Show Them What it Means To Be Alive

to a place where we don't have to care

“Kara told me you guys are in a band?” Melanie Fisher asked, although quickly realizing what a dumb question it was. She adjusted her honey brown hair to cover more of her face as she stared down at her chipped nail polish, hoping not to come off as antisocial, awkward, or anything she normally wasn’t even close to.

And although her question was an undirected mumble at best, Alex quickly jumped to answer; his chocolate brown eyes glowing at the younger girl’s mentioning of music.

“Yeah, we’ve been doing it since like ’02. Granted we suck a lot less now than we did then. Except Jack. He still sucks.” Alex laughed, eliciting chuckles in return from everyone except the boy in question.

“Hey! Is today Let’s-pick-on-Jack Day or something?” Jack pouted

“Yup.” Alex simply replied, popping the “p”, causing Melanie to giggle at the boys’ exchange.

“What’s really cool,” He continued, “Is that since Jack’s family friends with the owners of this camp, ever since we’ve been in a band they let us have our own cabin. So we get to, like, hang out here and practice a lot. Sometimes we just spend all day inside.”

“That’s probably why they gave it to us,” Zack joked. “They just don’t have the hearts to say they hate seeing us around.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Melanie laughed, rolling her eyes at the boys.

“It’s true!” Rian jumped into the conversation. “Yeah, and Kara’s like one of us. So she’ll stay overnight and chll with us in our cabin most of the time. I mean, it gets crowded since there’s only four beds. But what can I say – we’re just that amazing.”

“That you are,” Melanie played along with an amused grin spread across her slightly reddened face

And like that, the door flew open.
Speak of the devil.

“ohmygodi’msosorryiwentbackandshoweredcausethat’swhatinormallydo
buttheniknewsomethingwaswrongtheniwaslike’ohshitwhere’smelanie?’” Kara shouted, followed by a deep breath.

Overwhelmed, the younger girl simply stood up and hugged her friend with contained laughter. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was glad she wasn’t alone anymore, or that she knew it was something she would do. But considering all the times Melanie had been in Kara’s position, she knew being mad at Kara would pretty much be like getting mad at herself.

“I see you’ve met my friends,” Kara mused, still mid-hug. But as the two pulled away, it was like something finally clicked with her. She switched her gaze towards Alex and Jack, still practically cuddling on the chair.

“Oh god. What’d you two do? Please tell me you didn’t scare her too bad.” She turned her attention back to Mel, “I promise, they’re not normally like this.”

“Too late..” Rian sang

The second Rian spoke, Kara directed all of her attention to him, walking over to the sofa he was sitting on and lightly pecking him on the lips. Jack and Alex broke the moment by “Aww”-ing, earning glares from the couple. Kara took the spot next to Rian on the sofa, settling into his arms.

Melanie was now seat-less, but she couldn’t think of disturbing Rian and Kara. They were just too damn adorable. Jack, noticing this, patted his lap with an evil smile, suggesting she add to the … pile … of him and Alex. With a light smile, she shook her head no, but soon found herself sitting balanced on the arm of the plush chair, squeezed tight next to Alex.

“I’m kind of thirsty.” The brunette blurted out in the midst of silence; a perfect example of when her most random thoughts find their way through her lips.

“I kind of am too,” Alex nodded, shifting around a bit in his seat (Jack still contently seated on top of him) “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Jack, why don’t you go get some soda from our cabin? You’re fatass-ness is starting to take a toll on my ability to breathe” He laughed, nudging Jack.

“OKAY!” Jack shouted, jumping up, and skipping out the door.

Zack got up and began to follow after him, “I’m gonna go make sure he doesn’t fall into the lake again.” He mumbled while ruffling his hair, acting as if this was common occurrence.

Despite the freed up space on the sofa, Melanie wasn’t ready to relocate anytime soon. Apparently Alex wasn’t either, but he shifted so he was sitting on the other arm of the plush chair, both his legs folded inside the chair.

“Is there a reason you guys keep soda in your cabin?” Melanie wondered aloud about the boys’ previous conversation.

“Well,” He started, fixing his bangs, “Seeing as we sleep ‘till like, half way through the camp day, we don’t get too much time to eat unless we have our own shit. We used to stash like, drink drinks, but Jack and I aren’t the most inconspicuous drunks. So that didn’t go down too well” Alex smiled a bit as he mentioned the last part.

“Oh don’t even talk,” Rian laughed, “We’re the ones who have to deal with you two.”

“And I loff you for that!” Alex announced.

The next five or so minutes were spent with Kara animatedly telling them about her day. “Them”, of course meaning Rian, seeing as Melanie was there to experience half of her day, and Alex was currently off in his own little world.

Eventually, Kara’s mile-a-minute talking slowed down as her head sank into Rian’s shoulder. “Guys, I think I’m gonna take Kara back to the cabins,” Rian told us as he stood up with her and put his arm around her waist, then slowly making his way out of the cabin with her.

…and then there were two