Recipe For Disaster

As the three of them sat in the café – which Alex was right about, by the way, it was “cute” – they chatted and Alex filled Jack in about the time he spent in Hampton getting to know Ronnie. The majority of the things that escaped Jack’s mouth were dick jokes, sexual innuendos or corny pick-up lines toward Ronnie.

Usually this would annoy Ronnie, but for some reason she was laughing at all of it. This kid seemed hilarious. And usually Alex would be fine with Jack’s comments and join in, but he seemed bothered by them.

“You okay, man?” asked Jack, tilting his head to the side.

“Of course,” said Alex, who snapped out of thinking whatever he was deep in thought about.

“You sure?” Jack raised his eyebrow, and looked at Ronnie. “I think having a pretty lady around is messin’ with your brain.”

Ronnie smiled. “Well, it has been a few months since he’s seen you, Jack. Maybe you’re just too much for him to handle right now.”

“Very true,” smirked Jack, placing his hand on the table on top of Alex’s. “Have you missed me, baby?”

“Yes I have, sexy,” Alex replied in a gay voice. The three of them laughed, but Ronnie could tell something was still off with Alex.

“So, we have a gig on Friday in Baltimore,” said Jack. “And we have one between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and one last one a couple days after New Year’s.”

“That’s awesome!” said Alex. This seemed to cheer him up a bit. “We’ll have to squeeze as many practices in as we can – I’m sure we’ve gotten a little rusty. How’s tomorrow around noon?”

“That’s what the guys and I were thinking,” said Jack. “At Rian’s.”

“Sounds great,” Alex smiled. He checked his phone. “Shit, Ronnie, it’s almost 5:30. We should head home; my mom will probably have dinner ready soon.”

They stood up and began to put their coats on.

“Do you live near Alex, Jack?” asked Ronnie.

“Right down the street,” grinned Jack. “So you’ll get to see tons of me while you’re here!”

“Excellent,” chuckled Ronnie. Alex walked slightly ahead of them. “Hey, wait for us, grumpy!” said Ronnie as she caught up to Alex, hooking her arm with his.

“I can’t wait to see practice tomorrow,” said Ronnie to both of them. “Alex has been too bashful to play me anything yet.”

Alex smiled.

“Well we’re great, of course,” said Jack. “Because we have the sexiest guitar player in existence.”

Ronnie chuckled and Alex rolled his eyes. “Well, Ron, you’ll get to meet everyone tomorrow too, which will be pretty cool.”

Before the conversation could continue any further, they arrived at the Gaskarth residence.

“Well, see you tomorrow, Jack,” said Alex, and they bro-hugged goodbye.

Jack turned to Ronnie and engulfed her in a huge hug. “It was cool meeting you!” he said, “I’ll see you at practice!”

Ronnie hugged back. “See you tomorrow, Jack,” she smiled. Alex had already entered the house; she followed.

When she let herself into the house, Alex wasn’t in the foyer either. Ronnie put Linda’s coat away and went into the dining room, where Alex was sitting with who was obviously his father.

“Dad, this is Ronnie,” smiled Alex. “And Ronnie, this is my dad Frank.”

Ronnie walked over to where Frank was sitting, and he stood up to shake Ronnie’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, darling,” he said with a smile.

“The pleasure’s mine, Mr. Gaskarth. And thank you so much for letting me stay here over the holidays.”

“Oh please, call me Frank,” he smiled again, sitting back down. “And you’re most welcome.”

Ronnie sat down beside Alex and the three of them had light conversation until Linda entered the dining room, carrying a delicious-looking roast beef on a platter. She also brought out Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, corn, and broccoli.

“This looks delicious, Linda,” said Ronnie.

“I’m sure it tastes even better,” said Alex, making himself the first to help himself to the food set in front of them.

After eating their supper, which Ronnie was sure forced her to temporarily gain a few pounds, she felt so full, Ronnie stood up and began clearing everyone’s plates off the table and brought them into the kitchen. She and Linda finished cleaning up while Alex stayed in the dining room and caught up with Frank.

“Thanks very much for the help, Ronnie,” smiled Linda. “Do you think you can handle dessert right now or should you settle for a bit?”

“Oh gosh, Linda, I think I need a bit of time to recuperate from that huge meal.”

She laughed. “Sure thing, darling. You and Alex can help yourselves whenever you’re ready – it’ll be on the counter. Frank and I are going to go ahead and have ours.”

“Thanks, Linda,” said Ronnie and went back into the dining room, where Alex was standing up.

“Well, I think I’m going to go play for a bit,” he said to Frank, and looked up to see Ronnie. “Wanna join?”

Normally Ronnie would make some sort of perverted comment, but didn’t think this was appropriate in front of Frank. Alex knew this and smirked.

“I’d love to, Alex,” said Ronnie in a sweet, sarcastic voice. Together they left the dining room and went upstairs to Alex’s room.

“Your dad seems really nice,” said Ronnie as Alex shut the door.

“He said the same thing about you,” smiled Alex.

“It must be hard for your parents, being apart.”

Alex shrugged. “My mom tries not to show it. And I guess they know it’s only temporary, so they’re surviving.”

Ronnie nodded.

“So, what was up with you when Jack was with us?” asked Ronnie, sitting down on a computer chair.

Alex sighed. “I don’t know, I guess I was just in a bit of an irritable mood,” said Alex. “The holidays are just kinda hard at times.”

“I can understand that,” said Ronnie. She got up and sat next to Alex on his bed, placing her hand on his arm. “You know you can always talk to me if you need to, Alex,” she whispered.

Alex smiled, his eyes becoming a little watery. “I know,” he said, wrapping his arm around Ronnie’s shoulders. “Thanks, Ronnie.”

They hugged and Alex stood up and took his acoustic guitar out of its case, sat down, and began to play.

The song he played was beautiful it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was about his brother– so emotional and heartfelt. Ronnie could see the passion in his eyes. His voice sounded fantastic, too.

Alex finished the song and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Saying nothing, Ronnie made her way over to Alex and hugged him tightly.

“That was incredible, Alex,” whispered Ronnie. She felt him nod into their hug. They stayed like that for a few moments, until Alex pulled away slowly, set down his guitar, and laid down. Ronnie laid next to him.

They laid down for a good fifteen minutes, not saying a word, until Alex sighed deeply.

“Alex, try not to let it bring down your holidays,” said Ronnie softly, turning to face him. “I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to do that.”

He nodded. “I know.”

Trying to change the mood, Ronnie said, “Your mom said she’d leave dessert on the counter for us. Want some?”

“Sure,” said Alex and smiled.

“Last one there has to clean it all up,” said Ronnie, jumped off the bed, and raced to the kitchen. Alex tried to follow, but lost.

“That wasn’t fair, you got a head start!” Alex whined.

“You goof, I’m not going to make you clean up the plates. I just wanted to race,” said Ronnie, sticking out her tongue.

Alex sighed, cutting each of them a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie. “Why did I invite you?” he asked.

“Because you love me.”

“No denying that, kid.”

Ronnie laughed and took a bite of her pie.