Jack and I were walking hand in hand after having quite a quick dinner. It was only ten thirty, meaning that we still had just over three hours left together. Of course, we had more than enough time to hang out in the restaurant the entire time, but Jack insisted that he still wanted to take me on a walk. I didn’t know why he wanted to do so, as it was really cold outside. He wasn’t wearing a proper jacket, and my legs were already getting frostbite without the wind having to blow. I told him that we were probably going to be worse off staying out in the cold so long and that it was better for us to go somewhere else where it was nice and warm. But, no. Jack needed to take that walk.

Who was I to stop him when he was being so persistent?

So, out we went, torturing our bodies by making them endure freezing temperatures. It really wasn’t all too great. If it weren’t for me really enjoying Jack’s company and also wanting him to be happy that he came to visit me, I would have made him turn around and bring me somewhere warm. Not only was I cold, but the shoes I was wearing weren’t exactly made for walking long distances. I could barely wear them for a couple of hours, let alone walk in them for an hour.

But, eventually, he brought me to a small square and stopped in the middle of it. I nearly walked into him since he stopped so abruptly. As we just stood there for a little while, I took my time to look around. There were tall buildings around us from the city, but they had decided to plant a couple of trees right in this area. They were the only pieces of nature, surrounded by bricks and a small fence, and yet they still had decided to illuminate the branches with fairy lights. As beautiful as it looked with the dark night sky and the gray backdrop of the offices, I couldn’t help but think it was ironic. It was like they were attempting to compensate for an entire city just by placing eight trees in this place.

When I went to look at Jack to ask him what he thought, I didn’t even get the chance to open my mouth. His lips were pressed firmly onto mine as soon as we made eye contact. Turned out that he was watching me the entire time while I was taking in my surroundings. It was a perfect cliché movie moment: the warm light illuminating a couple as they were borderline making out in the middle of a city, neither of them bothered about any of the other people like the rest of the world didn’t matter.

Eventually, Jack broke away and rested his forehead against mine. He opened his eyes slower and later than mine, his hot breath hitting my cheek every time he breathed out. “Are you still sure about this all?” he asked, looking me right in the eyes,

“Sure about what?” I returned, bringing my hands up to his neck and placing them gingerly close to the base of his head so my thumbs were on his jawline and my forefingers just behind his ears.

He shrugged, not breaking away any contact we had. “You know, us.”

“Do you mean giving us a second chance?” I wondered out loud, not knowing where the question was coming from. Was he having doubts? Did he think it was all a mistake? It would have been a dick move to ask me just to turn it all down in the end.

“Yeah, that, I guess, and-- yeah, that.” Instead of nodding, he shook his head as if he was telling himself not to say something, scolding himself for even thinking about whatever was going through his mind

“I will never regret any of this,” I stressed, moving my thumbs along his cheeks and keeping the rest of my fingers in place. To prove what I was saying was true, I briefly let our lips connect. I only poured love into it, not any passion; I didn’t need him thinking that I was only doing this because I felt like I needed to.

“Good,” he mumbled right after I had ended our kiss, only for him to start it up again. This time it wasn’t brief and it resembled our first kiss more closely. It was still PG, but I knew exactly where it was heading.

As we stood there, our lips still not having left each other, I heard a gasp coming somewhere from my right. It wasn’t too close, but also not far enough for me not to realize that the person had stopped in the rest of the crowd. I hoped it wasn’t because of what Jack and I were doing, that it was just something somebody else said or something they saw on their phone. But our luck wasn’t going to stretch that far.

“Oh my god,” the same person that had gasped was now saying in a high-pitched voice, “that’s Jack from All Time Low.”

I completely expected Jack to stop there and look at who had recognized him, but he didn’t even flinch. Maybe he was too into the moment that he couldn’t hear. I was just cursed by the fact that I had become a bit self-conscious due to the gasp, or else I would have been in the same situation as him.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not, Steph,” another female voice groaned, “why the hell would he be in Canada right now anyway? Not every guy that has red in his hair is Jack Barakat.”

“But I swear to god that is him!” The first person argued, refusing to move. “Otherwise it’s a very good lookalike. Wait… is that Ireland? Oh my god. Wasn’t her brother’s band playing with Pierce the Veil tonight?”

“Her brother died, you idiot, I’m pretty sure you’re just hallucinating.”

“Oh, wait, shit, yeah. But wasn’t she in the band now or something? I don’t know exactly what it’s all about, but still. This is adding up way too much. That’s them.”

“Fuck, I think you’re right,” the friend finally confessed, also now seeing exactly what the initial girl was freaking out about.

This seemed to excite said girl. “We have to go say hi!”

“Dude, you can’t just impose on something like this!”

“Ugh, I know! Maybe I can casually swoop in? Do you think he’s going to propose here? Oh my god, that would be so awesome. We would actually witness it! I’m so excited! We need to film this!”

I didn’t want to stop them from having their fun, but knowing how easily everybody got their phones out nowadays, they probably were already recording us. Honestly, I didn’t need somebody having a video of me kissing my boyfriend. That was personal stuff. It was a bit hypocritical to say since we were standing in a public space, but the video could be put up on the internet and used for really wrong reasons.

I contemplated telling Jack about the two girls, but was afraid that it was going to kill the mood. So, I came up with a much easier solution: making it head faster into the direction it was already heading.

“How about we go to your hotel room?” I suggested as I bit my lip subtly to try and be a little seductive.

“I thought you’d never ask.” He pulled away from me, however I was sure to stay close to him. If we made it seem like we were done, they would come up to us. Normally, I wouldn’t mind fans coming up, but this was different. We only had a couple of hours and I hadn’t seen him in weeks and wasn’t going to see him for a few more. Excuse me for being a little selfish.

“Come on, hop onto my back. That way you don’t have to walk in those painful shoes anymore.” Jack stood in front of me and held his hands out by his sides to get hold of my thighs. I put my hands on his shoulders and jumped up, happy that he managed to catch me without dropping me.

“You’re like a warm jacket,” he whispered to me before making his next statement a little more publically announced. “Next stop, a place that’s nice and warm!”

Luckily we walked into the opposite direction of where the fans were standing, or else this would have still managed to turn out horribly.

----

I rolled off Jack so that I was lying beside him on my stomach. The duvet on the bed had long been crumpled up in multiple places, no longer as neat as it had been when we just came in. As nice as it was to be in a proper bed, it wasn’t exactly the thing I was enjoying the most. I had had no trouble being turned on by Jack as soon as we had entered his hotel room and he had me pushed up against the wall. In no time our clothes had been discarded and things started escalating further on the bed. Just as expected, Jack didn’t last long, but the second time around he was already doing a little better and managed to get me off as well by using a lot of foreplay and extra stimulation.

I was still catching my breath as I was laying there, my arms around a pillow and my head to the side. Maybe this was what he meant with giving me the best gift ever, because it felt so fucking good. I was so out of breath and so sweaty, that had to mean something. However, just as I thought we were completely done, Jack climbed on top of me so he was sitting on my lower back.

He answered my unspoken question without me having to ask. “You said your back was hurting from not being used to carrying a guitar around, let me help with that.”

He started at my lower back, not far from where he was sitting, rubbing his hands across my skin with a little pressure. Slowly but surely, he made his way up my spine, trying to get out any knots I had. I closed my eyes and let myself relax completely, succumbing to his touch and enjoying it. Although he wasn’t anything like a masseuse, he still managed to make the pain in my back fade away a little. I had completely forgotten what it felt like without the constant aching.

But then he stopped. Right just as he got between my shoulder blades, he stopped.

I wanted to whine out and make him go back to what he was doing, encouraging him that he was doing a great job, but his fingers already started tracing something at the nape of my neck. It wasn’t the same comforting touch, it was more like he was trying his best not to touch me and so was accidentally tickling me instead. It was like he was touching something fragile.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo here as well,” he whispered, his fingers still tracing what I now remembered was the two birds and the lyrics.

“I got it at the same time as the one on my arm,” I replied, my voice just a little quieter than his.

“It’s also for Cam, right?” He slowly removed his fingers and put his hands just underneath my shoulders instead to keep himself upright.

With my eyes still closed, I hummed in response. The answer was more than enough, it didn’t need more explanation. I could go into detail about why I got it and what it all meant, but I didn’t feel like it. It already seemed obvious enough to me. Plus, although tattoos were to express yourself, some stuff could be kept to yourself or be left for other people to figure out if they so desperately wanted to know.

And Jack didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t elaborate. He let one of his hands go down to my chin and carefully turned my head a little further and a bit upwards so that he could start kissing me. I followed his touch along with the sweet movements of his lips. Every single time he opened his mouth a little, he added more force. The only way I was able to keep up was from his hand still giving my neck a little extra support. He subtly added his tongue to test how far I was going to let him go. I would have turned onto my back to make it easier on both of us and continue without any awkward headbutting or muscle pulling, but Jack’s weight on my back stopped me from trying.

As he pushed himself up a little so he was hovering over me instead of expecting me to carry all his weight, his free hand started roaming around on my back again, slowly but surely coming down to my ass. But that wasn’t where he stopped. After resting there for a little while, his hand continued to go south, eventually coming to my thigh. From there, he started working inwards until he reached my most intimate place. I let a small gasp into the kiss when I felt the contact, shuffling my legs a small amount to give him more access. He started moving his fingers, trying to find the location of everything from this different angle, making my heart rate quicken even further.

The kiss broke for a short while, Jack’s breath still against my cheek as he found exactly where to make me feel good. “I love you,” he breathed out, his own state having gone from composed to short-winded.

I tried to say it back, but only a quiet moan came out. I had no clue how he did it, but he always managed to turn me into a mess as soon as he started. He had complete power over me, yet he didn’t abuse it. With the pleasure being too good to handle, I buried my face into the pillow again, hoping Jack would continue doing the one thing only he could do to me.

But, instead, he stopped completely. His hand was removed and his presence wasn’t as close to me anymore. I whined out in annoyance, wanting to know why he would stop just as things were getting good. He had to know better than to stop at a moment like this. However, he chuckled and stayed away for a little bit. I was about to sit up and ask him what he was doing, when he was suddenly above me again, his body pressed against mine.

He made me crane my neck again so that our lips could restart the fiery kiss. I waited for him to reach down and make me feel the warm and tingling sensation building up again, but when he continued without moving an inch, I contemplated raising my body a little to let myself find the ecstasy again. And I did, I just never got to the second step. I brushed up against him with my ass, making him let out a staggering groan.

“Really? I move to go put on a condom and this is how you punish me?” He grumbled and bit my bottom lip gently. This was a different side of Jack showing through. He was more dominant than usual, however I knew that he wouldn’t go too far without my consent. Maybe it was the position we were in that was making him act this way, but I didn’t mind it at all. I was already under his spell.

I squirmed around, not sure what to do anymore. A part of me wanted to wait it out while another part of me was asking to do it again, only this time on purpose. “Please, Jack, just fucking…”

Before I could find the breath to finish my sentence, he was focusing on lining up with me. When he finally seemed satisfied with his placement, he made our lips meet again as he thrust in. I moaned a little louder, grabbing a fistfull of the duvet in either hand. Jack was rocking back and forth above me, making me feel so many different sensations. This was different from the few things we had done, and once again it was making me go crazy. It was way too great for words.

He kept our lips attached most of the time, occasionally mumbling profanities into my skin. I never thought not being able to have eye contact was going to make me feel remotely good, but this was the best I had felt the entire night. As uncomfortable as holding my neck up was, it was all worth it. The prickling feeling inside me kept growing as a nice calm glow was spreading out simultaneously.

“How the fuck are you lasting so long?” Jack groaned as he was having a hard time himself. His arms were getting shaky, and not just from having to hold himself up the entire time.

All his movements were getting sloppier, causing him to make the decision of letting go of my head. As I was allowed to press the side of my head into the pillows again, he lowered himself onto his elbows, but it wasn’t going to make him last longer. It did, however, make me last shorter. The closer angle made him enter me in a slightly different way, causing sparks to fly throughout me.

The sparks turned into a full blown firework and I quickly turned my head so that I could bite down on the pillowcase and my legs started quivering. If it weren’t for the fabric, I might have made a noise loud enough for people in the neighboring room to hear, something I never did. My eyes were shut tightly as I got the full experience of the pleasure I got to feel on multiple occasions.

Jack seemed surprised by my sudden change, still going for a little while. He seemed less focused without having to try and hold back the entire time, enjoying the feeling while he still could. Eventually, he released as well and collapsed on top of me, covering my entire panting body.

Before crushing me, he was the one to roll off this time, falling on the side of the mattress that hadn’t been used. He let out a deep breath, trying to catch his breath just like I was. I moved onto my back, making me lie right next to him with his arm right underneath my head.

“Holy fuck.” He stared up at the ceiling as he was still calming down.

“You can say that, alright.” I nodded and snuggled into him further, my breathing already stabilizing.

“Can we do this again sometime?”

“I wouldn’t complain if we did.” I giggled and turned to look at him. When he did the same, I couldn’t help but smile and plant my lips against his in a chaste kiss.

“Are you asking to go again right now?” His eyes widened and I could feel his heartbeat picking up speed already, getting prepared for more physical activity.

I shook my head with a grin. “I don’t think that would turn out all too well. I do, however, support the idea of taking a shower since I’m sweatier than I am after playing up on stage.”

“I think we can arrange that.” Jack smirked back, running his hand through the hair I was still trying to grow out. But then his smile dropped. “Wait, what time did you have to be back again?”

“Two am, right?” I frowned back.

He sat up to check the bedside clock. “It’s already quarter past one. Taking that shower now might really not be a bad thing to do.”

“Ugh,” I groaned and got up as well, “I don’t wanna go yet!”

“I also don’t want you to, but I also don’t want to be the one to blame for you being late. I know for a fact that I will get all the blame.”

“Ok, fine.” I sighed and started getting out of bed, already missing the long cuddle session I was still really hoping on getting. But Jack was right. We needed at least twenty minutes to walk back to the bus, and I wasn’t going to be walking fast with those heels I had.

And then a miracle happened. My phone started ringing on the bedside table, Colton’s name showing up on my screen. At first, I thought it was him coming to remind me that I had to be back soon, and I was ready to rage at him, but it was only good news. Well, good wasn’t the right word, but it was the way it felt to me at the time.

“Oh, wow, I was actually expecting you to ignore this call completely,” Colton gasped as I answered the phone, “or are you guys humping each other’s brains out while I’m speaking?”

“Do you really think I’d stoop that low?” I rolled my eyes while Jack signaled that he was going to turn on the shower already. I gave him a thumbs up, knowing that I needed to jump in right after the call.

“Actually, yes,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But that’s not why I’m calling. I’m here to tell you that bus call’s been pushed back to four am. Pierce’s bus broke down so we’re staying behind. We’re giving them two hours and if it can’t be fixed by the bus drivers by then, they’re coming with us. So you have two hours more to fuck like rabbits.”

“I’m not that kind of girl, Colton,” I laughed as I got off the bed, way more excited than before, “but thanks for letting me know.”

I hung up without a goodbye or letting him say anything else, and rushed over to the bathroom. Jack turned around, having just tested the temperature of the water and raised his eyebrow. If I hadn’t been so naked, I would have jumped up and down in excitement.

“Guess who’s getting to stay two hours longer due to the other bus breaking down!” I squealed, running up to him.

“Fuck, yes! Now I still get to give you that room service breakfast I promised.” He smirked, more amused by my behavior than the actual comment.

----

Just like I had hoped for, I was wearing my pajama pants along with one of Jack’s T-shirts. Rather than having to walk with my painful heels, Jack made me put on a pair of his short socks that were way too large for me and carried me all the way on his back. We had had ordered nearly all possible breakfast items on the menu and tried our best to eat it all in the remaining time we had. So, practically our date had consisted of us constantly stuffing our mouths with food with a little sex break in between.

The time went past too quickly, but I knew there was no other way for it to end than Jack and I having to part again. He had to go to the UK to start tour and I had to keep playing shows for the next couple of nights. There was no way for us to spend more time together. And this wasn’t going to be the only time this was going to happen. We were lucky now, but there was a high chance that we were going to have to go months without seeing each other. I wasn’t looking forward to that.

When we finally got to the parking lot where the two buses were, Jack put me down on the floor despite me not wearing any shoes. Pierce The Veil’s bus was standing somewhere to the side, sadly not having been able to be fixed without a mechanic, but our bus was ready to go. The lights were on inside, the door was open, and all the band members from the two bands were already somewhere in the vehicle.

Jack hugged me close to his chest and sighed. “Please, come visit me during the EU tour.”

“You know I can’t,” I said despite it being muffled by the shirt he was wearing. He had asked me multiple times already, and every single time I turned him down. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, because I really did, it just wasn’t going to work out with our schedules.

“But Lisa is even coming! Can’t you just find a few days?” He pleaded and I could hear the pout in his voice.

“I really want to, but I can’t just leave while we’re trying to write songs. It will only be a month and we’ll get to go on vacation right after. We can definitely hold out that long.” I compromised. I couldn’t just leave my boys while we were trying to work out the future of the band. If I wanted to be part of it, I actually needed to take initiative.

“Ok, fine,” he breathed out loudly and slowly let me go. “I’ll miss you, though.”

“And I will, of course, miss you too.” I tried smiling although he looked so sad. I caressed his cheeks with my hands and stretched out to kiss him. All I wanted to do was make sure he didn’t think I was saying I was busy just to keep him away. I, just like him, didn’t want to be apart for so long.

We stood there was a while longer until it was time for me to go. As much as I wanted to stay with him forever, it was going to have to happen. Nobody came out to tell us we had to say goodbyes. Instead, the engine of the bus turned on, and I knew it was them signaling me that I needed to get my ass inside or they were going to leave without me. So, Jack and I said I final goodbyes, sharing one last kiss.

“Don’t wait until we leave,” I told him before I actually started walking up to the bus, “just go back now, or else you won’t get any sleep anymore.”

“I’ll wait until you get on the bus, ok?” He let go of my hands one by one.

I gave him a small nod and was the one to start walking away. Just before I went up the steps, I waved to him again. He waved back and I closed the door behind me. I greeted the driver before walking into the front lounge. Both my band and Pierce The Veil were there, sitting very uncomfortably on the two couches now that one side wasn’t pulled out. They didn’t notice me at first, allowing me to glance through one of the tinted windows and see Jack walking away like I had told him to. Only after that, did the seven guys notice my presence.

Carter stopped speaking in the middle of his sentence when his eyes fell on me. The entire place went quiet and I was staring back at all the eyes that were looking right back at me. My guys seemed like they wanted to know something, while the others were a little confused as to what was happening. Well, if it comforted them anything, I had no idea what was happening either.

But then Carter shot up from his seat and clumsily skipped over all the legs to get to me. He grabbed my left hand and looked closely at my ring before groaning. “Are you fucking kidding me!”

“What’s the verdict?” Charlie piped up, not being able to see what Carter was looking at.

John started laughing, clapping his hands together once, having been able to see what Carter was talking about since he was sitting closest to where I was standing. “Pay up, idiots.”

Carter, Colton, and Charlie groaned again while the bus started pulling up on the road. They got out their wallets and handed John twenty dollars each. I frowned, still not sure what was going on. When I looked and Vic, Jaime, Mike, and Tony for answers, they seemed just as lost as I was. The only thing that was obvious was that they had made a bet on something revolving around me.

“I was so sure that that asshole would propose! Why would he trick me like that!?” Carter whined and fell back onto the couch, his mood having been deflating completely.

“Excuse me?” I gasped and glared at them, but mostly him. “You guys can’t just-- what the fuck?” I then moved my stone cold gaze to John. “I thought you were better than this!”

John shrugged in response, happily pocketing the money he had just received. He was always against things like this, yet now he decided to join along. Well, he definitely had his priorities straight. Notice the sarcasm? I had expected Carter to do it, Charlie and Colton would easily go along for the fun, but John? Hell no.

I looked back at Carter again and started pushing my way to the bunks. “Maybe he did, but I said no. Now, that’s something to think about.”

This caused him to jump up again and rush after me, only he didn’t get as far as I did. While I was already at my bunk, putting my backpack in the junk bunk next to it, Carter was hit in the face by the door of a cabinet. We called it the ‘cursed cabinet’ since it just wouldn’t close and we had all been hit by it before. It just always chose the exact moment somebody was walking past to open whenever we were driving. This time Carter was the lucky one.

I could see him clutching his nose, and if I wasn’t mistaken this time it wasn’t just a bruise. There was actually some blood. Sighing, not wanting to just leave him like that, I grabbed a tampon from my toiletry bag and went up to him. I pried his hand away, getting a mean look from him, and stuffed the tampon up the side that was bleeding quite profusely.

“Because I feel a little bad for you, I will tell you that scenario did not happen.” I patted his shoulder in mock sympathy.

“You feel bad for me?” He raised an eyebrow. “You just stuck a tampon up my nose.”

“It’s either that or a shitload of tissues.” I challenged further and waited for him to say something back, but he stayed silent. To finish my business there, I turned to the Pierce The Veil guys. “I’m guessing these guys didn’t figure out any sleeping arrangements, since they’re idiots, as just proven. We have one spare bunk, two people can probably fit in the back lounge, and somebody can sleep here. The spare blankets and pillows are in said spare bunk. That is, if any of you are still planning on getting some sleep.”

They thanked me and started allocating who was going to go where. When that was all done, I decided it was time to go to bed or I was going to die during the show due to sleep deprivation. The hours spent with Jack were only starting to hit me now. “Well, I’m going to go to bed, so goodnight. And beware of the cursed cabinet.”

Notes

Super long chapter (over 5000 words) to make up for my shittiness at updating recently. I said two weeks, but it's one elongating. Let's see when I get this running smoothly again. So far I'm too busy with school and still have a few more weeks to go. I'm not sure how things are going to go next school year. I'm determined to finish this story!

Also, anybody getting any of the hints throughout this chapter and the last chapter? Huh? I never write anything without a reason ;) It's all connected, even stuff from the prequel.