I've Hoped For Change, It Gets Better Everyday

I was at work when Jack walked in clearly upset. I finished wrapping the last sets of silverware in napkins and grabbed a glass from the shelf. I filled it with ice and Sprite, and set it in front of Jack as he sat down on a bar stool.

“What’s wrong, babe?” I asked, cautiously. I didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was.

“Linda,” he rolled his eyes. “She practically shit a stick when I told her about us. She said I’m a pig and can’t believe I’d date you after dating her and all kinds of shit.” He grabbed the glass and took a sip. “Thanks, by the way.”

I nodded. “Sorry it didn’t go well,” I offered.

“She just pisses me off. What the fuck is everyone’s problem?” he vented. I listened to him for a few minutes before I had to go check on my customers.

“I’ll be back, honey.” I bustled around the diner, refilling drinks and taking last minute orders. I finally made it back around to Jack. “Alright I’m back.”

Jack smiled weakly. “What if she uses this as an excuse to keep the kid away from me?”

“She can’t legally do that, Jack,” I assured him. “If you have to, you’ll take her to court.”

“Right,” he replied. “I guess that could work. I just hope it doesn’t get to that.”

“Me neither, babe,” I agreed.

“Well, what time do you get off?” Jack changed the subject.

“In, like, twenty minutes,” I replied, looking over at the clock above the register for confirmation.

“Alright, I’ll just wait for you,” Jack stated, standing up as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m going outside to make a call.”

“Okay, I’ll be right out.” I nodded as he walked out. I noticed Gretchen staring at me with a smirk on her face. “What?”

“Is that the boy you’re always gushing about?” she asked coyly. I nodded with a grin. “He’s adorable. I’m happy for you.”

“Well that makes two of you. Not everyone was so joyful,” I lamented. “And, it’s all because of Linda.”

“Well that’s a shame, sweetheart. But don’t let that ruin what you have. If you’re happy, then that’s all that matters,” Gretchen said.

“Thanks, Gretchen.” I smiled.

“Go on, you only have fifteen minutes left anyway. Go with your boyfriend,” Gretchen feigned irritation.

“Thank you!” I hugged her and ran to the locker room to grab my stuff and meet Jack outside. I changed and pulled my hair out of its ponytail in an attempt to make myself look presentable for Jack.

I stepped out just as Jack was putting his phone back in his pocket. “What was that about?” I asked, pointing to his cell phone.

“Nothing super important, just calling Alex to ask if he’d heard any new from the people he’d talk to about signing us,” Jack shrugged.

“That’s important,” I disagreed.

“Well, not really, since there hasn’t been any news.”

“You’ll get it,” I reassured him. “I know you will. All Time Low is great.”

“Yeah, but what about my baby? What about you? It could be months before I’d see you.”

“Well, that’s something we’d have to deal with, Jack. I don’t want to hold you back from this. It’s your dream,” I told him.

“Yeah, but I’d miss you too much,” Jack smiled. “Don’t worry about it, just forget it, okay? Let’s just go out and have some fun.”

I nodded and he drove me home so I could change into something decent for a party. Where it was and who would have a party on a school night was beyond me, but Jack’s friends usually always partied.

I changed quickly into a pair of black skinny jeans, a grey and black striped tunic, and my silver, open toed wedges. I slipped on a few bracelets and some necklaces as I turned on the curling iron. I curled a few pieces and reapplied some of my makeup.

“Are you almost ready, Abby?” Jack called up the stairs impatiently. My parents weren’t home at the moment, and thankfully neither was Adam. I’d already had Lisa call ahead and say I was spending the night at her house.

“I’m almost done!” I yelled back. I took one last look in the mirror and deemed myself party ready. I ran back downstairs carefully, trying my hardest not to trip on my shoes. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Jack smiled at me. “You look beautiful.”

I blushed. “Thanks.”

We drove across town to a neighborhood I was unfamiliar with. The house Jack parked in front of was jam packed with people. The music was blasting and I could feel the base pulse as we walked to the door. I couldn’t see past the all bodies crammed together in the living room. The furniture had been pushed along the wall to accommodate everyone on the makeshift dance floor. Jack led me through the crowd, keeping a tight grip on my hand. I muttered sorry to each person I bumped into, but they were either too busy or too intoxicated to care.

“Want a drink?” Jack asked, yelling over the music.

“Sure, just a water, please,” I replied. He looked at me funny. “I don’t want to drink, not after what happened last time,” I explained.

“A couple of drinks aren’t going to kill you, Abs, a couple of bottles will.” Jack smirked. “You sure you don’t want anything?”

“Just one drink then,” I replied defeated. I did want to drink, but I was still a little scared by the memory of the last time I drank.

“I’ll be right back.” Jack let go of my hand and left me in the sea of people. I took a seat on the couch nearest me and watched people as the swayed to the beat of the music. It was quite the party as far as I could tell. I hardly recognized anyone, but I assumed most of them attended Dulaney High. I spotted Lisa and Alex on the dance floor goofing off. I smiled and rolled my eyes at them. They were quite adorable together. I searched the crowd for more familiar faces and found Zack chatting with a voluptuous blonde in a tight mini dress and high heels, Rian and Kara simply talking to others across the room, and the worst, Jordan and Serena grinding on each other.

I looked away, not wanting them to see me, but thankfully they were too busy with each other to notice me. Jack came back then with two plastic red cups in his hands. He handed one to me and joined me on the couch.

“Thanks,” I smiled and sniffed the cup. I could smell the alcohol. “What is this exactly?”

“Jack and coke,” Jack answered taking a gulp of his own drink.

“And what are you drinking?” I asked curiously, noticing how light his drink looked in comparison to mine.

“Jack and Coke,” he answered. I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so maybe there’s more Jack than Coke, but still.”

I shook my head and laughed at him. I took a sip from my cup and snuggled into Jack’s side. We watched people for a while, before Alex and Lisa stumbled over to us.

“Dude!” Alex slurred. Lisa wasn’t quite as drunk, but she was getting there. “Why aren’t you smashed already?”

“Dude,” Jack mocked, “because I just got here. Somebody took a lifetime to get ready.” Jack looked pointedly at me.

“I did not,” I defended. Jack smiled and kissed me, downing the rest of his drink.

“But not to fear, I’ll catch up to you soon!” Jack ran off again in search of another drink, Alex stumbling behind him. I sighed, not sure that Jack getting plastered was the best idea. Lisa sat next to me and smiled drunkenly. She looked sublimely happy, a side effect from the liquor no doubt.

“How many drinks have you had, Lis?”

“I lost count after seven,” she grinned.

“You’re gonna be so hung over tomorrow at school,” I chuckled. “Come on.” I grabbed her arm and led her in the direction Alex and Jack had gone. We finally made it to the kitchen and found the boys. Jack was doing shots, competing against some kid I knew from my math class.

“Nine!” the crowd yelled, counting the number of shots consumed. I frowned at the sight, but Lisa cheered as well.

“Ten!”

I wandered through the sliding doors onto a deck overlooking a fabricated pond. I sat down on a chair and put my cup down. I didn’t feel like drinking and by the looks of it, Jack was drinking enough for the both of us. I stared at the sky and thought about random things. It was relaxing to say the least, but I was shaken from those thoughts at the sound of yelling as the music cut out.

“She’s just a piece of ass,” yelled a familiar voice.

“Take it back, mother fucker,” yelled another voice. This one though, was extremely familiar. I pushed myself off the lawn chair and ran back into the kitchen to find Jordan and Jack in the middle of a circle of people, drunk off their asses. I pushed through them until I was on the inside of the circle.

“What for?” Jordan slurred. He looked up and spotted me. “Oh look, speaking of the whore.”

Jack turned and saw me. “She’s not a whore. What the fuck is your problem? Take back everything you said!” Jack yelled slightly unsteady on his feet.

“Make me,” Jordan mocked.

Everything happened so quickly, I couldn’t be sure it was actually happening. Jack lunged at Jordan with amazing speed despite being intoxicated. Jordan attempted to duck, but the alcohol wasn’t as forgiving on him. It slowed his reflexes and Jack crashed into him. They both flew to the ground as I let out a scream. I tried to run to Jack and pry him off, but hands grabbed my waist and pulled me back. I looked behind me to see Rian holding me back.

“Stay here,” he ordered and moved past me to join the fight. Zack was right behind him, ready to join in as well, but Jordan was a sissy. Two of his own friends jumped on Rian and Zack, stopping them from helping Jack.

“Stop it!” I yelled. I didn’t know what to do other than yell at them.

“Shit! The cops are coming!” Someone in the middle of the mob yelled. I heard the sirens in the distance. The entire crowd started running toward the exits. The boys fighting, however, were still too preoccupied to hear anything.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” I racked my head for an idea on how to get us out of here. But of course, because my life is never easy, I couldn’t think in time. Police officers raided the house and surveyed the house.

“Put your hands behind your back and don’t even think about running,” A police officer ordered. I folded my arms behind my back as he cuffed them. A few other officers separated the boys and handcuffed them as well.

“Always underage drinking,” the second officer chuckled. “Kids these days.”

The ride to the precinct was anything but fun. It was humiliating. I could see the two officers in the car I was riding in look the rearview mirror to check on me and Lisa. She’d been caught in the middle of another drink with Alex.

Alex and Jack were brought in after us, followed by Zack and Rian, and finally Jordan. Jack’s face was cut up and bleeding, a black eye already forming. I was so angry with him. How could he be so stupid? He was so drunk right now, I’d heard the officer who’d brought us in mutter something about his blood alcohol level being three times the legal limit and he was underage. Alex was in even worse shape at four times the legal limit. Zack and Rian seemed to be mostly sober, only arrested for fighting. Lisa, however, well, she was passed out in the chair next to me. Her head lolled to the side and rested on her shoulder, her wrists still cuffed to the arm rest. Jordan sat smirking across from us. He was drunk, but didn’t seem on the verge of passing out just yet.

The officer who arrested me sat down at his desk in front of me. His brown hair was gelled perfectly. He seemed about medium build and definitely in shape. Over all he was pretty good looking. “Alright, I’m Officer Daniels. Care to explain what happened? You seem to be the only one who’s actually sober.”

If I said I wasn’t scared at all, I’d be lying. I’d never been in any kind of trouble and here I was at a police station, handcuffed to a chair. I wasn’t sure what to say so I said nothing.

“You look young, about seventeen,” Officer Daniels observed.

“Eighteen,” I corrected quietly.

“Still young,” he replied. I gathered the courage to look at him. He looked young, maybe late twenties, early thirties. He folded his hands and leaned forward. “So you gonna talk?”

“It was just a party, but things got out of hand,” I started.

“Oh really,” Daniels scoffed. Sarcasm suited him. “Okay, so then what happened?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. I wasn’t sure what I could say to get out of trouble, but I certainly didn’t want to say something that would get me into more trouble.

Daniels sighed and pulled out some paperwork. He came around the desk and un-cuffed my hands. “I trust you’re not going to run?”

I shook my head. He nodded. “Alright then, fill this out and let me know when you’re done.” I started filling it out. “Then you can call your parents to pick you up,” he added.

I froze. “D-do I have to?”

He smiled sympathetically. “A legal guardian has to pick you up and a court date will be set. Sorry that’s the law. There’s no exception to the underage drinking law in Maryland.”

I frowned and closed my eyes. What the hell was I going to tell my parents? Officer Daniels went around to everyone else, no doubt repeating the entire process. After I was finished filling out the paperwork, I placed it on the desk before me and sat back in the chair trying to think of what excuse I was going to use this time. I was so dead.

“Abby, I’m sorry,” Jack slurred.

I ignored him, turning my back to him. I was mad, because we probably would’ve been able to run for it had Jack not been drunk and/or fighting.

“See, she’s not even grateful that you defended her sorry ass,” Jordan piped up.

“Shut the hell up, Jordan. I’ve had enough of you. You’re not the shit, the only reason you act like you are is because you’re so insecure about yourself. You have absolutely no right to tell me that I’m a whore or that all I’m good for is sex, because you don’t know me or who I am. You never once actually listened to me while we were dating and that renders you incompetent and unable to say that you know me,” I snapped.

“Whatever,” Jordan muttered.

I let that one slide, just because I knew he only wanted the last word in this argument. I figured since I wasn’t handcuffed that I was allowed to move around, so I dragged the chair next to Jack and sat down.

“I appreciate that you defended me and that you think I’m worthy of defending, but this fight was a really stupid move, babe,” I spoke quietly to avoid letting Jordan hear.

“I know,” Jack whispered back. He was still drunk, his eyes refused to focus and his face was flushed. “I feel really, really sick.”

“Uh oh,” I muttered as I grabbed a trash can from one of the desks. “Officer Daniels!”

Officer Daniels rushed in with his hand already near his gun. He looked at me for an explanation.

“He’s going to throw up; can I take him to the restroom?” I gesture to Jack who was turning green. Daniels quickly loped over and undid the hand cuffs on Jack wrist and pointed toward the restroom. As I led Jack away, Officer Daniels began un-cuffing everyone else.

We’d just reached the toilet when Jack started gagging and throwing up all the alcohol he’d consumed tonight. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I settled for rubbing small circles on his back and pushing his bangs back. He really needed a trim or something. Once Jack’s body was done refusing the alcohol, I helped him stand up. He rinsed his mouth out splashed water on his face.

“I really don’t feel good,” he groaned.

“Well that’s your fault for getting plastered,” I stated. “Come here.” I patted my lap as I sat against the wall. He sat in between my legs resting his head in my neck. I rested my chin on his head and wrapped my arms around him like a gigantic baby.

“I love you,” he mumbled.

“You’re drunk, you’d love Alex in this state,” I quipped back.

“Alex? Oh yeah, I love him too, but not like I love you.” His voice was slightly muffled and his breath was tickling my neck.

“Jack, you’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying,” I reminded him.

“No, no, no,” Jack disagreed. He pulled back far enough to see my face and took it in his hands. “I love you.”

I squirmed around trying to loosen his grip and get his hands off me. He leaned in and was about to kiss me which, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t refuse, but he’d just touched a police station toilet with the hands that were currently on both sides of my face and had thrown up and not brushed his teeth. Gross.

“Jack, stop it,” I protested. “Not now.”

He didn’t quite get the message and pushed me back onto the floor. He shifted positions so that he was above me.

“Jack, stop,” I put my hands on his chest and pushed slightly, not wanting to hurl him into the wall, but he wasn’t making this easy. His hands traveled up my shirt and my eyes stared welling up with tears. A sense of déjà vu rushed over me. That was when I’d had enough. I shoved him off me and ran out of the restroom almost colliding with Officer Daniels.

“Are you okay?” he asked, taking note of the mascara that was no doubt running down my cheeks.

“I’m fine. I want to go home. I’ll call my parents,” I sniffled.

“Okay, the phone’s right there. Go ahead.”

I dialed the familiar number and held my breath as the other line rang.

“Hello?” my father’s voice answered. I could tell he’d been sleeping.

“Daddy, I need you to pick me up.”

“Abigail?” He sounded more alert now.

“Yeah,” I muttered lamely. “I’m in trouble.”

“Where are you?”

“Baltimore County Police Department,” I answered meekly. My father sighed.

“I’ll be right there.” The click echoed in my head like a gavel being pounded in a courtroom; it held my sentence. I sat down in my chair and looked around. Everyone was either passed out or filling out paperwork. The officers were eyeing Lisa and holding back laughter. She was drooling and they found it hilarious. I should’ve been a good friend, walked over to her and cleaned her off, but my head was still reeling from tonight’s episode.
“Where’s the kid you took to the restroom?” Officer Daniels asked me. I pointed to the back area where the restroom was located. He went to check and came back dragging an unconscious Jack into the main area. I crossed my arms and slouched down in the wooden chair.

Officer Daniels sat Jack in a chair as best he could. He looked over at me, walked to the desk and sat on the edge. “Are you alright?”

I looked up at him, my frustration and hurt taking a toll. “My life is over.”

“Teenagers, you’re all so dramatic,” Officer Daniels chuckled.

“No, you don’t get it. My parents are going to kill me, my boyfriend was drunk off his ass and tried to force himself on me in a fucking police bathroom, and you would think that he’d know better than that given my history. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable with drinking because of what happened at the club that night and what almost happened and then he does this?” I vented.

Weird noises filled the room. I looked around, confused and found Jordan, Zack and Rian staring strangely at me. Then I realized the strange noises were sobs coming from my throat.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Officer Daniels handed me a Kleenex. “I’m sure your boyfriend didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You don’t even know him,” I sniffled.

“True, but you seem to be pretty smart and levelheaded, obviously beautiful. If you’re with him, then it must be for a really good reason,” Officer Daniels shrugged.

“Thanks,” I managed to whisper.

“Abby?” I perked up at the sound of my father’s voice, then immediately looked down, remembering where I was and what had to be coming. He appeared before me. “Abigail Dawn Stone, you are so grounded.”

I shrank down in my seat and looked up at my dad whose face was etched with worry, shame, and absolute anger. My life really was over.