In This Starless City

The plane bumped onto the runway in London and I jerked awake, shocked that I had slept through the entire flight. I blinked and looked around, looking out the window to see the sun just over the western horizon. And to my left, there sat Jack, looking at me with a tired smile on his face.

“Welcome home,” he says quietly in courtesy of the passengers that were still sleeping around us. All of my boys were still snoozing, to my surprise. I wondered when they had passed out.

We taxied to the airport and docked at the gate. I watched as the ramp approached the side of the aircraft and when the fasten seatbelt sign was turned off and the lights of the cabin turned on above us, I unbuckled my seatbelt and was to my feet within a second.

I hopped over Jack’s lap. “Wake up,” I said to each of my boys as I jostled them in their seats. They stirred and looked around and when they saw that we were no longer thousands of feet in the air, they sat their seats upright and stretched. “Come on, guys. I want to go see my parents today.”

Nathan stood and palmed Oliver on the forehead in front of him, causing him to snort and jolt forward after dosing off slightly again. Jack had awakened Alex and Rian and Zack already and it was now just a matter of getting off the plane, getting out luggage from baggage claim, and then gettinag to the hospital.

I turned my phone on and pressed two, speed dialing my mom. It rang only twice before she answered.

“Hello, sweetie,” she says. She sounded tired now and my stress level rocketed. “Are you off the plane?”

“Yeah,” I reply as we made our way to the luggage carousel. The airport was quiet and there wasn’t many people mulling around at this time of night on this day of the week. “Is dad awake?”

“He sure is,” I could hear him in the background asking where I was and I couldn’t help but smile. “He can’t wait for you to get here.” She sounded like she was trying to sound excited too despite how exhausted I knew she was.

“Tell him I’ll be on my way within the hour,” my mom passed along the message and I heard my dad’s excited responses. “I’ll text you when I’m at the hospital.”

We hung up on each other and I slipped my phone back into my pocket. Jack was by my side, watching the stranger luggage come and go. I inhaled deeply before looping my arm through his and lacing my fingers with his again, leaning my head against his shoulder.

From the corner of my eye, I swore I saw his lips twitch upward in a smug grin. But I didn’t want to call him on it.

Our luggage arrived randomly and one piece at a time until finally we had everything that belonged to us. I pulled my suitcase behind me and I carried my duffel bag on my shoulder and across my torso, but I was still managing to hold Jack’s hand as he walked beside me and the two of us walked behind the group.

I could hear them snickering and I noticed them turn around and look at the two of us a couple of times. It was like looking at six high school divas. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself at the thought.

We got outside and hailed a few cabs. “Would you guys mind taking my stuff to the hotel for me? I’ll be back there later.”

Oliver took my bags and loaded them into the trunk, lamming it closed before climbing into the yellow car. Jack was still at my side though and I gave him an odd glance.

“I want to come with you,” he says, not releasing my hand as I steppe toward the second cab—the cab that would be driving me to the hospital.

“Not this time, love,” I say as I made toward the yellow vehicle again. But, once more, Jack pulled me back to him.

“When will you be back?”

I looked at him disparagingly. “You can’t ask me to put a time limit on my visit to see my injured father and my mother, neither or whom I’ve seen for years.”

Jack returned my disparaged look. “I want you to be with me.”

Despite the series of worried knots over my father that had twisted their way into my innards over the course of the last few days, hearing Jack say that caused them to squeeze tighter and then loosen greatly. I couldn’t help but smile at him and I felt like a giddy schoolyard girl with a crush.

Probably because I was a giddy girl with a crush.

On a mere whim, I turned to face him fully and stood on my tippy toes to press my lips to his lightly and quickly. “I’ll be back in no less than an hour but no more than two. Is that fair?”

His eyes were on mine but he didn’t respond right away. “That’s fair,” he replies, his mouth barely moving. I backed away from him, sliding my fingers out of his and the sliding into the cab, slamming the door behind me. I gave the driver the address to the hospital, and as the wheels turned and we pulled away from the curb, I looked to see that Jack was watching me go, an unreadable emotion playing on his face.

><><><

The cab arrived at he hospital and I wasted no time in handing money to the driver and then darting out of the door, dialing my mom as I ran.

“Hey, I’m in the lobby,” I say as I went. She said she’d be there soon and sure enough, as soon as I was in the hospital, my mother was the first person I saw. Subconsciously, I kept my right, bandaged hand behind me as I swept to her and she engulfed me in a hug. I hugged back just as, if not more, tightly.

“How are you?” she asked into my shoulder. I had taken some height since the last time I’d been home, apparently, because now I was just as tall as she was, aside from the fact that she was rather short to begin with.

“I’m alright,” I reply, my arms tightening. For a fraction of a second, everything in the world seemed right and there wasn’t a worry in my mind. Then I realized when this hug ended, my mother would see my bandaged hand. I also realized that she would never let me hear the end of it if she knew what I went through to get it fixed.

Maybe she’d focus on my well wishes from Watson and forget about the whole ordeal? Yeah, and I’ll sprout wings and fly back to our hotel to avoid cab fare.

Sure enough, when my mother and I separated, she reached for my hands and held them in hers, giving them a squeeze. And if the bandage she felt that was wrapped around my palm didn’t give me away, the wince surely did.

“What in God’s name happened?” she asked, her eyes wide as she peaked under the wrappings to see the still-huge gash in my hand.

I looked at the floor, trying to avoid telling her the entire story that consisted of me worrying my boys, the boys of All Time Low, and a whole venue full of fans. I swallowed and looked back up at her and I knew there was no way around not telling her at least what caused it. “I punched a mirror.”

“What the hell for?” she inquired in that sharp, motherly tone of hers. The one that tied me to the spot even after all of these years.

“You and dad were fighting,” I say quietly, looking up at her through my bangs. “You said that he had left for the night and that pissed me off. So, I hit something.”

She smiled at me before wrapping her arms around me again as I blinked away the moisture in my eyes. “Your father and I fight like a married couple because we are a married couple. It’s what we do,” she grasped my shoulders and pushed me away so that she could swipe away the tear that was just below my bottom eyelid. “And punching a mirror isn’t very ladylike.”

“You’re surprised I reacted that way?” I asked sardonically and she laughed, shaking her head and murmuring that she supposed not. “Can we go see dad now?”

She nodded and led me to his room and I was pleased that he wasn’t in a body cast, hooked up to any machines other than a heart rate monitor and an IV, and was awake and smiling brightly at me. He looked just as he had when I left for the United States, aside from there being a bit more gray in his hair and a few more laugh lines by his eyes.

“Charlotte!” he hollers at the sight of me, raising his arms shoulder-height and allowing me to climb into a snug embrace. He patted me on the back. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good,” I answer, smiling from ear to ear. “I’d ask you how you’ve been, but I think I already know the answ—…”

He cut me off with, “I’ve definitely seen better day,” I hopped off the bed and sat beside my mom next to the bed. My mom grasped my right hand gently, causing my dad to look at it. “What in the hell happened to your hand?”

I sighed. “Here we go again,” my mom laughed with me as I dove into the story.

><><><

I finished the story, finally, and my dad had the complete opposite react of my mom. He thought it was hysterical that I thought anything could come between himself and my mom. Nothing had for almost thirty years and nothing would for as long as he lived, he so candidly put it.

I told them that Dr. Watson had been the doctor that stitched me up and that he sent his well wishes to both of them. That got us started on people in New York City which got us started on people in the United States in general which brought us to the boys in my band (which they had never actually talked to in person. Only ever on the phone.). And finally, that brought us to the mystery band with whom my band was touring.

“I Googled them and they all seemed rather…odd.” My mom says and my dad and I both giggled at the statement.

“I can’t believe you just said that you ‘Googled’ them,” I say through bouts of laughter. “And what do you mean ‘odd’? They’re normal guys aside from being huge rock stars.”

“Then why do they feel the need to have photoshoots when all they’re wearing is their undergarments and the smiles on their faces?” she looked at me with wide eyes and I had to keep from laughing when I heard my dad cackle behind her.

“Of course your first impression of these guys would be that picture of all the pictures on the world wide web,” I cursed the odds that were clearly against me.

“Who are these boys?” my mom inquired.

“Well, they’re from Baltimore, Maryland, and I believe they’ve known each other for years. There’s Alex Gaskarth, the lead singer. He’s a bit of an ego, but he’s got some charm about him when he wants to. Their drummer is Rian Dawson and he’s got the brightest smile you’ve ever seen or ever will see in your entire lives. That’s what he’s best known for aside from his good looks, but he’s especially easy to talk to. My personal favorite is Zack Merrick because he plays bass like me. Plus, he doesn’t get pissed when I knock strings off of him because I never have any on me when I break mine.” I stopped as the last member of the band sprang to the forefront of my brain. I automatically looked at the clock to see that it had been five minutes over two hours. I gulped, guilt taking rest in the pit of my gut.

“There are four members of the band and you’ve only named three. Who’s the last?” my dad wondered and my mom follows his question up with a curious hum.

“There’s Jack Barakat…their guitarist,” I trailed off quietly as I wondered how angry he would be with me when I arrived late to the hotel. “And he could possibly be the sweetest guy I’ve ever met.”

My parents exchanged a quick glance that I would’ve missed if I’d blinked. “What makes him better than everyone else?” my mom wonders.

“He’s not better than everyone else, per se,” I stopped to gather my thoughts. “He’s just got this way about him. He’s a lot of talk, but he backs his shit up well. He’s got irresistible charm, charisma, wit, but at the same time, he’s so conscientious about things on my mind. He just the right amount of emotional without being a complete sad sack, and I met him first on the flight to LAX right before the tour.”

Again, my parents were looking at each other. I took this chance to look at the clock. I swallowed again. I was ten minutes late.

I stood from the chair, picking up the jacket that I had shed. “I have to go,” I say and my parents both raised their eyebrows at me. “I told Jack I’d be back ten minutes ago.”

“Well, when you get back, you tell all of your little friends that any friends of our daughters are friends of ours and that they can stay at our place. No need to pay for a hotel when you can sleep and eat for free.” My mom gave me a hug.

“What about Shawn?” my brother was overprotective and I knew he wouldn’t be happy about seven boys staying under the same roof as me, platonic relationship or not.

“He’ll be home tomorrow and we’ll warn him.” My dad says. “Text us when you get back to your hotel.” He adds as I gave him a hug goodbye.

“Will do,” I say and with that, I said I quick ‘I love you’ and then was out the door, waving down a cab and then speed off toward my hotel.

><><><

I bolted inside to see that many people were in their rooms but there were a few still wondering around downstairs in the restaurant-bar area. I got a few intoxicated glances from a few intoxicated guys. I quickened my already fast pace toward the elevator.

I pressed my phone to my ear, calling Brandon. “Hey, what room are we in?”

He yawned. “Six hundred,” he says through a thick, sleepy voice before hanging up without so much as another sound.

I got to the sixth floor and to room six-zero-zero, but to my immediate irritation, the door was completely closed, locked, and I had no key.

I tried calling Brandon, but he didn’t answer. Neither did Oliver nor Nathan.

Huffing, I shoved my phone in my pocket, turned back to the elevator and went back downstairs to the pool area. There was nothing more for me to do and I figured there was no safer place to be than where there are the most windows. Nobody could rape me if I had the whole hotel as a possible witness.

It was completely empty and the water was smooth on the surface. I walked around the perimeter of the pool several times, and then, before I knew it, I was sitting on the end of the diving board, poking the surface of the water with my toes and watching the ripples expand and disappear.

“That took longer than I was expecting,” a voice reverberated around the room, bouncing off the high ceilings and the crystal water top. I turned to see Jack standing there, barefoot as well, in a pair of plaid shorts and a Glamour Kills t-shirt. “How are your parents?”

I pursed my lips while trying to smother the guilt that had appeared at the sight of him, turning to look back at the water below me. “They’re fine,” I respond. “I think my dad is going to be released tomorrow.”

Jack’s voice sounded closer as he said, “That’s good to hear.”

I looked at him and noticed that he was now at the ladder of the diving board. “What are you doing awake? And why are you down here?”

He stepped up so that he was standing on the opposite end of the board. “I could ask you the same question,” he counters.

I ran my foot across the top of the water, making a big splash. “I enjoy a little background noise when I think.”

The board was vibrating beneath me as Jack got closer. Then, I heard my phone vibrate on the table across the room. I stood on the board and made to walk back to the deck, but Jack cut me off. He had stealthily made it to the end where I was.

“Excuse me, Jack,” I say, trying to sneak around him, but he was making that difficult as he continued to walk toward me, causing me to walk backward until I was on the very end of the board, screaming at him to stop walking toward me because I had no where else to go.

But he kept coming closer until his body was touching mine. That’s when I realized how dark and lovely his eyes were looking. They were painted with fatigue but there were stars in them nonetheless.

His hair was extending down to my face and I had to keep from laughing as the ends tickled my face and nose. I could feel his hands slide onto my hips, one reaching around to the small of my back to pull me flush against him while the other climbed to my face, cupping around my jaw and cheek.

And then, his lips were just centimeters from mine. “So, your birthday is tomorrow,” he murmurs and my eyes snapped to his. The brown was stormy and entrancing. I could only nod before he continued. “And you’ll be legal drinking age.”

I couldn’t stop the shrug. “Well, technically I’m already legal drinking age here,”

Jack laughed roughly. “But now you can come out with us back home and I can show you how to drink like a boss,”

“You’ll have to be gentle with me, darling. My liver is a newbie,” He was so close to me now that I could feel his body heat on me.

His smile turned devious and the thumb that was on my jaw ran across my cheek slowly, causing my eyelids to twitch and close momentarily. “Maybe I don’t want to be gentle with you.” His voice was gravelly.

My mouth was open slightly and I could feel his hot breath on my tongue. It smelled like mint toothpaste. And slowly, his lips connected with mine, and this kiss was nothing like I’d expected it to be. There were no fireworks. There was no spark. And I was instantly let down.

However, as I had put my arms around his neck nonetheless, he pressed against me harder and the magic started. My stomach was doing cliché back flips and my heart was hammering somewhere near my trachea.

Caught up in the moment but clearly not in the right way, I had forgotten that he and I were standing on a board that was only a foot and a half wide. And, misplacing my balance on one foot, I staggered backward and before either of us could help ourselves, I was underwater and I heard Jack come splashing in after me.

I surfaced and quickly paddled to the edge, hauling myself out with some difficulty thanks to my saturated clothes. Jack was out within a few seconds of me, and with a glance to each other, we were both on our backs on the pool deck, laughing and holding out middles.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” I say, trying to catch the breath that had been stolen from me by the pool and the journey out of the water and…well, Jack.

Jack quieted a little, but still smiled as he asked, “What, exactly?”

I understood what he was inquiring without him having to even inquire it. “Everything.”

Jack rolled over and appeared above me, his hair wet and dripping down onto my face. He pressed his mouth to mine again and the sparks wasted no time in firing up to my brain and causing me to melt into him.

“Believe it now?” he inquires, his mouth still touching mine.

“You know, you can’t spell believe without ‘lie’, right?” I smart back, smirking.

He brought both hands up and ran them over my neck and jaw carefully. “I was never too good at spelling anyway.” He pressed his lips to mine and I smiled against them as I pulled him close to the wet pool floor and me.