Status: finished ; )
Thankful for You
But It's Falling Apart
“Where the fuck’s Jack? Better yet, where the fuck’s Ivy?” Alex’s shout made her flinch. Ivory clutched to the warm body next to her. Her head was slowly clearing as more yells were heard and footsteps got louder. She remembered it was the last night the boys were going to be in town. They were going on their first tour and leaving at four-thirty in the morning.
She’d spent the night over at Jack’s. Along with the rest of the band and a few others of their close friends she didn’t know. Nausea started to take over when she thought about Jack leaving. She’d become quite attached to him since the disaster date. He was more of a best friend than she’d ever imagined possible.
Then the bedroom door banged opened, shattering her thoughts for the time being. “Found them!” Ivory slightly remembered the voice belonging to a boy named Matt and then there were more footsteps.
“Wake the fuck up you two!” Alex yelled two seconds before body weight was added on top of Ivory. There was a grunt from beside her before the extra weight disappeared with a loud thud near the bed. “Ow, fuck,” Alex groaned while there were several laughs heard from the area of the door.
“Dude, it’s four something and we’re ready to go so get up.” Rian was the calm one, though Ivory could hear the suppressed laughter in his voice too. There was more grunting and grumbling as everyone shuffled out of the room, leaving just Ivory and Jack.
Ivory sighed and started to pull away from him. “No,” Jack whined and tightened his arms around her waist. Another thing that had happened since the disaster date was Jack being more clingy. There wasn’t a relationship, but he liked to hold her hand and put his arms around her like she was his. She kind of liked it too, even though sometimes she felt guilty for leading him on.
“Everybody’s waiting on you, Bassam.” Ivory giggled and tried poking his sides. Jack maneuvered her so that her back was to him. “You don’t want to be the reason the whole tour gets postponed, or worse, cancelled, now do you?” She tempted him and finally he sighed.
“Alright, fine, we’ll get up. But I will not be happy about it.” Jack grumbled and let go of her as he sat up. Truth was he was thrilled to finally be going on tour, but he would miss her dreadfully.
“Don’t worry,” Ivory sat up and scooted to the side of the bed, letting her feet dangle to the floor. “A week into this and you’ll forget all about me and this small little town.” She hadn’t meant to sound so distraught, but she did.
It broke his heart to listen to her.”Don’t say that.” Jack pulled her back to him and rested his chin on her shoulder. “I could never forget about you.” He murmured against her skin before placing a simple kiss on her shoulder blade.
“You say that now, but wait till you’re famous.” Now she sounded bitter and she hated it. She wasn’t the type to swoon over a guy and let her whole world fall to pieces just because he left. Not since the last boy ruined her for what felt like good. Ivory squirmed out of his reach and jumped from the bed before he could grab her again. “Now get your butt out of bed.” She slipped her shoes on and dashed from the room so he couldn’t say anything more to her.
Ivory greeted the rest of the boys in the living room and grabbed the keys to Jack’s ’93 Chevy Cavalier. The deal was she got to borrow his car while he was away if she would stay the day and night before they left. She wasn’t sure what she’d need a car for, but she had wanted to spend as much time as she could with him before he left so it worked out.
Ten minutes later Jack stumbled down the stairs with his duffel bag packed and the boys started out to the van parked in the street. Ivory’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at it. Seeing the van with the trailer attached to it made things real, really real. It scared her. She didn’t know what to do with Jack gone.
“Shot gun!” Zack hollered from right beside Ivory, making her jump a tad bit, before he took off toward the van at a run. Alex then zoomed pass and pushed Zack out of his way as he tried to get in the passenger seat.
“This is going to be one hell of a long summer.” Matt muttered as he jingled the car keys and calmly walked past her to the van. Ivory was rooted to the ground as she crossed her arms and stared at the boys. Her stomach was turning over and over and her eyes were watering. She’d never expected to be this attached to anyone, especially not some silly boys.
“I am going to miss you.” Jack’s bag fell at her feet and she turned to smile sadly at its owner. “Aw, don’t cry Beautiful,” Jack cooed and brought his hands to cup her face and wipe away her tears.
“I’m gonna miss you too,” Ivory smiled wider through her tears as she blinked hard a few times, trying to clear her eyes. Her arms went around his neck and she pushed herself against him, clinging to him like it was the end of her life.
“It’s only three months, and then we can go back to movie night every Thursday.” Jack promised as he hugged the small girl. He was bewildered by her actions. Most of the time she was passive to him, like she didn’t care. Jack felt like something was finally right. He even had a bit of extra confidence as he hugged her. “Can I ask for something?”
“Anything,” Ivory breathed out as she released him. Her eyes were burning with new tears but she was fighting as best she could. She didn’t want Jack to see her cry anymore. This was already hard enough.
“Can I have a kiss, before we go?” He asked hopefully as his hands lingered on her sides. There were many emotions that flew across Ivory’s face, and all of them scared Jack. “Just a simple, little kiss to take on tour, no strings attached.”
Ivory bit her bottom lip as she deliberated. Kissing was strictly in the more-than-friends area, a place Ivory wanted to stay far from. But Jack was giving her a puppy pout, and his dark brown eyes were hard to turn down. “I guess one kiss couldn’t hurt.” She muttered and Jack grinned widely before he swept her up off her feet.
His lips pressed to hers with the intensity he’d been holding in since the day he met her. Ivory giggled as she kissed him and gently placed her hands on the back of his head. There smiles on both their faces when they pulled apart and Ivory giggled more. “You can set me down now.”
“Course,” Jack chuckled as he eased her back onto her feet. He was elated as he stared down into her watery blue eyes. She was crying again, but some of tears were happy ones.
“Ivy, babe, I want a hug too!” Alex whined and Ivory turned to see him running their way. Jack’s hands were still lightly settled on her hips as she hugged Alex.
“Me too, me too!” Rian jumped up and down beside them. Ivory laughed as she walked out of Jack’s reach and hugged the rest of the boys, even the ones she didn’t know that well. “Bye Ivy!” They yelled as everyone ran back to the van. Ivory waved and sniffled.
“Goodbye Beautiful,” Jack whispered as he hugged her around her shoulders from behind, one last time. Then he sweetly kissed her cheek and picked his bag up, heading toward the van at a jog.
Ivory walked to the blue Cavalier parked in the driveway with her head down. The van honked, but she didn’t look back. In a few days she’d be starting summer classes at the local college and Jack would be touring the states. And he’d always be touring. She’d just have to get used to it.
“Goodbye Jack,” Ivory muttered as she listened to the van drive off.
♠ ♠ ♠
one left *tears up* I'm gonna miss this. Jack's such a doll. more comments and thoughts?xooxEmber