I See Sparks Fly Whenever You Smile

Brook

"Brook, honey. You know it doesn't matter how many times you organize and re-organize this table, right? As soon as everyone gets here no one is going to care and it's going to look a hot mess," Cassadee said, coming up behind me where I stood at the table in Alex's kitchen that was half covered in a variety of different bottles of alcohol while the other half was covered in different trays and bowls full of party food.

"You're right," I said, turning around from the table and facing Cassadee, forcing myself to not alphabetically organize the bottles on the table.

"I know you're nervous about being the newbie in a room full of old friends, but I will tell you from first hand experience, when Rian and I first started dating and he brought me around his hometown friends, I was terrified. But then about five minutes after meeting them all I felt like I'd know them forever," Cassadee said, giving me a reassuring smile.

"I know," I nodded. "I just know how important Alex's friends are to him and if for some reason they didn't like me I wouldn't-"

Cassadee held up her hand and cut me off. "Let me stop you right there. You have no reason to worry about someone not liking you because I can guarantee that the ones who truly matter already do."

"What do you mean?" I asked, a confused look washing over my face.

"The most important people in Alex's life - aside from his parents - are his band mates, and probably Matt. Rian absolutely adores you and Matt thinks you're a total sweetheart."

"So, I just need to impress Zack and Jack," I said slowly.

Cassadee nodded. "Exactly. And it will be easier than you think. Zack's kind of shy around new people, so if he's quiet, don't take it personal, once he warms up to you, he probably won't shut up."

"Anything I can talk about that will spark his interest?"

Cassadee thought for a second. "Zack loves working out and anything that has to do with fitness. If you've ever been to a gym, talk about that."

I laughed a little. "The last time I went to the gym was about a year and a half ago."

"Maybe you just don't tell him that detail," Cassadee laughed.

"And what about Jack?" He was the one I was most worried about. He was Alex's best best friend.

"Jack's such a simple person. You could probably strike up a conversation with him about anything. If he makes a joke and it's not funny, be the first to laugh anyway and you're golden. Just prepare yourself, Jack is crazy. He says things without thinking sometimes. So if something is inappropriate or a little offensive, don't let it phase you, he just doesn't have a filter."

I nodded slowly.

"Oh! And don't freak out if you see his penis," Cassadee added.

My eyes widened. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Jack has a tendency with the more he drinks, the less clothes he has on. I'm not sure why but it happens. And I'll be honest, if it's not Jack, it's Alex."

I nodded slowly, stifling a laugh. "Oh really?"

Cassadee nodded. "Between the tours and the parties I've been to with these guys, I've probably seen your boyfriend's penis more times than you have."

"Wow," I shook my head. "That wouldn't be hard," I muttered mostly under my breath.

"What wouldn't be hard?" she was quick to ask.

"Umm..." I froze.

Cassadee's eyes sort of widened in surprised. "Oh my Gosh, you're a virgin!"

"No," I shook my head. "I'm not. We just haven't yet," I shrugged.

Cassadee narrowed her eyes at me. "You've known Alex since the end of December, right?"

I nodded. "We met a few days before Christmas."

"And he's kept it in his pants around you for this long?" Cassadee asked, shocked.

I nodded. "Yes. He has."

"Wow," Cassadee said slowly.

"Wow what? Why do you say it that way?" I panicked on the inside.

She shrugged. "Alex has never really been the type to wait for sex. I mean, he's pretty much got girls on speed dial in every city that are willing to drop their panties for him at a moment's notice."

I bit at my lip nervously, suddenly not wanting to be having this conversation at all. "I really needed to know that..."

She shrugged. "Maybe not. But there is actually something I will let you know," she started. "Remember when we were all in California a little while ago?"

I nodded.

"Well, we were all out one night hanging out at this bar where our group of friends always went. And this girl named Daniella showed up. Her and Alex had a bit of a thing like last year."

"What kind of a thing?"

"Think of it like friends with benefits without actually being friends."

I nodded again, wanting now more than anything to just turn around and re-organize the table again.

"He wouldn't give up hooking up with her for anything. Even when things were good with Lina, he still wouldn't turn down Daniella."

"Can you please make your point?" I asked. "You're freaking me out."

"Sorry," she frowned. "Long story short, Daniella showed up at the bar and Alex had a few drinks already and she practically threw herself at him. And he was not having. If she came near him, he walked away. If she tried to start a conversation with him, he excused himself and walked away and when she finally straight up asked him what was going on he looked her in the eye and said and I quote "I am not interested anymore." And when she asked why not, he said and I quote again, "I have a girlfriend back home." And not one to give up, Daniella shot back asking since when did him having a girlfriend change things and he said, and this time I'm paraphrasing that things changed the moment he met you because you changed him - in a good way of course and no one was worth risking screwing up what you guys have."

I nodded slowly, fighting back my smile. "He said that?"

Cassadee nodded. "He did. Once Jack heard it he said he was ready to send out the Wedding invitations. The fact that Alex blew off Daniella for you was a big deal to him."

I frowned at the word wedding. "I appreciate that, but I'm not getting married."

Cassadee laughed. "Well of course you're not yet. But Jack was just saying that like someday you guys would get-"

I cut her off. "No, I'm just not ever going to get married."

Cassadee looked at me confused. "What? Why not?"

I bit my lips. I had clearly given up too much and Cassadee didn't seem like the type to let something go. "I'm just turned off by the whole idea. It's kind of a long story."

"Well, I'm definitely going to have to hear that story," she said.

I sighed and my emotions were all over the place when I heard a loud bang on the door. People were here, which meant it was time for me to start impressing these guys which made me want to die a little bit, but at the same time it put an end to my conversation with Cassadee which I couldn't be happier about.

"Brook! Come here," Alex's voice yelled from the front door and Cassadee gave me a reassuring smile.

I slowly walked over, forcing a friendly smile to my face.

"Brook, this is Zack," Alex introduced. "Zack, Brook."

"It's good to finally meet you," Zack smiled as he surprisingly pulled me into a hug.

"You too," I smiled a little less forced when he let me go.

"And this is Jack," Alex continued. "Jack, this is Brook."

"Hi," Jack said flatly and instantly my smile wavered.

"It's great to finally meet you, too. I've heard a lot about you," I said, hoping no one could detect the shake in my voice.

"Yeah, same here," Jack rolled his eyes. "All this one does is go on and on about you. Brook this and Brook that," he rolled his eyes again. "It's a little excessive."

I blinked a few times, not sure what I was supposed to do or say. "I-I'm sorry," I stumbled.

"Whatever," Jack shrugged. "Matt!" he squealed, running over to the boy at the other side of the room.

It slowly felt like a car door was being slammed on my soul. I don't know what I could have possibly done but Jack didn't like me. And that wasn't going to end well.

"Jack's a little weird sometimes," a voice said in my ear and I spun to see Rian standing there. "He's kind of protective of Alex. He'll come around. I promise."

I tried to force another smile to my face. I guess the worst thing I could do was let everyone know how bothered I was.

Over the course of the next couple of hours a slew of people came through Alex's house, and not one of them had reacted towards me anywhere near like Jack had. I was determined to get him to change his mind about me.

After the third or fourth time I jumped up to refill Jack's drink when he was running low, I realized I was probably making a fool out of myself and kissing Jack's ass and laughing at his ridiculous jokes were not going to make things better.

Eventually, I'd given up trying to impress Jack
And at that point I was even avoiding Alex because while he was trying hard not to I could tell he was a little (or maybe a lot) disappointed that Jack hated me.

As the night progressed, I stuck with Cassadee and between the two of us we had our fair share of Malibu and Coke. I didn't drink that often but I figured I needed to do something to loosen me up a bit.

"When I was either five or six, we were learning about money in school, so any time I was shopping with my mom, she would hand me some bills and have me pay for whatever we were buying," I started.

Somehow we had gotten on the topic of silly things we'd done as kids and it became my turn to share.

"She had me pay the bill at a diner once and said to tell the waitress to keep everything because it included the tip. What I should tell you is I was obsessed with the movie Home Alone... So I handed the waitress the money and smiled and said "Keep the change, you filthy animal." Naturally, she laughed, but my mom was not happy at all. I wasn't allowed to watch that movie for a few days."

Everyone laughed, except Jack of course. I sighed inwardly. I hoped that story would at least get a chuckle out of him - but nothing.

Suddenly, a wide smile spread across Jack's face and he started to make his way towards me.

"Okay, I can't do this anymore," he said. "I fucking love this girl!" he announced.

I stared at him, very confused. "What..."

He threw his arm around me. "Look, Alex is my buddy and I had to make sure you could hang, y'know?"

I nodded slowly.

"I figured if I was a total asshole and you still were nice to me, you were a keeper," Jack explained, his entire demeanor towards me changing as he squeezed me tighter to him.

"Jack, you're such a dick," Alex rolled his eyes, shoving Jack lightly. "I knew you couldn't actually not like this girl," he said, gesturing to me before pressing a big kiss to my lips before disappearing somewhere.

"So you don't hate me?" I practically beamed as I looked up at Jack.

"Hate you? No way! I have a feeling we're going to be best friends. Actually-" he paused, turning to the table next to us and digging through the bowl of Chex Mix.

I stood next to him awkwardly, figuring I should file this moment under crazy Jack

"Got it!" he exclaimed suddenly and turned back to me. "Brook, I know we haven't known each other very long. But I think you're awesome," he said, slowly crouching down to one knee and holding up a small pretzel ring. "Will you be my best friend?"

I busted out laughing, as did the few people around us watching, nodding my head yes as Jack did the best he could to slip the pretzel on my finger. "Wow," I said, holding out my hand and admiring the pretzel that just barely fit around the tip of my finger. "This is the happiest day of my life."

"You better believe it," Jack smirked, pressing a hard, wet kiss to my cheek before rushing off to find Alex.

I breathed a large sigh of relief and it seemed like after that I didn't have a care in the world. All the social awkwardness and anxiety I had been feeling, but hiding as well as I could, from before practically melted away.

Alex

"Tonight was fun," Brook sighed, plopping down on my bed. I'd given her one of my Ravens jerseys to sleep in since she had forgotten to pack pajamas for herself.

I smiled from where I was throwing my dirty clothes in the hamper in the corner of my room. "It was. I'm glad you had fun."

She sat up, leaning against the headboard and hugging her knees to her chest, the jersey she was wearing just covering up to above her knee. "Did you know Jack was going to pretend he didn't like me?"

"No," I shook my head, sitting down on my bed next to her. "I swear I had no idea. And to be honest I was pretty pissed at him for being such a dick."

She smiled, dropping her head to my shoulder. "Now that I know it was a joke, it was kind of funny. But in the moment, I was freaking out."

"I'm sorry," I frowned, resting my hand on her knee and kissing the top of her head.

"Don't be. It's not even something to worry about anymore," she assured me.

I smiled a little. "Could you imagine if my best friend and my girlfriend didn't get along?" I shook my head.

She shrugged. "It happens. But Jack may be your best friend but I'm not so sure you're his best friend anymore."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Were you not there when he proposed best friendship with me?"

I laughed a little. "That's right. I'm actually surprised he didn't propose marriage to you later on when you guys were going shot for shot with that Vanilla Vodka."

She laughed a little. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked and I nodded. "I only really took like three of those shots. I faked like I chased them with that bottle of beer, but really I just spit the shot back into the bottle."

I nodded slowly, giving her knee another squeeze. "That's my girl."

"Old party trick I learned from Coyote Ugly."

"Classic movie," I laughed. "But really how drunk are you right now?"

She bit her lip, poorly hiding a giggle. "I'm not drunk!"

I raised my eyebrow. "Really?"

"Okay," she quickly caved. "Maybe a little bit. But that's become someone thought it was a good idea to leave me and Cass alone with a bottle of Malibu."

"I don't mind," I said. "I'm just glad you had fun."

"Oh my God," she gasped. "You must think I'm such a lush. That's like two nights in a row you saw me drink!"

I laughed at her and slipped my arm around her shoulders, squeezing her body close to mine. "Yeah... I just look at it as your way of getting me back for the tons of drunk calls and texts you've gotten from me from the road."

"That's true," she nodded. "I'll never forget the night you called when you were lost walking back to the hotel. 'Broooook, I misssss you!' Barf. 'Broooook, I'm so sorry!' Barf."

"I'm a keeper huh?" I winked.

Brook looked up at me and giggled. "I guess you'll do for now."

I pouted dramatically and bumped her shoulder with mine. "Real nice, Brook."

She giggled again and it was beginning to become one of my favorite sounds. "I'm just kidding, silly. I think you'll actually do a lot longer than just now."

I smiled, leaning down and kissing her lightly. "You tired? Want me to put on a movie before we fall asleep?"

She was silent for a minute before she shifted her position and sat on my lap. "I have another idea," she said, snaking her arms around my neck and bringing her lips down to mine.

"This is a great idea," I muttered against her mouth as she shifted again, her legs now straddling my waist.

"Shhh," she hushed me and a second later I felt her tongue slip into my mouth and I definitely didn't object.

A few moments passed before either one of us spoke again and when we did it was Brook's turn to break the silence.

"Can I be really blunt with you right now?" She asked, the words muffled against my mouth.

"Okay..." I mumbled back.

"You're a really frickin' good kisser," she said, pulling away from mt mouth just enough to get the words out before crashing her lips back to mine.

I laughed a little into the kiss. "It's probably just because I'm kissing you."

"Maybe," she said against my mouth, tightening her arms a little bit around my neck.

"Can I be really blunt with you right now?" I asked, gripping her waist tighter.

"Mhm," she muttered.

I shoved her off a little, lightly. "If you don't stop pressing your hips into mine like that, I'm going to pitch a fucking tent so big Boy Scouts could camp under it."

Her eyes widen a little wider and I began to worry I had been a little too blunt with her.

"Really?" she asked, a sort of playful smirk on her face.

I nodded. "Yes. Really."

"Good to know," she said, almost to herself before crashing her lips to mine again.

I don't know if it was on purpose or not but she then started rocking her hips against mine even more intense than she had before. I was only wearing a pair of boxers and Brook wasn't even wearing pants. If anything popped up, it would almost be impossible to hide.

By the time Brook moved her lips from my lips and up my jaw and behind my ear I was sure I was going to explode.

"B-Brook," I stuttered, pushing her off a little. "We need to stop."

"Why?" she pouted, pressing her lips lightly to the side of my neck.

"Because. We do." I said a little more stern as I pushed her away again and glanced down south quickly so she'd get what I was saying.

"It's okay," she said lightly brushing her lips over mine and the next thing I knew, I felt her fingers grip the waist band of my boxers and slowly begin to push them down.

My eyes could have popped out of my head. "Brook, what are you doing?"

Her eyes met mine and I took in a sharp breath when her tiny hand wrapped around me and she said, "Going camping."

For one of the only times in my entire life, I was speechless and the more she began to work her hand up and down, the likeliness of coming up with any words kept slipping further away.

I let my eyes fall closed and I became aware of Brook's lips missing from my own and suddenly they were replacing her hand.

"Shit, Brook," I groaned, blinking my eyes open for a second and letting my hand tangle in her hair. "I can't- I'm gonna-"

Again, words escaped me and before I knew it, I reached my peak and a string of expletives attached to Brook's name passed through my lips.

As my breathing began to get back to normal, Brook slowly moved back up the bed and sat next to me. She was quiet and I instantly hoped she didn't regret what she'd done.

"Was that okay?" her soft voice finally asked.

I looked up at her quickly, adjusting myself back into my boxers.

"Are you kidding?" I asked her surprised.

"No," she shook her head; she was avoiding looking at me at all costs. "It's just been a really long time since I've done anything and..." she trailed off.

I reached over and touched her cheek lightly, making her look over at me. "It was perfect."

"It was?" she asked, finally letting her eyes meet mine.

"Absolutely," I said, leaning in and kissing her lightly.

She smiled into the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck and letting me lay her back against the pillows as I deepened the kiss.

I placed one of my hands on her knee and when she didn't protest, I slowly moved my fingers up her leg and when they grazed her inner thigh, she still didn't stop me, I slowly and carefully slipped two of my fingers inside her and she gasped into my mouth.

"You okay?" I asked, pulling away from her and keeping my fingers still.

"I-I'm fine," she said quickly, arching her lips up towards me, which I took as a sign to keep going.

Little by little I worked my fingers at a quicker pace until Brook was practically writhing underneath me.

"Alex, please," she muttered, breaking our kiss and her eyes meeting mine.

I nodded knowing and slowly slid her underwear down her legs and quickly replaced my fingers with my tongue.

Brook was moaning quietly as her fingers threaded into my hair and guided me exactly where she wanted me and moments later a few inaudible words left her mouth and she took had reached her climax.

After regaining my own composure, I moved up to lay next to Brook. "You okay?" I asked again, lighting pushing some of her hair from her face.

She nodded sleepily, cuddling her body into mine. "I think so. I'll let you know when the feeling comes back in my toes."