In Denial | Alex Turner

VIII

I drove to the restaurant with Alex again, but this time it wasn't as awkward. His scent was still hanging on my nostrils and made my desire to hold him in my arms even bigger.

"Was the song about Makayla?" I eventually decided to ask without thinking about it much after minutes of comfortable silence

He looked at me and furrowed his eyebrows, "No?" he turned his gaze on the road again. "Why would it be?" 

"You guys seem..." I cleared my throat. "...Quite close," I finished.

He scoffed with a smile, "are ya jealous?"

"Jealous?" I laughed loudly. "Why would I be jealous of that bitch," I muttered and crossed my arms, looking outside the window. I was acting childish but I really hated her. She was making my life like hell as my boss at the bar, making me work extra shifts and giving me less money than she ought to, but now she was also Alex's bird, which, for some reason, made me angrier.

"Just so ye know," he started, pulling up at the parking lot of the restaurant, "yer much more better-looking than 'er," he smirked. "Don't let' er get into your 'ead," his voice was now as loud as a whisper and he had leaned closer to me. My eyes kept falling on his lips and then his eyes, contemplating on whether I should make a move or not.

"Now," he raised his voice again at a normal tone and exhaled. "Let's go eat, I'm starving," he shot me a smile and lightly nudged my shoulder before getting out of the car, leaving me sitting on the passenger's seat with parted lips and a confused look on my face.

We walked in the restaurant together, at the same time, making people turn around to look at us. Some people's faces lit up as they saw Alex standing next to me. I felt like a small and unimportant ant next to him but apparently, I was more important to them than it looked. People started whispering and looking at us. I looked at Alex who was surely enjoying it as he laughed at my worried reaction.

-

We were sat at a rectangle-shaped table at the corner of the fancy Italian restaurant and we had just finished eating. I had ordered pasta, just like Elle, and the lads had bought a pizza to share. The lads had already emptied a bottle of wine and were now emptying one more. All of them except for Matt, Elle and I, who decided not to drink so we could drive the people we came with back.

"Alreyt, I think that's enough," Matt grabbed the glass of wine off Jamie's hands. 

"Why?" he whined, dragging the word.

"We're leaving. We have to be at the studio tomorrow again," Matt replied, looking at his watch which already said 10pm.

We eventually managed to pay and put the drunk men in the cars we had each come with. We said our goodbyes and got in our cars.

"'Ello, Bella," Alex slurred as I entered the driver's seat.

"You're calling me Bella now?" I chuckled and held my hand out for him to give me the keys. "Give me the keys, Alexander," I demanded.

He shook his finger in front of my face. "No," he whispered and moved closer to me.

"I said, give me the keys," I demanded again, now slightly annoyed at him.

"Yer cute when you're serious," he smiled drunkily and looked at my lips before looking back into my eyes.

I turned my face away and shook my head with a smirk before turning my head to look at him again. "Give me the fucking keys, Turner," my smirk disappeared.

"You'll 'ave to get' em yerself, darlin'," he slurred and held the keys in front of my face. I made a failed attempt at grabbing them but he turned around to open the car door before I locked the doors with a button on the steering wheel.

"Nice move," he turned back around to face me and gave in, giving me the keys. I started the engine and unparked the car from the now-full parking lot of the restaurant. I could feel his gaze all over me.

"Staring again, Turner," I snapped him out of his thoughts and he cleared his throat, looking outside the window as we drove. I huffed a laugh.

We drove in silence as Alex was looking outside the window with a cigarette burning between his fingers. A mixture of tobacco and his perfume hit me like a tonne of bricks as he opened the window and the wind hit him.

"D'ya fancy comin' by the studio tomorrow?" he finally asked after minutes of silence.

"Sure," I kept my gaze on the road as I pressed the button for his window to roll up again. He seemed to have sobered up a bit, but he still kept his gaze on me.

We spent another five minutes in silence until I finally pulled up at the address Matt had given me; Alex's house.

"Fuck," I groaned and hit my head back on the seat. "How am I going back home?" I mumbled and covered my face with my hands. It was already 11:30pm so it was too late for me to walk and Alex was drunk and couldn't drive me.

"You can stay the night," he shrugged and I raised my eyebrows at him. "No, not in that way," he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's too late to walk, come on," he nudged my shoulder and got out of the car. I did the same and locked the car before handing him the keys.

"Do you always nudge people's arms before getting out of a car?" I teased with a smirk. He had already done it twice and I found it adorable, to be honest.

"Nah," he shrugged and shook his head, looking for his keys in his back pocket. "Just with you," he teased back with a smirk as he pulled the keys out of the pocket.

In contrast with Jamie's house, Alex lived in an apartment of a modern new building. We entered the building and took the big elevator to his floor. It had red wallpaper and it smelled like lavender. A small radio was installed next to the buttons and was playing a Doors song.

The elevator made it to the 6th floor and we stepped out only to face a regular white door. 

"It's a mess 'cause I thought no one was comin'," he warned me as he unlocked the door, revealing his apartment. It was medium-sized with a tall ceiling and wooden floor. It had modern furniture everywhere and smelled like Alex's perfume.

"Wow," I exhaled as I started walking around. "Did you do the decorating?" I asked looking at the messy settee.

"I did, yeah. Why?" He asked worried.

"That's impossible," I teased and collapsed on the settee.

He just laughed, not having the energy for disagreement. He had sobered up enough to be able to walk without stumbling. "D'ya want to take the bed?" he asked me as he collapsed on the settee next to me.

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled with my eyes closed. I was already half-asleep so I placed my head on his shoulder.

"Good," he mumbled, already half asleep too. None of us had any intentions of moving any muscles so he just rested his head on mine and shuffled closer to me.

And like that, we fell asleep on the settee, with out heads resting on each other's. His scent felt like a lullaby that made sure I fell asleep quickly.