Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Bailey's POV

Paaaarrtyyyy!!!!!

Jack’s voice rang though my head; he couldn’t have been anymore excited about his end of the year party and he made sure I knew it. All day Friday, he jabbered about what he was going to do, who was coming and how much fun it would be. I couldn’t disagree with him on anything he said; it was going to be a blast. With one week left of school, it wasn’t technically an end of the year party, but by the time school ended, All Time Low will be getting ready to leave on their first serious tour.

Zack drove with me to Jack’s house. Jack insisted that everyone get there early so we could help him set up and get ready. I took that as his parents were out of town so he hadn’t cleaned the house.

Upon pulling into the driveway, I saw that all of our friends were already here, according to the arrangement of cars. I walked in step with Zack as we sauntered through the doorway, not bothering to knock. Loud voices floated through the hall and laughter and yelling was accompanied, signaling everyone was in the kitchen, probably slacking off.

“It’s Zack and Bailey! Bailey and Zack!” someone cheered when we both entered. I looked around and saw the rest of All Time Low, Melanie, Kaylie, Kara, and Matt with a couple more unknown friends. Everything seemed normal, minus the cheesy, absurd grins on all their faces. They silently stared at Zack and me, making me uncomfortable.

“Hi guys,” Rian said taunting and teasing with his voice. His eyes darted between the two of us. I couldn’t hold eye contact under Rian’s silly grin and expectant eyes; it was too perplexing and made me fidgety. I glanced to Jack, who was fiddling with cups. The day after I confessed to Jack about Zack and I, we discussed about it at school and I specifically said I would bring it up later to the rest of them. He had obviously gone ahead and spilled our little secret to everyone; it was the only explanation for the bizarre looks from my friends. I lowered my eyes into a squint to glare at him but he Jack only grinned back sloppily. Everyone was silently staring at me and I could feel my cheeks blushing ferociously, causing me to shrink behind Zack.

“Hey everyone,” said Zack slowly. He took in the creepy staring faces as well. “…What?” he asked suspiciously.

Melanie spoke up with a grin plastered on her face, “Come on guys. Do something!”

“What?”

“Kiss! Just kiss already!” Jack burst out, not able to contain his excitement.

Zack laughed uneasily and I blushed even more. I could feel my hands start to sweat and my knees threatened to give out. Suddenly, I could feel all the nervousness in my limbs. I was nervous with Zack again, but instead of me not sure of how to act around him, I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to act around our friends. It was like starting all over again. Pushing that out of my mind, I tipped my head up when I saw Zack’s head lowering. He pressed his lips to mine firmly, but we both pulled away after a millisecond with everyone cheering animatedly. I started to get tingly and if it was at all possible, I think my whole face had turned even redder.

Zack smiled at me, both of us grinning sheepishly. Melanie winked at Zack and I heard Kara and Kaylie “aww” happily, smiling brightly at me before going back to what they had been doing before Zack and I arrived.

“Fucking finally,” Alex whispered under his breath, returning to digging around in the cupboards.

Honestly, I was a little surprised. Jack must have been right; people had pretty much known that Zack and I had a thing without telling anyone. They all seemed like they had come to terms with it and were accepting that their best friends were together.

Wrapping his arm around my hip, Zack and I walked further into the kitchen to stand around the counter. I surveyed the room again. A certain blond was missing. I was taken aback and a little disappointed. Even though Jade was grounded, I thought she would come to a party she was well aware of.

Completely lost in thought about my sister and how much trouble we had been in lately, I hadn’t realized how much time had past. There had been a knock on the door and Jack’s excited yells brought me back to reality.

“Paaaarrtyyyy!!!!!”

“Come on, Alex, dance with me!” half-naked Jack begged. His best friend rested up against the counter, sipping a drink out of his red cup. I couldn’t blame Alex for feeling like shit. He didn’t look very happy to be here; he always loved to party and was usually one of the people at the center of attention. Instead, he seemed more quiet and thoughtful, but still trying to put on a happy face. I could relate; I was kind of feeling the same thing. Jack was being very aware and really understanding tonight, which surprised me, but I thought he was being sweet to Alex.

“Later,” Alex commented, bored. Jade must have said something really bad to Alex when they talked, if they even talked at all. I put down the cup I was holding and jumped over to Jack.

“I’ll dance with you, Jacky!” I had to yell over the loud music from the other room along with the yelling that obnoxious boys were doing all around me. I hadn’t been to a party for months. During track, I couldn’t risk getting caught at a party especially when there was alcohol; I would have gotten kicked off the team. So getting back into it took a bit, but I loosened up and was having a blast.

The loud music pulsed through my ears and the closeness and rudeness of my classmates that usually would have bugged me, brought me right back to last fall when we all used to go to parties every week together. I’m sure the others had gone to parties without me, I knew Zack did, but it was fun to be together again and having a great time.

Jack pulled me through a group of super drunk cheerleaders to get to the middle of the decent sized mob of dancing people that had just started to congregate. “One, Two Step” started to pound through the speakers and I laughed as I watched Jack dance around. Everyone seemed to having an amazing time. I don’t know if it was because I had been so elated lately, but it looked like everyone had a smile plastered to their face and was laughing joyously every few minutes.

“Lipstick has a way of leaving more than just a mark on my sheets
Coloring my senses cherry red, at least for this week”
I heard Alex’s voice run through the speakers when a new song began to play. “Really Jack?!” I yelled in his ear. Jack would put his band’s song in with his party mix. He simply shrugged and pretended to hump everyone around him.

Through the night, I switched between talking to familiar faces, to dancing with Kaylie during “Don’t Cha,” to talking with more people, to dancing with Kara through “My Humps,” to being carried around by drunk Jack, and then back to dancing with Melanie for “Hollaback Girl.” Another song ended and I found myself walking towards the kitchen for something to drink.

As I maneuvered around the house, waving shyly to people I recognized, I spotted a blond head. “Hey, Lisa!”

“Bailey! How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while. I was happy to see you came back,” her teeth sparkled when she smiled at him, genuinely happy.

“Thanks,” I smiled back. “I’m doing alright. How are you doing?”

We started to walk together, talking over the music. “I’m great actually!” We joked lightly, making small talk. It was weird talking to Lisa again, so foreign, but natural. It was scary to think how easily she was pushed out of the group even though she was well loved by us. But one thing removed her and I hadn’t talked to her since then. I didn’t want that to happen to anyone of my friends again.

We passed by Alex, playing a game, not very convincingly, with a couple guys from our grade. I smiled softly at him, trying to make him smile back and get him out of his incasing thoughts.

“Is Alex alright?” Lisa noticed Alex’s troubled face as well. “He seems down. He loves parties.”

“Yeah…girl problems.” I didn’t want to elaborate much more on the subject. It wasn’t my place, and Lisa was also Alex’s ex.

“Oh, that’s too bad.” I couldn’t tell if Lisa seriously meant that, but she sounded sincere enough. Lisa spotted a couple of her friends and turned back to me smiling. “Well, it was nice seeing you, Bailey.”

Grinning back, I said goodbye and she walked off as Rian jumped towards me. “Any way you want it, that’s way you need it, any way you want it!!!!” he screamed Steve Perry’s song in my ear. As the bass guitar sounded, we started hopping closer to the speakers so we could dance to Journey together.

“Hey.” Zack’s raspy voice tickled my ear. I turned around and smiled widely at him.

“Hiya!!”

He chuckled, scooting closer to me. “Are you drunk?” I grinned and shrugged. Yes, I was buzzed because I let myself drink more than usual. I didn’t think I was even close to comparison to other people at the party though.

I hadn’t been able to drink at parties, not like I drank much at parties, if any, in the first place, for the same reason I hadn’t gone to any parties. Zack was on his own with the others to have fun on Saturday nights because I couldn’t get into any trouble with school. It was exciting to be able to be at a party, especially being able to be open with mine and Zack’s relationship. We weren’t dating, but at least everyone knew so we could be flirty in the open.

“Maybe, maybe not,” I smirked. I was overly flirting a little and Zack picked up on what I was doing.

“Oh yeah?” I nodded, smiling. “Well, I know one way to find out.”

He walked closer to me and grabbed one of my hands. With out faces close, I teased, “And what would that be?”

“Taste,” he whispered. I saw a sly smirk grace his lips before he connected our mouths together.

“What the fucking hell?!” A semi-familiar voice screeched over all the noise. It would have been recognizable if she hadn’t had her voice raised to octaves in shock. But, I knew the voice anywhere; she was my twin. “What the fucking hell?!?!” she screamed again.

Zack yanked his hands from my hips and I quickly pulled my body away from his vicinity.

“Ja—”

“What the fucking hell?!?!”

I stared at her, my mouth dry. I didn’t know what to say. At first, I didn’t think this was such a big deal. Why was she blowing this up? No one else thought twice about Zack and me, or didn’t show it at least. But then again, Jade had been very emotional lately.

I took in her shocked expression. It was both mad but completely blown away. Her eyes were huge, round circles and her jaw hung slack. Through the dim lighting, I saw she had styled her hair and gotten out of the baggy sweatpants she had been moping around in the past week.

I walked away from Zack and towards my sister. “Jade, please don’t—”

“You know, I was coming to see if I could talk to you for a bit, but fuck that.” Her bitter tone hit hard. “It seems like you need to do the talking.” Jade had wanted to talk to me about things? That surprised me. She didn’t say that often, even when we were on good terms. That meant she was opening herself up.

She started to walk off and I saw Alex watching attentively from the other room, everyone else around him oblivious to what was happening. “Jade, wait.”

The blond didn’t turn around though. She left as quickly as she appeared.

I should have been there for her. Jade had clearly thought through things and realized she needed to discuss with me. Maybe she was going to tell me what was bothering her? I had barely made eye contact with her all week, let alone talk to her. Clara had talked to Jade more than I have, and that’s hard to do.

I shouldn’t feel bad though, right? Jade had accused me of having something with Zack behind her back before. Granted, she was cranky and bitter at the time, but she had obviously run the possibility through her mind, so this wasn’t a complete new concept for her.

I did feel bad though. I always thought I was the one taking care of Jade. I was the one to make sure she was in the right place, on time. I kept her schedule straight and made sure she finished things by deadlines. Jade always expected everyone to do things when she was ready, when she wanted and the way she wanted to do it. But really, when I thought about it, I had betrayed her.

I forgot to think about all the times I cried. All the times I screamed. All the times Jade was right by me, holding my wrists down, rubbing my back and embracing me tightly.

Jade came to this town with me, for me.

Lately, our senses hadn’t been in tune and I couldn’t anticipate feelings or actions. The one thing I should have done was told her the truth. She was supposedly my best friend and we needed to share everything with each other. The least I could have done, was open my ear, instead, I yelled at her. What a fucking mess.

“You okay, Bailey?” I turned and saw Alex, looking at me concerned.

“I’m fine,” I smiled. The two words I hadn’t spoken in a while, felt so natural on my lips. I nodded happily and looked at Alex and Zack, who were in front of me.

“You sure you’re okay?” Zack must have seen the disquiet in my eyes.

“I’m fine.” I grabbed their arms and pulled them softly along with me. I saw Kaylie dancing single and Rian and Kara dancing next to her. Jack and Melanie were dancing together dirtily in close proximity to the other. Alex moved toward Kaylie and I smiled up at Zack. “Let’s just dance, kay?” He agreed. I felt safe with everyone around me and it unquestionably made me feel better.