When You Can't Have It, You Want It

Nearly three months had passed since Zack and I devised the GAG Plan: Get Alex Gaskarth. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure how it was progressing. Zack seems to believe that Alex's interest in finding out what's going on between us is increasing. This should be a good thing, because, as Zack said, ‘What Alex can't have, Alex wants.'

But It's been three freakin' months. And to be quite honest, I don't even know if this whole plan is worth continuing with. But whenever this doubt enters my mind, I see Alex's dimples, I hear his laugh, I smell his cologne... and I know I still like him as more than a friend. So I push the negative thoughts to the back of my mind and put up with it, because what's the point of giving up now after having been at it for three months?

"Alright, remember," Zack said, turning around and facing me before we entered the Barakat household. It was a Saturday afternoon and the weather permitted a pool party. "Flirt with me, treat the other guys with more meanly than usual. Um... I guess we'll seclude ourselves in one corner of the pool for ten minutes or so and pretend to be in deep discussion. And if we end up playing Chicken, don't be my partner. That way, I can comfort you when you lose."

As he opened the door, he stepped aside to let me walk in first. However, I was still processing all that he had told me just seconds earlier. Moments later, I scoffed. "You mean, if I lose."

He smiled, shook his head, and continued to walk further into the house. Little did Zack know, I had my own mini-plan to take care of. Instead of immediately heading into the backyard, I walked into the kitchen and was relieved to find Kara pulling out some Doritos and other junk food from the cupboards.

"Hey Kara, can I talk to you about something for a minute?"

My sudden, unannounced presence gave Kara quite a shock because she squeaked in surprise at the sound of my voice.

"Dear God, you scared me! Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Time to shine, Rosaline.

Hey, that rhymed.

I chuckled at myself and then mentally scolded myself for ruining the serious tone. The silence dragged on as I purposefully made Kara wait for me to start. After what seemed like enough time, I began.

"So, I know you and Rian were, like, best friends before you guys started dating. Right?"

Kara's eyes widened. She nodded and bit her lip, obviously intrigued by the direction this conversation was going. Regardless, she continued to search for food to take outside.

I opened my mouth to start my next sentence, but then closed it again. After feigning contemplation for a few seconds, I said, "How did you know you started liking him as something... more?"

Immediately after, I bit my own lip to stop myself from smiling. I needed to keep a straight face if I wanted to be taken seriously.

Kara dropped the jar of Nutella she had just taken down from the top shelf and turned her body around to look me in the eyes. It took every ounce of effort and self-restraint that I had to refrain from giggling uncontrollably. I held my breath as I waited for Kara to orchestrate an honest response.

As if on cue, Zack strolled into the kitchen, shirtless and in his swimming trunks. "Make me a sammich!"

"Zack, out," I said, looking him straight in the eyes. Thankfully, he got the hint. Except when he was walking out the door, he slapped my ass. My eyes widened, my jaw dropped, and I could feel my cheeks heating up. When I turned my head to see him, I saw him wink at me and jerk his head back in the direction of Kara.

That little bastard knew what I was up to...
And here I was thinking I was clever.
Hmph.

I shook my head slightly as I turned back to Kara. She now had a smirk on her face.

"I knew when I started wanting to touch him in inappropriate ways. You know, more-than-friend vibes were bouncing off of us, full of sexual tension... the usual start to a relationship."

I nodded slowly.

"Well, thanks for clearing that up," I said as I grabbed a few food items and helped her take them outside. Once outside, I dropped my tote bag on one of the many reclinable beach chairs that Jack had somehow stolen from resorts that All Time Low had stayed at. How he did it, the world may never know...

I took off the shirt and shorts that I was wearing over my light blue bikini and dug around in my tote bag for the bottle of sunscreen I had packed. While digging around, I found my iPod so I decided to listen to that as I prepared to enter the pool. Once I found the bottle, I plugged the headphones into my ears and poured some lotion into my hands. I started with my right leg, slowly rubbing the sunblock into my skin as the loud guitar of ‘Careful' by Paramore blocked out all outside sounds. Once I was done with that leg, I reached for the bottle of sunscreen, only to find that it wasn't where I left it.

All of a sudden, the left headphone was knocked out of my ear and a voice from behind me whispered, "Looking for this?"

I turned my neck to see Zack seated in my beach chair behind me, holding the bottle of sunblock.

"Yes," I smiled, "I am."

"Turn around."

I obeyed his command and turned away from him, pulling my hair forward so my back was fully exposed to him. As I clipped my hair up with a hairclaw, I saw Alex and Jack getting out of the pool and heading toward Rian, who was manning the barbeque grill. Only Kara was looking over at us with an ‘all-knowing' glint in her eye.

Zack began rubbing the lotion onto my shoulders.

"How did your conversation with Kara go?"

I smiled. "It went well. I think she thinks we have sexual more-than-friend vibes bouncing between us and that we want to touch each other in inappropriate ways. By the way, these are her words when I asked her how she knew she liked Rian."

Zack simply raised an eyebrow and moved to lotion my upper back. I casually glanced over at the barbeque grill to see Alex stuffing his face with a hot dog. Jack and Rian had joined Kara in watching our every move.

"Right, so we have sexual vibes. That should be fun to act out," Zack said suggestively. I chuckled and tried to elbow him, but he caught my elbow with his palm and slowly placed it back over my knee. Out of the corner of my eye, Zack's muscly arms seemed to glisten in the sunlight and appeared perfectly sculpted. I ignored the impulses my brain was sending me and turned back to face the pool. Alex was just now noticing what everyone else was nonchalantly staring at. Kara's mouth was moving as she focused on Zack and I, and Alex appeared to be listening to her.

Zack squeezed more lotion out of the bottle and moved to my lower back. His fingers had a way of making my back muscles tense up, and as they wrapped around my sides I knew what he was thinking of doing. I sat up quickly, causing him to lose grip on the sides of my stomach, and turned to face him with my eyes narrowed and a knowing smile on my face.

“Don’t you dare– ”

“I swear I will not pick you up and throw you in the pool.”

“And?”

“And I swear I will not tickle you.”

That was easier than I thought... I turned back around and Zack finished rubbing in the sunblock on my back. I got up and quickly rubbed some on my left leg, my arms, my neck, and my stomach. Then, I walked over to where Zack had joined the rest of the group.

“You know Rose,” Zack said, “I was just telling the guys why I don’t understand your sunscreen obsession.”

“Why is that?” I said, grabbing a Dorito from the bowl that Kara was holding and popping it into my mouth.

“Because you’re really pale. Have you ever thought of tanning?”

My jaw dropped and I laughed out of disbelief. Whatever it was, this kid had a plan and I intended on going along with it.

“Yeah, I have. But I didn’t want to end up like your ex-girlfriend.”

Jack and Alex let out a collective “Ooooh!” and I think Rian threw in a “Ouch” somewhere along the line. I stuck my tongue out and reached for another Dorito, but Zack stepped in the way.

“That wasn’t very nice.”

“You’re not very nice. I want a Dorito.”

“And I want to throw you in the pool.”

“Well, that’s just too darn bad,” I said sweetly, tilting my head slightly to the left.

I was fully aware that as Zack continued to walk forward, I continued to walk backward. And, I did notice that he was trying to get me to fall backward into the pool. But that was not going to happen. As quick and sudden as I could, I turned around and sprinted the full length of the pool. Zack followed close behind and soon after, we were running circles around the pool.

“This is not funny, Zachary!”

Regardless, I laughed. Seeing what Zack was trying to get me to do, I ran by the barbeque grill and used Alex as my shield.

“Give her up, Alex,” Zack demanded, stopping to catch his breath.

This was the moment. In my mind, this decision that Alex was about to make was the moment in which Alex would either a) show no interest in me and give me up to Zack with no second thoughts or b) put up a fight against Zack for me. Well, not really a fight. But metaphorically speaking, the past three months of frustration... it all boiled down to this moment.

“Nah, I think I’ll keep her right here,” Alex said. Since his left hand was holding a beer bottle, his right arm twisted back to hold me to him; his hand was configured so that his thumb was on my stomach and the rest of his fingers were wrapped around my side and reaching my back. I was so close to his bare back that I had to stand on my tippy-toes in order to see Zack clearly.

In fact, I was so focused on Zack’s look of amusement that I almost didn’t notice the direction Alex’s hand was moving. Almost.

“Woah there, boy!”

For once in my life, I was actually struggling to get out of Alex’s grip as his hand moved to the back of my bikini top towards the strings that were keeping it on my chest. I yelped as his thumb tugged the string and I jumped back out of his grasp. Unfortunately, I jumped right into Zack.

I gave a little yelp again and ran inside the house. When I turned the corner that led to the guest room, I saw Jack, Zack, and Alex chasing after me. Meanwhile, I was struggling to re-tie the string, or at least hold it together so I wouldn’t flash three hormonal boys. As soon as I made it to the guest room, I went to close the door but Zack managed to jump and squeeze in right before I shut the door.

I gulped but he shook his head and put his finger to his mouth, indicating I should be quiet. He motioned for me to turn around and his nimble fingers quickly retied the string. I furrowed my brows and he jerked his head toward the door; together, we put our ears to the wooden door.

“What do you think they’re doing?” I heard Jack ask.

“I don’t know, probably rounding second base,” Alex said, breathing heavily. He’s not the most fit guy on the block and that run inside the house probably counted as his daily work-out.

I licked my lips and it inadvertently made a suction sound as my tongue left my lower lip. Afterward, I heard Jack and Alex giggle. My eyes widened and I looked to Zack, who was stifling giggles of his own. I smacked Zack at the back of the head and continued to listen in on Alex’s and Jack’s speculations.

“You think they’re friends with benefits?”

“Nah, Rosaline’s not that kind of girl. She wouldn’t settle for just sex.”

I raised my eyebrow. Since when has Alex Gaskarth been paying attention?

“But... it’s Zack,” Jack said.

I let out a giggle and immediately clasped my hand over my mouth. Zack was smiling and looking to the ceiling, as if he couldn’t believe that Jack had just said that.

“Looks like Zack did something to please dearest Rosaline,” Alex murmured.

“Jealous much?”

“More like curious. Come on, let’s go. This is kind of creepy,” Alex said. Their laughs were audibly heard down the hall as they walked away from the door.

For a minute or two, Zack and I just stood there staring at each other. We were smiling stupidly, unable to begin to comprehend what had just happened. All of a sudden, the smile faded slightly from my face as I reached up and wrapped my arms around Zack, enveloping him in a hug.

“I’m sorry I’ve kept you a prude for three months,” I whispered in his ear, saying aloud the fact that for three months, Zack had remained completely faithful to me as his fake secret girlfriend. Zack simply nodded and hugged me back.

After a while he broke the hug and said, “If you don’t jump in the pool, I’m throwing you in.”

I shook my head and ran back out the door. As soon as I reached the backyard, I found an opportunity to shove Alex Gaskarth into the shallow end of the pool before I jumped in myself. Zack, of course, followed with a flip into the deep end of the pool. As soon as we surfaced, I looked at Zack and winked. I looked to my right and saw Alex swimming toward me. Oh, dear...