My Oh-So Cliche Story

My room was just how we had sketched it out back in Texas. Two pink walls, two grey, and a pink and grey checkered stripe around the top. my curtains both had the Glamour Kills pig logo on them, as did the trash can we`d brought with us. my bed held the GK quilt my grandma had made me as a going away gift. In the corner was my Junior Acoustic that was covered with checkered duct tape, and my red and black Airwalk skateboard. The desk right inside the door held the old monitor and tower I had used for years, and a black chest of drawers against the other wall held my clothes. Placing my laptop bag on my Pink dish chair, I walked over to my bed and ripped open the black and silver wrapped boxes. Inside I found The Avril Levigne Fender strat I had wanted for months, along with a mini Marshall amp. The other box contained the silver and black Mystery board I`d been drooling over for longer
than the strat.

"I`m glad you like them," My mom leaned against the wall. "The guitar is from the
Barakats. The amp is from the ATL guys. The board is from me and Jerry. I hope you aren`t mad."

"Mom," I shook my head. "How could I be mad? I`m engaged to the guy I`ve been crushing on for years, I have my dream guitar and board, I`m going to Towson High, I know All Time Low, I`m doing OK." I ran up and wrapped my arms around her neck. "I love you mom. I`m going to bed. Good night."

She kissed my cheek, "Night, baby."

~

"Later kids!" my mom shouted from the door, as Jack and I got into the Honda.

"So what`s on the agenda for today?" I buckled in, smiling at Jack`s smirk the entire time.

Starting the engine,"Not telling. Wait and see, sweety." I blushed again, damnit, I needed to quit this blushing shit. Looking into my lap, I let my short hair fall into my face. Moving my hair back behind my ear, Jack raised my chin so that I was looking at him. He smiled, "You`re so adorable when you blush. You don`t look fifteen, either. Maybe seventeen at the youngest."

I rolled my eyes, "Don`t flatter me, I look fucking twelve."

"I think that my job now, " He smiled, irresistibly. "and I say you look old enough to date a rock star that`s already hit puberty."

"Shut up," I laughed and swatted his hand back toward the wheel. "Any CD`s in here?"

"No, it`s my moms car, mine`s in the shop again. Ugh, but here," he handed me his iPhone. "Find something on there."

I gasped at his screen saver and wallpaper. Both were the picture from yesterday. I felt my heart pick up speed, and the butterflies whirl. Wait, that may have been fear from Jack driving. Either way Jack knew how to get me. Just sitting there, Listening to Enema Of The State, I no longer felt the distance I held felt before. The distance that's little things all added together, that lingers in the air like a fog. It was the 8 years, him being a Rock star, just everything rolled together.

"Good choice," he smiled as he shifted gears and we pulled to a stop. "Well I`m gonna get some gas. Be right back."

A few minutes later, Jack got back in the car and asked me what was something I had always wanted to do. Thinking hard I replied, "One thing is to have purple hair and another is kiss Jack Barakat."

He chuckled and winked at me before driving across the street to a building that read "Hair Inc." and under that "Walk-ins welcome" I laughed and grinned wider than ever. He was seriously doing this, wow. Shutting off the car, Jack held my chin again. This time though he leaned down and put his lips against mine. Pulling away, he smirked and got out of the car. I was frozen.

"Are you coming or not?" he opened my door. I shook my head, clearing away the frozen state that had taken over. Getting out I grabbed his hand. His finger were rough, but his hands were smooth. I had a similar touch, although mine was from checking my blood sugar, not rocking out on guitar.

Half an hour later, and I looked like I could pick up the sports package, and this was just the bleach! My scalp tingled from the bleaching, and I seemed to be amusing Jack. We`d been talking the whole time, mostly about the band and his family.

"Joe and May are great," He smiled, proud of his older siblings. "Now, tell me about you. You know more about me than I probably know that you know. I know virtually nothing about you."

"Well, there`s a lot to tell," I shrugged. There were parts of my past that I didn`t want to think about.

"Well," his smiled softened from humorous to caring. "We have a while." He took my hand and, using his thumb, rubbed little circles.

"Well, I guess," I shrugged, relaxing back into my seat. "Uh, I`m 15, my birthday is December 12th, I`m a sophomore but I could be a junior, I`m diabetic, I have been since I was 7. I grew up in Anson, Texas. I love ICEE`s, Bacon and ketchup. The only coke I do is diet. I have an 11 year old brother Ty, and a 13 year old step-brother Ian. Online i go by Lizz, since my middle name is Elizabeth. I write, I`m a better poet, but an even better artist. I want to be a music producer, since I can`t really play guitar only like half of a song. I`m the most straight-edge kid in my group of friends. Uh, my best friend is Paige, even though she`s more of a sister. Oh, my favorite color is purple."

He raised his eyebrows, "What about your parents? Do you get along with your step-parents? what`s school like?"

"Well, I get along really well with my step-parents. The only parent I don`t really get along with is my dad." and that`s when the rough topic came in to play. "And school is school."

"I may have met you yesterday," he looked directly into my eyes, wanting more. "But, I can tell that you`re not telling me something. I want to know, I promise I won`t laugh. I just want to know more about the girl I`m supposed to marry. I want to be able to fall for her because I know and love her, not just because she`s pretty and smart. I know that may not seem like something you`d expect to hear from me but it`s true."

I sat there flabbergasted. I never thought I would hear anything like that come from Jack Barakat. None the less to me! "Jack, I, I, I don`t know what to say, other than okay. My parents got the divorce when I was in 6th grade,that was when everything at school started. In elementary I had been the girl trying too hard to fit in, a T-shirt, running shoes, and flare jeans with holes in the knee`s kinda girl. In 6th grade, I went through a goth stage, my entire closet was demin and black. I had combat boots and these knock-off converse with black roses on them, and I wore a choker everyday. It wasn`t long before I started being called Goth and vampire. I used to carry a set of fake fangs in my purse with me, and was obsessed with Vampires. That was also when I started writing poetry. It was really deep suicidal shit. I wasn`t suicidal though. In seventh grade I backed off of the black and wore colors again. I still wore the boots though. I was still into vampires but I was reading so much, It was my escape. Eigth grade was pretty similar, except I was writing instead of reading, that was also the first time I cut just once but I still remember it. Than at the end of eighth grade, or rather that summer, when my mom picked up the '09 Vans Warped Tour Compilation things changed. That summer I found out about a certain band. That was really when I changed, I guess, to who I am now. I started wearing band tee`s and I kept wearing my skinny Jeans, but I started buying tighter ones. Vans and Osiris replaced the Adidas and Reebok. I got obsessed with music. That year was also when my friends and I started realizing things. A few of my friends came out as being bisexual. Well I was really close Gabi last year. And Anson, you know wouldn`t know a LGBT teen if they slapped us all in the face. So naturally me and Gabi Being super close, we got called lesbian. Which Gabi is bi, so it didn`t really bother her. It didn`t offend me, but I didn`t want called something I wasn`t. And see I`ve never had a boyfriend, I`d only been asked out on dares. Except for eighth grade banquet, but my date moved right before that. Well, it was than that I picked a blade back up again, but what got me than was that no one noticed when I started always wearing bracelets and bandannas on my wrists. I talked to Paige on the phone and a couple other friends from the camp we met at too. But now I have deals with friends, that I`ll never do it again and I`m doing my best in not doing it. I have to watch out for my friends." I was crying, my mascara was probably running down my cheeks by now.

(Jack)
"Why though?" It seems like there was more to it than that. There had to be.

"It was all of the pressure," she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, and failed. "I had to be the friend that listened to every one`s problems, including my parents, and just patted their back. I had to be an A-honor roll student, the other kids expected me to be valedictorian, they told me so, and my parent and family did too. Than I had to be a good diabetic and keep my sugars good and dose for every single thing I ate or drank and know how may carbs exactly for everything," I took her under my arm and let her snuggle into my side, the foil crinkling as she did so. " I was the best artist in my grade, the best reader, the computer whiz, and I was nice to everyone. It all just built up." she sobbed into my shirt as Alex walked in the door.He walked over and sat on Sarah`s other side, awkwardly, I mouthed at him telling him to just listen. She sniffled and continued. "It was just too much so I figured hey, They say this works, so I tried it. And it did. and the few days afterward if I felt like doing it again I`d just rub and pick at the scars. It was easy, a quick fix."

My girl had been hurt before I had been there to fix it. I wish had been there to hold her and rock her like I was right now.

"But than I heard a couple songs," She took a shaky breath and looked behind her at Alex, smiling. "The first was Famous Last Words, by My Chemical Romance, and the second, well, it was Lullabies. I know it`s cheesy to say you guys saved my life so I`ll just say that y`all bettered it." I made a mental note to call Gerard later, and thank him.

"Hey, all you have to be for me," I put my nose against hers. "Is you." I leaned down and kissed her again, this time just a peck, but with more feeling. Now I understood her workings a little better. I knew what made her, her.

"That was so cliche, Jack," she smirked and scrunched her nose. "How bad is my make-up?" She laughed at herself.

"It`s not bad," Alex answered smirking. "It just looks like you slept in it."

"OK," Sarah reached out and hugged him. "Good, no I`ve got to let them take this out and put in the color. She giggled again and walked back to the sinks where the hair dresser was waving her over.

"Jack, have you broken up with Anna yet?" Alex glared me down as Sarah sat down on the other end of the room.

"I will when she texts me back. I may have to leave you with her for a few minutes later. I just texted her this morning and asked her to call when she got a chance. I need to meet up with her and do it in person," I nodded knowing that Alex would understand. Anna was a sweetheart but I had to be there for Sarah now and having a girlfriend while I was in an arranged marriage would be complex. Not to mention rude and inconsiderate on my part.

"Okay, just do it soon. If she`s out of state or anything do it over the phone just doing asap," Alex, nodded understanding as I knew he would.

"Hey boys!" Sarah walked up to us, her now white hair everywhere.

Stretching her arms into the air, directly over her head. My Guy genes kicked into overdrive. when she stretched her boobs seemed to fall out of her black v-neck. which only made my jeans tighter. Fuck, I felt like a perv.Here I was 23, getting a boner from a 15 year old. Granted she was my fiance and at least a 34D, but still it was just wrong.

"Uh Jack," she Raised one eyebrow, only making it worse. Damnit! "What`s that face for? She`s still gotta put the color in. I didn`t think it looked that bad white." she shrugged and sat down in the chair again.

"Sarah," Alex laughed hard. "That`s not why he was making that face," his eyes had landed on my jeans.

"Wha-" she saw where he was looking. "Oh. wow. that`s awkward."

"You have no idea," I growled through my clenched teeth.

~

(Sarah)
We left the shop a few hours later, & my hair was purple! Alex had stayed & made jokes about Jack`s boner with me. The guys were great. Jack had had to run down the block for a few minutes while the stylist had rinsed my hair out. Said it was something important, nodded to Alex and left. He got back just in time to pay the salon.

That afternoon, Jack and Alex took me on a tour of Lutherville-Timonium & Towson`s best
shops. A few vintage shops, a couple record stores, and some thrift stores. Along the way we found what the Ramones shirt I'd been looking for. I could only find it online and I wanted to try it on first. Luckily it fit so Jack bought me it and a pair of Hot pink Doc Martens we`d found. He told me I had to wear them to my first ATL concert. I promised I would and we headed back to my place.

Today had been amazing.