This World's An Ugly Place

The next day I found myself with Alex once more walking to Jack's place. We didn't have any specific plans to hang out, but generally we would always just show up at Jack's and Lexus' house and hang out. If they were busy, we'd just go over next door to Sebastian's.

Our walk there Alex held onto my hand, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have butterflies in my stomach. It was one of the first relationships I had ever been in, and I planned on this being a long and serious one.

"Today's the big day," I said enthusiastically, shooting a smile up at Alex.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeah?"

I nodded my head. "Mhmm, I'm going to tell Lexus about us."

Now both of Alex's eyebrows went up in surprise. "What should I expect for this one?"

"She'll probably bombard you with questions, and just from that I'm sure Jack will put two and two together. Then tomorrow I'll tell Sebastian or whenever the next time I see him," I explained.

"Nice game plan," he praised, a half smile gracing his lips.

"You say it like your shocked," I said with a giggle as we turned onto Jack's street.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I never know what to expect with you."

"Is that so?" I asked, stopping and he turned to face me.

He smirked down at me, taking a step towards me. "But that's one of the things I love about you; you're spontaneous."

I went on my tip toes and pecked his lips before dropping his hand and walking past him towards the Barakat's.

"Hey," he said with a pout, walking faster to catch up with me. "Not fair."

I winked at him. "What can I say? I'm spontaneous."

He rolled his eyes at that, both of us hopping up the front porch steps. Alex opened the door - not bothering to knock since it was like our own home - and held the door open for me as I walked into the house.

We caught Jack half naked in the kitchen who didn't seem surprised when he saw us as he buttered his toast. His hair was messy and everywhere, but there was one new distinct thing.

"Hey guys," he greeted, taking a bite of his toast.

"You died your hair?" I demanded, quickly running over to him and inspecting his messy hair. It had random splashes of blond in his dark hair.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I wanted to look pop-punk."

Alex began laughing and I didn't bother fighting the smile on my face. "Is that what Lexus said to get you to do it?" I asked. Lexus was always begging to dye Jack's hair or give him a make over, and I guess she managed to finally get to him now.

He pouted his bottom lip out at us. "Does it look bad?"

Alex shut up at that, walking over and stealing one of Jack's toast. "No, dude, you look hella pop-punk," he spoke, dodging Jack's hand as he tried to get his toast back.

"Yeah, it looks good it was just a shock at first," I assured him.

"Of course it looks good," Lexus said as she walked into the kitchen, a laundry basket filled to the brim with clothes in her hands. "Would you ever doubt my fashion sense?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, you're a little more goth rather than punk."

She set the basket on the counter and put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, I am not goth."

"Then what are you?" Alex asked through a mouth full of toast.

"I don't need a label, I'm just me," she retorted, grabbing one of Jack's shirts from the clean clothes and tossing it at Jack. "Put a shirt on."

Alex nodded his head. "I dig that," I said to Lexus before Jack began putting his shirt on.

"Are you guys staying long?" Jack asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, why?"

"Because I have a kid from school coming over today," he explained.

Alex and I shared a surprised look; Jack usually never reached out to new people. "Wow, our little Jack is growing up," I cooed.

"I'm so proud," Alex went on.

"Maybe there's hope for him to find a girlfriend now!" Lexus cheered, only she was being serious.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," I responded and Jack just let out a groan.

"His name is Rian, just so you all know, and he's in our grade. If you guys act like this around him I'm kicking you out of the house."

"Bro, if anyone scares him away, it's going to be you," Alex spoke, clapping his hands together as he finished the last bite of toast.

Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm perfectly normal, I'll have you know."

"The first time I hung out with you alone you were jamming out to Barbie Girl," Alex said, causing us girls to laugh.

"When is this 'Rian' fellow coming over?" I asked, leaning back against the counter.

"Soon," Jack said with a shrug.

"So he's just going to randomly show up at your house?" I asked, knowing just from that shrug that Jack had no idea.

"Yeah, kind of." He shrugged again, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room, messing with his hair in their mirror. "We're probably chilling downstairs."

I raised an eyebrow up at Jack but before I could say anything else the doorbell rang and Jack was already bouncing towards the door. He swung it open, revealing a kid with shaggy hair hanging in his eyes. "Hey," he greeted, walking into the house.

"So glad you made it, dude," Jack said, bumping fists with him.

Alex wandered over now, stopping a few feet short of the two. "Hey, man, I'm Alex," he greeted.

"Rian," the stocky boy said back.

"And over there in the kitchen is my sister Lexus and cousin Angel, but they're lame so we're going downstairs," Jack said quickly, disappearing down the cellar door with his friends right after him.

I looked over at Lexus who simply rolled her eyes. "He never likes having friends around us," she muttered as she began folding the massive pile of laundry.

"That's because they end up liking us more than him," I said with a chuckle, walking over and helping my half cousin.

"You and Alex seemed to be in an amazing mood today," she more of sang than said.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know what it means." She winked.

"No, I don't..." I trailed off.

"Don't act dumb, I saw you and Alex kissing outside our house, like, fifteen minutes ago," she accused, attempting to hold back her giggle.

My face instantly blushed and I looked down, letting out an embarrassed chuckled myself. "Oh, you saw that? Yeah...yeah, that was, uh, us," I stammered.

"No duh there! But I want to know details," she demanded, leaning forward and poking my side.

"Okay, okay, we actually came here today because I wanted to tell you that me and Alex are kind of a thing now, but it's on the DL since I hadn't broke the ice to you or Sebastian - or to anyone for that matter," I explained.

She nodded her head, apparently satisfied with my excuse. "How long has it been in secret?"

"Just a few days," I told her.

"So, Alex finally found the strength to pop it out in the open then," she said, assuming he was the first one to make a move.

I nodded my head, a huge goofy smile spreading across my face. "Yeah, and he's such a cheesy, romantic but it was amazing," I said in awe.

"It's so cute seeing you like this." Lexus smiled warmly, looking down as she folded a pair of Jack's jeans. "I would've never guessed I'd see the day where you were head over heals over someone."

I wrinkled my nose. "God, I'm just like one of those annoying, cliche, teenage girls, aren't I?"

Lexus opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the sudden noise of the drums rumbling downstairs. Both of our eyes widened in shock, not expecting the sudden noise. Of course, there was a set of drums downstairs in their basement, but they were only there when Sebastian needed more practice and didn't feel like going all the way back to the music shop and setting up. Since Sebastian was generally always at the shop now, these drums hadn't been touched in awhile.

"Who's playing?" Lexus asked.

"Wait a minute," I spoke as the sound of the drum beat became recognizable to me. "I know this song!" I quickly raced down the stairs and rounded the corner only to find Jack and Alex standing in an unfinished basement and watching Rian play the chorus part of Roller Coaster by Blink 182.

"Dude, I think we found our drummer," Jack said, looking over at Alex whom had a huge smile on his face.

"That was awesome," I commented and the boys looked back in shock to find me standing there.

Rian smiled a bit shyly at that but Alex and Jack's expressions didn't change much.

"So, you're their drummer now?" I asked.

"Angel this is a closed band practice," Jack spoke, waving his hand at me to shoo me away.

I stuck my tongue out at him before turning to walk back towards the stairs but jumped backwards as I almost ran into Lexus who was on her way down.

"Great, what is it?" Jack asked. I had no idea why he was feeling so moody right now, but I had a strong feeling it was because he was with his current friends.

Lexus shot a warning glare at Jack briefly before turning to Alex. "I need to talk to you upstairs really quick," she said before running back up the stairs.

Alex looked at me confused but I just shrugged my shoulders, racing up the stairs after Lexus.

"What was that about?" I asked, once again in the kitchen.

Lexus stayed quiet though, that is until Alex came up and she turned to him. "Angel told me about you two," she informed him.

A small, confused smile came on his face as he looked over at me but returned his gaze to Lexus.

"I like you a lot, Alex, and I know you'll treat her right, but I'm just letting you know right now not to mess with her," she warned.

"Lexus," I whined, growing embarrassed by her sudden protective nature showing.

"She's a lady, and ladies shouldn't be messed with," Lexus finished.

Alex nodded his head. "Y-Yeah, of course. I would never break her heart, not intentionally, at least."

Lexus smiled now. "Good."

Notes

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