Under A Paper Moon

Jacks POV:

I walk into the kitchen the following morning and grab a bowl out of the cupboard, and make my way over to the table and sit down next to Ava. “Hi” she says by way of greeting “you want some cereal?”
“Sure” I reply and she pours some ‘Count Chocula’ into my bowl. “Ava can I ask you something?” I ask.
“Of course you can Jack” she replies.
“Well I kinda need some advice.” I say knowing that I am stalling for time but not really caring.
“Ok, but don’t you usually go to Alex or Matt for that?” she asks.
“Yeah, but well…you’re a girl. And they aren’t, and I need advice on how to ask a girl out.” I say.
“OMG! You’re gonna ask Gen out?!” she squeals.
“Keep it down! I don’t want the whole world to know….yes I am gonna ask her out, but I don’t know how to go about doing that.” I say
“You’ve asked girls out before Jack” I point out.
“I know I have, but…well I dunno. Gen’s not like other girls, she’s.. special. I want to our relationship to last.” I say.
“Ok so, just be yourself, don’t try to be anything you’re not. She likes you just the way you are, as Jack Barakat from Baltimore. Not as Jack from All Time low…I mean she likes you as him as well sure but well she doesn’t JUST like you because you’re famous” she says.
“Ok, be me…but…how do I ask her out? Like…I dunno shall I buy her some flowers? And where would I take her if she says yes? Do you know if she has a favourite restaurant?” I ask.
“I know she likes Italian food, so maybe take her too that Italian restaurant in town. You know the little one that’s on Fawn Street? Rocco’s Capriccio” she says.
“Oooh, Rocco’s! That place has awesome food!” I say.
“Yeah, Alex and I like it, it’s one of our favourites, and the best thing is they just treat you like everyone else, they don’t get all annoying and gushy because he’s famous.” she says.
“Ugh I hate when we go out to eat and all the staff are standing at the bar gawking at us, or they make excuses to come and talk to us ‘and how is everything’ every ten minutes, its like they don’t realise that we want to eat our dinner in peace” I say.
“Yeah, and sometimes when I’ve gone out with Alex just the two of us, the server girl or someone in the restaurant has recognised him and just like shamelessly flirted with him like I’m not even there.” she says rolling her eyes in disgust.
“Can you call her and ask her to come over for lunch or something?” I ask.
“I could yeah. But I’m not going to” she says.
“Why not?” I ask trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice, Alex would be fucking livid if I went off on his fiancé.
“Relax Jack, don’t get your boxers in a twist. I won’t ask her because she is already coming, Matt wants her to sign some shit so he called her up and invited her over for lunch, she’ll be here at about mid-day” she says.
“Gen’s coming? Here? Today? For lunch?” I ask
“Yes she is. And we’re having pizza, home made pizza you can help cook it if you want, dazzle her with your awesome skills in the kitchen” she says.
“Ava you’ve known me for about what…five or six years now right?” I ask.
“About that yeah.” she replies.
“And at what point in all those years have I ever ‘dazzled’ anyone with my cooking skills?” I ask. “If you haven’t noticed I’m not actually the worlds best chef.”
“Oh trust me Jacky, I’ve noticed.” she says patting me on the arm But I’m not gonna leave you to cook the pizzas alone. I just meant you could like help me put the toppings on them, sprinkle the cheese, spread the tomato sauce that kind of thing. You can handle that right?” she adds standing up and walking over to the kitchen bench to pour herself a cup of coffee.
“Oh yeah, I can handle that! I’m good sprinkling stuff all over the place” I say.
“Ain’t that the truth” Alex says walking into the room. “You ‘sprinkle’ your clothes all over the bus every time we go on tour” he adds.
“Shut-up Gaskarth, no one asked you.” I say poking my tongue out at him.
“Yeah, I know. I just give my opinions for free” he says. “Good morning babe. Did you sleep well?” he asks walking over to Ava and taking the coffee cup out of her hand and taking a sip before setting it down on the bench, before wrapping his arms around her and bending his head down to kiss her.
“Excuse me but some of us…namely me, are trying to eat over here” I say pretending to be annoyed. “And I don’t particularly want to see that while I’m trying to eat my cereal” I add.
“Ok fine, we’ll just take it to another room then” Alex says pulling away from Ava long enough to flip me off.
“Go ahead, as long as its not in front of me” I retort.
“We will then!” he responds. “Come on baby, we’ll go back to my room and I can say good morning to you properly” he says picking her up bridal style and carrying her into his room kicking the door shut behind him.

A few hours later the pizzas are all prepared and ready to be put in the oven to cook, we have a proper wood-fired pizza oven, we all chipped in and bought it a few months ago. It was pretty expensive, but totally worth it ‘cause it makes the best home-made pizzas, the bases turn out crispy but not hard and the toppings are perfectly cooked. Ava, Rian and Alex say its because you have more control and don’t have to leave it in as long…I just take their word for it and enjoy the results of their knowledge. I glance up at the clock on the wall and push my hands through my hair, I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous, not even before the first time I played to a sold to a sold out arena show with the band. Which is saying something cause I was pretty damn nervous that night. But that holds nothing on how nervous I am now, I swear there is like a whole flock of butterflies in my stomach just flying around. “Relax dude” Alex says patting my shoulder “She’ll be here” he says, damn it how did he know I was thinking about Genevieve right now? I guess he just knows me that well.
“Thanks ‘Lex. I don’t know why I’m so fucking nervous, I mean hell I’ve performed in front of thousands of people all over the world and haven’t felt as nervous as I do now” I say.
“This is a whole different ball game man. Do your remember how nervous I was before I asked Ava to marry me? I like vomited…three times or something, so trust me you;’re doing a lot better than I was” he says.
“Yeah, but I’m only asking for a date…not marriage” I reply.
“Ok, then remember how nervous I was back in senior year before I asked her to go out with me? I think I must have sent you what…20 text messages or something?” he says.
“I think it was only 15” I say with a chuckle.
“Oh my mistake, only 15 then, yeah that’s soo much better” he says sarcastically. “But seriously Jack, look at us now, four years down the track and I couldn’t imagine being with any other girl but Ava. I still wake up every morning and wonder what I’ve done to deserve someone as amazing as her” he says.
“Yeah, that one is a mystery to us all man” I joke.
“Haha Barakat, you’re so funny I forgot to laugh” he responds dryly.
“Yeah, I was thinking about expanding my resume and trying my hand at some stand up comedy, you know maybe for the fans before shows and stuff. To keep the die hard ones who get to venues hours before the doors open entertained” I say.
“Good luck with conving Matt and the label about that one.” he says.
“Yeah they probably won’t go for it hey?” I respond.
“I’d say not, I mean you know ignoring the fact that if any of us walked out there we’d get like…mobbed, theres the little issue of sound-checks, rehearsals, hair and make-up you know all that fun pre-show stuff”
“They probably wouldn’t be to thrilled about me missing that stuff would they?” I ask.
“Nope, probably not” he says.
“Gene’s here!” Ava announces bouncing into the room and over to Alex grabbing his hand in one of hers and mine in the other and dragging us out of the kitchen and towards the front door.
“Do I look ok?” I ask frantically trying to get a look at myself in the glass of the window as we pass it.
“You look fine Jack, just relax!” Ava says, dropping my hand and Alex’s to open the door. “Gene! You made it!” she says stepping back to let her walk in.
“Hey guys! You didn’t all have to come to the door to greet me!” she says, damn she looks so beautiful, she’s just wearing a t-shirt and skinny blue jeans with a hoodie, but damn she makes them look good.
“It’s not trouble, Alex and I were just gonna make a dash to the bottle shop to stock up on some JD, we running low. But Jack will keep you company, and Rian and Zack are somewhere about the place, and we’ll be back soon!” she says grabbing Alex’s hand and dragging him out the still open door before he can protest. She flashes me a grin and mouths ‘good luck’ giving me a thumbs up sign before pushing the door shut.
“So….I guess its just you and me then” I say turning go smile nervously at Gen who is standing in the hallway a few feet from me looking somewhat stunned.
“Yep! I guess so” she says shaking herself and returning my smile.
“Would you like a drink?” I ask.
“A hot chocolate would be amazing right now” she responds.
“Well then you’re in luck because we have some really good hot-chocolate in the kitchen” I say.
“Oooh yummy! Lead the way” she says linking her arm through mine.
“Right this way madam” I say leading her towards the kitchen where the hot chocolate awaits.

“So uhh, there’s something I wanted to ask you” I say a short time later. Gen and I are sitting together at the kitchen table with mugs of hot chocolate.
“Oh yeah whats that?” she asks.
“Well I uhmmm wanted to ask you a question” I say.
“Shoot, I’ll try and answer it as well as I can” she says.
I take a deep breath to calm my nerves, I swear my heart is about to like beat out of my chest and onto the table its going so damn fast. “Genevieve, will you go on a date with me?” I ask.