Left For Dead

Echo’s POV
“ALEX!” I screamed enthusiastically as I ran towards the man in front of me. I threw my arms around his neck in a hug and he lifted me of the ground and spinned me around.
When my feet hit the ground again, I took back my arms and smiled. “Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in forever!” I said with an exaggerated voice.
He smiled back at me. “Yeah, it must’ve been like four months or something. I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you.” He said as we started walking towards my apartment.
When we arrived at my front door I took my key out of the pocket of my coat and put it in the lock. “ You don’t have to, idiot.” I said as I pushed open the door. “Look, you have a hell of an excuse to not spend as much time with your best friend as before. You’re making the world a better place!”
We walked inside and I took of my coat to hang it on a coat hanger. “make the world a better place?” he chuckled as he did the same.
“Yeah! You make the world a better place by making music and taking away lonely teenagers from their everyday life by giving concerts.” I said as I walked towards the living room, made a couple of random of pirouettes and fell down on the couch.
Alex didn’t even notice the weird things I always did anymore. He was literally the only person that could put up with me. But that wasn’t the only reason we were friends. He was also just the most amazing person I had ever met.
“You make me sound like a hero.” He said grinning and he fell down next to me on the couch, putting his feet on the table. He knew I didn’t mind. I the messiest person ever anyway.
“To those kids you’re a hero.” I said shrugging and I thought about the comments on his Instagram and the tweets he got on daily basis.
“I’m no hero.” He said blushing.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re just saying that so I’ll say you are and then you’ll get another ego boost.”
He fake pouted. “You don’t want to help my ego then?”
I laughed. “Isn’t it big enough already?” I said. I was kidding though. Alex was actually always very modest. It could be very annoying at points, but it was also one of the things I liked most about him.
He looked at me with puppy eyes and I sighed and gave in. “Ugh okay. My hero!” I said dramatically as I swung my arms around his neck again. He almost fell of the couch because of my sudden weight, but he could save himself just in time.
We both started laughing and I helped myself up. I stood up. “Do you want something to drink? A beer?” I asked as he pushed himself in a sitting position again.
He made a disgusted face. “I don’t want to see another beer again until the next tour.”
I chuckled and walked towards the kitchen. From stories I had heard how those tours went. They performed all evening or afternoon, partied all night and slept the rest of the day. He just came back of a tour, so I was probably right to assume that he has been drunk almost every night for the past few months.
I walked towards the kitchen to took out two soda’s. Suddenly I noticed Alex standing in the door opening. “I have to tell you something, Echo.” He said and the seriousness in his voice scared me a little.
Before I knew it I had blurted out one of my weird, random thoughts. “Oh my god, are you gay?” I quickly moved my head towards him to see a confused Alex.
“What? No. Why do you think that?” He said and he raised his eyebrow.
I blushed a little. I always hated it when people judged my thoughts. I couldn’t help that I had a weird mind. “Well, you were all serious and shit. I just thought: he is going to come out or something.” I said trying to not let him know my shame. It was weird, I did feel shame, but people mostly thought I didn’t because I always blurted out the weirdest things.
Alex opened his mouth and then closed it again. “Did you think I was gay?” he asked, defending his masculinity, I guess.
“Well, I never really thought about it to be honest.” I said, shrugging. “What does it matter? Why are you so defensive? What’s wrong about being gay?”
“Nothing! I was just curious!” he said and he took a soda from my hand. “But just for your information, Echo, I’m not gay.”
“I don’t really care, Alex.” I said laughing. This was normally how our conversations went. Alex was long used to my weird blurt outs and we just had this weird and funny arguments all the time. “I’m not interested in dating you anyway.” I added and I laughed at the thought of it.
“Right.” He said.
I took a sip from my soda. “So what did you want to tell me?”
He snapped out of his daze and then seemed to think about what it was again. “I signed you up for something…” he said staring in the distance.
I waved with my hand in front of his face and he broke his stare and smiled at me. “That’s incredibly vague, Alex. What did you sign me up for? Salsa lessons?” I said sarcastic.
He chuckled. “no, but I should’ve done that you really can’t dance.” He said, but when I shot him an annoyed look, he continued: “I signed you up for this band. They’re going to perform at Warped too and there bassist bailed on them like a few days ago.”
I had to process what he was saying. He signed me up for a band. Panic started to rush through my body. Not only wasn’t I good enough, it also meant that I had to interact with people. I was not good with interacting. People always just immediately thought I was weird. And not a good weird. Except for Alex of course. But Alex is kind of an exception on everything if it comes to me.
I sighed. “Please tell me they didn’t react….”
He looked guilty towards his shoes. “They did. They want to meet you. They think you’re amazing.”
I let out a panicky laugh. “How do they even know if I’m good?” I was able to say.
“I send them a video.” Alex said. “You know, of that time in ’09 when Jack was ill and you performed weightless with us on stage.”
I thought back about it and cringed. It was definitely not my best performance. “Alex!” I screamed out at him. “Why did you do that?! I was seventeen back then! I’m not good enough to be in a band, Alex! Especially not one that plays at Warped!” I put my hands in my hair.
Alex sighed, put his can of soda down and walked towards me. He laid down his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “Echo, you’re amazing at playing any instrument. Besides, you really have to come out of your shell. You can’t work at that diner for the rest of your life. You’re talented and you have to use that talent.” He said and I felt myself calm down. I can’t even count the number of times in which Alex prevented me from having a panic attack.
“They will hate me, Alex.” I said softly, trying to look away from his calm brown eyes.
I heard him sigh. “They won’t. They’ll like you. Maybe they’ll have to get used to you for a little while, but they will love you in the end. You can’t live in fear of people hating you all the time.” He said.
I looked down at my feet. I know he was right, but still. I always ended up screwing everything up. People always avoided me because they thought I was strange. But maybe this time it would be different. Probably not, but it was worth a shot.
“Okay. I’ll try.” I said softly. Alex let down his hands and smiled at me. “Good. I’m proud of you.” He said. “Now let’s watch reruns of the X factor and laugh at the people that suck.”
I chuckled and smiled. “Hell yeah!” I said as I put my fist in the air for the dramatic effect.

Notes

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