

I nodded.

“That’s kinda kinky,” he smiled, “I was pretty lucky in your dream. First all those chicks. Then a school-girl fantasy was about to play out. A guy can‘t get much luckier then that.”

I pursed my lips as Andy howled with laughter and excused himself from the room. That would definitely be the last time I told William about one of my dreams.

William and the Case of the Little Curly Hairs

A/N – This goes with Chapter 7 of Danielle’s story I’m Not In Love, and explains why Alexis was crying. I was debating on whether I wanted to go for the drama or for the humorous, and the humorous won out of course. There’s no flashback in this, even though that’s kinda become the norm with these little segments. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Normal disclaimer applies.

William and the Case of the Little Curly Hairs

I stood over the sink and rung out the rag that I had just used to scrub the bathroom floor. It was spotless now, and it smelled clean. I took a deep breath in and the chemical smell of Comet wafted lightly through the air, completely superior to the urine and vomit smell that it replaced.

I stepped into the bunk area, inspecting the job I had done to make sure everything was clean. I had folded everyone’s clothes that had littered the floor and had placed them on their beds so that they could put them away, and then I had even made their beds. It was so tiring living with a bunch of guys who really didn’t care about how clean their bus was, and I smiled as I walked up to the front of the bus to make myself some tea.

“Finally,” I said to myself as I inspected the common area for anything I’d missed as I headed over to the cabinet for a mug, “clean at last!”

“Who are you talking to?” Adam asked. He had just walked into the bus followed by the other guys.

“Myself,” I said, a little embarrassed, “I just cleaned.”

“Mmm,” Michael said nodding. He was the only one to even acknowledge that I had said anything.

“I need to change,” Mike said, walking to the bunk area. I watched as he looked quizzically at his made bed and the folded clothes, and then gasped as he picked up the pieces of clothing one by one, unfolding them, deciding that he didn’t want to wear them, and then throwing them on the floor.

“Mmmm-Mike,” I stuttered, pretty pissed at this point, “I just folded those.”

He looked up at me, smiled and said, “Thanks Alexis,” as he walked past me to the door, obviously heading out to get more clothes.

“But…” I stammered pointing at the pile of clothes on the floor next to his bunk, but he was already out the door. I took a deep breath and turned to William, trying to forget what had just happened, “How did the signing go?”

“There were a lot of people there. They all seemed to be fans of the band too!” he smiled thinking about how many fans he had just encountered and I didn’t question his logic. Of course everyone there was a fan of the band. Why would they be at the signing if they weren’t? I let it go. “I’m going to take a shower. I feel pretty gross.” He kissed my forehead before grabbing his towel and heading to the bathroom.

“Hey, are you making tea?” Tony asked me as I finally got the chance to grab my mug out of the cabinet.

“Yeah, do you want some?” I asked, reaching for an extra tea bag for him.

“Sure!” I placed the extra tea bag in a mug, filled them both with water, and stuck them in the microwave. When the time was up, I pulled them out and handed him his mug. He placed it on the counter and reached for the honey, squeezing some into the cup and then dribbling some of the honey onto the countertop before closing it and putting it back.

“Tony!” I exclaimed. He was already half way to the couch.

“What?” he turned back around.

“You dripped honey on the counter,” I pointed.

“Oops!” he scrunched his lips together and shrugged before turning back around and sitting on the couch. I glared at him as I wet a new rag and wiped the spot clean.

Frustrated, I knew that Andy and Michael had headed to the back of the bus and I decided to head back there to get away from the craziness in the front. “Hey Alexis,” Michael said as I opened to flimsy door. They were watching a movie and eating Cheetos. “Come watch the movie with us,” he patted the spot next to him on the couch, “it’s about this dog who gets lost but he learns how to talk so that he can find his way home. It sounds like a real winner.”

I disagreed with his idea of a winning movie, but decided not to voice my opinion and join them anyway. How bad could it possibly be? I watched the screen as a family gave up their search for the lost dog and pulled their car away from their camp site. “That’s bullshit!” Andy yelled at the screen, “what the fuck kind of people would just leave their dog behind on vacation?” I looked at him as he reached into the bag of Cheetos, stuffed some in his mouth, and then wiped his cheesy fingers on the sofa cushion. Scowling, I got up from my seat. I needed to take a walk and get out of this bus.

As I walked back into the bunk area, I noticed that Mike was back. He was standing with his shirt off in the middle of his pile of clothes, “Alexis, have you seen my red shirt?”

“No, Mike,” I gritted my teeth.

“Are you sure you didn’t give it to someone else when you were folding our clothes?” he reached over to Adam’s bunk and started rifling through the pile of clothes, accidentally dumping them on the floor, and when realizing that the shirt wasn’t in Sisky pile, started to search through Michael’s without picking Sisky’s clothes up.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” The phrase started out as a low growl in my throat and then graduated into a high-pitched scream that resonating the entire length of the bus.

The bathroom door opened and William pulled me inside and closed the door again. He was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his lower half. “What’s the matter, Lexi?” he kissed my neck as he spoke the words and I smiled, feeling the frustration leave my body.

“It’s just that I cleaned all day today, and everything was perfect and it’s already a mess.”

“You cleaned today?” he asked, looking at me in wonder.

“Yes, I said it earlier when you guys first came on the bus,” I pointed out.

“Oh yeah, I remember something about that. I didn’t know that you really cleaned. I thought that was like a metaphor.”

I looked at him confused, “What? What could that possibly be a metaphor for?”

He shrugged, “Does it matter?” he kissed my neck again making me swoon and have to steady myself against the door.

“No, I guess not,” I muttered, pressing my lips against his.

He turned us around, most likely so that he could lift me onto the sink, when I felt my rubber flip flop splash against the wet floor. I broke the kiss and looked down at the floor for the first time since entering the bathroom. A huge puddle extended out of the shower and across the bathroom floor. My eyes wandered up to the shower stall and I gasped in disgust, “William, you’re hair is all over the side of the shower stall. I just cleaned this.”

“That’s not all my hair,” he protested, “My hair is the long, straight brown ones, not the short and curly ones.”

“I just washed this,” I said through clenched teeth, “It’s all yours.”

“Impossible,” he griped.

I raised one eyebrow and looked down at the part of his body that was covered in the towel, hoping to make my point, before pointing between the shower stall and the puddle on the floor, “clean this up,” I practically barked at him on my way out the door.

As I passed through the kitchenette on my way out the door, I took in the sight of Jack sitting at the little table eating a sandwich, the makings still left on the counter. I shook my head as I quickened my pace and propelled myself out the door. I couldn’t stop the tears of frustration as they welled up in my eyes, and I sat down on the bed of green grass and covered my face with my hands, trying to get myself under control.

After a little while I heard Tony, Jack and Mike leave the bus together, “What’s up with her?” Tony whispered obviously talking about me.

“I don’t know. Girls are weird. They just cry like that sometimes,” Mike whispered in response as they walked away.

A moment later the door to the bus opened again and William stepped out, wearing actual clothes this time, “I cleaned up the bathroom,” he smiled, reaching his hand out to me. I took it and let him pull me to my feet, “Including my hair, and that other person’s hair.” For some reason, this made me cry harder, and Will pulled me into a tight hug, “Shh,” he cooed, “It’s okay. We’ll find out who that hair belongs to, I promise.”

“Alexis, what’s wrong?” A woman’s voice asked and I looked up to see Jamie.

“Nothing,” I said, rubbing my eyes and wishing I wasn’t crying. Now that I was outside of the bus, the entire thing seemed stupid, “Everything is fine.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, and I nodded before she walked into the bus.

“That’s my girl,” Will whispered as my tears stopped completely, and he pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “I hate to see you cry, especially over something as stupid as not know whose hair is on the bathroom wall.”

I laughed and shook my head, briefly wondering how he made it through life so cluelessly. “Come on,” I kissed him lightly, “let’s go to bed early tonight.” I pulled him inside with a smirk, glad to have all my frustration about the cleaning over with… just in time to see Sisky spill his tea all over the floor.

The Great Sea of Arizona (Alexis story #3)

This is part three of a spin-off of thexxrevolutionx's story I'm Not In Love. This is written in the POV of Alexis, who in the story is William's gf, and each section is based on a scene in I'm Not In Love. Usual disclaimer applies. I do not know or own any of these characters. Not even Alexis. She belongs to Danielle. Enjoy!

The Great Sea of Arizona

The heat of the morning pressing down on my skin caused me to wake. The sheet and thin blanket felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds and held in a thousand degrees of heat. I stretched, and kicked them off of my body to cool down. As I opened my eyes, I noticed that William wasn’t lying next to me. Usually I was the first to wake, as he usually woke me up with his kicking or talking. I wondered where he could possibly be, and climbed out of the bunk to find him.

I walked to the front of the bus to see Jamie and Andy exchanging goodbyes, but Will was nowhere to be found, “Have you guys seen William?” I yawned.

“You’ve misplaced our front man?” Andy asked, confusing me.

It wasn’t like I’d lost him somewhere along the way, he’d lost himself. I was just about to point that out to Andy before it dawned on me that he was joking. I really was tired. “I guess I have,” I laughed, “he’s never up this early and the bunk is empty.”

“I haven’t seen him, sorry,” Jamie said, waving goodbye and heading out of the bus. Something must’ve caught her off guard because she left the door open and I heard William’s voice saying good morning and asking her to join him. Join him where?

They continued their conversation for a moment and I stopped paying attention, at least the mystery of where he was had been solved. Then I heard him mention the word ‘ocean’ and it caught my attention again.

“Uh, Bill, what are you talking about?” Jamie asked him.

“The ocean. You know… the ocean.” I couldn’t take listening to him anymore. We were in Arizona for crying out loud. Granted, he probably didn’t know that, but what was he thinking?

I walked down the stairs and stood outside of the door to the bus. Will was sitting in a lawn chair with another chair set up next to him. He was wearing an old pair of shorts and aviator glasses, and no shirt. I could smell the sunscreen radiating off of him. “Will, did I just hear you saying that we’re near the ocean? We’re in Arizona, there is no ocean here.”

“But…” he frowned and pointed to the black parking lot that surrounded us. I knew that he was thinking he saw the ocean from the heat waves that radiated off of the surface, but his illogical thinking and my first-thing-in-the-morning bad mood mixed with the unbearable heat to make me more annoyed.

“No, William. No.”

Jamie started walking away and Will stared after her for a second before turning back to me, “How do you know it’s not the ocean, Alexis?”

I rolled my eyes, “Because there is no ocean in Arizona, Will. It’s a landlocked state, and it’s a dessert. How would there be an ocean here? Look around you William,” I gestured across the parking lot, “There’s no sand! There’s no waves! Why can’t you just actually think about things for once?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he stood and faced me.

“It means why do you always have to say the most idiotic things? If you took a second to think things out, you would know that half of what you think is happening, is really something else.”

“Are you calling me stupid?” he questioned, suddenly looking even more hurt, and a little angry.

I really didn’t want to hurt his feelings, I just wanted him to wake up, “No, I didn’t say that,” I reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Well that’s what it sounds like to me,” he retorted pulling away. A crowd was starting to gather around us. Members of other bands had exited their buses and were being drawn in to our conversation by our raised voices.

“Come on,” I took his arm again, “Let’s go back on the bus,” I led the way up the stairs and Will pulled the door closed behind us. The first thing I noticed was that all of the guys were now up, and sitting around the little dining table. From the looks on their faces, they had overheard our conversation outside.

“I think I’m supposed to meet up with Gabe this morning,” Mike rose from his seat, obviously trying to avoid being in the middle of our argument.

“I think I’m supposed to go with you?” Sisky gripped for an excuse to leave as well.

“Me too!” Michael tagged along behind them.

“Awkward,” Andy sang under his breath as he took up the rear of the line of guys exiting the bus.

William sat down on the sofa, and I sat down next to him, taking his hand. “Sometimes I feel like you don’t have any faith in me,” he whispered, his eyes studying the sofa cushion so that he didn’t have to look at me.

Suddenly I felt awful and I needed to rectify the situation, “William, of course I don’t feel that way. Of course I have faith in you,” I ran my fingers up and down his arm and he shivered, “I think the world of you. You’re an amazing musician and you write beautiful songs, you have a wonderful, loving personality. I love you. Of course I have faith in you,” I kissed his cheek softly.

“Sometimes I think you think I’m dumb, and then you get angry at me,” he said softly, sounding almost like a little boy.

I frowned, “I don’t think you’re dumb. I think you’re very smart,” I kissed his cheek again, “Just sometimes you’re very naïve and I worry about you.”

“You worry about me?” he turned to me and a hint of a smile danced on the corners of his lips.

I nodded, “Because I love you.”

“I love you too,” he smiled wide this time, but I still felt uneasy and awful about what I’d said to him earlier.

“I’m so sorry about what I said a few minutes ago. I was just feeling grumpy.”

His smile widened even more, “Well I’m sorry for thinking we were near the ocean. I really didn’t know we were in Arizona, and those heat waves are just so convincing.”

“I know, Sweetie,” I kissed his nose, and he pulled me onto his lap.

“I love you, Lexi,” he whispered as his fingers brushed against the spaghetti strap of my pajama shirt causing it to fall down off my shoulder, “Sexy Lexi,” he used his nickname for me as he leaned in to kiss me.

The kiss soon turned into a heated make out session. We were lying on the sofa and I was straddling his hips, when the movement of his hand on my neck caused a little popping sound and the chain necklace that I was wearing slipped off. “Oh shoot,” I broke the kiss, “my necklace just broke.”

“Your necklace came off your neck,” William said almost at the same time.

I looked at his chest and the place next to him on the sofa. The necklace wasn’t there, “I really need to find it. It’s really special to me.”

“It’s your special necklace,” Will agreed, “From your grandma.”

I nodded.

She lay on her bed, homemade quilt pulled up to her neck. She was in her own home, but it felt like an alien land with all of the machinery that sat around her bed. I sat next to her holding her hand. I was the only family here. My mother was gallivanting in Europe with her latest boyfriend and couldn’t be reached. She had no idea of the condition her mother was in. My older sister was attending college in Florida and she couldn’t possibly pay to fly up to Illinois on a student income. I was the only one here to take care of my grandmother in her sickened state, and that involved cooking, housework, helping her take her meds, and sleeping in the chair next to her bed every night for the past week. Even though she insisted, I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her alone even if my room was just down the hall. I wanted to be with her as much as possible.

“’An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger…’” I was reading to her from one of our favorite books, Pride and Prejudice, but she interrupted one of my favorite Mr. Bennett parts.

“Alexis, I have something for you,” her hoarse voice was almost a whisper, “It’s in the top drawer of my nightstand.”

I looked at her curiously and place the book down on the side of her bed, reaching over to the nightstand. I pulled open the drawer and looked at the inside contents: a bookmark, a pair of tweezers, a nail clipper, a tube of Tangee lipstick, a magnifying mirror, and a little white jewelry box. I held up the jewelry box, thinking that she probably wasn’t about to hand over her used lipstick or old tweezers. She nodded and I proceeded to open the box. Inside was her antique sapphire necklace that she’d received as a gift from my grandfather on their one year wedding anniversary. She used to wear it with everything. I took the necklace in, it had a delicate gold chain and the sapphire was the brightest blue, with a decorated gold setting. I knew it was her favorite piece of jewelry, and the thought of it brought tears to my eyes, “I can’t accept this, grandma,” I choked.

“Yes you can. I want to give it to you,” her voice was stern even in all its frailty.

“But it’s your favorite,” I protested, knowing clearly what it meant that she was giving me her favorite piece of jewelry. She knew that she didn’t have much time left.

“It’s yours now. I want you to have it. Besides, who else would I give it to? You’re the only other September birthday I know.”

I gave in and nodded, silent tears streaming down my face.

“Try it on,” she suggested, and I did as I was told. It was the perfect length and she smiled as much as she could through her pain, “You’re beautiful. It’s about time that necklace made it back to someone young and beautiful.”

“Grandma – “ I didn’t really know what I wanted to say, but I knew that I didn’t want her to die, and I knew that it was inevitable.

“I know, Alexis. I love you.”

I kissed her cheek and then her forehead, “I love you too.”

“Now continue reading the story. I love this part with Mr. Bennet and Lizzie,” she demanded.

“Okay,” I sniffled before picking up the book again and continuing to read, “"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do…’”

“Will sit up for a sec,” I demanded. I was still straddling him, but he sat up and I searched the cushions behind him to no avail, “I don’t know where the hell it is.”

“Maybe on the floor?” Will leaned over, putting one hand on the floor and searched around for it. I stuck my hands in between the couch cushions, thinking that maybe it had fallen in between them somehow. As I ran my hand from the front of the sofa to the back, I shifted myself so that my leg wrapped around Will’s torso to steady myself, and leaned back away from him a bit. At the same time, he decided to search further away on the floor and leaned into me as I leaned away.

Suddenly the door burst open and Michael ran up the steps. Taking in the sight in front of him he chuckled to himself before averting his eyes and proceeding to the back area of the bus.

“We’re just looking for my necklace,” I said.

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” he asked still laughing. Apparently he’d found what he was looking for and had exited the bus before I could say anything else.

“I think he thought we were getting it on,” Will said looking very proud of himself. He, no doubt, was hoping that’s what Michael was thinking.

I rolled my eyes, boys.

“I found it,” he pulled it from the floor, “I don’t know how it got all the way down here though. Oh, look, the chain is broken.”

He was right. As I took the necklace from his hand I saw that the chain had split about two inches from the clasp. I was so disappointed. It was the original chain, “Aw, shit. I’m not going to be able to fix this.” I felt the tears of frustration and remorse building in my eyes.

“It’s okay,” William wiped a tear from my cheek with his thumb, “When we get back home we can get a new chain for it.”

“I know,” I sniffled, “It’s just not going to be the same without the original chain. Maybe I’ll do something else with the sapphire. I guess that’s the most important part anyway.”

Will nodded looking momentarily distracted, “Well sure, whatever you want to do. You should keep it somewhere safe though. This tour is crazy, and you don’t want anything to happen to it. I can hold onto it if you want,” he suggested.

“Okay,” I handed it to him and he went to the back of the bunk to put it with his stuff. When he came back he was smiling.

“Where did we leave off?” he joined me again on the couch.

Andy Interrupts (Alexis story #2)

This is part two of a spin-off of thexxrevolutionx's story I'm Not In Love. This is written in the POV of Alexis, who in the story is William's gf, and each section is based on a scene in I'm Not In Love. Usual disclaimer applies. I do not know or own any of these characters. Not even Alexis. She belongs to Danielle. Enjoy!

[edit: this is not this complete section of this story. For some reason I do not have the entire section saved. This weekend I'll check on my work computer and see if I have it on there, but this was supposed to be the entire flashback of the first time Alexis sees William perform live.]

Andy Interrupts

I squinted my eyes as they opened against the offensive light seeping in through the hotel window, and then turned over to look at the clock. It read 10:02. I’d slept through the entire night and hadn’t been woken once by William’s voice or physical affronts. A sudden burst of energy surged through me, and I pounced on top of Will.

“What’s all this about?” his eyes popped open and he kissed my nose, “You’re attacking me.”

“Congratulations, baby. You made it through an entire night without waking me up with your sleep talking and kicking,” I pulled him into a kiss.

He pulled me on top of him and deepened the kiss, running his hands up and down my sides. I smiled into the kiss and laced my fingers through his hair.

Suddenly the door opened and Andy walked in, waving a room key. Upon seeing us, he dove into the bathroom, muttering apologies. Our kiss ended abruptly with William stating, “I think Andy wants to talk to us.”

I placed my hand on his bare chest, “I think so too, sweetie. We’ll continue this later.” I kissed him once more and then climbed to my feet, pulling on my boyshorts and an oversized tee. I threw Will’s sleep pants at him and he hurried to put them on. “Okay Andy. You can come out now.” Butcher poked his head out of the bathroom. “How did you get a key, anyway?”

“From Tony. He keeps all the extras, remember?” He said, about to sit on the bed, and then taking in the rumpled sheets and strewn clothes that littered the floor, opted to sit on the desk instead. “I was just wondering if you’d seen Jamie this morning, but I’m guessing you haven’t.”

“No, we just woke up actually. Although you may want to check in Sisky and Michael’s room. There was some commotion last night involving Nate. I don’t really know the details, but I know that Nate was yelling, but not at any of them. He was just yelling and talking about punching someone.”

“Yeah, she stayed in Sisky and Chiz’s room last night,” William repeated, “Nate was there.”

Butcher shook his head, “I already checked there. It was the first place I looked,” he looked troubled. “Okay, well I guess I’ll try her cell again. I’ll see you guys later.” He headed out the door.

“I’m worried about him,” I said as he exited the room and I took his spot sitting on the desk.

“Why?” William asked, coming towards me and wrapping his arms around me.

“Well it must be upsetting for him to be here when Neil is in the hospital. If my sister were in the hospital, I would want to be right there beside her. And this whole thing with Jamie,” I tilted my head up to look at him and rested my chin on his chest, “I don’t know. It just seems that all the guys are really into her…”

William laughed cutting me off, “What, does it make you jealous?” he joked.

I rolled my eyes, “No, but I don’t want him to get his heart broken if she decides she likes one of those guys better. And all this drama with that Matt Friction guy.”

“In her defense, Jamie didn’t want to go to the video shoot, either night. She was ready to cancel on Matt to hang out with Butcher,” Will said matter-of-factly.

“I know. I really didn’t mean it that way. I just meant that the guy’s a real jerk and really I don’t understand why Butcher would persuade her to go the second night anyway.”

“I agree with you about that,” William added, “If it were you making that music video and he drugged you the first night, he wouldn’t live to see the second night of filming. And if by some fluke he did, he’d have to recast the female lead.” He kissed the top of my head and smiled down at me. It was intimate moments like this that made me love him so much.

*****

At 5:20 we left the tour bus and headed toward the stage. “There are a lot of people here,” William observed, looking at the growing crowd of people that were gathered to hear the band. Everyone was doing other things, probably purposely avoiding conversation with him at this point. He turned his back and stared out at the crowd of people.

“William, seriously? It’s Warped Tour. Of course there are a lot of people here.” I shook my head and took a sip of my water, suddenly annoyed with him. Why did he always have to say the most obvious things?

“Alexis, you’re almost out of water…” William started but I cut him off in my exasperation.

“I know, William.”

“I was just going to ask if I could get you more,” he said sadly, and I instantly felt awful for snapping out on him.

“Aw, thanks William,” I kissed him on the cheek and he looked so proud of himself as he went off to get water for the group. He came back a moment later with everyone’s water and proceeded to spill his own all down his front when Tony scared him.

“I have a wet shirt now,” he said just to me.

I made a pouty face for him, “I know, baby. If we had time I would run back to the bus and get you another one, but you’re about to go on.”

“The show’s about to start,” he nodded in a quiet voice. Butcher ran up the ramp first, followed by Sisky, Michael and Mike. “Kiss for good luck?” Will asked puckering his lips and leaning down to me.

I gave him a quick kiss, “Not that you need it, stud,” I twirled my hair around my fingers flirtatiously as I spoke. He winked before running up the ramp. The crowd went berserk at the sight of him.

As Neighbors pumped out of their instruments and through the speakers, the crowd pulsed. Girls were screaming and reaching out for him, pushing each other to get closer to him. A few girls were even crying. I flashed back to the first time I’d seen him in concert

Donuts and Tomato Soup (Alexis story #1)

This is part one of a spin-off of thexxrevolutionx's story I'm Not In Love. This is written in the POV of Alexis, who in the story is William's gf, and each section is based on a scene in I'm Not In Love. Usual disclaimer applies. I do not know or own any of these characters. Not even Alexis. She belongs to Danielle. Enjoy!

Donuts and Tomato Soup

“It’s my elephant! No, Sisky! Mine!” William shifted in his sleep, not really having anywhere to move in the small bunk and ended up hugging me close to him. I assumed that I was the elephant from his dream and that he was hugging me to declare that I was his and not Adam’s. I rolled my eyes. I swear that boy has the dumbest dreams.

Before I could even finish that thought, Will’s leg tensed up and he kneed me in the butt before unraveling his arms from around me and turned to squash his face against the wall of the bus. I let out a deep sigh, wondering why I had even decided to come on tour with them in the first place. Yes, of course I missed him when he wasn’t home with me, but sharing a bunk on a crowded tour bus with a bunch of smelly guys wasn’t exactly my idea of a great time. I thought about my queen sized bed, sitting empty in my clean apartment that had a bathroom that one could actually use. The toilet didn’t have specks of vomit and pee on the seat. What the hell was with guys anyway? Why couldn’t they just aim for the bowl, why did they always have to pee on the seat?

At home, in my comfortable, large bed that wasn’t attached to wheels and propelling down a highway at 65 miles per hour, William’s sleep talking and kicking seemed minor. The talking wasn’t directly in my ear most of the time, and there was enough room for him to kick and not hit me in the process. Besides, when he was home with me, he always slept better, meaning that there was rarely any kicking or talking at all.

“A cream donut and a bowl of tomato soup. No, make that a chocolate donut, with extra sprinkles,” Will murmured and rolled over again so that he was facing me.

From what I could hear of his dream, it reminded me of the first time we met…

The Blue Jay Way Diner, decorated in all of it’s Beatlemania glory, was empty that night. I was stuck with the night shift and wasn’t getting off until 5:30 in the morning. It was 3:00 when a group of young guys walked in, and up until then, the chef and myself had been busy playing hangman on the back of one of the takeout menus. There were eight guys and I helped them pull two of the tables together before handing them menus. They were all fairly attractive, and I was surprised that there were no girls with them. The one with the pretty face and the brown, well-groomed hair that probably took more time to fix in the morning then mine did, winked at me when I gave him his menu, and I remember vividly wanting, in my sour middle-of-the-night mood, to slap him across the face just to make the cocky half-smile disappear from his lips. Being a good waitress, however, and not really wanting to get fired from my much needed job, I smiled politely, stated I would be back in a minute with their drink orders, and walked away from the table.

As the night wore on, the annoying pretty one kept flirting with me and throwing suggestive glances my way. However, contrary to my mood and earlier behavior, I found myself actually liking the attention that he gave me. He was clearly one of the most attractive men at the table, and usually it was just dirty old men and grimy middle-aged truckers who flirted with me that way while I was at work. They all requested separate checks, which seemed silly to me, as it was a diner and our most expensive item was probably $7.50. While writing out the pretty man’s check, I found myself doing something completely out of character. I jotted down my cell phone number and my name underneath the total that was due and handed it to him when I handed out the other checks. A moment later, while I was back behind the counter, making a fresh pot of coffee, he approached me with a sheepish look on his face. “This seems to have a phone number on it,” he said, pointing to the check.

“Yes, I put it there purposely,” I stated. Was this guy for real? I almost regretted my rash decision.

“Oh,” he smiled and all my regrets melted away, “I just wanted to make sure that it was intended for me and not someone else at the table.”

“No, it’s for you,” I said, not quite meeting his eye while I measured out the right amount of coffee into the filter.

“What time do you get off work?” he asked.

“5:30,” I simply stated.

“Is it okay if I wait until then? Instead of calling you?” he shifted his weight uncomfortably.

“Oh, okay. Sure.” I said, watching his friends all leaving their money on the table and walking out the diner, waving their goodbyes. He took a seat at the counter and I poured him a cup of coffee without even asking if he wanted one.

He introduced himself as William and talked to me for the rest of the night, while I cleaned up the table after his friends, waited on the few other people who staggered in and out of the diner in the wee hours, and got everything ready for the next shift. When my shift was through he walked me to my apartment a few blocks away and promised he’d call. That was the beginning of our relationship.

I was brought out of my memory with an elbow to the face. “Ow!” I whispered, rubbing my stinging nose as my eyes burned with tears that were ready to escape with the pain. I’d had enough. “What the fuck, William?” I shook him awake.

His eyes fluttered open and he smiled at me, “Hey booboo.”

I rolled my eyes again, hoping that he couldn’t see. Where did he get these ridiculous nicknames for me? “You elbowed me in the face again,” I pointed to my nose, which in the dark probably didn’t look out of the ordinary, but felt like it was blazing red with heat.

“I’m sorry, Kitten,” he kissed my nose and closed his eyes again, laying flat on his back. He pulled me over to him so that my head was resting on his chest. “Go back to…”

I was assuming that he was going to finish the sentence with the word sleep, but he was already breathing lightly, signifying that he’d had no trouble falling back asleep. I kept my head resting on his chest while he slept and soon the rhythm of his heart and steady, soft breaths acted as my lullaby as my eyes closed.

I awoke only a few short hours later to William smacking his lips. “Thanks for those. I love that particular brand of savory snacks.” He smacked his lips a few more times and his jaw moved in a chewing motion. William always did have a way of sounding extra intelligent even when he was only talking about something dumb like snacks or urinating (A/N: see William’s blog for the poem about urination that he posted the other night).

I was just falling back into a shallow slumber when William starting rubbing my back in a circular motion, “Thanks for coming to the show,” he said in a whiny voice, “I hope you enjoyed it.”

I let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that he wasn’t going to let me go back to sleep again this morning, “Dammit, William!! You always wake me up with your sleep talking gibberish!” I said, climbing out of the bunk and throwing my pillow into his face before sliding the curtain shut. I made my way to the front of the bus only to find Andy sitting next to a girl I had seen before, but didn’t know well. “Oh, sorry guys,” I said, while my mind really screamed, ‘THANK GOD! ANOTHER FEMALE!’

“Hey Alexis” Butcher started, “You know, the sleep talking only occurs when you’re around.”

“Yeah, uh, he just started rubbing my back and thanked me for coming to the show and hoped I enjoyed it. I’m kinda disturbed. Does he treat fans that way?” I questioned, deciding to leave out all of the other weird sleep talking he had done.

“I try not to pay any attention,” Butcher shrugged off my query.

I giggled and held my hand out to the girl, “Hi. I’m Alexis, William’s girlfriend if you didn’t catch that.”

“I actually did pick up on that one.” She finished the sentence and made room on the couch by moving more toward Andy. She told me her name was Jamie and that she was the merch girl for a band called Sofapunch.

A yawn escaped my lips, and I couldn’t hold it back anymore. “You can go sleep in my bunk if you want” Andy said.

“Really? Thanks!”I made my way back to the bunks. There was no way that I was going to sleep in Andy’s bunk when he had just had Jamie over all night. I didn’t know what they had been up to and I knew he didn’t have time to clean the sheets yet. Instead I started hitting William on the arm, “William, get up. Butcher said you could sleep in his bunk, and I’ll sleep here.”

“Oh-kayyy” William said tiredly and got up. He kissed me on the cheek and said, “You know, I really love you.” I nodded and watched as William got down and opened the curtain to Sisky’s bottom bunk.

“Uh, Bill, that’s Sisky’s bunk” I warned him, shaking my head. I love him, but sometimes he just doesn’t think.

“Oh-kayyy” William responded deliriously and slipped into the bunk anyway. He put his arm around Sisky, who didn’t even stir. I shook my head and closed their curtain before climbing into the bunk I shared with William.
+
“No Sisky! My elephant!” I heard William’s muffled whine from behind the two sets of curtains and tried to hold back my giggle as I shut my eyes.