Under A Paper Moon

“So will you take the job?” Jack asks.
“What he means is, we are currently in the process of planning a tour to promote our new album, and we are lacking a make-up artist because the one we have used on previous tours is no longer available and none of the ones we have interviewed so far have been suitable. You seem to be suitable, so if you are interested I can put you in touch with our tour manager Matt Flyzik and he can give you all the details.” Alex says.

“Y-you want me to work for you?” I ask staring at them with a stunned expression on my face “like you want me to do your hair and make-up on tour?”

“Yes” he says.
“Why?” I blurt out before I can stop my self.
“Because you’re a make-up artist, you know about the band and you don’t strike me as the type of person who is gonna go blabbing stuff about us to the tabloids.” Jack says.
“I’d never do that.” I say “I wouldn’t want someone blabbing to reporters about my personal life so I’d never do that to you guys or to anyone. It’s just dis-respectful” “So would you like the job do you think?” Jack asks.

“Uhh…yeah if…if you think I’d be good enough” I reply.
“You’ll be great, if we didn’t think you’d be good enough then we wouldn’t have asked…you’ll have to meet the rest of the band and chat to Matt about it but if that all goes well and I am fairly sure it will then you can have the job” Alex says. “W-when do you want me to come and m-meet them?” I stammer. “Whenever, are you working tomorrow?” he asks. “No, I was going to be but they swapped my shift to today so I have tomorrow off” I reply.

“Ok do you want to come meet them tomorrow then? You know if you don’t have any other plans of course.” he asks. “Uhh yeah, tomorrows fine…can I bring Ichabod though? He doesn’t really like being home on his own, and I don’t like leaving him alone unless I have to.” I say. “Sure you can bring him, is 11:00 ok or would you like to make it later in the day?” Jack asks. “No, 11 is fine” I say. “Ok cool, so I’ll come pick you up at 10:45?” he asks.
“I can walk, or drive you don’t have to come get me” I protest. “It’s no trouble really, the place can be kinda hard to find, and it’s on one of those windy streets that doubles back on itself.” he says. “Do you want me to bring anything?” I ask. “Just yourself, and something to eat if you’re vegetarian of something we’re gonna be making burgers”
“Yeah, totally not a vegetarian, I love my meat too much for that. Burgers are good!” I say.

“Ok well it’s all settled then!” Alex says. “Jack will pick you up tomorrow at 10:45, you’ll come over meet the other two and Matt and we’ll all eat burgers and drink beer”

The next day at 10:45 on the dot I hear a knock on my door and open it to see Jack standing there with a huge smile on his gorgeous face. “Good morning Gen-Gen” he says pulling me into a hug that lifts my feet of the ground. “How are you this morning? Did you sleep well? Are you ready for a day of madness?” he asks setting me back down on my feet and looking at expectantly. “I can call you Gen-Gen right?”

“I slept well thanks, and yes you can call me Gen-gen if you want, but only if I can call you Jack-Jack” I reply, its weird, I’ve only known him and Alex for less than a day but its already as if we are best friends, they’re really friendly and welcoming.

Jack is the first guy I’ve ever really felt like I can be myself around, or well the first guy that I’ve had feelings for anyway, I’ve had a couple of boyfriends in the past but I have never really felt comfortable around them, I’ve always acted how I think they want me to and have never been myself, but with Jack I am comfortable to just be me. Not that he is my boyfriend or ever will be, I mean why would he want me? He probably already has a girlfriend, some really pretty girl who models for Victoria’s Secret or Calvin Klein or something like that.

“Are you ready to go?” he asks.
“Uhh yeah, just let me round up Ichy and we can head off. Are you sure it’s ok that I bring him along? I can just put him outside with his treat ball and he’ll be fine, it’s nice out today” I say.

“It’s more than fine, we’d love to have the little guy come and hang out.” he says.
“Ok, uhh do you wanna come in? I might take me a minute to find him. He’s in one of his crazy moods where he runs round like a mad thing” I say. “You want me to help you find the little guy?” he asks. “Uhh sure, if you want that would be great…I’ll check the bedrooms. Can you check the kitchen and lounge room? He sometimes likes to hide under the couch” “Sure” he says agreeably “meet you in the kitchen in five?” he asks.
“Uhh huh, and then if we don’t find him I’ll get my secret weapon out, that always works.” I say and we part ways, me heading for my room and the guest room and Jack for the kitchen and lounge and dining rooms.

Five minutes later I walk into the kitchen and am greeted by one of the cutest things I have ever seen, Jack sitting at the breakfast bar with a sleeping Ichabod in his arms. “He was under the couch, he came out as soon as I walked in the room so I picked him up and he fell asleep in my arms” Jack says. “Yeah he does that, runs around like a crazy puppy for a while then goes to the nearest person and falls asleep in their arms. Usually it’s me he sleeps on but if someone else picks him up before he can find me he’ll sleep on them.” I say.
“Do you want me to take him so you can drive?” I ask. We have reached the car by this point and Ichy is still sound asleep and snoring lightly…yes my dog snores, but its not loud or anything so it doesn’t keep me awake…yes he sleeps at the foot of my bed every night, I tried getting him to sleep in his basket on the floor but he always ended up on my feet so I just gave up.“Uhh yeah, if you could that would be great, it’d be kinda hard to drive if I’m still holding him” Jack responds and I take my dog from him and get in the passenger seat of his black Chevrolet convertible. He climbs in the other side and drives to his house, damn he wasn’t kidding about the place being hard to find, this road is crazy, but I guess it makes it hard for fans to track them down so that’s good. He pulls up in front of a big blue house and cuts the engine.
“Well this is it, our little piece of heaven” he says as we walk up the path to the front door. Once we reach it he opens it and stands back to let me enter before walking in and closing it behind him. “They’re probably all out back” he says leading me through the house and eventually emerging into a big back yard with a swimming pool and covered deck area with a BBQ and outdoor refrigerator. “Guys Gene’s here” he calls out to the group assembled on the deck.

“Hello again! I hope Jack wasn’t too crazy on the dive over” Alex says walking over with a girl who looks to be about my age, she has long dark hair, really pretty blue eyes and tattoos. “No he drove fine” I assure him.
“Hi I’m Genevieve” I say to the girl and hold my hand out. “Hey! I’m Ava, Jacks been talking about you non-stop since they got back last night” she says letting go of Alex’s hand and hugging me. “I kinda feel like I know you already, so it’s nice to actually meet you...” she adds. “Nice to meet you too” I say, I like this girl already, I can tell we are gonna be friends.

“Come on, I’ll give you the tour if you like, these guys are hopeless” she says poking her tongue out at Alex and linking her arm through mine.
“Thanks that would be great” I say and we walk off into the house together.

“How do you know the guys?” I ask as we enter the kitchen. “Alex and I grew up together, started off as friends but then in high school we started dating and he asked me to marry him a couple of months ago” she says holding out her left hand and showing me the ring. “Aww that’s so cute! High school sweethearts” I say. “Yeah, he’s the only guy I’ve ever loved. I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it” she says her voice taking on an affectionate tone.

“But enough about me! I wanna know more about the girl who’s got Jack all hot under the collar. He’s quite smitten with you” she says winking at me. “Oh come off it, why would he be attracted to me?” I ask “Girl would I lie to you?” she asks. “Uhh no?” I say.
“Damn right I wouldn’t! trust me Gen, I know Jack, and I know what he’s like when he has a crush on a girl, and he has a really big crush on you I can tell you that for free” she says.

“So you and Jack are close huh?” I ask “Yeah he’s my best friend, you know other than Alex. I swear if I didn’t know for a fact that we weren’t in any way related I’d think he was like my twin or something” she says.