Paint My Skies Black, I Never Wanna See The Sun Again

It was 1:00 in the afternoon and my mom had just left the house, leaving me alone with 5 teenage boys. They told me last night that they had just graduated last year and immediately went on to do the tour they had just finished.

I was outside in the backyard, floating in the pool when I heard someone stirring inside.
“I’m out in the back!” I yelled.

Sure enough, Jack and Rian stumbled out of the doors. “Zack took over the bathroom,” Jack mumbled, barely coherent, “and Alex is dead to the world.”

“Where’s Matt?” I asked them.

“Oh. Hm. I don’t know.” Jack replied groggily as Rian sat in one of the lounge chairs in the shade. I don’t know what those boys were up doing in the wee hours at night, but they seemed exhausted. Rian fell asleep in one of the chairs. I think that it was the first time I hadn’t seen Jack all hyped up.

~ ~

Alex woke up about half an hour after the rest of them, busy talking on his phone, and we found Matt in the kitchen.

“Is it okay if I have a few people over?” he asked.

“How many do you mean by ‘a few’?” I said, making air quotes.

“I don’t know...just some friends. Bands. More.” He added under his breath.

“Whatever.” I shrugged. I mean, how many people could he have invited?

That was the worst decision I had made in a very long time.

~ ~

People started showing up at about 7:00 or so, just waltzing in though the door. Most of them brought drinks and before I knew it, we had our own little bar that took up about half the kitchen counter. In theory, the house was still in good shape: at least it was still standing upright.

Music was blasting through the sound system, bowls of chips and popcorn were strewn throughout the house, and you needed to keep your shoes on, in case you stepped in any unidentifiable substances. People were dancing to the music, some were just drunk and walking around, and others had decided to jump into the pool – fully clothed. Although I did prefer them to be fully clothed than be on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I rolled my eyes at the mess that people had left in my mother’s office. If any room in the house had to be kept perfect, it was that room. I grabbed a few of the scattered bowls and cups and started to clean up.

“Here, let me help you with that.”
Alex came into the room and began cleaning up the mess.

“Oh. Thanks, Alex. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be out there getting drunk?” I asked suspicious of his motives, “or were you following me?”

“Hah. Right,” he snorted, “I just happened to see this door open, and I was going to shut it again, when I noticed you in here cleaning, and I felt responsible for bringing all these people into your house.”

“Right.” I said sarcastically, drawing out the ‘i’ sound.

“So whose pants are you trying to get into tonight?” I asked him, cocking my head to the side. From what I had heard of this boy, he wasn’t one to shy away from an opportunity for a hook up.

“Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?” he shot back defiantly. Then his voice took on another tone, “Do you really think that low of me, Sunday?” he said quietly.

“Well, your track record doesn’t help much does it, Alex?” I asked in return, “You just got off your first tour and you already have a reputation with the ladies.”

“Maybe I’m just lovable.” he said, sitting down on a loveseat and putting his feet up on one of the end tables.

I just shook my head. “What, so you’re saying you don’t feel any sort of attraction towards me?” he continued in disbelief.

“Well, would you be attracted to someone who was known to take off in the morning like that?” I snapped my fingers for emphasis.

“Yeah – wait. Are you saying you are attracted to me?” he twisted my words around and sauntered closer to me, standing close enough so that I could feel his hot breath on my neck. He smelled of Axe, a hint of beer and a bit of mint.

Butterflies flew into my stomach. “Alex, I – just drop it for a sec okay?” and with that, I left the room, and a very confused Gaskarth.

~ ~

Phew. I thought. Just narrowly escaped that one.
I didn’t know what happened, but Alex was getting to me. I never even considered my annoyance with him as being an attraction.

Shit.

What have I gotten myself into?