"Alex. Alex?" Juli stood at the other end of the kitchen, more rage on her face than she'd even had with Stella the night before. "Alexander, I am speaking to you!"

"Don't talk to me like I'm one of the kids, Jules," I grinned. She rolled her eyes and grunted, allowing her feet to drag her through the kitchen. "You've got something planned, Alex, and I want to know what it is."

Her eyes flickered from me, to the case of beer sitting in front of me. Jules knew me like the back of her hand, so she knew from the moment I let Stella storm up to her room last night and didn't follow, something was wrong. Naturally, I wanted my daughter to believe that I'd given up on her, because that's exacly how she was feeling at the moment: That I had, in fact, given up on her, when in reality, she was giving up on herself. With the first part of my scheme in motion, I moved on to phase two. Any minute now, my daughter would come down those stairs. I knew this because little Jack had agreed to help me with said scheme. He'd called her earlier that day and told her that Tom had invited him, Nate and Aubree over (which was true) and that big Jack had already spoken to me and got me to agree that Stella could have one night with her friends to cool off.

"I just need you to do one thing for me, Jules," I flashed her my best, crooked grin, knowing she could never say no to it. "I need you to play along."

"What do you mean play along? Seriously, Alex, what are you trying to do to our daughter's mind?"

"Get Noelle and Liam, and go to Cassadee's house. She's already waiting on you."

"Alex.."

"Please, Juli? What I'm about to do will either help your daughter, or make her worse. I swear if it makes her worst, I will skip the next tour and stay home. She will be, entirely, my responsibility."

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise," I held out my finger, where Juli laced her pink with my own. I kissed her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. She was the most understanding, perfect wife in the world, and I needed to remind her of that later. "Now go, before the guys get here."

"Guys?" Juli rose an eyebrow, but shook her head. "You know what? I don't want to know. Love you, Alex."

"Love you more, Juli."

It took ten minutes for my wife to pack up our youngest children and leave, another fifteen minutes for the guys to arrive with their children. We were all uneasy about this, but we were a family, so when one of us was in pain: we all were. They wanted to help me mend Stella, at least a little bit, so that she could at least make it through the school year without ending up in therapy or boarding school. It was a totally unrealistic plan, but we were the men of All Time Low, and we were never the type to be reasoned with.

"What is up?!" Jack Bassam Barakat screamed through the house. I knew Stella could hear him from her bedroom. "Jack Barakat in the house, bitchez!"

I chuckled, nostalgia hitting me like a brick when I remembered the crazy human being my best friend used to be. Back before he met Jasmin and I met Juli. Before there was anyone in our lives to make us want to chill out. He was insane, and I was an asshole. Tonight, we'd be those people once more.

"Par-tay in the Gaskarth house!" Rian yelled from behind Jack. One-by-one the guys were coming in, their kids following in suit. "Woot Woot!"

"Dudes," Zack brought up the rear, Nate right beside him. "I totally learned this wicked trick on my skate board. Ten bucks says I can get laid by midnight if I show it off."

"Deal!" The rest of us yelled together, snorting laughs. As the kids piled up on the couch, Tom included, I hushed my voice so Stella couldn't hear. "You remember what you're supposed to do tonight, right?"

"Yuhuh," Tom mumbled. "This is just cruel, dad."

"It'll teach her a lesson. She wants to hang with the cool kids, the legal kids and get a little drunk? Well, all right. I'll teach her how to party the Gaskarth way."

Rian sat down a case of beer - Gag beer, mind you - that he'd bought for our children. The can looked just like a normal Bud Light can, the drink even tasted like beer, but it had absolutely no alcohol. If anything, the kids would just get light-headed from the taste. While the kids were grabbing their "booze" I passed out the real alcohol, waiting for the moment Stella would come down the stairs and question what was happening. Little Jack had agreed that, even if Stella tries to lock herself in her room tonight, he'd distract her so that she'd stay. Man, was he a good kid.

"Uh, guys?" Stella popped her head around the corner, not even looking in my direction because she was so mad at me. "What's going on here?"

"You mean, what the HELL is going on here?!" Big Jack grinned. "Come on, princess, pull up a seat, have a drink. Let's haaang."

Stella was confused, but little Jack motioned for her to come over, so she did. She sat down right next to him and stared at the 'Bud Light' on the table. She then noticed that all of her friends, even her brother, had one.

"Um?"

"Here you go, baby," I pulled one out of the case and handed it to her. "Let me show you how this works. Guys?"

Zack dug around in his pocket until his found his knife. The four of us took turns, poking a hole in the bottom and popping the tab. We chugged so quickly we almost thought we'd be sick, because the last time we'd done this was on tour, but we took it like champs.

"Holy cow," Jack mumbled. "I think I'm drunk already."

I watched from the corner of my eye as little Jack whispered something in Stella's ear. She giggled a little and opened her drink, taking a sip. Hook, line and sink her. She actually took the bait! I smirked, knowing the evening was only going to better for us, worse for her.

________________________________

　

"You can't touch this!"

"Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na."

I was standing on the living room table with my best friend. We were shirtless, and we were shamelessly shaking what God had given us. Zack was doing flips on his skate board and Rian was banging on the table like they were drums. Admittedly, we were a little drunk, but we reamined reserved for the sake of our children. The kids, who followed the plan so well, were up dancing and singing to the top of their lungs to the rap music Nate had brought on his iPod. They were so good at acting drunk, I almost wanted to question them the next day if they'd been drinking behind our backs.

"I just," Aubree pretended to slur, rubbing on Nate's shoulder with ease. "I just think you're like, super hot, is all."

Now, we all knew that little Nate had the chance to be with any girl he wanted to be, but we also know that he thought of Aubree as nothing but his sister. The kids had planned this part out themselves, saying that wanted to really convince their friend that they were drunk, just to show her what could happen at a party. We'd also gone ahead and warned them all that tonight would be a blast, but they'd wake up tomorrow and have to face Stella in a public place and explain to her that everything was an act. This would, number one, teach the kids that sometimes we do things when we drink that we wouldn't normally do, and admitting to these things can be a down right struggle. Number two, it would show Stella that even though it's cool to forget the world for a night, it always catches up with you the next day. Lastly, it would teach her, and the other kids, that we all say and do things that can deeply hurt another person. Stella broke my heart when she disobeyed me, even more when she tried to make it seem like it was all my fault. Now it was her turn to be kept in the dark, to be left wondering why the people she loved would treat her this way. Eventually, I hoped, she would realize that we all want to protect her from the demons waiting to catch her.

"No way," Nate smirked, wrapping an arm around Aubree's waist. I didn't know whose face was worse at this moment, Rian's or Tom's. "I think you're like, super hot, too."

"I've never done this before, but..." Aubree giggled, pushing her hair behind her neck. "Would you want to maybe get out of here for a while?"

"You got it, babe."

I thought I was going to have to stop Tom from tackling his friend, and Rian from tackling a minor, but they both composed themselves and remembered it was all an act. Stella scrunched up her face, still sipping on the same, warm beer she'd opened earlier that night.

"You guys aren't seriously going to let them leave, are you?" She eyed all the adults in the room, then her friends. "They're drunk!"

"They'll be fine, kid," Rian slurred. "They's smart!"

Stella looked totally disgusted, not only because we were letting her friends walk home "drunk" but because she knew exactly what they were going to go do. She tried to get up and go after them, but "drunk" Jack held her back. He simply gave her a look, one really strong look, and my daughter stayed behind. Though I knew she'd try to kill me for this later. Besides, Aubree and Nate weren't really walking home. They were going to Jack's house, which was right down the road, where they'd wait for the rest of the gang. This way, we could make sure they were all in bed and up early enough to get ready for school. Jasmin would be waiting, strick parenting skills on tap.

It was now around ten o'clock, time to start making the kids pass out so they could, in fact, go to school the next day. The guys had stopped themselves from drinking, now sneaking beverages from the kids stash so that we'd stay sober.. Well, as sober as we could get after all we'd been drinking.

"Dude," Jack pushed me, a stupid grin on his face. "Dude, I wish there were some chicks here. I could go for some boob action right now."

Okay, so his mouth was still a bit drunk, but it would do. Little Jack, who remained by Stella's side, held back his laugh well enough to make a comment.

"Uh, dad. You're married," he tried to pretend he was drunk, almost giving a convincing show. "I don't think mom would be too happy about that."

"Blame it on the al-al-alcohol."

"Great," Jack put his head down, looking hurt. "Go cheat on mom, then."

"Mom.." Big Jack trailed, smirking to himself. "Well, I guess since no one else is here, she'll do. Come on, boy!"

"Where are we going?"

"Back to the crib! I take all my bitches home with me after a good night."

I chuckled, as did Rian and Zack, but Stella looked offended. Tom put his head down, and I could see from the redness on his face that he was trying not to laugh as well. Jack bit his lip and gave Stella a lengthy hug goodbye. She was saddened by the fact that he was leaving, but let him go anyways. Rian and Zack followed behind big and little Jack, pounding my fist as they left, praying tonight would be a success.

"Where's mom?" Stella finally spoke once everyone else had left. "And the babies?"

"Oh, about that," I reminded myself to slur. "Yeah, she found me drinking and got mad. Said I needed to set a better example for you. She took the kids and left. God only knows when she'll be back."

"Wh-What?!"

"Yeah. Well, I'm going to bed." I grinned, standing up slowly and making my way out of the room. "Goodnight Sir Tom. Goodnight Princess Stella."

How this night would end was totally up to Stella, but Tom had promised to sleep in her floor tonight to keep her from sneaking out again. He'd also agreed to convince her that Juli was coming back and that it wasn't as bad as I made it seem, that way she'd get a little rest and still go to school. I smiled to myself, hoping that Stella would learn that this, tonight, is what it was like most nights on tour. Missing, wanting, craving more of everything that you can't, or shouldn't have. Maybe now she'd understand a little better. It just wasn't her time to grow up.

Notes

So I just took ZzzQuil for the very first time. I suffer hardcore from insomnia. Thing is, I can fight off sleep for DAYS, so I'm starting to wonder if I actually took a sleep aid, or if perhaps I've simply drugged myself into a quiet adventurous night. Woo! lol. Anyhow, love you guys like mad! <3.