No One Can Touch Us

“You know, I still can’t believe this is happening.” I said, chewing off another bite of the Twix bar I had taken from our enormous pile of candy. I sat with my legs crossed, staring down at Hannah, who was laying down on the grass with her hands behind her head.

“I’m convinced it’s a dream. A really long and extremely detailed dream.”

I shrugged. “Well, I sure hope it’s not.”

“Amen sistah.” she chimed in, popping a Skittle into her mouth.

“...Someday, I’m gonna get married on Halloween. And I’m gonna wear a black dress and vans.”

“Well I’m sure Alex will be okay with a Halloween wedding.” she said, smirking to herself as I choked on on the final bite of candy I had in my mouth.

“Are you trying to induce a myocardial infarction in me?”

“English?”

“Heart attack.”

“Oh... Yes.” she said, grinning victoriously as I shoved her, causing her to roll over and lay face down on the grass.

“Hate you.” I snorted and looked up to see a figure approaching stealthily over to us.

“I don’t wanna move.” she groaned and spread her body out all over the grass, oblivious to Jack’s approaching.

I distracted myself with the wrapper of another candy bar while Jack proceeded to jump on top of an unsuspecting Hannah. Her squeak was silenced by Jack’s lips and they soon began to roll around on the grass.

“Gross!” I exclaimed, throwing the remaining half of the Kit Kat I was eating at the couple as I sprang up from my comfortable position on the lawn. Pausing momentarily to brush off the grass from my butt, I stared up at the stars, catching a glimpse of an airplane. I smiled to myself and thought about how wishing on airplanes has made my wildest dreams come true. I whispered a quick ‘Thank you.’ to the heavens, when suddenly my attention was reverted back to the couple as Hannah giggled softly. Rolling my eyes, I wheeled around and went back into the house, deciding to diverge from the path of the party and up the main staircase.

I stepped into Alex’s room and ripped off the wings from my back, tossing them onto the couch which had my various pieces of luggage strewn across it. I kicked off my pointed slippers and slid off my green dress in a similar fashion and was left in my spandex shorts and a tank top. I went into the closet to look for a guitar I could play. My eyes targeted an acoustic Yamaha and I swiftly removed it, walking back over to the bed. I slumped down and checked the tuning of the guitar, only then to proceed to play various songs I had diligently studied over the past couple of years, Remembering Sunday being my favourite one.

“Forgive me I’m trying to find, my calling I’m calling at night. I don’t mean to be a bother, but have you seen this girl? She’s been running through my dreams and it’s driving me crazy it seems. I’m gonna ask her to marry me.” I heard a voice chime in as my fingers moved gracefully across the mahogany fretboard. I looked up and saw Alex standing in the door way, a smile immediately plaguing my face as I continued to play the sweet melody.

“Neighbors said she moved away...” he continued, making his way over to where I was sitting. Right as the Juliet Simms part kicked in, he slumped down onto the bed and let me take over the singing.

“...I guess I’ll go home now.” he sang, ending the song as my fingers strummed the last A minor.

“I-uh... Hi.” I stammered, getting up to go put the guitar back. As I placed the acoustic into the closet, I turned around and was received immediately by Alex’s arms.

“I didn’t know you could play guitar. Or sing.” he said.

“I can’t... I mean, I guess I’m okay at guitar but I definitely can’t sing.” I whispered, my face flushing a beet red colour as I remembered my random impulse to start singing along. “I guess I just couldn’t help but to join in.”

“You were fantastic.”

“Thanks.” I said softly, grinning slightly.

“How’d I get so lucky?” he whispered, pressing his nose against mine.

“...Wha- You-... I... Alex, you’re downgrading by being with me. I’m a random fan girl.”
“No I’m not and no you’re not.”

“...I’m just... Scared.” I admitted, my voice barely audible.

“Of what?”

“...Waking up.” I admitted, chuckling quietly. “And having this all be a dream.”

He pinched my side lightly. “See? Reality.”

“Thank God.” I replied, pulling his lips onto mine. We stood in silence for a couple of minutes, our eyes closed and our foreheads pressed against each other’s. I gulped away the knot in my throat and tried to speak, scared to break the beautiful silence. “Can we go back to the party?” I whispered.

He nodded and placed a final kiss on my forehead as I turned to lead the way out of the door.

“Hey there lovebirds.” Danny said, winking at us as we walked back into the room.

I rolled my eyes and continued on in my quest to find more people to mingle with, leaving Alex to the beer that Danny had offered him.

“Hey Jake.” I said, walking up to the drummer of Mayday Parade who was standing off in a corner of the room alone.

“...Hey-” he began with a quizzical tone, but I cut him off.

“I’m Selma... Alex’s... Girlfriend.” I said, the words still foreign to my tongue.

“Right. Well, it’s nice to meet you. Though I feel like we’ve met before...” he said, squinting at me as though to help him remember.

“Yes. 18 times at concerts. I’m a bit of a stalker, I admit.” I said, laughing as his mouth dropped slightly.

“Well my apologies that I didn’t recognize you.” he said, and offered me a can of ginger ale he had picked up from the table next to him. “Soda?”

“Yes please.” I said, gladly accepting a refreshment as I watched him, expecting him to pull out a cup of beer. I eyed him curiously as he cracked open his own can of ginger ale.

“...I don’t drink alcohol.” he answered as though he had read my thoughts.

“That’s... Awesome!” I exclaimed, happy to have met another straightedge person. “I’m the same way. And so is my friend Hannah.” I said, pointing to the middle of the dance floor where she and Jack had began to dance with each other, randomly booty dancing and flailing their arms to the beat.

“Ahh yes. Jack introduced me to her a little while ago. He seems pretty proud to have her.”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “He really likes her.” We stared blankly at the dance floor for a while. Most people had ditched their costumes, either wearing small bits of them or just plain clothes. Alex had put on a pair of skinny jeans while we were in his room, and took off his cape, leaving him in a plain green shirt.

I whipped back around at him, happily resuming small talk when all of a sudden, a familiar melody began to echo through the enormous speakers of the room. I began to hum along to the tune of ‘Thunder’ by Boys Like Girls and felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist almost immediately after.

“Can I have this dance?” Alex whispered into my ear and I shivered, following him into the middle of the dance floor by his hand. His hands assumed their position around my waist once more as I wrapped my arms around neck, resting them there softly as I twirled his hair with one of my fingers. He looked down at me, not breaking eye contact for the entirety of the song as we smiled widely back at each other. At the last chorus I felt his lips find mine as we stopped our swaying, interlaced in each other’s arms as the final chords of the song echoed through the room. A cheshire-cat sized grin made its way onto my face, which was immediately echoed by him.

“LADIES AND GENTS, IT’S TIME FOR A SNOWBALL!” the DJ called out.

“...What are we, 12 years old?!” called out some voices from the floor.

“Now now, no arguing! You know the rules! Change dance partners every time I say ‘snowball’!” he continued as ‘Therapy’ began to play.

“Eyy!” I heard Rian called out from behind me, who then proceeded to continue dancing with Cassadee. She winked at me and closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder.

I was able to dance with Alex for another thirty seconds until the DJ called out ‘snowball’ and I was forced to find another partner.

I went with Jake and Alex went with Juliet, a strange pang of jealousy traveling through my insides. I shook it off and relaxed as I swayed rhythmically with Jake, who was wearing the remnants of a pirate costume.

“SNOWBALL!” called out the DJ and I went to go find another partner, bidding goodbye to Jake.

Within seconds, I found myself with Alex Lipshaw, who had just finished dancing with Hannah. I looked over at Alex and found myself laughing immediately after realizing that he was dancing with Jack. Hannah was swaying with Blake, and I watched her roll her eyes and shake her head when she noticed the same thing.

I moved my head into the nook of Alex’s neck and soon enough it was time to switch partners once again. As I scanned the room looking for potential targets, I was pulled into someone’s body from behind and turned around to see Danny smiling down at me.

“My turn.” he whispered and I happily proceeded to wrap my arms around his neck while his hands snaked around my waist.