The Party Scene Got The Best Of Us...And Look Where We Ended Up.

Kara was just putting the vacuum away when the front door to the Dawson household opened, and in came Bryony, lugging a case of beer.

“For the guys,” she said, setting in down next to the door. “My dad’s coming; he was stopping to get something else, I guess, and Ian’s with him, too.”

Kara hushed the dogs, and Shae came down from her room, and the three girls went into the kitchen to start making dinner. As they did so, the Barakats and Merricks came in, followed by Travis. Everyone settled into the living room while the hamburgers and hot dogs defrosted, catching up on anything missed while they waited for Alex and Ian to arrive.

“They’re probably not going to get here anytime soon, if they’re not already, so you might as well start dinner,” Bryony suggested. Travis and Jack agreed, shoving Rian off the end of the couch to help his wife cook.

A while later, the adults were gathered around the one table on the deck, as well as perched on bar stools, leaving the kids to find a seat either around the pool or on the railings of the deck. Alex and Ian arrived just as everyone was sitting down to eat; Alex carrying a bottle of tequila and a bucket of margarita mix, Ian looking unusually put-together.

“Sorry we’re late. Pretty boy over here had to get ready for something,” Alex said, ruffling Ian’s hair.

“No, actually,” Ian said, glaring at Alex and fixing her hair, “We got pulled over for speeding and he tried to flirt his way out of the ticket. He used some lame-ass pick up lines that didn’t work and the lady said she could press charges for harassment. So then he was all, ‘But I’m Alex Gaskarth. From All Time Low. You can’t give me a ticket!’ and then she let us off with a warning so she didn’t have to listen to his crap anymore.” Ian imitated Alex with a deeper, mocking voice, and threw his hands into the air, as if to act it out.

Alex slapped Ian upside the head with his free hand. “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

Ian left Alex's side and hopped onto the railing next to Shae, glancing over at Rian occasionally, and though he never once looked over, Ian didn’t dare scoot any closer. Bryony was giving them disapproving glances, aimed mostly at her brother, but he just glared back, not caring at all. Shae was more than thrilled and barely touched her food, too nervous about both the boy next to her and falling over the railing backwards to eat. At one point, after setting her plate aside, Shae actually did being to fall backwards, but Ian wrapped an arm around her shoulder and smiled, refusing to let go, “just in case.”

A car eventually drove by the house slowly, first going one direction, and then back, and Ian kissed Shae’s cheek as he jumped down off the railing.

“Where’re you going?” She asked, shivering at the lack of warmth the absence of his arm left.

“Just out, with the guys. Maybe some band stuff.”

Shae didn’t bother to point out that Travis wasn’t leaving.

At the adult table, Jack pointed out that Ian was apparently leaving and pointed it out to Alex, saying, “Yo, dude, your kid is leaving.”

Alex whistled, “Ian! Where the hell are you going?”

“I’m going out with Leann to the movies. See you at home,” he answered, not bothering to look back and see Shae’s shocked reaction.

Kara was just setting out dessert when the cordless phone next to her rang. Unusually for her, she jumped up to answer it, even though she had company and they were in the middle of their meal still.

“Hello?”

Bryony, as well as everyone else, struggled to hear the voice of the person on the other end, curious to see who was important enough for Kara to talk to during dinner.

“Oh, hey, K!” was the point where everyone but two people stopped listening. As Kara walked down the stairs towards the open pool, both Alex and Bryony tried to hear who was on the other line, with Alex even going as far as to stand next to the railing closest to the pool, trying to look like he was making margaritas. Bryony followed, trying to look interested in what Alex was doing. Neither was able to hear anything other than that first line, though, and exchanged a knowing glance and gave up.

------
Emmy and Travis were sitting in the corner of the deck near the stairs, plates set out in front of them, not distracted at all by Kara's mysterious phone call.

"So your dad's not here, then?"

"Nah," Travis answered, "I don't even know where he is right now to be honest. I kinda don't care to be honest."

"Do you know when he's coming back?"

"Nope. I told him the other night that I wanted to go stay with my mom in Rhode Island, though. He flipped shit at me and said I couldn't, but I don't really give fuck. I haven't seen her in forever, you know?"

"Yeah." Emmy stared off into the general direction of the pool and where Kara was, thinking. Travis kept the silence, not having much else to say.

"I almost wish they would take a break," Emmy said a few minutes later. "I mean like, it's my fault they're fighting. It hurts, you know? I can't make my dad be there for me, and neither can Mom, so when they fight about it -me- I feel so bad. I don't want them ruining their marriage because of me."

"I know. It's just like-"

"Alec! Would you fucking stop it already?!"

All eleven heads snapped in the direction of the Barakat siblings, surprised at Soraya's sudden outburst. She and Alec were sitting next to each other on the only two empty bar stools; Soraya because she wanted to be more or less alone and Alec because both Ian and Travis were occupied with someone else and he didn't want to intrude. He had been tapping on the table with his fingers since they sat down to eat, much to Soraya's annoyance. Instead of asking him to stop, like she normally would, she waited until it was driving her insane, and then yelled.

"I wasn't fucking doing anything!" he yelled back, and Persephone cut in, telling both to watch their language.

"What has gotten into you two? First at home yesterday, and now tonight. What's going on?"

"Alec is sitting there tapping his finger and it's obnoxious! He's lucky I don't tell you he's-"

"Ma, she never asked me to stop! She's just yelling at me now. She's like, on crack or something!"

The two began arguing among themselves, each threatening the other in hushed voices. Fed up with the fighting -which never had happened before- Persephone looked at Jack and said, "I think we better go."

Jack nodded, "Thanks for dinner, Ri. Sorry we gotta cut it short."

"No problem, see you next week," Rian shrugged.

Persephone and Jack yelled goodbye to Kara and left, towing Alec and Soraya behind them. Not long after, Shae, still confused and slightly hurt by Ian, brought out dessert, which was devoured in seconds. Everyone, with the exception of Alex and Bryony left not long after plates were cleared. Kara got off the phone not long after, smiling as she walked to put the phone back on the charger.

"So who called that was so important you had to ditch dinner?" Alex asked, slurring his words slightly from the numerous margaritas he'd made earlier.

"Oh, just an old friend. I don't think you ever met her."

"Try me."

"Ignore him," Bryony said to Kara, secretly hoping she'd answer anyway. "He's tipsy and I'm going to drive him home now. I guess I'll get my car tomorrow. Thanks for dinner!"

Kara smiled and waved, telling Bryony to drive carefully as she watched them walk to the car. She almost felt guilty not saying who was on the phone, because Bryony at least deserved to know, but realized it was probably better that she didn't know anyway.

"Are you going to tell me?" Rian asked, kissing Kara's cheek after Shae had disappeared inside.

"Not a chance."