Don't Ever Lose Hope

Jack’s POV:
Alex’s house was complete chaos. It wasn’t the scene I was feeling at the moment, even if it was my birthday. Meagan was right beside me, her head lying on my chest. I hugged her tightly, kissing her on the head. She looked up at me with those blue eyes that I easily got lost in.
“Jack, I know this is your party and all, but could we go somewhere more quiet?” she asked me. “Is this your first time to attend a party like this?” I asked her, even though I knew what her answer would be. She nodded her head, cuddling into me more. It looked like she was kind of scared. “Poor baby,” I thought wanting to protect her as much as possible. I picked her up and sat her on my lap hoping that she would feel more protected, rubbing her back. She closed her eyes and the next time I looked down at her, she was asleep.
“Awwww, how cute is that?” Alex told me. I looked up at him. “Don’t even think about it Alex, she is mine.” I said hoping he got the memo. “Don’t worry; I have a girlfriend, thank you very much.” “And that would be?” I asked him, wanting to know who his love interest was now. Right then, Nicole came towards us, instantly grabbing Alex’s hand to let everyone know he was taken.
As I looked around again, there seemed to be more people in Alex’s house. Which I didn’t think was possible because there was absolutely no walking room available. That is why I have been sitting down in the same spot for the past hour or so.
“Are you okay dude?” Alex asked. He always knew if there was something wrong with me. I guess you could assume he knew me better than I knew myself at times. I just nodded my head, trying to get rid of this massive headache that was killing me at the moment. The vibrations of the floor from the blaring music wasn’t helping much either. It felt like Alex’s house could explode any minute now, and before I knew what was happening my best friend was climbing up onto the speakers, why, I have the slightest clue.
“Listen up everybody!” he screamed into the microphone, and yes he still had to scream into the microphone in order for people to hear him; pathetic right? I think so. “This party is over, thanks so much for coming, but there is only so much the birthday boy can handle, and he has had enough for one night,” he said. I was hoping this would work, but it was our friends and they never listen to us. Now, put a hundred plus of our fans in this room and it would be simple as pie. They would listen to anything Alex told them; it is Alex Gaskarth for crying out loud.
However, to my surprise, people started dragging themselves out the front door. I was praying they would get home okay; some couldn’t even walk straight. I leaned my head back onto the couch, enjoying the silence that filled Alex’s house right then. Right as I was about to close my eyes, someone whispered my name. I opened my eyes a little to see that Meagan had woken up, still on my lap. I smiled at her, “you can stay the night if you want,” I said hoping she would say yes. I needed some sleep, badly. “I’m sorry Jack, but as much as I would love to say yes, my parents are very strict about staying over at someone’s house they don’t know,” she told me. I understood and slowly got up off the couch, letting Alex know I was taking Meagan home.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive her home? You look extremely tired,” he told me. To be honest, he was right, I felt like sleep could overtake me any minute now, but what kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t take her home? That’s right, a bad one.
“No, that’s okay Alex,” I told him with a yawn. “Her house isn’t far from here; it won’t take me long to drop her off.” Alex was still unconvinced I should be taking her home. I was happy that he was concerned about my safety, but I’m a big boy now and don’t need other people doing stuff for me, even if I was extremely tired. After about another minute of convincing Alex I was fine, we were finally in the car, pulling out of Alex’s driveway.

Nicole’s POV:
I was up in Alex’s room, sitting on his comfortable bed. I could hear Alex and Jack bickering back and forth like brothers, it was quite funny actually.
“Sometimes Jack can be so stubborn, you know?” Alex told me, walking in his room. I started laughing again, “I could hear your entire conversation downstairs,” I told him still laughing. “Hey, I don’t understand what was so funny about it,” he told me kicking his shoes off and crawling on the bed to be close to me. I loved cuddling with him; he was so warm and I felt protected when his arms were around me. I looked up at him and smiled, “what?” he asked me worried his perfect hair was messed up. “Alex, your hair is fine, it always is!” I told him truthfully.
“Well thank you my darling,” he said leaning down to kiss me. “Your…welcome.” I said in between kisses. I felt his hands tugging on my shirt, wanting to take it off, but I wouldn’t let him. I was trying so hard not to laugh because he could not get it off. “Nicole…” he said whining. He stopped kissing me then, looking at me in a way I didn’t like; he looked very irritated.
“What’s wrong?” Is the first thing that escaped my mouth. He chose not to answer me; instead he walked out of his room, leaving me speechless. What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything wrong, did I? My stomach started twisting and turning, but this time I had a feeling it wasn’t butterflies. And suddenly, I wanted to be back home in the safety of my own room.

Meagan’s POV:
I was trying so hard not to fall asleep, for Jack’s sake. I had a feeling if I fell asleep it would be extremely hard for him to stay awake. I decided to ask him something that has been on my mind for a while now.
“Jack; is it okay if I ask you something personal?” He looked over at me, nodding his head. I took a deep breath, hoping this didn’t go the wrong way. “I was just wondering, well, I mean if you don’t feel the same way that’s fine, but I was just curious you know? It never hurt a girl to wonder you know?”
“Meagan!” I looked over at him, and then looked at the window. He’s never shouted like that. He grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly. “Meagan, the second I laid eyes on you, I instantly got butterflies and my palms were sweaty. Does that say something?” I looked over at him and smiled, nodding my head.
“I felt the same way Jack,” I told him. “Well, in that case, would you like to be my girlfriend?” I was so ecstatic; I leaned over and pecked him on the lips. Then realized what I did, and instantly got embarrassed.
“It’s okay Meagan, I liked that.” He had no clue how happy he just made me. I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world. I looked out the window again and realized we were close to my house. “I don’t want this night to end,” I thought to myself, grinning from ear to ear.
“Gosh, can this street get any darker?” Jack asked me. “I can’t see anything, even with the brights on,” he told me, squinting. As I looked out the windshield I could hardly see anything either.
“Wow, it’s never been this bad,” I told him and then realized why it was so dark. “Wait, we lost power from the thunderstorms last night and apparently it still hasn’t come back on.”
“Well, that would make since then,” he told me. We were about to turn into my neighborhood when something caught my eye, but I couldn’t tell what it was. As we got closer, I saw what it was and realized the inevitable. We weren’t going to be able to stop in time. “Meagan, hold on to something!” Jack screamed. The last thing I heard was Jack’s voice, before everything turned black…again.

Alex’s POV:
I sighed, not wanting to get out of bed. “Who could be calling at four in the morning?” I asked myself.
“Hello?” I said, still half asleep. “Excuse me sir, but am I speaking to an Alex Gaskarth?” the man on the phone asked me. “Yes sir, you are. Is there a problem?” I asked. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
As I hung up the phone, my hands shaking, trying to catch my breath, I only had one thing on my mind. I looked over at Nicole, who was still sound asleep. I felt bad for waking her up like this, but I had no choice. All these thoughts kept running through my mind, making it worse for me to concentrate on what I needed to do.
“Nicole!” I yelled hoping I didn’t scare her, but that didn’t work to well, as she screamed and almost fell off the bed, but I got there in time to catch her fall. “Don’t ask questions, just put something on and fast. We need to get to the hospital,” I told her. She just sat there, staring at me. She looked like she was in shock. I waved my hand in front of her face.
“Earth to Nicole,” I said continuing to wave my hand hoping she would snap out of whatever she was thinking. She finally spoke up. “Alex, what happened?” she stammered. I looked at her and understood why she was asking that question. I sighed, again, running my hands through my hair.
“Sweet heart, this really isn’t the time to discuss this,” I told her, grabbing her hand to get off the bed. She then broke down, tears streaming down her face like Niagara Falls. I tried to keep my composure, even though it was very hard to do. I walked over to her, rocking her back and forth in my arms.
“Babe, I’m sorry but we are going to have to discuss this later,” I told her truthfully. “Why Alex?” she sobbed, looking up at me with a tear stained face. “Why did you make me do it?” she screamed even louder at me. At this point, I was getting frustrated.
“Nicole, I didn’t make you do anything! Now, come on we have to go!” I said helping her put her clothes on. “Go where?!” she sobbed.
“To the hospital, like I’ve said many times now,” I said trying to keep calm. “Obviously, you weren’t listening,” I said between my teeth.
“I really didn’t care what you were saying because all I keep thinking about is how we did it last night!!”
“I didn’t realize that was such a bad thing!” I screamed at her. “And, Nicole, all I keep thinking about is how this may be the last time I will get to see my best friend, alive.” I said trying to keep the tears from streaming down my face. She looked up at me, “Oh.my……and then puked in the trashcan I had sitting by my bed. Well, I’m going to be throwing that away.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, rubbing her back lightly. She shook her head no, leaning against me. We finally made it downstairs and into the car. My whole body was weak, shaking. I didn’t know if I could handle seeing him, it was too much. He was my best friend, I couldn’t live without him. He was the type of guy that could make anyone laugh when they were down; he could make someone feel better, not having to say a word, just his presence lit up the room. I guess you could say he was the light in the darkest of places; he was the type of person that never let you lose hope, even if you were running out of it, even if you were losing your way. So, I wouldn’t just be losing a best friend or an incredible guitarist for the band, I would be losing hope. Hope that I needed when things went wrong on tour or just in everyday life. We, as in myself, Rian, Zack and our fans, would be losing much more than a best friend and a brother; we would be losing hope and I’m not sure if I could ever get that back if he..I couldn’t even say it. I couldn’t even fathom what life would be like without him.
And as we were sitting in the waiting room, I tried to hold on to that hope, for Jack, my best friend and brother. But as the doctor came out and told us, “I’m sorry, we’re doing everything we can,” I lost it, and wouldn’t be able to find it, that hope; until I could see for myself that he was okay, that he would make it. That is when I would be able to believe, again, there is hope even in the darkest of places.