Put Your Heart Where Your Mouth Is

By the time I woke up the next morning, I had someone else's hand slapped over my mouth to keep me from screaming.

I was sitting in the middle of a booth with a mug of cold coffee and untouched pancakes in front of me. I had my head in Wren's lap, and my legs were bent up on top of John's. I shot upright, and sent a glare in Wren's direction. "Take your hand off me." I mumbled through her fingers. "Or else."

She snickered, rolling her eyes. "Or else what?"

"I'll do this." I stuck out my tongue, and licked the palm of her hand. She screamed, and stumbled out of the booth to wash her hands. John raised his eyebrows over the top of his cell phone, and said nothing. He went back to texting. I sighed. "Where are we?"

"The happiest place," Pat said, through a mouthfull of bacon, "On Earth."

"Denny's." John finished quietly. I glanced up at him. For once, he was talking and looking at me at the same time. Whoa. "Dragging you in here while you were in your little coma was Garrett's brilliant idea."

Garrett grinned from the other side of the table. "I wanted to see you freak out in public when you woke up." He shrugged, laughing, and then turned around to the booth behind us. "She's awake now."

There was movement, and once I saw who he was talking to, I was on the verge of shitting myself. I had to fight to keep my jaw from unhinging. Were my eyes still in their sockets?

"Are you Kenny's sister?"

I had to combat the butterflies in my stomach the only way I knew how-- appearing as indifferent and non-chalant as possible. "Mhmm." I said, nodding once.

"Cool, cool." he said, shaking my hand. "I'm Alex, but I think you already knew that."

I quirked an eyebrow in confusion before following his gaze to the logo on my shirt. "I saw you guys at Warped in San Antonio. Someone nailed you in the nuts with a Doc Marten."

"Good times." Jack Barakat sighed dreamily. He was staring off out the window, letting the memory playback in his mind. "It hit him in the sack."

"No talk of sacks at the breakfast table." John said, barely paying attention.

I laughed, "Alex, you're blushing."

He smirked, "Hot girls have that effect on me."

The boys waved, and then merged out the double doors to their bus. I glanced over at Garrett, sighing in my little triumph, and could practically hear him grinding his teeth.

"Congrats. You've got the sleazy fucker hooked." He said, jabbing his fork in and out of a sausage link.

"Nicely done." John said with a small laugh, just loud enough for me to hear.

I furrowed my eyebrows, and downed the last half of my orange juice in one gulp.