Kings and Queens of Promise

I sat on my bed, strumming my guitar and stringing together random lyrics.

“I must’ve been outta my mind
To give you one second of mine
And I know we’ve had some good times
But I think it’s time that I

“Hey,” a voice called up the stairs.

“Go away,” I replied, scribbling down something else.

“It’s, um, Zacky.” Oh. He hadn’t been in the kitchen earlier, so maybe I could face him.

“Come on up,” I invited.

“I was wondering if I could hang out up there with you, since it’s my day with you and I don’t really have anything I’ll need you to do.”

“Sure,” I called.

“Alright, let me go get my computer,” he said before I heard the door close. I sighed and leaned back, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I quickly opened my eyes as I heard Zacky coming upstairs. I shoved my notebook to the side to make room for him on the bed and he sat down, balancing his laptop on his lap. He leaned back against the wall, eyes glued to his computer screen for awhile and I continued to quietly strum my guitar, humming the lyrics to the song I was writing. Play a C chord, then a G, then to the chorus… “Did you write that?” Zacky’s voice broke me from my thoughts.

“Um, yeah,” I said, blushing. I hadn’t realized that he was paying attention.

“Can I hear the whole thing?” he asked, studying me with his enticing green eyes.

“Um, no,” I said reluctantly, shoving my notebook out of sight.

“Can you sing?” he probed.

“No,” I replied readily.

“Come on, I’ll sing something for you.”

“That’s okay. I already know you can sing,” I chuckled.

“How?”

“YouTube.”

“Fucker.”

“Didn‘t your momma tell you it’s not nice to call people names?”

“Shut up,” he muttered, returning his attention to his computer. We sat in a semi-awkward silence for a few more minutes and I used this time to watch Lily wander around the room. I hadn’t let her out of my room once in the three days we’d been here. I felt a little weird around Zacky because, prior to today, the only words I’d really managed to say to him were ‘they’re Simple Plan!’

“Um, what are you working on?” I asked, trying to break the silence.

“Project,” he grunted, clicking and dragging something. I got no further explanation, which was something I was growing to expect from these people. Lily jumped up on the bed, looking at me and Zacky for a moment before going to rub herself against him. “Huh,” he muttered, looking down at the small cat. He pushed her away.

“Hey, she wasn’t hurting you,” I said defensively.

“I’m not a big cat person,” he said quietly.

“Fine,” I said, picking up Lily and getting up. I put her on the floor before going downstairs and leaving my door open for if she wanted to go out and explore. I was currently supporting mixed feelings about this Zacky guy. Was he bipolar or what?

“So, when are you going to face the others?” Zacky asked as I walked back upstairs.

“When I’m good and ready to,” I said with a little hostility. I sat down, getting out one of my electric guitars and hooking it up. I then sat back against the headboard, playing through ‘Bat Country’.

“Why were you writing a song with just chords when you can play like that?” Zacky asked after I played the semi–okay solo.

“Because,” I shrugged, “I’m just not good at writing solos.” Zacky nodded and looked at me for a moment before returning his gaze to his computer.

“I’ll make a beast out of myself,” I sang quietly. I found myself wondering why Zacky had wanted to come up here anyway. He could’ve had more fun hanging out with Syn or one of the other guys.

“You’re voice sounds nice,” Zacky said quietly.

“No one asked you,” I said. I hated when people told me my voice was good, when I knew it wasn’t. I proceeded to block him out, playing ‘Lost’.

“How long have you been playing guitar?” he asked, making me tense up. How to answer?

“For as long as I can remember,” I said truthfully.

“Hey, sis!” a voice suddenly called up the stairs.

“What?” I replied.

“Will you come down here?”

“No. I don’t want to see any of you guys.”

“Fair enough. Have you seen Zacky?”

“He’s up here.”

“What’s he doing up there?”

“Bugging me. Why?”

“Syn’s looking for him.”

“Alright.” Zacky huffed and got up, closing his laptop before heading downstairs. I then heard Alex coming upstairs.

“You can’t hide up here forever. It wasn’t even that bad,” Alex said, sitting on the vacated space at the end of my bed.

“Why don’t you just flash everyone and we’ll call it even,” I smirked.

“They didn’t even see anything but your bra. Honestly, you show more when you wear a bathing suit, so why are you so upset?”

“I’m upset that Syn seems to think he can do whatever he wants with me,” I said quietly.

“Oh,” Alex stalled, looking down at his knees. “He’s not a bad guy. He just knows what he wants and does it.”

“That’s what worries me,” I sighed, putting down my guitar.

“Why don’t we go somewhere?” Alex suggested. “Just you and me. Catch up, you know?” I thought about it for a moment before nodding. It had been a long time since we’d gotten some twin bonding time.

“Well, I was sort of wishing I could go outside,” I confessed.

“Alright, let’s go!” Alex exclaimed, bouncing off the bed and grabbing my hand. “We’re gonna become the closest brother–sister twin thing ever.”

“Oh, Alex, you do have a way with words,” I giggled as he dragged me to the stairs.

“Come, now. Let’s have some fun and forget your problems with Syn…that would have sounded really bad to a stranger.” I laughed, grabbing my beanie and leather waistcoat before following Alex outside. He started to go to his truck, but I grabbed his arm.

“You know how you’ve always wanted to ride a motorcycle?” I grinned. His eyes widened and he began jumping up and down in sheer excitement. I led him to the bike, giving him my extra helmet and straddling the bike. He got on behind me, looking a little nervous. “Hold on!” I exclaimed before accelerating out of the garage. At first Alex clung tightly to my waist, hiding his face against my back, but once we were out on the road, he leaned back and opened his eyes, letting out a shout of excitement as we sped down the street. Grinning, I accelerated and Alex let out a ‘whoop!’ letting go of me for a moment. I tapped my breaks, making him fly into me, clinging to me again. I laughed and shouted over the wind, “Having fun?”

I felt him nod against my back and I smiled––it was good to be able to spend time with Alex again. We stopped at a Starbucks near the waterfront, getting coffee and a water before walking back outside. “So, what do you wanna do now?” I asked.

“Why don’t we pick up a guitar from Zack’s house and go jam acoustic at the water front?” Alex suggested. “Zack’s only about a five minute walk.”

“Alright,” I shrugged, following him as he began to walk down the sidewalk. “So, Gaskarth, how’s California been treating you?”

“I could ask you the same question, Gaskarth,” Alex laughed. “What do you think of your job?”

“Eh,” I shrugged. “I can survive…I think. I was seriously considering quitting this morning, though.”

“Well, Syn can move a little too fast sometimes…I don’t even know what motivates him to do some of the things he does…” Alex trailed off, sipping his coffee. I unscrewed the cap on my water, taking a sip as I allowed my mind to wander over everything that had happened in the last few days.

“You are such a jerk,” I finally concluded, laughing.

“How am I a jerk?” Alex asked innocently.

“You could have warned me of what I was getting myself into, you know.”

“Oh, sis, you don’t even know the half of it,” Alex said, shaking his head and chuckling. Instead of asking what he meant, I let the matter drop as we reached Zack’s house. We each took an acoustic guitar––and I grabbed a small case of my own––and went to the waterfront. We sat facing the water and I was the first to begin playing and singing, Alex quickly catching on and harmonizing and playing.

“ Take your wings outside, you can't fly in here
Besides, a purple sky is better soaring for you my angel
You're angel, you little devil
As for me I'll stay inside
I'll be just fine and I'll watch from the window.

Cannot categorize the nature of this sickness
a miracle that you're alive–
Stuck to the roof of my mouth with a staple.
Remember last april when we saw u.s. maple?
Somehow the singer showed the fireside exactly how i feel.

And we say goodbye, and go underground
Or up towards the sky, up in smoke, burnt down to size.
At least we're still friends.
At least we're still alive.

Take your wings outside,
No use for them in here.
Bad luck to open inside, work like umbrellas, like a broken mirror.
It's getting clearer-
The end is closer than ever before and you'll want nothing more
Then your head hits the floor, and you're lost in the darkness.

And we say goodbye and go underground.
Or up towards the sky,
Up in smoke, burnt down to size.
At least we're still friends.
At least we're still alive.

And we say goodbye and go underground.
Or up towards the sky,
Up in smoke, burnt down to size.
At least we're still friends.
At least we're still alive.”

I smiled at Alex as people walked by, some stopping to listen, others just dropping dollar bills in our open guitar cases as they passed.

“Hey, we could make a living off this,” I said, counting the money we’d made from just the one song.

“Then let’s do another!” Alex exclaimed, starting to play a 30 Seconds to Mars song, ‘The Kill’. Smiling, I reached into the smaller case and pulled out a violin, which I began to play while I sang my favorite 30STM song. Sitting there at the waterfront with my brother was, honestly, the best way I could think of to spend my day. “Jesus, Em, you learned to play violin in the past ten months?”

“Yes, I also learned how to play cello,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

“Is there anything you can’t play?”

“I can’t play drums.”

“Well, I’ll talk to the guys about that,” he mumbled, grinning slyly. I rolled my eyes. “One more song, people,” Alex said to the now reasonably large crowd. “Calling any All Time Low fans!” he shouted before beginning to play ‘Remembering Sunday‘. I grabbed my guitar and began picking out a little lead part as Alex played the chords and sang. As I played, I listened to the lyrics, wondering who Alex had been talking about when he wrote the song. I almost missed my cue to start singing.

“I’m not coming back,
I’ve done something so terrible,
I’m terrified to speak, but you’d expect that from me
I’m mixed up, I’ll be blunt, now the rain is just
Washing you out of my hair
And out of my mind, keeping an eye on the world
So many thousands of feet off the ground
I’m over you now, I’m at home in the clouds,
Towering over your head”

I stopped playing as Alex finished the song, earning applause from our large audience.

“Kids eat this stuff up,” Alex smiled as we put away our guitars. “So, what now? Oh, oh, oh, wanna go to the beach?”

“Sure,” I smiled. We walked back to Zack’s house, returning one of the guitars before walking to the beach. It was cold outside, but the walk was nice. I was gazing at a passing car when I caught a glimpse of a slightly familiar black-haired head across the street. I came to a complete stop, staring at the man. He was sitting at a bus stop, backpack by his feet. “Where’s he going?” I asked Alex, who had just come walking back after having not noticed me stop.

“Up to the mountains. Every now and then, he just goes up there without really telling anyone. Just likes to get away, I guess,” Alex shrugged.

“He takes a bus?”

“Yeah. I think he once said it was more interesting than having his own car. He thinks walking is better than driving.”

“It is,” I agreed, “but riding a motorcycle is better than either of them.”

“Damn straight,” Alex laughed, giving me a high five. “Come on, let’s get to that beach!” he said excitedly, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leading me on to the beach. I glanced back in time to see Jared’s head lifted, looking our way, but with my bad eyesight, he could’ve easily had his eyes closed or something. We finally got to the beach, where Alex triple dog dared me to go into the water. With a smirk, I rolled up my skinny jeans as much as I could––which wasn’t much––and kicked off my shoes. Then, grabbing Alex’s hand, I ran out into the water, getting us both soaked.

“That’s wh–what you g–g–get!” I shouted, laughing as both of us had a bad case of the shivers.

“Sh–sh–shut it,” Alex said, teeth chattering as he left the water. I followed him, collapsing onto one of the towels we’d stolen from Zack’s house. Alex sat down next to me, taking the other towel and wrapping it around his shoulders.

“Hey, what about m–me?” I pouted.

“Y–You’re the one who g–g–got me wet,” he accused.

“Sounds like a p–personal problem,” I chuckled. “M–Maybe you should get a b–b–boyfriend to fix that for ya.”

“Shut up,” Alex said, elbowing my arm. He smiled at me before throwing half of the towel over me as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“I like your hair like this,” I said randomly, playing with a lock of his dark hair. It was darker, but still had the light blonde all over the place.

“You should embrace your natural hair color,” Alex said, looking at my black hair. “Dirty blond fits you perfectly.”

“That was the old me,” I reminded him. He shrugged and looked out at the ocean. I gave a sigh and leaned into his sigh, racking my brain for some old memories that I couldn’t quite find. “Hey, Alex, who did you write ‘Remembering Sunday’ about?”

“That was a long time ago, Em. Don’t go picking scabs,” Alex sighed.

“Come on, Alex, I thought we could tell each other anything?” I asked, glad my teeth had finally stopped chattering.

“Okay, but it’s a secret,” Alex said, eyes widening as he glanced around for any eavesdroppers. “Lean in,” he said urgently, pulling my ear right next to his lips. “YOUR FACE!” he shouted, making me jump like a foot in the air.

“I’m gonna kill you!” I shouted, but he was too fast. Before I could blink, he was up and running. “Get back here!” I screeched, chasing after him. Even though he was only five minutes older, he had a good five inches on me, his legs being longer and giving him an unfair advantage. He was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, swerving this way and that. I was actually starting to get dizzy. Finally, I was running out of stamina, so I grabbed a rock and chucked it at him, hitting him in the back and making him stumble into the sand.

“You threw a rock at me,” he pouted up at me as he rolled onto his back. I stood over him, smirking in satisfaction. He grinned and began moving his arms and legs around.

“What on earth are you doing?” I asked.

“Making a sand angel,” he smiled. He held out his hand to me and I hauled him to his feet, allowing him to turn and examine his sand angel. With a dirty smirk, I gave him a shove, causing him to fall and ruin his sand angel. “That was mean!” he whined, looking at me with brown eyes identical to my own. I had to smile––my brother is absolutely adorable! “Hey, I’m gonna run up to that deli and pick us up a couple sandwiches. You’re hungry, right?” As if on cue, my stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl. “Uh–huh,” Alex grinned, kissing my cheek before heading up the beach. I sighed and went back to our stuff, sitting down and pulling out the acoustic guitar. I was totally in love with this guitar. I began to strum my favorite All Time Low song.

“The time on the clock reads half past four;
I'm wide awake and thinking
With my pillow on the floor
That maybe I'm just wasting my time dreaming
In a harsh reality
I don't wanna wake up just to find out
I've been deceived...

Let it roll
Our time is fleeting so we take control
From California to my home sweet home
Our days repeating like it's all we know
It's all we know

Out here the hills roll on for miles
the sun is like my own sense of direction
I'm always drawn to each horizon
When it's rising, when it sets
But all I can think about is sex
And playing one more game of six-cup
In the backyard at "The Wedge"
I know I'll never die alone because of all of you...

Let it roll
Our time is fleeting so we take control
From California to my home sweet home
Our days repeating like it's all we know
It's all we know

Take, take a breath
We've got all the time in the world
To get a grip on the fact
That we don't last
But right now I want to watch the tide roll in
With my best friends

Let it roll
Our time is fleeting so we take control
From California...

Let it roll
Our time is fleeting so we take control
From California to my home sweet home
Let it roll
It's all we know
It's all we know”

“You know, you sing just as well as me,” Alex announced his reappearance, sitting down next to me on the towel and taking the guitar from me. After placing it in its case, he opened the white Styrofoam box and offered me half of a gigantic club sandwich.

“You know me so well,” I commented. “More than I do, anyway,” I sighed.

“Aw, Em, don’t get all blue. You’ll put a damper on the good mood!” Alex exclaimed, shaking my shoulders.

“Alex.”

“Yes, sister dear?”

“Why is Jack so…strange around me?” I asked. As if he’d been expecting this, Alex sighed heavily.

“You and Jack have…a history,” he sighed.

“We do?” I asked.

“I’m not surprised you don’t remember after everything, but…well, the day we started the band and on that Saturday I introduced you, Jack and you made plans for breakfast the next day.”

They had breakfast together, but two eggs don’t last…

“Uh–huh,” I nodded, stomach starting to twist uncomfortably.

“And, um, well, you guys really hit it off. Just watching you that day, it was like you guys had known each other forever. I wasn’t even mad at him for asking out my sister. But then, you left really suddenly and…well, Jack never saw you again after that. Your reappearance in his life was obviously very shocking.”

“So…you wrote ‘Remembering Sunday’ about me and Jack?” I asked, taking a deep breath.

“Yeah. He was a fucking mess, Em. Seriously.”

“’The neighbor said she moved away’?”

“Yeah. This was the day before you left, remember?”

“No, I don’t,” I said sadly, feeling bad for not remembering. “I didn’t even recognize him…I feel so bad now.”

“Don’t, Em. You can’t change the past,” Alex sighed, putting his arm around me. “All you can do is try to make the best of what you have right now.”

“And just what do I have right now, Mr. Gaskarth?” I chuckled.

“An amazing twin brother who is the absolute epitome of awesomeness?” he suggested, earning a playful shove from me.

“What a ham my brother is,” I sighed dramatically.

“Hey, since you love me so much––”

“Someone’s full of themselves,” I teased.

“Hush. I was trying to say something. Now, since you love me so much, maybe I could stick around for a little while. Be your chaperone or whatever.”

“Why would I need one of those?” I puzzled.

“To make sure Syn doesn’t ruffle your feathers anymore than he already has,” Alex laughed, messing up my hair.

“Well, that’d be nice, Alex,” I smiled. “Really. Thank you.”

“No problem,” he replied, hugging me to his side and kissing my forehead. “I have a second chance to be the brother you always wanted, and I am not gonna give this up for anything in the world.”

“Not for a lifetime supply of Mrs. Dawson’s brownies?” I asked innocently, looking up at him. He looked wildly torn for a split second before grinning.

“Not even if they were the last ones she ever made!”

“I love you, Alex,” I laughed, tackling him into the sand.

“Love you, too, kid,” he replied, grinning ear–to–ear. “Come on, we should probably head back soon.” We finished eating our sandwich before heading back to Zack’s house to drop off the car, and then to my motorcycle, which was miraculously, right where we’d left it. On the trip home, Alex was much more at ease, enjoying the ride thoroughly. I had to laugh at how childish he was. By the time we reached home, it was dark and cold outside, so all I wanted to do was snuggle up in bed and go to sleep. I was so tired, in fact, that I could barely walk. “Come on, noodle legs,” Alex laughed at me, half dragging me, half carrying me out of the garage. He took me to the guest room, which was closest, and laid me on the bed, taking off my shoes and socks, earning a kick when he pretended to die from the smell.

“Mm, Alex?” I asked quietly.

“What do you want,” he said, seeing right through me.

“Will you go get me some pajamas?” I said, pulling out the Gaskarth pout. Rolling his eyes, he crept upstairs as I sat up and began tugging at my waist coat. I had managed to get it and my jacket off by the time Alex returned with a pair of my long, silky pajamas and a tank top. He went into the bathroom, leaving me to change into my pajamas and get myself nice and comfy in bed.

“Hey, where am I supposed to sleep?” he demanded when he saw me.

“Floor’s available,” I suggested. He rolled his eyes and flopped down next to me.

“Remember when Mom taught us about sharing?” he teased.

“Nope,” I said honestly, looking away from him.

“Sorry,” he said guiltily, pulling me into a hug. I snuggled up to his chest and, within a minute, I was fast asleep.