Happiness and Heartbreak

“Hey lovers!” Zack yelled as he walked into the house, followed by Rian and then Alex.

“Hey.” Jack groaned, looking at me and then at my hand, slowly smiling.

Rian was the first to notice the ring on my finger and congratulate us.

“So when’s the date?”

“We don’t know. Not for a while. We still have a long ways to go.” Jack answered, kissing me.

I was going to call my parents to tell them, but apparently they already knew. Jack had called last night and asked my father, once again, for permission to propose. Apparently, he and my dad had had a very long conversation about the meaning of love and marriage. Then, as I went to call Megan, Alex popped my bubble by telling her that he had already told her Jack’s plan and that she said that she knew I would say yes. I was content with finding Zack and making him listen to me while I told him what he had known was going to happen for the past few days.

Recording continued like normal, and before long the guys were through and the new CD was set to be released that year. We returned home for a while after recording, and Alex, Rian and Zack moved their belongings back out of the apartment. Jack and I had the place to ourselves again, and we were happier than ever.

Tomorrow, the boys were once again leaving for tour. They would be gone for two months, and I would be in the apartment alone. Megan had been over every day recently, forcing me to begin planning my wedding. I was also working with Hopeless records, not in the recording studio, but for now I had a job with talking to aspiring bands about what Hopeless would want from them and what they would need to do to get signed and after they were signed.

“Hey Cate!” Jack yelled, entering the apartment.

“Hey!” I answered back, sitting in the living room reading a book.

“What are you doing?”

“Just reading. How was the meeting with your tour manager?”

“Good, we picked out our set list and went over where we would be playing.”

“That’s good. I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too. I have a question for you.”

“Shoot.” I answered, setting down my book.

“When I get back from tour, why don’t we set a date?”

“That works, I guess.”

“Ok,” Jack said, kissing me, “Perfect.”

We spent the remainder of our night just laying down together and talking. We watched a few movies, kissed, and cuddled. I fell asleep at some point, and woke again to Jack carrying me to our room.

“Go to sleep, babe. I’ll wake you up in the morning.” He said, feeling me stir.

“Ok…” I said, falling back asleep.

He set me in bed and covered me up before crawling in beside me and wrapping his arms around me.

“I won’t make the same mistake I made last spring.” He whispered, more to himself than to me, before falling asleep for the rest of the night.