This Love Was Accidental

I pressed my arms against my eyes. I didn’t have a hangover, but the sun still burned regardless.

“John?” I mumbled.

I felt the spot beside me and felt my blanket instead.

Last night, John had come into my room at three in the goddamn morning and claimed that ‘monsters locked him out’ of his own room. Needless to say, he was shitfaced and I was tired, so I just let him sleep with me.

To my surprise though, it was nine o’clock in the morning and he was long gone. I groaned, feeling tired and wanting to snuggle back into bed. I wasn’t that kind of person though; I liked to be up and around.

I sat up, groggily rubbing my sore eyes. The sun streaked my room with light, making all the little dust particles visible. The worn blue walls were vandalized with Polaroids, posters, artwork, and markers. Even the off-white carpet was vandalized, but with stains from people who hadn’t been careful with their beverages.

On routine, I struggled my way to my desk and lifted the lid of my laptop. That’s when I heard a clatter. The sound of something plastic hit the carpeted floor. I bent down, squinting my eyes. I picked up a…CD case?

A pink Post It was stuck to the front, covered in somone’s messy scrawl.

Pop it in and enjoy an ear orgasm (;

Jack or Alex, one of them for sure wrote this. I giggled as I pulled the CD out and placed it into my laptop. Opening iTunes, I began to go through the track list. Six unnamed songs were awaiting my click to let them play. I hit play, and a piano filled the air. Soon enough, a guitar was added into the mix. Instruments quickly jumped into the track, making a light, cheerful tune.

“I picked you up, and lifted your wilted frame into the sun.
I was taken back, yeah, I was taken back.

My brother’s voice began to sing, and I couldn’t help but to sway along. I grinned as the song halted and the sound of a guitar began playing quickly, but a gloomy tune.

“Lipstick has a way of leaving more than just a mark on my sheet, coloring my senses cherry red, at least for this week.
Kisses under starry night skies, talked about in song, we play along,
so bittersweet by our design.”

The Baltimore band progressed into the song; the volume got louder and the song got edgier. Instead of the sway I had to John’s voice, I felt the need to bang my head a bit during this song. The song ended softly before a guitar picked up the pace from the next track.

” Talk to me, I'm torn.
I could get lost in a voice like yours.”

Nick Santino’s voice shook my room. The song was so damn catchy. I began singing along during the bridge, recognizing the lyrics from prior years.

“They'll try to; oh if only they knew.
They'll never come close to you.”

“Like the songs?”

I jumped out of my chair and hit the floor with a thud. Halvo stood there grinning like he had a secret.

“Why yes Eric, I do,” I huffed while standing up and brushing off anything that had stuck to my bottom side. He chuckled lightly.

“Get ready,” he demanded out of the blue. “What?” I stared at him confused. “You’re not going to a concert like that, are you?” he asked. My eyes widened. “Concert!? Who’s concert!?” I squealed. I hopped around Eric, tugging at his sleeves. All he did was pretend to lock his mouth and toss away the key.

“Tell me!” I whined. He shook his head. I pouted, crossing my arms and trotting back to my desk chair. “Well fine, if I’m gonna change, I’m going to have to strip. Do you really wanna stay and watch that Halvo?” I asked. His legs could not have carried him any faster as he sprinted out of my room while slamming my door shut.

Oh, silly boy.

I pulled on clothes and tied my hair up into a ponytail. I discovered that my hair was a bitch to deal with when it was sweaty and I was jumping.

I dashed down the stairs, nearly tumbling over my own feet. Almost like yesterday, I was greeted by a group of people; however, a girl and four boys were added into the mix.

“How early do you all wake up?” I laughed as I hopped onto the island, right beside Kara. She chuckled and pointed to the ponytail she fashioned herself.

“Rian and I were in a rush, so I couldn’t do my hair, but since Rian’s basically bald, you can’t tell,” she giggled. A portion of the group chuckled while the other part just smirked.

“So, what’s this concert about again?” I asked, eyeing every single one of them suspiciously. All of them avoided my gaze, choosing to look at one another instead. “Do you know Kara?” She shook her head. “Not even the slightest clue,” she sighed. “Pat…?” I asked slowly. The long haired boy shook his head like a child.

“Well, when do we find out?” Kara asked. Once again, they all exchanged glances. “When we get to the venue,” Nick shrugged.

“Pat…” I warned again. He shrunk behind John, making himself completely invisible. “Don’t make me tickle you!” I threatened. Pat squirmed behind John, tugging at the back of the annoyed giant’s shirt.

“Get off me Pat,” John demanded. “No!”

“Goddamn it…Just tell them! I don’t want this kid on my back all day,” John groaned. Kara visibly perked up. Another awkward silence took over as the boys looked at one another to see who was going to spill the beans.

“Fine!” Alex exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. He turned to face Kara and I, but glared at everyone he could before making eye contact with us. “The concert’s our’s.”

In an instant, Kara and I were hugging each of them and squealing like pigs.

“I can’t believe it!” Kara cheered.

“Awe, you didn’t believe we could do it babe?” Rian teased. She pouted and playfully hit his chest. He chuckled and pecked her lips. They were so damn cute.

“Oh, do you see that look they’re giving each other?” Kennedy laughed. Kara and Rian briefly looked up from each other’s faces and up at Kennedy.

“Yeah…let’s go before they start doing it here,” Halvo said while cringing at the idea of watching and Kara and Rian…you know.

“Alright, let’s go pick up Garrett!” Nick cheered while walking out of the kitchen. We all followed behind, talking. It was then I noticed Garrett wasn’t here. He was always here. Wait, wasn’t he upstairs?

“Hey guys,” I started. They all turned to look at me. “Isn’t Garrett upstairs in John’s room?” John eyed me oddly.

“No…I even went to my room this morning. No one was there,” John explained slowly. I bobbed my head before starting towards the white door that was already open, courtesy of Nick.

A short drive to Garrett’s house later, we were knocking on the wooden door. Mrs. Nickelsen opened the door, not surprised by the amount of people waiting at her door.

“Garrett’s in his room,” she smiled as we entered her house one by one. We each nodded in thanks or grinned at her.

Zack being in the front of the pack, he was the first to go into Garrett’s room. Slowly, we all filed into the room. The lights were off, only the light from his computer kept his room from being completely covered in black and shadows.

Garrett was lying on his bed, staring up the ceiling. A couple bags of Sour Patch Kids sat neatly next to him. He reached in and popped one in his mouth. God, this kid could be so depressing sometimes…

I exchanged a grim look with Kara.

“Yo Garrett, we have sound check soon,” Jared said. He tried to sound calm, but we could feel the nervousness in his voice. We were all scared he might blow up in our faces again.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Garrett sighed. He shot everyone a smile, but when he reached me, he glared. His blue eyes dug into my face, and I could feel my cheeks ripping apart in his mind. Breaking the eye contact, he stood up and strolled out of the room.

Everyone hesitated, but followed behind the boy anyways. I was the last to leave the room, but Kara joined my side in the hallway.

“What the fuck was that?”