Chapter 24

Alex’s POV

One month until the end of the school year. My grades were slightly decent, mostly C’s and a B. Passing grades. If I won the music thing but I didn’t graduate, screw school, I’m going for Hopeless.

Currently, Jack and I were on our repeat date. I was having a good time tonight, no anxiety attacks. We were at Chicago Fire, that awesome pizza place. Jack said he had something else for the rest of the night, but it was a secret.

He did tell me to get something caffeinated so I would have energy, so I got a Dr. Pepper, as did he. I had dyed my hair today so it was blonder, slight brown streaks in it. Mostly blonde, though. Jack loved it.

“I seriously can’t get enough of your hair.” He grinned, reaching across the table to twirl a piece of my fringe.

I laughed. “I can tell.”

“Sorry.” He pulled his hand away, still grinning. “It’s just so amazing!”

“Thanks.”

“But you’re more amazing.”

I smiled. “I am not.”

“Why do you doubt yourself so much?” He wondered, frowning slightly.

I sighed. “I don’t know. I just do. My mind just automatically thinks that everyone is talking about me behind my back and that I’m hated, that I have nothing to live for. Sometimes I even doubt you, as stupid as that is.”

“It is stupid.”

I sighed again and took a sip of my soda, catching the sight of a group of girls looking at me and giggling. I got self conscious and shrunk back in my seat, thinking they were making fun of me. “You okay?” Jack asked.

“Those girls over there are looking at me and laughing and it’s making me self conscious.” I said quietly.

“Do you want me to do something?”

“No! That’d just be embarrassing.”

Jack laughed. I grinned at him, making the girls giggle more. My smile disappeared at the sound of it and I tried to block it out.

One of the girls was shoved towards me and I tried to shrink back in my seat more. I decided there wasn’t a point and sat up straight, smiling a little at Jack as the blonde came over.

“Um, my friend thinks you’re really hot and wants your number.” She blushed.

I grinned and laughed a little, blushing as well. “I’m sorry, but I’m taken. That’s my boyfriend.” I pointed to Jack, who was laughing at quietly as he could.

“Well if you change your mind...” She pulled a little piece of paper from her bra and gave it to me. “... You can call me.” She winked and pranced away, leaving me and Jack a laughing mess.

“Oh my god.” I laughed and dropped the paper in the water they had given us earlier. “That was...”

“Hilarious? Confidence boosting?” Jack suggested.

“I guess hilarious.”

“Why not confidence boosting?”

“Jack, not much can boost my confidence. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

He shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Notice how I reluctantly accept your compliments, but I never actually take them by heart?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“But I still love you for trying. It’s worked some, you helped me stop cutting.”

He smiled. “Then 1/3rd of my job is done.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “What’s the other 2/3rds?”

“Boosting your confidence and staying with you forever to keep both you and I happy.”

I smiled and he knew exactly what was going to come out of my mouth. “Awww...”

“Goddammit Alex, every fucking time!”

“That’s what happens when you say sweet things!”

He just laughed.

~~~
After we ate, Jack and I drove west in the darkness of the night. It was around 11:30pm.

After about twenty minutes of driving, we came to a stop in front of a house. I frowned at Jack. “I’m not helping you rob anyone. I’m out.”

He laughed. “Get out, we’re not robbing anyone.”

We got out and walked up to the front porch. Jack took me around to the backyard through the gate. “Jack, are we supposed to be here?”

“It was my uncle’s old house, before I went to college. My uncle's is gone for a month on business. He left last week. So we’ve got the whole place to ourselves tonight.” He grinned and pulled me towards the pool, flipping on the lights underwater.

He pulled off his shirt, signaling for me to do the same. I did, both of us stripping of our skinny jeans as well.

Jack took my hand and pulled me through the surrounding gate of the pool and dove in the water. I let go of his hand just a little too late and was pulled in with him. “Jack!” I yelled when I resurfaced. “I wasn’t ready!”

He just laughed and swam over to me. “Oops.” He grinned and kissed me. I could taste the chlorine on his lips. So here we were, in Jack’s old backyard, swimming in his old pool in our boxers. At least the pool was warm.

“Having fun?” Jack asked after our kiss.

I grinned and nodded. “Definitely.”

We swam for a while longer before Jack pulled me out of the pool and towards the tall rock at the end of the deep end. We stood on top of it, holding hands. “Ready?” He smiled at me.

“Yep.”

We both jumped off and plunged into the water, coming up laughing. Jack pulled me to where he could stand and kissed me. Since I weighed less in water, I put my legs around his waist and his hands held me up by the underneath of my thighs. “You weigh so little.” He laughed against my lips.

I chuckled and kissed him for a little longer before I let go and swam towards the deep end again. “Jack, I’m surprised you took me night swimming.”

“Why?” He swam over to me and pulled me back to where we could stand.

“I could potentially drown myself right here and now. I’m not going to, but considering my past thoughts and habits, it’s a risk.” I shrugged.

Jack frowned. “If you drowned yourself, I’d do CPR for however long I needed to to bring you back.”

I smiled. “Aww...”

“Stop fucking awwwing!”

“But you’re so sweet!”

“Shut up...”

“You’re not only sweet.”

“What else am I?”

“Hot, adorable, handsome, sensitive, caring, supporting, funny...”

He laughed. “Awww, look who’s sweet now.”

“I’m not sweet.”

“Yes you are.”

“How many awww’s do I get out of you?”

“You don’t need aww’s to be sweet.” He grinned and kissed me. Again, I hopped on him with my legs around his waist and his hands on the back of my thighs. Well, this time it was closer to my butt. At least we were wearing boxers.

My hands rested on his chest, feeling his heartbeat as we kissed. I grinned against his lips and was suddenly cold. “Jack, I’m cold.”

He chuckled and placed one last little kiss to my lips. “So, let’s get you some hot chocolate.”

I grinned and nodded. We swam back towards the steps and got out, collecting our clothes but not putting them on. We walked around to the front door and Jack got the key from under the mat, letting us in and turning on the kitchen light as we reached the room.

He made us some hot chocolate, in his boxers, and sat down with me at the round kitchen table. “You are the best at planning dates.” I smiled, taking a sip of my hot chocolate.

“Serious? Dinner and night swimming? That’s like the lamest date ever!” He laughed. “But I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it so far.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So far?”

“We’re not done quite yet.” He smiled. I don’t think he was talking about sex.

I smiled back and we started comparing teachers we had had in the past to see if we had had any of the same ones. However, I started having ghost pains in my wrist.

“Ah, fuck.” I cursed, pressing down on the scars.

“What’s the matter?” Jack asked nervously.”

“Nothing, just ghost pains.”

He looked at me curiously. “What’s that?”

“It’s like... Say you were to be cutting something and accidentally cut off your finger. You go to the hospital and they can’t reattach it, so you have like half a finger or something. But every so often, you’ll feel pain where the rest of your finger once was. See, I’m having that, only I’m feeling the pain of a razor in my wrist when there isn’t one.”

“That’s creepy.”

“Yeah, it really is.” I laughed and the pain was dying down.

“Ready to go?” Jack asked.

I nodded and smiled. We got up and Jack followed me out to the car after locking the house and returning the key to under the mat.

We drove back east for about an hour or so before we pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. “Jack, you didn’t.”

He just smirked. “Oh my god! I love you so much!” I exclaimed, hugging him sideways as he parked. I had once told him this was my favorite hotel in the world. I couldn’t believe he’d remembered.

We got dressed before checking in. Jack had a big duffel bag from the back of the car, which I had no clue was even there. We went up to our room, the luxury suite sort of thing.

We stepped inside and I took in the whole place. It was pretty big, with a balcony looking out on the bay. A big grin painted my face and I turned around, hugging Jack tightly. “I love you so much.” I murmured into his neck.

“I love you too, baby. And you and I,” He kissed my neck. “Are staying here for three days.”

“What about school? We still have tomorrow and Friday.”

“Fuck it.”

I laughed and quickly kissed him before jumping on the bed. Jack tossed me some pajamas and dry boxers. We both changed and got back in bed together, cuddling under the covers to stay warm under the heavy covers while we watched Pretty Little Liars, which I forced Jack to watch.

“You are the best boyfriend ever.” I grinned into his chest.

“I must be, since you’re making me watch this and I’m actually agre- Holy shit, TOBY’S A? HOW THE HELL COULD HE DO THAT TO SPENCER!” He yelled at the TV. “HE SAID HE LOVED HER!”

I laughed. “I know, it’s addicting.”

“Shut up, I have to deal with this betrayal.”

I laughed again and kissed his cheek. “You’re so funny.”

“Just start the next episode!”

“That was the end of the marathon.

“WHAT? NO!”

“It’ll come back with a new episode next week.”

“THAT’S NOT SOON ENOUGH!”

“You still have me...”

“I know. But that’s not telling me about Toby!”

I just grinned and kissed his cheek again. “Come on, let’s go to bed, I’m tired.”

He nodded and switched the light off. We shifted so Jack was spooning me and he kissed my neck before we fell asleep.

~~~

On Monday, when we went back to school, I was having post vacation depression, if that’s a thing. It must be, since I was suffering from it.

“Where were you guys, Alex?” Rian asked me during our free time.

“Jack and I spent a few days higher up on the east coast.”

“Where did you stay?”

“In a hotel.”

“Oh, so by ‘spent a few days’ you mean have sex nonstop for three days?” Jasey smirked and I rolled my eyes. Jack and I actually didn’t have sex, it was more a ‘let’s explore the area’ sort of vacation.

“No, we didn’t have sex at all.”

“Lies.”

“As I’ve told you before, if you ask if Jack and I had sex and we did, I’d tell you. I didn’t lie.”

“You can’t stay in a hotel with your boyfriend and not have sex.”

“That’s exactly what we did.” I grinned and went to sit next to Jack with my feet in his lap. “I want to go back to the hotel.” I pouted.

“Cheer up, Pretty Little Liars is on again tomorrow.”

I laughed. “Jack Barakat, did I get you hooked on PLL?”

“Shut up, yes you did.”

I just laughed again. We spent the period talking about stupid shit we did as kids.

~~~
Lunch came and I, like usual, sat with Rian Zack, Vinny and Danny. “So what DID you and Jack do if you didn’t sleep together?” Zack wondered.

I shrugged. “Explored the area. Looked in all the shops, got dinner, went to the beach, all sorts of things. What did I miss in school?”

“Nothing important, just that someone caught Cass and what’s-his-face, James, making out behind the school.” Vinny laughed.

I choked on my water. “What?” I spluttered.

“Chill dude, it’s not like you LIKE her or anything. Do you?”

“No, she’s the one who likes ME! She kissed me the other day!”

“What?” Danny and Rian said in unison. “How did that happen?”

“I stopped by her house to read a text from Jack and she came out and said she missed me and was sorry, then she kissed me. But I pushed her away immediately and she said she liked me as more than a friend, but I had to go on a date with Jack, so I left.” I explained, still coughing from my choking on water.

“Holy fuck.” Rian said.

“I know. Whatever. She can date whoever the hell she wants, I have Jack. Speaking of which, I’m going to go say hi to.” I got up and crossed the lunch room to where Jack was standing. I gave him a quick hello kiss. “So I found out that Cass was kissing some kid names James behind the school while we were gone.” I told him.

“I thought she likes you?”

“I thought so too, but I don’t really care who the hell she dates. I’ve got you instead.” I grinned and kissed him again.

“Awww...”

“I can see why you hate it when I do that.”

“See?”

“Sorry.”

“Actually, I don’t hate it, you just make me blush.”

I looked at him, confused. “Since when do you blush over me awwwing?”

“Since always?”

“Really? I’ve only noticed you blushing when someone catches us in the middle of making out in your classroom or something.”

He just laughed, not really replying. The bell rang and I kissed him goodbye before going off to class.

~~~
Cass approached me in history. “Hi Alex.” She said cautiously.

I raised an eyebrow. “Um... Hi.”

“So you heard about James and me.”

“I heard that you were making out behind the school. Are you guys going out?”

She shook her head. “No. I sort of wanted you to hear so I could make you jealous, but it didn’t work.”

I smiled, just because she thought it might. “No. I have Jack. I love him and I’m not leaving him, especially not for someone like you.”

“The Summer Set.” She laughed quietly to herself at the song title. “Please give me a chance to redeem myself, Alex.”

I sighed. “I shouldn’t do that. So I’m not going to. Sorry, but I’d cross the whole world for Jack.” I referenced the song as well.

“Please, Lex. I’m begging you. Just for a week or something.” She pleaded.

“Cassadee! I’m not breaking Jack’s heart for you!” I exclaimed. “Not even for a week! If I ended things with him for you, I’d be making both he and I miserable.”

“Just for a day. Please Alex, please.”

“I said no and I mean no! I’m not breaking his heart to date you for even a day!” I half yelled, making the teacher look up.

“Mr. Gaskarth, I’d like to see you.” She said.

I glared at Cass and went up to her desk. “Is there a reason you yelled in the middle of my class?” She questioned.

“Sorry. Cassadee was trying to get me to break up with my boyfriend to date her instead and she wasn’t getting the hint that I was going to break both he and I’s hearts.”

“Is that the truth?”

“Why would I lie about loving my boyfriend?”

“You’re dating Mr. Barakat, correct?”

I nodded.

“I’ll have to let him know about this.” She smiled and sent me back to my seat confused. Let him know about what?

I brushed it off for a while, then the door opened and in came Jack, who walked over and kissed me before I could ask why he was there.

I kissed him back nonetheless, although I was confused out of my mind. After a long while, yet still too short, he pulled away and walked out, leaving me stunned and lost.

Everyone was staring at me. I didn’t know what to say. “Um...”

“What the hell was that?” Someone asked.

“I have no idea.”

The teacher just smiled and went back to her work. I had liked the kiss, but I wanted desperately to know why Jack had done that. Especially leaving his class to do it, also.

After school ended, since that was my last class, I went to Jack’s room to see him talking to some other students. I went in and quickly kissed him hello and patiently waited for him to finish his conversation. “So what was the kiss for today?” I asked.

He laughed. “Your teacher IMed me saying that you had screamed at Cass saying that you weren’t going to break my heart to go out with her for even a day, so I figured I would let you know how much I love you for doing that.”

I laughed too. “Aww, well you’re welcome.”

“Dammit Alex, you’re making me blush.”

“I don’t see it.”

“Good.” He grinned and kissed me quickly, then pulled back and reached for my hair.

“I swear to god if you touch my hair again today I will kill you.” I warned.

He laughed. “You couldn’t kill me.”

“Maybe not, but what the hell is so fascinating about my hair?”

He reached out again and ran his fingers through it. “It’s just so hot.”

I laughed. “It’s hot?”

“On you it is. On anyone else, not as much. But you make anything work. Because you yourself are hot.”

I grinned. “I’m not, but thanks.”

“You are, and you’re welcome. It’s silly how you think that you’re not hot or adorable.”

“Why? I’m not.”

“I wouldn’t be dating you if you weren’t one or the other, would I?”

“You never know. You might just be dating me because you pity me what with my scars and insecurities.”

He leaned in so our lips were almost touching. “But I’m not.” He whispered before kissing me softly.

I groaned when the door opened and we had to pull apart. In came Jasey, rolling her eyes. “Seriously guys, do that at home.”

“No.” Jack replied, kissing me quickly again. “Why are you here?”

“You didn’t give me a worksheet.”

“And what am I going to do about that?”

“Give me one?”

“I don’t have any more copies. You should have told me in first period.” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“So what do I do?”

“Get a friend to scan another for you?”

“That’s a pain in the ass.”

“Then you get a zero.” Jack shrugged.

“What? Because you didn’t give me a worksheet?”

“You would have gotten points if you had told me earlier you didn’t get one.”

“Fuck you, Barakat!”

“Really, please don’t.” He smirked.

“You are so perverted!”

“I’m a twenty-one year old man, what do you expect?” He laughed and I grinned.

“I think I can take her place when it comes to fucking you.” I chuckled.

“Please do.”

“ALEX!” Jasey exclaimed. “That is so gross!”

“Do you have something against gay people or something?” I asked.

“God hates gays.”

“If God hated gays, he wouldn’t have made it possible for two men to have sex, now would he?”

“He still hates them.”

“I thought everyone was equal. We were all to be treated with respect. We have natural rights, freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion. God loves everyone equally.” I said, going all history freak on her with the natural rights.

She looked like she didn’t know what to say. “Screw you. He hates gays.”

“Seriously Jasey, if He hated gays, He wouldn’t make two guys think about being attracted to each other. He wouldn’t create their brains to consider that.”

She just glared and stalked out. Jack attacked my lips in a kiss before I knew that he was doing. Once I found myself again, I kissed him back, although I was very confused. When he pulled away, I looked at him curiously. “Why that one?”

“You sound so fucking sexy when you going full-on bitchy nerd on other people.”

I laughed. “I’m hardly a nerd. Nerds are smart. A bitch, I can be.”

“You’re smart. You’re going to pass this year, right?”

“I think so.”

“Then you’re smart.” He shrugged. “Hold on.” He turned to his computer and typed an IM to my history teacher.

Alex Gaskarth just gave a history speech to Jasey Rae, I think he should get some extra credit, seeing as that was an eighth grade standard and he still remembered it.

I smacked his arm. “Jack! She doesn’t need to KNOW that I gave a history speech!”

“Yes she does.” He pressed send and she replied after a few seconds.

Which standard?

Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.

Wow, that was at the very beginning of the eighth grade year. Sure, he’ll get some EC.

“There. Your grade is higher.” Jack grinned and kissed my nose.

My phones blee-deeped and I went to my email, finding an email from the school’s music program. I had already made the top three and I was expecting a rejection email. I hesitantly opened it and read it nervously.

Mr. Gaskarth, we are proud to inform you that you have been chosen to record with Hopeless Records through our school program.

Your first recording will be on Sunday, June 14th, 2012. Please call Hopeless if there needs to be a change.

Congratulations on your win.

-Mrs. Livingston.

Notes

Happy chapter! I'm sorry, it's taken FOREVER for me to update!