This Is What Happens When Love Meets Destruction

I seemed to tune out the cheers and yells of the people around me when I went up to spike the ball that had been expertly set for me. If I made all the right moves, this could be the last play of the set, giving us a victory over our opponent. Time seemed to pass in slow motion as I went up to make the kill, and before I realized what had happened, I watched as the volleyball hit the floor on the other teams side, giving me another kill to add to my stats, and giving our team the final point.

Around me, my teammates, as well as our fans in the bleachers who had been able to make the away game, erupted into their cheers when the referee called the game. An excited smile pulling across my own face, I joined my team back at the bench, where we did the traditional end of game cheer and shook our opponents hands, exchanging words along the line of 'good game' or 'nice job'.

After we were done congratulating one another, my teammates and I grabbed our belongings and headed into the locker room to shower and change. I was able to grab a private shower stall and I stripped myself out of my sweaty uniform before I took a quick shower. When I was finished, I dressed myself in a clean outfit and then grabbed my things, putting them back into my bag before I made my way into the main gymnasium.

I glanced around and then spotted Lauren sitting with Zacky, Rian, and Jack. Upon seeing me, Lauren waved me over using her stats book. Rian scooted down some, making room between himself and Jack for me to sit down.

"Congrats on the win, Vinnie." Rian smiled.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile of my own. "I'm just happy that you guys were able to make it out to watch us."

"Did you get a note from your mom saying you have permission to ride home with us?" Zack asked.

I nodded my head. "Yup. I already gave it to the bus driver."

"Sweet." He grinned. "Does that mean we can leave?"

"Mhmm."

"Alright, come on; I'm starving." Rian insisted.

Leading by example, Rian stood up and the rest of us followed suit. I stretched slightly and then made a move to grab my bag but Jack beat me to it, slinging it over his shoulder before I had a chance to protest. Glancing at me just long enough to give me a cute smile, Jack placed a hand on the small of my back, nudging me forward.

Outside, the air was bitter cold and I muttered a few choice words under my breath as I pulled my hoodie tighter around my body. Feeling the shiver that ran through my body, Jack removed his hand from my back and instead wrapped an arm around my shoulders, holding me close to his warm body. Unable to stop myself, I let a shy smile pull across my lips at the though of being so close to Jack.

We walked in silence until we came to the bus where we had to say goodbye to Lauren. Lauren first said her goodbyes to Zack and Rian before she turned her attention to me and Jack. She opened her mouth to say goodnight, but stopped short, observing our close embrace. Slowly, a thoughtful look crossed her face and she flashed us one of her mischievous smiles.

"Goodnight you two." She finally said. "Drive safe, Jacky. And Vinnie, I'll call you later, alright?"

"Okay," I replied. "Night Lauren."

Lauren gave us one last look before she got onto the bus, letting Jack and me continue our way to Jack's car, which was actually his moms car. As to how Jack was able to convince his mom to let him borrow her car and drive it to a destination that was nearly two and a half hours away? I'm not sure.

"Vinnie, where do you want to eat sweetheart?" Jack asked.

"Umm, it doesn't matter." I replied quietly. "I'll let Rian and Zack decide where to eat."

"You should know better than to let them decide." He laughed softly. "Just pick a place; they'll agree to wherever you decide."

"Okay." I grinned. "Applebee's?"

"Applebee's it is." Jack confirmed with a nod of his head.

When we reached his car, he popped the trunk, setting my bag inside while I took a seat in the front passenger seat. Before long, Jack joined us as we were off to the Applebee's we had seen on the drive to the school. When we got there, we still had to wait to be seated. Frowning softly, I sat down beside Jack and did my best to ignore my growling stomach. Jack examined my unhappy expression in amusement before he laughed quietly and nudged me gently with his elbow.

"What's with the face?" He asked.

"I'm hungry." I pouted. "I don't want to wait."

Jack rolled his eyes at my response, but smiled all the same. "It shouldn't take long." He said simply.

I opened my mouth to reply with a smart ass remark, but stopped myself short when my phone beeped in my pocket, indicating that I had a new text. Sticking my tongue out at Jack, I pulled my cell out and opened the message, only to see that it was from Alex.

How'd the game go? He asked.

Good. We won :) I replied.

Right on. What are you guys doing now?

We're waiting to be seated at Applebee's right now. It's pissing me off, I'm hungry! :(

I heard Jack snicker beside me, and I looked up after I sent the text to find that he had been reading my messages over my shoulder.

"Jack Bassam Barakat, quit being a sneak." I grinned, hitting his arm playfully.

"Well, I'm bored." He said defensively. "Plus, I wanted to see if Alex was going to tell you."

Raising an eyebrow, I gave Jack a quizzical look. "Tell me what?"

"Hmm, what we did today at lunch." Jack grinned.

"Barakat, what did you guys do?" I asked slowly.

"Nothing bad." Jack insisted. "We snuck into the senior class meeting, with the intention of nominating you for Homecoming queen."

"Jack," I blushed. "I don't want to run for homecoming queen."

"Hey, I only said that was our intention." Jack said, holding his hands up to show his innocence. "But, someone else beat us to it. You can't back out of it now, though, babe." He grinned. "Megan accepted the nomination for you; she pretended to call you on the phone, and then told your advisor that you had accepted."

"You guys," I whined, "this is crap."

"Why?" Rian laughed. "What's so bad about running for Homecoming Queen?"

"Because," I huffed, "you know how it gets with Homecoming ... its just a big popularity contest, and all kinds of drama gets started for no fucking reason when it comes to campaigning. I'm not going to campaign at all; if people want to vote for me, they'll vote for me. I'm not going to talk anybody into anything."

"But you gotta campaign, Vinnie." Zack said. "At least make some posters or something."

"I'm not doing shit." I muttered as I started to write another text to Alex.

Not waiting for him to reply to my other text, I wrote You know I'm not happy about being nominated and then sent it to him.

"Victoria Isabella." Jack sighed as he rolled his eyes slightly. "I'll campaign for you if you insist on not campaigning."

"No," I sighed, "don't waste your time."

"Damn it Vinnie, don't be so difficult." Jack said sternly. "You're running, and I'm gonna be your campaign manager. You don't even have to do anything, just show up at the dance looking pretty, and let me take care of the rest."

His tone suggested that the conversation was no longer open for me to comment on, but I opened my mouth nonetheless to voice some more protests. Luckily for Jack, though, my phone beeped, having just received Alex's reply. I shot Jack an impatient look before I read Alex's reply.

You're gonna win, Vinnie. You're much more likeable than the rest of the girls who had been nominated.

"Jack," I asked quietly, "who else was nominated?"

"Sarah Simmons, Nessie Bennet, and," he paused momentarily, sighing heavily, "Amy Nava."

"Fuck me." I growled lowly.

Jack gave me a questioning look and I handed my cell over to him to show him Alex's reply. When he was done, he handed it back, a soft smirk playing across his lips. "Well, he's right." He pointed out.

"Jack, I'm running against his girlfriend." I whispered, not wanting to gain Rian and Zack's attention, now that they were talking about their own plans for homecoming. "You're not supposed to tell anybody that they're more likeable than your own girlfriend."

Jack sighed and then leaned over to whisper into my ear. "Vinnie, Alex still has a 'thing' for you. Of course he's going to tell you that."

"But - "

"Hey, are you two planning on going to the Homecoming dance together?" Zack asked, causing Jack and I to pull away from each other straighten up.

"What?" I asked, caught off guard by his question.

"I asked if you two were planning on going to the Homecoming dance together." Zack repeated.

"Umm ... no." Jack said slowly. "I mean ... we haven't talked about it or anything ... " he trailed off, muttering a few incoherent words under his breath.

"I honestly haven't put much thought into Homecoming at all." I admitted. "I don't even have a dress for the dance."

"You two should go together." Rian suggested. "I mean, me and Lyla are going together, Lauren is taking Zack so he could get into the dance, and Alex is preoccupied with Amy. It would make sense for you two to just go together. Then afterward we can all head to my house for the after party."

I bit my lip, unsure how to answer; as I glanced up at Jack, I saw that he was going through the same dilemma as me. Luckily, however, the waiter came back and announced that our table was ready. Rian and Zack, happy to finally be seated, didn't wait for our response and got up to follow the waiter. Sighing as he watched them walk away, Jack slowly got up and held his hand out to me, helping me up as well. His soft brown eyes studied me for a split second before he looked away, and then followed the direction Rian and Zack had disappeared in, pulling me gently along behind him.

Feeling his soft hand in mine, I couldn't help but wonder how my night would be if Jack went as my date.