Mixtape of Their Favorite Band

Dallas’s Perspective

Waiting for Friday turned out to be really hard. Half the time I was bouncing my knee up and down hyper-actively or spacing out, imagining all the scenarios that could go down on Friday. I could feel Adelaide getting annoyed with me, but I could tell she was excited too.

We were sitting at lunch that Friday. We both had our earbuds in and Adelaide was nodding her head to the music. I heard fragments of Running from Lions from her earbuds and I smiled like a proud mama.

We finally got to Math and I could barely sit still. I’d gone to the bathroom to fix my hair and makeup, twice. Despite the fact that my hair was stuck under the beanie.

“Dallas, sit!” Adelaide hissed. I giggled sheepishly.

“Good afternoon, Dulaney. Here are your afternoon announcements.” the voice over the intercom chirped. I threw my binder and my journal into my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, going to sit on Adelaide’s desk.

“Do you mind?” she asked.

“No of course not, sweet pea.” I replied, shrugging.

Finally, the bell rang and we were released. But instead of walking to my car as usual, we waited right outside the front door. We figured we’d see them when they got here. Suddenly I saw a familiar pair of shoes stop right in front of me.

I looked up and saw Alex standing in front of me. Alex fucking Gaskarth. I immediately stood up because, holy shit, he was tall in person. Any hope of keeping my composure was lost when his chocolate brown eyes met mine.

“Hey, I’m Alex Gaskarth.” he smirked at me.

“Hi, I’m Dallas.” I replied, but my voice sounded far away.

“Hey, I remember you! We met last year at WNST.” Zack smiled at me, coming forward and hugging me tightly.

“Dude, I think you just freaked her out.” Alex laughed.

“No, it’s fine.” I replied coolly. “Boys, this is my best friend, Adelaide. Adelaide, this is Alex, Zack, Rian, and Jack.” I introduced.

She looked positively starstruck. I nudged her and she snapped out of it.

“Hey.” she smiled, shaking hands with each of them.

“So what’s up, you guys?” Rian asked.

“Oh, not much, just got out of school.” I replied.

“How old are you guys?” Jack asked.

“I’m seventeen and she’s eighteen.” Adelaide replied. Jack almost looked disappointed. Weird.

We talked for a really long time, about pretty much anything. I was shocked, only a couple other people showed up. We got pictures and autographs and quite a few hugs. At some point, Jack grabbed Adelaide’s hand and held it and neither of them had let go. Zack had his arm around my waist and my head was resting on his shoulder.

“So, we have to go soon, but we’d love to get your numbers and give you ours.” Alex told us. My face reddened. Alex Gaskarth wanted my number and was giving me his.

So we passed around our phones, programming our numbers into each other’s phones. When I got my iPhone back, I had four new contacts: Alex Gaskarth, Zack Merrick, Rian Dawson, and Jack Barakat. Alex and Zack had both put little hearts next to their name on my phone. Interesting.

They walked away, blowing us kisses. We laughed. Once they were out of sight, I turned to Adelaide.

“So...?” I asked her slowly.

“So what?” she asked back.

“How was that?” I asked her.

“Magnificent.” she sighed blissfully.

“Looks like I just made a fan out of you.” I laughed. She shoved me playfully.

Notes