Tongue Tied

Nathan lied to Alex. He broke the promises he had made from the start. The promises that they would stay together no matter what. The promises that he wouldn't become distant. They were all broken. Summer had past quickly after that. Maybe because Alex spent most of it partying with the girls. She decided her and Nathan were done. If he came back, thinking everything was peachy, she'd set him straight. She still spoke to the guys from the team on the regular.

School started again and Alex was actually enrolled. Majority of the school was obsessed with Alex. They either loved her because she was Nathan's ex or hated her because of the exact reason. She still wore the necklace he got her. Despite him leaving her with no contact, she still loved and supported him. When asked about it, she'd say it was just her birthday. Not many people believed it. She didn't care.

Nathan's birthday past before the school year started. Knowing he wouldn't answer her texts or calls, she settled for tweeting to him, but she wanted to make it hurt. She found every photo she had of them on her phone and did the one thing everyone always did; she made a collage. Most of the pictures were them being silly but there were a few kisses and serious ones. She finished and tweeted it at him with a caption.

"@roy29: Happy 18th to this kid. Spent a lot of time and memories together. Hope you're doing well big shot @mackinnon9"

Random girls retweeted it. Jo favourited it and a lot of the guys from the team as well. She left it so she could get ready. She checked her phone once she was finished. She had twitter notifications so she checked. Nathan had saw the tweet. He retweeted it and favourited it, as well as replied.

"@mackinnon9: @roy29 thanks Al! Miss ya."

She rolled her eyes and locked her phone. If he missed her, he wouldn't be avoiding her. She took a deep breath and walked downstairs. She walked out front and Dana was waiting out front. The car was filled with the other girls. They were on their way to Jo's to go swimming. Leah was already at his house. Bridgette frowned at Alex when she climbed in.

"He misses me." She laughed.

Marina shook her head. "Not even worth it."Alex joined the basketball team again once school started. She was rusty at first but once she got back into it, she was great. She made starting line. She was more than happy to be reunited with the girls she had played with since middle school and those she met her first year of high school. She was always on a line with Riley, Whitney, Rachel, and Melissa. Melissa was one of her best friends through middle school. They had separated they both got into a relationship.

As the year went on and the season came and went, Melissa and Alex began talking more. Melissa's boyfriend was away for hockey a lot as well. He wasn't in juniors but he played. The two started spending a lot of time together. Melissa joined Alex's group of close friends and it became a group of seven. The seven of them did everything together. They didn't miss a single party. Alex felt like she had missed a whole chapter of her life with Nathan. She felt free suddenly and she didn't know if it was good to feel that way or not.

Alex's birthday was a day they all had off because of exams. The girls and some of the guys helped plan a large party for her. She had no idea. She knew they were going out but not where. She played music as she got ready for the night. Her phone dinged, signifying she had a twitter notification. She walked out of her washroom to her phone. Nathan had tweeted at her. She opened it.

"@mackinnon9: Hbd to the one girl who helped me get where I am now. Have fun tonight. @roy29"

There was a collage of pictures he had. The first one was him kissing her cheek while she made a face. The second was her standing with him at the first playoff game. She had on his jersey while he was fully dressed for the game. His arm was around her while she had both around him. They had giant smiles. There was another of them passed out in the back of the car. Alex's legs were in Nathan's lap as he head tilted forward to rest on him. His hand was holding her legs while his head rested on hers. The final one was them kissing while Nathan held the Memorial Cup.

She took a deep breath and favourited the tweet. She retweeted it as well and typed out a reply. It was the only thing she felt was suitable. She hesitated to press tweet but eventually did. She left her phone after that.

"@roy29: @mackinnon9 means a lot. Miss you more than anything."

As her grad and prom approached, Jo asked Alex to be his date. She was shocked, considering he was dating Leah and he had graduated the previous year. He told Alex that Leah insisted they went together. Alex didn't totally understand why until Jo pointed out that she was still upset over Nathan leaving. She argued that it's been a year and she couldn't still miss him, but everyone knew it was a lie. Even she knew.

Nathan was in Belarus the night of Alex's grad. The guys he played Mooseheads with had been keeping him filled in on her life. All but Jo and Zach, who were pissed at him for never messaging her or anything. They didn't understand his stand point. He knew she would get hurt in the end. Maybe ignoring her wasn't the best thing to do, but he knew he couldn't flat out end things with her.

He still had every memory of her with him. He would never change his phone backgrounds from the pictures of them. He had all the pictures of them he had back home in frames around his room in Colorado. He never brought other girls back. It didn't feel right. In his mind, he was still Alex's.

He sent a tweet out to her. He was just as proud of her as she was of him. He knew she wanted to go to school for sociology and he hoped she would still come to Denver like she originally planned. He finished the tweet and sent it.

"@mackinnon9: Congratulations to the smartest girl I've ever met, who has just as much beauty to match it, on graduating. So proud. @roy29"

He decided to see if she had posted any photos from the night. She had to, right? It was what every girl did. He was in luck because not only had she, but all her friends and some of his as well. His snapchat was also bombarded with videos and pictures from the night. He decided to start with twitter. He checked Alex's first. There were pictures of her and the girls before they left.

Her dress was a peach colour. It had a deep neck line with a ruched bodice and rhinestone detailing. Nathan only knew that because he read what Alex had replied to someone. She looked amazing. He was almost breathless. The other girls looked good as well, but Alex stole the show. Maybe that was just from a boyfriend's perspective.

He continued looking. There were photos of Alex with so many people and she retweeted them all. She was smiling in most of them or posing beside them. An arm was almost always around her waist. It made him heat up a bit, seeing guys that weren't him holding her. It was wrong but it was his fault. He knew it was. He checked snapchat next. There was a video from someone he knew that graduated with Alex. The video was shaky and loud at first but it cleared up as the guy approached Alex. He started yelled something and she looked into the camera with a glare.

"Here we have a rare sighting of a young trophy wife." The guy said in an fake Australian accent.

"You have to have a boyfriend to be a trophy wife." She hissed and swatted the camera away.

The video ended there. Nathan froze. He never thought that Alex might have considered them done. That's why her birthday greeting was so, unaffectionate. He was used to hundreds of hearts and her telling him how much he loved her all the time. He shook it off and went to Instagram.

His entire feed was prom photos. He scrolled down and liked any photo Alex was in. He saw one where her and Marina were doing their stupid hand gestures that they referred to as 'gang signs'. He saw a photo Alex had posted herself and his stomach twisted. He swore his heart stopped beating and the blood stopped pumping through his veins. That was because rage took it's place.

The picture had Jo in a matching peach shirt, sliding a corsage on her wrist. They were both laughing in the picture. The second picture in the pair had them standing side by side. Alex's hand was resting on Jo's stomach while his was around her waist. Nathan took a deep breath before he went to Jo's contact and called him. He didn't care that it was nine in the morning in Halifax.

"Nate, what the f,"

"You went out of your fucking way to take Alex to her prom? My girl, Jo, my girl!" He yelled.

"I took her to get her mind off of you." Jo sighed. "You think you can just fucking leave, Nate, and not contact her but she's so in love with you that it's not even funny. You broke her and you think she's still yours after all this?"

"You know how I feel about her." Nathan hissed.

"That all seems like bullshit now. You don't abandon someone you love." Jo spat. "She spent so much of her time with you that she doesn't even know who she is, but you're still trying to claim her."

"I still love her. I just didn't want to hurt her." Nathan admitted.

"But you did! You hurt her more than you would have if you just let her down gently!" Jo screamed. "Look, I'm not saying she won't come back to you, but I honestly hope she doesn't. You're my best friend and I love you, but you're also an asshole and she deserves better."

"I bet you two fooled around behind my back all the time." Nathan shook his head.

"Yeah, because Alex had eyes for anyone but you." Jo scoffed. "Get a grip and grow up."

The line went dead. Nathan look at the phone in his hand and whipped it across the room. It hit the wall and fell to the ground. Not a crack or anything, not even a dent in the wall. He sighed, holding his head in his hands. All he wanted was to go to Alex and apologize for everything. He felt like he could cry currently, but he didn't. He kept it together.

Notes