Clash Of The Rockbands
Drunken Confessions
James’s POV
Matt, Zacky, Syn, Johnny, and I were sitting at a booth in one of the many bars that Huntington Beach has to offer when suddenly Johnny perked up like a dog when it hears a rabbit. He seriously resembled a dog. Something small, like a Chihuahua or something. His eyes went all bright and an ecstatic look flickered onto his face. He sat up straighter in his seat, craning his neck to see over the heads of the crowd.
“KIM!” he suddenly screamed over the noise. He scrambled across a very surprised Syn’s lap and disappeared into the crowd. Syn looked across at me.
“Any clue what Johnny’s doing?” he asked.
“I think he’s hallucinating.” Zacky answered.
“But he hasn’t even finished one beer yet.” Matt pointed out. I shrugged, going back to spinning the beer bottle around with my fingers.
A full minute later, Johnny suddenly reappeared, dragging Kim along by the elbow.
“Okay, now I’m hallucinating too.” Zacky said.
“No, silly, I’m actually here. And the rest of the girls are too.” Kim told him. Zacky perked up too. He and AM had been dating for about one and half weeks and he was already obsessed over her.
“Oh, Jimmy gets to stare at—“ Matt began but I shot a quick glare his way. He didn’t continue his thought and just grinned at me before taking a drink of his beer. I looked back over to see Rayne, Melrose, AM, and Jen all walk up. Only Jen didn’t have a beer in her hand: she must’ve been the designated driver.
“Scoot,” Rayne snapped at Syn.
“I don’t think you’ll all fit...” Syn said, trailing off. Rayne glanced over at the large amount of empty bench still left and then glared back at Syn.
“Move or I’ll make you move,” she snapped. Syn just grinned.
“Oh, I think I’d enjoy that,” he joked. With a hard look, Rayne plucked his fedora off of his head, slapped him across the face with it, and put it back on his head.
“Now, move,” she snapped again. But Syn was enjoying himself too much.
“I don’t think—“ Syn began, but Rayne side-stepped to the left a little bit and swung her foot around, kicking Syn as hard as she could on his shin. His smirk instantly disappeared and was soon replaced with a grimace. He scooted down the U-shaped bench, rubbing his shin where her toes had made contact. Rayne smiled innocently and sat down beside him. Everyone else piled in, and Melrose ended up sitting across from me, in Syn’s old spot.
Zacky leaned over from where he sat beside me and muttered in my ear, “Now, don’t flirt too much, Jimmy. You might scare her off.” He quickly leaned back away, but not before I elbowed him as hard as I could in the ribs. He grimaced and rubbed a hand over where my elbow had made contact. AM just looked concerned from where she sat across from Zacky.
“Jimmy!” she chided. I just shrugged. “Oh, Zacky, does it feel bruised or anything?”
Zacky put on another brave grimace as he gently pressed his fingers against his rib.
“No, I think it’ll be fine despite its recent contact with iron-elbow.” he answered in a slightly pained voice.
“Good going, Jimmy,” she snapped.
“Oh, he’ll be fine.” I retorted. “I’ve elbowed him worse than that before and he’s never had serious complications.”
“You make it sound like he’s had complications from you elbowing him.” AM said accusingly.
“No, Jimmy has never caused any serious harm while elbowing me.” Zacky told her. “The worst I ever got was a bruise.”
“Damn straight,” I muttered.
“Jimmy wouldn’t want to hurt anybody anyway, AM. What are you talking about?” Melrose told her. I didn’t hear even a hint of sarcasm in Melrose’s statement. I looked over at her.
“Yeah, seriously AM, I wouldn’t hurt anyone.” I told AM as innocently as I could as I looked back over at her. AM just rolled her eyes in clear disbelief.
*****An Hour And A Half Later*****
Okay, okay, I’ll be the first to admit it: we were all drunk, except for Jen and Johnny. We were all in various stages of drunkenness, from just a bit tipsy to I’ll wake up to a hangover in the morning to ‘Dude, what happened last night? I don’t remember a fucking thing!’ Surprisingly, I wasn’t that drunk. Just enough to loosen up more than usual.
Melrose sat across from me, staring down at her third beer. She held onto the glass with her fingertips, slowly twirling it in an endless circle. She appeared to be deep in concentration about something. I didn’t know what a drunken person would have to concentrate about, though.
Slowly, Melrose lifted her gaze without lifting her head until her dark green eyes with their black rims met my own chocolate brown eyes. She peered through her bright red bangs at me, and her eyes still held that concentrating look. Then, she slowly lowered her gaze back down to the beer bottle.
A few minutes later, Melrose’s head shot up. Her eyes glimmered with the kind of triumph that comes after finding the perfect solution to a hard problem.
“James, can I talk to you...privately?” she asked. I could barely hear her quiet voice over the chatter of the crowd and our friends. I shot her a questioning look, but she just stared at me, not releasing any answers with her eyes. I nodded.
Melrose slowly rose out of her seat. She appeared to be quite steady for a drunken person. I quickly imitated her movements. Only Jen and Johnny noticed us leaving.
Melrose led me toward the short hallway that contained the bathrooms. She walked down the dim and empty hall, heading towards the door that opened to the back of the bar. I followed her as curiosity swelled up in my chest. Whatever would she want to talk to me privately about?
Melrose pushed open the heavy door, stepping out into the warm night air. I followed her, closing the door quietly behind me. One lone light hung above the door, illuminating the pavement that we stood on brightly. Melrose walked a little ways away from the door, out of the immediate glare of the light. Now we stood in half-light, half-shadow. She turned around to face me, stepping slightly away from the building.
“Um, I know you’re probably wondering why I wanted to talk to you privately.” she began. “You probably can’t figure out anything that I would possibly tell you that can’t be heard by our friends.”
Melrose looked suddenly very, very nervous. Her gaze flittered around, glancing up at the black night sky, down at the ground, to the left and to the right, at me, and then back up at the sky. She closed her eyes, briefly concealing their green depths from my sight. She took a deep breath to calm herself perhaps and then opened her eyes again. I just stood patiently with my back facing the wall of the bar.
“Okay, I’m really, really nervous, despite all of the liquid courage I recently consumed.” Melrose tried again. “But I have decided that I need to tell you this small little fact. It might change our relationship forever, be it for the better or the worse, or it might not make much of a difference. I don’t know. But I know that I have to reveal it to you sometime, so why not at a time when I might not even really remember it happening if it goes wrong?
“Not that it’ll go wrong or anything,” Melrose added quickly. “But, oh, I must sound like a rambling drunk to you.”
“I’ve heard worse.” I told her truthfully.
“But I’m a rambling drunk with a purpose, so I guess it’s kind of different.” Melrose continued on as though I had never commented. “And I have to tell you that this is one hundred percent the truth. And besides, when someone’s drunk they tell the truth more anyway. Or at least I think they do. But here I go, rambling on again.
“Okay, I’ll get to the subject at hand. I don’t want to make you stand out here in this hot weather when there is perfectly good alcohol in the building behind you.”
I grinned, but Melrose didn’t seem to take much notice. She looked nervous again. Her gaze flittered around for a few seconds before finally focusing on my own gaze. She took another deep breath before continuing on.
“James, I really, really, really, really, really, really like you. A lot,” Melrose added.
“What?” I asked. I wanted to make sure I heard right.
“I...I really, really like you.” Melrose repeated quietly.
“You like me?” I asked, just to make sure.
“Yes,” Melrose answered. I knew by the look in her eyes that she told the truth.
“Well...um...” I didn’t know what to say. Should I tell her that I like her a lot back? Or should I just tell her that I’m glad to know? I didn’t know what to tell her.
Fortunately for me, I never really got any time to tell her much of anything.
Melrose unexpectedly stepped forward towards me and flattened her hands against my chest. She pushed me back against the wall behind me, rose up on tiptoes, and pressed her lips hard against mine.
I froze. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know if I should push her gently away and reject her, or just accept the kiss and pull her closer. Both options contained consequences: if I rejected her, her heart might crack and I would hurt her; if I pulled her closer...we might get together. Oh, I liked the sound of that. But also if I pulled her closer, I might shock her even more. She probably felt shocked at what she had done, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to add to that shock.
Meanwhile, as I thought of the consequences of my actions, Melrose slowly slid her hands up my chest. She slipped her hands up to the sides of my neck, cautiously pulling herself closer.
Oh, fuck it.
I gently wrapped my arms around her thin waist, pulling her tight against my body. Melrose slowly wrapped one arm around my neck, keeping her other hand against the side of my neck.
Our kiss, though it was closed-mouth, bellowed with more passion than I had ever felt in any kiss. I attempted to keep focus, but it was impossible because the feel of her lips against mine obliterated all thought. Everything spiraled away into oblivion, and no matter what I did I couldn’t bring anything back.
Slowly, painstakingly, Melrose pulled her lips away from mine. Everything around us came rushing back into sight. She opened her eyes and stared into mine for a few seconds. Her arm slipped away from my neck, and her hand slid off of my neck and back onto my chest. Awkwardness swooped in and filled the space now between us. Neither one of us were sure of what to do.
“Uh...Yeah...” Melrose mumbled uncertainly. I unwrapped my arms from her waist, resting my hands on her sides. “I just wanted to let you know.”
“Well, I guess I’m glad to know that someone likes me on this world.” I told her lamely. I didn’t know how I made a coherent sentence: my mind was still all jumbled up by that damn kiss.
“So...Yeah,” Melrose repeated. She pulled completely out of my arms, pulling her hand away from my chest. She ran a hand through her hair, looking awkwardly around.
“We better get back in there before they send out a search party.” I suggested. Melrose looked relieved at the suggestion and nodded.
I led the way back to the backdoor of the bar.
Matt, Zacky, Syn, Johnny, and I were sitting at a booth in one of the many bars that Huntington Beach has to offer when suddenly Johnny perked up like a dog when it hears a rabbit. He seriously resembled a dog. Something small, like a Chihuahua or something. His eyes went all bright and an ecstatic look flickered onto his face. He sat up straighter in his seat, craning his neck to see over the heads of the crowd.
“KIM!” he suddenly screamed over the noise. He scrambled across a very surprised Syn’s lap and disappeared into the crowd. Syn looked across at me.
“Any clue what Johnny’s doing?” he asked.
“I think he’s hallucinating.” Zacky answered.
“But he hasn’t even finished one beer yet.” Matt pointed out. I shrugged, going back to spinning the beer bottle around with my fingers.
A full minute later, Johnny suddenly reappeared, dragging Kim along by the elbow.
“Okay, now I’m hallucinating too.” Zacky said.
“No, silly, I’m actually here. And the rest of the girls are too.” Kim told him. Zacky perked up too. He and AM had been dating for about one and half weeks and he was already obsessed over her.
“Oh, Jimmy gets to stare at—“ Matt began but I shot a quick glare his way. He didn’t continue his thought and just grinned at me before taking a drink of his beer. I looked back over to see Rayne, Melrose, AM, and Jen all walk up. Only Jen didn’t have a beer in her hand: she must’ve been the designated driver.
“Scoot,” Rayne snapped at Syn.
“I don’t think you’ll all fit...” Syn said, trailing off. Rayne glanced over at the large amount of empty bench still left and then glared back at Syn.
“Move or I’ll make you move,” she snapped. Syn just grinned.
“Oh, I think I’d enjoy that,” he joked. With a hard look, Rayne plucked his fedora off of his head, slapped him across the face with it, and put it back on his head.
“Now, move,” she snapped again. But Syn was enjoying himself too much.
“I don’t think—“ Syn began, but Rayne side-stepped to the left a little bit and swung her foot around, kicking Syn as hard as she could on his shin. His smirk instantly disappeared and was soon replaced with a grimace. He scooted down the U-shaped bench, rubbing his shin where her toes had made contact. Rayne smiled innocently and sat down beside him. Everyone else piled in, and Melrose ended up sitting across from me, in Syn’s old spot.
Zacky leaned over from where he sat beside me and muttered in my ear, “Now, don’t flirt too much, Jimmy. You might scare her off.” He quickly leaned back away, but not before I elbowed him as hard as I could in the ribs. He grimaced and rubbed a hand over where my elbow had made contact. AM just looked concerned from where she sat across from Zacky.
“Jimmy!” she chided. I just shrugged. “Oh, Zacky, does it feel bruised or anything?”
Zacky put on another brave grimace as he gently pressed his fingers against his rib.
“No, I think it’ll be fine despite its recent contact with iron-elbow.” he answered in a slightly pained voice.
“Good going, Jimmy,” she snapped.
“Oh, he’ll be fine.” I retorted. “I’ve elbowed him worse than that before and he’s never had serious complications.”
“You make it sound like he’s had complications from you elbowing him.” AM said accusingly.
“No, Jimmy has never caused any serious harm while elbowing me.” Zacky told her. “The worst I ever got was a bruise.”
“Damn straight,” I muttered.
“Jimmy wouldn’t want to hurt anybody anyway, AM. What are you talking about?” Melrose told her. I didn’t hear even a hint of sarcasm in Melrose’s statement. I looked over at her.
“Yeah, seriously AM, I wouldn’t hurt anyone.” I told AM as innocently as I could as I looked back over at her. AM just rolled her eyes in clear disbelief.
*****An Hour And A Half Later*****
Okay, okay, I’ll be the first to admit it: we were all drunk, except for Jen and Johnny. We were all in various stages of drunkenness, from just a bit tipsy to I’ll wake up to a hangover in the morning to ‘Dude, what happened last night? I don’t remember a fucking thing!’ Surprisingly, I wasn’t that drunk. Just enough to loosen up more than usual.
Melrose sat across from me, staring down at her third beer. She held onto the glass with her fingertips, slowly twirling it in an endless circle. She appeared to be deep in concentration about something. I didn’t know what a drunken person would have to concentrate about, though.
Slowly, Melrose lifted her gaze without lifting her head until her dark green eyes with their black rims met my own chocolate brown eyes. She peered through her bright red bangs at me, and her eyes still held that concentrating look. Then, she slowly lowered her gaze back down to the beer bottle.
A few minutes later, Melrose’s head shot up. Her eyes glimmered with the kind of triumph that comes after finding the perfect solution to a hard problem.
“James, can I talk to you...privately?” she asked. I could barely hear her quiet voice over the chatter of the crowd and our friends. I shot her a questioning look, but she just stared at me, not releasing any answers with her eyes. I nodded.
Melrose slowly rose out of her seat. She appeared to be quite steady for a drunken person. I quickly imitated her movements. Only Jen and Johnny noticed us leaving.
Melrose led me toward the short hallway that contained the bathrooms. She walked down the dim and empty hall, heading towards the door that opened to the back of the bar. I followed her as curiosity swelled up in my chest. Whatever would she want to talk to me privately about?
Melrose pushed open the heavy door, stepping out into the warm night air. I followed her, closing the door quietly behind me. One lone light hung above the door, illuminating the pavement that we stood on brightly. Melrose walked a little ways away from the door, out of the immediate glare of the light. Now we stood in half-light, half-shadow. She turned around to face me, stepping slightly away from the building.
“Um, I know you’re probably wondering why I wanted to talk to you privately.” she began. “You probably can’t figure out anything that I would possibly tell you that can’t be heard by our friends.”
Melrose looked suddenly very, very nervous. Her gaze flittered around, glancing up at the black night sky, down at the ground, to the left and to the right, at me, and then back up at the sky. She closed her eyes, briefly concealing their green depths from my sight. She took a deep breath to calm herself perhaps and then opened her eyes again. I just stood patiently with my back facing the wall of the bar.
“Okay, I’m really, really nervous, despite all of the liquid courage I recently consumed.” Melrose tried again. “But I have decided that I need to tell you this small little fact. It might change our relationship forever, be it for the better or the worse, or it might not make much of a difference. I don’t know. But I know that I have to reveal it to you sometime, so why not at a time when I might not even really remember it happening if it goes wrong?
“Not that it’ll go wrong or anything,” Melrose added quickly. “But, oh, I must sound like a rambling drunk to you.”
“I’ve heard worse.” I told her truthfully.
“But I’m a rambling drunk with a purpose, so I guess it’s kind of different.” Melrose continued on as though I had never commented. “And I have to tell you that this is one hundred percent the truth. And besides, when someone’s drunk they tell the truth more anyway. Or at least I think they do. But here I go, rambling on again.
“Okay, I’ll get to the subject at hand. I don’t want to make you stand out here in this hot weather when there is perfectly good alcohol in the building behind you.”
I grinned, but Melrose didn’t seem to take much notice. She looked nervous again. Her gaze flittered around for a few seconds before finally focusing on my own gaze. She took another deep breath before continuing on.
“James, I really, really, really, really, really, really like you. A lot,” Melrose added.
“What?” I asked. I wanted to make sure I heard right.
“I...I really, really like you.” Melrose repeated quietly.
“You like me?” I asked, just to make sure.
“Yes,” Melrose answered. I knew by the look in her eyes that she told the truth.
“Well...um...” I didn’t know what to say. Should I tell her that I like her a lot back? Or should I just tell her that I’m glad to know? I didn’t know what to tell her.
Fortunately for me, I never really got any time to tell her much of anything.
Melrose unexpectedly stepped forward towards me and flattened her hands against my chest. She pushed me back against the wall behind me, rose up on tiptoes, and pressed her lips hard against mine.
I froze. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know if I should push her gently away and reject her, or just accept the kiss and pull her closer. Both options contained consequences: if I rejected her, her heart might crack and I would hurt her; if I pulled her closer...we might get together. Oh, I liked the sound of that. But also if I pulled her closer, I might shock her even more. She probably felt shocked at what she had done, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to add to that shock.
Meanwhile, as I thought of the consequences of my actions, Melrose slowly slid her hands up my chest. She slipped her hands up to the sides of my neck, cautiously pulling herself closer.
Oh, fuck it.
I gently wrapped my arms around her thin waist, pulling her tight against my body. Melrose slowly wrapped one arm around my neck, keeping her other hand against the side of my neck.
Our kiss, though it was closed-mouth, bellowed with more passion than I had ever felt in any kiss. I attempted to keep focus, but it was impossible because the feel of her lips against mine obliterated all thought. Everything spiraled away into oblivion, and no matter what I did I couldn’t bring anything back.
Slowly, painstakingly, Melrose pulled her lips away from mine. Everything around us came rushing back into sight. She opened her eyes and stared into mine for a few seconds. Her arm slipped away from my neck, and her hand slid off of my neck and back onto my chest. Awkwardness swooped in and filled the space now between us. Neither one of us were sure of what to do.
“Uh...Yeah...” Melrose mumbled uncertainly. I unwrapped my arms from her waist, resting my hands on her sides. “I just wanted to let you know.”
“Well, I guess I’m glad to know that someone likes me on this world.” I told her lamely. I didn’t know how I made a coherent sentence: my mind was still all jumbled up by that damn kiss.
“So...Yeah,” Melrose repeated. She pulled completely out of my arms, pulling her hand away from my chest. She ran a hand through her hair, looking awkwardly around.
“We better get back in there before they send out a search party.” I suggested. Melrose looked relieved at the suggestion and nodded.
I led the way back to the backdoor of the bar.
♠ ♠ ♠
Heyloo.Hey, it was inevitable that Melrose would like James back. Honestly.
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