Under A Paper Moon

Avas POV.

Genevieve and I walk out of Dillards and ride the escalator down to the ground floor and make our way to the Starbucks where we are meeting Alex and Jack, and whoever else might randomly have turned up in the last quarter of an hour since I spoke to Alex on the phone. We walk inside and I starts scanning the room for a familiar face, ahh there they are….right up the back in a booth. I can see the back of Alex’s head as he sits facing the back wall. Funny it looks like he’s alone, oh well maybe Jack went to the bathroom or the toy-store or something. FYI. Jack LOVES toy-stores, he claims that looking at toys keeps him looking young and sexy, but I think he just likes to check out all the new things the toy companies are coming up with for kids to play with…and to complain that he didn’t have the opportunity to play with them when he was a child. To which Alex usually replies with something along the lines of ‘aren’t you still a child’ and then they pull faces at each other and argue over who is more mature. I swear sometimes hanging around with them is like hanging around with a pre-school class. “You want something?” I ask turning to Genevieve.
“Maybe a Caramel Macchiato or a hot chocolate, I dunno I’ll decide when I get up there, maybe they have something new on the menu” Genevieve replys.
“That’s exactly what Jack says when we come here, he always has to go up and order or accompany the person who is ordering just in case there is something new on the menu that he wants to try.” I say..
“Yeah it’s a disease, one that has no cure”
“I dunno sometimes it can be good. Jack’s always the first to discover new items on menu’s of places we go often, and he always tells us about them just in case we want to try them.” I inform her, and its true Jack has more than one occasion come running up to the table the rest of us are sitting at and informing us of some new drink or food item that has been added to the menu and then run back to order it just so he can see if its good or not, most times he is happy with what he gets, but there have been a couple of exceptions. “Come on we can leave our bags with Alex and then go up when the line is a little bit shorter” I say
“Are you sure they wont mind me joining you?” I ask.
“Totally sure, they wont mind at all. In fact I think it’s pretty safe to say that Jack will be really happy to see you. He says that Alex and I get a little bit wrapped up in each other when the three of us hang out and he just gets stuck twiddling his thumbs and staring off into space”
“You two get a little distracted by each other sometimes? No never! Not you and Alex” she says with a girn.
“Haha” I respond poking my tongue out at her, I really hope she and Jack get together. They’d make such a cute couple, she’s perfect for him and she fits in really well with the rest of us, which is a good thing for a bunch of people who spend so much time together. It can be hard when one of the guys is dating a girl the rest of us can’t stand, we just have to learnt to put up with her, fortunately none of those girls have ever lasted more than about a month. I’m kinda secretly hoping that Gen will prove to be ‘the one’ for Jack the way Alex is for me. Cause if I’m being honest (and anyone who really knows me will tell you that I like to be honest ‘sometimes brutally honest’ as Alex puts it) Gen is one of the few girls I’ve met since the band made it big that I can actually stand to be around for an extended period of time, and I can totally see the two of us becoming best friends. An idea comes into my head and I glance at Gen and put a finger to my lips before creeping forwards toward the booth where Alex is sitting still completely un-aware that Gen and I are here. She nod’s and follows behind me silently. Just as I am about to reach out and tap Alex on the shoulder Jack pops up beside me carrying two cups of coffee.
“Alexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx your fiancés trying to sneak up and abduct you!” he says setting the cups on the table and turning round to poke his tongue out at me.
“Ja-ack! You ruin everything!” I say punching him lightly in the arm.
“Owwww!” he moans running to hide behind Gen. “Gen-gen save me from the mean pokey one” he whines.
“Aww poor little Jack-jack.” she says patting him on the head. “Do you need a hug?”
He looks up at her and pouts his lower lip out before nodding “Mmm hmm” he says, holding his arms out in front of him like a toddler wanting to be picked up.
“Aww ok” she says stepping closer and wrapping her arms round him in a hug. “Are you ok now Jacky?” she asks.
“Wow, she’s even more perfect for the job than I thought, she’s so hired” Alex whispers in my ear, walking up behind me and wrapping his arms round my waist.
“She kinda already was hired babe” I point out leaning back against him.
“Well, yeah, but now we know that she’s the perfect candidate for the job.” he counters. “You see before I only thought she’d be able to handle whiny clingy Jack, now I KNOW she can” he continues.
“Hmm, good point. Although you might find yourself out of a job” I reply.
“How’s that?” he asks and I can hear the confusion in his voice, its funny how if you know someone long enough you get to know the slight differences in their tone of voice.
“Well at the moment he always comes to you whenever he is upset or if he just feels like talking all night…if he starts dating Gene, then maybe he’ll start going to her for that stuff instead” I explain.
“Mmm, I think I’m gonna have to encourage him to ask her out then” he says.
“Why’s that?” I ask.
“Because if he goes to her when he has problems or wants to talk the night away, then he wont be interrupting us if we’re together, and we can have more time alone, just you and me.” he says.
“Hmm I don’t mind that at all” I say.
“Me neither” he responds “so how’d it go with Genevieve at Mac?” he asks, and I suddenly remember that I haven’t shown him my hair and make-up yet.
“You tell me” I say.
“How am I gonna do that?” he asks.
“Well if you let me go, I’ll turn round and show you” I respond.
“Aww but ba-abe I just wanna hug you” he complains.
“Fine, hug me” I say with a shrug “don’t see my make up and hair.” I add elbowing him.
“Ok show me” he says.
“Are you sure?” I ask suddenly a little nervous, I have no idea why though, this is Alex I’m talking to, the guy I’ve known for years, the only guy I’ve ever loved. The only guy I will ever love, I shouldn’t be nervous around him, he’s my best friend in the whole entire world and has been for as long as I can remember. But I guess its because I just really want him to like the make-up or something I dunno. I take a deep breath to compose myself and slowly turn to face him, he looks down at me, studying every aspect of my face and hair, taking note of every little detail, I think Alex would notice if I had one hair out of place on my head he knows me so well…”So? What do you think?” I ask softly.
“I love it” he says smiling down at me. “But there’s just one problem” he adds his voice taking on a serious tone.
“W-whats that?” I ask nervously.
“You look so amazing that I might not be able to stop myself from doing this” he says leaning down and pressing his lips to mine in passionate kiss. “I love you so much babe. I can’t wait till the day I get to call you my wife” he whispers against my lips.
“I love you too” I reply kissing him back.
“Ewwe gu-uys! We’re in public, people don’t want to see you two playing tonsil hockey!” Jack says coming up and standing beside us with his hands on his hips trying to look stern.
“Sorry Jack, it’s all his fault” I say pulling away from Alex and blushing slightly. “He started it” I add poking him in the arm.
“It is not my fault!” Alex protests.
“Oh yeah? then who’s fault is it? You’re the one who started kissing me are you not?” I ask.
“Well, yes but only because you’re too adorable and hot and gorgeous for your own good. So its actually your fault. Well yours and Genevieves” he says.
“Hey! How is it my fault?” Gene demands.
“Yeah! how is it Gen-gens fault!” Jack asks.
“Because you did this” he says gesturing at my make-up and hair.
“So you like it the?” she asks.
“Like it? Geneviveve Carly Caos, I don’t just like it, I love it! I knew you were good with hair and make-up but damn, I clearly underestimated your talents” he says causing her to blush.
“Babe stop embarrassing the poor girl, she’s not gonna want to work with us if you’re gonna embarrass her like that” I say rolling my eyes at him.
“Sorry Gen, I didn’t mean to embarrass you” he says. “I just didn’t expect her too look this amazing” he adds.
“Wow thanks babe, I love you too” I say sarcastically poking my tongue out at him.
“No! Baby I didn’t mean you don’t always look amazing…’cause you do, even when you’re sick and have puffy eyes, and a runny nose and your face is all red and you’re practically coughing up a lung every few minutes.” he says. “Even on tour when you’ve had about 12 hours sleep in a week and look half zombie-fied, and in the mornings when you’re hung-over and cant be fucked doing your hair and you come to breakfast with ‘bed-hair’ in your duck pajamas….”
“Babe, it’s ok, I was kidding, I know what you meant” I say stopping his monologue mid-sentence.
“You are so mean” he says narrowing his eyes at me in a mock angry expression.
“Aww you’re so cute when you’re pretending to be mad at me” I say reaching up and kissing his cheek.