This Is What Happens When Love Meets Destruction

I woke up to the sound of a soft buzz coming from somewhere on the floor, and then the arm that was wrapped loosely around my waist disappeared. The bed shifted, and Jack moved, taking his body heat with him as he got out of bed to search through the clothes on the floor and find his phone.

"Hello?" He whispered when he finally did find it.

On the other end, I heard a voice respond, and recognized it to belong to his mom, but I couldn't hear clearly enough to understand anything she said.

"I know, I know mom." Jack said, keeping his voice low. "I know I said that I was going to spend the night at Rian's but there was a change of plans. I decided to spend the night with Vinnie instead."

Jack waited for his mom as she spit out something that sounded very upset.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you last night, but by the time we decided anything, it was already too late to call you. I didn't want to wake you up."

'Jack' was the only word I was able to understand in the entire sentence that was next to come from his mom. I opened my eyes a little more, and took in the troubled expression on Jack's face as he listened to his mom. He frowned softly to himself, and then shook his head as if his mom were able to see him.

"Mom, please don't be mad." He whispered. "I really like Vinnie, and I know that you think she's a sweet girl too. Why are you getting so mad to find out that I was with her, instead of at a party?"

The frown on Jack's face disappeared, and was replaced by a surprised look as his mom answered.

"Oh," he said, "uh ... well ... yeah, we did have sex last night." He blushed softly. "And yes, I did use a condom."

I smiled softly to myself, and closed my eyes once again, knowing that from here on in, Jack's mom wasn't going to ground him or anything, and that she simply wanted to know if we had been responsible last night. Jack exchanged a few more words with his mom before he finally told her he loved her, and said goodbye. I listened as his footsteps grew nearer to the bed, and then felt the bed shift slightly on my side.

"Vinnie," Jack whispered softly, seeing if I was awake.

"Come lay back down; I'm getting cold." I mumbled.

"Sweetheart, I have to talk to you." He said quietly as he ran his fingers through my hair.

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, watching me with his gentle stare. "Lay with me, and I'll talk to you." I whispered.

Jack nodded his head, and then pulled the sheets back before he slid in beside me, and then covered us back up again. I readjusted myself slightly, and rested my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his steady breathing, and his steady heartbeat.

"Vinnie, I had fun last night." Jack admitted. "And not just the sex part." He added. "The whole night I was having fun, the whole time I was with you, I had fun."

"I had fun with you too, Jack." I said softly.

"I have to ask you something." He said slowly as he traced light patterns on my bare back. As I stared up at him, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, while inside his chest, his heartbeat sped up. If I could bet money on what he was going to say, I'd probably be a millionaire right about now. I bit my lip slightly as I anxiously waited for him to ask me, what he wanted to ask. "Will you be my girlfriend?" He whispered quietly, so quiet that if I hadn't been resting my head on his chest, I would never have heard him.

I opened my mouth to reply, but at that moment, I saw Alex's face flashing through my mind. I know that he made me promise that I wouldn't think of him, but I couldn't help it. Alex was a big part of my life, and to dismiss him when I was about to make what would probably be the biggest decisions of my young life, it wasn't an easy thing to do. I thought about all that we had been through, all the memories we shared together, and then smiled to myself as I pushed them aside, filed them away into a spot at the back of my mind, and looked up at Jack.

"Yes," I smiled, "I'll be your girlfriend."

Jack responded with a big smile of his own, that reached all the way up to his eyes, lighting them up like I've never seen before. He stared back at me for a few seconds, before he leaned over and pressed his lips to mine, kissing me lovingly. We lay there in each others arms for a while, contempt as could be, when there was a sharp knock on the door.

"Vinnie? Are you in there?" Cade called through the door. "Wake up." He demanded.

Growling lowly, I broke the kiss and sat up, clutching the sheets to my naked body. "Go away, Cade!" I yelled.

"Vinnie, Jamie said that you brought someone home last night." Cade growled. "Who is it? Is he still here?"

"Damn it, Cade, don't worry about it!"

When Cade didn't respond immediately, I muttered a few choice words under my breath and then turned my attention back to Jack, who had a look that was a mixture of fear and uncertainty. Placing my hand on his cheek, I climbed on top of him, and then leaned over, pressing my lips to his once again. Just when he finally relaxed, and started to kiss me back, my brother decided to knock once again on my door.

"Victoria Isabella Nava, open this door right now!" He insisted. "If you don't open it, I'm going to kick the fucking thing down."

I pulled away from Jack and gave him an apologetic look before I got up and went to my dresser.

"Are you going to let him in?" Jack whispered, pulling the blankets up to underneath his chin.

"I'm going to scare him away." I mumbled as I pulled on a pair of panties, and a bra.

"But Vinnie." Jack said hurriedly, but didn't have time to finish the rest of his thought as I strolled across the room, and opened the door to give my brother a mean look.

"Vinnie, who's in - Good God, Vinnie, put some clothes on!" He wailed as he covered his eyes with his hands, while still standing in my doorway.

"Cade, go away." I growled. "I'm busy."

"Vinnie, who's in there?" He questioned, never once removing his hands from his eyes.

"If you really must know, it's Jack." I said simply. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"What? Barakat?" He asked, lowering his hands to peer into my room.

When he saw Jack lying on my bed, partially hidden in the blankets, he let out a low growl and made a move to enter my room, but stopped short when he realized he would have to push his way past me. Seeing as how I was only dressed in my bra and panties, my brother shuddered involuntarily and then shook his head, adverting his eyes to the ceiling above us.

"I swear, I'm never going to have a daughter." He muttered to himself before he sighed heavily and looked at me, locking his eyes with mine. "Did you two have sex last night?" He questioned.

"Yes."

Cade made a face and then glanced at Jack before looking back to me. "Did you use protection?"

"Yes."

Cade made another face, before turning back to Jack. "Barakat, are you going to ask my sister out?" He asked.

"I already did." Jack said, his voice clearly showing his nerves; I have reason to believe that Jack has never been interrogated by an older, protective brother before. "We're dating."

My brother frowned softly and then pointed a warning finger at Jack. "You and I are cool, Jack, but break my sisters heart and I'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them. Capeesh?"

Sinking ever so slightly into the blankets, Jack nodded his head. A satisfied look crossed my brother's face, and then he looked back to me. The satisfied smirk on his face faded away, and then he rolled his eyes before turning around, making his way back down the hallway.

"For Pete's sake, Vinnie, put some damn clothes on." He mumbled. "And get rid of those damn monkey bites before dad comes home and sees them!"

I made a face at my brother's retreating back, and slammed the door shut, making sure to lock it before I crossed the room, and pulled the covers away from Jack. They easily slid off of his still naked body, but he grabbed them before he was completely exposed.

"It's cold." He whispered softly as an explanation.

Letting a small smile pull across my face, I leaned over and kissed his cheek gently. "Let's go out somewhere, and get some breakfast." I suggested.

"I don't have any other clothes besides my tux though," he frowned.

"I just ran Casey's laundry through the wash yesterday." I said. "I can go through and steal an outfit from him, he won't care."

"I don't know, babe." Jack said slowly.

"Jack, it's either that, or have breakfast here, while being interrogated by my brothers." I pointed out.

Jack made a face, and then sighed quietly. "Fine." He said. "Breakfast at Denny's?"

I smiled and then nodded my head. "I'll go get you some clothes."

Giving him one more kiss, I pulled away and stood up, making my way out of the room and down the hallway, not bothering to get dressed like my brother had told me to. He interrupted my morning, he was just going to have to find a way to cope.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My stomach growled, causing my mom to laugh softly at me from across the table. "If you hadn't ordered such a big breakfast, Alex, they wouldn't be taking forever to get our order out to us." She teased.

"Mom, I'm starving." I whined.

My mom didn't reply, but rather laughed once more, and then took a drink of her hot tea. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped short when the door dinged, indicating that the restaurant had some new comers. She and I both looked up, and I felt my stomach drop slightly when I saw Jack and Vinnie walk in, hand in hand, looking like their had just had the time of their lives doing Lord knows what.

One look at them, and I was able to tell what they had done after they left the dance last night. I was also able to tell that Jack had asked her to be his girlfriend, and that she had said yes. Even though this is what I had wanted for them, my stomach clenched, and my heart jumped involuntarily inside my chest.

"Oh, look who it is." My mom smiled, not seeing the expression on my face as she waved to the two, and invited them over. "Hey Vinnie, hey Jack." My mom smiled as they approached. "What in the world are you two doing up this early on a weekend?" She asked.

"My mom actually called, and woke me up." Jack replied. "And then Vinnie's brother was banging on the door, in a very ... 'threatening manner'." Jack added shyly.

"I decided it was best for us to go out and have breakfast, and save Jack the trouble of my older brothers." Vinnie laughed quietly.

"You two should join us." My mom suggested. "I'm sure Alex wouldn't mind." She added, glancing at me for a split second before looking back to our company.

"Um," both Jack and Vinnie hesitated slightly, looking at one another before looking over to me as if waiting for my permission.

"Actually, if you guys don't mind," I whispered, "I'd kinda just like to have breakfast with my mom this morning."

My mom opened up her mouth to protest, but Vinnie spoke up first. "Alright, that's fine." She said, giving my mom a soft smile. "Thanks for the invite though."

"Well," my mom huffed, "maybe one night you guys can all come over for dinner or something." She insisted. "I haven't had all you kids over for a while now."

"That sounds good." Jack said. "We'll see you guys later then."

"Alright, bye Jack, bye Vinnie." My mom said, waving to them as they made their way to a different booth, on the opposite side of the restaurant.

Once they were out of earshot, my mom turned to me, a small frown adorning her lips. "What's wrong, Alex?" She questioned. "Are you and Jack having a fight or something?"

"No mom," I whispered, "it's nothing like that, it's just ... " I trailed off, shrugging my shoulders when I couldn't think of a way to explain this whole situation to my mom.

"Hmm," my mom mumbled, glancing over her shoulder to gaze at Jack and Vinnie once again. "How long have those two been together?"

"They just started dating." I muttered, fiddling around with the ice cubes in my water.

"They're cute together."

"Mom, can we please stop talking about them?" I asked quietly. "Just ... please, no talk about how cute they look together; I'm a guy, guys don't discuss other people's relationships."

"Alexander," my mom sighed, "you should be happy for your best friends." She insisted. "Happy that they're happy together."

I took a chance, and looked over at my friends, and indeed saw how happy they looked together. I was happy for them, but then again at the same time, it was killing me. I tore my eyes away from them, and then shook my head as my emotions started to rally up inside of me.

"What is it, Alex?"

"Nothing mom." I whispered as I felt my eyes start to glaze over.

"Alexander, tell me what's wrong." My mom insisted softly. "Why aren't you happy for your friends?"

"I am happy." I mumbled, and then cursed myself as I felt two tears fall from my eyes.

"Alexander William Gaskarth," my mom sighed, "sweetheart, tell me exactly what happened between you and Victoria."

"Nothing." I mumbled thickly. "Absolutely nothing happened between us."

"Alex, you like her." My mom whispered.

I shook my head as I wiped the tears away from my eyes. "I love her." I corrected. "And I'm sure that at one point or another, she loved me back, but I refused to let her love me back."

"Oh, Alex." My mom said quietly. She opened up her mouth to say something else, but looked as if she wasn't sure what exactly she would say. She bit her lip, glancing over her shoulder once again before she gazed upon me, and the state I was in.

"Do you want to get our breakfast to go?" She asked.

Wiping away another stubborn tear, I nodded my head.

"Okay." She said. "Here, you can take the keys, and wait for me in the car while I tell them to put our food in boxes." She added, handing me the keys.

I quietly took them from her, and got up, making my way out of the restaurant. On the way out, I don't think Jack or Vinnie even noticed me leaving; they were having too much fun talking about a new movie that was coming out, that they didn't even pay attention to me.

Outside, I took a deep breath of the early morning air, and tried my best to convince myself that I would get over Vinnie. I had to.