Dark affairs

"Jack! Really! This is getting ridiculous you know?"
I was sitting on the couch in Jack's apartment about to pull my hair out. I crossed my arms in front of my body and pouted, stomping my foot on the ground for good measure.
Jack had babied me these last few days claiming I needed to rest, he had been out and about, busy with organising his birthday parties but had refused to let me come with him or do anything really. The only time I had left the house was the day after I was released from hospital when Jack had packed me up in blankets as if it was December and not June and driven to his place where I had spent the last few days.

"The only thing that's ridiculous is you if you think I'm gonna let you jump and run around in the city when you are in recovery," my boyfriend huffs unamused, "not gonna happen."
He shakes his head stubbornly while he sits down beside me to put on his shoes. Because, you guessed it, he has to go and buy some more stuff for his party.

"But.., urgh, I wanted to get my hair done before the party and my nails, and my eyebrows and so on." I trail off but he just looks up at me and raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Why?" He sounds genuinely confused. Oh god! Boys can be so stupid sometimes!

"Why? Because I don't want to look like an old walrus for your birthday, especially with your sister coming and all your other old friends I have never met." I whine but he just erupts with laughter and childishly rolls around on the couch beside me and I weakly punch him to make him stop laughing. There is nothing funny about that!

"Hey you're the cutest and sexiest walrus I have ever seen, you don't need a makeover baby. And my sister May really is into big tusks and whiskers anyway, she'll love you." He stupidly giggles and I slap him on the back of his head but he doesn't even care and can't stop snickering.

"Ow, ow, okay, okay," he still tries to suppress his laughter and turns to me and grabs both my hands to stop me. "How about I quickly run my errands and then get us some food and we can cuddle on the couch and watch movies for the rest of the day and tomorrow when the people come here to set up for the party you go and have all the beauty treatments you want, how does that sound?" He ducks down to look into my face because I stubbornly avoid his eyes frowning.

That sounds amazing but I don't let him win that easily so I let myself fall back onto the couch dramatically and roll my eyes, "okay, whatever. Then leave me again. Go! But hurry up, will you?" I huff.
He instantly grins widely and jumps up to grab his keys and wallet. "Okay baby, I won't take too long, I promise." He presses a wet smooch to my cheek which makes me cringe and smile at the same time and is out the door in a flash.

I pull my legs up onto the couch and lie down fully, patting around for my phone to call my second favourite human that I hadn't spoken to, since the day I got released.
I press Alex's contact.
"M'ello" He sounds tired when he answers his phone after the third ring, I know that he is always really exhausted when he returns from tour and likes to just rest and sleep for a while but it's been six days!
"Hey Alex, just calling to see how you are, we haven't spoken at all this week." I greet happily.

"What do you want Mickey?" He asks with a flat voice.

What? I'm taken aback. Why is he being an ass? What have I done? It shows that I'm back to my normal self when my anger flares up immediately.
"Oh, you know, I just wanted to thank you for checking how I was this week. It was very caring of you to be so concerned about my wellbeing." I retort my voice dripping with sarcasm as he hadn't tried to contact me nor Jack the whole time.

"Mickey, I'm sorry but..." he tries but I cut him off.

"Well, that's the point Gaskarth, you're not! If you were sorry you would have called. If you would be a friend you would care. But obviously you don't. So don't worry there is nothing that I wanted other than having a chat with a friend but that's apparently too much to ask, sorry for disturbing you."
I want to slam down the phone but I stay on the line to hear what he has to say but at first it is just a frustrated groan and some shuffling until he replies with a hoarse voice. "You have no idea what shit I'm going through at the moment Mickey, so don't make this even harder for me. I'm sorry I haven't called but I just can't deal with you right now. I'm sorry, I truly am. Bye." With that he just ends the call.
I'm dumbfounded. What's wrong? He has never hung up on me like that! What is going on with him? Does he fight with Lisa again? Is he mad at me because of that? How is this my fault? I don't get it.
I sit there and shake my head. His whole behaviour these last two weeks has been off.
I consider calling him again and demanding an explanation but I don't want to risk him getting even more angry with me.

I suddenly feel very sad and lonely and as Jack's not here to comfort me I pat the space beside me and lightly whistle to get Max's attention who was sleeping in his doggy bed. Immediately his ears perk up and his short tail wiggles. I coo at him and he comes running and jumps into my lap. I hold him close to my chest and we cuddle back into the blankets. I absentmindedly run my fingers through his soft fur as I replay the conversation in my head. I decide I will let it be for now but will try and corner Alex when he shows up to Jack's birthday party tomorrow. I want to know what's going on!

Jack returns a couple of hours later arms filled with Chinese take away bags and we have a lovely evening on the couch, making a huge mess when feeding each other using chopsticks and generally just joking and giggling like teenagers.

The next day Jack finally deems me healthy enough to let me go out and I decide that I have been locked up inside for too long to spend the whole day sitting around in beauty parlours. So I change my plans and take Max to the park as Jack is busy supervising the party setup.
I take a foldable chair with me and get comfortable on one of the large lawn areas and just watch Max play with every dog that is running around here. I have brought a book and water and snacks for both me and my dog so we stay until the early afternoon, when I slowly pack up and walk back to the car, feeling content and recharged with sunshine and fresh air. I stop by the gallery and pick up the now framed Blink182 tour poster for Jack before I go home to my place to get ready for the party tonight.

I wonder what will await me on this weekend full of celebrations. Tonight he will host his guests in his apartment and tomorrow his club The Riff would be closed for the public to have his birthday party with all of his friends and acquaintances. I believe not even Jack knows how many people will show up. There were no formal invitations, he had just kind of put the word out claiming he likes the aspect of surprise.
Well, there is a not so pleasant surprise for me when I find out that the dress I planned to wear has a huge wine stain on the front. I search through my closet in desperation only to realise I'm out of options as all my other dresses are ridiculous failed purchases because I thought I would look good in it or because they were on sale and I didn't even try them on in the shop.
So I decide on my newest jeans and a nice blouse and hope everybody would go with smart casual as well.
I pack a few clothes for the next days to take to Jack's when I get a text from him telling me to hurry up because the first guests were arriving and he wanted me there with him to introduce me to his friends.
I grab the wrapped present under one arm and Max under the other and hurry off to a weekend filled with party, probably too much alcohol but hopefully no more bad surprises.

When I arrive Jack grabs me and pulls me away immediately into the kitchen where there is a tall and skinny dark haired girl leaning against the counter casually talking to Mac, Jacks guitar tech.

I look her up and down and realise how similar she looks to Jack and just then my boyfriend calls out to her, "So May, to satisfy your curiosity, this is Mickey, my girlfriend," he holds me by my forearms pushing me towards her, "Mickey this is my big sis, May." He says with a huge grin on his face.
He seems all giddy and hyper like a little boy on Christmas. I had no time to prepare myself for this encounter and I probably look all flustered from hurrying over and she gives me a judgemental look before it changes into a smile as she stretches out her hand towards me.

"Hey, I'm May, lovely to meet you, I like you already, all of Jack's former girlfriends were complete bimbos, you're the first normal girl he has ever introduced to me." She states bluntly.
I shake her hand and smile back, silently thanking the universe for the decision to skip all the beauty treatments and for dressing casual. "So glad to finally meet you May, I'm Mickey. I will try my best to get your approval tonight" I joke.

Jack pushes himself between us throwing his arms over both our shoulders pulling us to his sides.
"See Mickey" he beams, "I told you May would like you, even if you look like a walrus." He giggles.
"JACK!" May and I scream at the same time then we both slap his head. He fakes hurt and May holds up her hand for a high five to me. "That's my gurl! " She jokes and the ice is broken and we fall into light conversation as the group of people in the kitchen slowly grows.

Jack is all occupied in his roll as host opening the door and greeting the newcomers. I am pleased to see that I know a lot of the guests as apart from Jack's old High School friends most of the people arriving work in the music business.

I am standing at the tables that are stacked with food contemplating what to get, Jack went all overboard with the catering, when two long arms snake around my waist from behind.
"Can I get my present now?" He whispers in my ear.
"No, Jack! Your birthday isn't until midnight." I frown playfully but still lean back against his chest.
He looks down at me with a ridiculous pout but barely able to stop his grin, "but...but pleeeaaase."
He nuzzles his face in the crook of my neck and I pull up my shoulders giggling because his beard tickles like crazy. "No!"
"But I wanna know what you got me, it looks like a picture frame. Did you get my portrait painted? I could hang it in the hallway, like those rich people in their castles and then when I'm old I'll have all my children and ancestors added into a gallery. 'The Barakats'" Jack babbles on excitedly.

I turn around looking at him pointedly.
"Jack, are you already drunk?"

"Noooo! But I wanna know what you got me!" He whines.
My god this guy acts like a five year old not someone who will turn 28 in a few hours.
But I can't say no to these huge glossy eyes so I sigh in defeat and pull him to the door where I left the present when I came in. He cheers in victory and grabs the package from my hands and starts ripping off the beautiful wrapping paper carelessly. I swear I could have used newspaper and he wouldn't even have noticed.

When he finally frees his present he holds the frame at arms length and blinks at it a few times startled.
For a moment I fear he thinks it's stupid but then he stammers. "That's...but...that's ...I was there. That's the concert I went to. How..." he looks back and forth from the poster to me for an answer.

I smile and shake my head at how ridiculous he acts, "I know baby, you told me that this was the night you realised you wanted to be a rock star, and you made it. So..." I hugged him and pecked his lips, "Happy birthday Jacky, I love you."

I didn't think his grin could get any bigger when he hugs me back, with one arm because he wouldn't let go of the poster frame and kisses my face all over. "Wow, Mickey, thank you so much. I love you too. This is so great! I can't believe you remembered." He turns around and looks for Rian in the crowd. He spots him standing with Cass at the fire place and runs over. He shows off his present exclaiming, "I was there!" to all the bystanders and watches with satisfaction as everybody duly admires his present.

Notes

Okay, my lovelies. We are building up to the final chapters now! There won't be many more until this story comes to and end and probably an epilogue. I don't want to drag it out because I feel we have lost momentum a bit.
So.... these are the last rounds... if you want to ride with us get on board the roller coaster and hold on tight. this ride is a wild one ;))