Under A Paper Moon

I walk into the dining room and sit down on my chair next to Gen. “Alex needs your help with Rian” I say glancing across the table at Jack who is just finishing his last mouthful of Tiramisu. “What does he need me for? Can’t he just tell Rian to go home?” he asks. “He’s already tried that, but Rian isn’t exactly being very compliant right now.” I say. “he’s really drunk so he’s gonna stay here for the night and Alex needs help getting him into the guest room” I explain.

“Rian’s a big boy I’m sure he is quite capable of walking there himself.” he says. “That’s just it, he isn’t capable of walking there himself, he’s so drunk he can’t hardly even stand up. He’s currently lying on the ground convinced that he is a starfish” I say. “Ha, I guess we’d better keep Sebastian away from him then, he might think he’s that lobster guy from The Little Mermaid” he says.

“Jack, sweetie not everyone loves animated Disney movies as much as you do” I say.
“I fucking love The Little Mermaid!” Gen says. “My favorite character’s Flounder” she adds. “I knew there was a reason I loved you” he says pressing a kiss to her cheek, we’ll have to watch it together sometime” “Sounds like fun” she says. “It’s a date, I three copies of it!” he says. “ALEX! ALEX! LOOK AT ME ALEX I’M A STARFISH!” Rians voice booms from the hallway.

“Wow, he really is drunk” Jack comments with a chuckle “I’ll be right back babe, I’m gonna go help Alex get Rian to the guest room before he passes out.” he adds kissing her lips quickly before standing up from the table and heading for the door. “Just a second!” I say jumping up, running to the kitchen and returning a moment later with a bucket. “He might need this” I add. “you know so he doesn’t vomit on the carpet, cause I REALLY don’t want to be cleaning up alcohol vomit in the morning”

“Eww yeah, good idea thanks. Have you got any towels we can put on the carpet around the bucket incase he misses?” he asks. “Uhh yeah, Alex knows where they are, he’ll get them for you if he hasn’t already, the carpet in the guest room is still fairly new and he really likes it so he might have already covered it in towels.” I say. “Knowing Alex he’s probably already covered the floor round the bed in towels” he says “Ok I’m gonna stop procrastinating and go help Alex now.”

“We’ll put the desert dishes in the washer, and set up Alice In Wonderland on the TV, you guys come join us when you’re done with Rian” I say. “Are you gonna make the pop-corn or shall we do that?” he asks.“ Pop-corn? We just ate a massive dinner do you really need pop-corn?” Gen asks. “You can’t watch a movie without pop-corn babe, it’s like having pizza without the cheese, or a hotdog with no sauce” he says. “You’re crazy” she says poking her tongue out at him. “But you still love me”he responds. “You’d like to think that wouldn’t you?” she says. “What?” he asks the smile fading from his face.
“Gotcha, of course I love you Jackery I wouldn’t be dating you if I didn’t” she says. “You’re a meanie pooh” he says poking his tongue out at her, folding his arms across his chest and marching out of the room pausing at the door and turning to flash her a smile “love you baby.” he adds before disappearing into the hallway.

“Aww you two are so cute together, its almost nauseating” I say grinning at her across the table. “Yeah, yeah whatever Ava, you can’t really talk you and Alex are at least as bad as us if not worse” she says. “Maybe but Alex and I have been together for years, you and Jack have only been together or a couple of months” I say. “

So? What’s that got to do with anything?” she asks. “Nothing, just that you two are obviously meant to be together” I say. “I’ve never seen Jack this happy with a girl he’s dating, its kinda cool seeing him so in love…particularly since you’re not a gold digging bitch who is just into him for his money” I add. “I wouldn’t do that to Jack, he’s so nice” she says.
“I know you wouldn’t, which is why I’m so happy about you and him being together, I know you’re not going to wind up hurting him and breaking his heart like his ex did.” I say. “Trust me I’m happy to be with Jack, it’s nice to be with a guy who doesn’t just want a quick romp in the sheets. So many guys our age are just looking for physical relationships and nothing more than that, they don’t want a real relationship” she says.

“Most of them want a friend with benefits, or as I like to call it a fuck buddy, but there are a few like Alex and Jack who want to find a girl they love and settle down” I say.
“Yeah, but they are few and far between and a lot of them are taken, gay or in the friend zone.” she says.

“That they are, outside of the guys in the band and their close friends I think I’ve met about three” I say. “thankfully for us though we’ve got two of the best.”
“And they actually like each other, which is bonus. They’re not all macho and competitive with each other. I hate guys like that, my friend in college and I were dating two guys and all they’d do whenever the four of us hung out together was argue about who had the better car, who had the better job, which one of us girls looked better that night anything and everything you could imagine they’d argue about and try to one up each other” she says.

“Yeah so we can be friends and not have to worry that our boyfriends are gonna try and beat the living crap out of each other if we ever leave them alone together for more than five minutes at a time.” I say. “Ugh I hate guys like that, my ex used to always pick fights with any guy who dared to so much as talk to me for more than about a minute. I let it go the first couple times and put it down to him just being protective but then he attacked my brother when he came to visit me unexpectedly. My brother likes to just drop by for surprise visits every now and then, just to make sure I’m ok” she says.

“Does he know about Jack?” I ask. “Yeah I told him about Jack about two weeks after we started dating. He’s in Europe at the moment, but he’ll be back in about a month and he’ll probably come visit me and insist upon being introduced to my new boyfriend.” she says.

“Are you gonna introduce him to the rest of us as well or do you think meeting all four of the guys at once would be too much?” I ask.
“I’ll probably introduce him to all of you, I think he’ll be able to handle it. He’s a photographer, works with models so I’m sure Alex and Jacks diva needs are nothing compared to some of the girls he’s had to photograph over the years.” she says.

“Yeah Jack and Alex might be prone to their diva moments but they have nothing on prissy models who think they’re better than everyone else.” I say.
“And there are plenty of them around the place I’ll tell you that for free” she says “there are a lot of nice models out there too though, my brothers girlfriend’s a model and she’s really friendly and down to earth, and she actually eats like a normal human unlike those girls who eat two lettuce leaves and a carrot stick for lunch, and then maybe a bit of grilled fish for dinner” she adds.

“I’d never survive on that kind of diet, I like proper food. I couldn’t imagine living off just salad and grilled fish” I say.

“I’m the same way, I could survive on a vegetarian diet, but not the diet some models eat. I mean beside the fact that its not filling, it just isn’t healthy. They hardly eat anything, and when they do eat they never have any carbohydrate, so they don’t eat bread, pasta, potato, rice. They don’t eat chocolate and how can you trust a girl who doesn’t eat chocolate? I mean you know unless they’re like lactose intolerant or something.” she says.

“Well the prissy model girls are just so hung up on the way the look that they think gaining half a pound will make them look fat which would mean they don’t get to be in the spotlight and live a life of luxury. So they are willing to starve themselves to keep the perfect body, and they don’t realize that by doing so they are actually missing out on having a real life” I say just as the door opens and Alex and Jack re-enter the room. “Welcome back, did you guys manage to get Rian all settled down for the night or is he still on the floor convinced he’s a starfish?” I ask.

“He’s sleeping, he fell asleep pretty much as soon as his head hit the pillow, or maybe he passed out but whichever it is I think he’s gonna be dead to the world for at least a few hours if not longer.” Alex says sitting down next to me with a sigh “I’m sorry for the way he spoke to you, I hope it hasn’t ruined your night” he adds glancing at me with an apologetic look in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it, I know he didn’t mean it” I say. “so are you guys ready to watch Alice in wonderland? Gen and I have loaded up the dishwasher, so now all that’s left to do is make the popcorn and we can start the movie” I add. “Although I personally cannot understand how you two could possibly eat anything else after that huge dinner we just ate”

“We’re watching a movie” Alex says as if that explains everything. “Yeah, so? Is that supposed to mean something?” I ask. “So…when you are watching a movie you have to have popcorn. It’s a golden rule of movie watching, If you don’t have popcorn you may as well be just watching the TV.” he says. “But you guys eat junk food while you’re watching TV as well” I point out. “Well yeah, but usually only when there’s a game on, and we only ever have popcorn when we’re watching a movie.” he says. “So basically if we don’t have popcorn with the movie we’re going to be breaking an age old tradition and that simply can not be allowed to happen”

I roll my eyes at him and pull a bag of un-popped popcorn out of the draw and throw it at him. “Here you go, make the popcorn, and come meet us in the lounge-room. Don’t forget to put it in a bowl so we don’t have to listen to you and Jack fight over the bag for the entire movie” I say poking my tongue out at him. “I won’t, I’ll even put it in two bowls if you like, then Jack and I can have a bowl each” he says. “Good idea” I say. “I do have them occasionally” he comments. “Yeah and you haven’t had one for a while so you were due to have one soon” I respond with a grin. “Haha, very funny” he says poking his tongue out at me. “Don’t worry I still love you, even if you do insist on eating popcorn right after a huge dinner” I say. “Well Gen and I are gonna go get comfortable in the lounge-room, so you two better hurry up with your popcorn or we’ll start the movie without you” I add before turning away from him linking my arm through Gen’s and leading her out of the kitchen and into the lounge-room.