You put your arms around me
And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go
You put your arms around me and I'm home

When I dreamed of being engaged, I admit that I thought I’d get to spend a bit more one on one time with my man before we’d have to leave our ‘post-engagement bliss’ or whatever. You know, soak in the in between stage of being more than just boyfriend/girlfriend but not quite husband and wife. And in my more erotic fantasies, we’d spend most of this time making sweet, steamy love before eventually returning to our everyday lives while, of course, simultaneously planning our upcoming wedding.

Needless to say when I came up with this ‘dream’ of mine, I didn’t factor in that I’d end up with a rockstar.

...well...okay, Jack would never consider himself a rockstar, but in the pop punk world, he and the rest of All Time Low were damn close to it. Ever since they’d released Don’t Panic!, their fans had practically tripled overnight and suddenly the boys were in high demand, selling out places they never dreamed of.

This new rise in fame only escalated even more when Billie Joe (yes, that Billie Joe) asked them to open for Green Day’s European tour, and of course they said yes. I mean, who wouldn’t? It was an opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to play in sold out stadiums to thousands upon thousands of potentially future fans. I know I would’ve said yes in a heartbeat.

The only catch with this whole tour was it started in a mere two weeks. This meant Jack would have to get his butt on a plane to meet up with the guys like, yesterday, in order to work out their opening setlist and get all the technical stuff worked out and such.

“I’m so sorry we couldn’t spend more time together, babe.” Jack apologized profusely for what felt like the thousandth time.

I rolled my eyes, tired of hearing it. I understood why they said yes, and never did I feel jaded or hurt from his decision. “It’s fine...besides, I’ve got a tour of my own I’ve gotta start preparing for, remember?”

Jack slowly nodded, the guilt only subsiding somewhat. “Oh, right. That tour with Twenty One Pilots, right?”

I nodded, mimicking Jack’s slow head movement. “Yep. It’s just a small tour. Like, four weeks, I think and it’s mostly small clubs, but it should be fun.”

“Club shows are a fuck ton of fun.” He agreed with a sigh, lugging his large suitcase over to the front door. “You know what else would be fun?” I raised a brow while I waited silently for his answer. “If you’d come with me on the Green Day tour.”

I let my shoulders fall, the temptation of Jack’s words most definitely appealing. Unfortunately, I’d already made some impossible to break plans, of which Jack was already aware. “You know I’d love to, but I--”

“I know.” Jack finished with a small pout, his eyes bashful as he peered at me. “I know Jo and the rest of Midnight are flying in to rehearse. Just thought there’s no harm in asking...”

“Believe me, I hate this as much as you do.” I told him bluntly, the reality that he would be leaving and I wouldn’t see him face to face for over a month suddenly sinking in. “Touring separately sucks.” I finished, my voice substantially smaller.

The corner of his lip lifted into a half smirk as he chuckled, clearly trying to lighten the mood. “Got that right.”

“How do Cass and Rian do this?” I added, completely in awe over our friend’s capability to keep up a long distance relationship for as long as they had. Personally, I’d always felt like I was going crazy whenever Jack was on tour and I couldn’t go. Even when I was a bit on the not-sane side, I still felt safer with Jack around. And now, now we were engaged. We were supposed to be closer than ever, yet thanks to these stupid tours we were going to be worlds apart.

“Lots of cybersex.” Jack replied with a simple shrug, as if it were obvious.

I groaned, not understanding how something like cybersex could fill the void of being hundreds of thousands of miles apart. “Jack, I’m serious...”

“Okay, okay...” He backpedaled, taking my shoulders and giving them a soft, reassuring squeeze. “I think Rian once told me that he doesn’t try to think of it as long distance. So what if he’s in New York and she’s in California? Or in Paris? Sydney? It doesn’t matter. They still talk for days, they still skype and text each other like crazy. And, when possible, they visit each other on tour and proceed to make the rest of us feel awkward as hell when we can hear them banging in the storage closet backstage.”

“We’ve already pretty much done that, minus the banging backstage--”

“Yet--” Jack added with a quick eyebrow wag.

Ignoring his rude interruption, I looked up at him as I stubbornly finished, the worry and fear beginning to bubble inside of me. “Jack, we already talk all the time when one of us is away, and it doesn’t make the fact that you’re not right next to me hurt any less.” I sucked in a sharp breath, my voice barely above a whisper as I admitted frankly, “What if I can’t do this?”

“What if you--” Jack began, cutting himself off as his face scrunched up at the thought. I just stared back, knowing how crazy I sounded but still unable to shake the thought. I’d been apart from Jack before but things had been different before. I was already paranoid before and now, post accident, post crazy, I really was afraid of how I’d react to being apart for so long. “Sally, of course you can do this. I’ll only be gone a few days before Jo and the guys get here. After that you’ll be too busy rocking out to even notice I was gone.”

I stared up at him. “Yeah, right.”

“Babe, I’m serious. This will be good for us, I think. One last hurrah on our own before we tie the knot and you get sick of my ugly ass.” Jack pulled me in for a tight hug, resting his head against my shoulder for a second or two before he released me. “You’ll be okay. Call me any time, day or night. I don’t care about the fucking time zones. If my girl needs me, even if you just need to hear my voice, I’ll pick up. I promise.”

I nodded quickly, realizing that any doubts I was having over these separate tours wasn’t going to stop either one from happening. I was just being stupid, being worried over the distance like that. Maybe he was right. Maybe it could be good for us. I glanced down at my feet for a second before calmly responding, “Yeah, okay...”

He eyed me for a second. “You are okay, right? No...uh,” He cleared his throat. “...hallucinations?”

“No. Just you and me.” I muttered, thanking God that I’d gotten that under control. If I still had to deal with those taunting voices telling me all sorts of untrue, torturous things, there was no way in hell I’d let Jack go.

He gave a relieved smile. “Good...and if you do see anything--”

“I’ll call the doctor right away.” I finished, having had this very thing drilled into my head by not only Jack, but practically every person I knew. Madison. My parents. Cass. Everyone. I knew it was out of love, for good reason. I gave a small smile. “I know, Jack.”

“Sally...” He began, his thick brows up as he eyed me with unsure orbs.

“Jack...” I countered, shooting up my own, thinner brows with equal stubbornness. “You’re right. I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.” I pulled his head towards me in a quick, but heated kiss. “See?” As I released my grip, Jack pulled back, his eyes in a momentary haze I swear he was almost cross eyed. “Uh...babe?”

“More please.” He muttered, puckering his lips like a child.

I laughed but still complied, leaning forward once more to kiss my fiancee. It was just as our lips grazed together, barely touching that he shocked me, pushing me towards him in a firey kiss that left me completely breathless. I’m talking hair a mess, hands roaming every-which-way kind of making out. We continued kissing shamelessly in our front room for a good minute or two before annoyingly, Jack’s phone buzzed, indicating that the ride he had arranged to the airport had arrived.

I pushed away, lips chapped and sure to be cherry red from all the face sucking, but I still willed myself to glance out the window, not giving a shit what the driver of said ride might think of my disheveled appearance. Jack peered over my shoulder, cursing out loud. “Fuck, he’s early...”

I jokingly glared daggers towards the general direction of the poor man who was just doing his job. “Damn. And things were just getting interesting, too.”

Jack sighed heavily, glancing down at his hardened member unmistakably pressing against his dark skinny jeans. “Tell me about it.” He muttered before narrowing his eyes back down at his phone. I could tell he was anxious to buy just a couple more minutes. “Uh...” He glanced over his shoulder towards the car waiting out front, then back towards me. Then back down at his pants. “Aw, fuck it, I’ll get the next flight.”

Notes

Opening lyrics are from "Arms" by Christina Perri.

Um...this one's short and sweet :) Before possible drama? Bwwahahaha



...or not. Maybe I'll be nice. After all, I've put you guys through a lot...

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