Jack

Day of show. I can do this.

Out of the 400 tickets we had, we sold about 304 (magically, Brendon somehow got his ass in gear) and now we were anxiously waiting for the D.J before to finish up. Rian was playing with his drums again, Brendon was peeking through the curtain, looking happy as fuck and Zack was just picking at his bass strings. I, on the otherhand, could not sit still. I kept pacing on stage, going through all the chords for all the songs in my head, making sure I didn't mess up. I was trying to pump myself up for this. This was different. This was real.

“Jack,” Alex's appeared in front of me. Or...maybe he's been there. I don't know. “Hello? Anyone there?”
“Sorry, what were you saying?” I asked, looking down at him.
“I was trying to tell you to stop being so jittery.” He chuckled.
“I'm just...nervous.”
“Jack Barakat is nervous? Wow.” He teased, making me frown at him. “I'm just kidding, babe.”
“It's just...” I started, trying to ignore the heat in my cheeks from the pet name. Alex has been really cute and cuddly since yesterday, all I wanna do is kiss him every second in the day. “It's just that this is really happening, we could get discovered here.”
“You will,” Alex reached to up my face, leaning up to press our foreheads together. “You, Zack, and Ri are talented and amazing. You guys have been friends for so long, you're perfectly in sync and you always have a blast. The energy you all give off is amazing, and the crowd will feed off it. Don't worry.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, feeling calmer. I leaned down more and gave him a small kiss. “You forgot Brendon by the way.”
“He's okay.”
“You're so jelly.” I rolled my eyes and Alex punched my shoulder.
“Shut up and get ready to show off.”
“As you wish, Princess.” I smiled, hearing Matt yell that we better get into position. “Pay special attention to the end.”

It was like magic when the curtain opened. Everything started out fine, I soon found myself in a totally different state of mind. I got all the chords right, I manged to do a few guitar tricks, I think I jumped higher than ever before. My energy went from zero to a hundred all through the performance. Hell, I barely notice we got through our whole set until Brandon was giving a little bow and releasing the main mic from the stand.

“Alright, now, before we go. Jack has a special announcement.” He said, making everyone cheer just cause they were all hyped now. He held it out, and I gladly took it.
“Thanks, Brandon.” I said to him, thorugh the mic before looking at the crowd. “You see, I have a special someone here today. Yes, everyone, I'm taken.” I chuckled, hearing a few awws. “And well, it's his birthday today so...” I look to side stage. “Alex, would you be so kind as to come out her so we can sing to you?”

Alex's jaw was dropped as he stared at me. Smiling, I made a little motion with my hand to get him to come out, but it wasn't until Matt gave him a push did his feet finally move. Once he was out on stage, people cheered for him and his face was redder than a tomato. Once he was close enough, I grabbed his hand to pull him just a little closer, and set the mic be on it's stand before I started strumming.

“Happy birthday to you,” I started, and soon the crowd join in.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Alex, happy birthday to you!”

Everyone cheered at the end, and I let go of my guitar to pull Alex in for a kiss which made the crowd go even wilder. As they screamed and yelled around us, I spoke to Alex in a voice only he could hear.

“I'm falling for you, and dammit Alex, I'm falling hard.”


Later as we packed up and were ready to go, I told the guys I was going to do our little decoy idea to give everyone more time to set up and be ready for the house party. Walking over to where Alex was patiently waiting on a stool, he smiled as he saw me, standing up.

“Everything's done already?”
“No, you and me are leaving first.”
“Really? What about everyone else?” He asked, and I chuckled holding out my hand.
“There's a reason I told you not to help destage. I have another present for you.”
“Jack, you've done enough.” He said. “I'm surprised you even knew.”
“Course I know, and too bad cause I got many things for you. Now come on.”

We left the place from the front, walking to the back of the parking lot where my bike was hanging out with a couple boxes by it. Alex looked at me confused, probably cause we came here in Rian's car together, but I didn't bother explaining. When we got up to it, I told him to sit down on the bike before picking up the smaller of the two boxes.

“This is your first gift.” I smiled, handing it to him. He took it without question and ripped it open, moving the paper out of the way before looking up.
“Is this...one of your shirts? From that site?” He asked.
“Yep. I designed it with you in mind.” I smiled.

It was a simple t-shirt, just black with my logo of JAGK on it. Only, the logo was colored in with the U.K flag, since Alex was from there.

“Thanks, Jack.” He smiled, arms reaching out presumably for a hugs. Instead I grabbed the other box and plopped it in his lap.
“Now this one.” I smiled, and he shook his head.
“You went all out tonight, didn't you?”
“You don't even know.” I chuckled. “Now, open it.”
“Bossy.” He smirked, before opening it too.

This time, he pulled out a white, biker's helmet I had bought and then made an 'A' out of black duct tape. Alex looked at me, clearly a little lost.

“You got me a helmet?”
“Well, look at the one you used to use.” I suggested, and he turned over to reach for it from it's usually place. When he got the black helmet out, he saw the white 'J' I had put on that one in more tape.
“So, we match now?” He chuckled.
“That, and you always bug me about wearing a helmet.” I sat on the bike, next to him. “And well, before I didn't really care about it. If I got in a wreck and died or something, I wouldn't mind. I never wore that thing before, I just kept in on the bike for Rian's mom's sake of sanity.”
“You're suicidal?” Alex asked, and I shook my head.
“No, like. Before this all happened. Meeting you, the band actually getting somewhere, and stuff, I didn't care. About anything. I was just, doing what I wanted when I wanted. If I died, then I died. I wouldn't really mind but now...” I took my helmet from him. “I want to live. And I will.”
“I'm glad.” Alex smiled, leaning up to kiss me. Which I happily obliged to.

“Anyway, put on your helmet and get on this bike properly. I have one more surprised.”
“Are you buying me dinner?” He asked, laughing.

“Pfft, I'm not that cheesy.” I rolled my eyes, now straddling the bike and putting on my helmet for the first time since...ever. “You'll see. It will be great.”

Notes

Happy V-Day!!!