Oh, Calamity!

The next day I was standing in front of the door to Jack’s place at 2 o’clock sharp feeling extremely nervous. Hesitantly, I rang the doorbell and shuffled my feet awkwardly waiting for him. he swung the door open, greeting me with his familiarly bright smile. I felt slightly sick, like a firecracker had gone if in my stomach. For a second, I thought it might have been butterflies, but then second guessed it. Butterflies were for young kids, not me.
“Welcome to Chez Barakat. Feel free to take your shoes off, or whatever helps you take a load off. This is a strictly relaxed setting,” he explained, grinning.
I shook my head, rolling my eyes playfully. “How long have you been planning that speech?”
“Only the past 10 minutes,” he mentioned. “Want something to drink?”
“Nah, I’m good,” I said, looking around. “Wow, your house is a lot cleaner than I expected. Much better than your room used to be.”
“Robin really brings the hammer down on me to keep my place clean,” he added with a nervous laugh.
My blood boiled slightly in anger, but I tried to play it off. “So, uh, what do you have in mind for this whole surprise thing?”
He sat down on the couch and I followed suit, trying to keep some distance away from him. “Do you remember that Blink show we went to back in junior year?”
“Jack, in the time I’ve known you, we’ve seen Blink 12 times, and at least 4 of those were in junior year. You gotta be more specific than that,” I commented.
He sighed. “The one we weren’t supposed to go to. We were too broke to buy tickets, so we had to jump the fence and sneak past a bunch of guards to get in.”
Of course I remembered that night. It was the most exciting night of my young life, and it played like a flashback in my head.
“Jack, this is a such a dumb idea. We’re gonna get arrested,” I complained.
“Don’t worry so much, Nora. We’ll be fine. I’ll keep you safe,” he said. “Here, I’ll help you get over the fence.”
I sighed, feeling defeated. He gave me boost and I hopped over the fence, landing hard on my feet and him following soon after. He grinned at me, grabbing my hand and intertwining his fingers with mine. I returned the smile and we sprinted across the empty parking lot, feet pounding against the asphalt. We reached a rusty, metal door and pried it open, tiptoeing inside the venue.
Every time we saw a guard, we’d dive into the shadows to hide. The opening act was on stage, and there was a large crowd moshing in front of the stage. We waited until the coast was clear to join the crowd, Jack never letting go of my hand once. He looked so happy, even though he’d seen his favorite band a few times before. It made the anxiety I had been feeling totally worth it.
As Blink took the stage, he kissed me happily, smiling widely. “I love you so much. There’s no one I would rather be here with than you, right now.”
“I love you too, Jack. I’m glad we came here,” I said.
Jack snapped his fingers in front of my face, jolting me from my thoughts. “Nora, are you in there?”
I nodded, blinking repeatedly. “Yeah, I was just...remembering. Anyway, what does that have anything to do with Luna and Alex’s surprise?”
“Well there was that guy at the show. He got up on stage and sang Always with the band and proposed to his girlfriend. I was thinking we could do something similar. Like, you sing and I’ll play guitar and we’ll dedicate a song to them,” he explained.
“Whoa whoa whoa, back up for a second there,” I cut in. “You want me to sing?”
“Well, why the hell not?” he shrugged.
“Why don’t you ask Robin to sing?” I questioned, slight venom to my voice.
“She hates getting up in front of crowds,” he replied.
“What? Then why is she a bartender?” I wondered.
“She says that’s different, I dunno,” he said. “So, will you do it?”
“Jack, you know singing isn’t my thing. I’m just a background character, not someone that should be center stage,” I declared.
He shook his head. “See, there you go again. Years ago, you would’ve done it in a heartbeat, maybe even jumped at the chance. What the hell did this Will guy do to you?”
I stood up, my fists clenched at my sides angrily. “You seriously need to shut the fuck up about Will. Did you ever stop and think that maybe this is your fault? That I grew up and matured because you fucking tore me apart? Hell, Will saved me. He has yet to hurt me like you did.”
I was shocked by my own words, but I was still so angry that I stomped toward his front door, trying to escape. “Nora, wait. Don’t go. I made a mistake,” he said, voice filled with sadness.
“Yeah? Well you should’ve said that 7 years ago,” I retorted.
I slammed the door behind me and practically sprinted to my car, pulling away and speeding off down the road as fast as the law would allow. I wanted to beat my head against the steering wheel for they way I acted, but part of me was glad I had said it. Hot tears trickled down my face as I drove away, trying to calm down. My phone buzzed beside me, Jack’s name appearing on the caller ID, but I ignored it. I found a good place to stop and pulled over, putting my car in park.
Loud sobs began emitting from my mouth, choked and broken. My phone rang again, but I threw it to the floor of my car, screaming “Fuck you!” Why did Jack have this effect on me, even after all these years? How did he always leave me screaming, cursing, and crying until I made myself sick? More importantly, when was it going to stop?

Notes