I Feel Like A Hero

I unlocked the door to my Baltimore place and sighed happily. It's good to be home. Touring is great, and so is LA, but nowhere can top the sense of happiness and nostalgia I get when we're home in Baltimore. The feeling's especially strong since it's been so long since I've last been home; 6 months at least. I spent a while in Vegas, then went to LA to record Dirty Work. After that, we left for tour from LA. It really is good to be home.

I walked up the stairs and sat my suitcases in my childhood bedroom. Ok, maybe I still at home, but technically, it's my house. After All Time Low started pulling in enough money to live off of, my mom moved back to Lebanon to be with my dad for the first time in years. He moved back for work when I was 13, and even though we've kept in contact, I haven't seen him in person since.

I flipped open my laptop and started it up, maybe mom'll be on Skype; I haven't talked to her in a while. I clicked on the blue icon and typed my password in. And what do you, before I had the chance to even look, I have an incoming video call from my mom.

"Hey ma!" I greeted, accepting the call.

"Hey Jack," she said, smiling at me through the screen, "You home?"

I nodded, "We have a few weeks off before we leave again. It was a pretty unanimous decision to come back to Baltimore. I think the guys were really missing their families."

"What about you?" she asked, "Are you ok? I can always come visit..."

I shook my head, "You don't have to mom, I'm used to it now. You left when I was 19. I'm 23 now, it's fine."

She smiled, "I just want you to be happy sweetie."

"I am," I confirmed, "I always am."

She raised an eyebrow, "I'm not an idiot Jack. I know we're not as close as we used to be, but I can tell you haven't been really happy for the last few years."

I laughed, "Well, trust when I say I'm completely happy right now. I don't have a reason not to be."

Her eyes narrowed, "You've met someone," she announced.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I denied. I can't believe I didn't tell her about Alex yet. It's been almost 5 months. Oops.

"The last time you told me that, you were seventeen," she stated, "It was right before you left for Los Angeles to record the first album. If I remember correctly that was the trip you guys switched to Hopeless."

I shrugged. My mother's ability to remember things about my life better than I can is scary. I don't like it.

"Maybe there is someone."

I swear to god her entire face lit up, "That's great sweetie! What's his name? Is it even a guy? How long have you known him? Or even better, how long have you been dating? When can I meet him?"

I let out a chuckle, "Geez mom, take a breath. Yes it's a guy," I smiled a full force, toothy grin, "His name is Alex. I've known him since we were 16. We dated for over a year, but broke up. We've been back together for almost 5 months. And you've already met him," I'm pretty sure that was all of her questions.

The grin on her face could easily mimic that of the Cheshire cat.

"Jack, I'm so happy for you. And Alex too of course," she smiled, "But I thought you only broke up because the record company thought it would be a bad. What changed?"

"Well, you've seen how crazy some of the fans get. They wanted us to be together almost as much as we wanted to be together," I explained, "We're also at a better place in our careers. We did talk to Interscope before telling people, and they figured it's 2011, people are more accepting and we can afford to lose the few that aren't.

"Also, regardless of all that other stuff, our happiness is the most important thing. Neither of us were very happy before, now we are."

"I'm proud of you for figuring that out son," she said, still smiling, "And I'm happy that you're happy."

"It's just, with Alex it's like everything wrong with the world isn't," I rambled, "I don't know how to explain it. It's like, crazy scary, but crazy amazing at the same time. Have you ever felt that way?"

The smile on her face change. It didn't necessary falter; it just changed. I can't describe it. There was a certain glint in her eyes that I hadn't seen before as she spoke to me again:

"I have Jack. Everytime I'm with your father."

~

After the conversation with my mother ended, I had the sudden urge to see my boyfriend. I don't know if it has to do with what we talked about; I just had to see him.

That leads us to where we are now; limbs woven together underneath the covers of my bed, kisses lazily being swapped.

A feeling of warmth spread through my entire body, starting at my chest reaching all the way down to my toes. When he kissed my lips it felt like I was on fire, in such a good way though.

"I love you Jay," Alex mumbled, nuzzling his head into my neck.

"I love you too Alex, so fucking much," I whispered; lips pressed to his hair.

I drug my hand down his arm until I reached his hand. I grasped it loosely; intertwining our fingers. Perfect. Completely and totally perfect.

Notes

Wow I made Jack sappy. Holy crap. That's ok though, completely ok. (BTW We decided that Jenna's doing Alex's POV and I'm doing Jack's. To make it a little less confusing.)

Title Cred: Owl City- Vanilla Twilight

xoxo Mary