Up Against the Wall {TABLE 2}
Summary: "I don’t set up shots, I just take them" -Adam E. { table} requested by 4evrendvrsayshi
Disclaimer: I own them. Also, Michael Jackson's still alive.
Being on tour with bands is great. It’s always great; shooting in a new city every night, being paid to take photos, eating out constantly, making new and amazing friends, rarely getting showers, and never knowing where he’ll be sleeping. Adam loves it. He especially loves being on tour with All Time Low, for more reasons than one. A few being their age, - it’s just under his own, so they get along great - their enthusiasm about any and everything, and, well, Jack.
"Hey, Adam," Jack greets me as I enter the bus. We're leaving Detroit and headed for Boston. It's almost a ten hour drive, and I've decided to endure it on Jack's bus.
"Hey," I reply breathlessly. Jack doesn't catch it and returns his attention to his iPhone. He's always on that thing. I pick up my camera from around my neck & adjust the settings a bit; the light's different on the bus. Alex and Rian are on the couch opposite Jack,
Zack asks, "Adam, did you get any good shots tonight?" He's probably the nicest to me, out of the four. Jack's polite, I guess, but he isn't friendly or nice or anything, not like he is with Alex.
I smirk and say jokingly, "I always get good shots, Merrick."
Zack chuckles and invites me to join him in a game of blackjack. I figure, why not?
-!-
We’re in Boston. The show’s going on now and I’m kneeling backstage, on Zack’s side, trying to catch a good shot of Jack. To go over to his side, I have to wait until Alex starts talking. Shots of people talking never turn out good. If I go now, I’ll probably miss an amazing picture.
Finally Alex goes, “Hey, fuckers! Are you having a good time?” I take my chance and jog around the amps, pausing to get a quick shot of Rian; he flips me off. I move on quickly, Zack’s already started the intro for Break Your Little Heart.
Jack catches me out of the corner of his eye & turns to see what the movement was. The camera’s already in front of my face. He smiles quickly before turning his attention back to guitar at his waist. I let myself gawk at Jack behind the lens, try to get in a few shots too. That is, after all, what I’m paid for.
“Good night, Boston!”
“You were all fucking sexy!” Jack shouts. I swear he glanced over at me, but brush it off.
“Nobody die on their way home, alright?” Zack laughs.
“We’ll come out to sign, guys!” Alex promises before he follows Jack and Zack off the right side of the stage. Danny and Alex Grieco come out to clean up the guitars and drum set. I offer to help, but Matt comes onstage and waves me off, saying he’ll help them. I shrug and head to the locker rooms. The guys should be in there. I walk in and a laugh escapes me. Rian & Alex are butt ass naked and Jack’s got only his Ravens jersey on. My stomach leaps and flips; I avert my eyes.
“Smile, guys!” I call, lifting the familiar camera to my face. Alex grabs his shampoo while Rian covers up with his razor bag. Jack just grabs. I grin to myself at how adorable Jack looks. He throws up the rock on sign as I switch to black and white and I take the photo with a click. Alex laughs once I drop the camera, grabbing a towel from behind him & wrapping it around his waist. Jack drops his arm and walks back to the showers. I hesitate on following him. Is that crossing a line? I’ve gotten shots of them in the shower before, but not alone, nor below the belt.
Alex breaks my train of thought, “Can you undo this?”
I turn to see him lifting the key necklace from his chest. Rian agrees as I let the camera fall again. Thank God for neck straps.
Rian grumbles, “Why don’t you just leave it on?”
“It’s silver, dumbass. It’ll rust if it gets wet,” Alex replies smartly. Rian rolls his eyes and mumbles something under his breath as Alex goes to his own individual shower stall.
“Where’s Zack?” I ask, realizing he’s not in the third shower.
“He already went out to sign,” Rian calls behind him as he takes the last stall. Deciding I don’t want to be around when Jack exits his shower - still naked, I’m sure - I head out to the bus to switch out my camera. This one takes better pictures outside.
Walking towards the merchandise table, I see Alex and Jack dancing amidst a crowd of fan girls. Their dancing is actually grinding to a bunch of squealing teens, but it still sends a pang through my stomach and down. I find Vince and he greets me warmly. I guess he’s pretty friendly too - even though I don’t think he likes that I call him Vince.
“Well, I’m done here,” he announces as he closes the last box of t-shirts. I’d taken a few pictures of his work. It was all very unexciting.
“Need help getting them to the bus?”
“Na, Danny and Matt will take them over with the equipment,” he explained. This was one of the last dates of the tour and usually I stick with the guys and take four thousand photos, but tonight I like wandering around. We prop ourselves up on a fold out table and watch the madness of the fans around the bands.
Rian ambles over a while later as the crowd’s dying down. I get a few good photos of him and Vince before Zack and Jack join us.
“Alexa is enjoying the attention . . . clearly,” he laughs as Alex gets a piggy back from some girl who looks too small to be able to carry him. We laugh and watch Alex mess around for a while longer before Matt comes along, telling us it’s time to go. It’s only a two hour drive to Albany, but Matt and the other managers want to get there by morning, so we can all have a day off. Well, the band related people can. I’ll be taking photos, as always.
As we all climb on the bus and fall into our respective bunks, I can’t help but let my mind wander back to the locker room; Jack being so damn adorable and naked. Resisting the urge to try and develop the photos now, I roll over and try to catch some sleep.
-!-
“Damn it, Jack! I’m tired!” Alex groans from his bunk across the tiny hall.
“I don’t care, Alexander! I need to talk to you,” Jack hisses back. I slide out of my bunk not so silently and Jack jumps about three feet. “Oh, hey,” he breathes.
“Hey,” I reply cautiously. “Everything okay?”
“Oh, yea . . . I just need to talk to Alex,” he finishes quickly.
“Uh, alright,” I blush a bit as Jack’s eyes travel down and I realize I’m only in my boxers. A nervous laugh slips out as I lunge for my drawer and pull out a pair of dark jeans. “I’m- Uh, I’m just gonna go . . . yea,” I stuttered my way out of the tiny hall and found myself breathless in the lounge with Zack smirking knowingly. “What?” I snapped.
“You know, you’re really bad at hiding that.”
“Well, at least I try,” I grumbled. It was too early for denial. Zack chuckled and passed me the box of cereal. “We’re in Albany,” he reminded me.
“I know,” I glared. He just grinned.
“We’ve got the whole day off. You do too, actually. Want to hang out with us?”
“I should develop some of my photos-“
“You can do that when we get home. Come on; you know you want to,” Zack grinned. I didn’t know what he was up to, but it could be interesting.
“Fine,” I growled, finishing off my cereal. I could hear Alex & Jack - arguing? - in hushed tones. The words were indistinguishable, but I was curious as to what Jack needed to talk to Alex so badly about.
Two hours later, Alex and Jack finally returned to the land of the living with Alex announcing, “We’re getting wasted today!” at the top of his lungs. Rian agreed quickly and so did Jack. Zack was clearly all for it, judging by the stupid grin filling his face.
-!-
Alex finally detached himself from Jack - they’d been dancing together for the last hour - and stumbled towards me. He was, as he’d wished, wasted.
“Hey!” Alex shouted, “You know who you are?”
“Alex, I believe the phrase is ‘you know who I am’?” I laughed; I was also wasted. We all were, actually.
“No! Do you know?! Who you are?!” he asked louder.
“I’m Adam?” I chanced, giggling like a madman.
“No, no, no, no,” Alex slung his arm around my neck, pulling me closer. “You see, you’re Andy; Andy Milonakis.”
I instantly choked on my own laughter. “Oh my God, Alex! The kid from MTV?!
“Dude! He’s not a kid! He’s got hormone issues, okay?!”
“Yea, he’s like thirty something,” Rian chimed in lazily among Alex’s rant. I only laughed harder and tears ran down my face as I looked to the ‘dance floor’, - which was really the square of foot space in the middle of the bus - Jack was dancing alone and I couldn’t decide if he looked hilarious or damn sexy. His arms were waving around above his head as he shook his hips, eyes closed and beer in hand. I laughed either way. Drinking does that to you.
“Hey,” Zack said, appearing at my side. “Go dance with him,” he said, nudging me towards Jack.
“No! Zack, I can’t! I mean, what if he doesn’t want to or he’d rather dance with Alex or-“
“Adam! Go fucking dance!” Rian snapped. I was hardly scared of Rian, but I let Zack push me towards Jack anyway. Deciding to forget that this was Jack, I let the alcohol - all the last seven hours worth of it - take control.
I slid my hands over Jack’s waist, pulling him close. Jack responded without opening his eyes. He dropped his arms around my neck, the cold beer bottle chilling my neck. Jack didn’t notice. He opened his eyes slightly and let the content smile on his lips grow. He liked dancing with me? Alex had Paramore’s new album on and it wasn’t exactly slow dancing music, but after drinking for seven hours you don’t feel like doing much else.
“Adam’s gay!” Alex was singing. Jack and I were too wrapped up in each other to notice it, but Zack did and he shut Alex up quickly, shoving him into the wall. I toyed with the hem of Jack’s shirt as Jack let Zack take the beer from his hands. Jack tucked his head into my shoulder, his breath hot against my neck. I shivered slightly and Jack’s grip around my neck tightened as he slid his cool fingers beneath the collar of my shirt. I breathed in his scent; his hair smelled like dull cinnamon. I wondered why.
When the disc was over Jack pulled away, whining about how it was hot and pulling his t-shirt off. No one argued, especially me. I heard Zack laugh as I watched Jack moving around shirtless, fanning himself off.
“Andy!” Alex shouted, spinning around to face him.
“Uh, what?”
“You need to be sent home,” he said seriously.
“. . . Why?”
“You don’t seem happy here!” he shouted in my face. I stumbled back a few steps and bumped into Jack. He was slipping his shoes off.
“Alex, it’s hot in here,” he whined. Alex shrugged and turned around, walking off. Rian motioned me over and I joined him on the couch. We finished a beer together.
“Where’d Jack go?” Alex asked a while later. Rian shrugged, Zack looked to me, and I just blinked. Where did Jack go?
“I’ll go him,” I mumbled. My drunken stupor was wearing out, but, apparently, I still couldn’t talk.
The bus wasn’t huge, but I didn’t see Jack anywhere on my first round. Zack joined me on my third pass through the lounge and we finally found him passed out, naked, in the fridge. All the drinks were piled up on the counter beside and Zack just thought it was hilarious. I really, really wanted to get a photo of this perfect moment.
“Stay here,” I ordered Zack, praying Jack wouldn’t wake up just yet.
“Why?” he hissed back.
“I can’t take it of just Jack; that’d be weird.”
“Yea, and this isn’t weird at all,” he laughed as I dashed back to get my camera and returned quickly. Zack was standing, shirt in his hand, holding himself up against the fridge. He was close to passing out. “Just- Look at Jack,” I ordering, bringing the camera to shield my face.
“I can’t believe he did this,” Zack chuckled just before I snapped the photo.
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
“No problem, bro. Ya know, Alex told me he likes you too.”
My heart stopped. “W- What?”
“You heard me,” he grumbled, fumbling his way back to the bunks. I blinked after him a few times before putting my camera down beside the drinks. I pulled open the fridge door softly. If Jack stayed in there, he’d probably freeze.
“Jack, Jack, Jack,” I whispered, pulling him out and, kind of, falling over. He landed with me, still snoring. The fuck? “Jack,” I whispered a bit louder.
“Huh?! Whas goin’ on?!”
“Shh, shh, it’s just me,” I assured him. Was it assurance that it was me? Either way, he calmed down.
“I’m tired, Adam,”
“Come on, then; let’s go to bed.”
“No- No, I’m tired of- Just . . . tell me, tomorrow, to tell you.”
“To tell me what?”
“I can’t- Righ’ now. I will tomorrow.”
“Alright, here; put your boxers on before you go to bed.”
“Okay. Night, Adam,” Jack whispered, kissing my cheek and crawling back to the bunks.
-!-
Fuck, fuck, fuck! I hate my stupid memory right now. The only damn things I remember from last night are: Jack complained about being hot, told me to tell him to tell me something today, and Alex thinks I’m Andy Milonakis, gay, and need to go home. I feel like I should remember something more about Jack, but I don’t. No one can help either because they were also drunk off their asses.
Zack says I should talk to Jack before the show. This is the penultimate show and next show we’ll all be way too busy to have time to talk.
“J- Jack?” We’re alone in the dressing room. I’m too nervous to care where everyone else is. Actually, Zack’s probably holding Rian & Alex hostage in the bathroom or something just so they don’t interrupt. He seems pretty hell bent on getting Jack and I together.
“What’s up?” he asked, smoothing his hair out just to mess it up again.
“Uhm, last night - Well, yesterday, actually, we were all drunk of our asses, and you told me - you told me to you to tell me something today,” I finished quickly.
Jack stopped messing with his hair, his mouth half hanging open.
Finally he spoke, “Oh, well- Uh, I- Um, what I was going to say was- but now all I can say is . . .”
“Jack, just say it,” I sighed, thinking for sure he knew I liked him & wanted me to back off completely.
“Okay, um- I really- You’re like, uh- God, I’m terrible at this-“
“Jack,” I groaned. Couldn’t he just shoot me down and get it over with? I crossed my arms defensively and waited for Jack to just say it.
“Okay,” he took a deep breath and I glanced down to study my shoes with great interest. Then, I was moving backwards until I was sandwiched between Jack and the wall. His lips were pressing against mine roughly; it took me a few seconds to catch on and kiss back. I untangled my arms and slid them around Jack’s waist. He was on his tip toes to kiss me and I could feel the muscles in sides stretching. When he pulled away and dropped back on his heels, I let my hands fall.
“I, uh . . . like . . . you,” Jack whispered, biting his lip nervously. I grinned and bent over, catching his lips in mine softly.
Disclaimer: I own them. Also, Michael Jackson's still alive.
Being on tour with bands is great. It’s always great; shooting in a new city every night, being paid to take photos, eating out constantly, making new and amazing friends, rarely getting showers, and never knowing where he’ll be sleeping. Adam loves it. He especially loves being on tour with All Time Low, for more reasons than one. A few being their age, - it’s just under his own, so they get along great - their enthusiasm about any and everything, and, well, Jack.
"Hey, Adam," Jack greets me as I enter the bus. We're leaving Detroit and headed for Boston. It's almost a ten hour drive, and I've decided to endure it on Jack's bus.
"Hey," I reply breathlessly. Jack doesn't catch it and returns his attention to his iPhone. He's always on that thing. I pick up my camera from around my neck & adjust the settings a bit; the light's different on the bus. Alex and Rian are on the couch opposite Jack,
Zack asks, "Adam, did you get any good shots tonight?" He's probably the nicest to me, out of the four. Jack's polite, I guess, but he isn't friendly or nice or anything, not like he is with Alex.
I smirk and say jokingly, "I always get good shots, Merrick."
Zack chuckles and invites me to join him in a game of blackjack. I figure, why not?
-!-
We’re in Boston. The show’s going on now and I’m kneeling backstage, on Zack’s side, trying to catch a good shot of Jack. To go over to his side, I have to wait until Alex starts talking. Shots of people talking never turn out good. If I go now, I’ll probably miss an amazing picture.
Finally Alex goes, “Hey, fuckers! Are you having a good time?” I take my chance and jog around the amps, pausing to get a quick shot of Rian; he flips me off. I move on quickly, Zack’s already started the intro for Break Your Little Heart.
Jack catches me out of the corner of his eye & turns to see what the movement was. The camera’s already in front of my face. He smiles quickly before turning his attention back to guitar at his waist. I let myself gawk at Jack behind the lens, try to get in a few shots too. That is, after all, what I’m paid for.
“Good night, Boston!”
“You were all fucking sexy!” Jack shouts. I swear he glanced over at me, but brush it off.
“Nobody die on their way home, alright?” Zack laughs.
“We’ll come out to sign, guys!” Alex promises before he follows Jack and Zack off the right side of the stage. Danny and Alex Grieco come out to clean up the guitars and drum set. I offer to help, but Matt comes onstage and waves me off, saying he’ll help them. I shrug and head to the locker rooms. The guys should be in there. I walk in and a laugh escapes me. Rian & Alex are butt ass naked and Jack’s got only his Ravens jersey on. My stomach leaps and flips; I avert my eyes.
“Smile, guys!” I call, lifting the familiar camera to my face. Alex grabs his shampoo while Rian covers up with his razor bag. Jack just grabs. I grin to myself at how adorable Jack looks. He throws up the rock on sign as I switch to black and white and I take the photo with a click. Alex laughs once I drop the camera, grabbing a towel from behind him & wrapping it around his waist. Jack drops his arm and walks back to the showers. I hesitate on following him. Is that crossing a line? I’ve gotten shots of them in the shower before, but not alone, nor below the belt.
Alex breaks my train of thought, “Can you undo this?”
I turn to see him lifting the key necklace from his chest. Rian agrees as I let the camera fall again. Thank God for neck straps.
Rian grumbles, “Why don’t you just leave it on?”
“It’s silver, dumbass. It’ll rust if it gets wet,” Alex replies smartly. Rian rolls his eyes and mumbles something under his breath as Alex goes to his own individual shower stall.
“Where’s Zack?” I ask, realizing he’s not in the third shower.
“He already went out to sign,” Rian calls behind him as he takes the last stall. Deciding I don’t want to be around when Jack exits his shower - still naked, I’m sure - I head out to the bus to switch out my camera. This one takes better pictures outside.
Walking towards the merchandise table, I see Alex and Jack dancing amidst a crowd of fan girls. Their dancing is actually grinding to a bunch of squealing teens, but it still sends a pang through my stomach and down. I find Vince and he greets me warmly. I guess he’s pretty friendly too - even though I don’t think he likes that I call him Vince.
“Well, I’m done here,” he announces as he closes the last box of t-shirts. I’d taken a few pictures of his work. It was all very unexciting.
“Need help getting them to the bus?”
“Na, Danny and Matt will take them over with the equipment,” he explained. This was one of the last dates of the tour and usually I stick with the guys and take four thousand photos, but tonight I like wandering around. We prop ourselves up on a fold out table and watch the madness of the fans around the bands.
Rian ambles over a while later as the crowd’s dying down. I get a few good photos of him and Vince before Zack and Jack join us.
“Alexa is enjoying the attention . . . clearly,” he laughs as Alex gets a piggy back from some girl who looks too small to be able to carry him. We laugh and watch Alex mess around for a while longer before Matt comes along, telling us it’s time to go. It’s only a two hour drive to Albany, but Matt and the other managers want to get there by morning, so we can all have a day off. Well, the band related people can. I’ll be taking photos, as always.
As we all climb on the bus and fall into our respective bunks, I can’t help but let my mind wander back to the locker room; Jack being so damn adorable and naked. Resisting the urge to try and develop the photos now, I roll over and try to catch some sleep.
-!-
“Damn it, Jack! I’m tired!” Alex groans from his bunk across the tiny hall.
“I don’t care, Alexander! I need to talk to you,” Jack hisses back. I slide out of my bunk not so silently and Jack jumps about three feet. “Oh, hey,” he breathes.
“Hey,” I reply cautiously. “Everything okay?”
“Oh, yea . . . I just need to talk to Alex,” he finishes quickly.
“Uh, alright,” I blush a bit as Jack’s eyes travel down and I realize I’m only in my boxers. A nervous laugh slips out as I lunge for my drawer and pull out a pair of dark jeans. “I’m- Uh, I’m just gonna go . . . yea,” I stuttered my way out of the tiny hall and found myself breathless in the lounge with Zack smirking knowingly. “What?” I snapped.
“You know, you’re really bad at hiding that.”
“Well, at least I try,” I grumbled. It was too early for denial. Zack chuckled and passed me the box of cereal. “We’re in Albany,” he reminded me.
“I know,” I glared. He just grinned.
“We’ve got the whole day off. You do too, actually. Want to hang out with us?”
“I should develop some of my photos-“
“You can do that when we get home. Come on; you know you want to,” Zack grinned. I didn’t know what he was up to, but it could be interesting.
“Fine,” I growled, finishing off my cereal. I could hear Alex & Jack - arguing? - in hushed tones. The words were indistinguishable, but I was curious as to what Jack needed to talk to Alex so badly about.
Two hours later, Alex and Jack finally returned to the land of the living with Alex announcing, “We’re getting wasted today!” at the top of his lungs. Rian agreed quickly and so did Jack. Zack was clearly all for it, judging by the stupid grin filling his face.
-!-
Alex finally detached himself from Jack - they’d been dancing together for the last hour - and stumbled towards me. He was, as he’d wished, wasted.
“Hey!” Alex shouted, “You know who you are?”
“Alex, I believe the phrase is ‘you know who I am’?” I laughed; I was also wasted. We all were, actually.
“No! Do you know?! Who you are?!” he asked louder.
“I’m Adam?” I chanced, giggling like a madman.
“No, no, no, no,” Alex slung his arm around my neck, pulling me closer. “You see, you’re Andy; Andy Milonakis.”
I instantly choked on my own laughter. “Oh my God, Alex! The kid from MTV?!
“Dude! He’s not a kid! He’s got hormone issues, okay?!”
“Yea, he’s like thirty something,” Rian chimed in lazily among Alex’s rant. I only laughed harder and tears ran down my face as I looked to the ‘dance floor’, - which was really the square of foot space in the middle of the bus - Jack was dancing alone and I couldn’t decide if he looked hilarious or damn sexy. His arms were waving around above his head as he shook his hips, eyes closed and beer in hand. I laughed either way. Drinking does that to you.
“Hey,” Zack said, appearing at my side. “Go dance with him,” he said, nudging me towards Jack.
“No! Zack, I can’t! I mean, what if he doesn’t want to or he’d rather dance with Alex or-“
“Adam! Go fucking dance!” Rian snapped. I was hardly scared of Rian, but I let Zack push me towards Jack anyway. Deciding to forget that this was Jack, I let the alcohol - all the last seven hours worth of it - take control.
I slid my hands over Jack’s waist, pulling him close. Jack responded without opening his eyes. He dropped his arms around my neck, the cold beer bottle chilling my neck. Jack didn’t notice. He opened his eyes slightly and let the content smile on his lips grow. He liked dancing with me? Alex had Paramore’s new album on and it wasn’t exactly slow dancing music, but after drinking for seven hours you don’t feel like doing much else.
“Adam’s gay!” Alex was singing. Jack and I were too wrapped up in each other to notice it, but Zack did and he shut Alex up quickly, shoving him into the wall. I toyed with the hem of Jack’s shirt as Jack let Zack take the beer from his hands. Jack tucked his head into my shoulder, his breath hot against my neck. I shivered slightly and Jack’s grip around my neck tightened as he slid his cool fingers beneath the collar of my shirt. I breathed in his scent; his hair smelled like dull cinnamon. I wondered why.
When the disc was over Jack pulled away, whining about how it was hot and pulling his t-shirt off. No one argued, especially me. I heard Zack laugh as I watched Jack moving around shirtless, fanning himself off.
“Andy!” Alex shouted, spinning around to face him.
“Uh, what?”
“You need to be sent home,” he said seriously.
“. . . Why?”
“You don’t seem happy here!” he shouted in my face. I stumbled back a few steps and bumped into Jack. He was slipping his shoes off.
“Alex, it’s hot in here,” he whined. Alex shrugged and turned around, walking off. Rian motioned me over and I joined him on the couch. We finished a beer together.
“Where’d Jack go?” Alex asked a while later. Rian shrugged, Zack looked to me, and I just blinked. Where did Jack go?
“I’ll go him,” I mumbled. My drunken stupor was wearing out, but, apparently, I still couldn’t talk.
The bus wasn’t huge, but I didn’t see Jack anywhere on my first round. Zack joined me on my third pass through the lounge and we finally found him passed out, naked, in the fridge. All the drinks were piled up on the counter beside and Zack just thought it was hilarious. I really, really wanted to get a photo of this perfect moment.
“Stay here,” I ordered Zack, praying Jack wouldn’t wake up just yet.
“Why?” he hissed back.
“I can’t take it of just Jack; that’d be weird.”
“Yea, and this isn’t weird at all,” he laughed as I dashed back to get my camera and returned quickly. Zack was standing, shirt in his hand, holding himself up against the fridge. He was close to passing out. “Just- Look at Jack,” I ordering, bringing the camera to shield my face.
“I can’t believe he did this,” Zack chuckled just before I snapped the photo.
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
“No problem, bro. Ya know, Alex told me he likes you too.”
My heart stopped. “W- What?”
“You heard me,” he grumbled, fumbling his way back to the bunks. I blinked after him a few times before putting my camera down beside the drinks. I pulled open the fridge door softly. If Jack stayed in there, he’d probably freeze.
“Jack, Jack, Jack,” I whispered, pulling him out and, kind of, falling over. He landed with me, still snoring. The fuck? “Jack,” I whispered a bit louder.
“Huh?! Whas goin’ on?!”
“Shh, shh, it’s just me,” I assured him. Was it assurance that it was me? Either way, he calmed down.
“I’m tired, Adam,”
“Come on, then; let’s go to bed.”
“No- No, I’m tired of- Just . . . tell me, tomorrow, to tell you.”
“To tell me what?”
“I can’t- Righ’ now. I will tomorrow.”
“Alright, here; put your boxers on before you go to bed.”
“Okay. Night, Adam,” Jack whispered, kissing my cheek and crawling back to the bunks.
-!-
Fuck, fuck, fuck! I hate my stupid memory right now. The only damn things I remember from last night are: Jack complained about being hot, told me to tell him to tell me something today, and Alex thinks I’m Andy Milonakis, gay, and need to go home. I feel like I should remember something more about Jack, but I don’t. No one can help either because they were also drunk off their asses.
Zack says I should talk to Jack before the show. This is the penultimate show and next show we’ll all be way too busy to have time to talk.
“J- Jack?” We’re alone in the dressing room. I’m too nervous to care where everyone else is. Actually, Zack’s probably holding Rian & Alex hostage in the bathroom or something just so they don’t interrupt. He seems pretty hell bent on getting Jack and I together.
“What’s up?” he asked, smoothing his hair out just to mess it up again.
“Uhm, last night - Well, yesterday, actually, we were all drunk of our asses, and you told me - you told me to you to tell me something today,” I finished quickly.
Jack stopped messing with his hair, his mouth half hanging open.
Finally he spoke, “Oh, well- Uh, I- Um, what I was going to say was- but now all I can say is . . .”
“Jack, just say it,” I sighed, thinking for sure he knew I liked him & wanted me to back off completely.
“Okay, um- I really- You’re like, uh- God, I’m terrible at this-“
“Jack,” I groaned. Couldn’t he just shoot me down and get it over with? I crossed my arms defensively and waited for Jack to just say it.
“Okay,” he took a deep breath and I glanced down to study my shoes with great interest. Then, I was moving backwards until I was sandwiched between Jack and the wall. His lips were pressing against mine roughly; it took me a few seconds to catch on and kiss back. I untangled my arms and slid them around Jack’s waist. He was on his tip toes to kiss me and I could feel the muscles in sides stretching. When he pulled away and dropped back on his heels, I let my hands fall.
“I, uh . . . like . . . you,” Jack whispered, biting his lip nervously. I grinned and bent over, catching his lips in mine softly.