Six Feet Under The Stars

Even though Jack already spilled out about our party, Claire still seemed so surprised and happy when she found out about this welcoming party. Alex invited some of our close friends from middle school and some others were Claire, Alex and Jack’s friends from high school. I didn’t know them because I spent my high school life in Arizona with John and friends, but gladly, Jack introduced me to everyone there.

`That’s Jackson, that’s Ricky and his girlfriend Amelia, and oh, that’s Angelie! She’s my crush back in my first year of high school!` Jack pointed to his friends one by one excitedly while me beside him just glanced at them casually.

`She’s hot,` I complimented Angelie and sipped my drink. Jack nodded and excused himself to go to his ex-crush. My eyes followed him everywhere he went until he finally went to Claire who was talking with someone I didn’t know.

I was kind of alone that time because most of everyone was getting wasted including Alex. It seemed like I was the only one who stayed sober in this house. I took out my phone to find some messages from my brother and my boyfriend. They both jokingly told me to stay sober and not get too drunk. I just giggled to read their messages because they actually knew that I wasn’t a drunker.

I realized that I had took the last sip of my drink so I took another red cup and filled it with soda before going to the backyard to catch some fresh air and find some sober people there.

`Zack?` I tapped his shoulder as this huge man turned around to see me. He said a casual “what’s up?” before telling me to seat beside him. `Why are you alone here?`

`I’m not really into party,` he answered. `I’d like to spend a calm night better instead of seeing those people get wasted.` Zack let out light chuckles making me smiled to him.

`I guess we have same thing in common,` I said before I sipped my drink again. Zack looked at my red cup and before he could say anything, I quickly added, `it’s just pepsi.`

`Don’t worry, it’s fine to have alcohol for some times,` Zack chuckled again and started a new topic. `Why are you alone? Being left by Alex, huh?`

`Yeah, he played some drinking games with his old friends. He asked me to join him but I didn’t want to get too drunk so I left him to Jack. But Jack found his crush back in high school so he left me to her before he went to Claire.` I sighed shortly.

`Aw, Alex is so stupid for leaving a pretty girl like you alone.` Zack smiled to me.

`Nah, it’s fine.` I said shortly. `My boyfriend didn’t even wanna come here so it’s just fine for me to be all alone.` I pouted.

`Huh? Alex is inside the house, right?` Zack looked at me confusedly.

`Who was talking about Alex?` I asked back with the same confused tone.

Zack opened his mouth but he didn’t say anything. He probably had mistaken me as Alex’s girlfriend, even though I couldn’t even think how he would get a thought like that.

`Sorry,` Zack finally said. `I thought you’re Alex’s girlfriend. He always mentions your name everytime we talk about girls.`

`Really?` I now started to give all of my attentions to Zack’s words. It was something new for me. Alex talked about me every time? Really?

`Uhm, I think I told you too much, Carol,` Zack refused to tell me more about Alex. He then avoided my looks at him, pretending that we’re not going to continue this topic.

I sighed annoyingly to the guy beside me. I didn’t know much about him, all I thought was he is a shy silent person. But well, he seemed like knows everything and could just eventually blab about some secrets he keeps.

I got an idea.

`Zack,` I moved closer and tapped his shoulder again. `Do you know anything about Alex and a guy named John O’Callaghan?`

`John who?`

`Uhm, he’s the vocalist of The Maine. Do you know him?` I tried my best to not showing any gesture that I have a special relationship with John. If he found out I was John’s girlfriend, he probably wouldn’t blab anything ever again to me.

`Oh, The Maine? We once toured with them. Cool guys, you know.` Zack said before he looked at me. `What’s up with John?`

I didn’t say anything for several minutes, thinking of how I should ask Zack without making me seem too curious. Zack stared at me as I didn’t answer him, he looked confused.

`I’m a fan of The Maine,` I finally said. `John is a sexy guy, I think. I mean, he’s gorgeous and seems so kind to his fans. But Alex never seemed so interested when I was talking about him. So—I’m just curious Zack, is everything alright between John and Alex?`

Zack’s eyes wandered around the backyard, his face showed an expression of someone trying so hard to remember things. I nervously played with my fingers as I waited for Zack to say something. We fell into silence for minutes and I didn’t dare to poke him or ask him again—I didn’t want Zack to think that I’m a kind of person who likes to know people’s business; it’ll just ruin everything between us.

`I don’t think you’d like to hear about what happened between Alex and John, Carol.` Zack finally said something.

`Why?` I felt disappointed.

`I’m not sure fans would like to know about that. It’s just… not a good story.`

`Come on, I’m Alex’s best friend, not just a fan of John, okay? Just tell me what happened and I won’t ask you about the details.` I couldn’t hold on again. I was just too curious about what happened between them. Seeing your best friend and boyfriend hating each other could be on of the worst thing I should face.

`You swear?` Zack asked as I showed my fingers making a ‘V’ sign. He then sighed before saying, `just a bar fight. But it was horrible, I understand if they both hate each other now.`

I gasped. `A bar fight?! Tell me more, Zack!`

`No, you’ve swore to not ask about the details.` Zack said before he told me that he wanted to get a drink for him. He asked if I wanted him to get me a drink but I just shook my head—I was busy cursing in my own mind for promising things and being too curious about something.