Destined To Explode

“How was your day with Auntie June?” Jack grins as he follows me into the room that he was now permanently sharing with May and myself. “My Mom never organises days out for us, I feel so unloved.”

“Your Mom has seen you more than twice in the past three years, Jack.” I laugh, digging through my shopping bags until I find the Home Alone style sweater that I had discovered in an old vintage store. “Here.”

He takes the folded sweater, laughing as he realizes what I’m getting at. “This is so cool! If I promise to wear it at Christmas, will you travel down again?”

I pat his head as I go and put the rest of my finds of the day next to my open suitcase before I walk out of the room again. “If I can afford the time off work, Jacky. Things get busy around the Holidays.”

“But we’re family.” He whines, trailing after me as I go to find and grab my car keys from one of the hooks by the front door. “Where are you going?”

“I feel like a McDonalds, you coming?”

He scampers after me like a lost puppy, wrinkling his nose as he climbs into my car. “Can’t you get a nicer car, maybe? This was Rian’s car, right? That he let you drive all the way to Chicago in and then announced that it was yours to keep?”

I nod, smiling at the memory of having to beg the boys to lend me one of their cars so that I could drive to college in Chicago while they were in some other state touring. “It still works perfectly and it doesn’t cost much at all, so why would I buy a new one?”

“But this car’s disgusting! I can’t even remember the amount of times that I puked into the glove compartment and over the back seats.”

“Oh, thanks for that visual.”

“Anytime, kiddo!” He ruffles my hair. “When are you, uh, planning on going back to Illinois?”

“Day after tomorrow.” I sigh. “I love being here, home, but everything else is three states over.”

“Your family is here, your friends. Do they not count anymore?”

“Jack, don’t start, okay? I know that you miss me, and trust me, I miss you too and the rest of the gang and family just as much, but it’s just easier for me to be in Chicago.”

“Why?! You always say that but I don’t understand why.” He half tantrums as we pull into the line at the drive-thru fast food house.

“This is gonna sound so stupid, but here we go. When you guys leave for tour, you’re not leaving me behind because I’m already somewhere else, right? So, it doesn’t hurt. In fact, it’s nicer to find out from Cass that you guys are flitting around the world than for me to be there when you go.”

He doesn’t get a chance to reply with some smart suggestion as I start reeling my order off to the machine, letting Jack lean over and order for himself instead of trying to remember everything that he wanted.

* * * *

“Are you packing already, Zicarelli?” Alex startles me as he makes his presence known from where he’s leaning against the doorframe before he pushes off using his back and walks in. “You’re missing all the fun.”

I smile as I turn back around to face my half packed case, sat crouched on the plush carpet. “I’m sure that you will all still be having fun when I’m finished.”

“Maybe not.” He winks, throwing himself down onto his un-made bed. “Are you going to be joining us tonight?”

“Depends on what you’re doing…” I narrow my eyes at him as I place clothes that I won’t need over the next two days back into the bag. “Not another late night at the waffle house, is it?”

He laughs at the memory of our failed ‘night on the town’ back when we were all underage and I was still living in Maryland and under my Mom’s roof. “We’re gonna go and sit in the local and reminisce, maybe head out into town later.”

“I suppose that you can count me in, Lex. What time are we going?”

“Be ready for about six, yeah?” He grins, heaving himself off of the plush comforter. “Dress nice!”

“I always do, fucker!”

* * * *

It’s after the fifth round of Jaeger bombs that I decide that I’m calling it a night. I had not drank any more than two beers in the local bar, but once we’d hit the busier side of town, Jack had been constantly re-filling my glasses with wine, vodka and red bull and who knows what else, I had gone from merry to outright drunk.

“Oh! Poppy is down!” Zack laughs, hitting the table we had managed to find, just to the right of my head seeing as I had rested my head on top of the sticky surface to try and stop the room from spinning. “Light weight.”

“Merrick, go suck a dick.” I groan. “Where’s my purse?”

Rian shuffles it into my grabbing hands and I sit up again, digging around in it to find my cell so that I can ring myself a cab to get me back to the Barakat house safely.

“Like you’re sober enough to use that thing.” Alex laughs, plucking it from my hand after I had stared at my own cell phone for five minutes straight. “Come on, kiddo, I’ll ride home with you.”

“I’m intoxicated, not disabled, Alex. I can manage to get in a cab by myself.” I smirk as he follows me from the table and through the busy club, groaning as people start pressing up against him like hormone fuelled teenagers while I manage to weave in and out of the crowd like a pro.

“Wait the fuck up.” Alex whines, drunkenly stumbling and pushing some guy accidentally into my path so I crash into him while my head is turned, his full drink ending up all over me.

“Watch where you’re fucking going!” He growls, grabbing hold of my wrist and pushing me roughly away from him and straight back into Alex.

“Calm down, bro; it was my fault.” Alex tries to cool the situation down as I rub at my wrist, trying to stop the burn.

“Keep your slut under control in the future, bro.” The guy spits, stalking away towards the bar and Alex lunges forward after him but I just shake my head with a laugh and tug at him by the front of his shirt until we’re outside in the cold air.

“That guy was a total asshole.” Alex mumbles, flipping out his own cell to call a cab, his arm sliding around my shoulders as I lean against him, having been unstable on my heels. “You okay, Pops?”

I rest my head on his shoulder as I look up grinning and waiting for him to finish reeling off information to the cab service before I answer. “Nothing that some sleep can’t fix.”

* * * *

I groan as my eyes open, the even dull light seeming to attack my overly sensitive eyes, which starts up the pounding in my head that I knew that I would have after last nights ‘festivities’. One thing that I had not expected to wake up to was Alex, his face squished into the pillow beside my own, mouth open and small snores filling the otherwise silent room, one arm thrown over my waist and the other under his head.

“Lex,” I hiss. “Alexander William.”

He grunts and flips onto his stomach further, successfully pinning me under his dead weight. “Shush.”

“Get your fat self off of me.”

He shakes his head into the cushion, a smirk making its way onto his lips as he blinks his eyes open slowly. “Not fat.”

“Fine. Please move.” I whine, kicking my legs out in frustration at the fact that I feel like crap and the pressure he’s putting on my bladder is making me desperate to use the en-suite.

“Spoil sport.”

I hurry into the bathroom as soon as he lifts his arm enough for me to slide out, ignoring my reflection in the mirror, knowing that I’ll look like I do every other time I get in from a rough night. Nothing shocks me about my face anymore. What does shock me though is when I’m done in the en-suite, hands washed, teeth brushed and hair flattened into less of a frizz; Alex is sat up in the bed, repeatedly running his hand around the back of his neck, like he’s suddenly nervous.

“’Sup, Gaskarth?” I smile as I throw myself down onto the bed next to my re-discovered best friend.

“Think you’ve got any make up that will cover the hickey you gave me last night?”

Re-discovered best friend, say what?

Notes