I Am Invincible

-*~- Three-and-a-bit months later -~*-

It seemed like such a short amount of time since I came over to Australia with All Time Low before it was the end of December and Christmas/New Years was upon us. Jake and everyone had gone back to school for their final term a week after Zach and I moved down to Kiama, which happened the day after dad and the rest of All Time Low got on their plane headed for Baltimore.

It was an interesting experience, moving in to the apartment, but it was fun. Actually, it was a bit like those movies; you know, where the newly married couple find a house and move in and they spend time unpacking and stuff and then they get distracted by each other and end up falling down together on the couch with the plastic still on and the girl sits on the guy’s lap and they kiss and smile goofily at each other and then that’s the end of the movie? Yeah.

Anyway, I got bored of unpacking clothes and stuff within five minutes. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about unpacking furniture (because it was already a part of the apartment), because unfortunately for me, I had to be stuck with someone who hates to leave anything unpacked and will not do anything else until everything is put away somewhere and the suitcases and boxes etc are hidden. So because my boyfriend is a neat-freak, I was left waiting impatiently for him to put every last piece of clothing (both his and mine – after a while, I just refused to put anything else away) away in the closet before he could help me christen the bed and possibly the couch, preferably before Jake, Mark, Jackson and Rhys came to check out the new place.

As soon as the last hanger holding my leather jacket was placed neatly in the closet, I sprung off the bed (that I had been sitting on while watching Zach put away all the clothes) and ran over to him before jumped on his back and wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. Zach’s knees buckled slightly at the additional weight but he recovered quickly before he collapsed on the floor. I nuzzled my face into his neck and I felt him smile, which, in turn, made me smile. I kissed his neck quickly before climbing down (quite a fair way – stupid tall boyfriend always making me feel short) and grabbing his hand. I dragged him over to the bed and sat him down, seating myself next to him as close as I could without actually climbing on his lap and I buried my head in his chest. Zach chuckled slightly before putting his arms around me and laying down, bringing me down with him. I looked up and kissed under his chin, causing him to look down at me and connecting our lips.
I pulled away and smiled at him. “Oh, Zack-eeee?” I sang.
“Yes, Camm-eeee?” he copied me.
“We have nearly two hours before Jake and co. come over…” I trailed off suggestively.
“Really? That’s nice. What did you want to do?” he asked with a smirk.
“Let’s have some fun,” I said, trailing my hands up his shirt.
He shivered slightly before sitting up and grinning slyly at me, “Okay… I think the chess board is here somewhere…”
I hit him, before whining at him impatiently, “Zacky! That’s not the kind of fun I mea--”
He cut me off, “What? You don’t like chess? Well okay, how about Monopoly?”
“Za-ach! You know what I mean. Now stop being a dick! Damnit, you’re so annoying. How did I end up stuck with someone as annoying as you? You’re always teasing me and I know that you know what I want and you’re probably just being annoying to get me ang-”
I was cut off from my rant as a pair of lips was placed onto mine roughly. Immediately my brain dropped out and I began to kiss back just as rough. Soon, not only were our lips moving together, our entire bodies were. Clothes littered the floor and rather erotic noises were spilling from our mouths as Zach and I christened the bed (*cough* three times) we’d be sharing for the next however many months we’d be staying in Australia.

After the third round of pleasure, shouts, moans and screaming out of names and profanities, Zach rolled off of me and onto the mattress next to me. The pair of us were breathing heavily (who wouldn’t be? It felt like we’d just run three consecutive marathons) and sweating like mad when someone knocked on the door and tried to turn the handle. Thankfully, I’d remembered to lock the door the second we’d brought everything in to the apartment, otherwise whoever was on the other side would’ve got a nasty shock.
“Cameron!” someone said from outside the door. I recognised the voice and sat up quickly.
“Shit! Sorry guys, I’ll open the door in a sec,” I shouted, before turning to Zach and lowering my voice, “We need to get dressed. It’s Jake and everyone else.”

Grumbling, Zach grabbed his boxers and slipped them on before grabbing a pair of sweatpants from a chest of drawers and pulled them on easily. I did the same, putting on the sweatpants that I had stolen from Zach almost two years ago and are still three sizes too big in the length department, before sluggishly making my way towards the door (my knees seemed to have forgotten what their function was; making it very difficult for me to walk) and opening it to find Jake, Mark, Jackson and Rhys standing there smirking at my weariness.

“If I didn’t know what you’d really been doing, I’d say you look stoned, you look really out of it,” Jake said, stepping around me into the apartment.
I frowned, “You don’t know what I’m like when I’m stoned,” I said in a moment of forgetfulness and exhaustion.

Jake spun around and stared at me, wide eyed, and I clapped both hands to my mouth. “Shit. That wasn’t meant to come out,” I whispered through my hands.
“Cameron? What did that mean?” Rhys asked quietly, looking curiously at me.
I shook my head roughly from side to side before Jake grabbed my hands and brought them away from my mouth and looked me in the eyes. “Cam? We’re not going to judge. You can trust us.”

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me in a tight hug, and I leaned back heavily into Zach’s chest so that he was basically supporting my entire weight. “You don’t have to say anything unless you’re ready, okay, baby? They know that; they’re not going to push you,” Zach whispered in my ear.

I nodded and moved a bit in his arms, signalling that I wanted him to let me go. Zach released me and I walked slowly over to the bed and sat down, looking at my hands that were placed in my lap. It was there, with Zach’s arm slung around my bare shoulders and watching the faces of my new Australian friends become more and more sober as I talked, that I told my story for the first time; from the rape, to the depression, to the drug abuse – everything. It was hard, to say the least. There were times when I could hardly speak I was crying so hard, but I got through it, and I guess, I’m glad in a way that people other than the ones who already knew, know. I think it gave us a stronger bond, a bond that, even though we’d only known each other for a little over a month, would probably last a lifetime, no matter how far away we live from each other. I’d never said anything about what happened to me beforehand because I was afraid that Jake and everyone else would treat me differently, but, apart from watching what they say occasionally (before I told them, they’d jokingly say stuff to each other that made me go all quiet and subdued and they had no idea why), they treated me exactly the same as they did before they knew.

~~~

Several months after I told them, we were partying at Jackson’s house to celebrate Christmas and the New Year combined. We were closer than ever, and I was glad that I’d made friends with such a great bunch of guys. Before meeting them, I’d never really gotten along with guys, but it’s good to know that that can change. Christmas Day was a low key event. Zach and I spent most of the day alone in the apartment together, exchanging our gifts and love for each other. I nearly died when Zach produced a black velvet jewellery box, which held a silver necklace with a heart lock and key charm. As soon as I saw it, I knew that he’d spent way too much and I told him so. He just told me to shut up as he gently lifted it out of the box and put it around my neck, fumbling with the little clasp and getting a little mad when it wouldn’t stay open. I giggled and took it from him and did it up easily, before I placed the now empty box on the bedside table and threw myself at him in a tight hug.

“Thank you, Zacky! You’re the best boyfriend ever! I love you so much,” Isaid shouted to him.
He laughed, before replying, “I love you too, Cameron. Merry Christmas.”
“Now I have to give you your present. It’s not as good as yours because yours is amazing but –” I was cut off from my rambling when Zach placed a quick kiss on my lips.
“I’m absolutely, one hundred percent certain that I’ll love it.”

“Okay…” I said, doubtfully, but bringing out the gift anyway and placing it on his lap. He stared at the black photo album with a picture of the two of us on the front for a few seconds with a funny look on his face that I couldn’t quite figure out. He opened the book to more photos of us, some with Rachael, some with Emilie, some with Ryan, some with Hanna, some with all four or combinations of the four, but most of the photos were of the two of us. His face lit up at a certain page; in both photos we were kissing and we had always agreed that they were two of our favourite pictures. He looked up at me with a faint smile on his face.
“I love it,” he whispered.

He put the book down, and pulled me onto his lap. Brushing my hair out of my eyes, he continued, “Almost as much as I love you…”