A Story to Tell Your Friends

I left Jack’s late that night. We’d continued to talk, but I knew I’d already forgiven him long before the topic was dropped for more pleasurable conversation. Jack hadn’t protested when I’d finally told him I was going home, merely telling me that he was calling me a cab rather than walking as I’d implied I was going to do. I’d accepted without argument. Tammy had been surprised to find me awake on our sofa the next morning, flicking through the TV with a cup of coffee when she was on her way out to see Chris.
“Have you checked your Twitter?” She asked me, laughing and sitting next to me to put her shoes on.
“No,” I responded. “Why?”
“You’ve jumped up like a thousand followers from last night, and everyone from home is tweeting you asking what the hell is going on.” She was still laughing and I turned my head slowly to look at her, narrowing my eyes and blindly hoping she was either lying or exaggerating.“I’m not joking. I was watching it all blow up with Alex last night.” I scowled, imagining the pair of them laughing at me. “Michaela is the most jealous and has tweeted you about five times, mostly telling you she’s had dibs ever since Coffee Shop Soundtrack.” I snorted, remembering our friend from back home who had gushed with Tammy for the last 10 years over the guys, especially Jack.
“She’s going to murder me, isn’t she?”
“Oh, yeah, totally. She’s already called me asking who you think you are and why you’re cuddling with her boyfriend.” I put my head in my hands, groaning but smiling at the same time.
“My phone died last night and I haven’t even turned it back on again yet. Do you think she’s called me?”
“Only about a hundred times. You’ve probably gotten death threats via text too.” I heaved myself up from my seat, going in to my room to grab my phone from my nightstand where it had been charging since last night. I turned it on as I walked back down the hallway, waiting for it to load as I threw myself back on the sofa and put my feet up on the coffee table.
“I really hope you’re exaggerating,” I told Tammy.
“I really wish I was exaggerating. You’ve got so much love and so much hate. It’s really quite funny when you’re a few drinks in and hanging with fucking Alex Gaskarth and Mark Hoppus.” My phone vibrated in my hand, lighting up with a text alert from one of our High School friends.
“Stop name dropping while I’m flipping out.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s a night for the grandkids to hear about.” I snorted, rolling my eyes. “Unless they’re yours. Your grandkids are gonna call Alex grandpa too and they’ll know everything there is to know about Mark if you and Jack have your way.”
“Yeah, because me and Jack are having kids. Okay, Tam.” My phone had finally stopped vibrating and I sighed, finally unlocking the screen. I had over twenty text messages from various people, untold Twitter alerts and even a handful of missed calls. I spotted Jack’s name in amongst my notifications and smiled. At least I would have someone I still spoke to in amongst the mess that was my phone. I laughed inwardly at the thought and quickly took a screenshot of my phone to show him later and guilt him over.
So, you move to LA and you become a Rockstar’s girlfriend?! I feel like I’ve missed something. Spill!
CLARA. I told you I had dibs!! Jack is MY future baby daddy!!!!
Why are you cuddling with some guy when you’re within ten feet of Mark Hoppus? Clara, you’ve changed.
All your weird friends are cornering me at work and telling me you’ve got a boyfriend in some band. Mom and dad said you haven’t met anyone. Are we keeping secrets again? Because you know there’s a price to pay for secrets I keep.
I snorted at the final message from my brother, the only one that was any different than demands for answers and jokes made by my friends. I filtered through the rest of my text messages before responding to him.
I didn’t have a boyfriend when mom and dad came down. I don’t have a boyfriend now. My friends are taking a cuddly picture way out of hand because it’s a boy in a band they like. I won’t be paying any prices today, tyvm.
I fired my text off, knowing if I’d ignored him I’d be getting calls from my parents before the day was out.
“Well, I’m going to head out before you have a mental breakdown,” Tammy told me, standing up as I was getting rid of my missed call alerts (including 2 missed calls from Michaela, as predicted).
“Be back before 5 so we can get to the show early and get a decent place,” I told her, smiling.
“Yeah, because you couldn’t just call Jack or Alex and get us in before doors,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. I scowled at her before sticking my face back in my phone and telling her to go away. I heard her laugh and the door close before opening Twitter.
JackAllTimeLow
When you post a picture and shit gets outta hand. I’m sorry, guys, I know you thought I was a virgin, but @claraparapie ruined me.
AlexAllTimeLow
@jackalltimelow I honestly thought this was just some crazy chick who stalked you? Besides, I stole your virginity a long time ago. ;)
LisaGaskarth
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie you guys are so cute! Miss you both!! Come visit. Like, now.
I laughed at the replies from all of our friends, noting Zack, Rian and Tammy had all liked either my retweet or Jack’s original tweet, though they were joined by hundreds of people I’d never come across in my life. I took a breath before starting to scroll through the rest of my mentions rather than my standard news feed.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie omg. This is so cute. Do we call this Jara or Clack tho??
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie what. When. How.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie why are you cuddling someone who hates boys in bands? Ew.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie she’s not even that pretty. Her face is all.. weird. You can do better.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie cute
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie YES. It’s about time you settled down. Hurry up and make cute all time low babies.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie she’s just another poser. All she does is talk about video games. I bet she doesn’t even play.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie you’re no lisex, but I can totally see new relationship goals.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie who convinced Jack to leave @alexalltimelow?!
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie seriously. What is this.
@jackalltimelow @claraparapie she’s so skinny. You need a real girl, not a stick.
I sighed, finally deciding to stop scrolling. They all seemed fairly tame, even the ones saying I wasn’t pretty. I could have been called a lot worse. Ignore the mild annoyance this may be, and I was totally okay.
Crazy amounts of feedback from last night. Not sure how I feel, but thank you to everyone who was so nice. Just need waffles now. Hmm.
My phone buzzed in my hand twenty minutes later and I smiled when I saw Lisa’s name flash up.
“Oh my God!” She shrieked as I picked up.
“’Oh my god!’ what?” I laughed.
“I’ve never seen fans take to a girlfriend as quickly as they did you. Holy crap.” I laughed again. I didn’t feel like it had been a particularly successful announcement of my existence, nor had it actually confirmed me as a girlfriend (which, in fact, Jack and I hadn’t discussed), but, apparently, Lisa thought differently.
“Lisa, I’ve seen what they say about you. They love you. I got more hate than you do.”
“I’ve been through a lot to get to the point where the fans have accepted me. The ones who don’t like me now just don’t even talk about me. Alex had to step in about it once before, but you got minimal criticism. You’re like the golden girlfriend.”
“Well, apparently, I’m not pretty and he shouldn’t date anyone who doesn’t like boys in bands.” I rolled my eyes. I did tell Jack at least one of my snide tweets would come back and bite me in the ass.
“Clara, I used to get called worse than shit. That’s nothing, trust me. Kara and Cass got so much hate too.”
“I know, I know,” I said quickly. “I’m not even upset by it. Really. I don’t mind what everyone else has to say about me.”
“Good.” A small silence took over the call and I could almost feel Lisa dying to ask another question. I waited her out, seeing if she would give in. “So… a little birdie told me you went home with Jack last night.”
“Yes, Alex would be correct in saying I went home with Jack. But I also went to my home after that.” I heard a tutting from the other end of the line and laughed. Oh, how the tables had turned. “What? Are you not going to lecture us about taking things slow?”
“That man is wrapped around your little finger. I don’t think he could throw you into his pile of one night stands anymore. So, no, hump like rabbits for all I care.” I laughed loudly at her words. She’d done a 180 on her original stance. I enjoyed the fact that she was allowing Jack to do whatever we pleased without interruption now.
“Wow. Thanks, Lis.” I heard a knocking at the door and sighed, standing up and making my way over.
“So, is everything okay now?” She asked as I started fumbling with my door locking mechanism. I huffed as I realised I was unable to do it one-handed.
“Hold on, Lis.” I propped my phone between my ear and my shoulder and finally managed to turn the lock, opening the door and seeing a delivery guy stood in front of me with a box in his hand. I raised my eyebrows.
“Clara Parsons?” He asked. I nodded slowly.
“Yeah, but I didn’t order anything.”
“It was sent for you. It’s already paid.” He handed me the food and smiled, turning and leaving. I furrowed my brows, unsure what had happened, but shutting the door and making my way back to the sofa.
“Right, where were we?” I asked Lisa, who had remained silent on the other end of the line. “Oh! Yeah, we’re fine. We talked for a couple of hours. He asked what had happened while he was gone and I explained it all: the good, the bad and the ugly.”
“Yeah, Alex said you looked a little, uh, different yesterday,” she said, hesitantly. I figured she’d been waiting to ask me about what had happened for a while, so I decided to be blunt about it.
“If by ‘different’ you mean, I look like I’ve lost about 15 pounds, yes, I do. I was being an overdramatic mess and I wasn’t eating properly, so of course I dropped a stupid amount of weight.” I was trying to be nonchalant as I opened the box that had been dropped off for me. I knew that was the best way to avoid a lecture and I’d already explained myself to Jack. I heard her sighing on the other end anyway.
“You should have told me how bad it was. I would have made him call you.”
“I’m not a pity case, Lisa. He had to want to speak to me. I harassed him for like a week after he stopped talking to me, and he never picked up once. I didn’t want anyone to force him into anything.” There was a pause as I finally managed to (single-handedly) open the container that had been delivered, revealing a stack of waffles with chocolate sauce. I frowned. I didn’t know if it was cute or disturbing. My phone buzzed against my ear. I clicked to put Lisa on speakerphone before viewing my notification.
@claraparapie feel happy, because I do, and just enjoy your waffles. I’d have brought them myself, but the band needs me. <3
@claraparapie PS. I totally bribed the delivery guy to call me as soon as he dropped your food off so I could be the creeper for once.
I laughed out loud as I saw Jack’s tweets, finally realising who had sent my delivery.
“You know that weight I lost? I think Jack’s trying to make me gain it all back in one weekend,” I told Lisa as she asked me what I was laughing about. “He sent me a huge stack of waffles.”
“You two were made for each other,” Lisa laughed. “I told you he was wrapped around your finger. You mention you want waffles and he gets them delivered like they were a dozen roses.” I felt a slight blush rising in my cheeks at her words, but grinned nonetheless.
“Some girls like flowers, I like food.” I grabbed the plastic knife and fork sent with my food and took a bite of the food, groaning happily. “Oh, my God. This is so good. Where does he find these places?!” I heard Lisa laughing lightly at my reaction.
“We went to a lot of breakfast places out there before we found one we liked. He probably bribed someone from his favourite place to deliver it for you.”
“Well, props to Jack, because he made my day. These are incredible.”
“How the fuck did you not eat for a month? Christ, Clara.”
“I didn’t have anyone showing up at my door with pizza and junk food.”
“Pizza is junk food.”
“Don’t bad mouth pizza, Lisa. Pizza is its own heavenly food group. The gods eat pizza, because it’s so good.” I could almost see Lisa rolling her eyes at me and grinned. I was enjoying joking about with her again, because God only knows I’d been miserable enough during our phone calls over the last couple of months. I was glad I wasn’t being the idiot I had been and finally becoming myself again.
“You’re such a dork.”

Notes