Choke on Your Misery

Zack

A few days later, Alex, Rian, Jack, and I were at Rian's house, practicing in his basement. We had started to have band practice at his house, because his drum set was a lot better than the one at Alex's house. It was about five, and we had been down in the basement since three; we came straight here after school. After yet another cover song, Jack fell down to the ground with his guitar over his stomach.

"I'm starving!" he groaned, and we laughed.

"You know, you could just ask for food, rather than being so dramatic," Rian said, tapping a beat on his drums restlessly.

"Face it; Jack's a drama queen," Alex said with a grin, setting his guitar down.

"KING! I am a man!" Jack shouted.

I smirked, nudging him in the shoulder with my foot, "You're no man."

"Lies!"

"Let's go upstairs and see what my mom will give us to eat," Rian chuckled, setting his drumsticks down and heading upstairs. I followed him, Alex and Jack trailing behind me. We walked into the kitchen, and I could smell chocolate.

"Hi, boys," Rian's mom greeted, smiling.

"Do I smell brownies?" Rian asked hopefully, also smelling the chocolate aroma.

"Yes, I just made some," Rian's mom said, gesturing toward a plate of brownies on the counter. Rian's eyes lit up, and he walked over to grab one. His mom smacked his hand away, "No! Those are for a party your stepfather and I are going to tomorrow."

Rian pouted, "We're hungry!"

"C'mon, just a few, Mrs. Dawson. Your brownies are amazing," I said. Rian's mom made the best brownies in the world.

"If I've learned anything from you and Rian, it's that one plate of brownies can disappear in five minutes. And there are four of you now," Rian's mom said, crossing her arms. She looked at the four of us as we pouted, and finally sighed. "Fine, go ahead; I'll make another batch for the party."

"Yes!" Rian grinned and reached for a brownie. "Go ahead and grab one, guys."

We each grabbed a brownie and bit into them. "At least use a plate, boys," Rian's mom scolded.

"Zack, can you grab some plates?" Rian asked, and I nodded, turning to pull four paper plates from the cupboard. I knew Rian's kitchen like the back of my hand; probably better than I knew my own new kitchen.

"Dude! These brownies are fucking awesome!" Jack exclaimed as he swallowed the bite he had taken.

"They are amazing," Alex agreed, nodding.

Rian's mom laughed, "I try to make them amazing."

"You definitely succeed," Alex said, and Rian chuckled.

"Go on and take some downstairs while I make a new batch," Rian's mom said, shooing us out of the kitchen. We grabbed a few and ran back downstairs, sitting down on the floor as we ate them.

"Does your mom always make amazing brownies?" Alex asked, putting an arm around me as he and I leaned against the wall.

"Yeah, she makes them pretty often," Rian said, popping in a CD to play while we talked.

"And they're always this good," I added, popping the rest of my brownie onto my mouth.

"Well, we'll have to raid your kitchen more often," Jack said with a grin. After a minute, he added, "So, I think we need a name for our band."

"Alex Gaskarth," Alex smirked, and I elbowed him in the ribs.

"No naming it after ourselves," I said.

"Yeah, we need a creative name. Like, one that sounds cool when you say it and stuff like that," Rian said.

"Alex Gaskarth sounds cool," Alex pouted.

"How 'bout 'Never Reck'? Like, with an 'R' instead of a 'W'," Jack suggested, taking another brownie.

"Sounds kind of cool, but strange," Rian shrugged.

"I'm strange - I think it would work," Jack pointed out, but we shook our heads in disagreement. We were quiet, thinking of more ideas.

I looked up after a minute or so, suggesting, "'Blind Ego'?"

"That actually sounds kind of cool, though it makes no sense," Alex said.

"I came up with it off the top of my head; it's not supposed to make sense."

"'Playground X'?" Rian suggested.

"I like playgrounds!" Jack exclaimed.

"Everyone does," Alex laughed.

I shrugged, "It doesn't sound like it would fit us. It sounds like a kid's band."

Rian sighed, "Well none of these sound right. This is going to take forever." We threw out some more names, but none of those sounded right either. We finally gave up and sat in silence, the only sound being a song by New Found Glory playing in the background.

"And it feels like I'm at an all-time low,
slightly bruised and broken,
from our head on collision."

We all looked up and, at almost the same moment, exclaimed, "All Time Low!"

Alex laughed, "That was just freaky."

"Very. But it sounds good!" Rian said.

"I think we should call us 'The All Time Low'," Jack said.

"Why put 'The' in the beginning?" I questioned.

Jack shrugged, "It sounds cooler."

"I think it sounds better as 'All Time Low'," Alex insisted.

"No, my way sounds cooler!" Jack argued.

After fifteen minutes of debating over 'All Time Low' and 'The All Time Low', we finally decided on the first one. 'The' would just get dropped from the beginning if people said the name. Now Alex and Jack were spazzing out with each other, while Rian and I remained sitting on the ground.

"They're so weird," Rian said with a chuckle, shaking his head at Alex and Jack. They had fallen to the ground wrestling, and it looked like Alex was winning.

I nodded, "I've never met anyone more weird than them."

"I have to admit, my life wouldn't be this interesting without them," Rian shrugged, leaning against the wall next to me as he crossed his arms.

"Definitely. I'd be in my room for days on end with you trying to make me come over," I admitted.

Rian nodded, smiling slightly at the thought, "You've definitely changed since you met Alex. You're not quite so quiet."

"I'm still pretty quiet."

"I mean around us. You're more... yourself. Like you used to be before..." he trailed off.

"Before the bullying and all that shit," I sighed, running a finger across the scars on my bare arm. "Yeah, I guess Alex brings out the best in me."

"I'm glad he does; I missed the old Zack. The one I met when I was ten," Rian grinned, bumping his knee against mine.

I smiled, looking up as Alex called my name. "ZACK! Jack's smushing me!" Alex whined breathlessly. I laughed out loud, seeing that Jack was sitting on Alex's chest, fists raised in triumph.

"I am the champion!" Jack cheered.

"It's just Alex; that's not too big a feat," Rian said, and Alex flipped him off. I laughed and stood up, grabbing Jack and pulling him off of Alex.

"You have a really bony ass; I think it bruised my chest," Alex grumbled, rubbing his chest as he got up.

"Don't worry, I saved you before Jack's bony ass could do too much damage," I teased.

Alex rolled his eyes, "My hero." I chuckled, and he kissed me on the cheek before running back to his guitar. "Let's play our first song as All Time Low!"