The Smile You Fake, The Steps You Take

"Alexander Gaskarth, I swear to God if you - "

"Too late!" he screeched, tackling me into the pool with a huge splash. So much for staying dry.

I surfaced, gasping and coughing spastically. "Alex, I can not believe you!" I cried, splashing him grumpily. He simply stuck out his tongue in reply and floated away, most likely off to cause more havoc with the other guests of the hotel. I swam to the edge of the pool and held on for dear life; being in the deep end didn't exactly make me feel comfortable since I'm not really the best of swimmers. At pool parties I tend to chill out on the floaties and rafts or sit on people's shoulders. Preferably tall people.

"Anybody wanna help me out of here?" I called, after failing to be able to pull myself out. Nobody answered. "Yo!" I shouted, catching the attention of Jack Barakat. "Jack, please?" I stuck out my lower lip for effect. He hovered indecisively at the water's edge for a moment, seemingly torn between amusement and worry, before stepping towards me. My puppy-dog face gets him every time.

"What is it with you and getting tackled into pools?" he laughed as he grasped my slippery hand and pulled me out of the water easily.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Alex just likes to torture me."

"It's Alex, what do you expect?" Jack laughed, gesturing across the pool. "I mean, just look at the guy."

I glanced over my shoulder to see Alex leaping off the diving-board with a duck floatie secured around his waist while two small children chased after him. I couldn't help but laugh at this before turning back to face Jack. "What time does the pool close?"

"I don't know," he replied, "but I don't really care. We'll leave when we get bored ... or when the manager kicks us out, whichever comes first."

"Knowing us, we'll get kicked out," I noted with a small smile.

He nodded knowingly. "Probably." Pause. "Want a drink?"

"Sure, why not? What'd you have there?" I poked his red plastic cup as he swirled around the contents.

"That's for me to know and you to find out!" he sing-songed, handing it to me. I sniffed it hesitantly before taking a sip and nearly choking as it burned its way down my throat.

"Oh my God, what is this?" I cried, thrusting it back at him and turning away to cough violently.

"Jack Barakat's 'special drink,'" Rian Dawson offered as he strode up to us and took a large gulp from his own cup. "It's pretty much acid but we've become accustomed to it."

"It's disgusting, Jack."

His face fell slightly but quickly regained its usual cool composure. He changed the subject smoothly. "Okay, I think that we should make a toast."

"To what?" I asked, crossing my arms over my now-transparent tank-top. Thanks loads, Alex.

"Lots of things. For starters, the end of your junior year of high school and the beginning of our summer," Jack began.

"Hear, hear!" Rian cheered, grinning.

"And second, the start of our headlining tour and your job as the official photographer of All Time Low." Jack triumphantly held his cup in the air and Rian followed suit. "To Amanda!" they screamed. They were very obviously drunk. Whatever "Jack Barakat's special drink" was, it was pretty damn strong.

"Zack, Zack, Zack!" Alex was chanting as Zack merrick took a running start and flipped sideways off the diving board, resulting in a very painful-looking belly-flop. "Ooooh. Nice fail, buddy," Alex offered as his bandmate climbed out of the water moments later.

The boys had just finished playing the first set of their headlining tour and I had been taking pictures of their performance. Having met the boys in my freshman year, when they were juniors, we were now very close and, knowing that I needed a summer job, they offered the photography position to me. I've been taking pictures since I could hold a camera and always used to run my work past Alex and Jack before submitting it to anything. With the experience this job would give me, I could probably go on to work at any major magazine I wanted. Of course, loving music the way I do, I'll probably pick alternative press or something like that. Anything that allows me to work with musicians, really.

An hour of obnoxious antics followed before I finally decided to take charge of the situation. "Alright, boys, I think it's time for bed." Zack, Rian, Alex and Jack shouted their protests drunkenly at the top of their lungs. "Yeah yeah, I know, Amanda is the wicked witch of the west. Time to go to sleep."

After offering to help with the round-up, Rian's girlfriend Kara grabbed Rian by the arm and practically dragged him into the elevator.

"Can you handle Zack, too?" I asked pleadingly. "Alex and Jack are gonna give me a run for my money."

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll get him to his room. Just...guide him over here." It took several minutes to get Zack's legs to respond to the demands I was putting on them, but eventually I got him into the elevator with Kara and Rian, the latter of which was now passed out on the floor. Kara added, "See you in the morning, Amanda. The guys said the tour bus is gonna leave at about ten-thirty."

"Sounds good," I called just before the elevator doors slid shut. "Okay, you two, let's get moving."

"I don't wanna," Alex complained, tripping over his own feet and stumbling, nearly pulling me down with him. Catching his balance, he giggled and accidentally let slip a hiccup. "That was weird, wasn't it, Jacky?"

Jack nodded a bit too enthusiastically. "Yes, Alex. T'was." He snickered and stumbled forward, holding onto my shoulder for balance. I sighed. Oh, the trials of having these boys as best friends.

"You two better not have hang-overs tomorrow because playing a show with them is gonna be a bitch," I reasoned, leading them towards an empty and waiting elevator.

"What's she talkin' about, Jacky?" Alex slurred, sliding down the wall of the elevator until he was slumped down on the floor. He squinted up at the florescent lights then quickly shielded his eyes from them.

"I dunno what she's talkin' about," Jack mumbled, sounding far more drunk than Alex. This was actually somewhat shocking, as Alex tended to be a bit more far gone than Jack whenever drinking took place.

I groaned when I realized that it was going to be harder than I had originally thought to get these two into their respective beds. I decided on simply bringing them into my own room and tossing them onto the couches so I could keep an eye on them during the night. God forbit they happened to throw up and drown in it or something. It sounded extremely lame but stuff like that was known to happen and, knowing those two, something like that could totally happen to them.

"Where we going?" one of them asked, but I was having trouble differentiating between their slurs. I half-dragged them by their shirts down the hall until we reached my hotel room. I slid the key through the slot and kicked open the door, still pulling them behind me. Before I could even guide either one to the couch they collapsed onto the floor, partially on top of each other.

I shrugged. "Good enough. Nighty-night, boys."