Lost In Stereo

Zo woke with an extreme headache. There was some sort of noise coming from the kitchen and it had woke her up and now she couldn’t fall back asleep. Something was lying nearly on top of her and when she was finally able to roll over, she saw that it was Jack.

She hadn’t even realized that he had wandered in the night before. And well, to be honest she couldn’t remember a lot from the night before anyway. But somehow she had gotten in Alex’s room and he was lying on the other side of Jack passed out cold.

The smell of coffee was the only thing that got her out of bed and she pulled one of Alex’s hoodie’s around her as she made her way to the door. When she got in the kitchen, she saw that it was Penny who had made the coffee and her best friend was now sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup and looking horribly sick.

“Morning,” Zo muttered as she went to the freshly brewed pot and poured herself some of the delicious hot liquid. Penny just grunted in response as Zo took a sip not bothering to put any cream or sugar in. She needed it black. It was the only way to make herself semi with it after a night like they had.

She peaked into the living room to see the rest of the boys still out cold. Vinny was sleeping on the coffee table holding a empty bottle of some drink they must have consumed the night before while Flyzik and Colussy were slouched on the couch. Jeff and Danny were sharing the small love seat they had and the rest of them were lying on the floor. Colter was nowhere to be seen and Zo just figured he was still asleep.

The boy probably wasn’t going to get up until it was after one, especially after all he had to drink the night before. As it was he didn’t like getting up early on mornings he didn’t have to. But considering that he probably drank himself to a stupor, he wasn’t going to be a happy camper when he woke up later. And the rest of the boys probably wouldn’t be that pleasant to be around either.

“Why are we even up when it’s only nine in the morning?” Zo asked as she finished her first cup of coffee and went to get a refill.

“Mm, I don’t even know. Colter was snoring in my ear and it was killing my headache so I had to get up.” Penny replied.

“So when did you and my brother even officially hook up anyway?”

Penny stayed silent for a few moments as she remembered and Zo caught the small smile growing on her friends face as she remembered. “Hmm, it wasn’t official official until after school started. But there were a few things going on before Do died.”

Zo hummed in response and Penny smiled weakly. “How are you doing with everything that happened with Do? Are you hanging in there or is the brave face just a total act so that we don’t worry about you all the time?”

“I’m ok, honestly. Alex has been amazing through everything. I told you before that Alex actually flew out after Do died. That’s where I was when I didn’t come home. I was in Duluth with him. Honestly if it wasn’t for him I don’t know where I would be right now? I’d probably still be home sulking and crying my eyes out. I owe him everything.”

Penny gave a small smirk, “So I don’t need to threaten to chop off his dick if he ever hurts you then?”

“Um no, trust me. He’s amazing. He’s not going to sleep with me and then toss me out on the street. He’s nothing like that. He’s a really good guy.”

“Damn, I was hoping you would say I could.” Penny muttered as they both burst out laughing despite their horrible hangovers. When they finally were able to calm themselves again, Zo felt the throbbing pain in her head get worse and she went to the medicine cabinet to get some pain killers.

“Is that coffee?” A voice asked and Zo looked up to see Flyzik walking in. She nodded and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he headed over to the pot. “How long have you been up?”

“Less than twenty minutes,” she mumbled in reply as Danny stumbled into the kitchen too. “Wow, you’re up earlier than I thought.”

Danny just glared at he also went to the coffee and poured himself a cup. “Need more,”

“There’s some in the cupboard above you,”

Flyzik took the seat across from Penny and gave her a small shy smile as he took another sip of his coffee. “I’m sorry if this seems incredibly rude but I honestly don’t remember anything from last night? You’re Zo’s sister right?”

“No, I’m Zo’s friend-” She started but Zo cut her off.

“Best friend. But she’s more like a sister to me than anything. She’s dating my older brother Colter. He’s still dead to the world in my room at the moment. You’ll meet him properly later once he finally gets his ass up.”

Flyzik nodded and started apologizing again from not remembering but Penny just waved him off telling him it was fine. They started up a conversation getting to know each other and slowly one by one the rest of the guys started to get up.

Colussy was next and he stumbled in the kitchen demanding coffee which Danny was still in the process of making and then throwing a small fit because it was taking too long. Soon everyone was up except Vinny, Jack, Alex, and Colter and Flyzik and Danny were busy making some breakfast for everyone. And even with everyone having bad hangovers, everyone seemed to be laughing and messing around with one another and being as loud as possible.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Alex asked as he walked in and Zo caught his eye and gave a small smile.

“Breakfast,” Flyzik replied, turning from the stove to look at Alex. “Where’s your partner in crime? He’s usually the one who wakes up whenever the food is out.”

“Mm, he’s still passed out cold in my bed. God only knows how he got there last night.” Alex mumbled as he went to get himself a cup of coffee before leaning against the wall by the table.

All the chairs around the table were taken and Zo stood and let him take her chair and then she sat on his lap. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he instantly wrapped his arms around her waist as she leaned against his chest and continued the conversation she had been having with Colussy.

At least that time their actions went unnoticed and no one commented. Or maybe they were all tired of commenting and getting no good reactions back so they just gave up. Either way, Zo was glad.

“Ok, food’s almost done. Who wants to go wake Vinny up?” Flyzik asked as he turned off the stove and grabbed the plates from the cupboard.

“I will,” Jack said as he walked out from the hallway and continued into the living room. Flyzik muttered something about being right about how the boy always woke up right when the food was down as he started to plate the food he had made.

A few moments later as everyone was passing around the plates of steaming food Vinny started yelling and Jack started cracking up. Everyone ignored them as they all began to eat and soon after Jack appeared in the kitchen followed by a pissed off Vinny. Penny went off to check on Colter and Jack stole her seat and Zo nudged him playfully as he stole a piece of bacon from her plate.

“Hey, so I was wondering if you wanted to go out just you and me for a little while.” Alex said quietly. She was still sitting in his lap and so when he had asked her his lips were right by her ear and it sent small shivers down her spine.

She quietly agreed and she could only imagine the adorable smile he had on his face when she replied. When everyone finished eating, she got up and headed back to her room to grab some clothes so that they could leave. Alex had gone to do the same and when she walked into her bedroom, she saw Penny and Colter sitting there talking quietly together.

“Hey guys, I was wondering if you guys would mind hanging here alone for a while. Alex and I are going to go into town for a while. But I promise the guys won’t bite. Flyzik will make sure of that and besides the bus has to be returned today so everyone’s going to need to get their crap off of it soon.” She said as she rummaged through some of her boxes to find something to wear.

All her favorite clothes were still on the bus and in need of a good washing since they hardly ever were able to do wash so she was stuck with some of her older clothes that she hardly ever wore. But she figured that Alex wouldn’t mind. She had no clue why he had asked her out so out of the blue like that but she highly doubted that he was going to take her out and do anything really fancy. Especially with them still feeling like crap after the night before.

“Nah, that’s fine. They guys aren’t all that bad. You go have some fun.” Penny replied as Zo grabbed the things she found. She caught the mischievous look in her best friends eyes but decided to ignore it as she headed across the hall to the bathroom.

Alex was waiting for her in the kitchen with the others once she finished changing and gave a silent sigh of relief when she saw that he was just wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a v-neck. Nothing too formal so she didn’t feel weird wearing her old torn up jeans and Mickey Mouse shirt that Flyzik was already freaking out about.

“Oi! Eyes off my woman!” Alex yelled teasingly making Zo blush and hide behind her brother who was now stuffing his face full of food. Colter was laughing and reached back to tickle her making her squirm away from him towards Jack who started doing the same.

“I never knew Zo was ticklish!” Jack announced loud enough for the rest of the guys to hear. Great. Now everyone knew and was going to be attacking her when she least expected it. Just perfect.

“Anyway, we’re going to go. Don’t call unless it’s an emergency.” Alex said as he grabbed Zo’s hand and lead her to the door. The boys were saying something back but she really didn’t listen to them as they headed out the door toward Alex’s car.

Getting in, she smiled to Alex as he pulled the car out of the parking spot and headed toward the town. The radio was playing low in the background and when she heard a song come on, she reached out and turned it up to a deafening volume and started singing along. She could hear Alex’s voice singing along also and when they pulled up to a red light they both started dancing in their seats and giggling.

“So where do you want to go?” Alex asked once they had found a parking spot and were walking down the sidewalk toward the many different shops and café’s around.

“Hmm, I don’t know.” She replied as she felt Alex’s hand gently slip into hers and give her a nervous glance wondering if it was ok. She gave his hand a squeeze back in reassurance as they continued down the walk.

Zo noticed that Alex was acting a little strange and Zo didn’t understand why. It was a little strange to see that he had been so dorky and hyper on tour and now he was calm and almost a little nervous. Maybe it was just since it was the day after tour and they had the chance to finally settle down for a week before it all started up again. Whatever it was, Alex was deep in thought as they continued down the sidewalk passing all the different shops.

“What is this?” Alex suddenly asked making Zo jump. She hadn’t been expecting him to say anything and honestly she hadn’t minded much. It was nice to just walk around town with Alex, just being with him and not saying anything was nice.

“What’s what?” She asked and glanced over to see him watching her.

He shrugged and then gestured to their hands. “What’s this? What are we to each other? Are we just friends or are we something more?”

Giving a small smile she gave a shrug back. “I don’t know. Maybe we could be something more than friends.”

“I’d like that,” Alex mumbled as he stopped walking and turned to face her. She gave a small smile as she noticed him lean forwards and then did the same and lightly pressed her lips to his. They continued to kiss for a few more moments before they parted and Alex smiled softly. “So that means I can call you my girlfriend now?”

All she could do was smile and nod before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again…