I was bouncing around Rian's basement, playing my guitar the best I could with my sore knuckles, getting lost in my usual stage energy. Zack was strumming along in his own world, Rian was smacking his drums so hard I thought he was certain to break a stick and Alex was singing better than I'd heard him sing in a while. He was even hopping around with me like we were both on crack. I knew we were all playing as hard as we could because the girls were here. Cass was on her feet, swaying her hips to the beat as she sang along with Alex. Ember, however, was seated on the couch, smiling at us as the song came to an end.


Crap. What if she didn't like it because I suck? I'd never invited a girl to band practice before. It didn't make matters better that I was still giddy as fuck because Ember told me she loved me. Me saying it? That's one thing. But Ember? I never thought I'd see the day. I wanted to pull her up with us, kiss her while I played or at the very least, pick on her. Rian and Cass didn't know about us, though, so that was impossible.


"You there, young Elf, what do you think of our music?"


Ember narrowed her eyes at Alex, flipping him the bird. I admit, sometimes I had to stop myself from calling her by her old nickname, but there was nothing stopping the guys. Besides, I knew what Alex was doing. He was trying to get under her skin so she'd get up and get involved.


"You guys are great, but I'm seriously afraid someone is going to get hurt."


"Awe, don't talk about Jacky like that. He's just hyper, that's all."


Had it not been for the smirk on Ember's lips, I probably would have pouted over their comments. It was my hyper energy that made the fans love us so much, after all. At local gigs, everyone liked to be on my side. So, they can all kiss my ass!


Eventually we did get tired of playing, though. Everyone had gone out without me and Ember last night, so we figured we'd just stuff our faces with pizza and take over Rian's living room for a movie night. Alex got to pick the movie, it was some shit about aliens, but between the pizza in my hand in the pretty girl to my right, I didn't really give a fuck.


Zack was on the couch, Rian and Cass were curled up on the floor, so naturally Alex was on Ember's left. Zack killed the lights as the movie started and by this point, I was on my third piece of pizza.


"Jack, do you ever stop eating?"


Ember playfull poked me in the stomach and I shook my head with a smile. She rolled her eyes at me, taking a bit of her piece, which was her first. When I finished my pizza, I decided that I could quietly speak to Ember while everyone else had their eyes glued to the tv.


"I think we should tell Rian and Cass," I whispered, making sure my breath trailed down her neck as well. "We shouldn't keep them out of the loop and I hate not being able to-"
"Shh!" Ember fought back a laugh as shoved her finger in my face. "I'm trying to watch the movie."


"Oh, the movie? You were actually watching that?"


Ember kept her eyes locked on the screen, trying her best to avoid looking at me. I could tell our whispering was starting to get on Alex's nerves, because he was glaring at me from across the couch. I was in too good of a mood to care though. Still, the room grew quiet as I plotted in my head. Our gang had been through so much bullshit this week, I thought we all deserved a good laugh. There was a scene going on the movie where a man was sneaking through a crawl space, so I waited until the next scary scene, and I screamed.


Cassadee nearly jumped out of her skin and Zack almost fell out of his chair, but I wasn't done yet. I threw myself on Ember's body, knocking her onto Alex who was in a fit of laughter. Wrapping my arms around both of their necks, I had the whole room laughing.


"I see dead people," I whispered, by this point, almost in the floor. "And I'm scared!"


"Jack, get your fat ass off of me!" Alex snorted, trying to make me lose my grip on his neck. He was too busy laughing to catch his breath and do it, though.


It was Rian who wrabbed my waist and pulled me into the floor. I took Alex and Ember with me. Poor Cass got caught in the pile, which naturally meant Rian came in after her. By the time everything was said and done, Zack was sprawled out on the couch and I was curled up in between Alex and Ember, quietly watching the movie since my plan had worked. It wasn't as good as actually being able to hold and kiss Ember freely, but at least I got to snuggle her without being questioned.


Another hour passed and the movie came to an end. Seeing that it was already twelve thirty, I announced that Ember and I needed to get home. We parted ways with the guys and made the short trip back to our house, making random jokes about the movie the entire way home.


"It's awfully dark in there," I commented, killing the engine in the driveway. "Where's your dad's car?"


"I don't know. You don't think anything happened, do you?"


I shrugged, climbing out of the car and leading the way to the house. Ember was close behind. When I got the door open, there wasn't a light on in the house. We slowly made our way to the kitchen and flipped on the light, seeing a note taped to he fridge. I decided to read it outloud so Ember knew what was going on, too.


"Kids,
Joyce and I decided to grab dinner and a show in the City. Don't wait up.
-Dad"


"So," I smirked, turning to face Ember. "Is this a good time to talk about telling Rian and Cass?"


"I don't know. Things are finally starting to calm down. Maybe we should just hold off on that for a while."


"I mean, is that what you want? Rian's like the adult of the group. I personally think he'd be the most understanding."


"Be that as it may, I think we should slow down a little. The less people who know about us, the less chance we have of getting caught."


I could tell she was afraid of hurting my feelings, but she shouldn't be. Of course I didn't want our parents, or teachers, or classmates finding out either. I just wanted to be able to kiss her when I'm having band practice and not feel ashamed about it. But if waiting is what she wants, we'll wait.


"Well, you know," I slowly started moving towards her, a playful grin on my lips. "There's no chance of us getting caught right now.."


"Jack.."


Ember squeaked and took off running up the stairs, but her speed was no match for my long legs. The instant she tossed open her bedroom door, I tackled her onto the bed, pinning her arms above her head as I did so. We were laughing, at least for a moment, before a seriousness took over the situation. The room was dark and kind of chilly. Her chest was rising and falling against my own. Through the glow of the moon through the window, I could see dark strands of hair falling against her cheek and a beautiful sparkle in her eyes.


"I love you," I mumbled, giving her hands a soft squeeze. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."


Without even giving her a chance to respond, I pressed my lips against her mouth. It wasn't like earlier, hungry and rough. This kiss was gentle and caring, passionate and loving. It said everything that I couldn't, a silent 'thank you' for coming into my life and fixing something I didn't even know was broken.


Me.

Notes

A little bit of happiness for you lovely readers! <3.
-Jess.