Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Jade's POV

project birthday party is a go

I smiled at the text from Kara and looked over at the girls perched on my bed. Bailey was nervously chewing on her fingernail, Kaylie, sitting next to her on her left, wringing her hands in her lap and Melanie lying on the bed, soft snores coming out of her mouth every so often. I rolled my eyes at the girls, snapping my phone shut, which seemed to grab their attention.

“Kara said its go time.” Melanie shot up, a huge grin on her face and she jumped up off the bed, the two other girls slowly following after her.

“Let's do this shit.”She proclaimed, pulling her cell phone out of her jeans pocket and flipping it open. After pressing a few buttons she looked over at me, “I just texted Matt. He should be on his way to go and distract Alex.”

“Yup,”I nodded, “and Kara's already distracting her boyfriend, so we have about three hours before the party later tonight.”

Melanie smirked, “Ooo, someone's getting his birthday present a little early-”

“Shut up, Mel,” Kaylie sighed, shaking her head, “I swear, you're just like Jack.”

“I resent that!” Melanie cried out, cutting her eyes at the red and brown haired girl who was rolling her eyes.

“Sorry, you have a little bit bigger of a vocabulary than Jack does.”

“Guys!” My sister cut in, “We have to get ready for this party so I suggest we move!” The other girls shut their mouths and nodded, walking out of the room.

I smiled at my sister, “Wow, way to take over, Captain Jazz.”

Bailey blushed, running a hand through her hair, a small smile on her face, “Shut up,” I laughed, beginning to walk out of the room and down the stairs by my sister's side, “I still don't understand why Matt has to distract Alex and not Lisa.”

“Because,” I began, picking up one of the boxes with some of the decorations, “Lisa is out getting food with a couple of friends she's bringing to the party and Matt needed to go out and get the alcohol anyways.”

Bailey furrowed her eyebrows, “But how can he get the alcohol if Alex is with him?”

“Alex isn't so smart,” I responded, handing over a couple rolls of different colored streamers, “If Matt tells him he's buying him the alcohol for his birthday, he won't think anything of it.” Bailey smirked, tearing the wrappers off the rolls of streamers before walking over to Kaylie to set them up.

I walked over to the sound system Melanie was hooking up, a look of frustration written all over her face, “You okay, Mel?”

Melanie looked up, shaking her head slightly before looking back down at the many wires she was having trouble putting into place, “Not in the slightest. God damn, why does this have to be so complex!?” She yelled, dropping the wires in her hands and crossing her arms over her chest, a pout on her lips.

I laughed and picked up the wires she had been working with, “This doesn't look that difficult,” Melanie scoffed, rolling her eyes and looking away from me, “Why don't you go work on decorations and I'll do this, sound good?” Melanie nodded and gave me a quick hug before picking up a box of decorations and walking over to where my sister and Kaylie stood, hanging up the streamers.

I sighed, looking at the booklet of directions Melanie had failed to look at and began fiddling with the many wires Matt's sounds system came with.

Finally, when I was about halfway done with setting up the last wire, the door flung open and three bodies walked in, all three carrying at least two brown paper bags each. When I looked up, there stood Lisa, but on either side of her stood the two bimbos, Red Head and Blondie.

“God damn,” I whispered, dropping wires and walking over to Lisa, the bimbos standing behind her giving me overly sweet smiles, but the look in their eyes spelled out death.

“Hey, Jay!” Lisa greeted, putting the bags on the ground and pulling me into a hug, which I gratefully accepted.

“Hey, Lees. You got the food?” Lisa nodded, picking up the paper bags back into her arms.

“Yup. Want me to just put them in the kitchen?”

I nodded, “Sure, follow me.” I walked in front of Lisa and the bimbos, leading them into the kitchen where they placed the bags on the kitchen counter, looking around, “Um, why don't you guys just unpack all the food and kind of, set it up a little bit and I'm gonna go back and work on that damned sound system.”

Lisa giggled and nodded, starting to unpack the food in her bag. Before I left, with one glimpse over my shoulder, I caught the angry eyes of two girls, their looks set to kill. To say I sprinted out of the kitchen wouldn't even cover how fast I left; it was more like I transported myself from the kitchen doorway to the sound system.

After a few more minutes of looking over the instructions and fumbling with multicolored wires, I finally let out an exasperated growl and threw the wires on the ground by my feet, catching the attention of Melanie, who had stopped taping up a strand of streamers.

“Told you it was complicated.” She smirked, placing a hand on her hip, and dropping the streamer roll altogether.

I sighed, nodding my head as I looked down at the array of red and blue wires on the ground, “Yeah, you did,” Looking back over at her, she was stepping down from the chair she had been standing on to hang the streamers and walked over to me, pulling her cell phone from her back pocket, “ What are you doing?”

“Getting you help,” She muttered, flipping open the device and pressing multiple buttons before closing the phone altogether. She stored the phone back in her jeans pocket and looked over at me with a smile on her face.

After a moment of silence, I raised an eyebrow in her direction, “Well...?”

“He's coming in a couple minutes.”

“Who?!”

Melanie rolled her eyes, walking back over to the abandoned streamer and stepping back up onto the chair, “This junior. You don't know him.”

“Then how do you know him?”

Melanie shrugged, pulling out her phone once more and flipping open the device to look at, what I assumed to be, a new text message, “The guys introduced us. He's gonna be here in a couple minutes so hold tight.” As she pocketed the device once more she looked up at me, a slight smile on her face, “Why don't you just go help Lisa out in the kitchen for the time being.”

I nodded and began walking into the kitchen where Lisa stood, placing chips out on the counter as well as dips and sodas for those who were either mixing drinks or staying sober tonight. When I entered the room, her eyes snapped up, meeting mine as a small smile formed on her lips.

“Hey, Jay. What's up?” I shrugged, standing in front of the counter as she stood on the other side, continuing to place out random chip bags.

“Nothing. I couldn't figure out the bazillion wires for the sound system so Melanie texted someone to come help.” Lisa nodded and pulled out another bag of chips, “God, Lisa, how many chips did you buy?”

Lisa looked up at me for a second before beginning to laugh, “Well, this is Rian and Alex we're talking about. On top of the billion of people going to be here, Rian, Alex, Jack, and Zack can eat at least a bag or two of chips each.” I laughed and nodded, walking around to the other side of the counter to stand next to her.

“So, how are things in the wonderful life of Lisa Ruocco?” I asked, picking up a couple of the empty bags and storing them under the sink for further use.

Lisa laughed softly and turned to face me, her hands clutching onto the edge of the counter top as the rest of her body slumped against the cabinets there. She shrugged, “Nothing much. School's a bitch though and I can't wait to graduate.”

I nodded enthusiastically, “Oh, you got that right.” We both laughed for a moment,

“But seriously, I can't believe you and Bailey have only been living here for a few months,” Lisa started, pulling out a chip from one of the open bags, “it feels like you guys haven't ever lived any where else but Lutherville.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, same here. I mean, sometimes I feel left out and..I don't know, not home sick, but something else and I just feel like I don't belong, ya know?” Lisa nodded, pulling out another chip and placing it in her mouth, “But I have so many friends here and they seem to care about me more than my friends back in New Jersey.”

Lisa broke out into a big grin, “Me too, right?”

I giggled and nodded, “Yes, and you too, Lisa. Of course.” We both laughed once more and I walked over to her, standing next to her at the counter and taking a chip from the opened bag.

A couple moths ago, I would have never imagined that I would be standing in a kitchen with Lisa Ruocco, laughing and joking like we had known each other since kindergarten. But for some reason, it didn't feel right to me. It felt like she shouldn't have been hating my guts because from day one, I had been somewhat stealing the attention of her boyfriend away from her. Not intentionally mind you, but it still felt weird. I won't lie, I had been intimidated by her presence, just because it felt like she could make me or break me in this little down, but she had chosen to help me instead, which had made a world of difference. But I couldn't help but wonder.

I took in a big breath of air, as if feeding myself the courage, before opening my mouth to speak, “Can I make a confession?”

“Sure.”

I exhaled, waiting as I finished chewing the chip and swallowing before beginning to talk, “I thought things between us would get awkward after the first time you saw me.”

“If we're being honest,” Lisa started, sighing and turning to face me, “I was a little hesitant when I saw you, I mean, who wouldn't? Seeing their boyfriend holding a crying girl in his arms it just looked...”

“Awkward?” I suggested, a small smile on my face.

Lisa giggled and nodded, “Yeah, most definitely. And I was also a little..I don't know. I wouldn't say jealous but I guess in a way I was.”

“How?” I prodded, pulling another chip from the bag, Lisa doing the same.

“Well,” She began, swallowing the chip, “I mean, after officially meeting you and your sister, you and Alex seemed to have this...bond and I guess I was jealous of that. But I mean, I kinda figured something would happen.”

It seemed like a record had scratched and suddenly the mood had taken its turn. I knew that from then on in this conversation, it wouldn't be light and full of laughter like it had been a moment previous to it. I was becoming confused as to how Lisa could predict any of this-my being so close to her boyfriend- at all when she had met me a week after everyone else, “What do you mean?”

Lisa sighed, running a hand down her face, “When Alex first saw me when I got back from vacation that week that you and Bailey arrived, he seemed...somewhat distant and after meeting you, I kinda figured-”

“That I was the cause?” I asked, slightly confused. Lisa nodded, “Lisa, I swear to you, nothing between Alex and I is anything but platonic-”

“I know,” She sighed, turning around so her hands lay flat on the counter top, “but I can't help feeling that it could be something more. I mean, sometimes it just scares me that I can see a picture of you two together shining brighter than I can see a picture of me and him. I will always be there for Alex, no matter what, but, I want to make what we still have last before he decides he doesn't want this anymore...if he ever decides...”

I turned around as well, leaning against the counter top as I looked at Lisa, “I feel really slow right now, but I'm not exactly following.”

Lisa sighed once more, “Okay, sometimes, Alex doesn't exactly know what he wants until someone prods him into realizing it. Sometimes, I think it would be better for him to realize that he feels something more for you than just friends. I just wonder when he'll come to and stop dragging me along, ya know?” Lisa turned to face me then, a small smile on her face, “I'm not saying that I think you're going after Alex, because I know you're not like that, but I'm just saying, don't be surprised if one day he figures out that he wants you in more than a friendly way.”

Lisa's last phrase had a slight bitter sweet taste to it. I mean, she was Alex's girlfriend after all and should have a right to be worried about where she stood with her boyfriend, but what I didn't understand was why she needed to be thinking about that. She had said it herself, I wasn't the type of girl to try and get with some boy that was already taken. Alex was nothing more than a best friend to me; someone I had confided in and let me cry on their shoulder on more than one occasion.

She didn't have to worry, but it was pretty obvious to everyone that their relationship wasn't as strong as it had been a couple of months ago when I saw Lisa for the first time. The look in his eye when he saw her had something hidden behind it, and it hadn't been guilt. It had been affection. And now, it seemed, that the affectionate look he had harbored for Lisa had been misplaced.

The door bell rang then, both of our sets of eyes directing to the front hall where Melanie passed through, walking to the door. Soon there were greetings and footsteps started to make their way to the kitchen.

Melanie stood in front of Lisa and I with a boy next to her. He was shorter than her in comparison and had a short hair cut that was slightly disheveled on top. He had pierced hears and a smile that reached up to his brown eyes. Lisa smiled back at the boy, walking around the counter and embracing him in a hug.

“Hey, Alex.” She mumbled, causing me to lift my eyebrows up in somewhat shock.
When she let go of the boy, all three turned to look at me, Melanie with a grin on her face, “Jay, this is Alex. Alex, this is Jay Bird or...Jade.” Alex smiled at me, walking forward with his hand outstretched.

“So, you're the one having problems with the sound system?”

I nodded, “Yup. That would be me. Ms. I-Can't Do-Anything.”

Alex laughed, “Well, I think I can help.” I nodded and we walked out of the kitchen and toward the mess of wires on the ground.

Alex stared at them for a moment before picking up few and putting them in places like a real pro.

“So,” I began, trying to converse with this kid as he continued to work, “you got a nickname, because two Alex's is really confusing to me.”

Alex laughed, continuing to plug in the wires, “Same with everyone else.” He continued to plug in wires before none of them were on the ground and he flipped the switch, a small buzzing sound filling the air, signaling that it was working, “You can just call me Greico.”

I nodded, “Cool. Greico it is.”

A while later, people started to file in. Most were people I hadn't ever met and some were people I recognized from school, including Kaylie's crush and some kid Bailey knew from painting class. I think his name was Tom.

A few minutes after the house was packed, Melanie got a text from her brother and Kara, signifying that they were coming up the stairs now. The lights were switched off and everyone hid in different parts of the house.

We heard mumblings of four voices and finally the door opened four figures standing outside of the doorway.